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Last Sunday we finished our 1 Thessalonians series and looked at 5:23 in that letter, "Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." The main burden of this text is assuring us that God will indeed finish his work of making us holy. He will not fail in that!

But this verse also presents us with a question: When it says "spirit and soul and body," is it assuming that we have three distinct parts in us—that…

This week we begin a short series out of 2 Thessalonians. Read the book if you can. It's only three chapters. For extra-credit look again at Acts 17:1-9 to recall what the church plant in Thessalonica looked like. Here are five things to know as we approach these sermons:

1. THE ORIGINAL CHURCH PLANT

In Acts 17 a group of apostles went to the city of Thessalonica to plant a church, estimated to be in 49 A.D. This was the team sent out by the Jerusalem church to deliver the letter written in Acts 15. Paul and Barnabas were originally…

Justin Taylor on his blog gave a great summary of Donald Whitney's seventeen ways to mediate on Scripture. The list comes from Whitney's book, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life (pp. 56-68). It seemed like a great post to pass along to you. Whitney says,

Meditation is not folding your arms, leaning back in your chair, and staring at the ceiling. That’s daydreaming, not meditation. Daydreaming isn’t always a waste of time; it can be a much-needed, well-deserved respite for the mind as important as relaxation often is for the body. Our gracious Father is…

Last Sunday I preached on 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, one of the most challenging passages on sexual immorality in the New Testament. The overall theme of the passage is on our holiness, but purity is the central focus of that holiness--at least, within this particular passage.

In the sermon we also looked at the category of lust from Matthew 5:28, I briefly mentioned pornography as one of the most significant issues of our day. It has made life treacherous for all of us regardless of our personal level of temptation. The ubiquity of the internet--through the obvious sources like mainstream…

Easter week is a great time to annually reflect on the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry, all culminating in the cross and his resurrection. Here are a few thoughts to help you do that, along with a free resource by John Piper at the end.

Palm Sunday is the name given to mark the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem, that glorious and yet ironic moment when the praises of men celebrated the King coming in the name of the Lord and fulfilling the Zechariah prophecy about entering the city on a donkey (Zech. 9:9; Matt.…

To help us understand and pray for Ken Auer and Ben Einwechter's trip to Zambia later this month we asked Ken to write up a description of the trip for the blog.

This past Sunday Bruce Chick quoted from John Newton who wrote perspective-giving words on humility.

This Sunday Mike Noel and John McLeod will be ordained as elders at Sovereign Grace Church. But what does it even mean to be “ordained”? Aren’t they basically elders now? What will change after Sunday? We want to take a minute here and think about these questions and a few others. 

This is a third post from guest blogger, Josh Blount, our friend from the Appalachians who pastors in Franklin, WV.

“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Verses like this one lead to statements like: “Your lifestyle is as much a part of evangelism as your words." “Let your marriage be a light to the watching world.” “You’re an ambassador for Christ at your workplace.” Have you heard similar statements, or made them?