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Shame vs. the Gospel – Is God pleased with you?

There are differences sources of shame:

You’ve done something bad.
Something bad, like sexual abuse, has been done to you.
You have a general feeling of inadequacy about yourself.

While incredibly diverse, the common thread these sources share is the general idea that if people knew me, they would reject me.  I don’t want to be rejected, so I hide.  Hiding takes many different forms.  For many, the hiding is the front we put out there for everyone to see.  It’s our performance.  Our accomplishments.  Our ability to make people laugh.  Accomplishing goals.  Having good behavior and being seen as a competent, productive member of society.  Positioning ourselves to where we matter.  I will get people to think I’m good so they don’t realize the truth.  Or I’ll do so much good that I’ll finally be good.

Whereas for others, the hiding is in addiction.  In numbing the pain of who we really are so we never have to face it.  It’s in self-sabotage.  It’s a subconscious pull to mess things up because we know we’ll never meet the standard that’s been set, so why try.  The standard of what it would take to be accepted.  To show ourselves approved by all the judges that count.

If people knew me, they would reject me. So I hide.

This mantra inevitably attaches itself to how we view God:

If God knew me, He would reject me. So I hide.

What’s ironic is Christians know the first step in receiving salvation is to admit we don’t measure up, and that we need Jesus to measure up for us.  But how many Christians really believe in the full truth of the gospel?

I know I usually don’t.

In this very moment, when God the Father, the Holy Judge, looks at you, what do you think his thoughts are of you?

“Is that it?”

“You did what?”

“You’re dirty and I’m holy, stay away.”

“Do better. Try harder.”

“I died on the cross for you and this is all you do in return?”

“Who are you impacting?”

“You haven’t done enough.”

“I’m disappointed in you.”

Would you believe it if I told none of those thoughts are in God’s head?  Would you believe it if I told you that when God the Father, the Holy Judge, looks at you, He says:

This is my son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.

or

This is my daughter, whom I love, with her I am well pleased.

Listen to those words for a moment.

Do you believe that’s what God the Father thinks when he looks at you in this moment?

This is where the fierce battle between shame and the gospel rages. Which is stronger? Which will win? Which is true?

Let’s walk through some truths from Scripture.

God the Father says to Jesus:

“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” -Matthew 3:17

The gospel tells me I’m a co-heir with Jesus. That whatever Jesus gets, I get:

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ -Romans 8:17

(So if Jesus got that approval from the Father, so do I.  I’m a co-heir.)

The gospel tells me that when the Father looks at me, he sees me as holy (perfect), without blemish and free from accusation:

But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation -Colossians 1:22

The gospel tells me perfection has already been fully met in me:

And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law (perfection) might be fully met in us -Romans 8:3b-4

If your faith is in Jesus, when God the Father looks at you, he sees perfection. He sees holiness. He sees full acceptance. He sees worthiness. He sees that nothing more could possibly be added because it’s already fully met. He sees no blemishes. There is no accusation. He sees Jesus. Whatever Jesus gets, you get. This is your eternal, ontological, unchangeable status before him.

Compare these truths to all of the lie statements from above.  None of those statements are true!  Based on the gospel.

The real question we have before God isn’t, “Do you love me?” It is “Do you still love me?”

Do you still love me even though I’m an addict?

Do you still love me even though I was abused?

Do you still love me even though I abused others?

Do you still love me even though I doubt?

Do you still love me even though I fail?

Do you still love me even though I sin?

Do you still love me even after seeing me?

The truth of the gospel says yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

This isn’t feel-good fluff.  This is what Jesus bought on the cross!  If you want to make an argument against this, you are saying Jesus’ death wasn’t enough.  His payment wasn’t sufficient.  He wasn’t strong enough.  I don’t know many Christians who want to say that about the cross!

The freedom of this truth will change you forever.

Shame will tell you God’s disappointed in you because you can’t fully grasp this.  Because you doubt it.  Because it isn’t sinking in for you. The Father still looks at you and says,

This is my child, whom I love, and whom I am well pleased.

He is well pleased with you.

He is well pleased with me.

