Stop Trashing The Gospel With The Phrase “Cheap Grace”
The phrase originated with Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote of it in his book "The Cost of Discipleship"
“You may be thinking, Geez Stephen, calm down with all this cheap grace talk. Why are you frothing at the mouth so much about this? It’s just splitting theological hairs. Except that it’s not. The moment we add a single condition or requirement to the gospel, we have totally castrated it. It’s no longer good news.” ... Continue Reading
10 Things You Should Know about Sex
Sadly, today sex—a beautiful creation of God—functions in the surrounding culture like a spiritual solvent eating away at the very fabric of the human community.
Whether we know it or not, every human being lives in search of a savior. We are all propelled by a quest for identity, inner peace, and some kind of meaning and purpose. And we all look for it somewhere. Here’s the bottom line: looking to creation to get what only the Creator can give... Continue Reading
Facts Don’t Care About Your Feelings, But Christians Should
No amount of hypocrisy in the life of a Christian can drive someone further away from salvation.
The Bible tells us that it is up to God to cause people to come to their senses. Think about this for a second. They are blind. They are captured by the devil. They are incapable of escaping on their own. Why are you mad at them? Of course they deserve hell. Of course they... Continue Reading
4 Purposes for Which God Created You
God had a purpose when he created you and me and took good pleasure in his creation.
God offers a life of meaning and purpose to you. Christ lived, died, rose from the grave, and ascended to the right hand of the Father for the sins of the world to reconcile a broken relationship, to inaugurate his kingdom of peace, and to establish a good rule in the beginning of a new... Continue Reading
Resisting the Spirit of the Age
We resist the spirit of the age by refusing to worship the idols of the age.
We resist the spirit of the age by refusing to worship the idols of the age. And we do this by trusting, obeying, and worshiping the one true God of this and every age, who has called us to know Him forever through His Son and by His Spirit. We live in an age... Continue Reading
Baptists and Federal Visionists Together?
Both Baptists and Federal Visionists collapse the divine decree into the outward administration of the covenant of grace, though for different reasons.
Baptists do not confess nor do they ordinarily teach that baptism necessarily confers what it signifies. They baptize professing believers because, it is believed, that person professing faith already has what baptism signifies. Nevertheless, the Federal Visionists and the Baptists agree that the visible church is composed of those who have what baptism signifies. Both... Continue Reading
The Life and Death of Jesus: A Theophany
Christ’s life brings to fulfillment the entire spectrum of theophanies and appearances of God in the Old Testament.
Entering the cloud in Luke 9:34 is similar to Moses entering the cloud in Exodus 24:18. But, unlike at Mount Sinai, the heavenly voice at the transfiguration does not continue to speak, and does not deliver an extended message, parallel to the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai. Instead, the voice directs the disciples’ attention to... Continue Reading
Loss and Grief
Some days, I am in the valley of the shadow of death, and I forget to remember that God is with me. But he doesn’t forget.
Grief. Sometimes loss is just a bit overwhelming. Sometimes I wish I could just experience what they call the “ugly cry” but I don’t think I’m able to. Too unseemly. I have too much of my father in me I guess. But I still grieve. I am grieving for lost youth. I wasn’t ready for... Continue Reading
Cultivating Praise in Marriage
Prayer with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6) is the most powerful path to growth in valuing, enjoying, and encouraging your spouse.
As you grow in this, it will do more than strengthen your marriage. When we praise one another, we are, in a sense, practicing for glory. Paul writes, “you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus” (2 Cor 1:14b). Praise and affirmation are surely... Continue Reading
God Is Holding On to You
Even if we might try to break free of his grip and let go of him, he is holding on to us tightly and keeping us safe.
Our Father is perfectly wise and good and he knows how to uphold his children so that we persevere. That illness, that disappointment, that conflict, that setback, that failure—in God’s hands don’t we see these things bringing us to a new sense of our helplessness apart from the Lord, a new lease of life in... Continue Reading