When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not
By Russ Lackey | Mark Mattes
01/20/26
19mins

When Religion Becomes Obsolete, Christ Does Not

American religion did not become optional because the gospel failed. It became optional because religion slowly redefined itself around usefulness.
Behold the Lamb
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
01/19/26

Behold the Lamb

The Passover wasn’t just Israel’s story; it’s ours.
Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies
Steven Paulson
Steven Paulson
01/16/26

Psalm 12, Part 2: The Saint Fails, The Word Purifies

God makes us pure saints by planting us back in the earth we imagined we needed to escape.

All Articles

Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
07/12/23

A Rose Among Thorns

Grace comes for every foolish, self-absorbed sinner, for every “Nabal,” and announces that there is one who has already taken it upon himself to shoulder all of our wrongdoing, paying the price for it through the sacrifice of himself.
Sam P. Schuldheisz
Sam P. Schuldheisz
07/11/23

Law and Gospel and the Imagination

When properly distinguishing law and gospel in the Word of God, it is important to use the God-given gift and abilities of the imagination as your ears.
Pete Lange
Pete Lange
07/05/23

Fields of Gold

As Luther said, “Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection not in books alone, but in every leaf of spring.”
John Bombaro
John Bombaro
06/28/23

Pastoral Presence Makes All the Difference

Christ Jesus brings his word and presence to where you are and he is even willing to do so through the likes of your personally present pastor.
Donavon Riley
Donavon Riley
06/27/23

Ice Baths for Lost Sheep

The Parable of the Lost Sheep bursts through the confines of convention and demands that we embrace the messiness of life and the unpredictable ways in which God's grace and forgiveness operates.
Gerhard Forde
Gerhard Forde
06/15/23

Sin Will Have No Dominion

We live for the most part, on the strength of our moral fiber, under the law, by our zeal for God and all that which tickles our proud fancy.
Bradley Gray
Bradley Gray
06/14/23

Resumes of Weakness

His successes were not the result of his brilliance, might, and ability as an apostle. They were the result of the all-sufficient grace of God.
Amy Mantravadi
Amy Mantravadi
06/06/23

The Word from Outside

What I desperately needed was not to preach to myself, but to listen to a preacher—not to take myself in hand, but to be taken in the hands of the Almighty.
Katie Koplin
Katie Koplin
06/02/23

God's Faithful Deliverance

Just like for Mordecai and Esther, our lives are also sustained by the hand of God in the ordinary, in events begging to be seen as the work of Christ in our lives.
Bruce Hillman
Bruce Hillman
06/01/23

Why Do You Expect So Little of God?

When we forget that we live by promise, that's when the danger tends to creep in. Because failing to embrace promise means we usually fall back into notions of luck, or even worse--into works.
1517 Staff
1517 Staff
05/25/23

When You Have Him

God is the end of living, the destination, the point of it all.
Jake Allstaedt
Jake Allstaedt
05/24/23

A Near-Death Experience and a Nagging Question

Jesus is the only answer to the nagging question. He is the only way to make sense of this unsettling story in Exodus 4.
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