Here is a great extended quote from John Stott’s book, Basic Christianity (p. 92-93), outlining and describing the nature of and importance of truly believing in Christ’s sacrificial death on behalf of men. It begins with a quote of one of the many very clear verses of Scripture that state this doctrine in no uncertain terms.

2 Corinthians 5:21 - He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus Christ had no sins of his own; he was made sin with our sins, on the cross.

As we look at the cross, we can begin to understand the terrible implications of these words. At twelve noon ‘there was darkness over the whole land’ which continued for three hours until Jesus died. With the darkness came silence, for no eye should see, and no lips could tell, the agony of soul which the spotless Lamb of God now endured. The accumulated sins of all human history were laid upon him. Voluntarily he bore them in his own body. He made them his own. He shouldered full responsibility for them….

Read on for the rest of this great quote .

Here is a difficult topic that I have found a hard time finding good information on. I wrote this is part of a graduate degree in counseling, and it was published in The Journal of Modern Ministry (www.JofMM.com) last year (Fall 2006 issue).

What does the Bible say about marital separation? Is this an acceptable option for the Christian? Given the frequency and dangers of domestic violence and marital infidelity, should it be allowable in some circumstances? What if the separation is only temporary, or for a “cooling off” period? These and other questions demand that Christians, and particularly biblical counselors, be equipped to answer from Scripture the many questions that will arise concerning marital separation. While there is no specific passage of Scripture that will answer all of the intricacies and complexities of every specific separation, a survey of the Bible and the application of biblical principles certainly enables Christians to know what is acceptable in God’s sight.

Click here for the full text of the article.

I recently read Prayer and the Voice of God: Listening to God’s Living Word will transform the way you pray by Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne. It is a wonderful book on prayer! Here are some excellent quotes from the book to help you in your prayer life.

Click here to read the quotes.

A couple days ago I shared some fantastic quotes from Mark Dever’s book, What is a Healthy Church? Now, I would like to offer a review of the book organized under three questions:

• How does this book differ from Dever’s booklet, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church?
• What are the strengths of the book?
• What are the weaknesses of the book?

Click here to read my review .

I have always agreed with the truism that the constitutional doctrine of “separation of church and state” never intended to “separate God from government.” Still, while I pray that our government leaders seek God (1 Timothy 2:1-4) and make decisions that reflect his divine design for government (Romans 13:1-6), I’m hopeful that the government will continue to keep their hands out of what we do in the church.

Well there is a new issue that has brought this discussion into the foreground once again. The leader of the Senate Finance Committee has demanded to look into the financial practices of some major “Christian” ministries, based on the suspicion that there is some illegal activity going on. You can read about it in the New York Times. Without going into detail, these “Word-Faith” teachers are dishonest at best, and heretical at worst.

But is this investigation a good idea? What biblical and constitutional issues are at stake? Read on for my thoughts and musings on politics, constitutional law, and at least one proper biblical response…

I just finished reading, What is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever. I will write a short review of it soon, but first I would like to share some quotes from the book that I thought were FANTASTIC!

Click here to read the quotes.

I recently received an honest inquiry about seeker-friendly churches from someone at our church, and thought that the response I wrote to them might be helpful for others to read and interact together about. The question arose in response to some guarded and indirect comments I made in my sermon this past Sunday about the recent admission by Willow Creek and Bill Hybels that their emphasis in ministry has not produced spiritual maturity in Christians. You can read a short article regarding this here, as well as some follow up comments and clarifications by Greg Hawkins, the co-author of the book.

Their specific confession regarding their church programs was, “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

The particular person in our congregation asked the following questions:

So here’s a question regarding “seeker churches”…such as Saddleback in California or others like it…Why do you think they are seemingly able to accomplish such great things for the Lord if they are “off base” Biblically?…

Read the rest of their question, along with my response by clicking here , or on the title above…

I continue with my posts on the importance of the local church (click here to see the last one). We are looking at the apostle Paul’s description of the local church. He says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I write so that you [Timothy] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” Today, we want to focus on Paul’s third description of the local church: “the pillar…of the truth.”

The local church is unique in that it is the pillar of the truth. Read more…