Advent simply means “a coming.” The lights come out, the decorations appear, the music plays… This year my oldest said, “I just love the feeling that comes with this time of year.” And he is right. The world will try to steal the glory replacing the manger with images of Santa, replacing giving with consumerism, replacing O Holy Night with Jingle Bell Rock, but we want to instill in our children the nostalgia of something greater: the anticipation of the coming of the glory of the Lord in human form....
Last time, we observed God’s continued faithfulness to his people in his overseeing of Solomon’s construction of the temple at Jerusalem, a place wherein his presence would dwell and where all his people, even foreigners, could come to seek him and find him in prayer. Furthermore, we also noted that the temple’s creation...
“Why do you feel like a failure?” I heard him ask. “Because you are one.” My flesh wanted to rise up to fight that statement, but my heart knew it was true. All that Jesus has to work with is failures....
I wrote the following post on November 2nd, 2017 to commemorate a significant anniversary. My husband, Keith, almost died in a car accident on Monday, November 2nd, 2009; some of his injuries included a shattered hip and pelvis, a broken jaw, a punctured lung, lacerated spleen, and a traumatic brain injury. He spent four months total in the hospital, a nursing home, and acute inpatient rehab before it was safe for him to come home, but he still had a great deal of outpatient rehabilitation for the next 2 years in order to walk again, be able to feed himself, speak, think logically, and many other things that we take for granted every day....
Whereas in our last posting we examined God’s instruction at Mount Sinai to build a tabernacle so that his presence might go with Israel into the land of Canaan, this week we examine the way in which this mobile tabernacle ultimately became a full-fledged, permanent temple at Jerusalem. We will observe how this transition occurred, what similarities are shared between the temple and the tabernacle, and what specific advances to the overall theme of God’s presence within Scripture were brought about by the temple’s inception....
I wrote this blog post weeks ago but never posted. The day I wrote this, my morning devotional took me to John 20:11-18 where Jesus, after having been crucified, buried, and raised, appears to Mary Magdalene at the entrance of his empty tomb. As we are going through the book of John on Sundays, this weekend we came to this text. Although there is a lot in this passage, and I would commend the sermon in its entirety to you, what stood out to me is in verse 17 when Jesus gives Mary instructions to go and tell his brothers, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Jesus tells Mary that His Father is her Father. That His God is her God....
After Moses received from the Lord at Sinai all the statutes of “the Book of the Covenant” in Exodus 20-23, he read them in the hearing of the people, and the covenant that the Lord had made with them was sealed by way of their oath, “All that the Lord has spoken, we will do” (Ex 24:7; cf. 24:1-7). However, when Moses is summoned again to the mountain top to receive stone tablets from God engraved with these statutes, the Lord then commands that an offering of materials be taken from among the people with the result, “Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst” (Ex 25:8). This demonstrates God’s enduring commitment and purpose to dwell together with his people (cf. also Ex 29:45-46)....
This weekend’s sermon really broke my heart. I’ll commend it to you here in its entirety. In briefest summary, we see from John 18:12-27 the account of the split screen drama of Peter’s unfaithfulness and three time denial of Jesus, all the while Jesus is standing as the faithful groom to his bride. If Peter, Jesus’ special disciple, can do this, how much worse am I? In our application, Pastor Josh had words to say to both the self-righteous and the doubting heart, but I am not either one of those, I am both. I feel like the person in James 1:8: double minded and unstable in all her ways....
The first individuals whom God is said to dwell with in Scripture are of course Adam and Eve (cf. Gen 3:8). Thus after they sin, their punishment of being cast out of the Garden of Eden signifies not only the loss of eternal life, but also the loss of God’s presence (Gen 3:8-13, 22-24). Therefore, one of the Bible’s central concerns underlying God’s work of redemption is the restoring of his presence with man....
Do you know that old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus?” It’s never been one of my favorites. Of course, Jesus is our friend. In humility the Lord of heaven and earth came to earth and laid down his life for us, and John 15:13 says, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” But this idea that Jesus is our friend, our best friend, can seem so abstract. I can’t see him. I can’t touch him. I can’t call him up on the phone and hear his voice. We can’t go get lunch together. I can’t physically cry on his shoulder when I have a bad day. What kind of friendship is this with an invisible being?...
