Like shaping your soul, the work of shaping a church takes years of persistence.   You can’t do it in a five-year pastorate. It takes a commitment to stay in place, to love your people, to persist when it’s painful, to preach the Word with patience, and not give up in the face of opposition. ... Continue Reading

If we will walk in obedience to the Lord, by faith and not by sight, He will sustain us and keep us from being afraid of sudden terror. The enemy may indeed raise up his servants to attack the Lord’s Truth, saying all kinds of evil about us and attacking us in ways that no... Continue Reading

Your glorified Savior is meek and mild with his lambs, and his voice is one of tender freedom—freedom from the would-be oppressors. The spirit of this world, your flesh, and the devilish hoard want only to enslave and control you. They do not have your freedom and best interest at heart. Yet they will disguise... Continue Reading

If we look at Paul for example – the one apostle we are allowed to get to know more intimately than any of his fellow-apostles – we are struck most forcibly by the way he copes under duress. Whether it be through Luke’s biographical glimpses given in the book of Acts, or through Paul’s own... Continue Reading

We will live as sinners, saved by grace yet “growing in grace” until Christ returns to consummate His grace. At that moment, we will be delivered into the unalterable glory of the perfections of Christ and, together, we will be with Christ forever. Therefore, the church and believers must neither dismiss the past nor live... Continue Reading

In 1812, Henry Martyn died in Asia Minor aged just thirty-one. By then he had accomplished significant work as a pioneer Bible translator in both India and Persia (now Iran). When a Muslim leader asked him why Christianity was so weak in the world, Martin responded confidently that God’s purposes had not yet been fulfilled.... Continue Reading

Any believer knows that once saved he must grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. What is more, that growth only comes by the Spirit’s ongoing revelatory work in us.  Paul is praying for that work. What is more, we see what Paul is praying for in these verses.  His desire is for these... Continue Reading

When we accept the invitation to unite our lives with the life of Christ, our individual stories get stitched into the tapestry of a much bigger story belonging to the One who was before Abraham. Our story is no longer limited to our lives or our families because our story is more ancient and new... Continue Reading

Jeremiah, the doomsdayer of his day, felt the flux around him. In a context of sloshy-morality and iffy-commitment, he was the bearer of the promise of God’s judgment. And the people hated him for it. The waves came up and down around him and he, too, was no doubt seasick from the motion. But he... Continue Reading

Herbert’s poetry is varied in both subjects and style. For example, while “Church Monuments” encourages the reader to reflect on the reality of death, other poems celebrate the joys of life. In “The Flower,” the poet expresses his surprise when the Lord suddenly lifts his spirits after a season of darkness. “Who would have thought... Continue Reading