Fix Our Hearts Where True Joys Are Found

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen (Book of Common Prayer).

Is Our Focus Inward or Upward?

This is good:

"I'm not saying the the Christian life will be effortless; the real question if Where are we focusing our efforts? Are we working hard to perform? Or are we working hard to rest in Christ's performance for us?" -Tullian Tchividjian

"The heart of sanctification is the life which feeds on justification." -G. C. Berkhouwer

Merry Christmas!

Thank God he came to save us. Without the incarnation of Jesus, our situation would be hopeless. 

Tullian Tchividjian: Substance and Shadows

In the Old Testament. God had revealed himself through types and shadows, through promises and prophecies. In the New Testament, God reveals himself in Jesus - who's the substance of every shadow and fulfillment of every promise and prophecy.

Odd Thomas: The Incarnation

Humbled By the Law, Healed By the Gospel

Over the last few weeks I have been putting my thoughts together in preparation to share my testimony at church. It’s a true honor to (hopefully) bring God glory through my shame, but at the same time it has been extremely humbling to have to rehash and articulate my selfishness once more.

As I think about what I am going to say in my testimony, I am reminded of what a wicked sinner that I truly was and am in comparison to a holy God. The more that I learn about Jesus the dirtier I look and feel.

I was and am a sinner. I cannot excuse it, I cannot ignore it, and I cannot escape it. I will sin. You will sin. It is who we are. We were born sinners. Our only hope is a that a hero arrive to save us. Our only hope is Jesus.

I am convinced as I write this post that God wants me to be broken and in a state of mourning over my sin. Then, he wants me to look up from my agony and shame to behold his intoxicating beauty and sinless perfection while I anxiously await the day that he will relieve me of my struggles and wipe the tears from my eyes. He wants me to admit my need of him, and then fall back into his loving arms of grace - To be broken by the law, then healed by the balm of the gospel. I thank God that there is a gospel of grace to run to in my hour of need. I thank God for the cross; it is my only hope. 

"Christianity is not the movement from vice to virtue, its the movement from virtue to grace." - Gerhard Forde

Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration

This is a good conversation on how we can share our faith. HT: Z

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 

Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 

That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Cor. 12:9-10

Jack Miller: When God Chooses to Work

God's work begins when ours comes to its end.

Sometimes His presence is not felt with power through our methods however useful they may be, especially when we are confident we have the right approach and insights. God has a way of wanting to be God and refusing to get too involved where we have our own wisdom and strength. Then when we run out of wisdom and strength, He is suddenly present, a lesson I find myself relearning practically every day that I am in my right mind. (On my crazy days I am not ready to learn much!)

I think He wants our confidence to be exclusively in Him, and when we lose our self-confidence then He moves in to show what He can do. Perhaps self-dependence--and forgetting the strength to be found in Christ-dependence--is always our biggest blind spot. There is also presumption and pride that go with self-reliance. via Dane Ortlund

Can I Be Honest?

This has been a crazy year for me; full of high mountaintop experiences, and depressingly low valleys. It feels like the more that God opens my eyes to his grace, the more challenges come my way. 

God obviously wants me to grow in my pursuit of him. So, he has allowed challenges to come into my life to teach me that I need him every single second. 

Now that I think about it, how dare I ever assume otherwise! What arrogance to think that I can do this life without the sustaining love and guiding hand of the creator of life. What a fool I have been.

So, let me admit to him right now as well as to you, my readers, that I can't do this anymore. I can't go on living without fully relying on Jesus Christ. I can't take another breath without God's grace sustaining me.

I pray that he will be strong in my weakness, and that his awesome name will be praised in my brokenness.

Father, I am nothing without you. I need you. I desperately need you.

