The New Album from Redeeming Truth Music: The Highest Praise of All

This album is now available on all streaming and digital platforms as well as Vinyl. 

Peter Goeman on Common Grace

It’s easy to fall into a “believers-only” view of God’s goodness, meaning that the Lord reserves every kindness for His people and treats unbelievers only with judgment. But Scripture tells a different story. Again and again, God shows real, tangible kindness to people who do not love Him, honor Him, or even acknowledge Him. Theologians have often called this overflow of divine kindness common grace.

Wayne Grudem defines common grace as “the grace of God by which he gives people innumerable blessings that are not part of salvation. Common refers to something that is common to all people and is not restricted to believers or the elect only” (Grudem, 657). This definition is helpful because it keeps two truths together: (1) these blessings are genuinely from God, and (2) they are distinct from saving grace. Common grace does not forgive sin or regenerate the heart, but it does display God’s benevolence, patience, and generosity in the world.

This category is worth exploring because it trains our spiritual eyesight. It helps believers interpret the world accurately. God is not only holy and just; He is also kind, even to those who reject Him. And when we see that clearly, it produces humility, gratitude, and a more compassionate posture toward the lost.

Read the entire post here.

Suffering Does Not Make You a Super Christian

Suffering is inevitable in this life. We have been told that for a long time. Suffering comes in various forms and at unexpected times. It can happen to anyone. 

A Christian we are expected to suffer whether it is physical, spiritual, or even in relationships. Suffering does cause us to grow as a Christian. One thing it does not do is make you a Super Christian.

You do not become one who is invulnerable to suffering or never to sin again in this life. You do not get some revelation that no one else does. Your suffering did not come because God knew you could handle it or because you are a special kind of person to take it.

Suffering makes you depend on the Father. It conforms you in the image of Christ. Suffering makes you lean on the body of Christ more than ever. Suffering brings to you to prayer and worship. It brings you back to the Word of God. 

The one thing suffering does not do is not transform you into some super saint because we will all suffer in this life till the day we depart from this life to the next or when the Lord returns. 

The Foolishness of Preaching

For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased, through the foolishness of the message preached, to save those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:20).

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher...So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ (Romans 10:14, 17).

God has chosen the foolishness of preaching as His method of saving His people, and He has invested His power in the Word. The power is not in the preacher. The power is not in the program. The power is not in the liturgy. The power is in the Word because it is attended by the Holy Spirit. The Word can cut through our minds and hardened hearts; it can pierce our souls and bring us to Christ. There is much advantage where the Word of God is preached, just as there was advantage to the Israelites in possessing the oracles of God - R.C. Sproul, The Power of the Gospel: A Year in Romans 

Phil Johnson: The Pilgrim’s Battle with Indwelling Sin

The message was delivered at the Truth in Love Conference at Founders Baptist Church in Spring, Tx: 

Conrad Mbewe: The Pilgrim Passing through this World’s Vanity Fair

The message was delivered at the Truth in Love Conference at Founders Baptist Church in Spring, Tx: 

Steven Kozar's Video on Francis Chan Endorsing NAR

Keith Foskey on Why John 6 Does Not Prove Transubstantiation

Richard Moore with Proof that Kris Vallotton is a False Prophet

This video is over 2 hours but worth your time. Richard Moore shows 20 false prophecies from Kris Vallotton of Bethel "Church" that has proven to be false.

Did God Promise a Messiah Before a Command?

Jon Moffitt recently said that God rescued us before a command was given. Now the Bible does that before the foundation of the world, God chose us to be holy and blameless. He also predestined us to be adopted as sons (see Ephesians 1:3-5).

What I think Jon was saying, which was in some advertising his latest book in the process, that we cannot look at the Bible as a list of commands which also includes what happened in the beginning. The issue with Jon's theology is when you read Genesis you will see that Adam disobeying God is what was the cause of sin coming into the world. 

The Bible says: 

And on the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because on it He rested from all His work which God had created in making it. 

These are the generations of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that Yahweh God made earth and heaven. Now no shrub of the field was yet in the earth, and no plant of the field had yet grown, for Yahweh God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to cultivate the ground. But a stream would rise from the earth and water the whole surface of the ground. Then Yahweh God formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and so the man became a living being. And Yahweh God planted a garden in Eden, toward the east; and there He placed the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground Yahweh God caused to grow every tree that is desirable in appearance and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. 

Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from there it divided and became four rivers. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. Now the gold of that land is good; the bdellium and the onyx stone are there. And the name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one that went around the whole land of Cush. And the name of the third river is Tigris; it is the one that went east of Asshur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates. 

Then Yahweh God took the man and set him in the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. And Yahweh God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may surely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you shall not eat from it; for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:2-17, LSB).

The first command God gave to Adam was not eat any fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Of course, most of you know what happens next:

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which Yahweh God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God said, ‘You shall not eat from it, and you shall not touch it, lest you die.’” And the serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 

Then the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, so she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. And the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

Then they heard the sound of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God in the midst of the trees of the garden. Yahweh God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.” And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” And the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave to me from the tree, and I ate.” Then Yahweh God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” And the woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” And Yahweh God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,

Cursed are you more than any of the cattle,

And more than every beast of the field;

On your belly you will go,

And dust you will eat

All the days of your life;

And I will put enmity

Between you and the woman,

And between your seed and her seed;

He shall bruise you on the head,

And you shall bruise him on the heel.”

