Effectual Calling and New Creation
The Lion of Judah is on the move, singing over his people and calling them to life.
After removing the stone, Jesus called with new creation power, “Lazarus, come out.” The heart that stopped four days before pulsed with new life. Lazarus walked out of his grave. Lazarus’s resurrection and gives a picture of what it is like for God to resurrect people who are dead in their sins spiritually. God takes... Continue Reading
The John Money Cult
So you think you’re a woman?
The problem isn’t that there is too much individualism. Pure individualism can still result in people seeking God because God is the source of their highest good. Nor is the problem merely that people want to be happy because a consequence of knowing God is happiness and joy. The gender cult is simply an expression... Continue Reading
Praying in Jesus’ Name
We pray in Christ’s name as an act of faith in Him as the only Mediator and the fulfiller of the covenant promises.
Mere intellectual knowledge that Jesus is the only Mediator and the One who fulfills the covenant promises is insufficient for us to receive the promised blessings—we need to exercise personal faith in Christ as the object of the blessings. God has chosen to make faith the instrument of union with Christ. This affects our invocation... Continue Reading
Jesus Will Deliver Us from the Wrath of Jesus
It is amazing grace that when the wrath of God comes, we will not be consumed.
What we have seen is that the “day of judgment,” or “day of wrath,” will be the day of Jesus’s judgment and Jesus’s wrath, acting by the appointment of God the Father. Therefore, when Paul says that Jesus “delivers us from the wrath to come” (1 Thess. 1:10), we are not to think of the... Continue Reading
Pastoral Search: Ancient Help
He, under great pressures, submitted to the call as the will of God, becoming the pastor of the city church in Constantinople.
Church historians tells us that John was “nearly kidnapped” or “almost abducted” or “forcibly taken”–which essentially means he was kidnapped, abducted, or taken, despite the adverbs. For 700 miles the case was made for why John ought to be the next pastor of the city church in Constantinople and when they arrived back in the city–the... Continue Reading
4 Important Things to Remember If You Are a Doubting Believer
Doubt is not the same thing as unbelief.
Though he had doubts, John wasted no time in seeking to quench them. He sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask him about his ministry. The example of John teaches us to distinguish between doubt and unbelieving skepticism. John had made the largest and most confident confessions about the identity of Jesus. Then, in... Continue Reading
A Virtuous Life in an Idolatrous World
Flourishing gospel communities of committed disciples of Jesus is always our best answer to critics and a crisis of credibility.
While there is no quick fix for immorality. No singular or simplistic response that will eradicate the influence of the plethora of cultural idols that shape our imaginations and calibrate our desires, forming in us a distorted vision of the good life. There is an answer. It’s not new. It’s not quick. It’s not glamorous... Continue Reading
Quit Playing Games With Sin
Quit playing games with sin, but live in the reality of sins forgiven.
The devil doesn’t want you to think that way about sin. He doesn’t want you to know about the “deceitfulness of sin” (Heb 3:13). He wants you to hide your sin. He wants you to secretly love your sin. He definitely doesn’t want you to kill it. He wants to convince you that all will... Continue Reading
Autonomous Man: Battling the Tyranny of Selfism
Repentant man subjects his once autonomous self and now glories in the selfless Savior.
To battle the spirit of selfism, individuals must repent of their pride-filled selves. The apostle Peter exhorts that it is high time to “humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6). Only those individuals truly “under God” (His governance) as saved by and submitted... Continue Reading
The Church at Election Time
The unique aim, purpose, and warrant of the church is to educate and mobilize our fellow citizens of heaven.
I believe Christians would do well to get informed and vote. And yet, I am hard pressed to find scriptural warrant for thinking Christians must vote as a matter of obedience to Christ. By conducting voter registration in the church we are communicating, “This is what Christians should do.” Voting is generally a good thing,... Continue Reading
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