Helping you grow in God's all-sufficient grace and truth
[This is the first of four posts encouraging you to study the Old Testament book of Lamentations.] In truth, all suffering can be traced back to the entrance of sin into our world; that is, before sin entered the world
Continue readingElisabeth Elliot was widowed twice and, therefore, understood grief better than most others. In a simple tract entitled “Facing the Death of Someone You Love,” which I recently discovered on one of my favorite book websites, she brings words of
Continue readingJob started so well. His faith was as invulnerable to Satan’s onslaughts as a turtle snuggled up inside its shell is to the frantic pawings of a dog. Job tucked his head and feet inside his faith in God and
Continue readingOur life in this fallen world will be filled with many expected and unexpected forms of suffering. The curse in the Garden announced this, Jesus confirmed it in His teaching, and the experience of the New Testament church testifies of
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As God performs his sanctifying work in us—conforming us to the image of his Son, “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2)—there will be times when answers to prayer seem out of all possible reach. When we try
Continue readingThe Particular Temptations of Young Men – “I love to spend time with young men, to counsel them, and to assure them that this time in their lives has great significance. As we speak, I find a number of common
Continue readingWhen you are in the midst of a whirlwind of calamity that could only have been sovereignly overseen by God, it is hard to believe that anything good may ever come out of it. But it can. Satan’s diabolical agenda,
Continue readingYesterday, I taught a breakout session at the 40th annual ACBC Conference in Indianapolis. My session was entitled Joseph’s Theology of Providence. I’ve put it into outline form for your personal or small group study. What Is Providence? The providence
Continue readingThe Struggle of Rejoicing with Those who Rejoice – “You may not think of opening your mail as a prime time for temptation, but it can be if your life has not panned out exactly the way you hoped it
Continue readingYesterday, as I was reviewing notes from a workshop I’ve taught on trials and suffering, I was again counseled by these words from Jerry Bridges: “As we watch tragic events unfolding, or more particularly as we experience adversity ourselves, we
Continue readingLast week, I spent several days in Psalms 3-7 as part of my study through Alec Motyer’s devotional translation of the Hebrew songbook we know as the book of Psalms. Whether or not all agree that Psalms 3-7 belong to
Continue readingI’ve been thinking about last week’s post on three ways suffering makes us like Christ and remembered an illustration that I told in an earlier book. As servants of Christ suffer for His name, and for the sake of His
Continue readingThe past two Lord’s Days, our congregation has been considering what the apostle had in mind when he declared his heart’s longing, “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like
Continue readingThe Christian life—when properly understood—is a life of sacrifice. Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it,
Continue readingSinging to the Lord is a significant means of ministering to our own souls in times of suffering. That’s one reason why we are so drawn to the Psalms, and why Suffering and Singing is a fitting title for a
Continue readingThe resurrection of Jesus was the “the first fruits of those who are asleep” (1 Cor 15:20), that is, His was the first of more to come—ours. Meditating on this future promise strengthens us to face the physical maladies of
Continue readingI didn’t realize it had been so long, but it’s been over a year since I posted a Nuggets page. The decision to stop was intentional; I simply could not keep up and decided that if I could not do
Continue readingOne of the blessings of being a blogger is receiving review copies of new resources on discipleship, counseling, and Christian growth. Though I do not have time to read and review all of them, I like to inform you of
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By God’s grace, I’m a husband, dad, grandpa, and a pastor at Cornerstone Community Church in Mayfield Hts, OH. I love Christ because He first loved me.
