May 18, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Judgment, Evil, Sin, Catechism, Punishment
We find comfort in a God of mercy who punishes us infinitely less than our sins deserve....
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April 14, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Sin, Depravity, Fall
Sin discourages us from looking at its horrors closely....
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March 31, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Worship, Liturgy, Christology
The only qualification for receiving a welcome from Jesus is to be in need of what he can supply....
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March 16, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Satan, Eschatology, Antichrist
The antichrist just might be closer to you than you thought....
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March 2, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Temptation, Trials
God tests his people, but he never tempts them with evil....
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February 16, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Death, Resurrection, Heaven, Second Coming
Resurrection is the promise to reunite all that death has separated....
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February 2, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Truth, Catholics, Protestants, Reformation
Ignoring the real facts that separate us holds no promise for finding unity....
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January 20, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Truth, Catholics, Protestants, Reformation
Trying to maintain unity apart from a commitment to pursuing truth is destined to fail far worse than any division that comes while ignoring the pursuit of truth....
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January 5, 2021
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Ten Commandments, Sabbath, Catechism, Holidays
Keeping a weekly Sabbath just might be the gift of grace we desperately need....
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December 22, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Kingdom of God, Prayer
Christians can pray with the expectation of seeing God’s kingdom come day by day....
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December 8, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: COVID-19, Government, Authority, Current Events
The Christian response to authority ought to demonstrate our confidence in the One who occupies the highest place of authority above all....
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November 24, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Community, Spiritual Health
If you cannot gather with your church right now, be sure you do all you can to mitigate the risk to your soul....
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November 10, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Kingdom of God, Prophecy
The Bible calls us to live in the reality that the most consequential prophecies have already been fulfilled....
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October 27, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Politics, Christian Liberty
How we vote is a matter of Christian liberty requiring us to develop our biblical convictions and acting in a manner worthy of our calling as Christians....
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October 13, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Spiritual Disciplines, Book Review, Busyness
Christians are called to a bold, unhurried life that refuses to bow to the unhealthy busyness of the world....
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October 13, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: idolatry, Ten Commandments, Catechism
God sees the idols of our heart and will tolerate no rival. He loves us too much to do that....
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September 22, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Ten Commandments, Catechism, Theism
How good it is for God to require us to have as our God nothing less than the best....
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September 21, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Love, Ten Commandments, Catechism
The Ten Commandments require a love that will inevitably lead to their fulfillment....
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September 21, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Ten Commandments, Catechism
The power we need to see real change take place in our lives is the assurance that God’s love for us is secure....
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September 1, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Book Review, Union with Christ
The grace of God can be fully seen and applied to our lives only as we begin to grasp the inseparable realities of Christ’s person and work....
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September 1, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: law, obedience, Catechism
God requires an obedience that is unachievable without the Savior....
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January 29, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Marriage, Family, Complementarianism
The Bible calls both husbands and wives to be homemakers....
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January 22, 2020
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Abortion, Racism, Politics, Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King
Evangelical Christians should learn from some basic principles that guided King and the Civil Rights Movement in its earliest days....
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December 30, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Advent
He who is one with God in deity has become one with us in our humanity....
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December 23, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Advent, New Creation
A new creation brought about by the incarnate Word of God is the only hope for our eternal salvation....
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November 30, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Apologetics, Cross of Christ
We should come to Christ whose blood washes away our sin and whose body was completely broken and wasted to remove any last hint of our reproach....
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November 30, 2019
by Ben Janssen
|
Category:
Commentary
| Tags: Pastoral Ministry
The Bible exhorts church members to do what they can to minimize the hardship and to maximize the joy of ministry for their pastors....
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November 18, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Kingdom of God, Creation
The world is not headed for obliteration but for the liberation of the new creation....
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November 11, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Pain, Pleasure, Desire
Once the soul has been fully satisfied with God, there is only eternal pleasure....
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November 4, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Catechism, Baptism
The church ought to baptize only those who profess faith and are unbreakable members of the new covenant....
