Posts with the category “a-word-from-the-well”

The Fatal Flaw of Other WorldviewsAs we finish this series on the problem of pain, we must look at where these different ideas lead us. Every human worldview offers an explanation for why suffering exists. However, simple explanations cannot heal a broken heart.Atheism explains pain as an unavoidable, meaningless accident of nature. Eastern Mysticism tells you that your grief is just an illusion t...  Read More

The Reality of Common GraceOne of the most common questions skeptics ask is: If God is all-powerful, why doesn't He simply step in and stop every single bad thing before it happens? When we ask this, we must first recognize that, generally speaking, that is exactly what God is doing every single day. The Bible teaches an important idea called common grace. This means that God actively restrains, o...  Read More

The Truth About Moral EvilWhen we see the massive amount of suffering in our world, it is easy to think of evil as something outside of us. We imagine evil as a dark, invisible force hiding in the shadows of the world. But the Bible forces us to look inside ourselves. Evil is not just "out there"—it is a human capacity. It is the strong desire in humans to act against the character and plans of a ...  Read More

How the World Answers the Problem of EvilEvery system of thought has a way to explain the tension between a powerful creator and the reality of human suffering. To understand why the Christian view is unique, it helps to see how other common worldviews try to answer this question:Atheism takes a purely physical approach. It simplifies the problem by saying that God does not exist. To an atheist, e...  Read More

The Single Greatest ChallengeEvery believer, at some point in their journey of faith, struggles with the reality of human suffering. When we experience personal tragedy or see terrible things happening in the world, we always ask the same question: If God is so good, why do I feel so bad?A famous Christian teacher named Dr. John Stott once wrote:“The fact of suffering undoubtedly constitutes the s...  Read More

A Different Kind of ApologeticsA teenager asks, “If God is good, why did my mother die?”A university student asks, “Who made God?”A coworker quietly says, “I tried church once. It didn’t help.”Questions like these make many Christians nervous. Not because the questions are foolish, but because they are deeply human. Behind many hard questions is not simply curiosity. There is often pain, disappoin...  Read More

Thoughts on the Life of EzekielThere are some jobs you should think carefully about before accepting.If there were ever an advertisement recruiting Old Testament prophets, you would want to read the fine print very carefully.Because God was not embarrassed to ask a great deal from His prophets.Sometimes He asked them to speak words no one wanted to hear. Sometimes He asked them to stand alone. Som...  Read More

Thoughts on the Book of Ruth There are seasons in life when everything important seems to fall apart at once.Not slowly. Not in stages. All at once.A loss you did not expect. A future that suddenly narrows. A quiet sense that what once felt stable is now uncertain. And in those moments, a question rises—sometimes quietly, sometimes with force:Where is God in this?Not in theory. In this.The book of...  Read More

More Thoughts on Luke 16:1-13Jesus tells a strange story in Luke 16. And something about feels wrong, at least at first — the kind that gives Sunday School teachers a mild migraine. It is about a dishonest manager who, despite being a scoundrel, ends up being commended.Let’s look at the story.There was once a rich man who discovered his manager had been playing fast and loose with the books. The n...  Read More

Luke 16:1-13 (a retelling)There was once a rich man.This is not exactly a plot twist. There is always a rich man or two around.This particular rich man had a manager, whose job was to keep an eye on oil, wheat, and, most importantly, numbers. Numbers, when left unsupervised, are notorious for wandering off and shrinking.And then the rumors began. Not formal accusations at first. Something quieter....  Read More

Reflections on Luke 10:25-37The road from Jerusalem to Jericho was not the kind of place you walked without thinking.It was narrow. It was exposed. And it had a reputation.On this particular day, it also had a man lying in the dust—beaten, robbed, and left with just enough life to know he might not keep it.He needed help.That part was not complicated.The Ones Who Saw—and Passed ByThe first to come...  Read More

What Peter SawThere is something easy to miss when reading about Peter.It is not just what he says.It is not just what he does.It is what he sees.At certain moments, the Gospels slow down and tell us exactly that. Peter saw something. And when he did, something shifted.Not around him.Within him.And that shift, more often than not, led him off course.When Peter Saw HimselfIt begins with a miracle.T...  Read More

When Failure Is Not FinalReflections on John 21What Jesus Did for PeterPeter failed.Not in a small, tidy way that can be explained later with a shrug and a better plan. Not the sort of failure that politely keeps itself in the background.No—Peter failed at the exact moment when courage was required, loyalty was expected, and silence would have been far safer.He had spoken boldly. Promised loudly. ...  Read More

