Category: The Gospel Coalition

The Gospel Coalition

Blog can be found on:

http://theologica.blogspot.com/

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Why We Should Be Grateful for Flourishing Evangelical Seminaries

The Story: New data reveal that the largest seminaries in America are the most orthodox and evangelical.

The Background: Each year the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) compiles data on their member schools (currently 231 in the United States and 41 in Canada). Chelsen Vicari of the Institute on Religion & Democracy examined the latest data and found that “students seeking training for church ministry in the United States are largely attracted to evangelical Protestant seminaries, a tren..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Don’t Write Just to Get Published

For those of us who love words, we’re drawn to the clack of the keyboard and the parsing of meaning on the page. We feel alive as we wrangle words into sentences; some of us even feel closer to God as we work out our faith by writing about it. Time spent writing feels important, even holy.

But for many of us, running parallel with our love of writing is the desire to get published. This desire can be fueled by the culture at large, which says our writing only matters if our readership is huge a..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Let’s Sing the Beauty of Confession

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Stop Having Quiet Times

In the psalms, relationship with God happens out loud. More than 95 percent of the psalms express or invite audible words. Most are spoken directly to God, though often psalms speak to others, inviting them to join in. Some even gives “voice” to the inanimate creation.

So when we read, we hear what’s written, because so much of it is actually happening out loud.

I cry out to you.

Hear the sound of my voice.

With my song I give thanks.

Lightstock

Shout for joy.

Incline your ear to me, and..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Rediscovering J. C. Ryle’s ‘Holiness’

Editors’ note: Taking the advice of C. S. Lewis, we want to help our readers “keep the clean sea breeze of the centuries blowing through our minds,” which, he argued, “can be done only by reading old books.” Continuing our Rediscovering the Forgotten Classics series, we want to survey some forgotten and lesser-known Christian classics. Previously in this series:

On the Road with John Bunyan (Louis Markos)
Dynamics of Spiritual Life (Douglas Groothuis)
J. C. Ryle’s forgotten classic, Holiness: ..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

The Excommunicated Member Who Thanked Me

Six years ago, our elders put Jack under church discipline.

Last week, he thanked me for it.

Our church tries to practice formal church discipline in obedience to Scripture (Matt. 18:15–20; 1 Cor. 5:1–5; Gal. 6:1–5). Because we’re human and flawed and faulty, however, we don’t do it perfectly. But we must practice it. Our consciences are captive to the Word of God.

The only stories you ever hear about church discipline are the bad ones. That’s partly because there are lots of ways to foul it ..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

When Shame Haunts You

There was a time when shame didn’t exist. Man and woman walked freely with God and one another—perfectly vulnerable and without shame (Gen. 2:25). But then sin entered the paradisiacal landscape. And with sin came the immediate hiding of shame.

The man and woman tried to cover themselves from each other, and they hid from God when he came looking for them. As he exposed the sin, they blamed one another, then the serpent. Eden shattered, and they were expelled from paradise. But not without one ..

By micoots
05/08/2016 0

The Story of Iran’s Church in Two Sentences

Everyone loves a good story. As Christians, we especially love stories that tell us how, when all seems lost, God makes a way.

One such story is about the church in Iran—and it’s one of the greatest stories in the world today.

It’s a simple story that can be summarized in just two sentences: Persecution threatened to wipe out Iran’s tiny church. Instead, the church in Iran has become the fastest growing in the world, and it is influencing the region for Christ.

As simple as it is, such an am..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

Making Gay Friends Post-Orlando

Hugely dramatic events tend to take over the meaning of the names of the places that witness them. Whatever a place-name’s literal meaning might be, its cultural and historical significance ends up being tied to what happened there. Take Hiroshima. It might literally translate as “wide island,” but that’s no longer its cultural meaning for us. It has become a byword for the first-ever application of atomic warfare.

The same is sadly true for any number of places that have borne witness to awful..

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By micoots
05/08/2016 0

The Problem of Praying for Our Children

I have a prayer problem. Instead of letting prayer draw me closer to God, I can let it take me down winding paths of worry.

Let’s see. What should I pray about for my kids? Well, let’s start with all the things that could go wrong. That sounds logical.

Like Peter, I start to focus on the waves instead of the Savior, waves that haven’t even arisen and probably never will.

I recently taped a photo of each of my four kids into my prayer journal so I could look at them when I prayed. As I began ..