We are turning a fresh page on a brand new year. 2016 is done. 2017 holds a whole new supply of hopes and dreams. People make New Year’s resolutions and typically drop them within a few weeks. Parking lots at the YMCA are packed in January but tend to return to normal by February. Weight loss programs anticipate increased enrollment in January. 

Kingdom living is a topic worth considering as we embark on a brand new year. As we seek God’s blessings in the New Year, it makes sense to look at family relationships in light of God’s design for the family. God has a plan for family and church leadership that calls on men to lead. We don’t often hear much about God’s standard any more, but God has put the ...

The number “7” has special significance for Christians and Jews. God created the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh day. The seventh day is the day of rest. God set the pattern of working for six days and resting for one day. In the seventh month Jews celebrate the Feast of Trumpets (“Rosh Hashanah”), the Day of Atonement (“Yom Kippur”), and the Feast of Booths (“Succoth”). Seven is regarded as sacred and the number of completion. Peter asked Jesus how often he ought to forgive those who sinned against him, seven times? Jesus replied seventy times seven (Matthew 18:21, 22). Jesus is calling Peter to unending, complete forgiveness.

So how significant was it that the Jews ...

Having provided sexual addiction screening for the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations (AFLC) for the past nine years, I have screened my share of pastors who are living double lives, one public and one private. The public life the pastor presents is sinless, competent, and spiritual. The private one is secretive, sinful, and ashamed. Were he found out, the double life pastor is convinced he would be fired by the congregation on the spot. Unfortunately there is some truth behind that fear for some congregations have done exactly that. Perhaps it would be wise to explore how pastors begin leading double lives in the first place. My observation from counseling pastors and having been a pastor for over 30 years has given me a unique ...

A question I frequently ask myself is, “why do I do what I do? What drives me to say or act the way I do?” If all actions and words are produced in response to a thought in the mind, what drives the thoughts I think? My theory, and it is a theory, is that unbiblical, sinful thoughts are the result of fears. Underneath those fears are lies we have believed, lies about ourselves, others, or God. So often we take control of our lives because we don’t trust God. We don’t trust Him to provide for us, protect us, or love us. Here are three of the most common fears we have:

1. Fear of being harmed by others. This fear leads us to feel insecure and suspicious of others and their motives. This fear is based in the lie that ...
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Probably the word that I hear most frequently from wives whose husbands are caught up in pornography is betrayal. It feels like a betrayal to them. Why? The common thinking in our culture is that porn viewing is a “victimless crime.” Men say to me, “I’m only hurting myself and if I want to hurt myself I will.” That flies in the face of what their wives think. It feels like a betrayal to them because it IS a betrayal. Viewing pornography is disloyalty to the wife to whom you vowed your faithfulness “for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.” The marriage covenant with its vow of faithfulness to one another has been broken.

The Greek word for betrayal in the New ...