Romans 3:21–26 bursts with soteriological fireworks after the dreary darkness of man’s sin and unrighteousness in Romans 1:18–3:20. Though man is unrighteous, guilty of sin, and will therefore face the righteous wrath of God (Rom 1:18–3:20), God declares us righteous through our faith in Jesus Christ who suffered the wrath of God for us (Rom 3:21–26).  Not only are these saving truths enough to light up our sky in and of themselves, but their brilliance stands out all the more when seen against the backdrop of the Old Testament. I’ll focus on just three words in Romans 3:25–26 and try to ..read more

STANZA 1 Let all the just to GOD with joy their cheerful Voices raise; for well the righteous it becomes to sing glad songs of praise. STANZA 2 Let harps, and psalteries, and lutes in joyful concert meet; and new made songs of loud applause the harmony complete. STANZA 3 For faithful is the word of GOD, His works with truth abound: He justice loves, and all the earth is with His goodness crowned. STANZA 4 By his almighty word at first, heav’n’s glorious arch was reared, and all the beauteous hosts of light at His command appeared. STANZA 5 The swelling floods together rolled He makes in heaps ..read more

The church is in desperate need of gospel clarity. Rampant on every social media platform is a barrage of claims to Christianity rife with compromise. Gospel clarity must be anchored in biblical and theological consistency. Ultimately, that clarity must begin in the pulpit. An old preaching adage I first heard in my expositional preaching class asserts, “If there is a mist in the pulpit, then there will be a fog in the pew.” The lack of gospel clarity among Christians stems from a lack of clarity within the local churches’ leadership. A church devoid of conversions is, plainly speaking, a dyi ..read more

Muitos cristãos sabem que o Evangelho é poderoso para trazer a salvação aos pecadores. Claro, não são apenas as palavras que realizam a obra de regeneração e fazem com que uma pessoa nasça de novo – é Deus operando na pessoa e as palavras são as ferramentas ou os meios que Deus ordenou usar para esse fenômeno. As Escrituras nos ensinam que “a fé vem pelo ouvir e o ouvir pela palavra de Cristo” (Rm 10:17). No primeiro capítulo de sua carta à igreja em Roma, Paulo escreve: “Porque não me envergonho do Evangelho, pois é o poder de Deus para a salvação de todo aquele que crê, primeiro do judeu e ..read more

O mundo está muito interessado em Jesus, desde que ele não seja cansativo. Este é o objetivo do programa “The Chosen”, que recentemente chamou a atenção da esfera secular. “Ficamos resistentes no início. Achei que seria cafona ou chato”, disse Carlos Crestana. Mas no episódio 5, ele disse: “Nós nos tornamos fãs”. Contamos a todos os nossos amigos.” Todo mundo quer Jesus, desde que ele não seja chato. Ninguém critica um Jesus que prega sem poder Quando se trata de pregação, nem é preciso dizer que a pregação passou por períodos difíceis. Muitas igrejas locais hoje gostariam de substituir o p ..read more

The primary work of the Holy Spirit today in a Christian’s life is his sanctifying believers to be “spiritual”—to be characterized by inner life and external behavior that conforms to the will of God. However, another result attributed often to the Spirit in the New Testament is gifting. Some gifting was special empowerment for leadership of God’s people. This unique gifting given temporarily to key figures like prophets and apostles often resulted in revelation, special miracles, notable power, and even less extraordinary gifting like boldness and courage. Often this empowerment was describ ..read more

Every Christian should be aware of the power of the gospel message to bring about the salvation of sinners. Sure, it’s not merely words that bring about the work of regeneration and cause a person to be born again—it’s God working in the person and the words are the tools or the means that God has ordained to use for the occasion. The Scriptures teach us that “faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). In the first chapter of his letter to the church at Rome, Paul writes, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who ..read more

One of the more famous Charles Spurgeon quotes relates to becoming a good reader. “Give yourself unto reading. The man who never reads will never be read; he who never quotes will never be quoted. He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains, proves that he has no brains of his own.” This exhortation is even more pertinent today than it was when he first said it. Though one would imagine that literacy rates have risen in the past two hundred years, the ability to read books has seemingly plummeted. After all, this is the age of sound bites, video shorts, and status updates. The atte ..read more

“He has not left Himself without witness,” said Paul to a group of Gentile pagans. The living God has never failed to speak, draw, and reveal Himself.  One of the means of this drawing is through the presence of beauty. In the apostate West, beauty is reviled, dismissed, and disdained. Its detractors (rightly) suspect that believing in beauty will lead them unavoidably back to contemplating God. But its power remains. The architect of much of modern nihilism and atheism, Friedrich Nietzsche, once wrote in a letter, “This week I heard the St. Matthew Passion three times and each time I ha ..read more

Todo crente hoje te diz que se o Espírito Santo estiver operando em sua vida, você experimentará manifestações extraordinárias. Mas será que essa é realmente a principal forma de atuação do Espírito? Efetivamente, a maior ação atribuída ao Espírito Santo em relação a cada cristão é a sua santificadora. No Novo Testamento, ser “cheio do Espírito” significa ser reconehcido como espiritualmente maduro e piedoso, pois somos cada vez mais submissos ao Espírito à medida que Ele nos enche da Sua Palavra. Portanto, essa discussão tem um foco cuidadoso no que Paulo chama de “o fruto do Espírito” em G ..read more