Honed By God
I recently received a very encouraging and faith-building note from a friend who is part of the Navigators ministry in Arizona. I asked him if I could share it with you. He said yes, so here it is:
Bow Down; Be Lifted Up
Below is a post from Josh Harris's website. Good food for the soul."The glory of the gospel is that God has declared Christians to be rightly related to him in spite of their sin. But our greatest temptation and mistake is to try to smuggle character into his work of grace. How easily we fall into the trap of assuming that we remain justified only so long as there are grounds in our character for our justification. But Paul's teaching is that nothing we do ever contributes to our justification. So powerful was his emphasis on this that men accused him of teaching that it did not matter how they lived if God justified them. If God justifies us as we are, what is the point of holiness? There is still a sense in which this is a test of whether we off the world the grace of God in the gospel. Does it make men say: 'You are offering grace that is so free it doesn't make any difference how you live'? This was precisely the objection the Pharisees had to Jesus' teaching!" - Sinclair B. Ferguson, The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction
The Dynamics of the Spiritual Life
Isaiah 55.8-13; Romans 8.1-11; Matthew 13.1-23
A sermon at Calvary St George, Gramercy Park, New York, on the Third Sunday after Trinity, 10 July 2011, within the celebrations of the Four Hundredth Anniversary of the King James Bible, By the Right Reverend Professor N T Wright, University of St Andrews.
Read more: With Wings As Eagles-the 400th Anniversary of the King James Bible-NT Wright
The finished diamond is one of the most beautiful and desirable gems.
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As we abide in him and he abides in us, we are receiving his life rather than creating our own…
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Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows…
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It is doubtful if, in 1972, those attending one of Jim Cymbala's worship services in a run-down Brooklyn church imagined…
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There's a river of love that runs through all timeBut there's a river of grief that floods through our livesIt…
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I stutter when I tryTo speak the language of lifeI want to shout out loudBut I just cry insideSometimes it…
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Walter Brueggeman gave a remarkable sermon at Duke Chapel on April 5, 2009 in which he discussed the importance of…
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On July 4, 2010, Jim Thomas was guest speaker at the Chapel Hill Bible Church. His sermon is a powerful…
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Wright confronts the perspective that this world doesn’t matter, and that we live only to be in heaven. He shows…
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This is the second part of three talks by NT Wright at Harvard University in November, 2008 on the topic…
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Acts 2.1-21; John 7.37-39; a sermon at the Eucharist on the Feast of Pentecost, 11 May 2008, by the…
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Zechariah 9.9-17; Luke 19.28-48; A sermon for Palm Sunday, April 17, 2011, In the University Chapel of St Salvator, St…
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Amazing Grace is a historical drama about William Wilberforce who was elected to British Parliament at the age of 21…
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William Wilberforce's relentless campaign eventually led the British Parliament to ban the slave trade, in 1807, and to pass a…
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Grace, she takes the blame She covers the shame Removes the stain It could be her name Grace, she carries…
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The 2009 movie The Soloist is based on a book by the same name, written by Los Angeles Times columnist…
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