Discipling Your Kids Is More Than Family Devotions: I am confident, therefore, that as we steep ourselves in Scripture and allow God to broaden our view of discipleship to encompass the entire day, our capacity to perceive and leverage timely opportunities will become the natural outflow of our lives. As a result, our children may find faith that is utterly pervasive and a Savior who really does change everything, not just bedtime.

Inviting Children Into The Prayer Closet: When I look at John Newton’s life, a man who was once nicknamed “The Great Blasphemer,” I wonder how many of his mother’s pleas with God, blessings that filled a prayer closet and his little preschooler ears, carried him through his far away years and helped to bring his heart close to Jesus?  Only God knows.

When I Glory In My Shame: I need to be aware of these things—each of those ugly things on my ugly list. And most of all, I need to remember what is mostly deeply true. There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting to have the approval of others, and especially to receive the affirmation of God. But the crucial fact is, I already have it through Christ. I am already accepted by God because of what Christ has done, and this acceptance is all I need. When I am at my best it means everything to me. But when I am at my worst, it means nothing.

You Are My Son, and I Love You: As a Christian who believes the gospel should permeate every area of my life, there are more and more blind spots that I’m learning to see more clearly. When it comes to baseball, I realized that my sincere attempts to make them better players was not honoring the gospel. My response to them was based on their performance (good works), and their identity as a baseball player was more dominant in their thinking than being my sons.

10 Lessons Regarding Vacation: I am not the savior of the church. Jesus is. I don’t have to die for the church. Jesus did. I don’t have to run the church. Jesus does. 

Three Takeaways From Parks And Rec: So I invite you to stay awhile. Enjoy the best of your city and work to change the worst. As Perd Hapley might say, “The story of this article is that place matters. And by place, I mean, wherever you live.”

Praying In The Spirit: But we do pray, we can pray, we should pray because the Spirit assures that God is our Father who longs to hear us. The Spirit of God enables us to share the experience of sonship that God the Son experiences. That is a glorious gift of grace. It means confidence, intimacy and joy.

How Christians Should Mortify Sin: Mortification withers sin’s power over you by focusing on Christ’s redemption in a way that softens your heart with gratitude and love; which brings you to hate the sin for itself, so it loses its power of attraction over you. In summary, then, we kill sin in the Spirit when we turn from sinful practices ruthlessly and turn our heart from sinful motivations with a sense of our debt to love and grace, by minding the things of the Spirit.

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3 Ways To Be Mission This Halloween: My guess is that if Jesus lived in our neighborhood, everyone couldn’t wait to go to his house to see what he was going to hand out this year.  Everyone would be excited to go to Jesus’ Halloween party and couldn’t wait to invite him over to their party.   My only question I wonder is “Who would Jesus dress up as for Halloween?” Who knows…but you know it’d be a killer costume.

Why We Neglect Our Bibles: But that’s often not true. Many Christians find it difficult to get into a daily habit of Bible reading. So this week John Piper addressed four common causes of Bible neglect in the Christian life, like: “I don’t read my Bible because . . .

The 6 Ingredients of Jesus' Bitter Cup: Isaac Ambrose captured so well the meaning of the cup when he set out what he believed to be the 6 ingredients that made it so burdensome a sight to the soul of the sinless Son of God...

Six Reasons To Live More Simply: How can we live more simply? There are thousands of ways. We can buy used cars rather than new, modest houses rather than expensive ones. We don’t have to replace older furniture just for appearances. We can mend and wear clothes we already have, shop at thrift stores, give up recreational shopping and costly clothes and jewelry, cut down on expensive convenience foods, and choose less costly exercise and recreation. Some of us can carpool, use public transportation, or a bike instead of a car or second car. But these are things few of us will do unless we have clear and compelling reasons. Here are six:

The Cure For Shame: Maybe you feel your shame is too much for Jesus. That he's too pure to handle the kind of shame you've been carrying around for so long. Sinclair Ferguson puts it well: "In your shame, how could someone like you come to Jesus? Because he has come to your shame, to bring you to his joy...

Five Ways To Loose The Battle With Sin: The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. One of the ways such deceit manifests itself is through convincing us that we have battled a sin and put that sin to death when really we have done nothing of the sort. John Owen is a steady guide in the battle against sin, and in chapter 5 of his great work Overcoming Sin and Temptation he deals with misconceptions about what it means to put sin to death. Here are 5 ways to lose the battle against sin...

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"I Used To Be A Christian, But...." And The Importance Of Questions In Evangelism: Of course, I am not saying everyone who tells you that sort of story is lying, confused, or only rejecting the gospel because they don’t understand it. Some have heard the gospel and have knowingly rejected it. That’s a real situation you’ll come up against. And that’s fine–God works in those situations too. I’d still encourage you to do feel free to do a little digging in your evangelistic encounters. A key question can make a world of difference.

Scripture Is About Our Shame: Because of sin, shame stalks us all. But from the beginning God has committed himself to abolishing shame by covering, cleansing, and including us.

Seven Things I Believe Jesus Would Say To The LGBT Community: I write this simply wanting to begin another denominational conversation, for I have read a great deal, thought and prayed long and hard on this and still do not see clearly either the biblical norms and how they actually apply, nor the way to really reach out in love and effectiveness to those caught within these sinful practices... May the following seven things begin to move us to thinking and action. The Lord seems to say in his word to all sinners, and that includes those in the LGBT community.

6 Types Of Grace: You see, God’s grace is the most powerful force in the universe, so I would have to argue that it's the most beautiful word in the universe. It reaches you where you are and takes you where God wants you to be. It has the power to do something that nothing else can do: transform you at the causal core of who you are as a human being - your heart.

A Secret Life Of Sin: “Nobody just falls out of a tree. They climb up in it, move around a bit, and then fall out.” Indeed. And here’s an implication: Where a secret life is present, a secret prayer life is absent.”

How The Gospel Changes Everything: Each of these texts refers to the gospel of what God has done for us in the life, death, and resurrection of Christ and each text applies that gospel truth to the particular problem noted. These, then, are just a handful of the ways that the gospel affects all of life, all of ministry, and everything we seek to be and do and accomplish as Christians and as local churches.

The Church And The LGBT Community: Is There A Way Forward?: There are many Christians who are leading the way on these points. I’m thankful for Jonathan Merritt’s piece in CT, telling his story of same-sex attraction and how it led to an encounter with God’s grace. On the progressive side, Andrew Sullivan has led the way in arguing for a truly tolerant society that makes room for traditional religious belief.

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