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

Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/12/15

Hollywood, Nashville, and the Lord's Supper

That hunger to connect with one who is greater than we are will be satisfied only in the one who created that hunger within us in the first place.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
01/07/15

Honky-Tonk Baptism: Carrie Underwood’s “Something in the Water”

When the Holy Spirit finally gave me a fresh set of ears, I heard—really heard—what He’d been saying all along. Baptism really does save.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/24/14

Everything I Needed to Know About Vocation I Learned at the Lord's Supper

We usually understand vocation in a very narrow sense; it’s your job, your “calling.” Vocation, however, is not so much what you do for a living but what Christ does through you for the living. It’s a 24/7 calling, not a 9 to 5 occupation.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/16/14

Taking the Road More Traveled By: The Benefit of Tradition in the Church

Ultimately, however, I fell in love with traditions—and specifically, traditional worship—for a single, overarching reason: its components, to varying degrees, are all in the service of the Gospel.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/08/14

Here's What Happened on the Day of My Funeral

The pastor put a hand over my mouth, another between my shoulder blades, and backward I fell into the dark waters, buried beneath Noah's flood, the Red Sea, Jordan's stream, all the way down into a borrowed tomb outside Jerusalem where a crucified man lay waiting for me.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
11/06/14

The Death of the Sons of David

Yet as we mourn, but unlike those who have no hope, so also we repent, but unlike those who have no absolution. For we though we weep, there is a hand that dries all tears.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/20/14

Looking for the Church? Follow the Trail of Blood

O little flock, fear not the foe, for at your head is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for you.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/19/14

Joseph and St. Patrick: God’s Unexpected Missionaries

We may seem destitute of hope, but the hope of Christ is stronger than our weakness.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
10/15/14

The Two Most Important Days in Your Life. And Why Mark Twain Was Wrong

Your primary purpose in life is having something done to you. God created you in order that He might have someone to give to, to bless, to love, to nurture, to save, to give Himself to.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/25/14

I Believe in One Holy Christian and Apostolic Facebook

A little bit of vulnerability amongst Christians would go a long way toward giving a witness to the world about what the church is really here for.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/22/14

A Victim's Shame

Wouldn’t it be great if there were something that could de-shame us?
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
09/19/14

Jesus and the Parable of the Horse's Mouth

When I revisit in my mind the very long list of stupid, mean, selfish things I’ve done, every one of them began with me saying something I shouldn’t have.
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