The certainty of faith is utter assurance because it depends upon nothing of your own. It is entirely trusting that God is a propitious, pardoning God—the God who justifies sinners by forgiving them.
Sinners get faith as a gift when Christ takes their captivity captive.

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It makes perfect sense that the day honoring Jesus' birth would be observed in a decidedly less than refined manner.
He is given His name so you could call on it. He is called Jesus, so you can call on Jesus and be saved.
The eternal Word of God became a mortal human being, but not in some far-off heavenly realm. No, He took up residence among us.
Matthew makes it abundantly clear that Joseph lacked one thing: Control. He may have been the titular head of his emerging household, but he was clearly not in charge. God was, as God always is.
John the Baptist’s question in our text offers you an opportunity to help your congregation take seriously the doubts experienced by those who live by faith.
It is terribly easy to set up our theology as a buffer against the real coming of the Lord and its consequences.
The Lord is coming, that much is certain. He is coming to reign, not only over the heavens, but also over the members of your congregation.
Help comes for those who cannot help themselves. When we bottom-out and come to the end of ourselves, that is where hope springs.
He cuts into our darkness with words that work like a knife. They awaken us from our routine to a sliver of light. Jesus reigns and He will return.
You are the friend in low places. It’s only from this place that you are free to look outside yourself for the remedy to the issues that plague you and humanity.
As the church year ends, we are not give a vision of Jesus on His throne, ruling over a new creation. Instead, we see Jesus ruling from the cross. His grace comes in the midst of suffering and pain.
The mind-blowing part of this entire story, though, isn’t that only one leper came back to “give thanks,” but that the Lord Jesus healed all ten knowing full well that only one would come back.