Author: Austin Collins

The Bible is remarkably clear about the command to give regularly to the church. In 1 Corinthians 16:2, Paul says, “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.” In other words, regular, patterned giving is a moral imperative. It’s something we, as Christians, must do. But what if I told you that various studies and surveys show that only 10-25% of Christians obey this straightforward command? How can this be? What if only 10% of Christians remained faithful to their spouses? Or what if 1 of the 4 people sitting in the pew next to you was embezzling money from their company? It would be an outrage! So why do we seem to let ourselves off the hook about Paul’s command in 1...

It was 2 a.m. Friday night. I had just flown in from a seminar out of town. I was eager to see my wife and talk with her. As I quietly crept into the house, I found her sitting up in bed, waiting for me, half asleep from the sheer exhaustion of caring for our three young kids without me for a week. “What’s this?” I said as I saw the little blue tip of a pregnancy test sticking out of her nightstand drawer. “Oh no!” she said, suddenly roused from her daze, “You weren’t supposed to see that! I wanted to surprise you!” “Well, it’s definitely a surprise! But this is one of those early detection tests. Are you sure it’s correct?” “Yes, I’m sure!” she said as she pulled out a ziplock bag with 5 other positive tests. We scheduled our confirmation screening for two weeks later. After measuring...

Introduction Beginning in September of 1887, Charles Spurgeon, pastor of Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, published a series of articles in his monthly magazine, The Sword and the Trowel, concerning the infiltration of liberal theology into the doctrine and practice of contemporary Baptist ministers with whom he had previously partnered.[1] Amid a growing influence of secularization in the church, Spurgeon saw the writing on the wall and recognized that this creeping tide of liberalism must be stayed if the church sought to uphold and defend the historical doctrine of the inerrancy and authority of the Scriptures.[2] Faith and practice derived from any other source Spurgeon declared to be a “downgrade.”[3] Spurgeon despaired that without the inerrancy of the Scriptures and the...

How Can God Exist When the Evidence is Against Him? Answering atheism can seem like a daunting task. If you do any amount of Google searching about the evidence surrounding God’s existence, you’ll find page after page of atheists claiming to have proof that God isn’t real. They’ll cite studies about the ways our brains work, about social constructs that were generated as coping mechanisms, about new data from physics and chemistry that seem to indicate that the universe created itself or is just a part of a multiverse of universes. Do we need to be scientific experts in all of these fields in order to defend God’s existence and deal with the evidence atheists are throwing our way? How can God exist when the evidence is against him? I want you to see from the Bible that God believes that...

One of the marks of saving faith is a deep love for others. And love always manifests itself in action. If I love someone, I am compelled to care for them not just in word, but also in deed. Galatians 6:10 says, “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”  Our lives present us with thousands of opportunities to do good to others. There are so many people out there who need help, who I can serve, who I can care for. Where do I start? Well, Paul says we should do good to everyone, but he then focuses us in on a particular group of people to prioritize — the church.  Why the emphasis and priority on church members over outsiders? One reason is because this pattern of doing good first to the church reflects God’s...

Love in Action One of the most often repeated commands in the New Testament is to “love one another.” But we live in a world where where it seems like no one shares the same definition of “love.” If you were to search online for examples of love, you’d come up with hundreds of stories, quotes, and pictures trying to grasp at what love really is. We ask, is love just a feeling? An emotion? Is it something you give or take? Is it something you do? Is it just some abstract, philosophical idea? How can I know love when I see it? So, in all this confusion, how are Christians supposed to go about loving others if we’re not even sure what love itself is? This problem gets worse when we find out that over one-third of the “one another” commands in the Bible are about loving one another. Jesus...

The camera zooms in for a barrage of close-up shots. You hear swords clanging, guns cocking, and body armor strapping. The snare drums rattle, and the music swells.  Finally, the camera pulls back, and there he is– the hero fully locked and loaded. He’s ready for battle, weapon in hand, tools and ammo strapped to his chest, as he gloriously stares into the distance.  Every good action movie has one of these montages. They’re cliché for a reason. They excite you as a viewer and let you know that fights, explosions, and bravery are just around the corner.  And just like the action movie hero, Paul paints a picture in Ephesians 6:10-20 of a Christian suiting up for battle “against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places”...

Practicing hospitality is a way to share God’s grace and bless others. But practicing hospitality requires just that – practice. If hospitality isn’t part of your thought patterns or family’s regular routines, then knowing where to start or how to do it might feel overwhelming. Biblical hospitality presents two challenges to us. First, hospitality in the Bible is a command. It’s not optional. Almost every instance of the word “hospitality” in the New Testament is connected to an imperative (Cf. Hebrews 13:2, 1 Peter 4:9). Second, hospitality is active. Romans 12:13 says we are to “seek to show hospitality.” We can’t just idly sit around and wait for opportunities for hospitality to come upon us, though they might. We are to be looking out for occasions to open our homes and hearts to...

In this two-part blog, we’ll first look at what the Bible teaches about what hospitality looks like. The next installment will contain a list of practical helps and tips for engaging in real-life hospitality in your home. Biblical Hospitality It’s a scary word – hospitality. It’s a word that often strikes fear in the hearts of Christians. We’re busy, and our homes can be messy, and – oh no – our kids just drew 13 smiley faces on the wall with permanent marker. “Hospitality” conjures to mind elegant table settings, fanciful three-course dinners, and spotless homes with well-mannered children. But thankfully, that’s not what biblical hospitality has to look like. In a single verse, Paul provides for us a biblical definition of hospitality. In Romans 15:7, he says to “welcome one another...