The entirety of Scripture tells the story of God redeeming His people. From Adam and Eve in Genesis 3 to the covenant promises given to Abraham, to Moses leading the people in the wilderness, to Joshua leading them into the promised land, to a nation under the Davidic kingship, and finally to the New Testament... Continue Reading

How does God respond to Isaac’s cowardly, faithless lie? Breathtakingly, God responds with overwhelming, unmerited grace. In a year of severe famine, Isaac plants crops and reaps “a hundredfold.” A hundredfold return is a miraculous, staggering yield. God blesses Isaac so immensely that he becomes a massive economic threat to the Philistines, sparking deep envy.... Continue Reading

As to how holy lives and pure doctrine enable the church to be a pillar and buttress of the truth, consider that there simply is no true church without the faithful preaching of God’s Word. As Paul says in another place, “If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received,... Continue Reading

Listen to what he says in his lecture on Paul’s statement in Romans. He says, “The saints in being righteous are at the same time sinners; they are righteous because they believe in Christ whose righteousness covers them and is imputed to them, but they are sinners because they do not fulfill the Law and... Continue Reading

Quit being concerned about what everyone else is doing, and concentrate on what you are supposed to do. This doesn’t mean we can’t talk to a friend when he or she sins. We can, and they can also talk to us when it’s our turn to be corrected (Luke 17:3,4; Matthew 18:15ff). But for our... Continue Reading

What are the signs that counseling might be hurting more than helping? I suspect this problematic dynamic whenever someone insists on meeting but doesn’t do the homework I assign, whenever someone wants to continue meeting beyond the specified endpoint, or whenever meetings continue with no discernible progress in spiritual fruit. In any of these scenarios,... Continue Reading

Perhaps Christians should stop thinking about retirement as simply leaving something behind. Instead, retirement should be viewed as the opporunity to be useful in new ways. Imagine entering retirement with decades of experience, financial stability, and newfound flexibility. Now, you don’t treat retirment as a season of vacation, but a time where your usefulness expands! ... Continue Reading

In an age where anyone can gain a large following online, we tend to look down on those with few followers. In our mega-church era, we can frown upon small churches in rural areas. Such thinking can lead us to despise the small things, even though the vast majority of us will never make the... Continue Reading

Whenever someone in real need crosses our path, we should respond with compassion and help as we would hope to be helped, even if that person isn’t someone we would typically choose to love.     I know you’re a deeply loving person. I see it week after week in the way you treat others.... Continue Reading

Let’s face it: it’s far easier to love “everybody” than it is to love a specific somebody standing next to you. Everybody won’t require anything from you, or have any expectations. Everybody won’t notice if you don’t feel like helping today, or if you’d rather not make the effort to talk. Everybody won’t mind. The... Continue Reading