Twenty Quotes on Loneliness
The quotes in this article are drawn from a sermon series (by Paul Matthies) on loneliness, and offer insights into loneliness, and helpful, biblical perspectives for dealing with it.
The quotes in this article are drawn from a sermon series (by Paul Matthies) on loneliness, and offer insights into loneliness, and helpful, biblical perspectives for dealing with it.
Have you been hurt by the church? How did you deal with it? Overcoming church hurt can take some time but it is possible. This article suggests three ways one can do that.
What does it mean to be a spiritual leader? This article indicates that spiritual leadership is rooted in knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative to use God’s means to get them there. This understanding of leadership has two aspects to it: the inner circle and the outer circle.
Do you enjoy being a pastor? There are thirty reasons that make pastoral work great, and this article unpacks them.
What makes a revival? Jonathan Edwards gave a biblical reflection of this. However, to understand the answer of Edwards, we must understand the man himself, his understanding of God and how God works to reveal his glory. It is the view of God that shaped Edwards's understanding of revival. The article discusses this while pointing to crucial elements that constitute a revival.
Looking at Exodus 20:5-6, Exodus 34:6-7, and Leviticus 26:39, this article maintains that the Bible does not teach the concept of generational curses or generational sin. The Bible teaches that God punishes the sins of the fathers to their children when the children adopt those sins.
The wisdom of Proverbs teach us to listen carefully to what people have to say.
How should Bible-believing Christians align themselves in the Jewish-Palestinian conflict? The Bible does not teach us to be partial to either the Jews or the Palestinians.
One of the duties of the Christian is to apply our minds in imagination. The mind is used for much more - observation, analysis, organization, memorization, etc. But imagination is different. Imagination helps explain what is not seen, but is out there.
Evangelism is witnessing about Christ, the light. Light is illumination itself. When you want someone to see the light, you don’t shine on the light; the light itself must be held up.
Saving faith has much to do with the trust that God will grant faith tomorrow. Trusting Christ today includes trusting Him not to leave you tomorrow. "Often we feel today like our resevoir of strength is not going to last for another day. The reality is, it won’t. Today’s resources are for today. We may have confidence that new resources will be given tomorrow."
We should never think too highly of ourselves. Humility befits believers. The remedy for pride is to take serious the fact that our faith is a gift of God alone through His Holy Spirit.
This article looks at the task of the Holy Spirit in directing attention and conviction toward the Word (Hebrews 1).
This is a meditation on Revelation 3:5. What does it mean to have your name written in the book of life?
The sluggard creates imaginary circumstances to justify his laziness. He imagines danger to camouflages his reluctance to work hard. (Proverbs 22:13)
Marriage does not have a purpose separate from God. Its purpose is to magnify the beauty and greatness of God.
The Holy Spirit gives and creates love through our faith and trust in the promises of Jesus. Love in our hearts is never separated from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit and Christ are not to be separated.
Every moment of our lives should be governed by the glad affections of gratitude and faith.
Scripture often speaks of doing something for the sake of the name of God, which means virtually the same as doing it for His glory. The goal of human history is the glory of God.
God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in who He is.
This is a statement on divorce and remarriage after divorce.
This article draws a connection between the passion of Christ and the suffering of the Jews in concentration camps.
We who have not seen Jesus on earth are not at a disadvantage, for we can see Him through His Word. This is all we need in order to believe and be saved. How do we see Jesus today in His glory?
This article outlines three exhortations against racism.
In this article, both the Old Testament and the New Testament are examined to discover the whole spectrum of the meaning of love in the Bible.
This article is an exegesis of 1 Corinthians 7:3–5. In marriage, couples are called to serve each other, also when it comes to sexual intimacy.
What is the innermost meaning of Jesus' crucifixion? What problem was God solving through the death of Christ? This article on Romans 3:25-26 maintains that the most basic purpose of the death of Christ is to demonstrate God's righteousness and justice.
The glory of the return of Christ is portrayed in Matthew 25:31-33.
A wrong understanding of self-worth can be damaging for our faith. How should we value ourselves as images of God?
This article is a beautiful story of the liberation of one person from homosexual desires through God's grace.
A growing cultural phenomenon is present in many Western countries: "adultolescence" - the postponement of adulthood into the thirties. Here a possible response of the church to this cultural phenomenon is given.
Why did the Israelites have to slaughter the Amorites? This article discusses why the Israelites had to destroy the Canaanites.
The letter of Jude teaches us something about the value of knowing the history of God's salvation plan for his people.
What does it mean to have a pilgrim lifestyle as a Christian?
This is a response to possible obstacles that may prevent people from being more actively involved in mission work.
Presented here is a discussion that took place at a meeting of the Evangelical Theological Society on relations between Christians and Muslims. Under discussion was the Yale Response to A Common Word.
God has a right to call down judgment on his enemies. God hates unrighteousness. In the Psalms, the people of God express this judgment in their songs and prayers. This has nothing to do with personal vindictiveness, but rather foreshadows God's final judgment and is a call to return to God, who judges in righteousness.
