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Chris Bobblett Ministries, 723 preston Lane, Hatboro, PA (2026)

06/02/2026

One of the greatest challenges in the Christian life is not learning something new. It's letting go of something old.

Jesus said you cannot put new wine into old wineskins.

Most of us have heard that verse preached as a warning against becoming stagnant. But what if it goes deeper than that? What if the old wineskins aren't just old habits... What if they're old ways of seeing God?

What if they're inherited assumptions, religious traditions, theological systems, and deeply rooted beliefs about God's character that we've carried for years?

Many believers sincerely pray:
"Lord, show me more."
"Lord, help me grow."
"Lord, lead me deeper."

But growth requires more than new information.
It requires transformation. The biblical word for that is repentance—not merely feeling sorry for sin, but a change of mind. A reorientation. A new way of seeing.

And sometimes the Spirit of God answers our prayer for growth by confronting the very beliefs we have built our faith upon.
That is where many become uncomfortable. Because new wine is wonderful until it begins stretching old wineskins.

The truth is, Jesus did not come to change God's mind about humanity. He came to reveal God's heart toward humanity.
As Paul says, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."

Jesus is not the kinder version of God.

He is the clearest revelation of who God has always been.
The cross did not reveal a God who finally decided to love us.
It revealed a God who has never stopped.

And when that revelation begins to challenge old images of an angry, distant, reluctant, or transactional God, the wineskins start stretching.

Some embrace the process. Others resist it.

Not because they don't love God. But because old paradigms often feel safer than new revelation. Yet throughout Scripture, God is continually inviting His people forward.

From shadow to substance.
From fear to love.
From law to life.
From performance to participation.
From religion to relationship.

Perhaps the question isn't whether God wants to pour out new wine. Perhaps the question is whether we are willing to become new wineskins. Because the tragedy is not that God has stopped speaking. The tragedy is that sometimes we become so attached to old containers that we cannot receive what He is saying.

Maybe the Spirit is not trying to destroy your faith.
Maybe He is trying to enlarge it.
Maybe He is not taking something away.
Maybe He is preparing you to hold more of the goodness, beauty, and grace that has always existed in the heart of God.
Maybe it's time for a new wineskin.

06/02/2026

The Pagan God We Smuggled Into the Cross

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not counting their trespasses against them." — 2 Corinthians 5:19

Few ideas have shaped modern Christianity more than the belief that Jesus died to satisfy the wrath of an angry God. For many believers, the story goes something like this:

God is holy.Humanity sinned.God's justice demanded punishment.Jesus stepped in and took the punishment we deserved.Only then could God forgive us.

Most Christians have never stopped to ask a simple question: Where did this story come from? Because when we read the Gospels, that does not seem to be the story Jesus tells.

The Pagan Pattern

Throughout the ancient world, pagan religions operated according to a common assumption:

The gods are angry.The gods demand sacrifice.Blood must be shed to appease divine wrath. Whether among the Greeks, Romans, Canaanites, or countless other ancient religions, sacrifice functioned as a way of calming offended deities.

Humans offered gifts, animals, and sometimes even their children in hopes of satisfying divine anger. The formula was simple:

Angry god + sacrifice = peace.

Sound familiar?

Many modern atonement theories have unknowingly baptized this pagan formula into Christianity.

The names have changed.

The sacrifice is now Jesus.

But the underlying story remains remarkably similar.

God is angry.Someone must suffer.Justice demands blood.Only after punishment can forgiveness be offered.

The problem is that this story looks far more like paganism than it does Jesus.

One of the most remarkable truths in the New Testament is that Jesus never presents Himself as changing God's attitude toward humanity.

Instead, He consistently reveals the attitude God has always had.

Jesus did not come to make God loving.

Jesus came because God is loving.

"God so loved the world that He gave His only Son..." (John 3:16)

Notice the order. Love comes first.

The cross is not the cause of God's love.

The cross is the demonstration of God's love.

God was not reconciled to us.

We were reconciled to God.

The New Testament never says God needed to be converted from wrath to love.

It says humanity needed to be converted from fear to trust.

The Cross Reveals God

The clearest revelation of God is not Sinai.

It is Calvary.

If we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus.

And what do we see?

We see a God who forgives His enemies.

A God who heals those who oppose Him.

A God who refuses retaliation.

A God who absorbs violence rather than inflicting it.

A God who prays: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."

The cross is not God taking out His anger on Jesus.

