The Essentials – Part 2
So, what are the fundamental characteristics of the biblical God?
Any position that attempts to add or subtract from this Gospel is a false gospel that cannot save. Many heresies are such because they claim that something additional is required. For example, there are some that say that, in addition to faith in Christ, one must be baptized in water in order to be saved. But water... Continue Reading
Judgment for Pastors
How Shepherds Prepare to Meet Jesus
Faithful pastors submit to God’s word and herald it boldly. And they don’t pit the Jesus-breathed red letters against the God-breathed whole (2 Timothy 3:16). They don’t pervert biblical justice or condone immorality. Brothers, labor to teach God’s word to God’s people for the good of God’s church. And as you labor to work out your... Continue Reading
After Tragedy Strikes
Four strategies or steps to maintain the strongest position to respond well in and through suffering.
Not only should we lay aside or put off sin, but we also should read our Bibles carefully in order to hear from God. Once we hear from God, we want to obey what the Bible teaches us in the midst of or after our suffering. In this way, we position ourselves to become Christlike... Continue Reading
Why We Need the Worship Wars
The Apostles’, Nicene, and Athanasian creeds represent early responses to heresies, and defining points for orthodoxy.
We should not be surprised that there exists in our era contention over proper sensibilities toward God. The truly alarming thing would be if there were none. What is somewhat different in our era is the post-modern mood that despises debate and clear definition. This pseudo-tolerance has long ago compromised the doctrinal integrity of professing Evangelicals. The... Continue Reading
JC Ryle on Prayer
A Call To Prayer
I dare not say that anyone believes until they pray. I cannot understand a dumb faith. The first act of faith will be to speak to God. Faith is to the soul what life is to the body. Prayer is to faith what breath is to the body. How a person can live and not breathe... Continue Reading
The Wisdom of Avoiding Strife
What are some potential causes of strife we ought to avoid?
So in the end, the way of wisdom is to avoid strife whenever possible. Beware of hot tempers, quarrelsome behaviors, insolent attitudes, and backbiting tongues. This really feels like death, doesn’t it, to avoid strife, when the world shouts that we’re cowards unless we defend our own honor? Yet to fight like a Christian means avoiding... Continue Reading
Crippling Anxiety
Anxiety can lead to severe health issues, and fear can lead to severe relational issues.
A very simple strategy for beginning to deal with anxiety is simply to take a page and begin to list things for which to be grateful, followed by ways in which God has provided and protected in times past. The simple exercise of “looking back” at God’s prior faithfulness emboldens us to face todays trials... Continue Reading
Singing in the Face of Suffering
In the midst of grief, God's people have historically cried out to Him in song.
Although the best comfort comes from God’s word, Christians have for centuries reflected on the hardships of life in light of the truth of God’s word in those seasons and written beautiful poetry shaped by the ideas and principles of the Scripture to find perspective and hope in God. God’s people have never been strangers... Continue Reading
8 Ways God Works Suffering for Our Good
When God brings a flood of suffering upon us, it is then that we fly to the ark, Christ.
In all these ways we see that suffering is not harmful to believers but beneficial. Thus we should train ourselves to look less at the evil of suffering and more at the good, to look less at the dark side of the cloud and more at the light. The worst that God ever does to... Continue Reading
Knowing the Unknowable God
God's Self-Sufficient Perfection is Absolute
How profound a mystery of God’s absolute self-sufficient perfection is infolded in these three letters, “I AM,” or in these four, “JEHOVAH.” If you ask what God is, nothing occurs better than this, “I AM,” or “HE THAT IS.” If I should say He is the all-mighty, the only wise, the most perfect, the most... Continue Reading
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