The immediate answer to the question posed in my title is, Yes, of course. Each individual Christian has the immeasurable privilege and joy of knowing and enjoying the love God has for them in Jesus Christ (Rom. 5:5; Gal. 2:20)....

We should acknowledge from the outset that the adjective “common” does not appear in the Bible as a modifier of the noun “grace.” But we are justified in making use of it in view of how God’s dealings with non-Christian people are portrayed for us in Scripture. ...

[You may have read about Lady Gaga's comments regarding Vice-President Mike Pence's wife. If not, brace yourself. Michael Kruger has written a perceptive analysis of her absurd perspective. It was published on January 22 at Michael's blog, https://www.michaeljkruger.com.] Michael Kruger By now, plenty has been written on the issue of Mike Pence's wife teaching at a Christi...

Shame and guilt are often confused in people’s thinking. What are they, and how do they differ? More important still, how might we be set free from the debilitating effects of shame? Here are ten things to keep in mind....

Those who self-identify as Open Theists deny that God has exhaustive, meticulous foreknowledge of all future events, including (especially) the morally responsible decisions of human beings....

[This article by Andrew Wilson was first posted at the Desiring God website (www.desiringgod.ord] last week, on June 17.] Andrew WilsonPastor, King's Church, LondonJanuary 17, 2019 It is a strange quirk of the contemporary church that arguably the most common way of handling the charismatic gifts, at least in the West, is the only one that simply cannot be defended from Sc...

The most famous verse in the Bible, at least among Christians, is John 3:16. But do we really understand what it means? Here are ten things to keep in mind as you reflect on it....

Worship involves our bodies as well as our hearts and minds. Our posture tells a story. It makes a statement to God and to others about the state of our souls and the affections and passions of our heart....

In a previous article I spoke of the first wave of the First Great Awakening, a revival that fell upon New England in 1734-36. Today we turn our attention to the second wave of the Spirit’s work and the events that can generally be dated 1740-42....

Is there any such thing as the "Jezebel spirit"? If so, what is it, or who is it? And what relationship does it sustain to the spiritual gift of prophecy? To answer this we must turn our attention to the letter of Jesus to the church in Thyatira. "But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing...

On May 30, 1735, Jonathan Edwards (1703-58) wrote a letter of eight pages to Dr. Benjamin Colman (1673-1747), pastor of Brattle Street Church in Boston, in which he described the nature of the revival he was seeing....

No biblical text so vividly portrays for us the true meaning of Christmas as does 2 Corinthians 8:9. There the apostle Paul wrote this: "For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich" (2 Cor. 8:9). In what sense was Christ "rich" or "wealthy"? I want you to think wi...

100 years ago today, December 11, 1918, Alexander Solzhenitsyn was born. He entered into the presence of his Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, August 3, 2008. So in honor of his 100th birthday, I want to re-post an article I wrote about him back in 2013. It's difficult to explain the personal impact of Solzhenitsyn. He was such a massive figure in the public eye and provoked ...

Last week I wrote about the Montanists and probably caused many of you to scratch your heads wondering, "Who in the world are the Montanists?" Today we turn our attention to another odd group known as the Nicolaitans. There is at least one profound difference between the two: the Montanists were most likely genuine believers in Jesus; the Nicolaitans were most assuredly no...

My former colleague at Wheaton College, Alan Jacobs, now a professor at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, is without question the most widely-read and brilliant man I've ever known. There is virtually no intellectual discipline on which he cannot speak with remarkable insight. I'm sure he'd blush (and protest) to hear me say that. In any case, on November 30 of this year h...

About what? I suspect that many of you have never heard the name Montanism or the individual Montanus from whom the movement is named. Often times when contemporary cessationists wish to ridicule or caricature charismatics they accuse us of being modern day Montanists. So, what was this movement and what did they believe? (1) We can date the emergence of Montanism in Phryg...

Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is mentioned in three of our four gospels. It is found in Matthew 12:22-32; Mark 3:22-30 and again in Luke 12:10. Many Christians are burdened by the thought that they may have committed this sin, or they live in paralyzing fear that some day they will. It behooves us to examine precisely what Jesus meant. (1) The religious leaders had just wit...