The cross is God in Christ allowing human violence to do its worst and then overcoming it through resurrection.

As theologian J. Denny Weaver writes, the cross exposes the powers of violence rather than revealing violence at the heart of God.

The crucifixion reveals what sinful humanity does to God when He appears among us.

The resurrection reveals what God does in return.

He forgives.

Perhaps the greatest challenge to violent atonement theories comes from Paul:

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself." (2 Corinthians 5:19)

Notice carefully what Paul does not say.

He does not say God was pouring wrath on Christ. He says God was in Christ.

The Father was not standing over against Jesus as His enemy.

The Father was present in the Son, reconciling the world.

The cross is not divine child abuse.

It is divine self-sacrifice.

God absorbs the consequences of human sin into Himself.

He enters our darkness.

He bears our hostility.

He endures our violence.

And He responds with forgiveness.

The cross also exposes one of humanity's oldest addictions: scapegoating.

When societies face fear, conflict, or chaos, they instinctively look for someone to blame.

Someone must pay.

Someone must suffer.

Someone must be sacrificed.

Throughout history, humanity has solved problems through violence.

The cross reveals the innocence of the victim.

Jesus is the scapegoat who refuses to stay buried.

The resurrection vindicates the One humanity condemned.

In doing so, God forever exposes the lie that violence can save us.

Violence only creates more violence.

Only love heals.

The New Testament's dominant image is not an angry Judge requiring payment.

It is a victorious Lamb.

Christ conquers not through force but through self-giving love.

The powers of sin, death, and darkness are defeated not by greater violence but by greater love.

This is why the early church often described the cross as a victory.

Christus Victor.

Christ has triumphed over the powers.

The enemy has been defeated.

Death has been swallowed up in victory.

Humanity has been invited into reconciliation.

The God Revealed in Jesus

The ultimate question is simple:

What is God like? The answer is Jesus.

Not a different God.Not a kinder version of God.Not God balancing love and wrath.

Jesus is the exact representation of God's nature.

If we do not see violence in Jesus, we should be very cautious about placing it in the Father.

If Jesus would rather die for His enemies than destroy them, then we have discovered what God has always been like.

The cross was never about changing God's mind about humanity.

The cross was God's declaration that nothing could change His mind about humanity.

And that is good news.

The God revealed in Jesus is not demanding a sacrifice.

He becomes the sacrifice.

Not because He needs blood before He can forgive.

But because love willingly enters our suffering to rescue us from sin, death, and the powers that enslave us.

The cross is not the appeasement of God.

It is the revelation of God.

And the God revealed there looks exactly like Jesus.

So here is the good news:

God has always loved you.

Jesus came to show you what God is like.

Through His life, death, and resurrection, He defeated sin, death, and the powers that enslaved humanity.

He has reconciled the world to Himself and established His Kingdom.

Now He invites you to trust Him, receive His life, and participate in His Kingdom today.

05/31/2026

Since we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit." — Galatians 5:25

Notice Paul's language.

He doesn't say, "Since you have the Spirit, ignore Him."He doesn't say, "Since the Spirit lives in you, just do whatever feels right."

He says, "Keep in step."

That is active participation.That is relationship.That is conversation.That is attentiveness.

You cannot keep in step with Someone you never acknowledge.

Yet many believers speak regularly to the Father, pray to Jesus, study about God, but rarely pause to engage the Holy Spirit—the very presence of Christ dwelling within them.

How often do we check in?

How often do we ask:"Spirit of God, what are You saying?""What are You doing in this situation?""How are You leading me today?"

It is difficult to follow a Guide you never speak to.It is difficult to discern a voice you never stop to hear.It is difficult to walk with Someone you treat as a doctrine rather than a Person.

The Holy Spirit is not merely a theological concept to affirm.He is the living presence of God within us.

Teacher.Comforter.Counselor.Guide.

Maybe the greatest challenge for many Christians is not learning more information about God, but slowing down long enough to walk with Him.

Today, before you rush into the next task, meeting, or distraction, pause and simply ask:

"Holy Spirit, what would You like to say to me today?" Then listen.

You might discover He has been speaking all along.

05/30/2026

"All those evil doctrines about God that work misery and madness have their origin in the brains of the wise and prudent, not in the hearts of children."
---George MacDonald

05/30/2026

The Church has always needed voices.
But not every voice is a shepherd.

