In New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional, Paul David Tripp writes that we are all on a conquest for hope. He shares several truths regarding hope I wanted to pass on to you. God has hardwired human beings for hope. We don’t live by instinct; we all find our identity, meaning, purpose, and inner sense…
Have you ever heard someone talk about meditating on Scripture and thought to yourself, “what in the world does that even mean?” Martin Luther, who lived back in the 1500’s, describes how to actually meditate on Scripture. First, discern what the passage actually teaches and consider what the Lord demands. Second, turn the passage into…
What does it mean to meditate on Scripture? Tim Keller in his latest book Prayer: Experiencing Awe and Intimacy with God says, “to meditate is to ask yourself questions about the truth” and “seeks to use the mind intensely” (148). Here are some questions to help your mind think deeper about the things of God and…
I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content (Phil 4: 11). There’s a place for legitimate discontentment. All of us should, to some degree, be discontent with our spiritual growth. If we aren’t, we will stop growing. There’s also what we might call a prophetic discontentment with injustice and other evils in…
Sanctification is the radical change God brings about in the heart of a person who trusts Jesus Christ as Savior. It’s the passing from spiritual death to spiritual life, the beginning of a new creation in Christ, and the writing of God’s Law in our hearts. It means a new relationship to the Law of…
One way we love others is by being proactive in doing good, not reactive. The example in the blog post title serves as an example: you wouldn’t wait till your car runs out of gas to put gas in it. There’s a proactiveness that we naturally exemplify. In the same way we should be proactive…
Paul writes to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:7 to encourage him that God hasn’t given Christians a spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. What is self-control? Is having self-control a big deal? Should not having self-control concern us? If you’re anything like me there are areas in my life where I’ve…
Change is hard. Read Jeremiah 13:23; 22:21 – what is Jeremiah referring to? Wrong interpretation: referring to sinful nature with which men are born. However, Calvin insists that it should be understood as a description of “the habit that is contracted by long practice.” Jeremiah makes the point elsewhere in Jeremiah 22:21. Change is a cooperative act (Phil…
Heath Lambert, who serves as the Executive Director at the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors recently wrote a book called Finally Free: Fighting For Purity With The Power Of Grace that our pastoral interns recently read and discussed. His book was particularly helpful, insightful and full of practical wisdom. One such chapter was on how to use…
Originally posted on September 3, 2014 by Mark Altrogge at The Blazing Center. When the Holy Spirit comes to dwell in us he changes our hearts and minds. He gives us the mind of Christ (Php 2:5). And we are to cooperate with him by actively transforming our minds and thinking by the word of God. “Do not be…
Theology Along the Way 