Why Do We Add To Our Trouble?
We make our way more difficult when we give ourselves over to sin. Every sin is a weight, every vice a heavy load to our souls.
God has called each of his people to run a race, a race that for the great majority of us will be a marathon more than a sprint. This is no small calling, no brief task, no little labor. We run best when we run light, free from the burdens of sin, free from the... Continue Reading
Put to Death What is Earthly in You
Those faux-Christian leaders attempting to widen the narrow gate wider than Christ set it are doing a disservice to those they are misleading.
The words “Put to death” translates the word νεκρώσατε the Aorist, Imperative, Active form of νεκρόω (nekroō) which the KJV renders as “mortify.” This command refers to a conscious effort to put to death the remaining sin in our flesh. Because real Christians have died with Christ, they can get rid of sinful practices. However,... Continue Reading
The Inscripturated & Incarnate Word of God
What is the relationship between the Word of God as found in Scripture and the Word of God who is known as Jesus?
So with both the Scriptures and Jesus being clearly referred to as the Word of God, then what are we to make of their relationship? Let me put it as simply as possible, then give several proper ways to respond. The Scriptures are the Father’s means of the Spirit revealing Jesus to you so you can... Continue Reading
A Theology of Confusion: How Faith Responds When God’s Ways Don’t Make Sense Pt. 2
Every prayer Jesus offers is always heeded by His Father. Every request Jesus makes always comes to fruition.
Confused, yet calm—because our Savior never ceases to intercede on our behalf. Confused, yet calm—because our Lord always asks for what is good and loving. Confused, yet calm—because in the Lord’s wisdom, He sovereignly allows only that which will shine His glory most bright. Confused, yet calm—because our Father’s ways are unsearchable and unfathomable. Confused,... Continue Reading
Sometimes the Best Explanation Is ‘Forgive Me’
Sin infects our syntax. It corrodes our word choice. We let it — even wield it. When will we learn?
When confronted with our sin, when will we learn that God, in his kindness, has planned for this to take place that we might repent (Romans 2:4)? When will we learn that God intends us to repent that we might once again experience the joy of unblushing fellowship with him (Psalm 51:7–12)? When will we learn that one reason... Continue Reading
Aim All You Have at Heaven: How God Inspires Ambitious Generosity
Any investment we make in heaven at the expense of some experience on earth will be handsomely rewarded now in this time — and in the age to come
Your Father is not stingy, but generous. He wants to give you the kingdom. If you are his, “all things are yours, whether . . . the world or life or death or the present or the future — all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s” (1 Corinthians 3:21–23). How insane of us,... Continue Reading
Put Away
"Pray by all means, but do not forget that Paul tells the Ephesians to put them off, to put them far from them, and we must do the same." - Martin Lloyd Jones
It is not pleasant, It is not at all pleasant even to preach on these things; it is very unpleasant for us to face them…but, says the Apostle, we must do it, and if we find any vestige or trace of these things within us, we must take hold of it and hurl it away... Continue Reading
Self-deception
The very nature of self-deception is that there is no conscious awareness of believing lies. Self-deception emerges from living on a self-referential basis.
The mere possibility of falling into this kind of deadly trap ought to be enough to breed extreme humility in the most experienced believer and most accomplished church. It ought to call us to radical commitment to measuring our lives by what the Scripture calls us to be and do and by nothing else. It... Continue Reading
When Peace Like A River
So as our nation recovers from the ever swinging pendulum of fire and flood, I choose to look to the beckoning hand of God to find my peace in the grace he pours out on me in Christ.
My prayer is for a gospel flood, for grace that runs ahead and fills every low place, for a landscape washed new under the blessing and favour of God. Our nation may not deserve it, but it desperately needs it. In recent days, Balrogs have stalked our desperate land …” On January 9, 2020,... Continue Reading
Dialogue with God
Worship that is communion between God and his people is not a monologue, it is a dialogue.
God speaks—truth, and his people respond—spirit. While the term spirit, as I’ve mentioned, may imply the Holy Spirit here, the word can also refer to our inner spirits, and I think in the context of this passages, that is Jesus’s primary point. The woman had asked him about the proper outward physical place and method... Continue Reading
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