What to Pray for Your Pastor (Eph 6:19)
Do you pray for your pastor? What do you ask for? Here’s what Paul requested prayer for: Pray also for me, so that when I speak, a message may be given to me to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may […]
“We Go to Heaven by Obeying the Ten Commandments”
Don Matzat, a Lutheran pastor of fifty years, tells the following story of teaching a new church the doctrine of justification by faith apart from works: In one parish I served, after installation, I called every active member, inviting them to come to a Sunday morning Bible Class. I got a decent response so that […]
The Anglican Catechism Teaches Salvation by Works
I’ve been reading several Anglican writers recently who I think are Free Grace friendly. For example, did you know that Dallas Seminary was co-founded by an Anglican priest named W. H. Griffith Thomas? So I started poking around the Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) website. The ACNA was formed in reaction to the liberalism, […]
A Crucial Reminder
“The cross reminds us that God is present, especially when it looks like he’s not” (David Zahl, Mockingbird Devotional, p. 62). What does Zahl mean here? When do you feel closest to God? Isn’t it when everything is going “right”? When everyone is healthy? When there’s money in the bank account? When the car or […]
Why Do Good If Salvation Is Not By Works?
If you preach grace—that God saves you through simple faith in Jesus for eternal life, apart from your works (cf. Gal 2:16)—then why do good? What’s the point of all the love commands in the NT (e.g., “serve one another in love,” Gal 5:13), if your eternal destiny in heaven or hell is not on […]
No Progressive Sanctification? (1 Corinthians 3)
I was reading the Mockingbird Devotional for October 11. The devotion was written by Curt Benham, an Anglican priest in Atlanta. I got to meet him at a Mockingbird conference held in Oklahoma City. Very nice guy. Mockingbird is a ministry that promotes grace. They are not Free Grace in a “thick” sense, but I […]
Jesus Makes You Family (Galatians 3:26–4:7)
It is a universal fact of human nature that we all want to love and be loved. We all want to belong. But how will we do it? By law or grace? Why do young men join gangs? Usually because they live at the margins of society where they have little significance in the eyes […]
Mining for Truth (Proverbs 2:3-5)
Is it easy to find the truth? Is it supposed to be easy? It depends. Some truth is implanted in your heart. You don’t need to search for it. It is right there. For example, God wrote the requirements of the moral law on the heart, Paul says (Rom 2:15). In an appendix to C. […]
Where Are the Workers?
Every week a church calls up, looking to hire a Free Grace pastor or minister. And there aren’t any. Well, they are few and far between. There are positions around the country, but few men to fill them. And do you know what happens, next? The church hires someone they hope is at least Free […]
Naked and Hiding (Genesis 3:6-7; Galatians 3:26-27)
Have you ever tried to make yourself out to be better than you are? Maybe you were trying to impress a girl or land a job or gain someone’s esteem, but whatever the case, you felt pressured to cover up. That instinct goes back to the Fall. After they ate the forbidden fruit, Adam and […]