We live in a generation where platforms are easier to build than character. Where followers can be gained faster than wisdom. Where a microphone can be acquired long before maturity.

Some seem more concerned with building an audience than building the Kingdom.
More concerned with being known than making a lasting impact. More concerned with going viral than going deep.

The result is often a Christianity that is loud but shallow.Confident but uninformed. Influential but not transformative.

The early Church changed the world not because they mastered algorithms, but because they devoted themselves to prayer, Scripture, fellowship, and the presence of God. They spent more time at the feet of Jesus than in front of a crowd.

There is nothing wrong with influence. Influence can be a gift from God.

But influence without depth becomes dangerous. Popularity without formation becomes fragile. And theology that is only a few inches deep cannot sustain people when the storms of life arrive.

The Church doesn’t need more celebrities.
The Church needs more disciples. People who are dedicated to following Jesus than gaining followers.

More men and women who are willing to disappear into the prayer closet before stepping onto a stage. More people who care about truth more than trends. More believers who are willing to spend years studying, listening, learning, and being formed by Christ.

The Kingdom has never advanced through self-promotion. It advances through surrender.

May we be a people who seek faithfulness over fame, substance over spectacle, and transformation over attention.

Because when the applause fades, only what was built for the Kingdom will remain.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God…” (2 Timothy 2:15)

And perhaps now more than ever, the Church needs voices that are not merely heard—but voices that have first been shaped by the voice of God in the quiet and secret place.

05/28/2026

There was a reason they called Athanasius of Alexandria - “Athanasius contra mundum.” Which translates - “Athanasius against the world.”

He stood nearly alone at times. Exiled. Misunderstood. Opposed by emperors, bishops, and much of the theological establishment of his day.

And what was worth suffering all of that for?
One staggering conviction:

Jesus Christ is fully God.
Not almost God.
Not a lesser divine being.
Not a created helper between God and humanity.

God Himself has come near.

To many around him, this seemed too radical, too dangerous, too disruptive. But Athanasius understood that if Christ is not truly God, then humanity is not truly healed.

Because salvation is not merely God forgiving people from a distance.
Salvation is God entering the depths of human brokenness to restore humanity from the inside out.

Athanasius famously wrote: “God became man so that man might become god.”

Not meaning we become divine beings to be worshiped, but that humanity is invited to participate in the life, love, communion, and wholeness of God through Christ.

This was not cold theology to him. It was hope.

It meant:

* Your humanity is not rejected by God.
* Your weakness is not beyond redemption.
* Your story is not abandoned.
* Christ entered the fullness of human life so that every part of human life could be healed, renewed, and transfigured.

Athanasius saw the incarnation not simply as a transaction, but as an invasion.

In Christ, God steps into death, corruption, violence, fear, shame, and darkness—not to escape humanity, but to rescue it from within.

And maybe that is the reminder many of us need today.

You may feel misunderstood.
You may feel outnumbered.
You may feel like holding onto hope, grace, mercy, and the goodness of God puts you at odds with the loudest voices around you.

But truth has often survived through faithful people willing to stand in difficult places without surrendering the beauty of Christ.

Athanasius reminds us that Christianity is not ultimately about escaping the world. It is about the world being healed through union with the crucified and risen Christ.

The God revealed in Jesus is not distant from human suffering. He enters it. Transforms it.
And raises humanity with Him.

And that changes everything.

05/24/2026

Today I want to look at Romans 11, especially the phrase:

“And so all Israel shall be saved…”
— Romans 11:26

This verse is often lifted out of its historical, literary, and covenantal context and used to argue that Paul is speaking about the modern geopolitical nation-state of Israel. But that is not what Paul is doing.

Paul is not writing about a twentieth-century nation-state. He is writing in the first century about covenant identity, the Messiah, unbelieving Israel, believing Jews, Gentile inclusion, and the mystery of God forming one redeemed people in Christ.

The key phrase is often misunderstood. The Greek word translated “so” is houtōs, which means “in this way,” “in this manner,” or “thus.” Paul is not necessarily saying, “After this happens, then all ethnic Israel will be saved.” He is saying, “In this manner all Israel will be saved.”

What manner?

Through the partial hardening of unbelieving Israel, the inclusion of the Gentiles, and the provoking of Israel to jealousy, God is saving His covenant people through Christ. The “all Israel” being saved is not Israel according to the flesh as a geopolitical category, but Israel as fulfilled, redefined, and gathered in Messiah.

