Preaching Repentance and the Forgiveness of Sins (Luke 24:47)

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While trying to clear out my Inbox, I found an email question that needs an answer:  Many in my church think repentance of sin is a required part of being born again. How would you explain the words of Jesus after the resurrection in Luke 24:45-47?  “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then
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Taken on Testimony

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“On a scale of 1 to 10, how’s your pain?”  Often, my kids will come and say they have a headache or a tummy ache, or their throat is sore, or they hurt their knee. I can’t feel their pain, but I can sympathize and guess what it feels like based on my own experiences.  But mostly, I have to take it on testimony. If my kids say they’re in pain,
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More Than a Herd of Pigs (Mark 5:1-20)

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We tack silly cartoons to our office wall. Here’s a recent one we enjoyed:  Poor pig.  The cartoon is referring to the episode in Mark 5:1-20 in which Jesus visited the land of the Gerasenes and met a man who was demon possessed. Long story short, Jesus cast out the demons who then entered a herd of about two thousand pigs and drove them into the sea where they drowned.  The Gerasenes were not pleased.  Think about it
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Chuck Swindoll Says That People Will Miss Eternity with Christ If They Make Salvation Too Difficult

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A reader told me about a January 7 Insight for Living broadcast in which Chuck Swindoll talks about the time when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent, and those who looked on it were healed of the plague (Numbers 21). I just listened to the section in question, and it is fantastic. You can hear that message here by clicking on Part
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Grace Is Approachable

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I was listening to a podcast by Paul Zahl entitled “A Disease I Do Not Have the Courage to Name.”  The title comes from a now out-of-print book entitled  My Son Is a Splendid Driver, set during the Great Depression. In it, the protagonist’s mother is given a deadly STD by her husband, a traveling salesman. She feels ashamed—too ashamed to go to church.  “Mother had stopped going to church.
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Is Lordship Salvation a Saving Message?

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While working on my autobiography, I wrote about the early years of GES. During that time some of my board members believed that Lordship Salvation is a saving message. Don’t misunderstand me. They were against Lordship Salvation. They felt it was false teaching. However, they believed that Lordship Salvation was a problem for sanctification, not for
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How Does Satan Work?

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I plan to complete a series of books outlining what I think are the Biblical alternatives to the five points of Calvinism (and Arminianism). Chosen to Serve: Why Election Is to Service, Not to Eternal Life, was my answer to Unconditional Election. I have two more manuscripts in the works—one on Limited Atonement (The Cross: Different Benefits, for Different
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