What if, hundreds of years from today, people shaped their view of church government from a letter from a governor writing to a president who knew nothing about Christianity, but from interrogation and torture? To put weight on this one term, which is indecisive at best, is to be shaped by an unbeliever and outsider... Continue Reading

Faithful ministry makes much of God and little of us. It is not performative because it is not ultimately concerned with appearances. It is willing to do what is right even when the cost potentially involves losing credibility or influence, because the name most worthy of being preserved is the name of the Savior.  ... Continue Reading

Having a coach is not always within the financial means of everyone, but don’t let that slow you down. You know a lot and you can learn and grow a lot more.   God has blessed me at times with coaches and mentors. Even though it wouldn’t be one-on-one coaching, someday I would like to... Continue Reading

God forbid that any of you would be saying in your heart, “If it looks like I have to suffer for this, I’ve got a way to get myself free from suffering.” What sort of way is that? “Oh, the last time I begged mercy and I confessed I’d done wrong and I promised never... Continue Reading

Here’s where the weight becomes almost unbearable: none of us have ever worshiped God with completely pure motives. None of us love Him with all our heart. Not even one of us is truly righteous on our own merit. “All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs... Continue Reading

Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and this is why verse five assures He will never leave nor forsake His sheep.  In fact, besides His seven “I AM” sayings, Jesus declared, before Abraham was, I Am (John 8:58).[8] Christian, the self-sufficient God can preserve you. Though things may often appear... Continue Reading

He lived Shawshank Redemption, working toward the goal of getting out, and using what he had in a profitable way while he was in prison. Finally, he stands before Pharaoh and again uses the opportunity to apply for the position of chief comptroller of all the grain in Egypt, to get everyone through the coming... Continue Reading

God didn’t just offer clean hearts from a distance. He sent His Son. Jesus took the stain we couldn’t remove. He bore the weight of our sin so forgiveness could be real — not imagined, not symbolic, but finished. Jesus came to take upon Himself the stain of our sin so that He could provide... Continue Reading

Let the aim of believers in judging mortal life, then, be that while they understand it to be of itself nothing but misery, they may with greater eagerness and dispatch betake themselves wholly to meditate upon that eternal life to come.     In a remarkable section in his Institutes devoted to “meditation on the future... Continue Reading

“For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14).   It’s no secret that the name of God... Continue Reading