Paul has already told us this earlier in Romans:

“For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel.”
— Romans 9:6

That sentence is essential. Paul distinguishes between ethnic Israel and true covenant Israel. Physical descent alone does not define the people of God. Faith in the promised Seed does.

This is the same argument Paul makes in Galatians:

“If ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”
— Galatians 3:29

In other words, Abraham’s family is not ultimately defined by bloodline, land, ethnicity, or national borders, but by union with Christ.

Paul says the same thing in Galatians 4 when he contrasts Hagar and Sarah. Earthly Jerusalem, bound to the old covenant system, is pictured as Hagar. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is the mother of the people of promise. Paul is not pointing believers back to old covenant nationalism. He is pointing them forward to new covenant fulfillment.

This is why Romans 11 cannot be separated from Romans 2:

“He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly… but he is a Jew, which is one inwardly.”
— Romans 2:28–29

Nor can it be separated from Ephesians 2, where Paul says Christ has broken down the dividing wall and created one new humanity in Himself. Not two peoples of God. Not two covenant plans. Not one earthly people and one heavenly people. One new creation in Christ.

So when Paul says, “all Israel shall be saved,” he is not teaching the automatic salvation of a modern nation-state. He is revealing the mystery of God’s covenant faithfulness: that the true Israel of God — believing Jews and believing Gentiles united in Messiah — will be saved through Christ alone.

This does not mean Jewish people are rejected. Paul explicitly says the opposite. God has not cast away His people. Paul himself was Jewish. The apostles were Jewish. The Messiah is Jewish. The root is Jewish. The gospel went first to Israel.

But it does mean that no nation, ethnicity, or political state stands above another in covenant privilege outside of Christ.

There is one Savior.
One gospel.
One olive tree.
One people of God.
One Israel of God.
And that Israel is found in Christ.

Romans 11 is not about modern political favoritism.

It is about the faithfulness of God to keep His promises by fulfilling them in Jesus, the true Seed of Abraham, the true Israel, and the Savior of the world.

05/23/2026

One passage seems to stop the conversation every time Christians discuss Israel, the Church, and the New Covenant:

Romans 11.

Many believers have been taught that Romans 11 proves God has two distinct covenant peoples—Israel and the Church—and therefore every New Testament statement about unity in Christ must somehow be qualified.

But does Romans 11 actually teach that?

Let’s look carefully at Paul’s argument.

First, Romans 11 is not addressing “replacement theology.”

In fact, the entire idea of replacing one covenant people with another can be misleading because Scripture consistently teaches that God’s true covenant people have always been identified by faith rather than mere ancestry.

This was not Paul’s invention.

John the Baptist—the forerunner of Christ—stood before covenant Israel and warned:

“Do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones” (Matt. 3:9).

That is a remarkable statement.

John was confronting the assumption that physical descent from Abraham guaranteed covenant standing before God.

The prophets had already challenged that assumption.

Jesus challenged that assumption.

John challenged that assumption.

And Paul challenged that assumption.

The issue was never whether Abraham’s descendants mattered.

The issue was whether ancestry alone constituted covenant membership.

Paul answers that question directly:

“For they are not all Israel who are of Israel” (Rom. 9:6).

In other words, there is an Israel according to the flesh and there is the covenant people of God gathered through faith in God’s promise.

That is why Romans 11 is so important. Notice what Paul actually describes.

He does not describe two olive trees.

He does not describe two covenants.

He does not describe two peoples of God operating under parallel promises.

He describes one olive tree.

Some natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. Wild branches were grafted in through faith. And natural branches can be grafted back in through faith. The determining factor throughout the entire chapter is not ethnicity.

It is faith.

The chapter is not about preserving two separate covenant communities. It is about God’s faithfulness in bringing both Jew and Gentile into the same covenant life through the same Messiah.

The warning is directed toward Gentile arrogance:

“Do not boast against the branches” (Rom. 11:18).

Paul is reminding Gentile believers that salvation comes from God’s grace, not ethnic superiority. But he never suggests the existence of two covenant peoples. In fact, his imagery argues precisely the opposite.

Everyone ends up in the same tree.

This fits perfectly with the rest of Paul’s theology:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).

“He Himself is our peace, who has made both one” (Eph. 2:14).

The mystery revealed in the gospel was not that God would maintain two covenant peoples forever. The mystery was that Gentiles would become fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the same promise in Christ (Eph. 3:6).