Tim Keller: The Difference Between Christianity and Religion

"The essence of other religions is advice; Christianity is essentially news.  Other religions say, “This is what you have to do in order to connect to God forever; this is how you have to live in order to earn your way to God.”  But the gospel says, “This is what has been done in history.  This is how Jesus lived and died to earn the way to God for you.” Christianity is completely different.  It’s joyful news.” HT: SomewhereNorth

Where sin increased, grace increased all the more. Rom. 5:20

Tullian Tchividjian: Christian Growth

"Christian growth is not becoming stronger and stronger, more and more competent. Christian growth and progress is marked by a growing realization of just how weak and incompetent we are and how strong and competent Jesus continues to be for us. Spiritual maturity is not marked by our growing, independent fitness. Rather, it’s marked by our growing dependence on Christ’s fitness for us." Amen!

“Many pulpits across the land consistently preach the Christian and not the Christ.” Todd Wilken

Free Kindle Book: The Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul.

The Holiness of God, Dr. Sproul’s classic introduction to the majestic character of God, is now free on the Amazon Kindle store for a limited time.

Download it here.

Discipleship: Timeless, Tested, and Mandated

HT: Timmy Brister

I Need You: A Prayer of Brokenness

Who am I? I am a nobody. I am here today, gone tomorrow; just another dude with a blog. There are millions of me out there.

But He is everything. He is worth more than life itself. He is eternal. He creates and sustains all things by His mere words. He saves sinners just like me - and I need Him. I need Him desperately.

I need Him right now, as I am typing, I need Jesus. I need His grace to fall fresh on me. I need His love to get me through another challenging day. I need the euphoric rush of knowing that I am united with Christ, all of my sins are forgiven, and His perfect record is mine. I need Him, oh how I need Him.
    
Father, open my eyes today to see your glory. Reassure me of your ridiculous love for such a wicked man. Dazzle me with your beauty. Remind me of how your son walked out of the grave - I do love that story. Draw my eyes to Calvary, then catch me as I fall into your arms again.
    
I come before you broken and weak, as usual, and I ask for your healing and mercy. My heart craves your presence and it yearns to flutter once again at the thought of your scandalous, self-sacrificing love towards an undeserving idolater.
    
I beg you to show me your grace once more so that I may find restoration in the midst of my brokenness, comfort in the midst of my pain, worship in the midst of my self-centered pity, and forgiveness in the midst of my sinful existence.

Octavius Winslow: Jesus is the Great Burden-Bearer of His People

“Jesus is the great Burden-Bearer of His people. No other arm, and no other heart, in heaven or upon earth, were strong enough, or loving enough, to bear these burdens but His! He who bore the weight of our sin and curse and shame in His obedience and death — bore it along all the avenues of His weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem to Calvary — is He who now stretches forth His Divine arm, and makes bare a Brother’s heart to take your burden of care and of grief, dear saint of God, upon Himself.” via OFI

The Story of Christmas

 HT: JT

Happy Thanksgiving

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,

for his steadfast love endures forever! -Psalm 107:1

To Undertand Grace & Mercy We Must Understand What We Deserve

As much as we may dislike the doctrine of original sin and its consequences - it must be explored if we are ever to come to an understanding of the grace of God. 
      
Mercy says that we are not given what we deserve. So, if that is the case, then we can all agree that we all actually don't deserve justification for our sins, we deserve hell - every last one of us. Nuns deserve hell. Pedophiles deserve hell. Preachers deserve hell. Murderers deserve hell. Politicians deserve hell. I deserve Hell. You deserve hell. 
      
If we can't come to terms with this fact, then we will never fully understand mercy & grace. If we struggle with how a loving God could elect and save some people and not elect and save others, then we are missing point. No one deserves to be elected and saved. Should God decide, based on His pleasure, to save one soul - that is grace; He is going beyond what is required. Should he decide not to save anyone - that is justice. 

Paul Zahl: When Grace Comes

Grace . . . is at the bottom of the house of cards that is human identity.  It is the ground floor of our striving after love.  When grace comes in, when it rewrites the script, when its light shines in the basement of the house that is ourselves, unbuilt to God, grace demolishes and creates.  It does what it promises.  Unlike the law, which produces the opposite of what it demands, grace succeeds.  It produces the fruit, to use the New Testament metaphor, of a law-congruent life.