Oh how I need to hear that.  I need to hear it over and over because it’s so hard for me to live in that.  Because it’s so deeply ingrained in me that I need to perform for him to really be pleased with me.  So I strive and strive and strive.  And it’s never enough.  And it never will be enough.  And the emptiness of that just kills me.

We need to call out this anti-gospel legalism for what it is.

If your shame is fighting the truth of the gospel and you’re wondering which will win, I want to give you an invitation. I invite you to lay everything out before the Lord. Show him everything about who you are. Then ask him if He still loves you. If He’s still pleased with you. Compare it all to his purchase on the cross. Ask him if Matthew 3:17, Romans 8:3-4, 17, and Colossians 1:22 are true of you, or if they are only true for other people.  He’s inviting you to this.  He’s inviting you to know his love, acceptance and pleasure, all of which Jesus has indelibly tattooed all over your body and soul.

I pray that through this healing process there will then be someone in your life you can do the same thing with.  Someone else who understands the truth of the gospel.  Someone you can lay everything out before, and know they will still love and accept you, and more importantly will remind you that the Father still loves and accepts you.

The post Shame vs. the Gospel – Is God pleased with you? appeared first on Noah Filipiak.

House Money: Releasing God from “Your Best Life Now” and the Freedom this Brings

I’ve never played high stakes poker or bought in at a casino, though I do like to have friends over to play poker on occasion. It’s cheaper than going to a movie and much more interactive and relational. And I just like it. I like the interplay of the game. I like trying to read other people’s minds, while hoping they can’t read mine. I also like that whoever loses (Which usually includes me) hasn’t really lost anything. It’s an exchange of a few bucks for a night of good fellowship, while the winner gets to gloat a bit among friends. But even in our low-stakes games, the $5 we each put in gives the chips meaning. Someone will occasionally joke about how they just lost 10 cents on a hand, but all in all, there is a simulated feeling of real loss and real gain when someone rakes in a pile of chips at the end of each round.

I hosted a poker game on my birthday a few years ago. My friends paid for my $5 buy in. This was an interesting psychological experience. When I would lose a hand, I would simply say, “House money, baby!” And when I won a hand, I would feel like I had really won something, because I had. But playing with house money took the sting out of my losses. I didn’t actually have anything riding on the game. A loss wasn’t actually a loss. It was a refreshing and freeing feeling to play the game only being able to win.

We go through most of our Christian lives trying to win the big pot in the middle. And if we do win the big pot, the cycle of needing to win just continues. We won the hand, but now we must win the game, the game that never really ends.

This is reflected in the way we pray and in the things we think we are to expect from God. And man, does it produce a lot of disappointment and anxiety.

We go to God like it’s his job to give us our “Best Life Now.” Basically to answer all of our prayers and give us the life we want. But when we don’t get thing we are praying for, how do we feel? We feel like we just pushed all of our chips into the middle of the table and lost the hand. And now we’re broke.

When I feel this way about something I’m praying for (and not getting), God shows me how I’ve made this my “Best Thing.” The “Best Thing” being what I think will give me peace and joy, satisfaction and contentment, which is why I feel such a disappointing void when it’s not there. These are the things Jesus promises to give me from himself, not from a gift he bestows on me. In many respects, when I approach him like this, he becomes Santa Claus. I don’t care about him, I care about what he can give me. And it shows in the way I react if I don’t get what I want. If Jesus were my Best Thing, why would I be so downcast because I lost the poker hand?

It’s not wrong to pray for things or bring our requests and petitions to God (Philippians 4:6-7), it’s wrong when these things become idols. When they become the thing we think will give us joy, peace, satisfaction, and contentment. As if we didn’t already have these things in Jesus.

As if we weren’t already playing with house money.

An analogy used throughout Scripture for our relationship with God, and specifically Jesus in the New Covenant, is that of us being the bride and Jesus being our groom (Eph. 5:31-32). Our husband Jesus is to satisfy our desires for wholeness, intimacy, and peace. Imagine this prayer to Jesus:

Husband Jesus, please give me a different husband to make me feel whole, content, and valuable. Amen.

How’s that one going to go over? Exactly. Yet that’s how we pray over and over and over again.

But when Jesus is our Best Thing, it’s like playing with house money. We can’t lose! We have already found our peace, joy, and wholeness in Jesus, so when we bring our requests to him, there’s no way we are hoping to get these things out of these requests. It’d be like asking for a husband when you already have one!