Romans 11 does not overturn Galatians.

It does not cancel Ephesians.

It does not re-establish ethnic distinctions as covenant boundaries.

It demonstrates God’s unwavering faithfulness while showing how both Jew and Gentile share in the same covenant blessings through faith in Messiah.

One tree.

One Messiah.

One faith.

One body.

One new humanity.

That was John’s message.

That was Jesus’ message.

That was Paul’s message.

What do you think Paul means when he says, “And so all Israel shall be saved” (Rom. 11:26)?

I’ll comment on that scripture in more detail tomorrow.

05/22/2026

I generally try to stay out of politics.

My calling is not to preach political parties, candidates, governments, or nations. My calling is to preach Jesus Christ and His Kingdom.

That said, when political narratives become intertwined with biblical interpretation, pastors have a responsibility to handle Scripture carefully.

Many Christians have been taught to view Israel, prophecy, and the modern Middle East through a particular theological lens. My aim is not to question anyone’s love for Scripture, but to encourage us to read it through the lens of Jesus, the New Covenant, and the apostles rather than modern geopolitics.

So let’s set aside political talking points and ask what the text actually says, allowing Christ—not politics—to be our interpretive center.

I love Jewish people. I love Palestinian people. I love all people because Christ died for all people.

But we need to stop using Bible verses written about ancient covenant Israel and automatically applying them to every policy or action of the modern nation-state of Israel.

That is not sound exegesis.

The issue is not whether God loves Israel. Of course He does. God also loves Palestinians, Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians, Americans, and every nation under heaven. “God so loved the world” (John 3:16).

The real question is this:

Who is the covenant people of God under the New Covenant?

The New Testament answer is clear.

Paul writes:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek… for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Gal. 3:28-29).

The promise given to Abraham ultimately finds its fulfillment in Christ and in those united to Christ by faith—not in modern nationality, ethnicity, or citizenship.

When Paul speaks of the “Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16), he has spent the entire letter arguing that circumcision, ethnic identity, and Torah boundary markers no longer define God’s covenant family. Christ does.

Likewise, Romans 9:6 explicitly says:

“For they are not all Israel who are of Israel.”

Paul distinguishes ethnic Israel from the true covenant people gathered in Christ.

Romans 11 does not teach that a modern nation-state receives divine approval regardless of its actions. Rather, it teaches that God has not abandoned Jewish people and that they, like Gentiles, are invited into the same olive tree through faith in Messiah.

The New Testament never teaches that supporting a government’s policies is a test of Christian faithfulness.

Nor does it teach that criticizing a government is equivalent to hating an ethnicity.

By that logic, criticizing Rome would have made Jesus anti-Italian.

Criticizing Herod would have made John the Baptist anti-Jewish.

Criticizing Jerusalem’s leaders would have made the prophets anti-Israel.

Biblically, prophets often loved a people enough to confront their injustice.

To oppose violence, oppression, war crimes, terrorism, corruption, or injustice—regardless of who commits them—is not antisemitism.

It is consistency.

God’s concern has always been justice, mercy, righteousness, and reconciliation.

The prophets repeatedly condemned Israel when she oppressed the vulnerable.

God did not excuse injustice because of covenant privilege then, and He does not excuse injustice because of national identity now.

The Kingdom of God is not Israel versus Palestine.

It is not East versus West.

It is not Jew versus Gentile.

In Christ, the dividing wall has been torn down (Eph. 2:14-16).

The Church is now a multinational, multiethnic family made up of every tribe, tongue, people, and nation.

Therefore Christians should reject antisemitism completely.

And we should also reject the misuse of Scripture to baptize the actions of any government, military, political movement, or nation.

Our allegiance belongs first to Jesus and His Kingdom. Below in the comments I will add some scripture that is consistently used out of context concerning this matter.

05/21/2026

St. Gregory of Nyssa wrote, “Anyone who tries to describe the ineffable Light in language is truly a liar—not because he hates the truth, but because of the inadequacy of his description.”

The great theologians of the early church recognized the limitations of theological language. While affirming that God has genuinely revealed Himself, they also maintained that finite creatures can never comprehensively describe the Infinite One. Thus, Christian theology has always carried a measure of humility. Our doctrines matter deeply, yet they function as signposts rather than destinations—guiding us toward the living God whose reality forever surpasses our formulations.

Chris Bobblett Ministries

06/02/2026

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