Reflections on John 20Many people think that if something is true, it should be obvious.If the evidence is clear, we expect to understand it and respond the right way.But people do not always work that way.We do not just see reality; we interpret it through our expectations. If our expectations are off, our understanding will be too.John 20 makes this clear.The resurrection has already happened. J...  Read More

A Bible Story About ResurrectionThe Problem: Death Enters the WorldIn the beginning, God made the world.God made the sky.God made the land.God made the animals.And God made people.God made people in His image.This means people were special.They could know God.They could walk with God.They could live with God.At the beginning, everything was good.There was no death.There was no pain.There was no fe...  Read More

A reflection on John 18John chapter 18 takes place in one of the most riveting moments in the gospel story. That quiet opening, “When he had finished praying, Jesus... crossed the Kidron Valley”, sets the stage for a dramatic sequence of events.It is dark.Soldiers arrive with weapons and torches.Religious leaders maneuver behind the scenes.A Roman Governor must make a political decision.Crowds wil...  Read More

Reading John 18–19 with new clarityWhen we read the Gospel of John 18–19, it can feel like everything is unraveling.Jesus is arrested.He is questioned, mocked, and handed over to be crucified.At first glance, it looks like a tragic collapse.But when you pay attention to how John structures these two chapters, you begin to see that he is doing something far more deliberate.He structures the trial b...  Read More

Reflections on John 17Imagine hearing the private prayer of someone you love just before they leave for good. Not a public prayer. Not something polished or formal. Just an honest conversation with God.In moments like that, people reveal what matters most.That’s what makes John 17 so remarkable. It records the longest prayer of Jesus in the Gospels, spoken just before His arrest. The cross is only...  Read More

When a pastor is preparing a message (if he’s serious about what he’s doing), he does a significant amount of work that does not always show up in his sermon.This week at The Well, we continue our “survey” series on the Gospel of John.This Sunday, chapter 17. So, I have decided to “show my work.” and write a few of my preliminary observations (literary, theological, logical, structural) on John 17...  Read More

(A reflection on John 16)Most of us carry a quiet assumption about faith.If we follow Jesus…If we obey…If we trust God…Life should get easier.But what happens when it doesn’t?What happens when following Jesus actually makes life more complicated?When obedience creates tension?When our faith leads to confusion?When doing what Jesus asked puts you at odds with people you respect?John 16 is written f...  Read More

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What Does Abiding Look Like in Ordinary Life?There it is. Clear as day, right there in Red Letters. “Abide in me.” Sounds like it should be simple. But if you ask most Christians how to “abide,” something tightens inside them. We know it is important, but it sounds a bit intense — like long hours of prayer, constant spiritual focus, a life where our attention never drifts from Jesus. And because o...  Read More

It has been a long time, but somewhere in those first few years of my education, I came across prepositions. Prepositions, I was told, are the “hardware” of a language. Like fasteners and hinges and doorknobs, sentences do not hang together without them. Good literature doesn’t happen without prepositions. As a student, they were hard to figure out. As a literacy tutor and an EAL instructor on occ...  Read More

A few days ago, I sat in a hospital room beside a friend. He had just come out of surgery to remove a cancerous thyroid. He wasn’t supposed to talk (instructions that are hard to follow for a professional speaker). So, he feigned compliance when the medical staff was present. As I sat close, we examined the scar together. He seemed thankful for it, because he was wise enough to know what it repres...  Read More

Thoughts on John 1:1–18Most Christmas stories begin the same way.A town.A census.A journey.A baby.They begin close to the ground.But when John tells the Christmas story, he begins somewhere else entirely. He begins before the ground existed at all. He begins before the beginning.“In the beginning was the Word.”Before there was a world to fix, there was the Word. Before there were people to rescue,...  Read More

Thoughts on Luke 2:1-20I have a confession to make. If I were in charge of the arrival of joy, I would plan it very carefully. I would choose the right lighting, the best music, the perfect venue. Joy would show up at just the right moment—when the house was clean, distractions were minimal, and the audience was hungry.But God did not ask for my advice. And he certainly did not ask for my permissi...  Read More

Thoughts on Luke 2:1–20Joy is one of the words we use most during Advent. We put it on cards, sing it in our carols, hang it in bright letters across our living rooms. But for many of us, joy feels fragile—something that slips away the moment life becomes complicated. And life, as we know, rarely stays simple.That’s why Luke’s account of the first Christmas is such good news. Joy didn’t arrive in ...  Read More