They key is to realizing that we are playing with house money. We are sitting on the biggest pile of cash imaginable. We hold the credit card to the owner of the entire casino. And it’s time to enjoy!

By “enjoy,” I don’t mean get everything you want, your “best life now.” I mean enjoy Jesus! Enjoy what you already have in him. Learn to take the intimacy of your relationship with him deeper and deeper. He’s inviting you.

This is the type of enjoyment the Psalmist alludes to:

Better is one day in your courts

than a thousand elsewhere;

I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God

than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

Psalm 84:10

The Psalmist has found The Best Thing, and he’d rather have it than anything else. Do you and I feel the same way about Jesus?

You’ll know the answer to this based on how you feel when you pray for something that He doesn’t give you. This is something we are all going to fall short of time and time again. Don’t allow the realization of this truth to spiral you into shame for not being a good enough Christian, hear it as the invitation it is from Jesus. Let him be your Best Thing. Savor the truth that you God’s son or daughter. Spend relational time with Jesus today.

Further reading: The Pressure’s Off: Breaking Free from Rules and Performance by Larry Crabb

Sermon on 1 Peter 1:3-12:

The post House Money: Releasing God from “Your Best Life Now” and the Freedom this Brings appeared first on Noah Filipiak.

Serious Concerns About the Funny Babylon Bee

I have liked The Babylon Bee for a long time.

For those not familiar, The Babylon Bee is a Christian satire website, modeled after The Onion.

I love the articles making fun of Arminian theology.

And I love the articles making fun of Calvinists.

I love that it makes fun of fog machines used during worship sets.

It makes fun of Joel Osteen regularly, as well as the Jesus Calling book, The Purpose Driven Life, and Tim Tebow.  Often with really sound, corrective theology woven in to the satire. It’s a website that makes fun of things, that’s understood. You might have a problem with that, I don’t. It’s not the New York Times making fun of something, it’s The Babylon Bee.  I’d be honored if the Bee made fun of me someday.  That’d be a more meaningful “you’ve arrived” moment that the elusive blue check mark on Twitter.

The concern I have with the Bee is they are recklessly making fun of and running over marginalized people in a way that dishonors Christ.  Some who are struggling with traumatic issues that the writers of the Bee have never had to struggle with, and others who are undergoing serious injustice that the writers of the Bee have never experienced.

Most of us are accustomed to the polarized dichotomy that dominates the political landscape today. You state where you stand on issues like abortion, gender, sexuality, refugees, immigrants, police brutality, and of course, Donald Trump.  Grenades are then lobbed back and forth and carnage ensues.  No one is ever wrong because they always have their online tribe there to pat them on the back.

For a while, it seemed like the Bee made a concerted effort to transcend the juvenile nature of these debates. For every article I saw that had a Republican bent to it, there was another one making fun of Donald Trump or supporting a traditionally Democrat issue like immigration reform.  The Bee was stinging both sides, as it should be.

But recently the Bee is getting sucked into the juvenile grenade tossing, using its satire as a means of patting its own tribe on the back (and getting all those likes are shares from their tribe) rather than using it as the transcending and corrective voice it can be. And the sporadic posts making fun of Trump or the wall can no longer rationalize this trajectory.

While there are still the genuinely funny posts about how church youth groups are the only ones keeping the laser tag industry in business, I’m seeing a disturbing trend in the approach behind articles addressing race, gender, and sexuality:

PROGRESS: This Straight White Male Hates Himself

Least Masculine Society In Human History Decides Masculinity Is A Growing Threat

Striking Blow Against Toxic Masculinity, Man Graciously Allows Wife To Shovel Driveway

Press That Sicced Mob On Teenagers Based On 10-Second Video Clip Unsure Why Some People Call Them ‘Fake News’

Mobs Of Women Protest Nation’s Logging Companies For Equal Work

Thanksgiving Day Officially Changed To ‘Check Your Privilege Day’

On Gender, Left Steps Up Effort Against Notorious Hate Group: Reality

Bigoted Woman Assumes Newborn Baby’s Species

Kavanaugh May Have Cheated While Playing ‘The Floor Is Lava’ As A Child

…there’s a hetero member of the patriarchy who wants to jump off a bridge.

