July 2011

Motherhood, Sacrifice, and Worship

July 26, 2011

Ladies, it is great to give an hour here and an hour there to charitable works. Do that! But if you want to truly be a living sacrifice, then have a baby. You will then not simply give up an hour or two a week for someone else. You will be giving up your life [...]

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Law and Gospel Visualized

July 25, 2011
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Lucas Cranach was a German Renaissance artist whose paintings and woodcuts are pretty amazing (Caution, you will find some nude painting and woodcuts in his collection). He was a friend of Martin Luther, was present at his wedding to Katherina von Bora, and was the godfather to their first child, Johannes “Hans” Luther. I recently [...]

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Law, Then Gospel

July 20, 2011
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The basic principle in application is to know whether the passage is a statement of the law or of the gospel. For when the Word is preached, the law and the gospel operate differently. The law exposes the disease of sin, and as a side-effect stimulates and stirs it up. But it provides no remedy [...]

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Killing Moralism

July 14, 2011
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Many Christians have grown up in the church on moralistic preaching; that is, preaching that calls for obedience without connecting the commands of God to the cross of Christ. This disconnect is dangerous, potentially leading hearers into either self-loathing or self-righteousness. Moralistic preaching is often the ground in which the devil sows the seeds of [...]

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Interview at BCC

July 14, 2011
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I was recently interviewed by the good people at the Biblical Counseling Coalition, and it is now up at their blog. Here’s part of what I shared with them. When we are walking through temptation, trial, affliction, or adversity we want relief. We need deliverance. But what God often grants us is grace to believe, [...]

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An Encouragement to The Weak

July 11, 2011
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I imagine a number of you reading this have come to see yourselves as “done” in the worst possible way. You are overcome by the world around you, overwhelmed by the circumstances of your life, and have nothing left. Perhaps through frailty or failure you have drawn the conclusion that you are defeated and all [...]

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iPhoneography: July 4th

July 5, 2011
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4th of July in Illinois isn’t as fun as some states where you get to (legally) blow stuff up in your back yard. All we get to do is light smoke bombs and sparklers. Nothing that goes “boom.” Nevertheless, the kids had a lot of fun yesterday lighting everything they could. This is our 3rd [...]

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