Worship: Responding to God’s Voice

Several weeks ago I wrote that art does not create truth, but “uncovers truth,” as an artist chisels away stone.  In other words, art discovers truth, but does not create it.  Whatever the form, it is important that art never gets so self-consumed that it loses sight of the original Source of Truth. On the other hand, maybe even “uncovering” is giving ourselves … Read More

Sanctification: God’s Role Is More Important

Followers of Jesus should have an insatiable desire to become more like Jesus and are never satisfied with the status quo. We should want to be separate from surrounding sin, and without a doubt, distinct from the crowd. Although we are born and raised in a crowd of sinners, our life’s goal should be to step out of that crowd … Read More

Medium vs. the Message

Although I haven’t read much of Karl Barth’s writings, thanks to Richard Mouw’s blog, I discovered these deeply penetrating ideas in his Prayer and Preaching.  Among many other pieces of advice, Barth offers the following advice regarding preaching: Do not indulge in allegory; exercising one’s talents on the Word hinders it from sounding out clearly. One should also beware of … Read More

Postmodern Theology

“Tom Beaudoin reveals four themes that shape the theology of many Postmoderns: (1) all institutions are suspect; (2) personal experience is everything; (3) suffering is spiritual; and (4) ambiguity is a central element of faith.”   (source) To respond to each of these, it would seem that the Church should:  (1) embrace people more than programs; (2) focus on interactive, … Read More

Be Contagious

To be effective as ministers of the Gospel, we must be contagious. God’s Truth needs to be something that we breathe, something that we ache with, something that we love. If we don’t feel it within our soul, we desperately need to ask ourselves why. Whatever our ministry, we need to passionately live out the Gospel. We are not living … Read More

The Artist’s Role in Theology

When it comes to truth, creativity can be disastrous. My son, for example, used to think that he could leap off a balcony and fly. He really believed he was a superhero, so thankfully, we had a chance to correct him before he tried! Although it was a creative idea, without a doubt, my son had no say when it … Read More

Imagining God

Theology is different from other “ologies” in the sense that if we only engage our subject intellectually, we miss the mark. We may understand hundreds of propositions about God, but if our imaginations are not involved in the process, I would say that we have failed. (By imagination I mean “envisioning what we do not rationally know.”) Over at Signs … Read More

New Worship EP!

My new worship EP is now available for purchase online.  You can download tracks, or the entire EP of A Thousand Names, at DiscRevolt.com.  Just click HERE to find the Joel Jupp page!