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.

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

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.

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Tyler Cronkright

01/28/21

Why Have You Forsaken Me?

And because Jesus on the cross was sin in its entirety, God cannot look at him. He turns his face away, causing Jesus to cry out in utmost agony, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”

Grant Klembara

01/25/21

Death's End according to Poet John Donne

Out of great pain and suffering often comes goodness, beauty, and truth. John Donne, born on the 22nd of January in 1573, is an excellent example of that for us in his masterful work, Death Be Not Proud.

Craig Donofrio

01/20/21

The Cancel Culture of Grace

When God cancels you, it is an occasion for all of the canceled who are in heaven and earth to rejoice in that one more is added to our number.

Bror Erickson

01/08/21

When Salt Loses it's Taste

Good works do not give us a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. Rather, good works result from righteousness given by the good work of the Righteous One on the cross.

Steven A. Hein

01/07/21

The Man Born to be King

Epiphany celebrates that we have not been left in our hearts’ cold darkness and this spoiled creation.

Jason Lang

01/04/21

Tempted & Delivered

Jesus is our sympathizer, our propitiation, and our advocate. We will be tempted but God will provide the way out, the way out is Jesus, the one who died for our sins.

John W. Hoyum

01/01/21

Dominus Mortis

Perhaps this past year has prompted the recognition that God is not the tame projection of our highest hopes and dreams. Instead, he is the one who uses even his foes to make a point.

Ken Sundet Jones

12/31/20

The Sad State of My Backyard

The setting for Luke 2 is the first century analog to my backyard. The stage is dressed with rust and decay, guilt and shame, sin and death.

Valerie Thur

12/15/20

To Us a Child is Born: Everlasting Father

The well-meaning advice “time heals all wounds” is offensively false when we confront the overwhelming evidence that the constants in our lives are death, taxes, and suffering.

Tyler Cronkright

12/11/20

The Puzzle Of Sin

This is Christmas. It is Jesus becoming all sin from generation to generation.

Bruce Hillman

11/18/20

God’s Coloring Book: Mr. Sketch, Drunken Sailors, and All Things New

God is coloring over your sin and making you fragrant; he is making you righteous in his sight. The old is gone, forever covered over by this new work.

Donavon Riley

11/17/20

Jesus has Overcome Evil

Jesus overcame sin, death, and Satan on the cross. His bloody suffering and death marked this sinful world's defeat.

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