Thoughts on Lukea 2:29Sovereign LordIn Luke 2:29, Simeon holds the baby Jesus and begins to sing:"Sovereign Lord, as youhave promised,Now dismiss Your servant in peace."The Greek word translated “Sovereign Lord” is despotēs (pronounced DES-po-tace). This word can sound harsh to modern ears because our English word “despot” means a cruel ruler. But the Bible uses the word very differently. Understa...  Read More

Thoughts on Luke 2:22–39At approximately 11 AM on April 30, 1975, North Vietnamese tank number 390 crashed through the gates of the Presidential Palace in Saigon. Within hours, Hanoi radio declared that the nation had been reunited and peace had come to Vietnam.But sometimes peace arrives quietly.No trumpet blasts. No diesel engines pouring out black smoke. No headlines. No fireworks. Just a baby ...  Read More

Hope is an Advent word. Not a weak wish. Not shallow optimism. Not a sentiment written on a card in gold foil.Biblically, hope is something far stronger, sturdier.And more demanding.Hope is the decision to trust God’s promises in the face of circumstances that seem to contradict every single one of them.That’s why the book of Isaiah speaks so powerfully into Advent. By the time we reach chapters 4...  Read More

Walk into any bookstore’s “Spirituality” section and you could easily conclude that Christianity is simply one shelf among many. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, humanism, New Age practices, and dozens more all claim to guide us toward truth, peace, or the divine.It’s no surprise, then, that people these days often assemble their own belief systems, borrowing bits and pieces—some Jesus here, some Buddhi...  Read More

John 3:16 - The Good NewsThere are more than 7,000 languages spoken in the world. And we all speak at least one of them. That means that all of us know that words are important. It is important to understand what words mean and when and how to use them. I don't know if you have noticed, but as followers of Jesus, we have our own vocabulary. Christians use words when they talk to one another that y...  Read More

Thoughts on Romans 16:16, 1 Peter 4: 8-9, and Romans 15:7We spent the early fall moving from “me” to “we”—reshaping the architecture of our lives to make space for people. We called that series of messages: Community Under Construction. There were so many “One Another” passages to cover, we couldn’t talk about them all. But here are a few more. Even though I did not include them in our series at T...  Read More

More Thoughts on the GospelWhat Is the Gospel?Many churches in the Western world are becoming divided. Because of this, many Christians do not share the same understanding of the gospel. Some people know only a small part of the gospel. Others mix it with ideas that do not belong to it.One of the clearest and most interesting answers to this question came at a conference I attended. The message wa...  Read More

Thoughts on the GospelWhat is the gospel? And how, exactly, should we define it?That seems like it should be an easy question to answer. But surprisingly, Christians don’t always agree. And sometimes, their disagreements can be quite heated.Some Christians say the gospel is only the message that sinners can be forgiven through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Others say the gospel also includes the ...  Read More

Thoughts on Galatians 5:13; Galatians 6:2: Ephesians 6:18Happiness is one of those elusive things we all chase but struggle to define. Neuroscientists can now track the brain’s activity when we experience joy, but knowing what makes us happy is still up for debate. Marketers will tell you it’s prosperity. The more we have, the happier we’ll be.But the research says otherwise. Today we are four tim...  Read More

Thoughts on Romans 12:10; Philippians 2:3-4; 1 Peter 5:5Decades ago, scientist Richard Dawkins wrote the book, The Selfish Gene. His point was that genetic material is wired to act in its own interest.Whether or not you buy Dawkin’s science, the title is memorable—and in a way, true. Human beings are bent toward self-interest.Call it the selfish gene, the flesh, or the old self. Whatever name you ...  Read More

Thoughts on Colossians 3:16; Romans 15:14, Hebrews 10:24-25Several years ago, a young counselor named Isaac tried to reach a seventeen-year-old drowning in addiction. Every conversation bounced off the boy’s defenses. Isaac felt the ache many of us know—I can see where this is going, I want to help, but I can’t get through. Out of that heartache he wrote the song “How to Save a Life.” The song res...  Read More

Thoughts on Reformation MonthA causal visit to The Well website provides a brief description of Our Church. The first sentence of that description reads: THE WELL International Church is an unaffiliated English-speaking Protestant church serving Ho Chi Minh City’s expatriate community.The Well is a Protestant Church. That word Protestant sets the church apart in some ways, as it implies what we ar...  Read More

Thoughts on the One Another Passages in the New TestamentOne of Paul’s most frequent themes is the need for the people of God to live together in unity. He emphasizes that in a number of ways, but one of his most frequent is by the repeated use of the term ‘one another.’ One word in the language Paul, it shows up a lot. But he is not the only one who seasoned his letters with that bit of vocabular...  Read More