Gospel Translations - User contributions [en]

Guidelines

Pcain — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:53:47 GMT

Pcain: moved Guidelines to Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions

#REDIRECT [[Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions]]

Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions

Pcain — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:53:47 GMT

Pcain: moved Guidelines to Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions

{{info}}

I assume in the following that the “Leadership” (board, eldership, pastoral staff, etc.) are of one mind in a shared vision. At Bethlehem Baptist Church, Desiring God, Bethlehem Urban Initiatives, and The Bethlehem Institute, this vision is “''We exist to spread a passion for God’s supremacy in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ.''”

With that assumption, the following guidelines are intended to guide a pastor or elder or director in writing recommendations that will help the Leadership (and, if appropriate, the congregation) understand, approve, and act on significant suggested courses of action. I don’t mean that all these guidelines must be followed for every decision the Leadership must make. They apply to more major proposals — the kind that will be costly, or will affect many people in important ways, or may seem to the Leadership different from an assumed path. In these cases, thorough, careful, Biblical persuasion is needed. The assumption behind these guidelines is that at every point truth is paramount.

====1. Pray without ceasing.====

That is, bathe every part of the process of decision making in prayer. This will be largely invisible in the early stages of dreaming and conceiving if the proposal is coming from one person.

====2. Meditate on the Word of God day and night.====

The person or group bringing the proposal should be in the Word and should ponder all aspects of the proposal from the standpoint of God’s Word and saturate all thinking and communicating about the proposal with parts of the Word which show the wisdom of the proposal.

====3. Gather true information related to the proposal.====

Ideas for the future can be mistaken and unwise for several reasons. One of them is lack of relevant information: cost, people to be involved, skills needed, impact on other priorities, possible perceptions and reactions, possible outcomes in-sync with or out-of-sync with the vision.

Gathering this information involves research and imagination. One must put oneself forward into dozens of situations and imagine what the proposed reality will be like in order to have some idea of its implications. These implications are part of the information that must eventually be shared with the Leadership. The more of such information is brought to the table in advance the more confident the Leadership will be that the proposal is workable and wise.

====4. Think through as many implications of the proposal as possible.====

This step overlaps with the previous one, and adds “thinking” to “gathering.” Thinking requires time and energy and imagination and raw materials of information. It is hard work. It is solitary work. It requires writing, since the connectedness of thoughts are lost if they are not written down. And it requires rewriting, since the first set of connections that one sees must usually be adjusted as other thoughts come to mind. Thinking is analytical, imaginary, and constructive.

*One must analyze how things will work, how people will think, what costs will be, what skill will be needed, how all these will affect what already exists, and how all of these relate to each other.
*All along this process, imagination is required. The most persuasive leader will have the best imagination of what the future will really look like and how everything will relate to everything else. The success of his proposal will hang largely on how well he has used his imagination to foresee the implications of all that he is proposing. The quality of his leadership will be seen partly in that he has already asked and answered the questions the leadership will have. This does not happen without hard thinking in solitude while writing.
*Fruitful thinking must also be constructive. That is, one must apply one’s mind to construct an integrated whole. It will not do to simply share fragments of an idea with the Leadership. If we want Leadership to affirm our idea for the future, we should bring them a coherent, unified picture of what it looks like. This only happens through constructive thinking. This is often the hardest work. It forces us to do the kind of tough thinking that saves Leadership time and effort.

====5. Write the proposal including a coherent and orderly presentation of the proposal, an explanation of it, the implications, and the rationale.====

*First, state the proposal clearly and briefly in a few sentences.
*Second, explain the proposal. That is, unpack its terms and make sure that it is clear.
*Third, spell out the implications: people involved, time commitments, expenses, effects on present practices and people, etc. Foresee and state fairly and answer as many objections as you can.
*Fourth, give a compelling rationale that would justify the implications and link the outcomes to the Vision.

====6. Give copies of this written proposal to the Leadership sufficiently in advance of the meeting at which it will be considered.====

Avoid pressure to act without adequate time for discussion and prayer.

====7. Read the proposal to the Leadership or read a coherent summary of its key parts at the meeting when it is to be discussed.====

Most busy people will not have the details in their mind when they come to a meeting and will need to hear the written proposal read, or a well-prepared summary of it. It is almost always a mistake to try to “talk one’s way through it” as though that would save time. Generally it does not save time and is harder to follow than a simple reading, or a well-prepared summary. In addition, by jumping around in the paper one often loses the listener who cannot follow. If significant things need to be added to the paper by means of a “walk through,” the written proposal was probably not thorough enough.

====8. Seek a thorough discussion of the proposal, with all the Leadership urged to participate in the discussion. Allow the head of the Leadership group to guide the discussion to appropriate action.====

The person bringing the proposal should be a well-prepared advocate, but not usually the leader of the discussion. After the presentation, he should speak when asked questions or given permission, but not dominate the discussion. He should encourage the Leadership to give themselves to prayer and the Word in the process.

Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions

Pcain — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 18:36:58 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} I assume in the following that the “Leadership” (board, eldership, pastoral staff, etc.) are of one mind in a shared vision. At Bethlehem Baptist Church, Desiring G...'

Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:46:48 GMT

Pcain: Protected "Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

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The Apostles’ Creed says, “[He] was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day He arose again from the dead.” There are many meanings given to this phrase. I simply want to ponder the traditional interpretation that Christ went to the place of the dead to preach the gospel to Old Testament saints that he might set them free for the full experience of heaven. This is the view of the Catholic Catechism and many Protestants as well. I don’t think this is what the New Testament teaches.

The view is based mainly on two passages in 1 Peter.

<blockquote> Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (19) in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, (20) because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20) </blockquote>
<blockquote>They are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; (5) but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (6) For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead, that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.” (1 Peter 4:4-6)</blockquote>
With regard to 1 Peter 3:19, I take these words to mean that Christ, through the voice of Noah, went and preached to that generation, whose spirits are now “in prison,” that is, in hell. In other words, Peter does not say that Christ preached to them while they were in prison. He says he preached to them once, during the days of Noah, and now they are in prison.
I think this is suggested as the more natural understanding of the passage in view of what Peter said earlier about the spirit of Christ speaking through the prophets of old.

<blockquote>Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (1 Peter 1:10-11)
</blockquote>
>With regard to 1 Peter 4:6, I take “preached to the dead” to refer to those who, after being preached to, have since died. He is not referring to preaching to them after they have died. The context suggests this kind of understanding, as J. N. D. Kelly explains:

<blockquote>They [the Christians] may well have been exposed to scoffing questions from pagan neighbors, and anxious ones from one another, “What is the gain of your having become Christians, since you apparently die like other men?” The writer’s answer is that, so far from being useless, the preaching of Christ and his gospel to those who have since died had precisely this end in view, that although according to human calculation they might seem to be condemned, they might in fact enjoy life eternal.” (A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude, 175)
</blockquote>
I would say, therefore, that there is no textual basis in the New Testament for claiming that between Good Friday and Easter Christ was preaching to souls imprisoned in hell or Hades. There is textual basis for saying that he would be with the repentant thief in Paradise “today” (Luke 23:43), and one does not get the impression that he means a defective place from which the thief must then be delivered by more preaching.
For these and other reasons, it seems best to me to omit from the Apostles Creed the clause, “he descended into hell,” rather than giving it other meanings that are more defensible, the way Calvin does.

Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:46:37 GMT

Pcain:

Did

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:45:58 GMT

Pcain: moved Did to Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

#REDIRECT [[Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?]]

Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:45:58 GMT

Pcain: moved Did to Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

{{info}}

The Apostles’ Creed says, “[He] was crucified, died, and was buried. ''He descended into hell''. The third day He arose again from the dead.” There are many meanings given to this phrase. I simply want to ponder the traditional interpretation that Christ went to the place of the dead to preach the gospel to Old Testament saints that he might set them free for the full experience of heaven. This is the view of the Catholic Catechism and many Protestants as well. I don’t think this is what the New Testament teaches.

The view is based mainly on two passages in 1 Peter.