We Are the Problem

This is a powerful, gospel-centered short film; a message that all of us need to hear today.

Michael Horton: The Purpose of the Law

We must not think that the law drives us to Christ in the beginning and then Christ drives us back to the law for our acceptance before God in sanctification. Rather, the law continues to provide us with the soundest guidance available but apart from Christ and the indicative announcement of what he has done for us, it can only lead us to either despair or self-righteousness.No less than when we first believed, we must always attribute to the gospel the power that fills our sails with gratitude, and to the law the proper course that such gratitude takes.

116: Man Up ft. Lecrae, Trip Lee, Pro, Tedashii, KB, Sho, and C-Lite

Charles Spurgeon on what we call 'Calvinism'

I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and Him crucified, unless we preach what nowadays is called Calvinism. It is a nickname to call it Calvinism; Calvinism is the gospel, and nothing else.

I do not believe we can preach the gospel, if we do not preach justification by faith, without works; nor unless we preach the sovereignty of God in His dispensation of grace; nor unless we exalt the electing, unchangeable, eternal, immutable, conquering love of Jehovah; nor do I think we can preach the gospel, unless we base it upon the special and particular redemption of His elect and chosen people which Christ wrought out upon the cross; nor can I comprehend a gospel which lets saints fall away after they are called, and suffers the children of God to be burned in the fires of damnation after having once believed in Jesus. Such a gospel I abhor.

Robert Farrar Capon: He Forgave You Before You Repented

He forgave you before you repented. That’s crucial. See, that is why it is so outrageous. The gospel is really vulgar, crass and immoral because it says God forgives the world before it repents. In the gospel, repent is always repent and believe. It means turn yourself around from not trusting the forgiveness and trust it. That’s it. It doesn’t mean that you earn it by repenting. You had it before.

If you do something to me and you are wrong and I am right, you can repent all you want but until I forgive you, it’s not going to do you a bit of good. It only helps when I have already forgiven you and you can enter into the restored relationship and turn again to me. Only I can decide to forgive you and God for His own ... reasons decided to absolve the world. He really did. It’s outrageous. HT: Mockingbird

He Has Sent Redemption

HT: Challies

Hope For the Child of God

“If you are God’s child, you can have hope in the middle of all the tough things you face because in all those moments God is with you, but also because the cross of Jesus guarantees you that all that is broken will be made new forever. 

You can live today knowing that you have a future that is beyond the boundaries of your wildest imagination. If you are God’s child, you have hope because God is hope, and you have a hope that will last forever because he has defeated the one thing that stands between you and forever: death.” - Paul David Tripp via OFI

Free will ? Why should not Jesus Christ have the right to choose his own bride? - Spurgeon

Happy Reformation Sunday!

HT: Matthew Robbins

"Do you still feel shame over your old life? Don’t! That old you is dead. Christ killed that person on the Cross." - Matt Chandler

The First Thing to Teach a New Convert

John MacArthur, Answering the Key Questions About the Doctrine of Election (Interview): 
“It probably ought to be the first thing you teach a young believer. Now that you’ve come to Christ, this is what I want you to know, you were saved by the sovereign grace of God who stepped into your life in the midst of your death and blindness and gave you life and sight and picked you up and brought you into His Kingdom. Sheer grace has done this for you. 
That, I think, is the first thing you should say to a new convert. This is, if in fact, you are faithful to the confession you have made, if in fact your love for Christ and desire to honor, to worship and to obey Him continues to grow, this will be an ongoing evidence that God has wrought a miracle in your life. And because of that, you need to know, this is really important, that you should live a life of gratitude for a work has been done in you which you did not deserve and did not earn.” via RT

J. Gresham Machen: Give me the Gospel, Not Exhortations.

What good does it do me to tell me that the type of religion presented in the Bible is a very fine type of religion and that the thing for me to do is just to start practicing that type of religion now? ... I will tell you, my friend. It does not one tiniest little bit of good.... 

