Moving From Slave to Servant to Child: The Soul’s Reckoning of an Immediate Reality of Grace

The soul’s reckoning of God’s work of salvation is a common battle ground for Gospel assurance.  When I say “slave”, I intend that slavery to sin that the unbeliever relishes and continues to live in until they come to Christ.  When I say “servant”, I intend that servitude made explicit in that transference from the [...]

Thoughts on a “Brush Over” Passage

Typically, Exodus 22 is not one of those chapters that you take the time to . . . think through.  And this is poor on many of our accounts.  Recent time spent translating the text caused me to slow down and deal with what was in the chapter.  Here are some thoughts, oxen, donkeys, and [...]

Give Thanks In All Circumstances

Really?  This is what Paul writes to the church at Thessalonica in his first letter (5:18).  It is part of a rather incredible triad of amazing “really?” verses.  ”Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  So, yes, really!
This morning as [...]

Paul and the Grace of Christ

I was reading in Numbers 35 this morning and fell upon an interesting passage.  In the middle of this text describing the cities of refuge and the different rules for dealing with intentional and unintentional murderers, Moses writes, “Moreover, you shall accept no ransom for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death, [...]

The Good News and the Truth of Hell

“John answered them all, saying, ‘I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to [...]

The Gospel in 6 Minutes

It is good for us to hear this Gospel with God-given faith again and again and again; to be nurtured and founded here, giving glory to God.  Bask!  Bask daily!

Death is not Dying: A Faith that Saves – The Testimony of Rachel Barkey

In the midst of her cancer, she speaks to the surpassing greatness of God in and through Jesus Christ: and in doing so displays the true power of the Gospel – a transformed life that rejoices in the supremacy of Christ . . . even when dying.  A powerful message.  Go here to view here [...]

“Should a Minister Officiate at the Weddings of Unbelievers?” by Russell Moore

A stern and helpful read.  Go here.

A Conversation with Carson, Piper, and Keller

I have tried to provide the videos, but they are self-starting and you would have to pause each preceding video to here the next without interruption or going insane; the attempt to provide exact links to these videos also did not work.  So, I will provide this link, and once you are there, just search [...]

“Joel Osteen and the Glory Story: A Case Study” by Michael Horton

A TIME story in 2006 observed that Osteen’s success has reached even more traditional Protestant circles, citing the example of a Lutheran church that followed Your Best Life Now during Lent, of all times, “when,” as the writer notes, “Jesus was having his worst life then.” Even churches formally steeped in a theology of the cross succumb to theologies [...]