For Christ to exert His supremacy as Head of the Church, He must have supremacy as Head of the family (1 Cor 11:3). Thus, the ecclesiology of a church ought to demonstrate an understanding of the church’s ‘filial DNA’. Filial means what is befitting of a son or daughter. Our sonship in Christ ought to be mirrored in our spiritual parenting of our children. We ought to ask, ‘is our church made up of Christ-centered families in which fathers are shepherding their families’? Rather than merely, ‘is the church relevant for the family’? Indeed, a church is a family of families. It is a corporate family made up of smaller individual families. Both the church and the family are created to be cohesive units vivified and ruled by Christ.

In terms of belief, a conviction is the mental state of being convinced—the fixed state of belief. To hold a conviction is to ‘be held by’ an unshakeable belief without need of further proof or evidence (see Hebrews 11:1-3). Biblical convictions are the very core and foundation of godly character and virtue.

The Great Commission is not only Christ’s mandate for world missions it is also His pattern for the local church (Acts 14:21-22). “After they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, ‘Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God’” (Acts 14:21-22).

Christ is now at the right hand of God, a place of honor and authority. As the God-man, He receives the government of heaven and earth and the church. An administration of power is committed to Him. But He is not a mere passive recipient. He is actively engaged in ruling, protecting and perfecting His church by His Spirit.

Even faithful, Bible-believing Christians can be subject to fears during uncertain times of national and global crises. During chaos and instability true believers tend to become increasingly alert to the importance of doctrine and are eager to treat theology with the importance and practicality it deserves in all seasons (2 Tim 4:2). There is value in exploring the ‘big picture’ themes in eschatology. The apostles and our Lord have expounded these themes to stabilize and prepare the saints for the consummation of the age. God desires that His people grasp the ‘why’ behind the events which lead up to the Day of the Lord. For redemptive history’s consummation is about the King and His kingdom of light dramatically overcoming the worldwide thrall of the kingdom of darkness.

In the context of current culture, ‘woke’ means “alert to racial prejudice and discrimination.” Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as sexism, and has also been used as shorthand for left-wing ideas involving identity politics and social justice.i The following section of this paper (up to, but not including Roman numeral one) expresses how the political left views Biblical Christianity’s convictions on gender and sexuality. What Scripture teaches about gender and sexuality is viewed by the progressives as a form of discrimination known as sexism.

Our godly masculinity is only restored in Christ. Our self-centeredness and passivity have to die in co-crucifixion with Christ in order to be equipped to fulfill Christ’s commands (Gal 2:20). Built into this idea of godly masculinity is a new masculine mandate with Christ Himself as the New Masculine Man and as the Source of the new masculine man (Col 3:9-11ff.). Christ is the prototype of the masculine man. In His person and role as Last Adam, He has the pedigree, and comprehensive resources needed to make us His new creatures

Biblical cosmology is the study of the origin, structure, and purpose of creation. Biblical cosmology gives us the ‘Big Picture’ of things. And, I would like to convince you just how practical big-picture thinking really is. Biblical cosmology gives us God’s glory story—answering the question: why is there a cosmos with people and angels in it? God’s glory story is designed to stagger you, to move you to awe. . .because you were created for this glory. That means if you attempt to slog along in your Christian walk, just grinding out duty and ‘thou shalt nots’, you will feel like you are wearing a yoke. But, when you are feeding on divine glory, it makes obedience easy. Lord willing, I want to make a case in this article that biblical cosmology is an ‘observatory’ for God’s glory.

In Paul’s command to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:13-14, Paul’s understudy, Timothy receives the imperative to ‘guard’ and ‘retain’ the truths entrusted to him. Those verbs certainly infer that this young man will feel the pressure to soften the edges of the truth in order to make it more compatible with the values of his culture. In the Western world today, there is a concerted push to marginalize and ultimately silence the theologizer. In this article, we will explore the strategies being utilized by the powers of darkness to reduce the theologizer to an irrelevant, and ‘toxic pest’ (the apostle Paul was described as a real ‘pest’ in Acts 24:5). In our own culture, one of evil one’s strategies is to vilify the theologizer by labeling him, a dangerous patriarch.

Whether a pastor or a layman, there is a biblical calling upon every Christian man, husband, and father to be a theologizer. Believing men are to be biblical teachers in the body of Christ and in the home—to ‘steward’ of the truth in such a way as to set forth from Scripture the knowledge of God in Christ, the meaning of human existence, and the path of life.