Encourage one another?

Posted on March 17, 2014 Written by Mark McIntyre 6 Comments

Sometimes we try to encourage someone and the encouragement we are trying to deliver feels like condemnation or worse to the one we encourage. I can think of three reasons why this may be the case.

Did he really say that?

The opening verses of Matthew 3 record the preaching of John the Baptist. While reading this passage, what jumped out at me is what John said to the Pharisees and Sadducees. He called them a “brood of vipers” and he went on to critique their behavior. I’m sure that the Pharisees and Sadducees bristled at […]

We build the altar but God sends the fire

It is right to want more people sitting under the preaching of the gospel. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to learn from others. But the danger is that we can lose focus on what real spiritual growth looks like and we lose sight of who causes that growth.

There is a gene for that

I recently heard an author say that there is a gene that causes people to be bad or good. What is the basis and what are the implications of such a belief?

Quality vs. quantity – thoughts on building the church

Churches can be so enamored with numerical growth that the focus is on quantity and quality suffers. Heed the warning of Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15.

On the pursuit of pleasure

I am not the first to make the point that idolatry can entail taking good things and making them into ultimate things. Or to put it another way, we should not confuse means and ends. I was thinking about this with reference to physical pleasures. Too often, the response of the church to the danger […]

Encourage one another?

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