When I Am Weak
God was responsive to Gideon’s weakness. God is also responsive to our prayers.
Gideon is a prime example of God’s recruitment strategy. In the face of a massive army of Midianite marauders, God pared Gideon’s pool of fighting men from 22,000 to 10,000, and then to 300. God wanted to make it clear to Gideon, to his band of brothers, and to the readers of Scripture that victory... Continue Reading
Worship Is Formed by the Past, but Gives Shape to the Present
It’s important for us to remember, because remembering is what gives us confidence in the present.
My favorite quote from Muller is this: “If God fails me this time, it will be the first time.” We need to remember. It’s vitally important that our worship is rooted in the great acts of God in the past, because we are actually precariously close – closer than we might realize – to forgetting. ... Continue Reading
Ye Who Think of Sin but Lightly…
How ugly is sin? Look at the cross. See the nails in the hands, the thorns on the head.
How bad is our sin? Our sin is so bad that the only solution was the death of the Son of God. He who is perfect innocence, infinite love, immaculate beauty, pure and undefiled goodness….the one who cried out with tears in Gethsemane “If you are willing, take this cup away from me”. But the... Continue Reading
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