God’s Love Is Deep Enough

By Rick Warren
— March 20, 2017

“The Lord reached down from above and took hold of me; he pulled me out of the deep waters” (Psalm 18:16 TEV)

There are times when we all think, “I’m going under for the last time! I’m about to sink!” But no matter how deep you are, God’s love is deeper than your problem.

Corrie ten Boom and Betsy ten Boom were Christians who lived in the Netherlands during Word War II. They hid Jews in their home to protect them from the Nazis. ..

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If you spend any time talking to me about the Trinity, you’ll know that I’m quick to recommend Matthew Bates’s book, The Birth of the Trinity. This book received wide acclaim from various tribes, and it’s on many people’s lists of go-to works on the Trinity and the early church. His new book, however, is getting a little more heat. I was provided a review copy of the book, and it’s certainly worth dealing with—whether one ends up agreeing with Bates’s proposal or not.
In S..

How He Longs for You

It is truly one of the most heartbreaking moments in all of Scripture.

In Matthew 23:37, we see Jesus’ heart for Israel, His wandering people: “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.”

Jesus spoke these words to the Jews, but His divine words tell us a lot about the heart of God for all His people. Our heaven..

JOSHUA 1:8 NIV
8 Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth;
meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do
everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and
successful.

If you desire to succeed, here are the instructions.

You may follow other plans that promise success, but you have
no guarantee they will work long-term. People may give you
advice that works for awhile — but can you be sure it will not
fail you someday?

With God you have an eternal guaran..

Editors’ note: Last month a unanimous jury sentenced Dylann Roof to death for killing nine black churchgoers as they attended Bible study in a Charleston, South Carolina church. The reaction to Roof’s sentencing has rekindled discussions—even among victims’ families—about whether Christians should support capital punishment. To consider both side of the debate, TGC is presenting personal essays on the death penalty by Matthew Arbo, assistant professor of biblical and theological studies at Oklah..

Editors’ note: Christians in the Wes, face a number of explicit threats to the authority of Scripture. But explicit threats alone don’t weaken our trust in the Bible. Subtle threats—those that creep in unnoticed—also foster skepticism. Writing for Themelios, TGC president Don Carson outlines 10 ways we subtly abandon the authority of God’s Word. Below are some excerpts from his timely essay.

On the danger of appealing to selective evidence:

The most severe forms of this drift [appealing to sel..

Messes are an everyday occurrence in my house. A house filled with five people (three of whom are younger than 4) means spills, laundry, and more spills. Few things make me wonder if my work matters like spilled milk on a freshly mopped floor. But in my most coherent moments, I’m reminded even the simple act of wiping up spilled milk is valuable work.

On a practical level, leaving milk on the floor is hardly sanitary (or pleasant to smell over time). On a deeper level, cleaning up a mess is a w..

Fleming Rutledge’s The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ is an extraordinary book. It’s theologically deep and beautifully written, pastoral and scholarly, ecumenical and evangelical. Like its author, it’s Episcopal but not as you know it. It’s endorsed by people you rarely find endorsing the same book: Stephen Westerholm and David Bentley Hart, Kate Sonderegger and Stanley Hauerwas, Larry Hurtado and Robert Jenson. In some ways, it’s the successor to John Stott’s The Cross of..

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As a Baptist, I’m often frustrated or confused by how my fellow denominational brothers handle the Lord’s Supper. At churches I’ve attended in the past, we’ve participated in the Supper every week in some places, ted quarterly at others. There is one instance in which I can’t remember eating a single little wafer in my entire time at the church.
But how often should we take the Supper? While I know that the Bible doesn’t give a mandate for how often churches should remembe..

1John 4:8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Have you ever thought about John’s description of God, “God is love”? Many would think that this really means love is God or the new age thought that this love, or God, is in all mankind. Not! God is love is not anything like love is God. God’s love is eternal, no beginning and no end. God has always been love. If God has always been love who did He love before creation? His Son of course. This love the Father has for t..