Thought Life and Anxiety How often do you take a personal inventory of your thought life? Have you ever noticed the connection between where your mind is focused and the levels of anxiety you feel?  I, like many of you, can see much of my anxiety in mood swings and my reactions to things. However, I do not often stop to reflect on where my thought life has been and how it is affecting my level of anxiety.  Captive Imaginations? One of the primary reasons we can lack peace from so much of our anxieties is because our imaginations have been filled with everything else but God. Let me ask some questions. Do the things you read call you to self-sacrifice or to think about yourself? Do you catch yourself caught up in the greatness of God more often or of yourself?    How long can you go without checking the news or your social media feeds? How many times a day do you think about the prospect of others publicly recognizing your strengths, your abi...

Especially in the light of the straightforward statements of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament, it makes better sense to interpret the thousand years of Revelation 20 as symbolizing the present reign of Christ. In this perspective, the part of John’s vision that we find in Revelation 20 happens in heaven, not on earth, and in the present day, not simply in a future event. The whole book is meant to be read not chronologically but as snapshots of the current age of the church from a heavenly point of view and to provide comfort and assurance to the suffering church by testifying to the final triumph of the Lamb.  With good reason, premillennialists wonder how we could interpret Revelation 20 as occurring now, when it seems obvious to them that Satan is not bound and that he is in fact deceiving the nations. Yet if Satan were not currently bound— if he were free to rule and reign over the earth—there could be no church, much less one that endures through the centuries despi...

Weakness of Contemporary Preaching Where do most people begin when making a presentation of Christian truth, assuming that they even speak of it to others? Where does most of today’s Christian “preaching” begin? Many begin with what is often termed “a felt need,” a lack or a longing that the listener will acknowledge. The need may involve feelings of inadequacy; a recognition of problems in the individual’s personal relationships or work or aspirations; moods; fears; or simply bad habits. The basic issue may be loneliness, or it may be uncontrollable desires. According to this theory, preaching should begin with felt needs, because this alone establishes a point of contact with a listener and wins a hearing.  But does it? Oh, it may establish a contact between the teacher and the listener. But this is not the same thing as establishing contact between the listener and God, which is what preaching is about. Nor is it even necessarily a contact between the listener and the ...