<blockquote> Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, (19) in which ''he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison'', (20) because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. (1 Peter 3:18-20) </blockquote>

<blockquote>They are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you; (5) but they will give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. (6) ''For this is why the gospel was preached even to those who are dead'', that though judged in the flesh the way people are, they might live in the spirit the way God does.” (1 Peter 4:4-6)</blockquote>

With regard to 1 Peter 3:19, I take these words to mean that Christ, through the voice of Noah, went and preached to that generation, whose spirits are ''now'' “in prison,” that is, in hell. In other words, Peter does not say that Christ preached to them ''while'' they were in prison. He says he preached to them once, during the days of Noah, and ''now'' they are in prison.

I think this is suggested as the more natural understanding of the passage in view of what Peter said earlier about the spirit of Christ speaking through the prophets of old.

<blockquote>Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the ''Spirit of Christ in them was indicating'' when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. (1 Peter 1:10-11)
</blockquote>

With regard to 1 Peter 4:6, I take “preached to the dead” to refer to those who, after being preached to, have ''since'' died. He is not referring to preaching to them after they have died. The context suggests this kind of understanding, as J. N. D. Kelly explains:

<blockquote>They [the Christians] may well have been exposed to scoffing questions from pagan neighbors, and anxious ones from one another, “What is the gain of your having become Christians, since you apparently die like other men?” The writer’s answer is that, so far from being useless, the preaching of Christ and his gospel to those who have since died had precisely this end in view, that although according to human calculation they might seem to be condemned, they might in fact enjoy life eternal.” (''A Commentary on the Epistles of Peter and Jude'', 175)
</blockquote>

I would say, therefore, that there is no textual basis in the New Testament for claiming that between Good Friday and Easter Christ was preaching to souls imprisoned in hell or Hades. There is textual basis for saying that he would be with the repentant thief in Paradise “today” (Luke 23:43), and one does not get the impression that he means a defective place from which the thief must then be delivered by more preaching.

For these and other reasons, it seems best to me to omit from the Apostles Creed the clause, “he descended into hell,” rather than giving it other meanings that are more defensible, the way Calvin does.

Did Jesus Spend Saturday in Hell?

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:45:37 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} The Apostles’ Creed says, “[He] was crucified, died, and was buried. ''He descended into hell''. The third day He arose again from the dead.” There are many mean...'

Living by Faith in Future Grace

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:36:43 GMT

Pcain: Protected "Living by Faith in Future Grace" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

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I preached on this text the last Sunday of 1985. Little did I know that I was uncovering in verses 11 and 12 the foundations of what would become one of our most practical and important thirty-year theological trademarks; namely, ''living by faith in future grace''. So what I would like to do is summarize these two verses and then flesh out what it means to live by faith in future grace and how faith in future grace becomes the conduit of God’s power into your life. Let’s read again verses 11 and 12:

<blockquote>This end [that is, so that you will marvel at Christ when he comes again] we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good [or good resolve] and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
</blockquote>

There are eight absolutely crucial things to see in Paul’s prayer.

====1. The Calling of God====

First, there is the ''calling'' of God. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of his calling.” This calling is our glorious destiny in God’s kingdom and glory. That’s what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 2:12: “We charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.” Your calling is to be in the kingdom of God and to share the glory of God, as we will see in just a moment.

====2. Being Made Worthy====

Second, there is our ''being made worthy'' of God’s calling. Verse 11: “that our God may make you worthy of his calling.” Being made worthy doesn’t mean being made deserving. It means being made suitable or fitting or appropriate because of the worth of another. So we would say, “I need to fix up this room because the Queen of England is going to stay with us and the room needs to be worthy of her dignity. It needs to be fitting, suitable, appropriate.” She didn’t decide to come because the room is beautiful. The room should be made beautiful because she’s coming. So we are being made suitable for our calling into God’s kingdom and glory.

====3. Fulfillment of Good Resolves====

Third, there is the ''fulfillment of good resolves''. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of his calling and ''may fulfill every resolve for good.''” The Christian life is a resolving, planning, purposing, intending life. We have minds and wills, and God expects that we will use them to form resolves and plans and purposes according to his will. These resolves are to be fulfilled. But how?

====4. Fulfilled by God’s Power====

That’s the fourth thing: ''by the power of God''. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith ''by his power.''” If our resolves were fulfilled by our power, we would get the glory. But it will be plain in just a moment that God intends to get the glory for the fulfillment of our good resolves. So he fulfills them by ''his'' power, not ours. So our duty is to tap into his power. How?

====5. Living by Faith====

That’s the fifth thing: ''by faith''. Verse 11: “That our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every ''work of faith'' by his power.” When God fulfills a resolve for good, it becomes a work of faith because the means by which we receive the power to fulfill the resolve and turn it into a deed is faith. So the deed or the work or the act is called a “work of faith” or a “deed of faith” or an “act of faith.”

So from God’s side the resolve became a deed by God’s power. And from our side the resolve became a deed by faith. Faith in that power. By faith we trusted God for the power to fulfill the resolve and, by that power, through that faith, the resolve became a deed or work, a work of faith. This sin was defeated. This righteousness was performed. Why? Because we looked away from ourselves to God and all his powerful effects in our lives.

====6. Jesus Is Glorified====

Therefore the sixth thing to see in this text is that ''the name of Jesus is glorified'' when God’s power fulfills our resolves and through faith turns them into deeds. Verse 12: “So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you.” That is, God fulfills our resolves by his power through our faith so that the name of Jesus gets glory. This assumes that the power of God is coming to us because of Jesus. Because Jesus has died for us, God’s power is now not against us but for us. So when that power enables us to turn our resolves into deeds of love, Jesus and the Father get the glory.

====7. We Are Glorified in Him====

Seventh, not only is Jesus glorified in us, but ''we are glorified in him''. Verse 12: “so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, ''and you in him''.” In other words, as Jesus glorifies himself in purchasing the power of God to be made worthy of our calling, we too are being glorified. And the day will come when that slow process in this world will be completed in the twinkling of an eye, and we will “be saved to sin no more.” This is the calling for which we are being made worthy, suitable.

====8. It Is All of Grace====

Finally, eighth, all of this process of being made worthy of our calling and fulfilling our good resolves and doing good works by faith in God’s power, is “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” Verse 12: “So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, ''according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.''” It was all of grace. The power of God that comes to us moment by moment fulfilling our resolves in works of faith is the power of grace.

====The Eight Pieces in Summary====

Now let me put the eight pieces together in the order that they actually work. Paul ended with the foundation of everything — ''the grace of God and the Lord Jesus Christ''. Let’s start with the foundation and build the structure of the Christian life with these eight pieces. If you are a Christian, this is your life.

Everything starts with and is built on the grace of God. That grace is expressed in ''God’s power'' toward his children. See the end of verse 11: “by his power.” That gracious power which God exerts toward his children is appropriated, received, tapped into ''by faith''. The way we experience the power of God is by trusting him to be for us everything we need so that good resolves become deeds of faith.

The effect of this power, as we trust him for it, is to fulfill our resolves for good and turn them into acts, deeds, which he calls “''works of faith.''” Thus the life of the Christian is lived by faith. Christianity is not a willpower religion. We will things. We resolve. We plan. We form purposes. But as we engage our wills to act, we look to God. And we treasure him. We love him. We trust him that the power will be given to fulfill the resolve.

====A Panorama of the Christian Life====

In this way, then, we are ''made worthy of our calling''. A life of God-dependent obedience is a life fitting, or appropriate, or suitable for our calling into God’s kingdom and glory. And this being made worthy is the first stage in ''our being fully glorified'' in Christ and Christ’s ''being fully glorified'' through us.

So when you stand back and look at these two verses, they are an amazing panorama of the Christian life and of the meaning of existence. Everything flows from the free grace of God in Christ. And everything is moving toward the fullest glory of God in us and through us. And between the foundation of grace and the goal of glory, there is the power of grace daily arriving in our lives through faith turning daily resolves and plans and purposes into deeds of faith and fitting us for glory. O Bethlehem, live these verses!

That’s your life as a Christian. Daily, hourly, tapping into the flow of God’s grace for the awakening and fulfilling of your good resolves, so that as you are made increasingly worthy of his calling — fitted for his kingdom and glory — Jesus gets more and more glory in your life.

====What It Means for the Everyday====

Now let me step back and draw out of these two verses — this amazing picture of the Christian life — what I mean by the thirty-year theological trademark of living by faith in future grace. Because what I mean is all right here either explicitly or implicitly.

