On Numbers and Living for God Through Christ
God consistently shows himself to be faithful to his promises even as his people show themselves to be unworthy of receiving them.
Numbers also reminds us of the pervasiveness of sin and our need for a savior. It can be frustrating to read a book like Numbers because we just want the people to behave and the heroes to act like heroes. But they often do not. The only consistent hero in Numbers is Yahweh, God himself.... Continue Reading
Jesus is the Best Thing for Your Conscience
What sort of run-ins have you had with your conscience?
He provides an eternal redemption, and he promises an eternal inheritance. If Jesus is your priest, nobody can take these things away. Your redemption. Your inheritance. And these two things will have a profoundly cleansing effect on your conscience. A person’s conscience is a funny thing. My earliest memory of what I would consider... Continue Reading
I’m Gonna Tell You the Gospel Again
You need that glorious message of grace that causes you to say “No” to sin and “Yes” to righteousness (Titus 2:12)
Please tell me the gospel again. I want my heart warmed by His grace. I need to remember the awful cost of sin. Tell me that His wrath burned hot against me, but the Savior came to save a sinner like me. Tell me how He drank the cup of the wrath of God and... Continue Reading
The Truly Successful Pastor
Successful ministry is that which is characterized by faithful labor toward the steady growth of the Kingdom.
The successful pastor preaches and teaches the entire Word of God without compromise (2 Timothy 4:1-2), so He calls people to repentance just as to faith. He does not water down the Gospel or let any contemporary issue usurp the Gospel in priority. He does so winsomely and does not set out to offend people,... Continue Reading
3 Ways Christian Grief is Different
Christian grief is with hope.
Christians understand that the true source of grief is not random events or diseases, but the condition of sin in which we and the rest of the world are in because of our rebellion. So when we grieve, we are acknowledging the entire broken state of the world which had led to all these occasions... Continue Reading
How Valuable Is Bodily Training?
Don’t neglect bodily training—God cares about your body. But far more importantly, don’t neglect the training of your soul.
Bodily training does have some value, because God created the body and he will one day redeem the bodies of his people—but what will bring about the redemption of our bodies one day in the life to come is not bodily training. Our bodies are only part of who we are. When God formed Adam’s... Continue Reading
Old Testament Allusions in Colossians
Some think that there are not many Old Testament allusions in Colossians, but there are more than meets the eye at first glance.
The focus of the allusion in Colossians. 1:9 is that Paul is petitioning that God would fill believers with the Spirit in order that they would build their spiritual lives skillfully, as verse 10 makes clear (“to walk, . . . bearing fruit in every good work”). But since “every good work” in Colossians 1:10 is still part of the Exodus 31:3 and 35:31–32... Continue Reading
Counseling for Normal Christians
People are seas, with hearts hidden deep. And God calls us to be divers.
When unsure of what to say, when perplexed and tongue-tied — we can still simply recite God’s own words, knowing that every syllable, rightly handled, holds spiritual power. Yes, caring for each other can be complex, but not so complex that ordinary believers cannot deeply minister to one another through humble Scripture-quoting and earnest prayer.... Continue Reading
Thoughts on the Israel-Hamas War
Christ’s primary concern is not with the justice of temporal affairs, but with the personal, eternal fate of individuals.
…civil righteousness is not a righteousness that will justify those that possess it. It is righteous only by sinful human standards, not by that perfect standard which God requires (Matt. 5:48; Jas. 2:10). The righteousness by which he justifies comes only through faith in Christ (Rom. 3:21-26, 28; Gal. 2:16; Eph. 2:8; Phil. 3:9), a... Continue Reading
The Names of God, and Why They Should Mean Something to You
The Unchanging Character of God
And every one of these names is not just a moniker; it’s a reminder of who God was, is, and always will be. The names of God are a promise to believers in Him; they call to mind the unchanging character of God and invite us to know this particular attribute of God in a... Continue Reading
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