Jesus Feeds 5,000: Bringing Life To Desolate Places
If Jesus could feed 5,000 from a few loaves and fishes, he can certainly handle any difficult circumstance that I face.
Jesus doesn’t operate according to normal circumstances. He isn’t bound by our limitations. He is the Sovereign One who transcends circumstances. He laughs in the face of circumstances that make us cringe. And so he takes the loaves and fishes, blesses them, and then begins dividing them. And dividing them. And dividing them some more. ... Continue Reading
Dogmatic Art
When Christians engage in the world of artistic workmanship, there ought to be a transcendent excellence to what they produce.
A man cannot have the energy to produce good art without having the energy to wish to pass beyond it.”1 The simple profundity of this observation ought not be missed. While many of us have bought into a late-modern narrative that the art world is essentially subjective, visual and feeling-driven, we should remember that–as Chesterton... Continue Reading
Adultery and the Seventh Commandment
This commandment is the most-neglected and most commonly broken of all of the ten commandments.
That is as true in our day as it has ever been. Abstaining from sexual immorality is still very much the will of God for His redeemed people, and it is still our “sanctification,” something that sets us apart from the world. May the Lord grant revival and repentance to many, starting with those of... Continue Reading
Why Forgetting Ourselves Is Neccessary for Holiness
The foundation for Christian service is nothing other than Christ crucified.
When are united to Christ by faith the Holy Spirit gives us a new outlook on life, we have the mind of Christ. Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection show us how we ought to think and act. The incarnation itself was an act of service. Christ freely gave up the outward splendor and glory that... Continue Reading
How Total Depravity Changed My Life
Even with my guilt and shame, I thought I was essentially good.
I was born spiritually dead—not just spiritually indebted, as I’d thought. God loved me, and through no work of my own, except the faith he himself granted me as a gift, he made me alive together with Christ. Here was grace, only grace. It had to be this way. Because I really am that bad. Total... Continue Reading
End Your War Against Weakness
Christians need not fight a war we cannot win.
When, for one reason or another, we continue our attempt to overthrow the weaknesses God has given to us, even after all reasonable efforts have failed, we are probably being driven less by faith than by discontentment. And discontentment never did anyone good. If persisted in, we risk spending years of our lives trying to... Continue Reading
Six Characteristics of Pastors You Need to Avoid
The church today needs pastors who will faithfully represent Jesus in their preaching and lifestyles.
Your pastor has the sobering task of letting you hear God’s voice through the text of Scripture every Sunday. When pastors spend more time sharing their thoughts than they do the text, they squelch Heaven’s voice. Any pastor who functionally ministers as though their words are more important than God’s, should be avoided at all... Continue Reading
Making the Faith Your Own Is not the Same as Making Up Your Own Faith
The faith once for all delivered is not a secret thing.
To be sure, there are aspects of mystery in the Christian faith, but the Christian faith cannot be all mystery or else there would be nothing to call “the Christian faith.” Moses wrote that “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our... Continue Reading
How Do We “Get” Meaning from the Bible
Be aware of how you approach Scripture.
Here are four main ways that I see us reading Scripture to grasp its meaning. By looking at each, we can grow in our awareness of how we read the Bible and hopefully become more skilled at reading Scripture through this knowledge. When we read the Bible, we intuitively get its meaning. If we... Continue Reading
The Ascending Christ, The Descending Spirit
What was this new relationship that existed between the Son, the Spirit and His people?
The Holy Spirit comes to apply the finished work of redemption to the souls of those for whom Christ died and rose again. The work of the Spirit, post the resurrection of Jesus, is a work of glorifying the risen and reigning glorified Son. I well remember many discussion with friends, as a young... Continue Reading