Our ultimate approval in God’s sight comes because we are saved. God approves of us because we are united to Christ by faith; we are “accepted in the beloved” (Eph 1:16). The only way that we can be well-pleasing in God sight is through faith in Christ. Otherwise, there is nothing we can do that is acceptable to God. Read More ...
Anything we do in the worship of the church must have a biblical basis. It’s not enough to say that we can do anything not prohibited by the Bible. We must insist that what we do has biblical sanction/authorization. Read More ...
Paul is confident about the things he’s saying here, and we can be confident about them as well. We can know for sure that, when our earthly tents—that is, our bodies—are untied and fall down, we have an eternal home in heaven. We can be assured of that; it’s guaranteed; we can be and should be confident about it. Read More ...
As we face difficulties in ministry, we should keep in mind that whatever problems we encounter are light and brief. As we think about time and eternity, our time here is momentary. We have only a limited time to serve Christ and his church, so we should make use of our opportunities. Even if Christian ministry is difficult, we should persevere in it and not grow weary of well doing. Read More ...
Those who engage in Christian ministry don’t do it for themselves. If you want to have an easy life and avoid persecution, opposition, and threats of violence, then Christian ministry is not the place for you. But if you are willing to endure the difficulties of ministry for the sake of God’s glory and for the benefit of God’s people, then perhaps God could use a clay pot like you in his service. Read More ...
The ultimate authority is not an English translation. The real authority remains in the original language documents, the ancient MSS of the Bible. If an English translation does not accurately reflect those ancient documents, then it’s no good. Read More ...
As an apostle, Paul was a representative of Jesus; and such, Paul experienced similar forms of mistreatment. Jesus was beaten, abused, mocked, and murdered. And the early Christians experienced the same kinds of mistreatment; they faced constant peril and impending death. Read More ...
There are many hindrances to the Christian ministry. Satan is trying his best to keep people from understanding the Gospel. He is trying his best to prevent the light of the Gospel from shining. But we also know that ultimately Satan cannot prevent God from accomplishing his purposes. The Gospel is still the “power of God unto salvation,” and it’s our duty to proclaim that Gospel message to those who are lost, perishing, and blind. Read More ...
Can you say with Paul (vs. 1) “We have this ministry”? What ministry do you have? How are you serving “for Jesus’ sake”? Every believer ought to have a place of service in the Lord’s vineyard, in the harvest field. We all ought to be involved in ministry of some kind. And we should make sure to pursue the ministry in a way that avoids these pitfalls and adopts this pattern. Read More ...
The biblical teaching about identity should give us great confidence in knowing who we are and what we are all about. While the unsaved world stumbles around in blindness and confusion about the issue of identity, Christians can be very clear about their identity. God tells us who we are. Most importantly, we are made in the image of God. We are his people, and he is our God. We are priests in his service, citizens of his kingdom, and servants in his vineyard. We faithfully manage his resources and fervently communicate his message to others. Read More ...