Grace, in the New Testament, as we have seen, is not only God’s disposition to do good for us when we don’t deserve it — undeserved favor. It is also a power from God that acts in our lives and makes good things happen in us and for us. Paul said that we fulfill our resolves for good “by his power” (verse 11). And then he adds at the end of verse 12, “according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” That power that actually works in our lives to make Christ-exalting obedience possible is an extension of the grace of God.

You can see this also I 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the ''grace'' of God I am what I am, and his ''grace'' toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” So grace is an active, present, transformative, obedience-enabling power.

Therefore, this grace which moves in power from God to you at a point in time is both past and future. It has already done something for you or in you and therefore is past. And it is about to do something in you and for you, and so it is future — both five seconds away and five million years away.

God’s grace is ever cascading over the waterfall of the present from the inexhaustible river of grace coming to us from the future into the ever-increasing reservoir of grace in the past. In the next five minutes, you will receive sustaining grace flowing to you from the future, and you will accumulate another five minutes’ worth of grace in the reservoir of the past.

====Gratitude and Faith====

The proper response to grace that you have experienced in the past is gratitude — a profoundly humble and transforming spirit in itself. And the proper response to grace promised to you in the future is faith. We are thankful for past grace, and we are confident in future grace. This is where I get the idea of faith in future grace. That’s what Paul is talking about in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12. We fulfill our good resolves by the power of grace arriving second by second as we trust God for it on the basis of Christ’s work.

And so we live in those moments by faith in the constant arrival of future grace. It is not wrong to say that we trust in past grace — like the grace God showed us at the cross and in our new birth — but what we mean by that is: we believe that because of these acts of past grace — the cross and the new birth — a river of future grace will never, ever stop flowing to us for all eternity. I just read this week in my devotions: “Christ is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them” (Hebrews 7:25). Christ died for us and he lives for us. And because his death is all-purchasing, and his life is all-providing, grace will never stop flowing to us. Therefore to trust in past grace means to draw from it confidence in future grace.

So even though our faith is founded on decisive acts of past redeeming grace, the way faith works moment by moment to turn our resolves for good into deeds of purity and love (patience, kindness, meekness, goodness, faithfulness, self-control) is by looking up and forward to the boundless fountain of grace that comes to us through a river of promises for every moment of the day. We live by faith in the ever-arriving power of future grace.

====Satisfied with All His Promises====

And here’s another aspect of this thirty-year theological trademark. When we speak of faith — faith in future grace — we mean being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ. Jesus said, “Whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35). In other words: Believing in me means receiving me as the satisfier of the thirst of your soul. Being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ.

Faith is not only a serious assent to the truth of God’s promises, it is also a satisfying embrace of Christ in those promises. When Paul says, “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Philippians 3:8), he means that moment by moment in every situation Christ satisfies. “I have learned in whatever situation I am,” Paul said, “to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).

Paul is “content” — satisfied — in every circumstance. How? Because he has learned a secret. What? I have learned to trust him for moment by moment strengthening. “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” The future grace of all that God is for me in Christ, arriving every moment of my life, in every circumstance, for every need, is enough. It satisfies. I am content. That is what we mean by faith in future grace.

So when Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 1:11–12 that God fulfills our good resolves by his power through our faith according to his grace, he means that we defeat sin and we do righteousness by faith in future grace, that is, by being satisfied with all that God promises to be for us in Christ in the next five minutes, five weeks, five months, five years, five decades, five centuries, and five million ages of ages.

====Six Examples====

1. If you set your heart to give sacrificially and generously, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “My God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” Philippians 4:19). And this promise: “Whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully” 2 Corinthians 9:6). And this promise: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8).

2. If you set your heart to return good for evil, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven” (Matthew 5:11–12).

3. If you set your heart to renounce pornography, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8). “It is better that you tear out your eye than that your whole body be thrown into hell” (Matthew 5:29). Much better. Wonderfully better. All-satisfyingly better.

4. If you set your heart to speak out for Christ when the opportunity comes, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “Do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour” (Matthew 10:19).

5. If you set your heart to risk your life by ministering to the needy in a dangerous place, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “To live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). “Don’t fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. . . . Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered” (Matthew 10:28–30).

6. If you set your heart to invite some for Thanksgiving who cannot repay you, the power of God to fulfill this resolve will come to you as you trust his future grace in this promise: “You will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just” (Luke 14:13–14).

May God increase our daily faith in his inexhaustible, blood-bought, Christ-exalting future grace.

Living

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:36:01 GMT

Pcain: moved Living to Living by Faith in Future Grace

#REDIRECT [[Living by Faith in Future Grace]]

Living by Faith in Future Grace

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:36:01 GMT

Pcain: moved Living to Living by Faith in Future Grace

Living by Faith in Future Grace

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 20:35:31 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} I preached on this text the last Sunday of 1985. Little did I know that I was uncovering in verses 11 and 12 the foundations of what would become one of our most practi...'

Where Does Christian Living Come From?

Pcain — Fri, 13 Feb 2026 19:19:55 GMT

Pcain: Protected "Where Does Christian Living Come From?" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

{{info}}

It is remarkable that again and again the apostle Paul confronts failure to do what’s right with failure to know what’s right. For example:

''' Right Knowing Prevents Continuing in Sin. '''

<blockquote>Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! ... ''or do you not know'' that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? (Romans 6:1-3)</blockquote>

''' Right Knowing Prevents the Prostituting of Grace. '''

<blockquote>Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! ''Do you not know'' that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? (Romans 6:15-16)
</blockquote>

''' Right Knowing Prevents Boasting. '''

<blockquote>Your boasting is not good. ''Do you not know'' that a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough? (1 Corinthians 5:6)</blockquote>

''' Right Knowing Empowers Good Dispute Settling. '''

<blockquote>Or ''do you not know'' that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? ''Do you not know'' that we shall judge angels? How much more, matters of this life? (1 Corinthians 6:2) </blockquote>

''' Right Knowing Prevents Fornication. '''

<blockquote>''Do you not know'' that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take away the members of Christ and make them members of a harlot? May it never be! Or ''do you not know'' that the one who joins himself to a harlot is one body with her? For he says, “The two will become one flesh.” … ''do you not know'' that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, who you have from God, and that you are not your own? (1 Corinthians 6:15-19)
</blockquote>

Paul is simply continuing the emphasis of Jesus who said, “You will know the truth and ''the truth will set you free''” (John 8:32). “''Sanctify them in the truth''; your word is truth” (John 17:17).

Therefore don’t coast in your thinking. Don’t be passive with your mind. Instead…

<blockquote>Make your ear attentive to wisdom, 
Incline our heart to understanding; 
Cry for discernment, 
Lift your voice for understanding; 
Seek her as silver, 
And search for her as for hidden treasures 
(Proverbs 2:2-4) </blockquote>

In quest of life-changing truth with you,

Pastor John

Where

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Where Does Christian Living Come From?

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Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} It is remarkable that again and again the apostle Paul confronts failure to do what’s right with failure to know what’s right. For example: ''' Right Knowing Prev...'

Is There Good Anxiety?

Pcain — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:14:21 GMT

Pcain: Protected "Is There Good Anxiety?" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

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In retrospect, as I look back on reasons for why I left Bethel College to go into the pastorate, one of the deeper reasons that came to my mind yesterday was this. Problems that get under my saddle most are problems of the heart rather than problems of the mind. Orthodoxy, in my set of values, is penultimate; personal faith is ultimate. Reasoning to and from God is penultimate; joy in God is ultimate. Ethics is penultimate; love is ultimate. Hermeneutics, no offense sweetheart, is penultimate; obedience is ultimate. Theology is penultimate; doxology is ultimate. And as I try to understand what’s been happening to me over the past five years or so, I sense a movement, a gravitation along a continuum, pushing me, spiritually and vocationally, closer and closer to the place where the flower of the ultimate bursts forth on the stem of the penultimate.
Now of course, I don’t want to imply that I spend all of my time sitting at the base of a tulip flower, though I am still a five-point Calvinist. In fact, just like you, I still spend almost all of my time in the service of the penultimate because that’s just the way this age is. And I suppose — in fact, I know — that there remains in me a restlessness that I don’t think will go away until I see God face-to-face and everything I do is swallowed up in the immediacy of the ultimate. I’m looking for more satisfaction, but I’m sure that I won’t find it all until that day.