What I need first of all is not exhortation but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me.  Have you any good news for me?  That is the question that I ask of you.  I know your exhortations will not help me.  But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?                           

Mark Galli: Freedom in Grace

To receive ... grace is to know freedom from the colorless expectations of a merely moral life, with its predictable and dreary consequences, and to know instead the extraordinary liberty of the children of God.

A Man of Sorrows

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)

He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief...  (Isaiah 53:3)

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” (Matthew 26:38)

In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears… (Hebrews 5:7)

Going through a hard time? He's been there.

Martin Luther, the Reformation, and the Sovereignty of God

For many Christians today the idea of submitting their lifestyle and their core beliefs to Scripture as the final authority seems both obvious and traditional; however, subjection to Scripture alone has not always been fiercely advocated by the church’s leadership and therefore has not always been the common practice of many Christians. The Roman Catholic Church, leading up to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, had attached near-ultimate authority to itself and its leadership thereby usurping the authority of the sacred Scriptures. Since the church, in their opinion, had canonized the Holy Bible, the Bible was therefore to be in subjection to the church. Those in authority within the church were the mediators (priests) between God and the sinner. They had the final say in all manners of doctrine and faith, not Scripture. Unsurprisingly, that kind of power led to massive corruption.

Similarly, the modern Protestant understanding that eternal life comes by “grace through faith in Christ” would, at first glance, appear to many believers to be a common orthodox belief built upon two thousand years of strong biblical exposition; but that simply is not the case. Sadly, the pre-Reformation gospel had been diluted and polluted to the point that it was unrecognizable from what Jesus Christ taught/lived/was, and what Paul the apostle carefully and forcefully exposited in his Epistles. Over the centuries, “theologians and churchmen had heaped up layer upon layer of extra biblical teaching and practice obscuring the church’s true treasure of the gospel.”[1] Christianity had turned into a list of “to do’s” as opposed to an acknowledgement of what has already been “done” by Jesus Christ. The church was in trouble.

Fortunately, in the sixteenth century God raised up several key thinkers, scholars, theologians, lay people, and preachers who were bold enough to speak out against the established church in defense of Scriptural authority and gospel clarity. By God’s grace, the church underwent a reformation of epic proportions - the effects of which are still being felt nearly five hundred years later. One of the key figures in the Reformation was an ornery monk named Martin Luther. This post will explore Luther’s life, theology, and legacy as well as the Lutheran Reformation that he initiated. In the end, it will hopefully be revealed through the lens of church history, that God is fully in control. The plans of God will not be frustrated. He will perfect his bride (the church) even if that means utilizing the quirky character traits of flawed men such as Martin Luther. Though Luther will be the primary focus of this post, God will be shown to be the protagonist of the Reformation story. Luther, as important a figure as he was, was merely a character actor on history’s grand stage – Jehovah God was and still is the headlining star.

  

The Message of the Cross in a Superficial World

I read somewhere that this generation is the most entertained generation in all of history. Even America's most impoverished communities have access to high speed internet, iPhones, iPads, Streaming Movies, OnDemand TV, a steady barrage of slick commercials, and XBox live with Turtle Beach headsets.

We are inundated with sensation, with sexuality, and with sales pitches.

Yet, we are bored, we are empty, and we are seeking for more. When the distractions fade in the darkest night our souls are revealed to be restless.

There is a longing for significance... for something meaningful... something bigger than ourselves.

Inside all of us is a desire to be a part of something epic. 

We want our lives to count. 

We want to live in the context of a story that is bigger than ourselves and our day to day grind.

There is a hole in our heart that no amount of earthly sensation can satisfy.

Before it is too late some of us will, like Solomon in Ecclesiastes (a man who had everything that you and I dream of), realize, by God’s grace, the shallowness and emptiness of what society is offering.

