You may have heard this testimony before: a Christian grows up hearing isolated Bible stories. Later in life, she discovers these various accounts all fit together to proclaim one glorious gospel. She’s delighted to see God’s unfolding revelation in Scripture but wonders why she never saw this before. Parents hoping to make this testimony rare... Continue Reading

Your friends won’t sit by and watch you engage in sinful behavior. Much less will they share in your indulgences. The person who does that isn’t your friend, but an enemy of your soul. Perhaps it’s the fear of not wanting to be the person who rains on someone else’s parade, or maybe it’s a... Continue Reading

You may not feel sufficient for what God has called you to do. Likely, as you look back over the last year, you feel freshly insufficient for your marriage, family, ministry, and other callings. That’s good. God does not call us to feel or be sufficient. We should feel insufficient for the Christian life (2... Continue Reading

The word for the next twenty years must be  “Immediacy”. Plaster it on our bridges, on our walls, on our porn sites, on our webpages, on our houses of parliament, on our legal firms, on our relationships.  Dare I say it, plaster it on our churches and our theology. After all we’ve just watched in... Continue Reading

Brothers and sisters, the world and its lusts are passing away. The reprobate is being given over to their degrading passions and depraved minds. They are condemned already, without help in the world because of their unbelief. Jesus encouraged us to remember that we are to fear not the one who can destroy the body,... Continue Reading

Many people who have grown up in legalistic homes or environments don’t know what to make of the Christian life. There is little room for virtue or moral examples, habits or disciplines. When Christians who have grown up in this environment come to a fresh understanding of the gospel of free grace, they don’t know what... Continue Reading

No my sin-sick but Gospel-redeemed freed friends, instead of putting yourself in a ego-stroking, never-satisfying, unnecessary, fruitless, and sinful time-out, believe the Gospel and call out to your faithful, consistent, never-temperamental, always merciful, and only gracious Savior.  God is the Heavenly Father of prodigals, and he looks your way with a convicting Spirit, watching gaze,... Continue Reading

Serving the church is not merely a job; it is an all-consuming responsibility that can threaten a family. The emergency hospital trips and the frantic calls from a heartbroken spouse never come when you are sitting at home, caught up on your to-do list, bored stiff, and hoping for a crisis to break the monotony.... Continue Reading

These words are striking in their context because of the obvious persistence of the Gentile lady pleading with him and the apparent perplexity of the disciples who were privy to the conversation. But it is striking also because it echoes directly what Jesus had already said to the disciples when he sent them out to... Continue Reading

Someone has said that today has two great enemies. The one is tomorrow and the other is yesterday. And memory plays such madcap pranks sometimes that we are almost half-inclined to think that true. Do you remember Israel in the desert, and how they spoke to Moses about Egypt? ‘Is it a small thing’, cried... Continue Reading