Journey in Grace

Please take a few minutes and watch this excellent video on the ongoing relevance of the gospel every day. Michael Horton and Rod Rosenbladt join Tullian Tchividjian on this important subject.

This post appears as its own page on our site but I wanted to make it a blog post too. If you haven’t read it yet, enjoy!

Everything changed for me in January of 1973. I lived in a small town in northern Arizona where I was supposed to be in my senior year of high school, but I had dropped out a couple of months prior. I don’t recommend that experience. Jesus gripped my heart and I became a believer at a Saturday night concert at the original Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa California. The concert was in a big circus tent that had been set up on the property while a new building was being built. The original building was just down the street. For obvious reasons, I have a lot of fond memories of Read the rest of this entry »

This post is another excerpt from our homepage, but I wanted to make it a separate blog too because I think most everyone subsribed to our blog, just comes in here, or reads the blogs in a reader. Enjoy!

Yes, I admit it. I was thinking of Aerosmith’s Walk This Way when I wrote the title for this section. And yes, I am a Steven Tyler fan. So while you’re reading this, it’s ok to have the melody from that song rolling around in your head. It might actually help because I know my writing can get a little tedious at times.

The book of Colossians in the New Testament is one of my favorites. These words of Paul from that letter are encouraging and convicting at the same time.

 Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person. (Colossians 4:6, emphasis mine)

I don’t care much for bland foods. I like food that light up my taste buds. I like food that is perfectly seasoned. Just the right amount of seasoning and the meal is a success. It’s the same with the words I choose. I like being around gracious words as they are spoken with just the right amount of seasoning. Seasoning that springs from the gospel of grace and is fixated on the cross. The words we choose when writing should be no different than Read the rest of this entry »

I came across this insightful piece on Jonathan Edwards and religous affections written by The Jolly Blogger (David Wayne). It’s timely because while I love Edwards, I’ve been wrestling with some of the same issues for the last couple of years with regard to religious affections and looking at myself as a source of assurance, so it was good to see his thoughts in print. Here’s what he had to say. What do you think?

At the risk of stirring up controversy I wanted to share a few private thoughts I have had over the last few years dealing with the theology of Jonathan Edwards.  The proper caveats are in order here.  I know I am out of my league disagreeing with him and he has done far more in the kingdom than a thousand guys like me.  Still, I have come to find his overall theological project of the religious affections difficult, and I thought I would vent and open up to some constructive feedback.

When Edwards says that true religion consists largely in the affections I worry that he is Read the rest of this entry »

This post is an excerpt from our homepage, but I wanted to make it a separate blog too because I think most everyone subsribed to our blog, just comes in here, or reads the blogs in a reader. Enjoy!

What should a Christian blog look like? That’s a fair question. I’ve noticed a tendency in the Christian blog-o-sphere that’s disturbing. Part of the reason it bothers me is because it’s so easy to subscribe to and I’ve been guilty of it myself. Maybe you’ve seen it too. Maybe, like me, you’ve even given in to it from time to time and you’re tired of it like I am. It’s the need to always be right, the need to be first and to always have my say. It’s the need to be heard and given more air time. But all of those “needs” stem from pride.

Instead of building up, I’ve seen a number of Christian blogs that seem more interested in saying their piece and being heard, many times at the expense of hurting others. I don’t want to Read the rest of this entry »