Tag: Sanctification

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Joy of Walking with God – Tim Challies
The Christian’s walk is one of close fellowship with God and earnest obedience to God. Here are some of the joys we receive in this walk.

The Nail in the Coffin of Our Hearts: Five Hundred Years of Fighting Idolatry – Tony Reinke (DG)  Shallow thinking about God always replaces God, and sets in his place a fraudulent idol of security or sex or wealth or power or even of religion. 

Sanctification Is a Direction – David Powlison
We must have a vision for a long process (lifelong), with a glorious end (the last day), that is actually going somewhere (today).

Sunday Morning Is Not About Me: The Joy of Self-Forgetfulness – Stephen Witmer (DG)
As we see our Lord for who he is, as we look away from ourselves to gaze upon him again, we will find true, lasting joy and contentment.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day walking with, thinking about, and gazing upon God!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Practical Suggestions for Cultivating Communion with God – Kelly Kapic (Crossway)
Communion with God is a deep need for every human, whether we acknowledge the need or not. Communion with God is how we were made to function, and it is ultimately about a loving and very present relationship with the triune Creator.

Two Gifts You Give To Others in Your Sanctification – Tim Challies
Your sanctification is a gift to others. Your continual growth in holiness is not something you emphasize merely for your own benefit or your own assurance, but something you pursue for the benefit of others.

One Man’s Dream Destroyed Millions – Jon Bloom (DG)
We must confront our own wicked proneness to objectify others and resolve all the more to war against it. We humans have a horrible, sinful tendency to view others as roles — too often expendable “extras” — in the epic moving picture of our story, not souls in the real epic of God’s story.  The fallen human nature, unhinged from God’s reality, seeks to construct its own preferred reality. And it uses other people to do it.

Are You a Healthy Church Member? – Thabiti Anyabwile (Crossway)
A healthy church member is someone that, in one sense, shares all the sensibilities of a good pastor. They’re going to have a concern for the spiritual growth of others, they’re going to have a concern for the right teaching of God’s Word, and they will have a concern for the church’s witness to the community, for reaching their neighbors and friends.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Alienation from God – Sinclair Ferguson (Ligonier)
Our worldview is self-focused. Man is, in Martin Luther’s words, “incurvatus in se”— turned in on himself, self-obsessed. We belong to what Christopher Lasch has called a culture of narcissism.

The Five Key Factors in Every Christian’s Sanctification – Tim Challies
How does God go about this work of sanctification? David Powlison helpfully narrows it down to five means or five streams through which God pours out his sanctifying grace. These factors work in tandem, each one contributing to our lifelong gain in godliness.

When Did Solomon Write Proverbs 5-7? – Mike Leake (Borrowed Light)
The life of Solomon should serve as a warning to us. The Scriptures are true. Solomon’s words are true. But that mere fact doesn’t protect us unless we actually apply and live out these words. Just knowing that adultery will kill you isn’t enough. You have to actually live in light of those facts. Solomon didn’t and he got burned.

12 Principles on How to Disagree with Other Christians – Andrew David Naselli and J. D. Crowley (9Marks)
But human nature being what it is, the stricter group was always tempted to judge those they saw as too free (“And they call themselves Christians!”), while the free group tended to look down on those with unnecessary restrictions (“those poor legalists!”). Fortunately, Paul condemned both attitudes.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day with your local church worshiping our great God!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

10 Things You Should Know about Sanctification – Sam Storms
We all hear a great deal about Christian sanctification, but what precisely is it, and how does it work? Today we look at ten things about this crucial biblical truth.

When You Feel Dead On The Inside – Jedidiah Coppenger
So what do you do when you feel dead on the inside? What do you say to your loved ones when they feel this way? I’ve found that people who reflect on the following 10 diagnostic questions find the life and energy they’ve been missing more quickly and deeply than those that don’t. The way you answer these questions will determine what steps you need to take next.

Reading Out of Love for Others – Tim Challies
Reading is a solitary pursuit. You grab your book, you kick back on the couch, and the hours roll by. But even though reading is a solitary pursuit, it is not necessarily a selfish one. Reading can actually be an important way to love others. Here are five ways to love others in your reading.

What We Need to Learn from the Early Church – Tim Keller (TGC)
The earliest church was seen as too exclusive and a threat to the social order because it would not honor all deities; today Christians are again being seen exclusive and a threat to the social order because we will not honor all identities.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

The Answer to Every Christian’s Identity Struggle – Paul Tautges

Good Works and Sanctification – Jason Helopoulos

How Many Motivations Are There for Godliness – Kevin DeYoung

9 Ways to Pray for Churches and Pastors – 9Marks (via Justin Taylor)

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Calvin on the Good News in Christ – John Clavin (via Justin Taylor)
But by the knowledge of the gospel we are made children of God, brothers of Jesus Christ, fellow townsmen with the saints, citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, heirs of God with Jesus Christ, by whom the poor are made rich, the weak strong, the fools wise, the sinners justified, the desolate comforted, the doubting sure, and slaves free.  The gospel is the Word of life.

Twelve Propositions on Sanctification – J. C. Ryle (via Tim Challies)
Ryle defines sanctification as “an inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to be a true believer.”

100 Quotes From You On Sanctification – Desiring God
Charles Spurgeon: “If he gives you the grace to make you believe, he will give you the grace to live a holy life afterward.”

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day celebrating Jesus and growing in your walk with Him!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn Idolatry, PASSION Points1 Comment

Here are some good posts for your weekend reading:

Christ Is All – Charles Spurgeon (via Trevin Wax)
This is our soul’s grandest desire, that Jesus’ name be lifted high,
and His throne be set up among the people, to the praise of the glory of His grace.

The Gospel of the Holy Spirit – Trevin Wax
Too many evangelicals see the good news that we are saved from sin and from God’s wrath and stop there. We forget that we are saved for a relationship with God (to know Him and love Him) and for His mission (His redeeming work to seek and save the lost). And it’s the Holy Spirit that enables that relationship and empowers us for mission.

What Sanctification Is and Is Not – J. C. Ryle (via Tim Challies)
An inward spiritual work which the Lord Jesus Christ works in a man by the Holy Ghost, when He calls him to be a true believer.

The Church and Idolatry – Jared Wilson (via Ligonier Ministries)
On Sundays, our sanctuaries fill with people seeking worship, and not one person comes in set to neutral. We must take great care, then, not to assume that even in our religious environments, where we put the Scriptures under so many noses, that it is Jesus the exalted Christ who is being worshiped.

Hope you have a great Lord’s Day truly worshipping our great God!

Passion Points

On By BrianIn PASSION Points

Happy New Year!  As we begin a new year, I have decided that Web Weekly is a serious misnomer since it is anything but weekly.  So we are renaming this periodic collection of worthwhile posts.  Passion Points keeps that great alliteration, and describes well what I want to do – share points from others related to the Three Passions theme.  So enough with introductions, here are some important posts to check out:

We’ll start with some good summaries of the gospel from Scotty Smith posted by Tullian Tchividjian.  Then a reminder from Sinclair Ferguson (via Tchividjian again) that the gospel should drive our sanctification.  But what does sanctification look like?  Kevin DeYoung shares these ten visible signs of sanctification from J. C. Ryle.  DeYoung further discusses why we do not seek holiness, and 20 motivations for holiness from 2 Peter.  May the gosepl drive us forward in holiness this year, or to put it another way: may the saving effects of Christ’s passion lead us to grow in our passion for God and compassion for people.  Amen.