To the woman He said,

“I will greatly multiply

Your pain and conception,

In pain you will bear children;

Your desire will be for your husband,

And he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:1-16, LSB).

The verse in bold lettering is Genesis 3:15, which was the first Messianic prophecy concerning the coming of Christ. God promised One who will come to crush the head of the serpent. This promise came after God's one command from the garden was disobeyed. Yes, God foreknew all that was going to take place, but the command came which was broken followed by the promise.

H.B. Charles Jr. - “The Pilgrim’s Prayer: Your Kingdom Come”

The message was delivered at the Truth in Love Conference at Founders Baptist Church in Spring, Tx: 

Jon Benzinger: Addressing Only One Way of Salvation

Justin Peters Speaks with a Bethel Insider

Paul Lamey: The Pilgrim in a Politically Charged World

The message was delivered at the Truth in Love Conference at Founders Baptist Church in Spring, Tx:

A Conversation About Fallen Pastors

It is a sad reality that those in church leadership will let us down. One area that hurts the church the most is when a pastor falls due to some moral failure in his life. I have experienced that myself while a freshman in college and it took the church a while to recover from that.

What are Christians to do when this happen? How are we supposed to handle a situation that is really becoming too familiar in the church. I appreciated this conversation that took place on the Redeeming Truth Podcast from Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, AZ as some of their pastors have a conversation regarding fallen pastors. 

Jesse Randolph Addresses the Most Misquoted Verse in the Bible

Prayer is a Weapon

Prayer is the soul's weapon, and is it not a grief to lack a weapon in our spiritual warfare? Prayer is the soul's ornament, the excellent garment of a Christian; and is it not an affliction, to be without this garment, and to be found naked? Prayer is the Christians element; and as the fish lives in the water as in its element, and dies when it is out of it, so a Christian lives in prayer as in his element, and his heart dies when he is out of it. Prayer is the soul's provisioner, bringing in provision for the soul and for all its graces.

Adapted from A Lifting Up for the Downcast by William Bridge

Kyle Swanson Addressing the Issue of Sin

For Those Wondering About Interracial Marriage

It seems there is discussion if the Bible forbids interracial marriage. It is really baffling that people in the church are having this discussion in the 21st century, but here we are. There have been well written blogs on this issue, so I am going to give a simple answer: no.

People thought God forbid interracial marriage in the Old Testament which he did forbid the people of Israel not because of their race, but for their worship of false gods. Mark Tatlock wrote:

In the Old Testament, interracial marriage was not forbidden on the basis of ethnicity but rather idolatry. Since national membership and faith were linked in identity, ethnicity was linked to idol worship. The basis of God's prohibitions was to prevent false worship from being integrated into the Jewish culture; therefore, an Israelite could not marry a person who was not a true worshipper of God. This is still true for the believer today (2 Corinthians 6:14). For God's people, marriage has always been an issue of faith, not race.

Here is the proof from the book of Deuteronomy:

When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you are entering to possess it, and He clears away many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and stronger than you, and when Yahweh your God gives them over before you and you strike them down, then you shall devote them to destruction. You shall cut no covenant with them and show no favor to them. Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, and they will serve other gods; then the anger of Yahweh will be kindled against you, and He will quickly destroy you (Deuteronomy 7:1-4, LSB).

The Bible is clear that marriage is for one man and one woman which does not say about skin color or ethnicity. It does mention that we should make sure whoever we marry worships the one true God. The Bible does not forbid interracial marriage. 

Will We Ever Know Why We Suffer?

Suffering is inevitable. The testing of our faith is guarantee for those who walk with Jesus. The book of James tells us that we encounter trials of various kinds (James 1:2). Most of them will catch us off guard, while there are some that we can probably see a mile away.

When suffering comes, most people want to why is this is happening to them? What did I do to deserve this? There are times when our suffering is known. Why you have lung cancer? Because you smoke 3 packs of cigarettes per day. Why are getting a divorce? Because you committed adultery. 

What about the ones we cannot wrap our heads around. A cancer diagnoses when you have been healthy for majority of your life. A child that wanders from the faith. The loss of a job that you are very successful in. 

There are people in the church that believe we will know why we went through suffering. They think that God will explain His reasons for letting our suffering take place. I think one of the reasons is from Henry Blackaby's Experiencing God, which states that we will never know the truth of our suffering until we hear from God. Blackaby believes that Christians can hear the voice of God. If not, you are in trouble at the heart of the Christian experience. 

This teaching from Blackaby is problematic because it says Christians who do not hear God speaking to them are probably not saved. I have known believers who have never heard the voice of God, yet they are faithful to Christ. Blackaby saying God speaking about the reasons for our suffering adds more problems because it certainly does indicate that God owes us an explanation, which He does not.

When spoke to Job, He never told him why he went through the suffering he did. Why would God tell us about the suffering we have gone through? What makes us better than Job or anyone who has gone through suffering in the past centuries or in today's world.

We may or will never know the truth about our suffering, but one thing is clear: God allows our suffering for His glory and our good. The Apostle Paul wrote:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers; and those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified (Romans 8:28-30, LSB).

What is the good mentioned in Romans 8:28? The good is being conformed to the likeness of Christ. Suffering is to help us mature in Christ. We suffer to bring God glory and to grow in our faith. As painful as it can be, it is beneficial.