Josh Hunt's Blog, page 255

Why the church must be revitalized

We face a triple crisis in the North American church today as we seek to influence a culture that is increasingly lost and indifferent to the things of God. First, our population continues to grow and become more diverse, yet we are not starting enough new churches to keep pace with that growth. Second, we […]

Overcoming Anxiety

Some years ago, I surveyed the entire New Testament looking for instances where various Christian character traits were taught by precept or by example. I found twenty-seven. It may not surprise you that love was taught most often, some fifty times. It may surprise you that humility was a close second with forty instances. But […]

Slay the Giant of Anger

Remember that anger is, at some point, a choice. We saw this same principle with temptation in the preceding chapter—the moment when the “escape hatch” swings open. In one defining moment, we can choose to put away the impure feelings, as Paul counsels us to do, or we can build a little nest. The moment […]

It is not about going to Heaven when you die

Don’t get me wrong. The whole New Testament assumes that God has a wonderful future prepared for his people after bodily death, climaxing in the new world of the resurrection, of new heavens and new earth. I have written about all that in detail elsewhere (especially in Surprised by Hope).* But this is not—demonstrably not—what […]

Good Questions strike a balance

Good questions have groups talking. Good questions are interesting. Good questions challenge the way we think. Good questions challenge the way we live. Good questions guide us off the broad way into the narrow way. Good questions challenge our assumptions. Good questions help us get to know one another. They test our knowledge. They create […]

Ungodliness: it is not what you think

When I talk about specific areas of acceptable sins, one comment I often hear is that pride is the root cause of all of them. While I agree that pride does play a major role in the development and expression of our subtle sins, I believe there is another sin that is even more basic, […]

How to resist tempation

Let’s be very practical. I’d like to offer you an arsenal of weapons to use against temptation, right there on the battlefield. ✓ Recognize the Possibility of Temptation Forewarned is forearmed. Never fall into the trap of false security. If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it a thousand times: “I can’t believe it happened […]

The Principle of Replacement

The Bible says, “Overcome evil with good.” It does not say to overcome evil by thinking about how much you would like to do that forbidden thing, sitting on your hands and doing nothing. It says overcome evil with good. This is the principle of replacement. Nature abhors a vacuum. Paul said we must put […]

Application, application, application

In a study sponsored by Holman Bibles, adults were asked to name their main difficulty in reading the Bible. Their answer was “applying Scripture to concrete situations.” Despite our occasional struggles to understand parts of Scripture, understanding it isn’t our chief problem. Most of Scripture is abundantly clear. Much more often our difficulty lies in […]

Why good questions are the best way to teach adults

There are basically three ways to teach adults: Lecture Fun and games Question and answer Lecture is a good method, especially in certain special circumstances. If you need to communicate a good deal of information quickly. Lecture can be a very efficient way of communicating. If there is only one person in the room that […]