The reality is that shiny objects become dull. Today’s hottest gadgets become obsolete tomorrow. Beauty fades. Health deteriorates. Clothes go out of style. Friends betray you. Markets crash. Houses lose value. Loved ones pass away. Cancer spreads. Hair falls out. Smooth skin wrinkles. 

There has to be more to all of this. 
Life must be bigger than macbooks, money, and hedonistic indulgences.

Augustine famously said: "Our Hearts are Restless Until They Rest in [Him]" i.e., God.
I know it sounds cliche, but I present to you Jesus Christ as the answer for what you are looking for. This is not based on some internal feeling that I experienced or because I know that He lives within my heart, but based upon the historical fact that He resurrected bodily from the grave. Truly, anyone who can defeat death demands our allegiance and proves that His message is indeed true.

Now, for those who are called, Jesus invites them into His story. It is the greatest story ever told - the story of redemption.

We don’t redeem, we don’t save, we aren’t the gospel, but we have the privilege of being Christ’s ambassadors. We proclaim the gospel. We tell our families, our friends, and our neighbors of what he has already accomplished. We have a mission. We have a purpose.

You will not find a more rewarding cause. 

There is no better way to spend your time than in service to the King. 

There is no greater pursuit than the pursuit of Jesus Christ. 

There is no greater message than the scandalous gospel of free grace to all who believe.
So, if you long to be a part of something bigger than yourself then join us as we worship and proclaim the good news of a God whose loves comes without conditions, whose grace knows no limit, and whose mercy endures forever.

Watch This...You'll Be Glad That You Did

R.C. Sproul: A God Who Is Bigger Than Life

"I know that life changes. We decay. We hurt. We die. Nothing in this life is for sure. That’s why you and I need a God who is bigger than life, certainly One who is bigger than death. We need a God who cannot be slain, a God who cannot die. Magic won’t do. Myths won’t work either. This God must be real."

Dane Ortlund: Defiant Grace

"The grace that comes to us in Jesus Christ is not measured. This grace refuses to allow itself to be tethered to our innate sense of fairness, reciprocity, and balancing of the scales. It is defiant…However much we may laud grace with our lips, our hearts are so thoroughly law-marinated that the Christian life must be, at core, one of continually bathing our hearts and minds in gospel grace. We are addicted to law. Conforming our lives to a moral framework, playing by the rules, meeting a minimum standard—this feels normal. And it is how we naturally medicate that deep sense of inadequacy within. The real question is not how to avoid becoming a Pharisee; the question is how to recover from being the Pharisee we already, from the womb, are.

Law feels safe. Grace feels risky. Rule-keeping breeds a sense of manageability; grace feels like moral vertigo....

It is time to enjoy grace anew. Not the decaffeinated grace that pats us on the hand, ignores our deepest rebellions, and doesn’t change us, but the high-octane grace that takes our conscience by the scruff of the neck and breathes new life into us with a pardon so scandalous that we cannot help but be changed. It’s time to blow aside the hazy cloud of condemnation that hangs over us throughout the day with the strong wind of gospel grace. “You are not under law but under grace” (Rom 6:14). Jesus is real, grace is defiant, life is short, risk is good. For many of us the time has come to abandon once and for all our play-it-safe, toe-dabbling Christianity and dive in. It is time, as Robert Farrar Capon put it, to get drunk on grace. Two hundred-proof, defiant grace." via Tullian (of course).

Gospel Power

Things like radical generosity and audacious faith are not produced when we focus on them, but when we focus on the gospel. Focusing on what we ought to do for God creates only frustration and exhaustion; focusing on what Jesus has done for us produces abundant fruit. Resting in what Jesus has done for us releases the revolutionary power of the gospel. -J.D. Greear

Tim Keller: What is the Bible Basically About?

