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delays, humility, perseverance, sanctification
Why does God delay to answer prayer? Consider these thoughts by the Puritan Thomas Watson in his book The Body of Divinity. Because he loves to hear the voice of prayer. ‘The prayer of the upright is his delight.’ Prov 15: 8. You let the musician play a great while ere you throw him down [...]
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communion, Glorious Freedom, Good Friday, Richard Sibbes, sacraments, sanctification
Puritan Richard Sibbes, in his book Glorious Freedom, offers excellent counsel for approaching the Lord’s Table in a worthy manner. The entire book constitutes his exposition of 2 Corinthians 3:18, a most important New Testament text on the doctrine of sanctification. I commend this to you in preparation for our Good Friday observances in growth [...]
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Freedom, grace, salvation, sanctification, sin
One of the great liberating texts of Scripture in my life comes from 1 Corinthians 15:10. By the grace of God I am what I am. In spite of Paul’s horrific resume as a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent (1 Tim. 1:13), he counted himself among those who witnessed the resurrected Christ first-hand and became [...]
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discipleship, idolatry, sacrifice, sanctification, self-denial
I admit it. Working through this quarter’s edition of Free Grace Broadcaster on the topic of self-denial has left its share of bruises and wounds on my experience. For example, consider this paragraph from one of the articles by Charles Spurgeon entitled Family or Christ?: What, then, is the expense [of following Christ]?…The answer is [...]
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Bible reading, discipline, planning, sanctification, spirituality
Whoever coined that little saying, got it right. Making a plan and working a plan can make all the difference on so many fronts in our lives from the physical to the relational to the spiritual. For over a decade now I have followed a plan of one sort of another of daily Bible reading [...]
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change, community, gospel, growth groups, sanctification
We’re gearing up this fall for a church-wide growth group emphasis using the How People Change DVD Seminar Curriculum. You can hear more about this during our congregational meeting this Sunday during the 9:30 hour. Here’s one description of the material: In the How People Change Seminar Paul Tripp and Tim Lane explore the truth [...]
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cross, gospel, guilt, legalism, sanctification, spiritual growth
Lately the Lord has seen fit to slap me around a bit about my lack of attention to the gospel as the main thing in my ministry. Believe me, not even someone as thick-headed as me could miss the many messages from on high. As a consequence I’ve made it my mission the last couple [...]
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gender differences, marriage, sanctification, Singleness
This Saturday in our Oxford Club meeting for men we will continue our discussion of Richard Phillips’ book The Masculine Mandate. We will turn from the theological ground work laid in part one of the book to the practical application of those principles especially and primarily within marriage. Phillips says some provocative things in this [...]
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gospel, moods, sanctification, spiritual growth
For years, even after my conversion, I went about my days often as a pretty moody person. Back in the time when Tim LaHaye’s temperament categories captured the evangelical imagination, I always got stuck with the same label of the four: melancholy (choleric, sanguine, and phlegmatic rounding out the group). Ask Nancy and she will [...]
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gospel, grace, justification, mercy, sanctification, spritual growth
After the picnic on Sunday I crashed in front of the tube to watch the final round of the Masters golf tournament. Have to admit, I was curious to see if Tiger would rise from the ashes and win his first major since his crash and burn. As always he sported the Nike insignia on [...]
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