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October 22, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Salvation, Sacraments, Baptism
We must not make too much of baptism, but we must not make too little of it either....
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October 18, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Sacraments, Baptism, Lord’s Supper
Just as in salvation, God is the primary actor in the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper....
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October 11, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Kingdom of God, Prayer
Three ways we can not only fuel our prayer lives but also become more fruitful in prayer....
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October 8, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Generosity, Book Review
We imitate God’s generosity when we ourselves enter into his lavish gift by faith....
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September 17, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: grace, Salvation
God saved us when it could only be explained as an act of unilateral grace....
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August 30, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Sin
To freely confess that we are the most despicable moral creatures on earth encourages us to hold on to Christ as our only hope....
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August 20, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Conversion, Theism, News
The good news upon which Christianity is based is true whether anyone believes it or not....
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August 15, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Hell, Resurrection, Theology, Death
Would people repent if God sent a messenger back from the dead?...
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July 19, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Missional Living, Book Review
What are Missional Families and why are they essential to the ministry of the local church?...
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July 9, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Politics, Patriotism, Fourth of July
Christians must prioritize the kingdom of God over every kingdom of this world although this will make them appear less patriotic in the eyes of the non-Christian world....
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June 19, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Rest, Technology
Boredom might be our clue that we have lost the ability to delight in the ordinary goodness of God....
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March 12, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Assurance, Encouragement
The ground for assurance is always what Christ has done and never what we have done....
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January 22, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Confession, Racism, Pride, Reconciliation
Just because you feel affection for someone doesn't mean you don't feel superior to them....
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January 15, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Race, Racism, Book Review
John Perkins and the conviction that only the church and the love of Christ can overcome racial injustice....
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January 2, 2019
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Prayer, Revival, New Year's Day, Resolutions
What if this was the year that you and I could witness an extraordinary work of God if only we would faithfully ask him for it?...
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December 27, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Salvation, Reformed Theology, Perseverance of the Saints
What we believe about eternal security determines our beliefs on the doctrines of grace....
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November 26, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Morality, Sin, Catechism, Motives
Even if we are externally doing the “right things,” we might find sin lurking in the motives and attitudes of the heart....
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October 25, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: obedience, Bible, Productivity
We need God’s commands as much as we need his comfort....
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October 4, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Catechism, Doctrine, Trinity, Nature of God
The doctrine of the Trinity is mind-blowing, but it is essential that Christians know the doctrine well....
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September 18, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Bible, Catechism
Our disbelief and disobedience ends up teaching us the most glorious truths we must believe about God....
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September 11, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Bible, Catechism, Apologetics
Before we can appeal to the Bible's teaching or ethics, we need to ask and answer this important question: How do we know that the Bible is the Word of God?
...
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August 16, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Theology, Catechism
Because God is the first and best of beings, we either live in this reality or live in a fantasy....
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July 27, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Confession, Repentance
Remorse and resolution are easily confused with repentance....
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July 3, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Spiritual Disciplines, Sabbath, Rest
There is a purpose for rest, a purpose we need to work hard to achieve....
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June 26, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Ten Commandments, Imagination, Theology
The second commandment urges us to resist making God by our imagination....
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June 21, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Discipline, Prayer, Devotion
Ambition, diligence, and hard work are vices and not virtues when they are driving the building of our own glorious kingdom....
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June 19, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Meditation, Scripture, Spiritual Disciplines
Let us commit ourselves to the work of careful meditation of the Word of God....
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June 3, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Lying, Bible, Infallibility
How do we explain Jesus's apparent lack of truthfulness in John 7?...
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May 22, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Podcasts, Resources, Information
Every minute around the world there are almost 150,000 emails sent, 500 hours of video uploaded to YouTube, and 3.9 million Google searches conducted. Those are staggering numbers that remind us of the inexhaustible amount of content that is available for public consumption, just a click away. There are some real dangers to be concerned about with all this data for sure. A...
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April 25, 2018
by Ben Janssen
| Tags: Spiritual Gifts, Teaching, Writing
Two reasons for this church blog....
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