Pride in accomplishments as our own

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 5: God’s Callings for All of His Children and Friends

God “calls” all believers to love one another and to be conformed to the image of His Son–to be made, by God, to be just like Jesus. There is also a number of other things to which God “calls” all believers–almost all of them things we simply let him do to or through us, and all of them summed up by loving each other and being remade into His image.

You Are Not the One to Build, Part 1: God’s Work, God’s Reputation, and My Acclaim

The first of a series of videos about God giving people things to start which he does not then permit them to finish. God does this for his own glory, and, sometimes to protect his own reputation, as was the case in King David’s preparations to build a Temple–and also in my own life.

The Mind of Christ, and Rejecting It

God speaks to us individually, and also collectively as his Body. We must hear him and walk with him individually and also depend on each other for his voice. Believers all have the mind of Christ, but none of us alone has all of the mind of Christ.

The Kingdom of “the Heavens” in Matthew

Throughout his Gospel, Matthew repeatedly quotes first John the Baptizer, then Jesus, taking about the “Kingdom of the heavens”–with “the heavens” in this formula always stated in the plural and preceded by the definite article. In using this language, the intention was clearly to teach that God’s Kingdom is not limited to the far future but is present with us…
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Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

Hebrews 6:1-6 has nothing to do with losing our salvation through sinful acts. Instead, it teaches that we must repent from our rebellion and from our own dead works as a way of becoming acceptable to God. Further, when we do sometimes fall back into relying on our own works, we cannot repent of this in our own power. God must provide both the initiative and the power.

Paul’s Mourning over those who have Not Repented, 2 Corinthians 12:21

When Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, he feared he would later come to them and find that they had not repented of their underlying mixed motives and attitudes of self-centered worship and sensual focus. The result would be the same strife and disorder he had reproved in his first letter.

Works worthy of repentance in Acts 26:20

In his trial before King Herod Agrippa in Acts 26, Paul went out of his way to emphasize that “works worthy of repentance” flow from turning to God and not from our own determination to prove our repentance.

The Prophets Nathan and Gad Deal With King David in His Sins

On both of the occasions when David is said to have sinned in his administration as king, God sent prophets to correct him. God corrected David’s great sin, the one involving Bathsheba and Uriah, by sending the prophet Nathan to confront him. By contrast, in the matter of the census David recognized he had sinned and asked God’s forgiveness as soon as the census was completed. The prophet Gad was sent to him not to bring him to repentance, but to give him a choice of public consequences for not honoring God in the census and instructions concerning how to rectify his error. David repented and was forgiven of both sins, but the first one nevertheless had severe long-term consequences.