Some helpful articles from the last week: Kevin DeYoung gives us something to think about: “I’ve learned over the years that the simplest way to judge gray areas in the Christian life like movies, television, and music is to ask one simple question: can I thank God for this?…” John Piper wrote a teenager about […]
Read More Grab bagFirst David was being chased relentlessly by Saul. He was discouraged and evidently despaired of receiving God’s promise of ascending to the throne of Israel. Then Jonathan came and encouraged his friend in the Lord. But you wonder, don’t you, “did he learn his lesson?” “Did the truths about God that Jonathan used to strengthen […]
Read More He learned his lessonThis week I counted the number of open tabs in my web browser. It was over 40. Time for a Grab Bag, me thinks. Many more churches are being proactive in providing biblical counseling for their people and the community (check out the GBCM webpage and the GBC biblical counselor training page as examples). Capitol […]
Read More Grab bagA few things that I thought were particularly well-said at the biblical counselor training conference last weekend (due to limitations in my transcription skills, these may not be exact quotations): Biblical counseling discerns thinking and behavior that God wants to change. [Lance Quinn] There is a two-fold purpose in and for our lives: becoming more […]
Read More Well-said at the conferenceThis video is an internet classic — if anything on the internet can already be known as classic. I’ve seen references to it numerous times, and showed it to my family for the first time last week. It makes a good point about the necessity of putting off sin. It’s a spoof by Bob Newhart […]
Read More A new counseling method?One of the frequently omitted realities about sanctification is that it is a process. No one is sanctified instantly, like a cheap pudding, or even fast, like an inexpensive hamburger. Sanctification takes time. In fact, it is part of a believer’s life every day until he is finally glorified through his death. In other words, […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/22/10)During a dinner party conversation, the neighbor of Albert Einstein asked the white-haired physicist, “What are you actually, by profession?” “I devote myself to the study of physics,” replied Einstein. The girl was astonished: “You mean to say that you study physics at your age? I finished mine a year ago!” What that poor young […]
Read More Still studyingIn Ephesians 4:22-24, Paul explains one of the foundational principles for sanctification in the Christian life: the believer is to put off (take off, stop) any activity that speaks of the ungodly life of unbelievers and the old, unredeemed man, and he is to put on (begin and continue) the activities of that reflect the […]
Read More Put off and put onDavid Platt asks what he calls “The Radical Question.” Here is the question: What is Jesus worth to you? Do you believe he is worth abandoning everything for? Do you really believe Jesus is so good, so satisfying, and so rewarding that you will leave all you own and all you are to find your […]
Read More The Radical QuestionThis morning in the sermon notes, I had a fairly lengthy list of resources — books, audio, and articles — that I believe will be helpful encouragements in your battle against sin. I had intended to make a couple of comments about those resources, and simply forgot to do so (which is happening more frequently […]
Read More Some particularly helpful resources in the battle against sinThe life of the believer will be different from the life of the unbeliever. There will be transformation into the image of Christ in the life of the believer (he will not be perfect, and there will be differing levels of maturity, but his trajectory will be towards Christ). John Calvin said it this way:” […]
Read More A different kind of lifeA believer in Christ is to be pure. In one sense, he already is. The blood of Christ has been applied to his life, and all the impurity of his life — past, present, and future — has been removed. He stands guiltless before God. (That’s an amazing sentence!) But in another sense, he is […]
Read More Are you pure in heart?Continuing the thought from yesterday’s sermon of Paul’s presupposition that salvation will always produce transformation, Martyn Lloyd-Jones wrote this: …regeneration is the profoundest change in the world, and that therefore we must always keep this in the forefront of our minds. A Christian is not just a man who has decided to be a little […]
Read More Regeneration is the profoundest changeEven a few minutes of honest reflection and self-examination will convict a man of a vast expanse of sin in his life. Even a redeemed individual will see regular influence of the flesh and ungodly desires in the actions of his life and motives. Sometimes glimpses into the darkness of the soul will leave one […]
Read More How much sin is too much for Christ to forgive?The word “salvation” means “rescue.” And in this rescue the believer is rescued from two different objects. He is rescued from the wrath of God — in a very real sense, salvation is not just to God, but also from God — from His wrath. But the believer is also rescued from the ongoing effect […]
Read More Saved from what?
Words of Grace 