Maintaining a dual citizenship

Posted on August 28, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 5 Comments

As believers, we have a dual citizenship, we live in a country (or countries) but are also citizens of the Kingdom of God. We live in this tension every day. We live in this world but we also understand that this world is not all there is.

The idol of approval

This morning I was challenged by a paragraph that I read in The Unbelievable Gospel by Jonathan K. Dodson. “In Christ, we possess a power that can rip the muzzle off, chase away the shadows, and bolster winsome, authentic gospel witness. That power lifted Jesus out of the grave, but it sits latent in our […]

When the storm hits

The disciples were freaked out by the wind and the waves. They were on the lake at the bidding of their master but it didn’t seem to be working out so well. These men, some of whom were experienced fishermen, were convinced that they were going to die. You can find this story in Matthew […]

The church is not the only army that shoots its wounded

I have heard it said that the church is the only army that shoots its wounded. After hearing all the fuss about Adrian Peterson these last few weeks, I now know that this statement is not true. It is not false because the church does not shoot her wounded. It is false because the church is not alone in this behavior.

On those who have walked away

Honesty demands that we admit our struggles to work out our faith. Real faith is at times a gritty mess and we all face difficult times. My experience is that God remains faithful even when we are faithless, as Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 2:13. Feeling doubt and even expressing doubt does not automatically disqualify someone from being relationship with God.

What is Caesar’s and What is God’s?

Matthew 22:21, Mark 12:17 and Luke 20:25 record the familiar phrase “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” The fact that all three of the Synoptic Gospels record this saying is an indication to me that it is very important. There is something here that I […]

Checklist for Christian Service

What qualities must be present in the believer to be used by God to build His Church? Here is the list as I see it: Complete surrender to God That’s it. One item. Everything else follows nicely after surrender. Paul gives us a description of what this kind of surrender looks like in Philippians 3:8–11 […]