“I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked!” (Ezekiel 33:11) What a glorious declaration from God that death and destruction need not be inevitable. There is a way of life, a restoration of hope that is certain and it begins with God. We must know that God is
Continue readingWell meaning Christians can focus their efforts on the spiritual concerns of their own heart. Richard Baxter addresses this nicely in the following excerpt, One, and the better, is some religious people who think that their business is only with God and their own hearts, and that if they could
Continue readingI am a pastor and view the calling of being a “physician of souls” very highly. We must not, however, allow a high view of the ministry to lead us to denigrate the physical and material needs of people. In the words of Richard Baxter, Do as much good as
Continue readingAn interesting book on marriage and its correlation to the union believers have with Christ is The Spiritual Marriage Between Christ and His Church and Every One of the Faithful written by Girolamo Zanchi, Concluding his chapter on “Duties of Husbands and Wives” Zanchi includes this gem of a thought that I
Continue readingOur congregation emphasizes a believer’s spiritual experience – the way a person comes to Christ, loves Christ, and lives out of Christ. This is relatively uncommon in the confessing church today where there tends to be more of an emphasis on programs and social action. While emphasizing spiritual experience is
Continue readingOur nature recoils from shame – even though it is an expected result of sin. This is true in evangelism as much as in any area of our lives. John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress includes an account described by ‘Faithful’ of his interaction with a certain man ‘Shame’. …he objected
Continue readingThe realities of heaven and hell are not able to be compared. The beautiful description of Christian (in The Pilgrim’s Progress) to the possession of the eternal kingdom and what things that will be there… [In response to the nature of the place] There is an endless kingdom to be
Continue readingJohn Bunyan, in The Pilgrim’s Progress captures Christian’s response to the revelations of Interpreter’s house in a simple way, “Yea, and they put me in hope and fear.” To which, Interpreter responds, “Well, keep all things so in thy mind that they my be as a goad in thy sides,
Continue readingIt is easy to try to “out-reason” or “out-argue” unbelievers with the Gospel truths. Yet, such an approach to people who are spiritually blind and morally enslaved will be futile in our own strength. The following is an application Friedrich Krummacher makes from 2 Samuel 5 to our interactions with
Continue readingBut, on the contrary, woe to them who, under the banner of the “prince of this world,” oppose the interests of the kingdom of heaven, while at the same time, though unconsciously and against their will, they are compelled to do it service. These will one day find associating itself
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