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Our Pasts Don’t Have to Matter
During our election cycles in the U.S., we see a lot of headlines and hear a lot of talk about the past of candidates for public office. We wrestle with and quarrel about the question, Do their pasts matter …Read More
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Restoration and Reformation
“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matt. 4:17). What was the first word spoken by John the Baptist and by Jesus as they came preaching? Each of them …Read More
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Daily Confession, Enduring Reform
I have a friend who is a Roman Catholic. Not too long ago he went to “confession,” after which he told me, with tears welling up in his eyes, he felt “clean like a new born baby.” Confession is an …Read More
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Repentance and Reformation
The Protestant Reformation is called the Reformation for a good reason. It is not called the First Reformation or Reformation II, as if they happen every so often. I have never been asked, when referencing the Reformation, “Of which Reformation …Read More
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The Coming Kingdom
The world is full of hypocrites, and the solution to this problem is twofold: If you are more modern, you deal with the gap between your obedience and what you pretend to be by trying harder to be good. You …Read More
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Mercy for the Impetuous
Peter didn’t just blow it, he blew it badly. “Though they all fall away…I will never fall away” (Matt. 26:33). Peter’s resolution we admire for its confidence and bravery. But it is a statement relying on …Read More
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Lessons from the Fall
The Gospels depict the arrest and trial of Jesus in a way that shows us not only the insensibility of His accusers, but also His own steadfast faithfulness to the will of God through suffering and humiliation. Our Lord’s …Read More
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The More Things Change
It was a wise man who first noted that there is nothing new under the sun. Sadly, Solomon seemed to sigh his way through this observation, wistfully longing for something new. We, if we were wise, would rejoice in this …Read More
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What About Repentance?
After four hundred years of prophetic silence, John the Baptist appeared on the scene of redemptive history as the forerunner of Jesus Christ. He came in fulfillment of prophecy and with the spirit of Elijah to be a voice “crying …Read More
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The Witness of Love and Forgiveness
As Christians, how we treat other people speaks louder to the world regarding the authenticity and validity of our beliefs than the doctrines we teach, the creeds we confess, or even the moral and good lives we try to …Read More
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Remembering God’s Grace
For many of us, at the beginning of our Christian journeys, we thought of and spoke often about the radical forgiveness of a God who has been greatly sinned against. I remember myself going on and on about God’s …Read More
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The Prodigal Brother
It had been twenty years since Jacob had deceived his father and received the blessing Isaac had intended to give Esau. It had been twenty years since Jacob fled for his life from a furious brother intent on killing …Read More
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A Matter of Life and Death
The Christian marketplace is filled with T-shirts, tracts, and trinkets that speak of how to have the ideal Christian life. Every year, Christians spend millions of dollars on self-help books and “how-to” guides for living an abundant life. For …Read More
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Changing the Past
Some cultures have no central government. Their only social organization is the family, including the extended family that constitutes a clan, and the organization of clans into a tribe. So in the absence of laws, a police force, and a …Read More
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Christians Aren’t Perfect…
“By this,” Jesus said, “all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35). Here Jesus gives us an apologetic we seem to have lost sight of. One of the blessings …Read More
