Category: Christian Life
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Me Worship
The foolishness caricatured in this video probably needs no comment. It touches on what is perhaps the most common plague of American Evangelicalism: the notion that life (and Church) is all about me – what I like, what I want, etc. God seems to have other ideas. In Isaiah 48.11 God says: For my own sake, for…
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Measuring Up?
Do you ever feel that you have to measure up? Do you wonder sometimes how you are grading out in God’s eyes? I suspect the answer for most people is “Yes”. Our theology may tell us otherwise, but I think most people struggle with this from time to time – especially when we feel emotionally tired and as…
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Prophets, Priests, and Kings
An important concept to explore and implement in the ministry of the local church is the reflection of the Offices of Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King. This is known as Tri-Perspectivalism or Multi-Perspectivalism. I have written and spoken a little about this, but I am still far more a student than an expert when it comes…
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A Shelter in Time of Storm: Meditations on God & Trouble
In this video Paul Tripp offers a true-to-life yet hopeful reflection of Psalm 27.
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6 Words Toward Open Hearts
From Donald Whitney: Over and over I’ve seen one simple question open people’s hearts to hear the gospel. Until I asked this question, they showed no interest in spiritual matters. But then after six words—only seventeen letters in English—I’ve seen people suddenly begin to weep and their resistance fall. The question is, “How can I…
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How Can We Look Forward to Heaven?
Some time ago someone I encountered posed an interesting question: “How can we look forward to heaven when none of our favorite things are sure to be there?” C. S. Lewis’ offers a breathtaking answer: Let us construct a fable. Let us picture a woman thrown into a dungeon. There she bears and rears a…
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Christianity vs The Good Life
My friend Gerald Robison writes: The goal of popular Christianity today is to live “the good life” – not “a good life”. Much of 21st century preaching focuses on the blessings of God. Only in the lives of “others” is hardship, trials, persecution, suffering and martyrdom mentioned. The focus of that popular teching is on the listeners,…
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Human Flourishing
As my son goes off to college in a matter of weeks I am seeing my influence, in the form of authority and control, dissipate with each passing day. I hope I will always have some influence in his life. To have no influence is to have no relationship. Further, I hope that over the…
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Broken Down Houses
Paul Tripp further expounds the thoughts conveyed in this viedo in his book: Broken Down Houses.
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Suffering Saints
I have begun a series of messages at Walnut Hill Church from the Seven Letters to the Churches in Revelation. This past Sunday we looked at the Church at Smyrna, from Revelation 2.8-11. The Church at Smyrna is most intriguing for a couple reasons. First, the name Smyrna litterally means “City of Myrh”. If myrh sounds familiar…
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Thinking Christianly
Thinking Christianly is not simply thinking by Christians, nor is it thinking by Christians about Christian things, nor is it thinking by Christians about or in order to develop a ‘Christian line’. Thinking Christianly is thinking by Christians about anything at all in a profoundly Christian way. Where their minds are so informed and influenced by…
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7 Rules for Reconciliation
To live in community is to live with – at least – the potential for conflict. I have acted wrongly on too many occasions; I have wronged others; and I have been wronged by others. I find few things more emotionally taxing than living in conflict. But God calls us to live in community, where…
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The Least We Can Do
If Jesus could rise from the dead, we can at least rise from our bed, get off our couches and pews, and respond to the Lord’s resurrection life within us, joining Jesus in what he’s up to in the world. We call on others to join us—not in removing ourselves from planet Earth, but to…
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Sin Boldly
I’m going to start a new category: Graffiti. This categtory will offer some great quotes. I don’t know many that would top the following from Luther: “If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin.…