When Zacchaeus the tax collector was converted, he vowed to give back fourfold to anyone he had defrauded. Here is a fictitious conversation he might have had when returning the money. This story serves to show how God works to rid us of our individual idols.
False expectations can turn a good relationship into a bad one. This is also true in our relationship with the Lord. When we hear Jesus say, “Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst”, one might jump to the conclusion that once you come to Jesus all your longings are satisfied then and there. As if there will be no more dissatisfaction of any sort. But in this article, John Piper emphasizes that Christians should expect some dissatisfaction in this life.
This article on Colossians 4:2-4 is an encouragement to pray and persevere in prayer.
Why do saved believers also have to be present at the last judgment? What does this final judgment mean for believers? This article discusses Revelation 20:12-15 in relation to this.
Living a pure life to the glory of God includes spiritual warfare against very specific temptation. This article on Matthew 5:28-29 discusses resisting sexual temptation in particular.
It is a real danger that we sin so long and so grievously that the Lord will not grant repentance?
The importance of good theological training in shaping the faith and theology of churches, denominations and missionary enterprise cannot be overemphasized. Prayer for the seminary is necessary!
What does it mean to be worldly? Has the Church become too dependent upon the world? This article on 1 Samuel 13:19-23 addresses these questions.
Throughout the history of the church, heretics often protested against orthodox confessions on the ground of the so-called "non-scriptural language" of the orthodox creed. They pointed out that phrases such as “of one essence with the Father,” and “one substance with the Father” were not to be found in Scripture. Heretics often used the argument “no creed but the Bible” precisely so that they could use biblical language to evade biblical truth.
Jesus instructed His disciples to pray for workers in His kingdom. That instruction is then immediately followed up Him sending out the very ones who were praying (Matthew 9:38). This article discusses the task of praying for missionaries.
This author discusses two reasons why he believes in Jesus' resurrection.
People have more anger than they think. The reason is that anger disguises itself. The control of anger is imperative in all types of relationships.
This article is a very broad overview of the history of Christian mission work up to the 16th century.
Spiritual leaders know where God wants people to be and take initiative to get them there, relying on God's power and using God's methods.
Prayer for those in the Christian ministry is indispensable. (1 Thessalonians 5:25)
The life of the apostolic church testifies to the reality that the church may flourish even (and sometimes especially) in a context of persecution.
What does it mean to be "filled with the Spirit" (Ephesians 5:18)? Paul says that those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (Romans 8:5). And what are these things of the Spirit?
This article highlights reasons why abortion is wrong.
Romans 3:25, 26 refers to the righteousness of God. This righteousness is most naturally understood as God's commitment to always act for His own names' sake. This article is a study of God's righteousness as it is referred to in this passage.
Questions about evil tend to be the same. Did God know it was going to happen? Where was God? Does God have knowledge about the future? Was God able to prevent it? Why should we pray to God when it seems as if He can't actually keep bad things from happening?
If we believe that God works all things according to His will (Ephesians 1:11), and if we believe that His knowledge of all things is perfect, then what is the point of prayer? Or: If God has determined some to be His sons and has chosen them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5), is there then any point in praying for anyone's conversion?
This letter about how to relate to a relative who is homosexual was written to a real person based on a real situation.
In this article, the author introduces six reasons why Scripture memorization is essential to the Christian life.
What is Jesus' role in our salvation? This article addresses this question and discusses how it relates to evangelism. Do people have to hear the Gospel in order to be saved?
This article is about God-centered motivation for mission work and evangelism.
Hope plays such an important role in the believer's perseverance in the faith. Using a few well-chosen Biblical texts, this author provides four illustrations of how hope moves and sustains love.
Many Christians set their sights on retirement, which is the world's suggested substitute for heaven since they do not believe that there will be one beyond the grave. What a strange thing for a Christian to set his sights on: many years of play and idleness. Is there not another way of service? This article is about practicing evangelism in retirement.
God regretted, or repented, that he made Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11), for Saul had turned back from following the Lord. God's repentance was His reaction to Saul's disobedience.
We are sinners, and often fail to forgive others. How then can we ask forgiveness from God?
We are called to put sin to death (Romans 8:13, Colossians 3:5). This article offers practical ways to battle against sin in your life.
Suffering in the service of Christ is a gift of God. It is part of our Christian calling. (Philippians 1:27-30)
We all ought to delight in God's tenderness to the lowly. God exalts his greatness by loving the orphan and widow and alien.
Martin Luther warns that we must not be put off by the word 'theology'. In the way he understands it, theology is for everybody. We can learn true theology from king David in the Psalms. In the Psalms Luther finds three "rules" by which to become a true theologian: Oratio, meditatio, tentatio" (prayer, meditation, trials).
Taking what the Bible teaches about human depravity seriously functions as a great antidote to racism. Two illustrations are given in this article: one from the Great Awakening in the USA in the 18th century, and the other from the civil rights movement in the USA in the 1960's.