500 years ago, on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the Wittenberg door in Germany and sparked the Protestant Reformation. This reformation was a pivotal event in our history that has affected not only Christianity as we know it today, but everything from politics to economics and more....
Many of us know of or have heard something about God’s temple as described in the Bible. In the most general sense, the notion of temple throughout Scripture simply has to do with God dwelling among his people....
I have been working through the Truth Bible Memory Plan on my ESV app. It's been wonderfully helpful to my prayer life. It is so easy to start praying and then quickly run out of things to say. Truly what Jesus told Peter and the others also applies to us: “So, could you not watch with me one hour?" Matthew 26:40. But with Scripture hid in my heart, there is a treasure chest full of God's own words that are ready to be made into a holy argument with Him. For instance:...
The ancient writer of Ecclesiastes said thousands of years ago, before the internet, before the NFL, before bluetooth, and iPhones, and sound systems, "What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes 1:9. This was made fresh once again as I was reading a 100 year old sermon by Martyn Lloyd-Jones. This is what he said:...
This morning I was reading New Morning Mercies by Paul Tripp. In a writing discussing the battle that rages for the rulership of our hearts, Tripp made a comment, “We still tend to credit God with faithfulness only when things in our lives seem to be working.” Ouch! I cannot think of an instance when I have given God credit for, nor encouraged someone with, God’s faithfulness through events that are trying or hurtful. God has a plan, yes. God is working all things out for the good of those who love him, yes. But faithful? What does that even mean, really?...
A question and answer session with Pastor Josh. ...
A question and answer session from this week's sermon. ...
A question and answer session from this week's sermon. ...
These are the precious words from Scripture that we heard this morning, an incredible sermon about the Father’s electing love. It was a truth my soul so desperately needed to hear. ...
Jesus provides for the greatest troubles you will face in this life by giving you the Holy Spirit. In our passage, Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would come to us and perform three important things: 1) He would convict the world. 2) He would guide the apostles into all truth. 3) He would glorify Christ....
Failure to Pray is Always a Sign of Self-Reliance. This is the absolute implication of Jesus’ words in John 15:1-8. v.7 “If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.” Why does Jesus say this? v.5 “…apart from me you can do nothing.” He tells you to pray because you are helpless on our own. If you don’t call on Him in prayer, you’re telling Jesus, "No, I got this. I can handle this Jesus. I’m not as helpless as you make me out to be." ...
The greatest enemy to your peace in Christ is when you fill your mind with all the distractions of this world. ...
There can be no doubt in at many points in your Christian walk, you will face a crisis in which you are pleading the promises of Christ and yet still peace is postponed....
Broken marriages, suicide, transgenderism, maniacal behavior, defeating jobs, drug abuse, infertility, lawsuits, depression… These are not just things “out there” in the world, but a handful of the weighty conversation topics I’ve had, this week alone, involving people in my life. In some sense it is shocking and overwhelming, and in another it comes as no surprise at all. We are a broken people, that much is clear, and it is painful....
With permission to start this blog, my mind immediately swelled with the dozens of topics I could write on, but at the core of them all is this: the gospel....
From John 17:6-10 we learn that Jesus prays the prayer that no one deserves so that the elect would treasure a grace that no one could destroy. Our delight from this passage, how it applies to our heart, is that election is the good news that salvation is not just offered but effected....
Keep Reading From John 17:6-10 we learn that Jesus prays the prayer that no one deserves so that the elect would treasure a grace that no one could destroy. Our duty from this passage, how it applies to our will, is to consider that election protects both obedience and assurance....
Keep Reading These are the precious words from Scripture that we heard this morning, an incredible sermon about the Father’s electing love. It was a truth my soul so desperately needed to hear. ...
Keep Reading From John 17:6-10 we learn that Jesus prays the prayer that no one deserves so that the elect would treasure a grace that no one could destroy. Our Doctrine from this passage, how it applies to our mind, is that the goal of election is the elimination of all human pride....
Keep Reading