Friend, Foe, or Faux? Discerning True and False Believers
Discerning Between the Three Characters of 1 John 1 John is all about fellowship with God, which is possible through Jesus Christ and life in the Spirit (1:1–4). The Apostle John describes life in the Spirit through the abiding “anointing” (2:27) and abiding “seed” (3:9) of God before speaking explicitly about the abiding Holy Spirit […]
Stuff We Don’t Want to Talk About
Inspired by Ronni’s refusal to record on a particular topic, Jared Wilson and Ronni Kurtz discuss the things they don’t want to discuss. Consider this the Banned Episodes episode. What topics feel “off limits?” What subjects do we feel out of our depth about? What issues do we just want to avoid? And why?
Following Jesus into Hard Places
“To move to a place like this—that girl must be Xena: Warrior Princess.” I heard the compliment, if that’s what you’d call it, in echoes through the stairwell of our new home. We were planning to move in a few months and had come to visit our landing place—an apartment building that housed a tiny […]
Is It Wrong to See Jesus in the Old Testament?
One of the first things we learn when it comes to reading the Bible is to never make a text say something the author did not intend to say. The technical term for this is authorial intent. However, we are also taught that the whole Bible is about Jesus. We learn that every page—Old Testament […]
Catching Up with Ross Ferguson
Guess who’s back? No, it’s not Slim Shady. It’s our dearly beloved former cohost Ross Ferguson. This time back in the guest chair, Ross catches up with Jared Wilson on his most recent ministry season in Canada and how the Lord has been blessing him and his family.
Rejoicing in the Day of Small Things
The “Small Things” of Pastoral Care If you asked a pastor or elder to describe how he tends the flock, he’d likely mention phone calls, coffee conversations, prayers, hospital visits, text messages—a lot of small, ordinary things.[1] The simplicity of these activities sometimes calls into question their effectiveness, and the repetition of doing them year […]
The Joy of Being a Sender
My local church just entered its second full year of covenantal gathering and worship. During a recent members meeting, the elders called for the church to enter a time of prayer and fasting for some specific needs. Among the typical needs of a young church plant—such as stronger finances, a stable location, and faithful vision […]
FTC Mailbag
Jared Wilson and Ronni Kurtz dive back into that bag of indeterminate color, the FTC Mailbag! Answering your submitted questions and topics, the guys discuss age gaps between staff pastors, baptizing nonverbal churchfolk, how to share concerns with a pastor, what to do if your pastor is having AI write his sermons, and more. You can always send us a question or topic via [email protected]
Standing Firm Against the Enemy of Your Soul
I once heard a pastor say, “The enemy of your soul hates you.” You probably hear sermons and social media clips about how much God loves you—and rightly so, for He does indeed love you. Yet it is also important to hear about the other side of the coin: the devil hates you. There are […]
The Hope of the Resurrection in Rejection
“What’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” This is simply a way of saying: What’s good for one person ought to be enough for another. Such is a running theme of Jesus’ ministry. Jesus told His disciples, on more than one occasion, that they would be tried, tested, hated, and persecuted for […]