What does forgiveness look like in healthy Christian relationships? This is often a touchy subject, especially when feelings are hurt by the raw welt of fresh sin. It is easy to say, “Forgive you!?” But do we really mean it, and what are we supposed to mean when we do?
Read MoreRomans 8, verse 1 is one of those precious verses that says so much to so many Christians. But are you reading it properly?
Read MoreHurting people hurt others and are easily hurt by them. This dynamic is never more true and seldom more painful than in the dynamic of marriage.
Read MoreMore than an idea to consider, more than facts to comprehend, Truth is a person to trust.
Read MoreYou leave an impression everywhere you go. Good or bad, your presence leaves a lingering aroma in the room, at the front desk, with the server, by the way. Like it or not, this affects the way people think of Jesus, your Savior.
Read MorePsalm 94 finds the Psalmist in a tight spot. The wicked are ascendant (4), the innocent are being condemned and slaughtered (5-6, 21), and God seems neither to see nor care (7).
Read MoreWhat is it about Jesus that you find beautiful?
Read MoreTalk of "Vision Meetings" can make Presbyterians nervous....
Read MoreThis weekend marks an important waypoint in the life of our church, when we would like to take a moment and clarify our current position, look back to see just how far we have come, and look forward to the bright vision we believe beckons us towards the future.
Read MorePraying work is hard work. Nothing about it is easy. Talking to a God we cannot see, reaching out to a God we cannot feel, conversing with a God we cannot hear taxes the soul. Where are we to start?
Read MoreYou would not have been proud of your pastor this week. I failed the test of love.
Read MoreThe Christian can therefore no longer live with a business as usual attitude towards this world, any more than passengers on the ill-fated Titanic could do so one second after the iceberg. What does this mean for us on Monday morning?
Read MoreWhen I die, what assurance can I have that I will enter the realm of the blessed? In our verse this morning, Paul tells us: the risen Christ is the only receipt you have, and He is the only receipt you need.
Read MoreFearfulness is especially a problem in leaders, incapacitating them inwardly and disqualifying them outwardly in the eyes of others. People can smell uncertainty. They can see it in the eyes and hear it in the voice. It unsettles them, and it ought to.
Read MoreSelfishness is so much our default posture, it happens subconsciously. You walk into a coffee shop and see someone you know. What is your first thought? Is it not, “Do I want to see this person? Is their company attractive to me? Am I attracted to them? Will their conversation fill me or drain me?”
Read MoreThe point of apocalyptic literature is not prediction but unmasking— unveiling the realities around us for what they really are. While the Roman Empire pretends to be a gift to civilization and the zenith of human accomplishment, John’s apocalyptic perspective from a heavenly angle shows us the reality: Rome is a monster.
Read MoreWas the cross necessary? Was it just for God to punish Jesus in our room and stead? Why could He not just forgive our sins, waive the debt, so to speak, and grant the kind of gratuitous forgiveness He requires from us?
Read MoreEvery culture has a story of redemption, a way of fixing what is broken deep inside, a way of finding hope for the future, meaning in the present, and covering the shame of the past. To understand a culture and its story of redemption, you must first find its healers.
Read MoreOver the past couple of weeks, I have been making my way through Paul David Tripp's book, 14 Principles of Parenting that Can Radically Change Your Family. A bold promise, you might say, but I think he just might be right. So far, the book has been tremendous, one to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest.
Read MoreThis morning in our men's study on the book of Romans, we considered the signs of a soul drifting away from grace towards legalism-- what Paul describes as a person, "Resting on the Law," or, "Putting confidence in the flesh." What does such a state look like, or feel like?
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