<h4>States of the Heart</h4>
Now, the reason I mention all of this is to set the stage for what I really want to talk about today, namely, some states of the heart that the Bible encourages us to have that are very perplexing to me. Every time I’ve spoken in chapel, I’ve always given you what’s on the front burner of my own mind, and that’s all I’m doing today.
I read an article by David Hubbard about a year ago on the text 2 Corinthians 11:28. David Hubbard is the president of Fuller Seminary and I’m always reading his little things in today’s Christian publication they put out. The text says:

<blockquote>And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure upon me of my anxiety for all the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28; all Scripture quotations are from the RSV).</blockquote>
And Hubbard’s point in this article was that it was good for Paul to be anxious for all the churches because he loved the churches, and their spiritual welfare weighed upon him very heavily, so that he could speak of being in anxiety over these churches. And Hubbard called me and all of us to share Paul’s burden for the churches of Christ.
But now, that’s a problem for me, a big problem. It hasn’t let me go ever since I read that article. Paul claims to be anxious for all the churches, and he doesn’t want to hide it. Hubbard is right, it seems. He considers it to be exemplary behavior to be anxious, to have anxiety about the churches. But of course, all my red flags go up at the word anxiety, right? Because Paul himself said:

<blockquote>Have no anxiety about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:6–7). </blockquote>
<h4>Anxiety for the Churches</h4>
So what’s all this talk about this constant anxiety for all the churches, Paul? You’ve told us not to be anxious for anything. My first thought was that it can’t be the same Greek word. It has to be a different word. So I whipped out my Greek New Testament and that wouldn’t work. It’s the same word.
Then my next thought was, well, this text in 2 Corinthians 11:28 has to be an isolated example, as if this really is not something that he considers exemplary behavior, but it’s just kind of a lapse or something like that, and Paul doesn’t want us to follow him in that pattern. That was shot down because as soon as I started pondering it, I thought of a bunch of other texts where he says something very similar. Consider these. In 2 Corinthians 11:2–3, he writes to the church there:

<blockquote>I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. But I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
</blockquote>
There he puts it even more strongly. He’s afraid. He has fear in his heart of what Satan might be able to do to these churches to bring their spiritual downfall. And that reminded me of 1 Thessalonians 3:5 where Paul writes to the new church:

<blockquote>For this reason, when I could bear it no longer (you can see him wringing his hands there), I sent that I might know your faith, for fear that somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain.
</blockquote>
He’s saying, “For fear, I’m sending my friend to see how it’s going.” Then here’s one more. In Galatians 4:19 he says to the churches there in Galatia:

<blockquote>My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you!
</blockquote>
Paul says he has emotional labor pains until Christ comes to full term in the Galatian churches. Now how in the world can this anxiety, fear, and emotional labor pain fit together with the command, “Have no anxiety about anything.” That’s my latest problem and that’s the kind of problem that has kept my mind going for the past 10 years.

<h4>Defining Anxiety</h4>
Let’s start with a definition. I’m just going to take you as far as I’ve gotten in a solution and leave you there to think the rest of the way. We’ll start with a definition of anxiety. It seems to me that anxiety in Paul’s mind is a desire for something, a very intense desire for something in the future, accompanied by a fear of the consequences of not having that desire fulfilled. We don’t say that we have anxiety about not getting a toolbox for Christmas. Now we may desire to have one very strongly, but we don’t talk about anxiety because we don’t fear the consequences of not getting that toolbox. But we do say that we have anxiety when our wife is a half an hour late, then an hour late, and then an hour and a half late with no word. Why? Not only do we desire her to come home, but we fear the consequences of what a car accident and a phone call from the police might mean for our lives.
So I think Paul has in mind, when he talks about anxiety, both the desire for something in the future and a fear that it might not happen. Now, Paul knew what the consequences would be if his churches opted out of the faith because he had already experienced it. He says in Romans 9:2–3, when he was talking about his unbelieving kinsman:

<blockquote>I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen by race.
</blockquote>
That’s what Paul feared when he said he was always anxious for the churches and that he didn’t want Satan to lead them astray. He knew that if Satan led them out of faithfulness to Christ they would be damned and his heart would be broken again as it had been before. So anxiety for Paul meant a great desire that something very sorrowful and grievous would not happen in the future.

<h4>Does Sanctified Anxiety Exist?</h4>
Now with that understanding of Paul’s anxiety for the churches, I think we’re able to put our question in a new form, and putting a question in a new form is sometimes a great help for answering it. The first form of the question was, can Paul’s anxiety be squared with his command “Don’t be anxious for anything” (Philippians 4:6)? Another way to put it would be, can there be good anxiety?
The second form of the question now comes from this. We’ve seen that the only reason he’s anxious is because the real possibility exists that grief and anguish could be on the way if the churches committed apostasy. So the question now becomes, is it right to experience that kind of grief and unceasing anguish of heart? Because if it is right to feel that kind of grief and anguish, then I don’t think it would be wrong to feel anxiety about it coming. In other words, it would not make sense to me, it would be inconsistent, to say it’s okay for our emotions to respond negatively with regret looking back on an event, but that it would be wrong for our emotions to respond negatively with anxiety looking forward to the possibility of that event.
So if there can be good regret, there can be good anxiety. If there can be good grief, there can be good fear. So the real question for me became and is, how is it right for Paul to experience deep grief and unceasing anguish in his heart? Now you would probably say, compassionate as you are, “What could be more natural than to be grieved and have anguish in your heart when somebody is lost?” But Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, “Rejoice always.” In Philippians 4:4, he said, “Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice.” In Ephesians 5:20, he said, “Always and for everything give thanks.” He doesn’t just say in everything (that’s 1 Thessalonians 5:18), but he says “for everything” give thanks. And these unlimited commands for unceasing joy are grounded in an unlimited promise that you’re all familiar with in Romans 8:28, that God is going to work together with all those who love him and are called according to his purpose for their good. And that’s why, evidently, they should be able to rejoice always and be thankful for everything.
So given Paul’s theology of God and given his explicit commands, it’s not at all obvious to me that it’s right for him to have unceasing anguish in his heart and great grief at the loss of his kinsman. That’s a problem for me. And that also is just another way of saying, can it be right for him to have anxiety about the possibility of such unceasing anguish in his heart?

<h4>A Constantly Happy God</h4>
Now, the pathway to a solution led me in a surprising direction. It occurred to me that since Paul’s commands to rejoice always flow from his conception of God as one who is powerful enough and good enough to work everything together for our good, that therefore this God should be a constantly happy God, a constantly serene God, free from all anguish and grief. If he’s that good and has that much power to take care of us, then he can handle his own problems very easily. But you who know the Scriptures know that the picture we have of God in the Scriptures is not always like that. In fact, the whole trinity is engaged in grief according to the Scriptures. Genesis 6:6, describing the evil in Noah’s day, says:

<blockquote>And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
</blockquote>
There’s God the Father. What about Jesus? What did he do on Palm Sunday? He walked up to Jerusalem and he cried his head off over the unbelief of Jerusalem, and it says in Mark 3:5:

<blockquote>And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart . . .
</blockquote>
There’s the Son. Then Ephesians 4:30 says:

<blockquote>And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.
</blockquote>
The whole trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, grieve over sin and the loss of man’s righteousness and salvation.

