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
07/13/14

Lord, Thee I Love with Half My Heart

I pray Thy name be hallowed, Lord, But want my name to be adored.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
07/08/14

God Doesn't Look for the Right Kind of People to Believe

You think the sower sowed his seed in you because he saw such good soil, such a good, generous, noble person.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
07/03/14

The Math of Mercy

Paul is on a roll. He's adding up all the things that can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ. And the total? Nothing, zilch, zero.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
06/20/14

Go, Old Man, and Sin No More

My life will be unwritten, erased by the hand of mortality. And fool that I am, I stand here threatening to snuff out the life of a woman caught in the act which I have acted out in my heart with a thousand women.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/28/14

Stumbling Over David's Confession: How to Understand "Against You, You Only, I Have Sinned"

For it is His law I have broken, His office in which I have failed, His people against whom I have sinned. All is from Him, so all I have taken, I have taken from Him. All others against whom I have sinned, I have sinned because they are of Him.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/23/14

Call Me Lazarus...One Year Later

I was angry at heaven, at earth, and everything in between, for my life and my love and my hopes had all gone wrong, terribly, irreversibly, wrong.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
05/20/14

The Backstory of “The Infant Priest”: From a Student’s Meditation, to a Scrap of Paper, to a Communion Hymn

I was asked to write one on Hebrews 4:14-16, to be read on Thursday, February 20. Among the finds that Luke and I discovered this weekend was that meditation.
Sam P. Schuldheisz
Sam P. Schuldheisz
05/07/14

Legos and Apologetics: Imagination, Art, and Sub-Creation (Part 4)

But there’s more to this movie than excellent Lego graphics and artistic; in other words, imaginative storytelling.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
04/26/14

Living the Victorious Christian Life at McDonald’s

I sin more in thirty minutes than those of the “victorious Christian life” supposedly sin in thirty years.
04/25/14

Place, Vocation, and Horse-Shoes

An understanding and appreciation of the goodness (and given-ness) of place and family, and the vocations attending each, can of course be taught and learned in a classroom or by means of a book.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
04/24/14

A Catechism on Sacrifice: A Resource for Understanding OT Worship

Leviticus, far from being an esoteric relic from Israel's past, is a Gospel book of the church. It teaches of God's holiness, His love, His sacraments, His worship. It is a book we desperately need to recover. But, yes, it is hard to understand, especially why there is all this focus on sacrifice.
Chad Bird
Chad Bird
04/22/14

Why I Don't Want to Go Back in Time Anymore

The thing is, not only is fixing our past impossible; who’s to say we wouldn’t repeat the same mistakes? In fact, who’s to say we wouldn’t make matters even worse?
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