Posted in abolition, Christianity, God, Presuppositional Apologetics, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, tagged abolition, Christianity, God, presuppositional apologetics, Reformed, Theology on October 27, 2022| 35 Comments »
Note: This is a guest post since presently I am teaching overseas. This is by Jesus Archuleta.
Do you often hear pro-choicers say that the Bible endorses abortion?
Are you familiar with the verses they use to support their case?
The goal I have with this blog is to go through the most common verses used by pro-choicers and see whether their claims hold up.
Posted in Christianity, God, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, tagged Christianity, God, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on October 24, 2022| 14 Comments »
Note: This is a guest post since presently I am teaching overseas. This is by Dave Guill. His blog be found here.
Recently, I began teaching Bible and science at a little bilingual school nestled deep in the mountains of Yamaranguila, Honduras. So far, the experience has been spectacular! The weather Is perfect, the town is quaint, the students are awesome, and the food…. is just oh-so-good.
Posted in Christianity, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, tagged Christianity, God, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on October 22, 2022| 11 Comments »
Note: This is a guest post since presently I am teaching overseas. This is by Bruce. His blog be found here.
Posted in Christianity, imperfection, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, tagged Christianity, imperfection, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on April 18, 2018| 13 Comments »
Note: This is a guest post since I am currently away. This is by Micah. If you have thoughts and questions, feel free to comment and when he has time he will respond. His blog can be found here. He also tweets.
If you are truly Calvinistic, you’ve heard the popular passage from Isaiah 64:6, “And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.” It is a passage frequently quoted to kill the monster of works righteousness and legalistic salvation, a monster that tends to pop its head out in religious circles. And rightly so, God does not take notice of the deeds of the man whose heart has not been cleansed by Christ and who has no love for Him.
Though this teaching is true, it may lead some Christians to wonder if God could ever be pleased. The war against the flesh is real, and sometimes believers can wallow in defeat and in doubt, even though they are saved. They ask, “Could God ever be happy with my life?” Christians get stuck in this kind of discouragement during seasons of weakness and sin struggles so they search for a way out.
Thankfully, Scripture has examples of men who, as sinners, displayed a type of obedience that truly and genuinely pleased God. It showed that God’s people are capable by His grace to exhibit real obedience to God without accomplishing perfect obedience. Since Christ was the only perfectly obedient man to ever live, we’re not required to be perfectly obedient. Nevertheless, our new life in Christ demands we strive for holiness and express the good works we were predestined to do.
This blog assumes that you are a Christian, not trusting in works for your salvation, but saved and washed by the blood of Christ. With that said, here are a few examples to encourage you in your walk with the Lord. They are instances of God’s people who were imperfect yet still lived a life pleasing unto God.
Posted in Christianity, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, Veritas Conference, tagged Christianity, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, Veritas Conference on August 7, 2017| 6 Comments »
Last year I shared a conference called the Veritas Conference. While last year’s topic is on the Gospel this past year’s conference is on the theme of Sanctification.
How much do you know about what the Bible has to say about Sanctification?
Posted in Christianity, Reformed, Sanctification, Spiritual Warfare, temptation, Theology, Witty Ditty for Your Memory, tagged Christ, Christianity, Godliness, Jesus, Spiritual Warfare, temptation, Witty Ditty on May 7, 2017| 9 Comments »
Fighting temptation is not easy. But God has given us means of resisting temptation.
And we must not neglect the greatest weapon against resisting temptation.
Do you want to know what that is?
Here’s a witty ditty that hopefully helps you with your memory:
Posted in Christianity, Hope, Reformed, Sanctification, Suffering, Theology, Trials, tagged Christianity, Hope, suffering, Trials, tribulation on March 26, 2017| 10 Comments »
Romans 5:3-5
And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; 4 and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Purpose: There are three truths we need to know in order that we might not be crushed during suffering in our lives so that we would have hope in our suffering.
Last time we went over the first point, “We need to know that we all will face tribulations (v.3a)”
Today we will look at the second point:
Posted in biblical counseling, Christian Life, Christian living, Christian marriage, Christianity, Devil, holiness, Reformed, Sanctification, Satan, Theology on October 7, 2016| 19 Comments »
Establish the need: Why should we care about what the Bible say about demons in regards to marriages? When we know someone is out to destroy our marriage we would be very proactive to defend it; but did you know there are supernatural beings out to destroy your marriage? Specifically they are led by the devil so the devil will be our focus for our present study.
