What God’s Grace Produces In Us
He alone has the power to not only forgive someone but actually bring them back to life.
Every time you’ve become aware of your sin and repented of it, every time you’ve silently asked God for help when you feel anger rising up in you. Every cup of tea you’ve made for a hurting friend, every prayer you’ve prayed, every tear you’ve shed for the lost . . . all of it... Continue Reading
Community: A Struggle to Fit
God wants us to look more like who he created us to be for the benefit of one another.
Yes, community is messy and complicated. Sometimes it seems hopeless, especially for those on the margins. Christ was one of those on the margin, knowing rejection. We see him ministering to the uninvited throughout the Gospels, so we know they are on his heart. We may struggle with wanting to be reshaped since it is... Continue Reading
Christ was the Great Unlike
All good men have for centuries been trying to tell whom this Substitute was like, but every comparison, inspired and uninspired, evangelistic, prophetic, apostolic, and human falls short.
Together Adam and Noah and Melchizedek and Joseph and Moses and Joshua and Samson and Solomon and Jonah, and they would not make a fragment of a Christ, a quarter of a Christ, the half of a Christ, or the millionth part of a Christ. He forsook a throne and sat down on His own... Continue Reading
Have You Tasted Heaven?
If we experience joys that cannot be attributable to a world like this one, the most probable explanation is that they must come from another.
I have tasted the fruit of a distant land and have within me a growing longing to taste it again, to taste it all the more, to leave this land and settle in that place of such delights, of such wonder. For though I do not know exactly where that place is, and though I... Continue Reading
The Unrepenting Repenter
What are the Substitutes for True Repentance?
If a man turns from sin without turning to God, he will find his sin has only changed its name and is hidden behind his pride. Now it will be harder to rout for its subterfuge. You have loved others but not God. And you have loved yourself most of all. Lot’s wife left the... Continue Reading
Peace and Purity Provided By Authority: John Thomson’s Defense Of Presbyterian Church Polity
Some of these initial disputes were over subscription to the Westminster Confession, the practice of itinerant preaching, the method of revivalism, the process of examination of candidates for ministry and how the purity of ministry should be maintained.
The purpose of this paper is not to establish whether or not Thomson’s articulation was correct, but to examine how Thomson argued that his understanding of Church polity would ensure the peace and purity of the church. It helps to better understand the objective of Thomson, in order to illustrate his reasoning and argumentation, to... Continue Reading
On Learning and Growing – In the Next Life
For believers, the future life will never be dull or boring.
“Related to the finitude of our knowledge is our continued growth in it. What we know and experience in the eternal state will not be static but ever increasing. As created and therefore finite beings, we are mutable. This means that we are subject to change. Change, however, is not necessarily a bad thing if... Continue Reading
Christ’s Pattern, a Masterful Work
Manton put forth five ways that Christ, our master, was a pattern for us and in us, His students.
The Christian life has many ebbs and flows. Among the flowing, we find patterns of our own life and that of our brethren which are reflective of our Savior. We see patterns of grace, obedience, conquering, acquiring heaven, and perseverance. When the world, flesh, and devil tell the Christian that his life is a fake, that... Continue Reading
Survey Says: You Can’t Replace Dad
Last month, new research from the Institute for Family Studies demonstrated, once again, how important fathers are, especially for boys.
Christians can challenge the growing public safety crisis that is fatherlessness, and we must start in the Church. We must affirm, in word and in action, that there are men and there are women and that both matter in parenting. We have to de-normalize absent dads, challenge men to take responsibility for their sexual choices and for... Continue Reading
The Lasting Legacy of Ordinary Believers
Is there anything useful we can really do for the work of God’s kingdom?
You too can be a bigger influence on others than you realise. Simply listening to people and encouraging them at church can be influential. Your kindness to those who are sick will be remembered. Your involvement in teaching children at church might bear eternal fruit. Paul constantly encourages Christians to build one another up; you... Continue Reading
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