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I've moved to Substack! 🚚

Wordpress is not the best medium for the kind of writing I do, so I have moved to Substack.

I have started to write casual, semi-regular commentaries, starting with Revelation, but in the process I realized that WordPress is not the best medium for the kind of writing I do, so I have moved to substack. So far we are on part 9 of our journey through Revelation and we’d love to have you join us. I post some scripture and commentary a couple of times a week, and I am working on some…

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What is the Mission of God, Anyway?

A Word on Missions Salvation requires mission. This is true of every story ever told, either by ancient scroll or by the light of the silver screen. If there is salvation to be had, there is a mission to traverse. This is no different in the instance of God bringing salvation for the world. The mission of God will bring salvation, and the people of God are called to a concern for the mission of…

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Romans pt 16: Jealousy & Conversion

But I ask, did Israel not understand? First Moses says,“I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation;with a foolish nation I will make you angry.”  (Ro 10:19) In verse 19, Paul shows one of the ways that God draws his people, Israel, back to Him. He doesn’t use coercion, he doesn’t use threats, and he doesn’t chastise them. Instead, he acts compassionately towards their enemies,…

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Romans pt15: Zeal is Timeless

Zeal and Identity V1-3 “Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. 2 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge.  3 Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. If you want to read this passage…

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Christ-ianity, or Zeus-ianity?

I picked a shirt up off the store rack a couple weeks ago and spun it around to show my wife. The words were printed on the shirt were nearly identical to something my wife had said earlier that morning: “It’s called manifesting, look it up!” She had used it ironically while talking about how her business was going to grow and new clients were just around the corner. The mindset of manifesting…

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Romans p14: Misunderstanding our Relationship with God

Reading Romans 9:30-33 Wrong We must exercise caution as readers of the Bible when we come to Romans 9:30-33. If we have been reading Pauls letter to the Romans wrongly, interpretting it as a message about personal salvation, we not only miss out on the message of freedom in Pauls words, we also can do great harm to our Jewish brothers and sisters.  One of the more problematic readings one can…

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Romans pt13: The Wrath of God (9:14-24)

It is paramount that when we come to passages like this, we read the text from its correct context; this is one of those passages where, if we read Romans forwards, 9:14-24 can easily become a brutal description of Gods seemingly creating people that he knows will be destroyed in the fires of hell, and then arguing that this behavior is perfectly acceptable because “who are you, a human being, to…

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Romans pt12: Election and Predestination. (Ro 9:6-14)

The big question we need to ask is: “What is God choosing/electing/predestining people FOR?"

The Main issues in 9-11 It is popular to quote excerpts from Romans 9-11 in sermons about matters of reformed theology; individual salvation, predestination, salvific election, etc. But when we address these topics in individual verses removed from the context and dynamics of the church between Jews and Gentiles,  we are in danger of missing the forest for the trees. But when we “read Romans…

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Romans pt11: Introduction to ch. 9-11

The role of power is not to lead or take charge, it's not to coerce and make demands, and it's not to drag everyone into some “great new future.” It is to listen, to understand, to serve, and to bring others to flourish.

This is the Hard Part This is the part where Romans loses most readers, and it is precisely why most people never make it past chapter 8 when reading Paul’s letter to the Romans. So let me give you a lens through which you can read these passages.At the end of chapter 15:23-29, Paul gives us a typical newsletter that you might receive from any missionary out on the field. He writes about where…

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Romans pt 10: Paul's Work is Often Misunderstood (Ro 15:14-22)

Paul’s Unique Work People often misunderstand Paul’s ministry; some think of Paul as a reformed preacher calling people to repent and pray the “sinner’s prayer;” Others believe he was creating a “Romans Road” to lead people to the salvation of their souls from eternal conscious torment; There are even Christians who believe that Paul is the architect of the Christian religion. But Paul’s…

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The Relationship Between Christology and Power

In Romans 15:3, Paul is having a conversation with the church about power and how it works in the world versus how it works in the kingdom of God. Paul wants the Christians in Rome to see that unity in the church doesn’t come via conquering each other through argument and coercion, which are the tools of earthly empires. Rather, unity in the church comes through cross-shaped actions, like grace,…

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Romans pt 9: Pauls Strategy to fight Polarization in the Church (Ro 15:1-13)

Romans 14 is a call to those among us with power and privilege to do whatever we can to offer support when the weakness of the powerless is exposed.

Roman bathhouse in the partially restored ruins of Sardis. A place of rest for high status Romans. Verses 1-4 Are Pauls Strategy to the Cultural Majority in the Church. This is the meat and bones portion of Paul’s instruction; this is where he stops telling them theoretical ideas and starts telling them what he wants them to do. What Paul is offering is a solution to this entrenchment. He…

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Romans pt 8: On Christian Constraints and Freedoms (Ro 14:12-23)

In the Roman Empire, just like in the American Empire, strength speaks. Strength and Power are displayed through coercion and force. But in the kingdom of God, power is displayed in weakness, in the cross of Christ, and in cross-shaped actions.

by Tommy Preson Phillips As far as Paul is concerned, both sides are accepted by God, and therefore both sides should accept each other. “If anyone regards something as unclean, then for that person it is unclean. 15 If your brother or sister is distressed because of what you eat, you are no longer acting in love. Do not by your eating destroy someone for whom Christ died” (Ro…

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Romans pt 7: The Seat of Judgement, Ro 14:10-12.

by Tommy Preson Phillips Judging  When Paul writes this line, he is within walking distance of what in Corinth is called the Bema seat. From this platform the city elders would judge the misdeeds of the people, day in and day out. They would stand on the ground below the court, seated above on beautifully painted marble thrones, and they would hear the trials and pronounce judgement.  Many…

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Romans pt 6: The Weak and Strong (Ro 14: 1-10)

By Tommy Preson Phillips Paul starts chapter 14 by addressing the strong and talking to them about addressing the weak. Now, without a good understanding of these two terms, no healing work can be done here, so let’s start with the one central question for this chapter: “Who are the strong and the Weak?” When I was eighteen and in Bible college, I remember a conversation about who is strong and…

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On Self-Control

Happy New Year! Assuming many in my church have set New Years resolutions, I wanted to take the weekend to write about the view of self-control that we are presented with in the New Testament, so that as Christians we can avoid defaulting to culture when attempting to order our lives. Lets begin! Egkrateia is the word that the ancient Greek speaking world used to describe what we might today…

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Romans pt5: Church Patterned after the World.

Romans pt5: Church Patterned after the World.

This is part four of this series, to start from the beginning, click here for part 1. “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve…