The single greatest contribution you can make to a group is your own passionate pursuit of God. This is true for two reasons. As you diligently study God’s Word, pray, worship, confess sin, witness to non-Christians, and cultivate the various expressions of a healthy Christian faith, your zeal will influence the entire group. Your passion […]
Draw Our Life From His Smile
God formed us for Himself. The shorter catechism, ‘Agreed upon by the Reverend Assembly of Divines at Westminster,’ as the old New England Primer has it, asks the ancient questions what and why and answers them in one short sentence hardly matched in any uninspired work. ‘Question: What is the chief End of Man? Answer: […]
The Message Is The Same
“Christ’s understanding, diagnosis, and prescription are the same. The people He engages, however, are incredibly different. This is why Jesus’ interactions—His personal ministry of the Word, His way of speaking and living gospel truth in love—are unique to each. He models for us that the message is the same, but the methods and means of […]
Give Up Our Heart’s Toys
“Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all Those things which I […]
A Definition of Counseling
“Communicating gospel truth about grace-focused sanctification in word, thought, and action through one another relationships that have integrity, genuineness, authenticity, transparency, and reliability, done in love to promote the unity and maturity of the body of Christ for the ultimate purpose of displaying the glory of Christ’s grace” (Robert Kelleman, Equipping Counselors for Your Church, […]
Things Have Become Necessary To Us
“This is not a mere metaphor, but an accurate analysis of our real spiritual trouble. There is within the human heart a tough fibrous root of fallen life whose nature is to possess, always to possess. It covets ‘things’ with a deep and fierce passion. The pronouns ‘my’ and ‘mine’ look innocent enough in print, […]
The Essence of Fellowship
“‘Walking in the light’—obeying God’s word and confessing our sins when we disobey—should result in fellowship. In short, fellowship with others begins with an honest, open, obedient relationship with God rooted in the truth of his Word. How we share that relationship with others—how we wrestle with understanding truth and struggle to apply it to […]
He Treated His Son Like That
Martin Luther’s beloved wife once said to her husband that she could not believe the story of Abraham and Isaac because God would never treat a son like that. “But Katie,” Luther replied, “he did treat his son like that” (R. C. Sproul, The Consequences of Ideas p. 153.