Why Difficulties in the Bible Are a Good Thing
God is allowed to have purposes for his Word that you wouldn’t have thought of
The classic doctrine of the clarity of Scripture does not care to deny the difficulties in the Bible, any more than the apostle Peter did when he talked about the things “hard to understand” in Paul’s scriptural writings. But God has loving purposes behind even those difficulties. Jen Hatmaker recently launched a kerfuffle in... Continue Reading
Limited Atonement: A Walk Through the Basics
We need to dispense with the concept of “fairness” and begin to think in terms of God’s justice
Can fallen men change themselves? Fallen men and women are “dead” in their sins and trespasses and are unable to do good; the supreme good, being the act of embracing Christ as LORD and savior. This then is not a matter of “fairness”, which is a manmade construct to begin with, our situation is far... Continue Reading
The Lost Word of Motivation
Knowing that at any given moment as you seek to obey, you are actually pleasing God changes our motivation, does it not?
Some people are hard to please, always critical, pointing out the flaw. Maybe you think of God like that—Like someone who has asked for an obscure out of print book as a present, that you can’t find anywhere on the web, and you have searched high and low in second-hand bookshops—you know they will be... Continue Reading
Evangelical Pastor Theologians Outline Christian Vision of Sexuality
People in our culture need to hear from the church an overarching “positive, compelling vision of God’s plan for sexuality"
To win hearts and minds, our task is “not simply to persuade minds but also imaginations” by showing not just the truth, but also the beauty of the Christian vision. And even as a self-described “low-church, free-church evangelical,” Wilson urged a rediscovery of relevant church tradition, and bemoaned American evangelicalism’s tendencies towards “a way of... Continue Reading
More Mercy in Christ than Sin in Us
David understood, better than any, the multifaceted way in which God's grace worked in his life with regard to his ongoing battle with sin and his experience of a guilt-laden conscience.
Believers, as we struggle in our souls for nearness to God, a restored sense of His favor and delight and new manifestations of His presence and power, we must learn to cry out to God from the depths–acknowledging God’s holiness, our sin and rebellion, what our iniquities deserve and the great mercy of God in... Continue Reading
Welfare, Weber, And A Work Ethic
Being in favor of work is not merely a cultural or generational bias. Work is a creational good
From a biblical-theological perspective, “work” in the context of Genesis 2 may have a somewhat more specific sense, but the covenant of works has not yet been instituted. Certainly Adam was to cultivate the garden and to guard it as God’s prophet, priest, and king—a calling which Adam failed to fulfill thus plunging himself and... Continue Reading
The Story Of Redemption
A digest of some spiritually stimulating redemptive-historical meditations from Scripture.
The Tabernacle was the mobile dwelling place of God–a tent covered in skin. When Jesus came, the Apostle John tells us that “He tabernacled among us.” Jesus is the enfleshed, mobile dwelling place of God. In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Nothing serves to strengthen our faith so much as... Continue Reading
Limited Atonement: I am Not Praying for the World
An encouraging and comforting thought: Jesus prayed, died, rose from the dead, and continues to intercede for you.
When Jesus went to the cross he went to hang in the place of and instead of elect sinners. He did not die for the human race-in-general. He had definite men and women, and boys and girls he was substituting himself for. When Jesus went to the cross he died for those he had been praying for in his “High Priestly” prayer (John... Continue Reading
The Common Sin of Middle Age Believers
I wonder if complacency is not our most common sin?
“We have met many challenges that youth presented. We have taken risks and secured through work many goods. The Lord has blessed our efforts for his kingdom, and we begin to rest on our laurels. We slowly begin slipping into a spiritual forgetfulness.” Each stage of adult life presents its own unique challenges. Young... Continue Reading
Why Doesn’t Our Faith Move Mountains?
Are we failing to see great things from God because of our lack of faith?
“We’re prone to think if we just had more faith, then God could do amazing things through us. But Jesus tells us something quite astonishing. The issue isn’t whether we are full of faith but whether we have any faith.” Peter tells us Paul wrote some things that are hard to understand (2 Pet. 3:16).... Continue Reading