Author: Texas Gospel

Building faith through variety in everyday parenting

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Parents who already have a daily rhythm of teaching their children about faith are encouraged to keep that habit going strong. Consistency matters, and a regular practice of talking with kids about spiritual matters builds a foundation that lasts. At the same time, experts in family discipleship suggest adding a weekly twist to the routine.

Once a week, instead of the usual approach, parents are encouraged to try something more active and engaging. The reasoning is simple: children can appear attentive while their minds have actually wandered elsewhere. A quiet, seated lesson works well most days, but kids can mentally check out without anyone noticing, since they often still look like they are paying attention.

Introducing a hands on or physical activity once a week helps break that pattern. It re-engages a child’s attention in a way that sitting still cannot always achieve. The goal is to use a mix of methods so that spiritual truths actually stick with children rather than fading into background noise. Some days call for a serious, sit down conversation, and other days call for something playful and energetic. Both approaches serve the same purpose: helping kids remember and internalize what they are being taught about God.

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Ephesians 6:4

One body, one life: the true meaning of the church

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

The true church of Jesus Christ should never be understood as a mere organization; rather, it functions as a living organism, a single body.

Consider a tree as an illustration. The same life found in its roots also flows through the trunk, the branches, the stems, the leaves, and the fruit, with one continuous sap running through every part. Jesus used a similar picture when describing the believer’s relationship to him, instructing his followers to remain in him just as a branch stays connected to the vine, since the life within the roots is the same life running through the entire vine.

In the same way, the human body operates as one life expressed through many different limbs, each assigned its own function, yet all working together as a single, growing body, a picture Jesus used to describe how the church operates as well.

For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.

Romans 12:4-5

Jesus alone holds supremacy over all creation and the church

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Jesus holds a position of complete supremacy, having created everything that exists, and he occupies the place of highest authority within the church as its sovereign Lord.

The church has only one head, and that position does not belong to any pastor or religious leader, regardless of their title, appearance, or location. The one and only head of the true church, made up of everyone who has placed personal faith in Jesus Christ as saviour, is Jesus Christ himself.

While scripture does describe pastors as shepherds who care for God’s people, they function as undershepherds serving beneath the great shepherd, who remains sovereign over the entire body of believers that make up the church of Jesus Christ.

He is also the head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

Colossians 1:18

The only door: why Jesus alone gives life to the church

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TEXAS GOSPEL VOLUNTEER

Jesus alone is the source of life within the church, which explains why someone can walk down a church aisle, join a congregation, and undergo baptism in any form, yet remain spiritually dead in their sins if they have never personally received Jesus Christ as their saviour.

A person could hold membership in dozens of local churches and still have no true connection to the body of Christ, because that body is Christ himself, his very life. Every genuine believer carries within them the resurrection life of Jesus Christ, and this is what sets them apart from everyone else, becoming the true source of their strength and power as children of God.

Jesus described himself as the way, the truth, and the life, stating plainly that no one reaches the Father except through him, calling this a narrow path found by only a few. Everything narrows down to this single person: without Jesus there is no resurrection, no salvation, no heaven, and no true church, regardless of what someone claims to believe or where their loyalties lie.

As creator of heaven and earth and head of the church, he alone stands as the one door leading to God.

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 14:6

Don’t mistake winning an argument for winning a soul

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DAVID INGRAM

If you’ve spent much time defending the Christian faith online or in person, you’ve probably noticed a familiar pattern. It has become so common that it’s almost predictable.

Someone confidently declares, “There is no God.”

When you ask them to support that claim, the response is often, “The burden of proof is on you because you’re the one who believes God exists.”

At first, that may sound reasonable. But think carefully about what has happened.

The statement, “God exists,” is a claim. The statement, “God does not exist,” is also a claim. Both are assertions about reality. The only position that avoids making a claim is, “I don’t know.”

A common mistake in reasoning is to assume that only one side has a burden of proof. This is known as shifting the burden of proof. It occurs when someone makes a positive assertion but insists that only the other person is responsible for providing evidence. If a person claims there is no God, they have made a claim just as surely as the person who says there is a God. Neither side should be exempt from defending what they affirm.

As Christians, we should never be embarrassed to acknowledge that we are saved by faith given as a gift from God so that no one may boast. To be clear: I believe the Bible tells us that our faith is not something we manufacture on our own or that stems from our own ability to understand.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”
— Ephesians 2:8-9

We do not hide our faith because it is God’s gift, not our achievement.

What should concern us is when someone confidently declares there is no God while insisting they owe no explanation for that conclusion. That is not skepticism. It is simply another belief being asserted without defense.

Yet even this is not the heart of the matter.

Christians can become so absorbed in debating logical fallacies that we forget why the conversation matters in the first place. We begin treating apologetics as though our mission is to outthink the unbeliever.

It isn’t.

The deepest reason people reject Christ is rarely intellectual. Scripture says the problem is spiritual.

“The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” (Psalm 14:1)

Notice that Scripture does not say the fool has examined all the evidence and reached an unavoidable conclusion. The issue begins in the heart.

Paul explains that humanity already has sufficient knowledge of God through His creation, yet suppresses that truth.

“For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them… So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him.”
— Romans 1:19-21

The Bible teaches that unbelief is not caused by a lack of information. It is a suppression of truth. Sin affects not only what we desire but also how we think.

This does not mean every objection to Christianity is dishonest. People often have sincere questions that deserve thoughtful answers. We should always be prepared to give a reason for the hope within us, doing so “with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).

But we should never imagine that the right argument alone can produce saving faith.

Paul wrote,

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”
— 1 Corinthians 1:18

And again,

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him… because they are spiritually discerned.”
— 1 Corinthians 2:14

No one is argued into the Kingdom apart from the work of the Holy Spirit.

That should change the way we engage unbelievers.

Yes, expose faulty reasoning when it appears. Correct logical fallacies when necessary. Defend the truth faithfully. But do not mistake exposing an error in logic for addressing the real issue. A person can lose every argument and still reject Christ. Another can ask difficult questions and, by God’s grace, come to faith.

Our confidence should never rest in our ability to corner someone intellectually. Scripture warns us, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding” (Proverbs 3:5).

Don’t work so hard to open the door of human reason that you neglect the door only the Holy Spirit can open.

Winning an argument is not the mission.

Leading people to the Savior is.