Stepping Through Darkness: Obedience on the Hardest Days

Stepping Through Darkness: Obedience on the Hardest Days – “For some saints, in some seasons, the spiritual darkness can rest so thick, and last so long, that normal patterns of obedience begin to feel futile.”

The Two Great Commands

The Two Great Commands – “The Two Great Commands don’t call you to loss they invite you to incalculable gain.”

Not All Obedience Is Christian

Not All Obedience Is Christian – “We are working out what God is working in. And he is working at the level of our will — our desires, our affections, our choices. Fundamental to salvation is heart change, the transformation of our wills by God so that we will and work for his good pleasure.”

Why We Need to Talk About Obedience

Why We Need to Talk About Obedience – “Why has obedience taken a back seat in our regular Christian discourse?”

The Bible is Literature. It’s Also Your Boss.

The Bible is Literature. It’s Also Your Boss. – Let us make sure that we understand the writing of the Bible, but let us make doubly sure we are obedient to it.

Why We Need to Talk About Obedience

Why We Need to Talk About Obedience – “Our efforts to avoid legalism and our tendency to give in to laziness can lead us to downplay the importance of obedience. But with the Lord’s help, we can cultivate a high view of obedience that more closely mirrors God’s perspective. Here are two reasons it’s worth bringing obedience back to the forefront.”

The Key To Understanding The Bible

The Key To Understanding The Bible – “Reading it, hearing sermons about it, and studying it are all great things to do, but if you really want to understand the Bible, it’s not enough to listen to it. You have to respond to it. You have to obey it.”

 

You Are Called to Be a Doer of the Word

You Are Called to Be a Doer of the Word – “The parable of the Wise Man and the Foolish Man is the conclusion to the most famous sermon that Jesus preached (Matt. 5-7). The men are alike in that they are both hearers of the Word, but only one is a doer.”

You Can’t Sever Orthodoxy from Ethics

You Can’t Sever Orthodoxy from Ethics – “True faith is demonstrated not in mere assent to certain truths about Jesus but in personal trust that results in practical obedience.”

 

The Danger of ‘Make-Believe’ Orthodoxy

The Danger of ‘Make-Believe’ Orthodoxy – “True orthodoxy is found only in obedience. Period. And it is not found, despite my pastor-friend’s insistence, primarily in portentous intellectual agreement to approved theological codes.”

Delayed Obedience Is Disobedience (Except When It Isn’t)

Delayed Obedience Is Disobedience (Except When It Isn’t) – “Is it invariably wrong to delay obedience? Is delayed obedience always disobedience?”

Offers of Safety Are Not Always Safe

Offers of Safety Are Not Always Safe – “When my children were young, I thought the best way to protect them from the evils of the world was avoidance. And that may be true for the very young. But as they grew up, I realized they were going to be young men out in the world some day. It would be better to teach them what was right and wrong with the things they would face.”

Be Obedient Even When You Don’t Understand the Command

Be Obedient Even When You Don’t Understand the Command – “Between our own sinfulness, our lack of knowledge about God and his world, and the influence of the culture, we’re all susceptible to thinking we’re a better judge of what is good than God is.” 

Let’s Get Back to ‘True Religion’

Let’s Get Back to ‘True Religion’ – “Discipleship is not merely about sharing spiritual experiences with others. It’s about living in obedience to the King.”

You Can Obey

You Can Obey – “We thank Jesus that he came, died for us and transferred his perfect life to our account. And then we can think that we won’t be perfect until glory so we kind of give up trying. Sinners gonna sin, innit. But the fact is, we can obey.”

How Fleeting Pleasures Sidetrack Our Love

How Fleeting Pleasures Sidetrack Our Love – “If you don’t pursue ministry because you expect great joy in it, then you don’t pursue the command of God.”

Worship and Doubt – Can They Co-Exist?

Worship and Doubt – Can They Co-Exist? – “Jesus did not turn away the doubters, he received their worship and included them in his mission. Disobedience would have kept them from hearing his voice; doubt did not.”

God Is Not Going to Slap the Cookie From Your Hand

God Is Not Going to Slap the Cookie From Your Hand – “I tend to be overly analytical. I’ve spent a great deal of thought on what’s God’s part and what’s our part in the Christian life.”

See the Evidence of Scripture

See the Evidence of Scripture – “We are prejudiced against the God of the Bible because we know that if he really exists, and if he entered the world through Jesus Christ, our lives have to change.”

No Such Thing as Too Hard Music

No Such Thing as Too Hard Music – “Dear saint, let us both look at the music, and play the next note, whatever the cost. One day soon we shall hear the glorious song.”