Grace From Before the Dawn of Time

"Before all time; prior to all worlds; when there was nothing ‘outside of’ God Himself; when the Father, Son, and Spirit found eternal, absolute, and unimaginable blessing, pleasure, and joy in Their holy triunity — it was Their agreed purpose to create a world. That world would fall. But in unison — and at infinitely great cost — this glorious triune God planned to bring you (if you are a believer) grace and salvation.

This is deeper grace from before the dawn of time. It was pictured in the rituals, the leaders, and the experiences of the Old Testament saints, all of whom longed to see what we see. All this is now ours. Our salvation depends on God’s covenant, rooted in eternity, foreshadowed in the Mosaic liturgy, fulfilled in Christ, enduring forever." - Sinclair Ferguson via OFI

Book Recommendation: Living in God's Two Kingdoms

If you enjoy theology, then pick up David VanDrunen's Living in God's Two Kingdoms - you'll thank me later. It's truly a rich and rewarding read. The book is built upon a covenantal / Christological hermeneutic - which I love. David makes a Scripture-laden argument for Christians living out their lives in light of the already/not yet kingdom of Christ.

Unlike many celebrity Christian authors who simply throw a book together to meet a deadline or quota, VanDrunen's scholarship, work, and passion for his topic shine through nearly every page of this masterpiece. Four stars out of four.

Right now you can pick up the Kindle version on sale for $3.03 here.

Christ: The Fulfillment of ALL the Promises of God

For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory. - 2 Corinthians 1:20 ESV

Doug Wilson: You Must. You Can't. Jesus Did!

This is fantastic. HT: Matthew Robbins

What is Christianity?

Free Audio Book This Month

Throughout the month of October Christianaudio.com is offering the audio version of John Piper's book Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God for FREE!


Download it here.

John Piper: Bloodlines

Christ Alone: Not By Any Work of Our Own

How often do we as believers base our relationship with God on what we do instead of what He has done? For me, it is far too often.

My human nature loves the law, but can't quite come to terms with the gospel.

When I perform well, I naturally expect God's blessing. After all, this is what the TV preachers have taught me, so it must be true.

Then, the days that I don't do so well in my walk with God I often expect less or nothing from Him.

Here is the problem: you and I (when we think as I just described) are living by works, not by grace. 

Jerry Bridges states, "We are saved by grace, but [often] we are living by the sweat of our own performance. Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to try harder. We seem to believe success in the Christian life is basically up to us: our commitment, our discipline, our zeal, with some help from God along the way."

We will never know freedom in Christ until we (by God's grace) come to the paradigm shifting realization that our standing with God was determined before the foundation of the world, and was secured through the blood of Christ on the cross.

We are "good" and our standing with God is solid because of Christ and His righteousness which has been imputed (reckoned) to us - nothing else.

Here is the bottom line: We are righteous because we are "in Christ." We are attached to Him and are therefore "o.k." with God - and we cannot improve upon that. We are wrong if we think that our standing with God depends of the work of Christ plus our works.

No other religion offers this freedom. Enjoy it, bask in it, dwell on it, worship Him because of it, live every day in light of it, and then spread the word.

The Gospel Is For Losers

"The gospel is not just for the all-star ... and the legendary. It's for the loser. It's for the defeated, not the dominant.

It's for those who realize they're unable to carry the weight of the world on their shoulders - those who've figured out that they're not gods. 

It's for people who understand the bankruptcy of life without God." -Tullian Tchividijian

The LORD is merciful and gracious,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

He will not always chide,

nor will he keep his anger forever.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as high as the heavens are above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;

as far as the east is from the west,

so far does he remove our transgressions from us.

As a father shows compassion to his children,

so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

Psalms 103:8-13 ESV

Jesus + Nothing = Everything

The Religion Shop Has Been Closed, Boarded Up, and Forgotten

"What role have I left for religion? None. And I have left none because the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ leaves none. Christianity is not a religion; it is the announcement of the end of religion.