<h4>My Counsel Shall Stand</h4>
Now, if I could account for how that can be right, then I think I could probably account for how it would be right for Paul, and then by way of analogy, how his anxiety might be right as well. So now I’m going to ask you to do something that’s going to require a good deal of sympathy on your part. I’m going to exclude two possible solutions for God’s grief here because they only give me 25 minutes and you can’t solve all the biggest problems in theology in 25 minutes.
I don’t exclude these because I haven’t thought about them. God knows I’ve thought about them more than anything else in the last 10 years. I’m going to exclude these two solutions. First, I don’t think that God grieves over sin because God lacks knowledge of the future acts of his creatures. There’s a book called Did God Know, which is a heretical book written by a fellow who lives about a mile away from here, and that’s his argument. He says God did not know what was coming and therefore it catches him off guard. He doesn’t want it and he wrings his hands is heartbroken when he sees this very unexpected and undesired turnabout of events, namely, sin occurring on the human scene. That’s one solution and I reject it. I will mention one sentence in a minute regarding why I reject it.
Here’s the second one that I reject, and this one most of you believe in, but I’m going to reject it anyway. I’m going to reject the possibility that while God knows the future of his creature’s decisions and he knows everything that’s going to happen — most of you believe in the omniscience of God — nevertheless he has given up control over his creation, at least his free moral creatures, and therefore they frustrate his designs and he grieves over the decisions that they make autonomously without his sovereign control.
I reject that because I think not only does God know the future but he accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11). I don’t know of a better verse to sum up my conviction about the omniscience and the sovereignty of God other than Isaiah 46:9–10. See if you don’t think this states it succinctly:

<blockquote>   I am God, and there is none like me, 
declaring the end from the beginning 
   and from ancient times things not yet done, 
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, 
   and I will accomplish all my purpose,’ </blockquote>
I can’t escape a text like that. God is sovereign. He accomplishes all his purposes, and no man frustrates those purposes. So I reject those two and if that’s unpalatable to you, all I can ask is that you give me a sympathetic suspension of disbelief for the next 10 minutes and consider a possible solution that might remove some of the stumbling blocks to your accepting what I believe is a biblical doctrine of God’s sovereignty.

<h4>God’s Purposes Never Thwarted</h4>
I’m going to assume that God is never frustrated in the performance of his ultimate purposes. And the question of course then is, how in the world, or why in the world, would such a God ever grieve over anything? That’s a big problem, and I want to acknowledge that my weak efforts to get into the heart and mind of God are not the least impressive to God. I think that God right now is looking down on this chapel and he’s kind of smiling in fatherly condescension, thinking, “There’s Piper again trying to understand my mind.” But there’s something I fear worse than that fatherly condescending smile, and that is not taking any of his summons to seek wisdom.
The Bible is thick and full and rich, and we think we’re going to tread too close into the mind of God if we try to understand it and put it all together. I think what he dislikes more than those who tread where angels may fear to tread is people who, in the name of humility, say all kinds of contradictory things about him and don’t really want to understand him very much. I’m going to push further up and further in until the signposts stop and there’s a roadblock that says, “No further.” And I’ve never run into that in the Scripture. Nobody has ever been able to show me, “Here’s the signpost. Stop trying to understand God. It says so right there.” So we’ll push it just as far as the Scriptures will let us go.

<h4>God’s View of Reality</h4>
This is my suggested solution. I think the reason that our sovereign God can grieve over sin is that he has the ability to view it and its consequences in a limited focus that excludes certain other aspects of reality. That’s my basic solution. God has the ability to view certain parts of his created order — sin, condemnation, and lots of other things — in a narrowed focus, which excludes the taking in of other things. And I think when he grieves and reveals his grief in the Scriptures to us, what he’s doing is revealing to us that capacity of the narrow focus and enabling us to understand our own ambivalent relation to sin, having grief and no anxiety about anything.
In relationship to its own ends, sin is hateful to God and grievous. Sin and the loss of salvation in his creatures in and of itself, considered for its own ends, is not delightful to God. He does not delight in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 33:11). The death and suffering of the wicked considered simply as loss and destruction of human life is not a delight to God, but a pang. God’s grief over sin and condemnation is owing, therefore, I suggest, to his ability to view sin and condemnation as ends in themselves, which thus considered are indeed grievous and ought to be grieved over by us as well. But he is not an eternally unhappy God. I don’t even think he could be God if he were an eternally unhappy God.
He is not frustrated in the fulfillment of his ultimate designs because he does not merely consider sin and condemnation for their own ends. He opens his lens, as it were, and takes in the whole universality of things. And when he does that and looks at redemptive history, not just in pieces but in the totality, he is able to look on it and approve of what he sees as a mosaic marvelously reflecting the full spate of his glories, as Romans 9:23 suggests.

<h4>Grieving with God’s Grief</h4>
If God has the ability of narrowing the lens of his attention onto some limited portion of reality and then responding emotionally in a way that is different than when he opens his lens and takes in the whole spectrum of reality, the universality of things, then perhaps we creatures share that ability in some measure. And that to me is the link between God’s life and our life.
And that possibility opens the way to see how Paul could speak of having great sorrow and unceasing anguish over the loss of his kinsman in Romans 9:2, and yet say, “Rejoice always. Don’t be anxious for anything. Be thankful for everything.” Sin, considered as sin and for its own ends, and the damnation of a sinner, considered for itself alone, are grievous and painful to us and should be when viewed in such limited relations. But if we leave our lens focused down on that narrow perspective, we’re going to despair and joy will be impossible, gratitude will be incongruous, and heaven, where all tears are wiped away and there is no more crying, will be unthinkable, utterly unthinkable.
Therefore, I think God intends for us to lift up our eyes to the whole panorama of reality and remember his sovereignty, and that all things will indeed work together for good, even sin and damnation. And when we attain that perspective of faith, then we can rejoice always and with full confidence.

<h4>A Good Place for Anxiety</h4>
And so, completing the circle then I would say that there is a place for good anxiety. The destruction that can befall a church through unbelief is a grievous thing from one very limited perspective. And therefore, the contemplation of that possibility happening ought to grieve us and we ought not to look forward to it, but be anxious about it. And that’s why I think Paul could say he has anxiety for all the churches of God.
Nevertheless, Paul also sees things in a larger perspective. He stands back, as it were. He is not immobilized by his anxiety, nor does his anxiety squelch the joy that rises persistently from his perspective on the eternal sovereignty of God’s goodness. He is able to say, in conclusion, this amazing word from Second Corinthians 2:

<blockquote>Thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumph . . . (2 Corinthians 2:14)
</blockquote>
But now notice, notice what he describes the triumph as.

<blockquote>[He] always leads us in triumph, and through us spreads the fragrance of the knowledge of him everywhere. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing, to one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.
</blockquote>
Even when the fragrance of the gospel is the omen of damnation to people, Christ is leading Paul in triumph. And when he is able to attain that perspective, then he’s able to rejoice always and be anxious for nothing.

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Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} <blockquote>Ephesians 2:1–9 And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of...'

Lord, Keep Me from Wasting My Life

Pcain — Thu, 03 Apr 2025 19:01:49 GMT

Pcain:

{{info}}Becoming diligent is hard work, but diligence is not synonymous with working hard. I know from personal experience that one can get up early and go to bed late, and expend a lot of energy, and be very busy, and not watch TV or get lost in social media binges — can appear to work hard — and still not get much done that really matters.
Diligence combines a willingness to work hard with a discerning focus, a sense of urgency, a vigilant carefulness, and faithful perseverance. And one of the clearest biblical calls to diligence is Paul’s exhortation:

<blockquote>Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15–17)</blockquote>
Discerning Focus
A diligent person seeks to “understand what the will of the Lord is” (Ephesians 5:17). Based on the context, Paul isn’t referring to God’s hidden will (for instance, about if or who we should marry). He’s primarily referring to God’s revealed will regarding specific sins to avoid. We learn to “discern what is pleasing to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:10).
But judging by the way Paul approached life — living as a “soldier” who avoided “civilian pursuits” in order “to please the one who enlisted him” (2 Timothy 2:4) — it’s safe to assume Paul would affirm applying this principle to lesser priorities that, while not inherently immoral, distract us from our focus. Both sinful and unnecessary distractions are often difficult to set aside.
As I write, an issue in my life is causing me significant concern and anxiety. There’s a mix of good anxiety, similar to Paul’s anxiety for the churches (2 Corinthians 11:28) and sinful anxiety, the kind Paul instructed the Philippians not to indulge (Philippians 4:6–7). Diligence requires that I must discern which is which and deal with sin appropriately. But diligence also requires me to discern that God’s will for me right now is to focus on completing my work for today and temporarily neglecting the demanding issue, which, while important, is not the priority at this moment.
In a very real sense, a diligent person must learn to be neglectful. There are myriad clamoring and demanding temptations and lesser priorities a diligent person must strategically neglect. This requires developing the discipline of discerning focus.
Sense of Urgency
A diligent person “[makes] the best use of the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16). He realizes that time is limited. Again, the context tells us Paul likely has holiness in mind: We should not waste our time on sin. The best use of time is to be filled with the Spirit and bearing the Spirit’s fruit (Galatians 5:22–23) and not with dissipating sins like drunkenness or sexual immorality (Ephesians 5:3, 18).
But, again, Paul would say the same thing about “civilian pursuits.” There’s not enough time to do everything we’d enjoy doing. Even as soldiers, there’s not enough time to do all the very good, spiritually helpful things we’d like to do. But there’s sufficient time for us to do what God gives us to do (2 Corinthians 9:8).
A diligent person feels urgency over the brief time he has on earth and seeks to wisely use his brief number of days on the few things he discerns to be the most important for him (Psalm 90:12).
Vigilant Carefulness
A diligent person also looks carefully how he walks, “not as unwise but as wise” (Ephesians 5:15). This kind of care requires a cultivated vigilance. It does not come naturally to most of us.
Most of us have a natural inclination to coast, to fall into familiar ruts of thinking and behaving. Most of us have sinful or defective habits of emotional responses to certain situations and relational dynamics that were conditioned in childhood and adolescence. We might hardly notice them because we’re not looking carefully. Most of us don’t want to expend the mental, emotional, and spiritual energy to cultivate a vigilant care over how we walk.
Which means most of us are not wise. I know I’m not by nature. I don’t have a natural inclination to this kind of vigilance. But I’m old enough now to realize the real, long-term benefits of vigilance where I’ve applied it — as well as the consequences where I’ve not applied it. This only increases my resolve to abandon the foolishness of carelessness and to look more carefully how I walk.
Faithful Perseverance
And finally, diligent people faithfully persevere in cultivating and applying a discerning focus, a sense of urgency, and a vigilant care over how they live. This is not explicit in the text, but it is surely implicit, especially in the word “time” (Ephesians 5:16).
The “evil days” describe the age in which we live. Every one of the days we live as Christians on earth, until we are taken by death or Jesus returns, is embattled with evil, which Paul makes clear in Ephesians 6. The dangers of falling into sin or giving ourselves to “civilian pursuits” do not disappear. Paul’s exhortation is one we must apply “every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of [us] may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
Whatever It Takes
All diligence is hard work. But Christian diligence goes beyond hard work to a Spirit-empowered cultivating of a discerning focus, sense of urgency, vigilant carefulness, and faithful perseverance. And a Christian knows that without God’s help, we’ll miss the mark and waste a lot of life on a lot of sin and “civilian pursuits.” So, we pray:

<blockquote>Whatever it takes, Lord, increase my resolve to do your will with all diligence.</blockquote>

A Doctor’s Depression

Pcain — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:28:08 GMT

Pcain: Protected "A Doctor’s Depression" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

{{info}}

===='''How God Became My Healer '''====

During my year in the ICU as I trained as a trauma surgeon, the threat of tragedy loomed daily. Every morning, I would tweak ventilator settings and titrate drips in desperate attempts to keep people alive. When all efforts failed, the afternoon would find me in a conference room, walking a tearful family through horrific news. My voice would crack as I explained the limits of our science, outlined the grim details of dying, and offered meager words of condolence. During the worst weeks, these meetings occurred three to four times a day.

Yet, even with the heaviness and grief these days in the ICU imposed, my greatest challenge awaited me on the nightly drive home. Every evening, I’d pass an exit for a highway leading to the mountains. I knew that down that road, miles away, a bridge spanned the Connecticut River. And every night, I’d fight the impulse to take that exit, drive to that bridge, and throw myself over the railing.

====When Living Feels Like Dying====

As a doctor, when depression first took its furtive hold of me, I knew what was happening. In medical school, I studied the signs and symptoms of the disorder. I understood the complicated interplay of neurobiology, life events, and mood, and I could remember specific patients I’d interviewed who left the hospital with renewed smiles after treatment. I knew the help I needed and how to access it.

Still, all that knowledge didn’t lessen the pain. Living felt like dying. I’d lost the capacity for delight, and the things that once thrilled my heart — a sunrise glowing on the horizon or a favorite song — lost their power. Daily, I struggled to complete the mundane tasks of getting out of bed and driving to work. Daily, I wrangled with a deep, gnawing emptiness and despaired over the words that repeated in my mind like a terrible refrain: ''nothing matters.''

Although I knew remedies for depression, I had no antidote for these words. At the time, I didn’t believe God existed. And without him, indeed, nothing mattered.

====Confronted with Evil====

This first — and worst — episode of depression was a fundamentally spiritual struggle. Depression runs in my family, and as one who tends to brood, I’ve always had a personality ripe for it. Yet it was a moment of existential crisis in the ER, about a year before my time in the ICU, that dragged me from melancholy into unrelenting darkness.

One evening during my residency, I cared for three teenagers who’d all been assaulted — one with a baseball bat, one with a knife, and one with a bullet. I fought to save all of them and failed each time. As I staggered out of the room of the last boy, my already flimsy belief in God blew apart like autumn leaves in a buffeting wind. ''How could God allow such evil?'' I thought. With no foundation in Scripture and no understanding of the gospel, I had no answers for such a troubling question. The next morning, I drove into the mountains, stood on that bridge arcing over the Connecticut River, and tried to pray. When no words floated into my head in response, I decided God was silent because he didn’t exist.

Thereafter, depression dug its claws into my heart. I discerned no purpose in life, no meaning, and no hope. Everything seemed awash in gray, as if someone had siphoned away all joy and color. A withheld sob perpetually tightened my chest. The smallest of routines felt arduous, even agonizing. And every day, while I drifted through care for the dying, I dreamed of returning to the bridge in the mountains and giving up my own life.

====Great Is Thy Faithfulness====

Although I’d rejected God, he stayed faithful to me in lovely brushstrokes of grace. Every night when I fought the impulse to take that exit toward the river, he brought my loving husband, Scott, to mind. Although despondency clouded my thinking, I still had enough clarity to know my suicide would shatter him. And so, every evening when the exit sign tempted me, God reminded me of the kind, selfless husband who awaited me — and I would draw a breath and steer home.

Then, when I was at my lowest and life seemed a never-ending shadow, God gave me what my broken soul needed most: ''himself.''

I was caring for a gentleman with a severe brain injury in the ICU, whom neurologists thought would never walk, talk, eat, or smile again. Against all our predictions and knowledge, he made a full recovery in response to a prayer in Jesus’s name. I still can’t explain this healing medically, but I know that, through it, God alerted me to his presence and sovereign power.

I dove into study of religious texts and finally, at Scott’s urging, turned to the Bible — where a reading of Romans 5:1–8 reduced me to tears. For over a year, questions of suffering had jettisoned my hope. Now, through an ancient book that sat neglected on my shelf for years, I encountered the living, almighty God whose steadfast love never ceases (Lamentations 3:23–24) and who works through suffering — even through the suffering of his beloved Son — for our good and his glory (Romans 8:28).

For so long, I had denied God and wallowed in darkness. But God never released his hold on me (Ephesians 2:1–9). In his faithfulness, by his exquisite love and grace, he drew me gently into his light.

====Hope to Endure====

My recovery from depression wasn’t instantaneous. Just as the illness crept upon me insidiously, so also the climb out of the gloom was long and painstaking. Even after God brought me to himself, I needed an antidepressant to muster the energy and clarity to do the next thing. Scott’s patience and support were essential, as was the guidance of a pastor when I eventually wandered into a church. Gradually, ploddingly, with professional help, much love from friends, and a steady diet of God’s word, the light dawned again. And when it did, how I rejoiced at God’s mercy!

As so often happens in depression, the light did not always stay. Depression is often a recurring illness, with further episodes lurking down the path, waiting to pounce. I struggled through the darkness again after the birth of my daughter, when my own antibodies attacked my thyroid gland. Another time, it descended without clear warning or provocation, seizing me while I watched my kids clambering through a wooden castle at a playground. Both times, the symptoms were just as debilitating as the first, and the joylessness just as painful. Becoming a Christian didn’t cure me of my depression or grant me immunity against it ever occurring again.

