Sanctification – Grace Evangelical Society

Crying out to Abba, Father (Romans 8:15-16)

April 21, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Abba, Assurance, Holy Spirit, Romans, Sanctification, testimony

For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God (Romans 8:15-16). The Romans had been slaves to sin (Rom 6:6, 17-20), but no longer.

Christians and Civil Bravery in Hostile Societies

April 14, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Quaker, Sanctification, Thomas Kelly

Thomas Kelly (1893-1941) was a Quaker philosopher and writer. Kelly’s son wrote a biography of his father (see here), in which he tells of what happened when Kelly was sent to Nazi Germany in the summer of 1938, out of concern for the welfare of Quakers who were feeling the oppression of life under Hitler.

Sons Come of Age (Romans 8:14)

April 12, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Romans, Sanctification, spirit

Who is leading you? What factors motivate and guide your life? Michael Eaton suggests some possibilities: “We can be led by our own desires. We can be led by other people’s opinions or pressures. We can be led by tradition, by tribal custom…We can be looking to our own understanding” (Eaton, Everlasting Assurance, p. 57).

Does Focusing on the Spirit Mean Ignoring the World?

April 1, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - questions, Sanctification, spiritually minded

Question Regarding your blog on being spiritually minded in Rom 8:6, how do you run a business and move forward without some thought to the earthly side of things? The Bible says: For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is

Obliged to Kill (Romans 8:12-13)

March 28, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - mortification, Romans, Sanctification

In Charles Portis’s humorous western novel, True Grit, young Mattie Ross feels a moral obligation to hunt down the man who killed her father, and she will stop at nothing to see him hanged. Did you know you, too, have an obligation to kill? While that may sound extreme, Paul was adamant: Therefore, brethren, we

Praying Without Ceasing Is Like Being in Love

March 24, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Prayer, Sanctification

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Phil 4:6). “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess 5:17). How often do you pray to God? Early in my Christian walk, I found I could pray without ceasing. Or near enough! That’s not a boast.

The Spirit Is Life (Romans 8:10-11)

March 17, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Holy Spirit, Resurrection, Romans, Sanctification

As a believer, you carry within you two very different destinies— And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will

Don’t Be Hostile to God (Romans 8:6-9)

March 9, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Romans, Sanctification

What are your favorite things to think about? What pre-occupies your thoughts? Did you know that your thought life matters to God and to your Christian walk? As Paul told the Romans, you can have one of two mindsets: For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit

Christians Should Have a Spiritual Mindset (Romans 8:5-6)

March 7, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Flesh, Romans, Sanctification, spirit

Yellowstone is a modern western drama about the Dutton family’s battle to save the fictional Yellowstone Dutton Ranch, the largest in Montana. Because the land is valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, everyone wants to take the ranch from the Duttons. The Confederated Tribes of Broken Rock want their ancestral land back to build

Sin’s Dramatic Reversal (Rom 8:3)

February 15, 2022 by Shawn Lazar in Blog - Flesh, Romans, Sanctification, Sin

Don’t you enjoy “reversal of fortune” stories? We love the drama of someone’s situation suddenly changing, whether it’s the hero or the villain. Think of Star Wars. In Revenge of the Sith, just as the Jedi are about to win the war against the separatists, Darth Sidious executes Order 66, forcing the clone army to