Religion consists of all the things (believing, behaving, worshiping, sacrificing) the human race has ever thought it had to do to get right with God. About those things, Christianity has only two comments to make. The first is that none of them ever had the least chance of doing the trick: the blood of bulls and goats can never take away sins (see the Epistle to the Hebrews) and no effort of ours to keep the law of God can ever finally succeed (see the Epistle to the Romans). The second is that everything religion tried (and failed) to do has been perfectly done, once and for all, by Jesus in his death and resurrection. 

For Christians, therefore, the entire religion shop has been closed, boarded up, and forgotten. The church is not in the religion business. It never has been and it never will be, in spite of all the ecclesiastical turkeys through two thousand years who have acted as if religion was their stock in trade. 

The church, instead, is in the Gospel-proclaiming business. It is not here to bring the world the bad news that God will think kindly about us only after we have gone through certain creedal, liturgical and ethical wickets; it is here to bring the world the Good News that “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly.” It is here, in short, for no religious purpose at all, only to announce the Gospel of free grace." - Robert Farrar Capon via Mockingbird

Here is a Good Discussion on Theology

'The problem is not that prayer was taken out of the schools, it's that devotions have been taken out of our homes." -Ken Jones

“God does not send out his church to conquer. He sends us out in the name of the One who has already conquered. We go only because he reigns.” - Kevin DeYoung and Greg Gilbert via OFI

Charles Spurgeon: The Great Exchange

"He wore my crown of  thorns. I wear His crown, the crown of Glory. He wore my ... nakedness when He died upon the Cross—I wear His robes, the royal robes of the King of kings! He bore my shame, I bear His honor. He endured my sufferings to this end that my joy may be full and that His joy may be fulfilled in me! He laid in the grave that I might rise from the dead and that I may dwell in Him." -Spurgeon

That's Easy...It's Grace

My friend Travis sent me this story today. I love it!

"Years ago, a large international conference was held of religious leaders from around the world. In the midst of the conference, a debate began about what it was that set Christianity apart from other religions. Some argued that it was God coming in the flesh that set Christianity apart from other religions. They decided that wasn’t it, because other religions claimed that their gods came in human form. Some argued that it was love, or sacrifice, or the resurrection, or one thing or another; each idea being shot down. 

Finally, C. S. Lewis, having arrived late, walked into the conference and asked what all the noise was about. When told they were discussing what it was that set Christianity apart from all other religions, he said, “That’s easy. It’s grace.”

Justification and Imputed Righteousness

I came across these two videos while researching the topic of 'Justification and Imputed Righteousness,' They were so good that I had to post them here. Enjoy watching these men speak of the amazing grace of God!

"You Are Free To Go"

HT: Challies

It's Okay Not To Be Okay

"The gospel liberates us to be okay with not being okay. We know we’re not—though we try very hard to convince ourselves and other people we are. But the gospel tells us, “Relax, it is finished.”

Because of the gospel, we have nothing to prove or protect. We can stop pretending. We can take off our masks and be real. The gospel frees us from trying to impress people, appease people, measure up for people, or prove ourselves to people. The gospel frees us  from the burden of trying to control what other people think about us. It frees us from the miserable, unquenchable pursuit to make something of ourselves by using others.

The gospel frees us from what one writer calls “the law of capability”—the law, he says, “that judges us wanting if we are not capable, if we cannot handle it all, if we are not competent to balance our diverse commitments without a slip.” The gospel grants us the strength to admit we’re weak and needy and restless—knowing that Christ’s finished work has proven to be all the strength and fulfillment and peace we could ever want, and more. Since Jesus is our strength, our weaknesses don’t threaten our sense of worth and value. Now we’re free to admit our wrongs and weaknesses without feeling as if our flesh is being ripped off our bones.

"The gospel frees us from the urge to self-gain, to push ourselves forward for our own purposes and agenda and self-esteem. When you understand that your significance, security, and identity are all anchored in Christ, you don’t have to win—you’re free to lose. And nothing in this broken world can beat a person who isn’t afraid to lose! You’ll be free to say crazy, risky, counterintuitive stuff like, “To live is Christ and to die is gain”!

