The Consuming Fire and the Holiness That Comes Down
By Bradley Gray
10/02/25
23mins

The Consuming Fire and the Holiness That Comes Down

He doesn’t consume us, even though that is what we deserve. Instead, Jesus comes down to us and consumes all our sin by taking it on himself.
When Pastors Are Abused by Their Congregations
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
10/01/25

When Pastors Are Abused by Their Congregations

This article is the first part of a two-part series. The second part will take a look at when pastors abuse their congregations.
An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/30/25

An Excerpt from Untamed Prayers: Psalm 123 and Psalm 136

The following entries are excerpts from Chad Bird’s new book, Untamed Prayers: 365 Daily Devotions on Christ in the Book of the Psalms (1517 Publishing, 2025), pgs. 311 and 335

All Articles

Dominick Santore
Dominick Santore
08/13/15

Afflicted and Loved

Some days, I stare at the computer screen, haphazardly pecking at my keyboard, wondering where the words will come from or even if the words will ever come again.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
08/12/15

When God Drags His Feet

For most of us, waiting on God is not funny at all. It makes us wonder if he cares. If he has forgotten us. In our darkest hours, many even wonder if the atheists are right, if our prayers are nothing more than sick words vomited into an empty heaven.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
08/03/15

Grace is Not Dead

Grace is uncivilized, vulgar, rebellious. We make rules for it and it breaks them. Grace is a constant embarrassment to the prim and proper religiosity of the squeaky clean.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
07/14/15

When Rumpelstiltskin Teaches Bible Class

This golden age, recorded in this genealogy, is anything but straw. It is a treasure trove of grace, faith, hope, and love.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
07/08/15

On Mount Moriah You Can See the Whole Bible

Jesus was not killed in Bethlehem as a baby, or in Galilee or Samaria as an adult. He couldn’t be, for it was necessary for him to die in Jerusalem, where Moriah is.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
07/07/15

Your Future Is Behind You

In front of us, in the past, is the hill upon which God has already defeated every foe we might face. On that bloody beam the heel of Christ crushed the head of the lying serpent.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/30/15

When the Pulpit Apes the World

The more law-centered a church becomes, the more it and the world become kissing cousins.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/23/15

Families in Turmoil

You may not believe it; you may even scoff at the claim, but here’s the truth: God hears your roar of pain on the other side of your silence. He counts every tear you let escape, or refuse to let go, from the ocean of anguish inside you.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/09/15

What Is the Theology of the Cross?

His glory is made known precisely in the cross, His strength in weakness, His wisdom in folly, His exaltation in humiliation.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/06/15

Sodom and Gomorrah and St. Louis

And there was heard, all round the world, the boom of a pounding hammer. And there resounded, all around the world, the cry of a righteous man who prayed for an unrighteous world.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/02/15

The Sermon Written on the Bottom of Your Pastor’s Feet

The soles of the holy feet of God traverse the soil of the holy land of promise.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
05/22/15

Jesus Is Our Peace

The kind of peace Jesus points to can't be achieved with words.
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