My depression forced me to see the worst version of myself, and allowed me to see the true nature of God's love for me....
Exhaustion and depression feel eerily similar. Often the two come together. ...
Christians suffer with depression like everyone else. Some Christians let their faith make the depression worse by beating themselves up or hiding it. The good news is that depression can be managed and treated. ...
Over the past 18 months, I went into a deep depression, and God steadily pulled me out. This series of blog posts will describe how I got there, what if felt like, and how I got out. I hope it helps you who struggle with depression, and you who love someone who does. ...
Depression lied to me. It told me I had never been happy, and never would be happy. ...
As depression started closing in on me, the unaddressed trauma of my past began to weigh heavily on my heart. ...
The 7th Commandment not only prohibits adultery, it also prohibits all sexual immorality and it commands all efforts towards purity and love. Sunday's sermon was not long enough to cover the many topics that spring out of a discussion of this commandment. Here is a beginning list of resources for further growth in grace....
Today we look at the new covenant instituted by Jesus, and how it is the fulfillment of all of the other covenants in the Bible....
The covenant with David is about how God rules and protects His people....
Today, we look at the covenant God made with Moses and Israel surrounding the Ten Commandments and the law of God....
This week, we learn about the covenant God made with Abraham, and what circumcision has to do with God's promises....
This week, we look at the third covenant in the Bible, the covenant God made with Noah (and the animals)....
Today we look at the covenant that God made with Adam....
A deeper look at the different parts of a covenant, and why Abram fell asleep before the ratification of God's covenant with him....
God created the heavens and the earth in a personal, covenantal way....
Celebrating Holy Week during social distancing makes us feel a pronounced longing. We long to be together, and to have God make all things right. ...
My recommendations for films that will help illustrate the meaning of Holy Week events....
What do we know? We know that we have each other, a church body that cares for us and misses us. We know that Jesus, the true Son of God, is a light that shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overwhelm us. We know that our God has promised to walk with us through the valley of dark shadows, so we fear no evil. We know that Jesus was raised from the dead, so we have the hope of life eternal....
This world is not what we expect it to be. Sometimes we do everything right, but still get run over. Jesus knew that was coming. He lived a perfect life, and got run over worse than any of us. But that is not the end of the story. He overcame the world. His victory gives us hope. ...
A prayer for parents to pray on the first day of school. ...
When our faith is only lived out in front of others, then the respect and love of others is all we get for it....
Join us for the next four weeks as we take the journey every church must travel. We will study death, the judgment, heaven and hell. We will answer our questions, feel our fears, and emerge more ready to enjoy life than ever. ...
Lent reminds us that suffering is not pointless, that there must be a death in order to be a resurrection....
Your sin is no match for God’s love. He has overwhelmed and forgiven it. ...
According to Harold Best, God created worshippers. We were created pouring out worship. Each member of the Trinity continually worships the others. God created us in his image. We were created to pour out worship upon the Trinity, but since we are fallen we worship created things rather than the creator....
Awakenings occur within the church. People who have continued to come to church for years realize that they have never known Jesus, never felt his love, never hated their sin, never really believed. ...
The last week of March, starting on Palm Sunday, March 25th, and culminating on Easter Sunday, April 1st, is known as ‘Holy Week.’ Some consider this week the most important week in the entire church year. During this week, we follow the timeline of Jesus’ last week before His resurrection. You can read about this ‘final week’ in all four of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, with each gospel writer giving slightly different perspectives on the events of the week....
Do you know what it feels like to be loved? Do you really trust yourself to someone that you know loves you? If you do, then you know love has power. It has the power to change you. You may not understand it, but you know it is there. That is the power that allows the Christian to live in freedom without fear and without pursuing sin. ...
Keep ReadingWe will never have peace until we trust God's motives toward us. God's hatred of the sin is not hatred of the sinner. Nay, the greatness of his sin seems rather to deepen than to lessen the divine compassion. At least we may say that the increasing misery which increasing sin entails calls into new intensity the paternal pity of the God of the spirits of all flesh. "It gr...
Keep ReadingWe easily get led astray into thinking of the gospel as a new law. Now all we have to do is believe and be saved. Not only is this completely untrue, but it is unhelpful. This idea just throws us into the never ending loop of wondering whether or not we have believed sincerely enough. Jesus did not come to make it easier for us to save ourselves. He came to save us. ...
Keep ReadingSome may protest: I do not deserve peace. I am a sinner and I have not repented fully enough yet. If you did repent fully enough wouldn't you be a proud piece of work. Then you would have to repent of all that pride. Stop trying to please yourself with your repentance and be pleased with Christ. ...
Keep ReadingDo I love Christ purely enough to be saved. Of course not. But his love for you is more than enough. ...
Keep ReadingMaybe you have no peace because your faith is not strong enough. Much more likely, you have no peace because you are looking to your faith to give you peace instead of looking to Christ alone. ...
Keep ReadingWhat keeps Christians from enjoying the peace God wants them to enjoy? If you understand the gospel, but still do not have peace, I would invite you to go back and examine the gospel again. You are probably resting peace on yourself and not on Christ. In this Chapter, Bonar looks at every reason you might think God rejects you and corrects your understanding of the Gos...
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