Though most of us are inherently opposed to it, change is an important part of God’s good plan for his children. You and I may prefer the cozy security of familiarity, but both the advancement of the church and personal sanctification usually involves large quantities of change. Throughout the Bible we see God
Unfortunately, there are many these days who have come to believe that as it relates to our sanctification, God’s grace and personal effort are mutually exclusive. They unwittingly, and in some cases intentionally, conflate their understanding of justification with their practice in sanctification
Knowing that God is the sovereign owner of all things who will personally come to reign over his creation should motivate us now to live in submission to the King of kings.
Responding rightly to Christ’s redemptive work should result in a growing love for God that produces good works, love for people, and a desire to obey the Bible’s commands.
Knowing many people are interested in Christ for all the wrong reasons, we must be vigilant about maintaining a thoroughly biblical view of God and the Christian life amid all voices to the contrary.
We must be continually mindful of our inherent human frailty, knowing that God wants us to be spiritually strong by trusting in his varied provisions as we seek to live for Christ and serve his cause.
We must be very careful that we do not evade our responsibility to submit to Christ’s lordship by seeking excessive information or unneeded confirmation when the application of God’s word is sufficiently clear.
True Christians must be fearless and faithful as stewards of God’s message of reconciliation in a defiant culture until Christ returns to reward his ambassadors.
Dig into the key verse for Book of Luke. We should rejoice in our salvation and pursue our sanctification knowing that when God works repentance in our lives his forgiving grace entirely covers our sins and permanently redirects our lives.
If we love Christ we will love what he loves and hate the sins for which he died and which cause such great damage to the body of Christ.
For those of us who believe Christ’s teaching and continue to trust in him, God promises to release us from the eternal penalty of sin, helping us now to increasingly overcome the corrupting power of sin in our lives.
We must make certain that we are personally and spiritually prepared for the powerful, glorious, and imminent return of Christ; and rightly be fearful if we are not.
We must understand the clear and repeated call to fear God, first in view of our need for salvation and then in view of his absolute and ultimate authority over every aspect of our lives.
God has granted us the powerful gift of communication, which we must employ with great care and deference to the good intentions of our all-knowing and all-hearing God.
While our biological families can be a great blessing to our Christian life, we must be prepared because they can easily pose a challenge to us keeping Christ as the unrivaled Lord of our lives.
It is easy to fool ourselves (and others) with the words we use to express our loyalty to Christ, what matters is possessing a faith that expresses itself by a willingness to follow him despite the costs.
Christ should be our example in how we are to sacrificially love when people are difficult, trusting that God will faithfully reward those who imitate Christ.
Extreme examples of demonization can provide us with insight into Satan’s agenda regarding our own lives, making us vigilant but always confident in Christ’s supreme power and authority.
We often make excuses attempting to rebuff the conviction that comes with God’s truth, but we must learn to concede his good purpose for us and respond with humble obedience.
Obedience to the word of God is a fundamental duty of the Christian life – one that is forsaken at great personal cost, and one that is ultimately rewarded with lasting benefits.
As we consider Christ’s hatred of hypocrisy, we should at the same time consider the explicit and implicit benefits that are derived from living a Christlike life of integrity.
God’s choice of Bethlehem as the birthplace of the Messiah should stir up in our biblical memories a number of remarkable reasons why God graciously sent Christ in the first place.
Is there such thing as a “carnal” Christian? Pastor Mike takes a look at what the Bible has to say about this cultural title.
Is murder worse than lying in God’s eyes? Or are all sins the same? Pastor Mike takes a look at Scripture to determine how God views sin.
Though the next life will be characterized by happiness and joy, for now, because of sin in our world and in our lives Christians will have plenty of grief and a lot for which to mourn.
We must discern that there is no true or lasting satisfaction in any temptation to sin, knowing that every feeling of deprivation in doing what is right is always an investment that God rewards.
Christ’s dispute with the Pharisees regarding what constituted proper OT ceremonial obedience is a model for us as we consider our obedience to the moral rules of the NT.
