Walking with Jesus - A Pastor's Perspective

By: Johnny Coggin

As Christians, we often hear about the importance of "walking with God" or "spending time with Jesus." But it seems far more rare to hear anyone describe how he or she actively pursues a consistent relationship with the Lord. It doesn't just magically happen, does it?

Here's a brief but helpful video of pastor Matt Chandler (Dallas, TX) describing the proactive steps he takes to walk close with Jesus.

How to Preach the Gospel to Yourself

By: Johnny Coggin

Only 30 minutes after writing yesterday's post on "Preaching the Gospel to Yourself Daily," I came across this post by Tim Challies, quoting Jerry Bridges (from his book Respectable Sins) on how he goes about preaching the gospel to himself on a daily basis.

Challies comments, "Realizing that many people have heard of this discipline but do not know how to practice it, [Bridges] provides an overview of how he does so."

The following is helpful stuff, folks. May his advice help us all to become hearers and doers of the word.

"Since the gospel is only for sinners, I begin each day with the realization that despite my being a saint, I still sin every day in thought, word, deed, and motive. If I am aware of any subtle, or not so subtle, sins in my life, I acknowledge those to God. Even if my conscience is not indicting me for conscious sins, I still acknowledge to God that I have not even come close to loving Him with all my being or loving my neighbor as myself. I repent of those sins, and then I apply specific Scriptures that assure me of God's forgiveness to those sins I have just confessed.

I then generalize the Scripture's promises of God's forgiveness to all my life and say to God words to the effect that my only hope of a right standing with Him that day is Jesus' blood shed for my sins, and His righteous life lived on my behalf. This reliance on the twofold work of Christ for me is beautifully captured by Edward Mote in his hymn "The Solid Rock" with his words, "My hope is built on nothing less, than Jesus' blood and righteousness." Almost every day, I find myself going to those words in addition to reflecting on the promises of forgiveness in the Bible.

What Scriptures do I use to preach the gospel to myself? Here are just a few I choose from each day:

As far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:12)

'I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.' (Isaiah 43:25)

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin. (Romans 4:7-8)

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:1)

There are many others, including Psalm 130:3-4; Isaiah 1:18; Isaiah 38:17; Micah 7:19; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 2:13-14; Hebrews 8:12; and 10:17-18.

Whatever Scriptures we use to assure us of God's forgiveness, we must realize that whether the passage explicitly states it or not, the only basis for God's forgiveness is the blood of Christ shed on the cross for us. As the writer of Hebrews said, "without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins (9:22), and the context makes it clear that it is Christ's blood that provides the objective basis on which God forgives our sins."

Preaching the Gospel to Yourself Daily

By: Johnny Coggin

In a recent sermon, our pastor Dr. Jimmy Young rightly described every believer's great need to "preach the gospel to yourself daily." I'm so thankful for his wise exhortation, and I'm working to apply it more consistently in my own life.

One of my absolute favorite books on the planet is The Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges. Few men have clarified our need for daily gospel self-preaching like Jerry Bridges. Here are some quotes from The Discipline of Grace that I hope will affect you like they have me:

"Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.

Pharisee-type believers unconsciously think they have earned God’s blessing through their behavior.

Guilt-laden believers are quite sure they have forfeited God’s blessing through their lack of discipline or their disobedience.

Both have forgotten the meaning of grace because they have moved away from the gospel and have slipped into a performance relationship with God.

To preach the gospel to yourself, then, means that you continually face up to your own sinfulness and then flee to Jesus through faith in His shed blood and righteous life. It means that you appropriate, again by faith, the fact that Jesus fully satisfied the law of God, that He is your propitiation, and that God’s holy wrath is no longer directed toward you.

This is the gospel by which we were saved, and it is the gospel by which we must live every day of our Christian lives…If you are not firmly rooted in the gospel and have not learned to preach it to yourself every day, you will soon become discouraged and will slack off in your pursuit of holiness."

Renewing Our Spiritual Strength

By: Jeff Sample

The dog days are ahead – that time in the Major League Baseball season when the summer heat is sapping strength and depleting a player’s ability to recover. Ever felt that way spiritually? When your spiritual life wilts, your soul feels barren, there are no spiritual reserves, and the tank is empty? I have! You might be in your spiritual dog days at the moment.

What can we do to recover lost vigor? I'll share a couple of practices that will revive and refresh our souls if we apply them with God’s help.

*Ask God daily to turn your heart toward him in renewed hunger and zeal (Psalm 119:36, 18; 90:14; 86:11). Make it your evening prayer for the next day – whisper to God throughout the day: Father, renew my heart by drawing me to you… make me long for you. Ask him now. God delights to answer our IOUS – incline, open, unite, and satisfy my heart with your truth and presence. Sometimes we have to strive with our own hearts in prayer – it is the fight of and for vital faith and heart-felt joy.

*Read and think carefully and consistently through God’s word – soak yourself in his truth a paragraph or chapter at a time. Here are some applicatory questions by which to help us think through God’s word in his presence (I am indebted to J. I. Packer for these suggestions in his excellent book, Rediscovering Holiness):

• What does this passage tell me about God – his holiness, grace, power, rule, etc.?
• What does this passage tell me about myself – my conduct, character, attitudes, temperamental struggles, and fight with my flesh, a fallen culture, and the devil?
• What does this passage tell me about my life today – tasks, opportunities, temptations, challenges?
• How does God bring his grace to bear on my life in this or these texts – God is the hero of every passage in some way... not me, nor any other fallen son of Adam. So where does God show his grace and do what we are incapable of doing?

This daily process becomes reviving grace to our souls, even as it prompts substantive heart humbling prayer, specific intelligent repentance, searching confession, renewed submission, God-glorifying worship, and renewed joy in knowing and serving our Savior.

Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in you? (Psalm 85:6)