Yet faith has provided me with an anchor, a safe harbor in which to weather the storm. When I’m depressed, God’s presence feels remote, but thanks to truths revealed in Scripture, I know, despite my diseased perception, that he is with me (Isaiah 41:10; Matthew 28:20). I ''know'' he will never leave me or forsake me (Deuteronomy 31:6). I know he has carried me through such shadowy valleys before and has promised to remain by my side, guiding me back toward the light (Psalm 23:4). Such promises and assurances of God’s love are lifelines when misery clouds the vision and darkens the heart.

Dear friend, if the bleakness of depression envelops you, cling to God’s word. Earmark Psalms that reveal his mercy, his sovereignty, and his steadfast love and faithfulness. Return to them as the deer returns to the clear, cool stream (Psalm 42:1).

Know that you are not alone. Help is available. A return to the light is possible. If the darkness so enshrouds you that you contemplate taking your own life, tell someone, and with their help call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988, day or night. Other avenues for help include your primary doctor, the emergency room, or Christian counseling sites such as Anchored Hope or the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation.

When depression enshrouds you, and even when you cannot discern a way forward, know that hope in him endures (1 Peter 1:3–5) and that in Christ nothing — not even the throes of depression — can tear you away from his love (Romans 8:38–39).

A Doctor’s Depression

Pcain — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 18:25:14 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} ===='''How God Became My Healer '''==== During my year in the ICU as I trained as a trauma surgeon, the threat of tragedy loomed daily. Every morning, I would tweak ve...'

Do I Want Marriage More Than Jesus?

Pcain — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 19:06:35 GMT

Pcain:

{{info}}I think it’s safe to say that every person who has ever walked the earth has had a longing to be truly and deeply loved.
From the time we are little, and all through our growing years, we wonder curiously about what love the future might hold. We wonder when it will be our turn to find “the one,” our turn for a beautiful wedding day. We put so much thought into who it could be or what qualities this special person will have. We wonder what our lives together might be like, where we might go, and what we might do.
When single youths turn into single adults, thoughts like these can easily crowd our mind. Anticipation and longing can easily fill up our heart. Marriage is a beautiful thing to desire. God makes it clear that it is a treasure and, when done in his grace and strength, can even be a taste of heaven on earth. Longing for marriage is not in the least bit wrong.
However, one thing that we can easily forget is that marriage, in all of its beauty and glory, is still at its very best only a taste of heaven.
A Treasured Reminder
Suppose dear friends of yours go off on a long journey and will be away indefinitely. Before leaving, those friends give you a picture of themselves to be remembered by. That picture would most likely become a treasure to you.
When you look at it, you are reminded of the cherished memories that you have with these friends. You think of what it feels like to be in their presence, and the joy that they bring to your life. You long for them with a deep ache at times, wishing that you could be in their presence again. In those times of loneliness, you cling to that picture hoping those memories never fade.
Now, say that you receive news that these friends have finally returned from their long journey, and that you now have the opportunity to see them face to face. How crazy would it be to refuse to see these friends in person, and instead continue to cling to your tiny, flimsy picture? It would be absurd.
While the friends are away, the picture is obviously a beautiful treasure, as you wait expectantly for the day when you’re reunited. But when the friends are no longer gone, and the opportunity to spend time with them is suddenly available again, how could you possibly be satisfied with a mere picture? It is impossible to imagine someone who could value a picture of a friend more than a living, breathing, and loving friend.
Don’t Forget the Reality
Just as it would be unthinkable to place more importance on the photo of the person over the actual person, it should also be unthinkable to us to elevate the shadow of Christ’s love over the reality of actually being the bride of Christ.
Marriage has a beautiful, God-given purpose, and it is one of the most incredible ways to display the gospel in this world. But when we spend all our energy clinging to a picture instead of to Christ himself, we end up crumpling and marring the beauty of the picture and forgetting everything that it was intended to represent.
To be deeply loved by another human being is a beautiful desire embedded in every one of us. Anticipating earthly marriage is God’s own design for many (Genesis 2:24; Mark 10:6–8; Ephesians 5:31). But above all, may we eagerly await and long for the day when the true wedding comes and the grandest marriage in history takes place. This is a marriage that will not fade, nor ever come to an end. It is the very thing that you and I were created to enjoy forever.
Come to the Feast

<blockquote>Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” — for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” (Revelation 19:6–9)</blockquote>
We rob ourselves of the true joy of God’s grand and awesome plan when we idolize the picture of marriage above the reality. Marriage is a beautiful gift to be cherished and treasured, but it is not the fulfillment of our hearts’ deepest cravings.
We are made for another world, another wedding, another marriage. Let us look with true expectancy and longing for the day when the marriage of the Lamb will come and our hearts’ desires will be met in our perfect God.

How is the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" true for those who won't be saved?

Pcain — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 19:16:55 GMT

Pcain: Protected "How is the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" true for those who won't be saved?" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

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''' How is the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" true for those who won't be saved? '''

When I say "God is most glorified in us" I mean: if your aim is to glorify God, you will do it most by being satisfied in him.

Now this question raises something that I'm not answering, namely, What if you don't give a rip about glorifying God and you plan to go to hell and be an unbeliever and an atheist to the end? In that case "God is most glorified in you when you are most satisfied in him" doesn't even work. It doesn't even have a bearing on that person. Since they're not satisfied in God at all, then he is not glorified ''in their being satisfied in him''.

So I suppose what is being asked is, Is he glorified in them in any way? And the answer to that is, Yes. God glorifies his wrath in condemning those who won't have him as their satisfaction. He hands them over to their sin, and he punishes them in hell. And the glory of his justice shines very brightly.

"If God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath" (Romans 9:22), that's what will be glorified! His wrath will be glorified and his power will be glorified. And their failure to be satisfied in him will produce that kind of glorification.

But when I say the above statement I'm not even thinking that way. I'm thinking, "Do you want to glorify God the most with your life and experience his glory the most? Then the answer is: Pursue maximum satisfaction in him." That's what so many Christians have never heard, and they have a hard time believing.

And I'm devoting my life to try and make it look biblical—like it is—and to help people overcome the obstacles that are in the way, such as "Duty is more noble than hedonism." Some say that it's more noble to do something because you have to do it than it is because you delight to do it. It's more noble to worship God out of some sense that he deserves it than out of the fact that he is so magnificent and glorious that I can't help it. And I disagree with all of that!

God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. And I don't want to turn that against the fact that God does indeed glorify his wrath by punishing justly those who refuse to be satisfied in him.

I'll risk this: maybe the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" does mean that those who refuse to be satisfied in him and those who do seek their satisfaction in him happen globally or historically in such a way that the greatest amount of glory shines. Mercy shines, wrath shines, justice shines, patience shines, grace shines—the totality of the rainbow of God's perfections shines most brightly because there are some who refuse to be satisfied, thus calling forth his wrath, and there are some who glut their satisfaction on him, calling forth his grace and glory.

How is the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" true for those who won't be saved?

Pcain — Mon, 03 Mar 2025 19:16:36 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} ''' How is the statement "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him" true for those who won't be saved? ''' When I say "God is most glorified in us...'

How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it?

Pcain — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 19:42:25 GMT

Pcain: Protected "How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it?" ([edit=sysop] (indefinite) [move=sysop] (indefinite))

{{info}}
 How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it? 

I pray Psalm 119:18 each time I go to the Bible: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonders in your law." I think the point of that prayer is that there are wonders everywhere in the law, in the Bible, in the instruction of God. And the psalmist is aware that he doesn't often feel or see wonderful things as wonderful. So he asks for it.

So my first and main strategy is that as I go to the source of wonders, namely, the revelation of God in his word, I'm asking specifically that I would have spiritual eyes to see what is wonderful as wonderful.
I would commend to every listener that you don't take it for granted that the wonders will be seen. And don't think that it doesn't matter that you read glorious things without seeing them as glorious. It matters, and therefore we should plead with God to open our eyes.

How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it?

Pcain — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 19:42:14 GMT

Pcain:

How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it?

Pcain — Tue, 11 Feb 2025 19:41:40 GMT

Pcain: Created page with '{{info}} ''' How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it? ''' I pray Psalm 119:18 each time I go to the Bible: "Open my eyes that I may b...'

{{info}}

''' How do you keep your familiarity of the Bible from causing you to grow cold to it? '''

I pray Psalm 119:18 each time I go to the Bible: "Open my eyes that I may behold wonders in your law." I think the point of that prayer is that there are wonders everywhere in the law, in the Bible, in the instruction of God. And the psalmist is aware that he doesn't often feel or see wonderful things ''as'' wonderful. So he asks for it.

