Only one question was submitted this week, but it’s a doozie: “I have often heard that we will not make it to heaven if we are not perfect or holy.  The Bible does say for us to be perfect and holy.  But, does God have a different definition of “Holy and Perfect” than man?  Because [...]

A CLCer asked: “What is the difference between praise & worship?”
Good question.  In my humble opinion, you’ve hit on one of those areas where preachers sometimes make more out of something than Scripture does.  By that I mean that I’ve heard teachings about this and read a lot of different opinions about this (Google it and [...]

I’ve been doing this feature each Friday for several months, but last week no one submitted a question…until this afternoon.  So here goes, just a little later than usual:
Someone who heard today’s message asked: why do you think that God allowed or had to allow Peter to see the vision with the “unclean animals” three [...]

Here’s a great question: What guilt-trip does the enemy use on Christians more than perhaps any other?
From my perspective after pastoring for 36 years, I’d say it’s the guilt we often feel about our prayer life.  It seems that all of us as believers know that prayer is somehow supposed to be an integral part of our everyday [...]

What advice would they give to an emerging (just getting started) minister?

Pray and obey.  Nothing is more important that you personally hearing from the Lord and responding to His instructions.  Don’t be a people-pleaser; always remember that you are serving an Audience of One.  Seriously, I think that bit of advice would make everything [...]

OK….I asked for questions, and I got questions!  (Actually, it’s for a school assignment from one of our CLCers who’s pursuing a seminary degree…but that’s ok.)  Here goes, a series of 4 questions (I’ll save the last one for a future post):

How do you define “disciple” or “discipleship”?

A disciple is someone who is following Christ daily.  [...]

The  only question I received this week was from a CLCer who wanted to know why we don’t celebrate Communion more frequently.  This is a question that we hear often, so here goes:
From my understanding of Scripture, there is no New Testament directive regarding the frequency that a believer should receive Communion.  (I’d be the [...]

Here’s the latest question I’ve received: what recomendation do you have on how to study the Bible? I find myself jumping around hoping the Lord will just point me where I should go.
Excellent question!  And what a common problem - I think a lot of believers would have to admit to ‘jumping around’.  Here’s my [...]

After I’d written the previous post, I received another great question (which officially closes the Wild Goose Chase giveaway for CLCers) - How exactly do you fulfill the Commandment to ‘honor your father and mother’, when your parent is seemingly undeserving of honor?  I know the Godly thing to do is to forgive, seek peace within and [...]

Some great questions were submitted this week, including this one: In the book of John who is the person that is referred to as “the one Jesus Loved” and what is the significance of referring to that person with that phrase?
I think all the scholars are in agreement on this one: “the one Jesus loved” is [...]