Shepherds’ Conference, Day 2

And now, day two of the 2017 Shepherds’ Conference is over. More Christ-exalting worship and preaching and fellowship.  The days are full and the days go quickly.  Of particular encouragement are the discussions at meal times and in the cars and between sessions.  I am grateful for the 4500 men we worship with in each […]

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Shepherds’ Conference, Day 1

Day one of the 2017 Shepherds’ Conference is over. It was a day of sweet and encouraging fellowship with the men in our church body and a number of other men from other places and ministries — some new friends and some old friends, re-acquainted. And there was the music — the Gettys, the TMU […]

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The gospel in three minutes

Yesterday I identified the gospel in six words. Here is the gospel that you can speak to someone in three minutes. God is gracious and merciful toward mankind. He has made us to live with Him and for Him and He provides the means by which we can do that. Man has rebelled against God. […]

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The gospel in six words

This year our church is actively working to create a culture of evangelism — regularly looking for opportunities to teach the gospel with the intent to persuade. One of the basic components of teaching the gospel is that you have to know what the gospel is.  There are many different biblical ways to articulate the […]

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Salvation and Sola Fide

In his great text on the doctrine of justification, Paul notes that it is acquired only by faith — “the righteousness of God [is] through faith in Jesus Christ.”  He will reiterate the necessity of faith several times in this passage: God displayed Jesus Christ “publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith” (v. […]

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God is always good

Not everything that we know is true feels like it is true. We know that there is always hope for someone’s salvation (Heb. 3:12-13), but when that person has rejected Christ repeatedly and vehemently, we might not feel hopeful. We understand the power of Christ to reconcile believers to one another (Eph. 2:13-18), but when […]

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