Walter Marshall, a 17th century English pastor, insightfully pointed out in his book The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification that the gospel is a double force in a Christian’s life. What does that mean? The good news that we’re forgiven, adopted, and forever loved by God creates thankfulness and hope of life with Jesus. this draws us to Him…
Thomas Watson in his book The Godly Man’s Picture gives 24 characteristics of a godly man. According to Watson, a godly man is… a man of knowledge a man moved by faith a man fired by love a man like God a man careful about the worship of God a man who serves God, not men a…
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…
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…
John Stott said, “in every step of our Christian growth and maturity, and throughout every aspect of our Christian obedience and service, our greatest foe is pride and our greatest ally is humility.” In light of that truth here are some practical steps C.J. Mahaney submits that Christians should do at the beginning of each day and at…
What holiness is not: It’s not mere rule-keeping. Holiness it not less than obeying commands but godliness is more than basic morality and niceness. It’s not generational imitation. Regarding every generation, it takes wisdom to learn from the good and avoid the bad. It’s not generic spirituality. True spirituality is found in being transformed by…
Before I continue it is important to remember that anger is not the actual problem; anger is the manifestation or “coming-out” due to a person not receiving something they believe they deserve. So according to Scripture it’s not simply that a person struggles with anger, it’s more biblically accurate to say that a person is…
Two paragraphs in Paul’s letters to Timothy and Titus give us a powerful profile for testing our maturity levels in Christ (1 Tim 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-10). The following list depicts spiritual qualifications from both letters: Overall spiritual maturity (a well-rounded man) Above reproach (a man of good reputation) The husband of one wife (morally pure/faithful)…