Now you can spend your life giving up your place for others instead of guarding it from others—because your identity is in Christ, not your place.

Now you can spend your life going to the back instead of getting to the front—because your identity is in Christ, not your position.

Now you can spend your life giving, not taking—because your identity is in Christ, not your possessions.

Real, pure, unadulterated freedom happens when the resources of the gospel smash any sense of need to secure for myself anything beyond what Christ has already secured for me." -Tullian Tchividjian

The Marvel of the Gospel

I am currently reading a biography of Martin Luther written by Roland Bainton, and tonight I came across them 'gem' of a paragraph written by Bainton describing Luther's perspective of the gospel:

"How amazing that God in Christ ... the Most High; the Most Holy should be All Loving too; that the inefable Majesty should stoop to take upon himself our flesh, subject to hunger and cold, death and desperation.

We see him lying in the feedbox of a donkey, laboring in a carpenter's shop, dying a derelict under the sins of the world.

The gospel is not so much a miracle as a marvel, and every line is suffused with wonder."

Thus far I have become convicted as I read of Luther's awe and respect for God. He feared his creator and refused to take prayer or the sacraments lightly. Honestly, far too often I take God and his grace for granted. I tend to drift into autopilot and forget that I am communicating with the maker of all things. He is worthy of so much more, God help me change.

We Were Not Created for Isolation

HT: Z

The Work of Christ

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. 

And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 

We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. 

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. -II Corinthians 5:17-21

We Will Never Outgrow the Need for Grace

"Our worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."  - Jerry Bridges

Why Faith?

By Grace you have been saved through faith... Ephesians 2:8-9

Why is faith the instrument that God uses to bring us to salvation? 
Why not love? Joy? Wisdom? Contentment?

I appreciated Wayne Grudem's answer to this question:

"...Because faith is the one attitude of the heart that is the exact opposite of depending on ourselves. When we come to Christ in faith we essentially say: I give up. I will not depend on myself and my own good works any longer. I know that I can never make myself righteous before God... Faith is the exact opposite of trusting in ourselves."

Michael Horton: Law and Gospel

"While I believe that it’s generally true that those who are forgiven much love much and that those who are in view of God’s mercies will present their bodies as a living sacrifice, we have to recognize the deep depravity in our own hearts even as regenerate believers. Often I find myself reveling in the glories of the gospel for my own delight, oblivious to the “reasonable service” that it yields toward my neighbor. 

I can be writing a paragraph on the wonders of grace while I snap at my wife or children for interrupting me. We do need Christ to remind us, by his Spirit, through his law, that the gospel doesn’t stop at our own personal security and welfare, but drives us out to our neighbors in love and service.  A good Shepherd guides his sheep.  A good Father rebukes those whom he loves.  We need to hear the very specific and uncomfortable rebukes of the law as well as the tender comfort of the gospel.

We always need the gospel wind in our sails and the directional equipment on our dashboard.  Without the former, we’re dead in the water; without the latter, we’re blown all over the map." via JT

Christ Centered Preaching

“A message that merely advocates morality and compassion remains sub-Christian even if the preacher can prove that the Bible demands such behaviors. By ignoring the sinfulness of man that makes even our best works tainted before God and by neglecting the grace of God that make obedience possible and acceptable, such messages necessarily subvert the Christian message. 

Christian preachers often do not recognize this impact of their words because they are simply recounting a behavior clearly specified in the text in front of them. But a message that even inadvertently teaches others that their works win God’s acceptance inevitably leads people away from the gospel.

Moral maxims and advocacy of ethical conduct fall short of the requirements of biblical preaching…

A textually accurate discussion of biblical commands does not guarantee Christian orthodoxy. Exhortations for moral behavior apart from the work of the Savior degenerate into mere pharisaism even if preachers advocate the actions with biblical evidence and good intent.” -Bryan Chapell