When the gospel takes root in our lives, there will be fruit. This should be our expectation for ourselves and for others—and it is a cause for us to return praise to God. Pastor Jonathan begins a new series studying Colossians.
Paul speaks of the Spirit sealing believers in three texts (2 Cor. 1:21–22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30). While interpreters often associate this sealing with the down payment or guarantee of the Spirit, they tend to associate the “seal” with the Spirit himself as either a seal of authority or a pledge for full salvation. Others identify the seal with confirmation. And there are many other positions besides these. My purpose here is not to dispute these conclusions but to point out how some Christians in the first centuries defined the seal of the Spirit as baptism itself. In this article, then,...
Our God is fundamentally and in his character a generous God. His inclination is not in the direction of miserliness—but in the direction of bounty. That’s an outworking of both his goodness and his love. I hope that we will learn to trust God in his generosity—and then delight in him more as we see his abundant goodness in his lavish generosity.
Jesus does not demand something from us that he has not himself endured. Indeed, we suffer because we follow a suffering Saviour.
Whereas the world’s megalomaniacs grab hold of power and glory out of an ugly selfish ambition—whereas they grasp for something that is not theirs—the Bible would remind us that the God of heaven is supremely glorious in and of himself and perfectly worthy of all honour. And so, when the Bible tells us that God is a jealous God—it is simply telling us that he has an appropriate concern—a rightful zeal—for his own glory.
