Five Essentials for Finishing Well

The landscape of evangelical churches and ministries are littered these days with leaders burning out and throwing in the towel on their ministries, churches, and faith. How is it that we can stay true in our devotion to Jesus for a lifetime? Here are outlines of five talks that I recently gave to church leaders halfway around the world. 

Click Here: Five Essentials for Finishing Well

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God's Fair and Glorious Gift

Believers in Jesus Christ have an unusual custom: They sing through their troubles.

This custom started early in the life of the church. In Acts 16, an angry mob in Philippi physically assaults Paul and Silas. They incarcerate them and “about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them…” (16:25).

Why did they sing through their suffering? Martin Luther’s explain the power of music for believers:

“Music is a fair and

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A Guide for Confession of Sin - Proverbs 6:16-19

“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:”

Haughty eyes  (Where and when have I looked down upon others—pride of race, face, place, and grace? Where and when have I possessed an exaggerated sense of my own opinions and interests, and a diminished awareness of the needs of others?

A lying tongue (Where have I succumbed to the hellish tactics of the devil by shading or not telling the truth?

Hands that shed innocent blood (Where have I bel

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Why do we confess our sins to the Lord?

Why do we regularly confess our sins to God in our corporate worship services? The regular discipline of confession enables us to grasp more fully the beauty and wonder of grace as we are made continually aware of the depth of our need for God’s unmerited favor.

Christopher Ash explains that we also confess our sins “to encourage self-examination that leads to daily repentance, not morbid introspection that leads to despair.” Therefore, do not let our time of confession lea...
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Why do Jesus followers gather to worship God?

Here is one answer: To re-present and respond to the great story of what God has done in Jesus Christ to save sinners like us. The one word that summarizes this story is “gospel” which means good news. There is a distinct gospel structure to every part of our worship service:Adoration: We adore and praise God for His greatness and grace. Today we praise our Lord for being our Shepherd.Confession: We acknowledge our sin and need for the Lord’s grace. Like Isaiah says, “All ...
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Prepare Your Heart for Palm Sunday

Tomorrow we celebrate Palm Sunday, which is the beginning of Holy Week. On this day, we remember our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem. This event is mentioned by all four gospel writers. Here is one devotional thought from the pen of Charles Spurgeon that is particularly meaningful to me: 

Remember, beloved, the coming of Christ is with gentleness. It is not Christ who has come unto you if you have grown prouder, harder, more obsessive than ever. No, the Christ who ent

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Can a True Believer Fall Away?

This coming Sunday we will  hear again the story of how one of Jesus' original disciples fell in his spiritual journey. In light of this study, It is vital that we remember what we believe about the perseverance of the saints.

Listen to what our Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 17, Points 1 & 3 says: 

Those whom God has accepted in His Beloved, effectually called, and sanctified by His Spirit can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace, but shal

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Recalibrate Your Heart

Corporate worship is designed to ignite in us a greater love for the one, true, living God. Apart from the work of His Spirit, we naturally love other things: Our money, our pleasure, and ourselves more than Him (2 Timothy 3:1-4). We gather for worship so that our Lord might progressively liberate us from our idolatries and therefore reign supreme in our lives. 

Our hearts are finely tuned instruments. Mark Mallett writes “… all the bumps along the way can throw the heart o

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When I Am Anxious

Our Scripture Memory verse for the month of March is Philippians 4:6-7: 

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

According to this passage, the cure for anxiety is two-fold: Seeking the Lord in believing prayer  and anchoring our hearts to the promises of God. How does it work?

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Where Do You Need to Grow as a Christ-follower?

“What type of Christ followers are we endeavoring to produce, by God’s grace and blessing, through our ministries of teaching, discipleship and spiritual formation?

Answer: Christians whose lives display the following features:

Doxology, the habit taught and modeled by King David and the Apostle Paul of constantly praising God and giving him thanks;

Humility, the blessed gift of self-forgetfulness that comes by dwelling on the free, boundless, almighty grace of God that achie

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Why Gather to Worship our Lord?

The people of God gather on the Lord’s Day to worship Him. We do this in the power of the Holy Spirit, out of gratitude to our Almighty God who has revealed Himself in the person and work of Jesus Christ.We humble ourselves before Him by declaring His worth, confessing His lordship, and rendering to Him honor and glory according to His Word.                       

There are many reasons to do this. None is more compelling than grace. God’s grace is unmerited favor from an

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Four Profound Benefits of the Lord's Supper

One of the joyful privileges of corporate worship is celebrating the Lord’s Supper. This Sunday we will have this awesome privilege of feasting at the the Lord's table. What benefits should we expect to receive from our time of communion this morning? 

J.C. Ryle states that the right reception of the Lord’s Supper ought to have four effects upon us. 

Right reception of the Lord’s Supper ought to have a “humbling” 
effect on our souls. The bread and cup serve as
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Using the Psalms for Personal and Corporate Worship

The Psalms play a vital role in the personal and family worship of Christ-followers. We also constantly avail ourselves of them in corporate worship. Why such an abundant use of Psalms? 1.  The Psalms nurture in us a life of spiritual health and vitality. Spiritual health consists in: Knowing intimately, loving fervently, and treasuring deeply the Lord who is our Creator, Redeemer, Savior, and King.                     2. The Psalms assist us in developing a right knowledg...
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Imitating Our Generous God

John 3:16 is the classic text on God's incredible generosity: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." God generously sends us a Savior to rescue underserving sinners like us from eternal peril . 

As we grow as believers, we discover that another one of his purposes in sending his Son was not only to save us, but to move and inspire us to imitate his cheerful generosity. God values generos

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The Tasks of a Worshiper - Colossians 3:5-17

Colossians 3:5-17 sets forth our tasks as worshipers:                       

• We begin by prizing the name of our Lord Jesus Christ (Colossians 3:17). This liberates us from being consumed with our own names and reputations. We are called to sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God.                    

• We continue by pursuing the peace of our Lord Jesus in our own lives and relationships (Colossians 3:14). This occurs as we confess ou

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