Christianity says that we are guilty, but we aren’t condemned. Jesus comforts the rightly accused.

What could God do if we used 2018 to reach out beyond social media to the real persons behind the avatars? It would be costlier, yes. But it would be more beautiful and more satisfying. And, in the end, it may be the thing that God uses to bring revival. 

Paul closes his letter to the Romans with a list of greetings. In our Bible study with my brothers of Refuge Church a few weeks ago, we looked at this passage and fought to mine some usefulness out of it. What do you make of a list of names, most of which we know very little about outside of Paul's brief comments?

Paul puts the burden of building and maintaining gospel culture on the shoulders of the strong. He is not excusing the weak. He’s simply telling the strong that they set the tone.

Many churches never go beyond Romans 1.

Foregoing judgment on non-primary issues is serving Christ because in doing so you are serving his people. We all have so many stumbling blocks in coming to the gospel. We trip over our own feet as we approach the altar. The more hindrances others place in front of us along the way, the harder it will be to get to Jesus.

We live in an age of differences. If you follow Christian Twitter, for example, you will see disagreement every day over what appears to be a minute detail. I can't keep up with the outrage. I often step back and ask myself, “Where is the love in this discussion? Where is the place for real disagreement with real unity in Christ? Must I chose one side in order to belong?”

Here are five indicators that a church is on its way to experiencing gospel culture.