The Kingdom of God is not just a place, but the reign and rule of God breaking into our world through Jesus. In this post, Pastor Ritch gives 24 bullet points—things that the Bible teaches us about the Kingdom.

In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul explains that the church can know for certain that that haven’t missed the second coming because there will be two notable and observable events that will precede Christ’s return. And no matter what they hear again in the future—from a spirit, a [false] teacher, or even in a letter claiming to be from Paul—unless they see these two signs, they can know that Christ has not yet come…followed by the unmistakable return of Jesus.

A church constitution explains how a church organizes. It provides the answers to basic questions about how a church operates. Questions like: Does the church have membership? What do the members do? How do they become members? Who’s responsible for church decisions? How do leaders become recognized as leaders? Who decides how the church will spend its money? What happens to the church’s assets if it permanently closes?

If you are a believer today, then you are—by virtue of your belief in Christ—a member of the Universal Church. But as we continue to read through this letter, it becomes clear that Paul is giving instructions that cannot possibly be accomplished by individual believers on a global scale. In other words, the NT instructions for the church can only be meaningfully accomplished on a smaller scale—in local communities. These smaller groups or communities are called local churches.

Have you ever wondered what the Bible has to say about Angels & Demons? Pastor Ritch unpacks this biblical topic by searching through passage of the Old and New Testament in the sermon titled “Angels & Demons. This article contains a handful of bullet-points from that sermon.

We believe that both men and women were created by God as image-bearers of Him. This means that we are all seen as equal in value in God’s eyes. Man is not greater than woman, nor woman greater than man.

But God designed men and women for gender-specific roles in the home and in the church. In the home, the woman is commanded to help, respect, and submit to her husband, and the man is commanded to provide for, protect, and shepherd his wife.

At The Mission Church we affirm both the Old and New Testament teaching that—according to God’s design—sexual activity is only permissible within the bond of marriage between one man and one woman. The Bible repeatedly explains that any sexual practice that deviates from this design is the result of people dishonoring both God AND their own bodies.

This is a working list of "Pre-Pentecost Prophets" I have been compiling over the past few years. This includes any person (or group of people) who — before the day of Pentecost — is referred to as 1) a prophet, 2) a prophetess, 3) a false prophet/false prophetess, 4) an oracle, 5) a seer, 6) or are indicated to have been believed to be authoritatively speaking to people on God's behalf.

Perhaps one of the clearest one-liners in the Bible (concerning salvation) can be found in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

Sounds clear, right? I think it is. What, then, do we do with this verse in James 2?

Perhaps one of the clearest one-liners in the Bible (concerning salvation) can be found in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

Sounds clear, right? I think it is. What, then, do we do with this verse in James 2?

Perhaps one of the clearest one-liners in the Bible (concerning salvation) can be found in Paul’s letter to the Romans:

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” (Romans 3:28)

Sounds clear, right? I think it is. What, then, do we do with this verse in James 2?

Christians are commanded by God to not sin (Matthew 5:48, 1 Corinthians 15:34). No Christian ever has—or ever will—be able to obey this command perfectly. It is only by the grace of God that the punishment due for our sins has been paid for in Christ's death on the cross. Yet over the last 2,000 years of world history there have been many times when civil authorities have demanded that Christians violate God's law…

This is a list of “fear of the Lord” verses that I have been compiling. Enjoy!

No authority under Christ is absolute. God has given clear and unmistakable limits to every kind of ruler today. It would be wise for Christians to understand these things more clearly. Here are a few thoughts to consider: To begin with, Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2 do not authorize civil authorities to rule with absolute authority.

In this video, Pastor Ritch summarizes the doctrine of "Sphere Sovereignty". This is a summary video from the sermon series titled, "God and Government". For more information, you can watch all seven of those sermons on our YouTube channel.

There is racism in America—it is wicked—and needs to be dealt with.

Almost everybody agrees with those three starting premises. But there is huge disagreement about how we ought to go about it. The battle-lines have been drawn, and it seems clear to me Christians are arguing over two possible Christian responses:  BLM or the Gospel. That’s right you CANNOT have both. You can only pick one.

Last Sunday I preached on the introduction to the book of Hebrews. In my studies I did a bunch of research on determining the author of this famous NT epistle. Honestly, we can’t be certain. But over the centuries there has been considerable discussion on whether or not Paul wrote Hebrews. Here are some of my notes on reasons for and against Pauline authorship of Hebrews.

Blaise Pascal was a French philosopher who lived in the mid 17th century. He is often remembered for “Pascal’s Wager” in which he argues that we all BET OUR LIVES ON whether or not God exists. If God does exist, then there would be MAXIMAL loss for the one who denied Him. But if God does not exist there will be MINIMAL loss for the Christian. Therefore, Pascal argues…the Christian faith is a “good bet”.

This past Sunday, in the sermon on Ephesians 6:10-20, I spent much of our time trying to help us all see what the Bible says/warns about Satan. Here is a list of the scriptures I referenced during that sermon (plus a few that didn’t make it into the sermon):

Laura and I often get questions this time of year about the kind of family traditions we have established to help point our kids to the real meaning of Christmas. This week Laura posted a recipe on her foodie blog (JoyFoodSunshine.com) and she added the following section on what we do as a family. I hope it can be helpful for you!