The Sudden Return of Christ
The wise virgins were prepared for the sudden return of Christ, the foolish were not.
Dear friends, are you prepared to meet the Lord of glory? Are you prepared to leave this life today and be in the presence of Christ? How can a man be reconciled to God? Repent, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be reconciled to God through Him and be saved! ... Continue Reading
‘The Heart of God’: Excerpt From ‘The Heart of the Cross’
Jesus’s last words from the cross are significant.
Yet far more important than looking at these words to learn our duties is to look at them for what they teach us about the nature and work of Christ himself, which is how we are looking at them in this book. They teach that Jesus died to save us from our sin; that is... Continue Reading
The Enneagram is the Face of God and the Body of Christ
Like the spiritual virus that is it, the mutations and distortions grow.
Since the Enneagram is a spiritual tool from the occult and men who received their understanding of it through spirit contact and from the New Age, it should not be surprising that the true nature of God and Jesus is being distorted by it. The distortions of God continue unchecked in the culture of... Continue Reading
The Real Deal: The Exclusivity of Jesus
Knowing Jesus is in itself experiencing life-everlasting. This is the exclusive truth.
In this world of all-inclusivism, deconstructionism, liberalism, ecumenism, moral and mental chaos, the exclusivity of Jesus Christ triumphs. It gives clarity to the mind. It gives peace to the heart. It is the beacon of light that stands alone, ever shining brightly to dispel the darkness of unbelief and to give hope to those who... Continue Reading
How to Offer Correction
If we see ourselves as the foremost of sinners, we will give everyone else the benefit of the doubt.
How different would things be if we were motivated by love for others and if we approached the giving of criticism from the perspective of regarding ourselves as the foremost of sinners. If we were able to do this, the watching world might just see more of Christ in us and begin asking for the... Continue Reading
Is it Unspiritual to be Discouraged?
We may experience discouragement; but we will not be defeated by it.
To be free from the possibility of discouragements would be more “spiritual” than Jesus—and therefore not truly spiritual at all. Psalms 42 and 43 teach us the biblical approach to discouragement: we feel it, we recognize it for what it is, and we analyze the reasons for its presence. From time to time over the centuries... Continue Reading
How “Isolation” Helps Us Understand Sin
We were created for communion with God, and isolation is what we settle for and, as we shall see, unwittingly calibrate our experience of church to.
If isolation—the state in which we exist, dividing ourselves from one another and from God—permeates even the life of the church, then we can see isolation appearing in our church life in two different, polar-opposite forms. Following Bonhoeffer, we can see that there are two faces to isolation: that of the crowd and that of the individual. ... Continue Reading
Zombie Sins
Buried sins. The ugly undead.
Accountability to a fellowship is good, but without honesty, is insufficient. More often than not I have coddled my sin rather than killed it. I’ve fed the beast, thinking that I might keep it at bay, all the while it has been plotting its attack. We cannot co-exist with sin, making excuses for it, placating... Continue Reading
Passionate about the Trivial and Apathetic about the Vital
The paradox of apathy—that we are numb to the greatest things—can be conquered by the paradox of grace as we confess our powerlessness and really take in the good news of God’s gentle and merciful heart.
Practice gratitude. Thankfulness is a central part of the Christian life. But as we think about apathy and triviality, I want to highlight the subversive nature of gratitude. Paul writes in Ephesians 5:3–4: “Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.” Notice that... Continue Reading
When Prayer Makes Anxiety Worse
A heart lacking gratitude will not encounter the peace of God.
What makes His peace special isn’t that a simple prayer zaps all our problems immediately; it is that we can know the One who transcends it all, and we can call Him our sovereign and loving Father. We can trust that He often allows life’s situations to draw us to Himself and grow us more... Continue Reading
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