So my first and main strategy is that as I go to the source of wonders, namely, the revelation of God in his word, I'm asking specifically that I would have spiritual eyes to see what is wonderful ''as'' wonderful.

I would commend to every listener that you don't take it for granted that the wonders will be seen. And don't think that it doesn't matter that you read glorious things without seeing them as glorious. It matters, and therefore we should plead with God to open our eyes.

Christian Joy and Feasting

Pcain — Sat, 25 Jan 2025 21:08:55 GMT

Pcain:

{{info}}Audio Transcript
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. This week Randy Alcorn joins us to talk about his new book, Happiness. Randy, what is the relationship between spiritual joy and the joy of God-honoring parties and feasts? How should we think about spiritual joys and enjoyment of great food and friends?
Well, it is amazing. When you look at Scripture and you see all these passages in the Old Testament about the parties, the feasts, and that is what feasts were, they were parties. They would often involve sacrifices, but most of the time was spent eating and drinking and basically having fun and taking time off. You see in Leviticus 23:40 God says, “You shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.” This is a seven-day party of rejoicing in God and the Old Testament is full of God-ordained celebrations for the Israelites.
God built into Israel’s calendar seven holidays, amounting to about thirty days of feasts per year. Add the weekly Sabbaths, and the total comes to around eighty days of feasting and rest annually. Add the later feasts of Purim (one day) and Hanukkah (eight days), plus weddings and birth celebrations, and the amount of time off for celebration and worship exceeded three months annually!
And you look at Deuteronomy 14. This is a passage that I just was so struck with. In verses 24–26 in the ESV it says, “if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire — oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice.”
What strikes me, first of all, is the language. You talk about hedonism, I mean this is a God-directed hedonism. Whatever your appetite craves, get the best of whatever you want to eat and drink: wine, strong drink. And you shall eat there before the Lord your God and rejoice. And I love that it says “before the Lord your God.” Happiness and joy are not things we are to experience behind God’s back, as if that were possible, which, of course, it is not. But he calls upon them. “Do it all before me. And I am by implication going to be there with you. I am going to enjoy it with you. And so when you are partying, I will be partying with you.”
Think about the rejoicing that takes place in the presence of the angels of God that Jesus speaks of twice in Luke 15:7, 10. Who is in the presence of the angels? God is. God’s people are in the presence of the angels and, of course, the angels themselves are there. But all heaven is throwing a party. All heaven is rejoicing over conversions on earth. And these are things that we are to celebrate. In 2 Chronicles 30:21–23 it talks about how the people of Israel kept the feast of unleavened bread for seven days with great gladness. And the word “gladness” and the various Hebrew words are used for all of these Old Testament celebrations.
How much different it would be if people looked at the church less as a group of always critical, always complaining, always feeling persecuted bunch of curmudgeons — and sometimes we can project that image to the world, no doubt. And we can also project it even to our children growing up in Christian homes. They hear what mom and dad are saying and the critical spirit and the complaining and the ingratitude and all that sort of thing. But what if we as believers were known as the people of celebration and gladness, the place of feasting?
And the New Testament — it wasn’t just Old Testament — the New Testament church, the Lord’s Supper, the love feast, now we have got the cracker and the juice, you know? And it is fine symbolically, but we really need to have feasts. And what if the world looked at us? What if we led the way in celebrating with the United Nations — it was a unanimous vote — when 192 countries several years ago appointed March 20th as the International Day of Happiness? What if the church celebrated the International Day of Happiness by celebrating the good news of happiness that Isaiah 52:7 talks about?
More feasts in either case. Thank you, Randy. In our circles, we like to say that external circumstances of life do not determine our happiness. This is helpful for those who are suffering, and it’s important pushback to our world that says outward circumstances in life are essential for true happiness. That’s false. But it also seems disingenuous to say that outward circumstances play no role in our God-glorifying happiness. How do we talk about joy in God in the God-glorifying circumstances of life?
Well, I think, first of all, we see Paul rejoicing over circumstances. Consider the great verb kairo and the noun form korah that are translated “rejoicing” and “joy,” those words are associated with Paul when he finds out that Epaphroditus, who these people were very deeply concerned about, is better now (Philippians 2:28–30). He came close to death, but now they are rejoicing that he is well. That is a circumstance. That is a good friend who was in trouble and now he is okay, so you are rejoicing in that. It is fine to rejoice in circumstances. If you get a raise, great. Rejoice. Be happy. That is circumstantial. But at the same time it is a blessing of God. Many of God’s common graces are circumstantial.
However, we cannot rest our ultimate joy and happiness upon the circumstances in our lives. I remember as a young Christian when I was a teenager reading Richard Wurmbrand’s Tortured for Christ and Corrie Ten Boom’s The Hiding Place and Brother Andrew’s God’s Smuggler and all of these great stories of people in huge tribulation. They went through horrific things, yet in the midst of them, experienced a transcendent joy, happiness, gladness, delight, pleasure in God. And I think one of the things that we need to do is to remind ourselves of our true circumstances.
Usually when we think of circumstances we are almost kind of dismissive about it. If things are going well, Scripture says to give thanks in all circumstances in 1 Thessalonians 5:18. And Paul says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:11–13).
But I also think we need to focus on what I would call our true circumstances — not all circumstances are visible. We are created by a good and happy God. We were created in his image. He gave us the capacity to be happy. If we just took Romans 8 alone. Think of verse 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”
In Jesus I have been set free from sin and death, and God sent his Son to save me (verse 2). I can set my mind on the Spirit, and that is life and peace (verse 6). God’s Spirit indwells and empowers me (verse 11). God has adopted me, and I can call him, “Abba, Father” (verse 15). I am an heir of God and a fellow heir with Christ (verse 16). The sufferings of this present time aren’t worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed in us (verse 18).
Creation will be delivered to the freedom and glory of God’s children. The world itself, the universe itself, will be ultimately redeemed during the redemption of our bodies (verse 23). The Spirit prays for us in our weakness (verse 26). Christ himself intercedes for us (verse 34). They indwell us. We have been called to a life in which God promises that he will cause all things to work together for our good (verse 28).
We are more than conquerors through him who loved us (verse 37). And how much more will God, who gave us his Son, give us all things (verse 32)? And then finally, to top it all off, nothing shall separate us from the love of Christ (verses 35, 38–39). Those are the true circumstances of the Christian life. Let’s meditate on those circumstances which are a true ground for eternal and present happiness.

Where Do All Our Prayers Go?

Pcain — Wed, 15 Jan 2025 19:54:04 GMT

Pcain:

{{info}}Audio Transcript
When we pray, where do our prayers go? This was the question answered by John Piper in his 2006 sermon titled Prayer and the Victory of God. Here’s what he said:
What an amazing thing prayer is. The final text we’ll consider to illustrate the connection between prayer and the victory of God is Revelation 8:4–5. This passage is amazing. I love this image. Try to get it.
An angel, another angel came and stood at the altar. So now picture God — no, you can’t picture God, but here it is: An altar and God and a throne. Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints — get this — millions of saints. Here is a picture of heaven at the end — at the end, not back then, at the end. So millions and billions and billions of prayers stored in heaven, never forgotten, not one “Hallowed be by name; thy kingdom come” will ever be forgotten.
With all the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne and smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints rose before God from the hand of the angel. Now we usually stop there and we think, “Oh, yeah, I have heard that the prayers of the saints are like incense and they smell really good to God.” And that is true and that is magnificent. You want to make God happy? Pray. You want to create a good smell in the kitchen of heaven? Pray.
This text isn’t going there. It is going to victory. Verse 5: The angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar where these millions of prayers are burning, filled it, and threw it on the earth with peals of thunder and rumblings and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. You wonder, where did all these signs come from at the end? They came from your prayers. “Hallowed be thy name. On the earth, O God, let your kingdom come. O God, let it come. Bring it in, O God. Let your will be done on this planet the way the angels do your will in heaven. Hasten the day of our God.” That is what gets thrown on the earth in fire.
The victory of God is coming and it is coming by the prayers of God’s people.