Are You Weary?
When we are weary, God wants us to find rest in him.
I don’t want to focus here on arguments about what one may or may not do on Sunday; my concern is about what the heart of Sabbath means. Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27). It was given to give us rest, but not just rest, rest... Continue Reading
Gratefulness and Complaining
God’s grace compels us to respond with gratitude, not grumbling.
Whether we’re frustrated by a coworker who won’t cooperate or children who won’t obey, whether our day is disrupted by a minor inconvenience or by major heartbreak, this truth remains: God’s grace compels us to respond with gratitude, not grumbling. When we do all things without complaining, we bring glory to the One who gives... Continue Reading
Wait for the Ending
The Stories God Loves to Tell
Today, we are living in the grandest story ever told, but we are not yet at the ending. We walk in the wilderness, not the Promised Land; we carry a sword, not the spoil; we look up to a dark night, not the dawn. If our eyes could see the solution, if our ears could... Continue Reading
Sonship through the Spirit
Some people actually believe they are in Christ because they did something.
I am questioned quite often by non-Calvinists and believers who simply don’t know what Reformation Theology is. My first response to them is always, “God is Sovereign.” From that and their response to that statement I then know where to go from there. Most are in a doctrinally confused state because of the poor discipleship... Continue Reading
The Effects of Leaven
There are all sorts of voices around us that tell us Jesus is not enough.
The blatant heresy endorsed in many churches today did not come out of nowhere. Only through the slow erosion of truth do the visible churches of Christ come to the point where they deny Jesus. Pray that you would always stand firm on the truth of the gospel. You were running well. Who hindered... Continue Reading
Dead and Buried
The very idea of a crucified god was a joke in the first century.
Has a more terrible way to die ever been devised by man’s cruel imagination? Yet the early Christians not only admitted that their founder Jesus had died in this contemptible manner; they also boasted about it. The apostle Paul says, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of Jesus Christ.” Indeed, this... Continue Reading
The Ten Commandments: The First
The supremacy of God must permeate all of life.
The first of the Ten Commandments towers as a sentinel and shines as a sun: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3, Deuteronomy 5:7). As a sentinel the commandment guards the exclusivity of the living God. As a sun the commandment shines down upon the totality of one’s life, leaving nothing hidden... Continue Reading
3 Reasons People Ignore Church History (But Shouldn’t)
Many of the reasons behind this attitude are based on myths or misunderstandings.
In the mind of many Protestants today, the church kept on the right path for a few years after the Book of Acts, and then followed a long road of deterioration and corruption until Luther brought back the light. This is a very simplistic way of looking at history, which follows the Enlightenment interpretations of... Continue Reading
Salvation: Our Death With Christ Has Freed Us From Bondage To Sin
The glorious good news of the gospel is that, by virtue of our faith-union with Jesus, we have died, and so we have been freed from our sentence to live a new life.
The strange facts of this case do point to the wonder of our salvation in Christ. As sinners who have rebelled against our good creator, God handed us over the ruling power of sin in our lives, which the present manifestation of his just wrath against us (Romans 1v18-32). We are subject to a life-sentence... Continue Reading
Tried With Fire: Chastening
All who are genuinely God’s sons can expect to receive chastening.
The courtroom metaphor provides a powerful and glorious picture of the salvation God applies to His people. Magnificent as it is, however, it is only one of several metaphors, and it must not be pressed beyond its limits. How might that happen? I can give an example. We must beware of mixing the metaphors... Continue Reading