Purpose: In this series we will explore how theology shapes marriage and here in our fifth session we shall consider the Bible’s teaching on the devil and how to resist Him in order to protect our marriage.
Posted in biblical counseling, Book Review, Christianity, David Powlison, Nouthetic Counseling, Peace, Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, Reformed, Sanctification, stress, Theology on October 3, 2016| 10 Comments »
I plan the next few weeks to look at some practical counseling booklets and post my reviews of them on here.
David Powlison. Stress: Peace Amid Pressure. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, July 1st, 2004. 28 pp.
4 out of 5
This is a counseling booklet that’s part of the series published by Presbyterian and Reformed called “Resources for Changing Lives.” I thought this work is a great resource for Pastors to assign as a reading assignment for someone they are counseling on the topic of stress. I read through this short work for my own edification and also alongside another brother at church.
Posted in Christianity, Church, church discipline, local church, Reformed, Sanctification, Sexual Immorality, Theology on August 27, 2016| 20 Comments »
Is church discipline unloving? How many times it has happened in churches all across America where leaders in the church say practicing church discipline as described in the Bible in such places as Matthew 18 is “unloving.” Then their reasoning continues with the conclusion that “if church discipline is unloving therefore we should not practice church discipline.”
We as Christians must ask if this type of argument is biblical.
Let me be clear up front that I think people can mess up church discipline in an unloving manner, just like how people can mess any good and right act outwardly with a wrong motive and attitude.
However the issue I want to deal with is whether church discipline in of itself is “unloving.” I think the contents of the book of 1 Corinthians helps us answer this question biblically.
Posted in Book Review, Christian Life, Christian living, Christianity, Godliness, holiness, Lou Priolo, Reformed, Reformed Theology, responsibility, Sanctification, Theology on July 28, 2016| 6 Comments »
Lou Priolo. Faithfulness: No More Excuses. Phillipsburg, NJ: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, June 30th, 2016. 48 pp.
This is an excellent resource on Christian living using biblical principles and God centered motivation. I realize the term “faithfulness” can be rather broad and my only real critique of this book is that it might have been better titled “Responsibilities” or something along that line so readers understand right away what the book is about. I totally enjoyed this book and found it immensely practical and helpful. Even for those who would say they are quite responsible would benefit from this book as the beginning of this work made clear that the more one grows in responsibilities, the more one sees one’s shortcoming and need for grace for improvement. With such an introduction I was compelled to read this all the way through.
Posted in Christian Life, Christian reading, Christianity, Devotional, reading, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology, Theology of reading on May 28, 2016| 20 Comments »
For Christians its important to read. To read the Bible. To read books on the Bible. To read books that would help with Christian living. To read books to know more about God. Many Christians get this. Many Christians might feel guilty. Sometimes one’s life is also very busy. How does one read more books when life is busy? This post is meant to be pastoral, practical and encouraging. I admit I haven’t arrived so if you have other ideas and advice please share. So here’s my thoughts.
Posted in Christianity, God, Godliness, Gospel, Grace, holiness, legalism, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on May 7, 2016| 21 Comments »
In another forum someone asked a good question about what are the signs one might know they are walking more of an attitude of legalism rather than by God’s grace. I think this is an important question Christians should think about.
Here’s my quick reply:
Posted in Christian marriage, Christianity, Reformed, Sanctification, Theology on May 6, 2016| 5 Comments »
Posted in Christianity, David Dykes, Sanctification, Southern Baptist, Southern Seminary, Theology on March 29, 2016| 3 Comments »
People are not always easy to deal with. This sermon is titled “How to Deal with Mean People.” This message is delivered by David O. Dykes, Pastor of Green Acres Baptist Church in Tyler, Texas. It was delivered at the chapel for Southern Seminary and the sermon is based upon Romans 12:17-21. It’s more of an encouragement with the insight and experience of an older preacher than a detailed exegetical sermon. But it’s worthwhile!
The Domain for Truth 