“The way we continually talk about our own inabilities is an insult to our Creator. To complain over our incompetence is to accuse God falsely of having overlooked us. Get into the habit of examining from God’s perspective those things that sound so humble to men. You will be amazed at how unbelievably inappropriate and... Continue Reading

Every time we fall short, the punishment that we deserve finds its satisfaction in Him, and we are declared righteous in Jesus. True knowledge of this never moves us to belittle his commands; it always moves us to love them and rejoice in them. His yoke is easy and his burden is light.   It... Continue Reading

Now I see that while God wants our obedience and does, indeed, bless it, He doesn’t want us to trust our obedience. He wants us to trust Him. Christ is the rock, not our obedience. True wisdom means trusting Him—even to provide our basic needs. As He said a bit earlier in the Sermon on... Continue Reading

When the Protestant Reformers talked about total depravity, they meant that sin—its power, its influence, its inclination—affects the whole person. Our bodies are fallen, our hearts are fallen, and our minds are fallen—there’s no part of us that escapes the ravages of our sinful human nature. Sin affects our behavior, our thought life, and even... Continue Reading

These men truly loved their master. They had left brother and sister and mother and father to follow him. He had called them and they had responded to his call, and they had stayed with him for three years. But their devotion to Christ did not change the fact that they were weak men. This... Continue Reading

There is no power in created man or objects to raise the dead but in God alone. Put no confidence in princes, prophets, wood, stone, undecomposed hearts, decomposed hearts, fingers, brains, splinters, crying statues, paintings, beads, necklaces, or anything else that may be offered, sold, or suggested to you – put your trust in the Lord! ... Continue Reading

God has equipped us with both spiritual armor and access to His presence. We are called to “put on the full armor of God so that [we] can stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11). We simply cannot fight this battle without biblical truth and prayer, but the good news of the gospel... Continue Reading

Lost sheep don’t have the capacity to find the Good Shepherd. It is the Good Shepherd who has the capacity to find lost sheep. Hagar was running away from believers, and she was running away from God. She was angry and resentful; she felt a sense of injustice. This hardly seemed like a time when she... Continue Reading

Grace that only forgives is not as great as grace that also transforms. When you draw near to the throne of God with your sin, expect grace to be bigger than all our cheap expectations. Expect grace to not only cancel the wrath of God against you but to create the holiness of God within... Continue Reading

We intercede for each other to share in ministry together and plead with God on behalf of our brothers and sisters, but we do not intercede with each other on the basis of our own righteousness that we give to each other. However, we can see in texts such as Romans 8:34 and 1 John... Continue Reading