As long as I am inside the gospel, I experience all the protection I need from the powers of evil that rage against me. If is for this reason that the Bible tells me to ‘take up’ and ‘put on’ the whole armor of God; and the pieces of armor it tells me to put…
What are the characteristics of God’s forgiveness? God’s forgiveness is gracious. He offers forgiveness freely. This is not because forgiveness is free in terms of cost. It is a very expensive gift that can be offered freely because, motivated by love, God send his one and only Son to pay the price for it. God’s…
According to Scripture, God deliberately designed the gospel in such a way so as to strip me of pride and leave me without any grounds for boasting in myself whatsoever. This is actually a wonderful mercy from God, for pride is at the root of all my sin. Pride produced the first sin in the…
In Thomas Watson’s book The Doctrine of Repentance he gives several aspects of true, biblical repentance. For a free PDF copy of his book click here. Observation of sin (Acts 26:18; Luke 15:17). Without a sense of sin there is no humiliation; that without humiliation there can be no repentance; and that without repentance there can be…
Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 7:10-11 reveal the seriousness of exemplifying a worldly remorse or sorrow over against a godly remorse or sorrow. A worldly sorrow brings regret that leads to death, whereas a godly sorrow does not bring regret and leads to salvation. Barnett in his Second Corinthians Commentary writes, “the structure of Paul’s…
This post was originally posted at Desiring God on August 20, 2014. The original post can be found here. Every summer the same thing happens to my inbox. I open it to find a steady stream of emails from concerned parents, youth pastors, and older siblings, asking me to check in on so and so…
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…
Walt Mueller shares in his book The Space Between: A Parent’s Guide to Teenage Development a few suggestions on how to offer stability to teenage emotions when they seem to be out of control that I wanted to pass on. He says… Treat your teenagers’ emotions as important. Don’t be insensitive. Make every effort to ensure that your…
What do you do with a child you have raised in the church and instructed in the things of God but they seem to not believe (or not believe to the degree you think they should) and they continually question the truth of God? Walt Mueller gives several words of advice: Be diligent in teaching…
