I just don’t get it, but I’m working at it. By the grace of the Holy Spirit’s illumination I pray I’ll one day see the depth of the dead sobriety and paramount importance of joy in Christ. Joy is more of an overwhelming doctrine than most of us have expanded our minds to search out in Scripture. Here’s my primary text as I sit here in my dusty room in Afghanistan: “Not that we lord it over your fa...  Read More

1 John 4:7 reads, “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”      How can love be so simply and surely identified? How is it that the Apostle John can say in a blanket statement that “everyone” who loves in this way is born of God? It seems a bit too easy. After all, there are a lot of “loves” in the world today and most of them are...  Read More

There is a form of Christianity that ultimately bases all of its hopes of salvation on the flesh. It contains the idea that demands a man’s “free-will” be the deciding factor in salvation. It is the idea that Jesus did only “His part” regarding one’s salvation and now seeks men who will do “Their part” to make it happen. It reduces Christ to what I call the “Omnipotent impotent.” By the power of o...  Read More

     When I read a solid church’s confession of faith I find in it a 1 Corinthians 13 kind of labor of love. This is true even with ones that I would call Christian, but not necessarily statements that reflect my own understanding of the Christian religion. Confessions of faith are never “easy” to produce. This is because we’re all very different as Christians and we invariably approach God’s trut...  Read More

     I’ve heard a lot of people say that, “All sin is the same. There’s no big sin or little sin in God’s sight.” I think I understand why they say it, but this is not correct except in one thing – that all sin, if not forgiven in Christ, condemns us. Whatever it is that you’re speaking of, if it’s sin, it damns. We should seek forgiveness for all of it. Paul says in Romans 14:23 even just in rela...  Read More

 Voddie Baucham well said, “The nail in the coffin of the evangelical church is that of self-sufficiency.” The moment a pastor feels that he can teach simply because he has learned or attended seminary is the moment his ministry takes a turn for uselessness or mere showmanship. We are not self-sufficient as NT ministers. Even if your living isn’t from the church, if you’re in Christ you’re strivin...  Read More