Category: Spirituality
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Introduction to Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
I have benefitted tremendously from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, from the depth and richness of the writings and the broadcasts of several of the members. So I thought I would post this introductory video for anyone who may not be familiar with this network. Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is a cross denominational organization in…
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A Paradox of God’s Intentions
A paradox of the Christian faith worth pondering, from John Flavel: When God intends to fill a soul, he first makes it empty. When God intends to enrich a soul, he first makes it poor. When he intends to exalt a soul, he first makes it sensible to it’s own miseries, wants, and nothingness.
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The Original Missional Calvinist
John Calvin often gets a bad rap. But David Mathis offers us another perspective. In the Introduction to a book he co-edited with John Piper, With Calvin in the Theater of God, Mathis writes: “Calvin so believed in the importance of the everyday activities of Christian life and mission that he had a strange but…
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Revival: The Restoration of the Holy Spirit to This Place
To understand aright what this teaching of the Spirit is, there are three things we must specially remember: The first, that it is all from within. It is by influencing, by renewing, by purifying the life, that the Spirit gives the experimental knowledge of God’s truth. Out of the light of life, wrought within our…
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Elect or Elite?
A few years ago, soon after coming to Bristol, I was asked by a godly woman in our church: “What does it mean to be Reformed?” She had been talking with someone from another church who had snidely claimed that their church did not associate with our church because we were not Reformed enough. What…
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Practical Importance of Doctrine
If there was one thing I could impart to the members of our church, or to other pastors, it would be an appreciation for the practical importance of doctrine. I think it was R.C. Sproul who pointed out: “We are all theologians… the question is whether we are good theologians.” Sprouls’ point is valid. Everything…
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Friend of Kuyper
For the better part of the 20th Century the Protestant Church in the USA seemed to have divided into two camps: Those interested in Evangelism and those concerned for Social Issues. Which one adopted pretty clearly fell along the lines of how seriously one took the Bible. Conservatives lined up for Evangelism; Liberals for Social…
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Building a Bridge to Puritan Days
In Building a Bridge to the 18th Century, author Neil Postman suggests that in many ways we have not so much advanced, as a culture, as we have drifted over the years. Postman seems to believe we would do well to return to and reconnect with our philosophical roots and rebuild upon them. I might say…
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Gently Down Which Stream?
Collin Hansen, Justin Taylor, and Owen Strachen discuss the re-emergence of Calvinism, the streams of the Reformed tradition, and the different faces of Evangelicalism. Related post at Gospel Coalition: One Movement, Many Streams
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Some Aspects of Sin
Something I have long found intriguing: In the opening chapter of his book, Holiness, J.C. Ryle dedicates his entire attention to the subject of Sin. At first I wondered why that was. Eventually I realized that we cannot grow in holiness unless we understand our very real condition and the effects it has on us. Just what is sin, though? The…
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Growth in Grace
by Archibald Alexander The following essay by Archibald Alexander, first president of Princeton Theological Seminary, is a masterpiece integrating sound doctrine, practice, and personal experience. I have appreciated Archibald Alexander’s insights for more than a decade now, perhaps none more than this classic. Christians in this generation would find great refreshment if only we would, at least occasionally, drink…
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Continual Repentance
I am not sure where I stumbled upon this beautiful prayer, in the pattern of Valley of Vision, but I think it is worthy of repeated reflection: O God of Grace, You have imputed my sin to my substitute, and have imputed his righteousness to my soul, clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe, decking me with…
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7 Maxims of Repentance
Jesus said: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.” (Luke 26.46-47) Seemingly few recognize that repentance is part of the message of the Great Commission. But that is…
