God’s people have always cried out for deliverance, and God has always answered. But the story of deliverance doesn’t end with a single rescue. It builds through history toward a climactic victory that restores all things.
Tag Archives: theology
We Can Read the Weather But Are We Missing the Kingdom?
Jesus once looked at a crowd of people who had mastered weather forecasting and said something startling: “You hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky and of the earth; but how is it that you do not discern this time?” They could read clouds but couldn’t recognize that God’s kingdom had arrived in their midst.
Christ Our Covenant Keeper
Christ stands at the center of this covenant story as both the covenant keeper and the One who secures our place in God’s covenant community. He lived the faithfulness Israel failed to demonstrate, died the death covenant breakers deserved, and rose to guarantee our inheritance.
Humanity’s Search for True Riches
The world continues searching for what we have already found. Our lives should demonstrate the satisfaction that comes from treasures stored in heaven, the security that rests in relationship with God, and the generosity that flows from knowing we are rich beyond measure in the One who gave Himself for us.
A Forgotten Act of Worship: Intercessory Prayer
How do we model Jesus as the perfect intercessor? We recover intercession as worship. When we pray for others, we participate in Christ’s ongoing ministry. When we stand in the gap for someone’s marriage, someone’s prodigal child, someone’s salvation, we worship by caring about what God cares about.
Intercessory prayer transforms our hearts. We stop seeing people as problems to avoid and start seeing them as people to pray for. We move beyond self-focused prayer to God-glorifying prayer. We align our hearts with Christ, who “ever lives to make intercession” for us (Hebrews 7:25).
Come and Dine: Hospitable Worshipers
The Scriptures weave together a stunning truth that speaks directly into our moment: God is the original host whose hospitality is part of His very nature. Before any human ever wrestled with who to welcome, God was already making room for all who would enter. All who call God Father at one point have been the outsider, the stranger who had no right to belong. I don’t have the answer, but I know looking into God’s Word will help us discover what it means to be hospitable worshipers in a world that has forgotten how to welcome.
Worship That Takes the Long View
When we gather as the church, those who lead worship must point believers to the long arc of God’s work. Christians panic because they have a short view. They unleash vitriol and sometimes violence because of fear, fear that comes from a small view of God’s work in the world. Biblical characters and honorable statesmen have always shared a similar trait: they lived (and sometimes died) for results that would often outlive them. They understood that their role was to be faithful in their generation while trusting God with the outcomes across generations. This should be true for all Christians, and that ideal is rooted in the gospel itself. The gospel teaches us that God’s ultimate victory was won not through political maneuvering or policy reform, but through the cross, an event that looked like defeat but was actually the decisive triumph over sin and death. Before we act out in panic or political rage, we should ask ourselves: Does this serve the gospel? Does this advance the eternal kingdom? Does my response demonstrate trust in the King whose kingdom cannot be shaken?
Is Your Worship Life Plumb?
God’s plumb line reveals that true worship is both structured and spontaneous, both traditional and transformational. It begins with humble submission to God’s revealed ways and leads to supernatural freedom in following Jesus wherever He calls. When God measures our worship with His plumb line, He looks for hearts that are aligned with His truth, lives that demonstrate His love, and communities that reflect His character.
The Need for More Worship Leaders to Be Theologians
“When worship leaders embrace their calling as worship theologians, worship becomes a powerful vehicle for both gospel proclamation and disciple formation. You get to create experiences that don’t just inspire temporary emotions but instruct lasting faith, don’t just encourage momentary feelings but equip lifelong discipleship.”
The Rhythm of Worship and Citizenship: Finding God’s Heart for Our Nation
When our worship shapes our citizenship this way, we become the kind of people any nation would be blessed to have, and the kind of people God can use to be a blessing to our nation.
Josh Cehulik 