Category: Spiritual Formation
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Authentic Church: Road to a Re-newed Reality
I have been mulling on something the late Francis Schaeffer said: “There are four things which are absolutely necessary if we as Christians are going to meet the need of our age and the overwhelming pressure we are increasingly facing.” No doubt that the Church, in our culture as well as other cultures, faces increasing…
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Dangers of Spiritual Resolutions
I’ve been there. Likely, so have you. The year begins with good intentions, and maybe even a strong start, only to fizzle days later. The Statistic Brain Research Institute reports that 75% of New Years Resolutions are broken within the first week of the New Year. No doubt most of the others go down soon…
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Desiring Truth
by Wesley Hurd At the end of one of his films, Deconstructing Harry, writer/actor Woody Allen delivers a movie-ending confession that offers a perverted coherence to the film: “All people know the truth. Our lives consist of how we choose to distort it.” For believers, though, desiring truth – undistorted – is central to the…
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How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself
Paul, in Colossians 2.6, instructs us: “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him…” Simple words, but powerfully practical when unpacked. How did we “receive” Jesus? By faith and repentance – or by repentance and faith. We are not quite sure which comes first, but perhaps…
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Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves Each and Every Day
C.J. Mahaney reminds us of the importance and benefits of preaching the gospel to ourselves each and every day.
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5 Obedience Killing Lies
No doubt in my mind, it is one of the more difficult aspects of living in line with the gospel. Is it about grace, or is it about obedience? If I say “both” – which I do – then how does this not add a requirement of works to the gospel requirement of faith alone…
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Gospel Wakefulness
One of the more helpful works I have read concerning gospel-centered Christianity is Jared Wilson‘s Gospel Wakefulness. Perhaps most insightful to me was Jared’s point that gospel-centeredness can be explained but cannot be taught. In other words, it requires a grace of the holy spirit. I do not think this realization moves gospel-centeredness into a…
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Counterfeit Gospels
Having begun a new series of messages at our church, Freedom: A Study of Galatians, I am struck anew by the passion with which the Apostle Paul uncompromisingly declares: “There is NO OTHER Gospel!” What Paul does throughout his letter to the Galatians, and vividly in the opening verses, is to impress that claim upon…
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11 Personal Heart Examination Points to Consider
It might be beneficial to periodically take some moments to consider if, to some degree, we are functionally forgetting the gospel. “Forgetting the gospel?” Yep. As absurd as such a thing may sound, it is a very common spiritual issue for all of us. Consider 2 Peter 1.3-9: His divine power has granted to us all things that…
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7 Signs of Living to Please God
“Am I now trying to win the approval of men, or of God?” ~ Galatians 1:10 At this time of the year many of us see an opportunity for a new start. Whether you are one who makes New Years Resolutions or not, there seems to be a sense of “Do Over” that comes almost…
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Resolutions for the New Year
Each year, during the first week of January, I have made it my habit to review a series of personal resolutions written long, long ago – the Resolutions of Jonathan Edwards. While these are not necessarily my own resolutions, at least not the whole, they are worthy of reflection. In reading and re-reading this list…
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Birdwatching: Medicine for My Soul
I love this perspective from Paul Tripp: “When you are struglling with anxiety, look at creation. Embedded in the physical world are constant reminders that God does not abandon the work of his hands.” Tripp appropriately spiritualizes something that I have experienced but had never really contemplated sufficiently. My tendency has long been to retreat…
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Evidences of a Backslidden Condition
Through the prophet Jeremiah the Lord dispenses a treasury of wisdom and insight. Perhaps among the most valuable of those insights, at least to my thinking, is found in Jeremiah 17.9: The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? The Lord also reminds us, through Jeremiah and scores of…
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REAL Christians Waltz
Listen to how Bob Flayhart, Senior Pator at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, describes a Gospel-centered Christian Life: A Gospel-centered life is the Christian Waltz. A waltz is a dance made up of three steps. Christians need to consider the Christian three step when it comes to growth. In the first step, we…
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5 Reasons to Recover the Practice of Confession
Is confession something that Evangelical Christians should practice regularly? or Is confession a practice rooted in the superstition of some by-gone tradition? Joe Thorn gives a handful of good reasons why Confession should be part of the regular Christian practice: 1. Confession Acknowledges God’s Place and Authority In our Lives By a sincere and hearty…
