What We Learn from Our Sicknesses
Sickness should make us long for a better future time.
Above all, our sickness should drive us to our knees in prayer. God can heal the sick. And even if He chooses to delay this longer than we might want, we should thank God for controlling the world even on days we cannot control even our little part in it. It is that time... Continue Reading
Connecting Biblical Hope to Promises
Hope depends on what God has promised.
God is a promise-making and promise-keeping God. And so many of his promises are designed to give us strength, encouragement, and clarity to press in and press through the hard things of life. We can abound in hope as we learn, remember, and trust in God’s promises. It would be hard to deny the... Continue Reading
What Do You Know about the Authentic Jesus of Nazareth?
As we build the case for the authentic Jesus, there are four factors we ought to consider: His humanity, His deity, His unity, and His authority.
Jesus’ deity a matter not of triviality but of reality. The great, staggering truth of Christianity is that Christ, the God-man, was nurtured in a womb—that He who had always existed became part of God’s space-time economy. Jesus, while true man, is also true God. Maybe you’ve heard this description somewhere: He was born in poverty,... Continue Reading
What to Know When You Suffer
Scripture is filled with wonderful promises that should captivate our hearts and minds as we walk through times of suffering.
We can be confident of God’s love for all of eternity because He perfectly demonstrated His love when He gave His own Son for our salvation. Whatever suffering you may face in your life right now, Christ’s sacrificial death for you reminds you that God is not withholding from you. Romans 8:32 says, “He who... Continue Reading
When the Gavel Falls
Apart from the grace of God – we are guilty.
We fail to meet the divine standard. The Divine Representative stands in our defense. All these things clear the path for the divine accomplishment, which John unfolds in 1 John 2:2 – “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John... Continue Reading
Royalty in Disguise
There are times when royalty passes before us and we do not see it.
Give praise to your King! And perhaps as you do so, look around, look beyond the disguises—the suits and ties or the jeans and t-shirts—to see God’s family before him, God’s family joined together in worship, God’s sons and daughters rejoicing together in the Father who has made them his own, the Father who is... Continue Reading
Learning the Art of Contentment…and Discontentment
How do we cultivate discontentment and change what we love?
Love Christ more and you will love money less. When you have less you will find yourself saying, “I am learning to be content. Christ is more to me than all the world.” When you have more you will say, “How can I use what I have to serve Christ? Because Christ is more to... Continue Reading
Salvation by God at the Cross of Christ: A Reflection on Chapter 6 of Christianity and Liberalism (Part 2)
We should reject adjusting the atonement, sin, and our view of God to meet the tastes or fads of the day, but rather have a clear-eyed focus on sin and the cross as the core of the gospel.
To modify the core message of the gospel in order to receive what we think of as a proper hearing will lead to unfaithfulness. There are temptations within the evangelical church to compromise at the same places where theological liberalism was found defective: the doctrine of sin, character of God, and the accomplishment of the... Continue Reading
Why Reformed Churches Need Contextualization
The goal of contextual translation work is to present the message and life of the gospel in a comprehensible and attractive way.
Take time to explain unfamiliar movements of Christian worship. Explaining and teaching confession and forgiveness as part of our regular worship will make a striking difference in our churches and in society. When we explain the flow of worship, we also explain patterns that should be part of the rhythm and flow of a Christian’s... Continue Reading
That We Might Live
Life in the Holy Family
Like physical life, it’s hard to define. But—leaning hard on Scripture—we can perhaps say that at its heart eternal life is the character and quality of existence that God experiences in himself. Very importantly, this is a trinitarian life—for the Bible reveals that the one God exists as a “holy family” comprised of three distinct persons: Father,... Continue Reading
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