Keep fighting the good fight, because we’re moving toward a better world. Case in point: this person is heterosexual, Caucasian, male, cisgender, able-bodied, and wishes he had never been born.

WIN FOR WOKENESS!

excerpt from PROGRESS: This Straight White Male Hates Himself

These articles just make me sad. Not because of the point they are trying to make against progressives, but because of how insular they are. They are the same knee jerk reactions you’d expect to see on any random opinion website run by non-Christians. I’m sad because the Bee attaches Jesus to its views, so now non-Christians have even more fuel to think the Church is unloving and unjust. The Body of Christ is broad and diverse, and these perspectives are anything but.

There are valid concerns within the movement for women’s equality and rights.  Very valid concerns.  Sit down and listen to a woman and hear for yourself.  It doesn’t mean that the “far left” or whatever you want to call it is right about everything, but to throw the whole topic out as utterly ridiculous is reckless and unloving.  The articles don’t feel like you’re making fun of the political topic, they feel like you’re making fun of women.  It’s like telling women who have been abused and overlooked that they don’t matter, all in the name of Christ.

A friend of mine is gay. He grew up in the Church. He told me one of the greatest problems is our definition of masculinity is all about football, cars, and being macho. Because this is our definition of masculinity, if you don’t fit this, you’re looked at as less than a man. Being treated like less than a man contributed to my friend’s gay identity, as there wasn’t a definition of Christian masculinity given to him in the church that fit him. King David danced, wrote poetry, and played the harp, things that culture and the Church today would not identify as masculine. This isn’t to say there aren’t things that are masculine or feminine, but the solution isn’t to regress back to blind grenade throwing, trying to fight fire with fire.

Or to deny the existence of white privilege. Is the topic always addressed tactfully from “the other side”? No. So is that an excuse to not handle it tactfully in response? The Bee thinks so. How does this help? Obviously white privilege is real (and needs to be understood properly) and is a contributor to the incredible systemic sin that divides America and the Church. So instead of being in loving community in a way that brings redemption and constructive solutions to those who don’t share this privilege, let’s just make fun of them instead.

I have no doubt these posts have increased the Bee‘s readership. This tribe loves to post these sorts of articles that pat their views on the back. But if the increase in readership is exclusively Republican white males, hasn’t the mission failed?  At that point, you’ve just become another resounding gong and clanging cymbal in a world already full of arrogant, insular noise.

The post Serious Concerns About the Funny Babylon Bee appeared first on Noah Filipiak.

Birthday Reflections

I turned 36 today.  I had a friend of mine who is an old man (putting that there because I’m pretty sure he’ll be reading this) recently told me I am “in my prime.”  While not by NFL standards, unless you’re Tom Brady I guess, I do suppose 36 is “prime” age for life in ministry and life in general.  It’s the beginning of the season of your life where you are learning from the mistakes you made over the previous 20 years (rather than blindly continuing to commit them), yet you’re full of energy and vigor for the next 20.  It’s not that you won’t make more mistakes, but you’ve hopefully been humbled and observed enough about yourself that you’ve become wiser in how you approach life.

But when we think about being “in our prime,” we usually take that to mean we’ve got a lot of gas left in the tank.  That we have many more years on this earth.  Some might see these “prime” years as the time to live it up.  To live for themselves.  To make pleasure the number one priority.  Others might see it as the time to work 100 hours a week in order to pile up as much cash and status as possible, for a comfortable life and feeling of accomplishment at retirement.  What I’m seeing at 36 is 40.  What I’m seeing at 40 is remembering when my dad turned 40.  There were black balloons and a big hoopla made.  What I’m seeing at 40 is friends with cancer.  I lost a friend to cancer in 2018, age 60.  I lost another friend to an unexpected heart attack, age 60.  Both full of life.  Both with kids.  Both with vibrant ministries.  2018 also included one of my neighbors unexpectedly passing away.  I have several other friends fighting serious forms of cancer right now.  One of them is younger than me, the other not much older.

Many people long to go back to their “prime” years because it gives a feeling of ageless eternity.  As if we can bottle that up and never lose it.  Like reminiscing about my years in college and what a fruitful season of life that was, then wondering how I got so old, so fast.  We like to remember because we want this life to last forever.  It was meant to in the original design, but it doesn’t anymore.  We hate to think about it, but every day is one day closer to death.

