On a weekly basis we sinners confess our transgressions before the God who has forgiven us through Jesus Christ. We live our lives in this age in anticipation of being raised to new life on that still-to-come seventh day. In this life in the meantime, when we gather to worship on each Lord’s day, we reenact... Continue Reading

The Good Shepherd is with us in our sleepless nights, and your lack of sleep is no reason to think otherwise. When your anxious thoughts or fiery darts from the enemy assail you, remember your Good Shepherd. Remember how he cried tears of blood and hung on the cross to pay for your sins. Remember... Continue Reading

We rejoice in what the Lord has done for his people in all centuries past, right up to today. Think especially of how God sent his own Son to die for sins, to be the perfect and final sacrifice of blood for our forgiveness. Praise God for the abundance of his grace at the cross! Then,... Continue Reading

It is a reminder to God’s people at the very start of the week – before they have accomplished a single thing that week – that in Christ, God’s disposition toward them is one of blessing, grace, peace, and love. God’s benediction (blessing) is not something we earn by performing satisfactorily or being good enough... Continue Reading

Through the indwelling sin that remains, Christ is glorified. While the enemy, sin, dwells in us, Christ’s grace and Holy Spirit are at work in us so that the enemy cannot overcome, domineer, or destroy us. Because of indwelling sin, we know that we cannot justify ourselves, but can only be justified by the perfect... Continue Reading

Even in gathered churches, hearers must be warned as well as being cheered; the Gospel is always relevant to ongoing life in church; flaws in practice may red-flag faulty profession; the best proof of a state of grace is Christ’s own progressive, inward, spiritual, loving, renewing, life in us.   Sorry Introduction I recall a... Continue Reading

It is God who we should seek to please all the time. It is God who we should care greatly about disappointing or letting down. No human being can ever come close. Rock-star celebrities – in whatever arena – can only go so far as those we greatly admire and want to be like. All... Continue Reading

The resurrection of Jesus began the final days. The resurrection was the central hope of the apostles’ preaching. In fact, the most quoted Old Testament verse in the New Testament is Psalm 110:1: The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Why was this verse... Continue Reading

I think we should see our churches today as like the Sons of the Prophets: semi-monastic communities that interact with the wider culture, including the corridors of power when required, but largely do our own thing while living within it. We are, as Peter would have it, exiles even within the land (1 Peter 1).... Continue Reading

When viewed against the backdrop of redemptive history (culminating in Christ’s saving work), the binding of Satan is directly tied to the success of the missionary enterprise. Satan was bound when his power of deception over nations and empires was broken by Jesus’s death and resurrection. John is not referring to the absence of all... Continue Reading