Sanctification

This Sunday we begin a new sermon series, Wisdom for Suffering. The idea of this series is to take four books in the Wisdom Literature of the Bible and approach them with this question, "What does this have to tell me about suffering?" The sermons will look at the book of Job (Aug. 2), the book of Psalms (Aug. 9, 16), the book of Proverbs (Aug. 23), and the book of Ecclesiastes (Aug. 30).

The issue of suffering is a massive and complex one. This is true at a personal level, because my suffering has unique elements to it that…

Amazing Grace has to be one of the most familiar Christian hymns of all time. I haven't done any studies on it, but it seems to find it's way into all kinds of Christian and secular movies. If you start the song on a Sunday, everyone present will sing along, not just those who grew up in your church. It is a vivid reminder that something is "amazing" and worth singing about, namely, "grace." But what exactly is "grace"? Let's define it and then look to the New Testament to answer six important questions about it.

And by the way,…

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…

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…

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

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

Encouraging and challenging words from Jeff Purswell:

Some hindrances impede us; but sin entangles us. Other hindrances weigh you down; sin will bring you down. You can’t run the race and cherish sin. You can’t run the race and cultivate sin. You can’t run the race and indulge in sin. You can’t run the race and be apathetic toward sin. That’s why we need the local church. Look around and you will see that there are runners everywhere, ready to help. Earlier the author of Hebrews wrote, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to…

From a blog post by Randy Alcorn:

Someone has said, “Live simply that others may simply live.” Of course, there is no automatic relationship between my simple living and someone else being rescued from starvation or reached with the gospel. There is only a relationship if I, in fact, use the resources I have freed up to feed the hungry and reach the lost. This itself assumes I will continue to make a decent wage. For if I go off and pursue simple living for simple living’s sake, spending what little I earn on myself, it does no good…

I feel like I am the last person who should be writing about holiness. Or maybe, in God's economy of first and last, this is exactly what I should write about. But when Daniel Baker first suggested this topic, I have to admit a little trill of fear rushed through me while standing in church that Sunday morning. Growing up, I had always expected that by the time I was this age it would be much easier to be holy. This past year has simply proven that, in my own power, I am entirely inadequate in any form of personal holiness. Any goodness, purity, or holiness in me is only directly proportional to the grace I have been given and look for each day in a growing love of Jesus Christ.

On Sunday during the sermon, Daniel mentioned a triple challenge to grow in your knowledge of God and to help you "seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness." Here are the details.