As I get older, and I’m not old yet…not like my old man friend is (he’s going to love this)…but losing friends unexpectedly to death’s authoritative blow has sobered me.  I am not invincible.  I will die.  My kids will have to live without a dad.  It might be a long time from now, it might be tomorrow.  Losing friends to death has reminded me of the supernatural.  Can you really look in the mirror and believe that when your body doesn’t work anymore, that you will cease to exist?  That your consciousness and personhood is only created by and confined to your brain’s swishing chemical dance?

How bizarre that we don’t talk about what happens after death more than we do.  That we don’t consider the possible realities of heaven and hell.  That we bank on “being a good person” to “get us in to heaven,” as if we were the authoritative judge on what the definition of “good” is.  That there wasn’t a Holy Judge who determines “good” and that “good” is something we could never attain.  That we need a Redeemer, a Reconcilier, a Savior to attain goodness on our behalf.  That we live like we can save ourselves, when all we really need is someone strong enough to save us.  I cannot imagine the anxiety of thinking I could save myself.

Getting older makes me think of my many friends who have left their faith, or who have not been able to even start.  Every time I think of this, I think of the conversation between Peter and Jesus in John 6:67-68:

“You do not want to leave too, do you?” Jesus asked the Twelve.

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

Lord, to whom shall we go?  I get it, you don’t like some things the Bible says.  Or you don’t like how the Bible was put together.  Or you don’t like what someone told you about the Bible.  But to whom shall you go?  Who else has the words of eternal life?

I sort of understand those who become devout followers of Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, etc., but most of my friends are just winging it.  And notably, those religions don’t provide saviors, only rules to follow to be “good enough,” as if that were possible.  But my point here is those followers have at least chosen a plan versus the more and more popular make-it-up-as-you-go strategy.

My reflection on turning 36 is I’m going to tell a lot more people about Jesus.  I’m just going to tell them and let God take care of the rest.  I’m going to care less about what they think of me.  I have all these reasons why a person wouldn’t believe in Jesus, so it stops me from telling them about Jesus.  Instead of living like that, because who knows how much longer I or they have to live, I’m just going to tell them:

Jesus loves you.  Because he does!  And he died on the cross for your sins.  Because he did!  And he did it to save you.  To bring you into a relationship with him, with a holy God.  He came to save you and love you and he wants you to love him in return and believe that only He can save you.  You can’t save yourself.

Our “prime” is just an illusion. Or at best, a vapor that melts before noon.

We are eternal beings.

Do you have a plan?

I do.

Are you the plan?  Because no offense, but if you think you have the power to save yourself, I’m not betting on you.  As in, I’m not betting on you to have the power to save me, so I don’t think you should bet on yourself to be able save you.

I certainly hope you wouldn’t be on me to save you, because you’d be up a creek.  So why are you betting on yourself?

I am betting on Jesus.  I feel really good about it.

I hope you join me.

 

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How to Lose Your Desire for Porn and Lust

My latest article is up on the Covenant Eyes blog.  Check it out here:

How to Lose Your Desire for Porn and Lust

 

The post How to Lose Your Desire for Porn and Lust appeared first on Noah Filipiak.

Episode 11: When Should You Tell Your Wife About Your Porn Problem

Listen below at podcasts.com or listen/subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.

We discuss if, when, and how you should tell your wife about your porn problem.  We also look at Psalm 51:1-2 as a tool for finding from Jesus what we’re looking for from sexual sin.

www.coveyes.com/beyond for a free 60 days of Covenant Eyes and a free (paperbook, ebook, or audiobook) copy of Beyond the Battle (expires 1/8/19)

www.beyondthebattle.net – sign up for the next round of 7-week online small groups with Noah, starting January 15th

Send your questions/comments in to the mailbag at podcast@beyondthebattle.net or @battle_podcast on Twitter.

 

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Is suicide an unforgivable sin that sends you to hell?

There are denominations that believe if you commit suicide, God will automatically send you to hell, regardless of anything else you’ve ever believed.  Does the Bible back this up?

