Partakers of the Divine Nature

The soul that is joined to Christ is quickened with a divine life, so we read in 2 Pet 1.4. Where believers are said to be partakers of the divine nature: a very high expression, and warily to be understood. Partakers of the divine nature: not essentially; so it is wholly incommunicable to the creature, [...]

Regeneration

One of my favorite passages from Thomas Watson’s sermon “How We May Read the Scriptures With Most Spiritual Profit” is a quip on regeneration (the new birth, being born again), – The word calls for regeneration; have you the signature . . . of the Holy Ghost [Spirit] upon you?  . . . Is there [...]

Immanuel Baptist Church and the Gay/Straight Alliance

Last Thursday I had a tremendous opportunity. Along with six other believers (mostly from Immanuel) I went to a local public high school to dialogue with a student group called the ‘Gay, Straight Alliance’. This event was made possible because one of our Pastoral Apprentices, Andrew Wilkinson shared the gospel with, and befriended his lesbian [...]

Can You Be a New Creation and a Worm at the Same Time?

Not everyone thinks it is biblically sound to call a new creature in Christ a worm, let alone to aspire to be one. It’s a good question. Read the rest of John Piper’s answer here.

A Must Watch Sermon on 1 Corinthians 1.26-31

By John Piper.  Some have quipped, even in the seminary classroom, how Piper has but one sermon.  Well, that may be true, but I can’t for the life of me see anything wrong with that one sermon.  For that one sermon, I believe, approaches the content and joy of that one sermon and song that [...]

A Divine Work in Boston

Some of you may not know that I, along with my family, and two other brothers, along with their families, are planning to plant a church in Boston, MA, Lord willing, by the summer of 2012, with a launch date sometime in the summer of 2013.  My prayers of late, by God’s supernatural grace, have [...]

John Wesley’s Questions for Accountability which He Saw as Essential unto the ‘Power of Godliness’

1. Am I consciously or unconsciously creating the impression that I am better than I am? In other words, am I a hypocrite? 2. Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate? 3. Do I confidentially pass onto another what was told me in confidence? 4. Am I a slave [...]

A Lecture on Regeneration

Posted under “Other Writings” tab above. From the introduction: Last week I mentioned that I doubted whether there were any more important doctrines to recover, know and experience than the doctrines of God, Christ, depravity, and regeneration.  That was confirmed again this week in a lecture by Adam Greenway, when he identified the lack of [...]

Reflections on Genesis 6:5: Depravity and Grace

In the past couple of weeks, the Lord has grabbed my heart for meditation upon four verses in particular: Genesis 6:5, Psalm 42:2, Isaiah 42:3, and Hebrews 12:14.  Over the next couple of days, I hope to post some reflections upon them in that order. Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man [...]

Assurance From the Doctrines of the Christian Life

The following is an excerpt from David Brainerd’s journal just some short time before his death: “I could not but feel some measure of gratitude to God at this time (wherein I was much exercised) that He had always disposed me, in my ministry, to insist on the great doctrines of ‘regeneration,’ ‘the new creature,’ [...]