"Keep close to God in the duty of reading the Word often. By often reading the Word, you will often meet with promises and supports for your comforts. That is the reason men lessen in comforts, because they do not frequently read the Word; you cannot read a Chapter, but you will find there a prop for faith, and a prop for assurance. Keeping constant to the Word, that is the way to keep your assurance. “These things have I written to you that believe, that you might know that you have eternal life” (1 John 5:13)."

Remember from last week that anxiety is the unproductive concern about something you can’t do anything about and that might not happen. So, if you can do something, then do it. That’s not anxiety, that’s acting on information. But if you can’t do anything about it and don’t know the future, then you must channel your fretting and worry into prayer because God does know the future and can do something.

Scripture does not offer us options. The Bible makes the choice for us, and it chooses to present the negative before the positive. The Bible declares bad news before declaring good news. It first presents the holy, wise, beneficial and condemning Law, then it publishes the “good tidings of great joy” or the Gospel.    LAW OR GOSPEL... Continue Reading

  If you don’t like the president of the United States, remember that the One who cast the deciding ballot in his election was almighty God. Of course, God doesn’t sanction or endorse everything that the president does; neither is it the case that God turns the authority over to the president and says, “Go... Continue Reading

It is not through the eloquence of our words, or through how well we present the evidence for the existence of God, but rather it is through the Holy Spirit doing the work of regeneration in the heart of man. Second, Paul encourages us to be kind, able to teach and gentle, while avoiding being quarrelsome and resentful while talking. This will come easily when we recognize the fact that they are captive to the devil and that we are powerless to help them escape. It is simply not up to us or even them, it is only up to the mercy of God, so, it is silly to be anything but kind and gentle.

Part of keeping short accounts with others is going to them when you believe that they have sinned against you. Jesus taught us to do so when he said, "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother" (Matt. 18:15). It is just as much our responsibility to humbly and forthrightly address what we believe to be the spiritual debt of others to us as it is for them to come to us and confess their sin. This has got to be one of the least practiced, yet most important, parts of the Christian life.

So how do you distinguish between the two? First, let’s be clear on what are not true differences. The difference between teaching and preaching is not that one appeals to the head versus the other is for the heart. Nor is it simply a matter of talking versus shouting. It is not that one is complex and the other is simple. And again, the two are not mutually exclusive. All preaching has teaching within it and, when you sit under a good teacher, true teaching about Christ will invariably have preaching coming through at points. So what are some valuable distinctions to be made? Let me suggest at least six important ones.

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous. One can be certain and humble at the same time. How? For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30). In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen. Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.

When we are helpless, when the storms of life crash over us, we must turn to Christ. We must rely on his strength, wisdom, power, and truth—not our own. We must find our peace and solace in him. Yes, we are helpless, but in Christ we have everything we need for he is right there in the storm with us.

Yes, apostasy happens. Sometimes the catalyst is flagrant sin. The pain of conviction and repentance is refused, and the only alternative to it is wholesale rejection of Christ. But sometimes the catalyst is a thorn growing quietly in the heart, an indifference to the way of the Cross, a drifting that is not reversed by... Continue Reading