There is only one passage in Scripture where this argument is made from. 

1 Corinthians 3:16-17:

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple. ESV

Beyond the inconsistency of this view, let’s look deeper at the 1 Corinthians text itself.  Paul’s temple analogy here doesn’t begin in verse 16, it begins in verse 9:

For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building. ESV

Paul then talks about how the Church has been built, with him laying the foundation, and how others, including the readers, are building upon that foundation.  Here’s the key: every time the word “you” or “your” is found in verses 9-17, it is plural. 

This is not an abstract, Bible-nerd trivia fact.  This is why there is no way verses 16-17 can be referring to God sending someone to hell for suicide.

Instead of reading verses 16 and 17 as “You are that temple,” as if one individual is God’s temple so if that one individual is destroyed, God’s temple was destroyed, and now God is really mad because his temple is gone and now is going to send whoever did it to hell.  We must read the text as, “You ALL are that temple,” or “You ALL collectively make up that temple,” which is the living Church.  So whoever tries to destroy the Church, will be destroyed. 

I’m also not sure how “destroyed” became to be understood as “and automatically sent to hell,” since that’s not in the text at all, but I digress.  The greater point is what the Greek says about the word “You.”  For those who aren’t following me with the Greek reference, the New Testament was not written in English, it was written in Greek.  And in Greek, they had two ways of saying “you,” whereas in English we only have one.  “You” can mean, “Hey you guy, get out of my way.” Or “You” could mean, “Hey you Americans, you need to vote.”  In English, it’s the same word, in Greek it’s not (I think those Greeks were on to something).  The biblical text states with no ambiguity whatsoever that the “you” used throughout 1 Corinthians 3:9-17 is plural and thus has nothing to do with killing an individual person, therefore has nothing to do with suicide. 

Don’t believe me? The 2011 NIV has updated the English translation of this passage to a more accurate understanding of what the Greek text says:

If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

It is tragic and biblically unfounded to believe suicide trumps the truth of the gospel that any sinner who repents and puts their faith in Jesus will be saved.  This has huge theological ramifications. 

If you believe this about suicide, you do not believe the gospel. 

I know that is a strong statement, but how can you believe the gospel, that Jesus’ death on the cross was strong enough to cleanse us from all our sins, when you are saying there is a sin stronger than Jesus’ power to do that?  That is a small and weak Jesus.  That is not the Jesus, or the gospel, of the Bible.

Depression is real.  I’ve struggled with it for many years, as have many close Christian friends of mine.  The statement, “God will never give you more than you can handle,” is false and is certainly not a quote from the Bible.  Jesus himself had more than he could handle!  In the Garden of Gethsemane he cries out to the Father in agony, praying that he wouldn’t have to die on the cross (Luke 22:42).  It was more than he could handle, which peaked on the cross when he cries out in exasperation, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46). 

Suicide is not the answer when we are feeling overwhelmed or in despair, but what is the purpose of creating shame-filled dogma that is no where to be found in Scripture? 

If you are considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Helpline immediately at 1-800-273-8255.

If you are considering suicide, know that there is hope for you in the gospel.  That in the gospel, you are a beloved son or daughter of God and he will see you through your storms.  Reach out to a Christian friend, counselor, or pastor.

If you have a loved one who has committed suicide, do not believe any false doctrines that they were automatically sent to hell because of their act.  My heart breaks for you, and so does God’s. 

The post Is suicide an unforgivable sin that sends you to hell? appeared first on At A Crossroads | Noah Filipiak.

Episode 10: Interview with Damon Seacott on choosing a life of singleness and celibacy

Listen below at podcasts.com or listen/subscribe on iTunes or Google Play.

Episode 10 brings a special guest interview with Damon Seacott, who has chosen to live a life of singleness and celibacy.  This is a great episode for singles to have someone to relate to, and great for married folks to learn how to be in community with singles and why that’s so important for both.  The Church has much to learn on how it over-emphasized marriage and the damage this can do to the mission and community of the Church.

Send your questions/comments in to the mailbag at podcast@beyondthebattle.net or @battle_podcast on Twitter.

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Pre-Marital Sex: What the Bible Says

My latest article is up on the Covenant Eyes blog: Pre-Marital Sex: What the Bible Says

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