discipline – Grace Evangelical Society

The Faithfulness of God (1 Kgs 15:1-8)

May 12, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 1 Kings 15, discipline, Faithfulness, Grace, kings

The books of 1 and 2 Kings give an instructive account of how obeying God results in blessings for His people, while disobedience brings discipline and wrath. About forty kings are discussed in these books. Most of them “do evil in the sight of the Lord,” and this brings great destruction upon they themselves as

When a Drought Is a Good Thing (1 Kings 17:1-7)

April 10, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Ahab, discipline, Elijah, Jezebel

In 1 Kings 17, the prophet Elijah suddenly appears in the Nation of Israel. He has some bad news. There is going to be a severe drought that will impact the land. It will last for over three years. In a country dependent upon agriculture, this would be devastating. In the verses that follow (1

The Mercy of the Lord (Psalm 106)

March 21, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - discipline, Forgiveness, Mercy, Psalm 106

Psalm 106 is, in one sense at least, like the speech of Stephen right before he is stoned to death by the Jews in Acts 7. The psalmist reviews the history of the Jewish people. It is not a pretty picture. He speaks of their many sins. These sins included complaining against God, idolatry, sacrificing

A Mother’s Fierce Love (Isa 49:15)

February 21, 2023 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - 1 John 3:1, discipline, Isa 49:15, mother

Recently, I saw a video that I am sure many of you saw as well. A young mother was pushing her baby in a carriage down a street in a large US city. The driver of a car purposely swerved to hit the woman and her baby. You could not see the baby, but you

What Does the Word Condemnation Mean in Jude 4?

October 17, 2022 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - Condemnation, discipline, Judgment

Though often blind to it, we are all influenced by our religious traditions. If we aren’t careful, these traditions may cause us to see things through an inaccurate lens. An example is the way we interpret certain words in the Bible, without considering how those words are being used. Take, for example, the word condemnation

When Bad News Is Good (Jeremiah 30–33)

September 21, 2022 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - consolation, discipline, Hebrews 12:7, Jeremiah

When you read commentaries on the book of Jeremiah, chapters 30–33 are often called the Book of Consolation. This is because those chapters contain really good news for the Jews. They talk about when Christ will return, set up His kingdom, give them a new covenant, and gather them from all the nations of the

Hananiah Bites the Dust (Jeremiah 28:13, 17)

September 14, 2022 by Kenneth Yates in Blog - discipline, false teachers, heresy, Jeremiah 28

[The Lord told Jeremiah], “Go and tell Hananiah, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron”’”…So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month (Jer 28:13, 17). We live in a day when many believers do not think

Is It Likely That a Born-Again Person Would Rape, Pillage, and Murder?

September 14, 2021 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - discipline, divine discipline, Sin Unto Death

“What if?” questions are handy for testing the consistency of a plan or theory. Philosophers love hypothetical scenarios. For example, the trolley problem helps test the consistency of your moral intuitions (see here). And the brain-in-a-vat problem tests theories about what you can and cannot know (see here). If a hypothetical reveals a self-contradiction within

What Can Eternally Secure Believers Lose? Their Joy

July 22, 2021 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - discipline, Eternal Security, joy, Once saved always saved

Then he said to them, “Go your way, eat the fat, drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” (Neh 8:10). I have spoken with hundreds of people who were

What Can Eternally Secure Believers Lose? Your Local Church

July 19, 2021 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - discipline, Eternal Security, lampstand, Local Church

Not every local church is spiritually healthy. Some prosper, while others languish. Some are united in loving purpose, while other churches are divided, divisive, and declining. When someone believes in Jesus for eternal salvation, from that moment on, nothing can separate him from the love of Christ (cf. Rom 8:35). The believer is guaranteed to