History, according to one cynic, is nothing but "the succession of one d___ thing after another." Unfortunately, many Christians would agree, although one hopes they wouldn't use precisely the same terminology! The fact is, people wonder why the history of Christian theology is worthy of our time and energy. Facts, dates, and dead people do not inspire much excitement, and...

What happens when revival comes? What might we reasonably expect, or is it unwise to assume that in every revival the same things occur? My study of history seems to indicate that no two revivals are precisely the same. There are varying points of emphasis and God appears to enjoy doing new and unexpected things each time he chooses to visit us with his manifest presence. ...

We don't typically understand jealousy as a good thing. How, then, can I dare suggest that God is characterized by jealousy? To many, that sounds virtually blasphemous. So let's take a close look at this oft-neglected attribute of God. (1) We need to understand from the start that jealousy can be both good and bad. Jealousy can be driven or motivated both by holy and right...

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703. His influence on the global body of Christ, and on me personally, is incalculable. So where is he now? That may sound like a strange question, but I mean it seriously. His body lies in a cemetery near Princeton University. But his soul is by no means asleep or unconscious. So, where is he? What is he thinking, seeing, feeling, ...

That there is no salvation apart from a conscious faith in Jesus Christ is considered by many to be scandalous. Here are ten things to remember about this critically important issue. (1) The doctrine I believe is taught in Scripture is known as particularism or exclusivism or restrictivism. Advocates of this view insist that all are lost apart from a conscious and volition...

One of the more debilitating obstacles to life in the local church is the fact that people are obsessed with discovering their spiritual gift and frustrated that they have not as yet figured it out. So they do nothing. I want to recommend an approach to you today to overcome this. Stop gazing at your navel and step out and serve someone. Let your gift find you. I'm not opp...

When I read Paul's words in Colossians 1:24, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake," I shake my head. It isn't because I don't believe what he says. It's because I struggle to identify with his experience. I've lived a rather sheltered, comfortable, and safe life here in America. I honestly have no idea what my brothers and sisters in Christ on the other side of the gl...

A week or so ago I was alerted to a video (https://vimeo.com/275908702) that focused on the amazing creative power of God, both in terms of the massive size of the universe as well as the incredibly small world of molecules and atoms. It may be helpful here at the start to remember that we count from million to billion to trillion to quadrillion to quintillion to sextillio...

Often times people argue that the primary (if not sole) purpose for the healing ministry of Jesus was to confirm his messianic identity and deity. Others suggest that it was also designed to signal and confirm the in-breaking of the kingdom of God and to provide us with a foretaste of the blessings that will be ours when the kingdom is consummated upon Christ's return. Whe...

It actually sounds a bit silly, even irreverent, to speak of only ten things we should know about Jesus. There are thousands of things to know about him, perhaps millions. Indeed, when we arrive in the new heaven and new earth we will discover that there is an infinity of truths about our Savior that it will be our joy to see, know, and savor. But for now, today, let's con...

I don't often review books on my blog, but I'm so excited about Gregg Allison's new volume that I can't resist the temptation! I read through 50 Core Truths of the Christian Faith: A Guide to Understanding and Teaching Theology (Baker Books) quite a while back and found it to be the best, most informative, clearest, and most accessible short book on theology that I've ever...

Suffering is an unpopular but essential topic for Christians to understand. And it is nowhere more clearly explained than in 1 Peter. So here are ten things we can learn about suffering from this letter. (1) In 2 Corinthians 6:10 Paul describes himself as "sorrowful, yet always rejoicing". And in Colossians 1:24 he again declares, "I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake....

Where will believers in Jesus spend eternity? It won't be on a cloud or a star in some distant galaxy. It will be on the sanctified and redeemed soil of the new earth. Here are ten things you should about what eternal life will be like in the new heaven and new earth. (1) According to Revelation 21:1 this present earth and the heavens above will "pass away" when Jesus Chri...

Short answer: probably not. But that doesn't mean there aren't ways in which to determine with a high degree of probability whether or not God exists. Many have tried to articulate various arguments believed to be decisive in demonstrating that "God" exists, none more famous than the so-called "Five Ways" of Thomas Aquinas. Thomas died in 1274, just shy of his fiftieth bir...