Salvation in the Soot of Sin
Have you ever felt haunted by fear, shame, and guilt? Have you ever worried that Jesus couldn't love you anymore? I have.
Contributors
Brad Gray
Brad Gray is the senior pastor of Stonington Baptist Church in Paxinos, Pennsylvania (www.stoningtonbaptist.org), where he lives and serves with his wife Natalie, daughter Lydia, and son Braxton. He is currently pursuing an M.Div. from Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He blogs regularly at graceupongrace.net and hosts a podcast, “Ministry Minded.”
Christ Hold Fast
On the Definitive Assurance of Jesus’s Advocacy
Having the assurance that perfect righteousness has already been gifted to you is, perhaps, the leading spiritual scuffle in which every believer is entangled.
A Savior vs. Santa: Merry Christmas, Sinners!
This love will not cease. It cannot be stopped. It cannot be tamed. It is love unsought. Before you lift a pinky in repentance, it has already come to you.
Grace is Reckless.
By every conceivable category, grace shouldn't exist. It shouldn't have been bestowed. It's the card in God's trick we never saw coming.
World's Strongest Man
God comes to fix what is broken by being broken himself. He abolishes death by dying. He subsumes sin by being made sin itself.
An Angel in the Whirlwind
The stilling of the seas is not so much a parable of words but a parable of actions. Jesus shows his apostles that they were seeing but not perceiving, hearing but not understanding who he was.
A Theology of Grief & Death
It is true that no one ever grieves in the same way. We are all different in personality and chemical makeup. But what is the same, is that everyone, at some point, grieves.
Faith, Depression, & Clinging to the Rumor of Grace
Whatever theoretical or conceptual ideas to which we surrender in despair, the Christian faith offers something wholly different. It offers a person.
The Futility of Balancing Grace
Perhaps the most poisonous venom to afflict the gospel is the notion of "balancing" grace.
Salvation and the Silly Summit of Some Great Thing
Overcrowding on Mount Everest betrays what our culture worships. We bow down at the altar of the impossible to be seen as the conquerors, the champions.
Growing Downward: Thoughts on Sanctification & Spiritual Maturity
Growth and maturity in the Spirit doesn’t look like we think it does. That’s because it’s backward.
Sour Grapes & Stale Crackers
The communion service is a sermon in and of itself. The communion sermon is that which most expressly tells us of the sinless One who stands in the sinner’s stead.
The Gospel Doesn’t Blow Smoke
It was during one of these garbage burns, however, that I was bathed in a fresh remembrance of grace.
The Dangerous Nature of God's Grace
I’d say that one of the best depictions of God’s grace comes from a well-beloved and world-renowned children’s fantasy novel, that being C. S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Obedience That Is Already Finished
The rich young ruler’s inquiry to the Lord Jesus in Mark 10:17–22 (along with Matt. 19:16–22; Luke 10:25–28) remains increasingly prescient for us today.
The Impossibility of Salvation
The salvation of wretched sinners by an omni-holy and forever-righteous God is, by all accounts, a categorical impossibility.
Grace Falls on the Grenade
On a summer day in 2008, Thomas and Romayne McGinnis were presented with the highest honor that can be received in any branch of the United States military, that is, the Medal of Honor.
Grace Has No Expiration Date
I, like you probably, have an uncontrollable aversion to any food product that is past its expiration date.
The Shameless Nature of God’s Grace
To be sure, the devil has an incredible arsenal of assaults with which he can waylay believers into ineptitude and ineffectiveness.
The Paradox of Pastoral Preaching
At times, evangelical Christianity can be a paradox. For as much as Protestants have spurned Roman Catholicism, they’re much more Catholic than they’d ever like to admit.
The Divine Portrait of Love
Whenever preachers get up to speak about the topic of love, they very often go to passages like 1 Corinthians 13, and they are very apt to do so — for there, under the Spirit’s design and influence, the apostle Paul gives, perhaps, the most complete view of love we’ve ever been given.
The Drug of Behavioral Preaching
Preaching is a dangerous and difficult task. Some occupations might involve more harrowing situations and circumstances but I will continue to contend that there’s not a more perilous or vulnerable position to be in than behind the pulpit.
You Don't Have To Be Great
Renowned Scottish philosopher, writer, and historian Thomas Carlyle once quipped, “The History of the World [is] the Biography of Great Men.”
Good News From A Far Country: Preaching Law & Gospel
I believe it’s no small charge to assert that there’s a massive problem in the majority of America’s pulpits.
Acquittal By The Attorney's Blood
One of my favorite shows in recent memory is the American law enforcement drama Law & Order.
Law-Abiding Citizens
Among the things that perturb me about modern Christianity is our residual clinging to a sort of “Christian-karma.”
Green Jackets & White Robes
I don’t know much about golf, but I do know that The Masters is like the Super Bowl for golfers.
The Righteous Revenant’s Revenge
As an avid movie-goer, one of the ways Scripture comes alive for me is to picture the stories as if they were scenes and beats from a live-action movie.
Gospel Upside-Downness
Have you ever really thought about how crazy your salvation is? You may have never thought of it in those terms, but truly, your redemption and rescue from eternal damnation is a jarring truth, one that should spawn tears of joy and shouts of praise.
Interpreting Reality Through Redemption
If you know me in the least, then you know of my fondness for the 2010 film Inception.
Endurance To The End
The Christian life is compared to many things throughout Scripture. It's likened to a soldier going to war, a sheep under the care of a shepherd, or the journey of a pilgrim to a far-off city.
Pejorative Piety
One of the things you get used to if you talk about this thing called “grace” often enough, is sooner or later you’ll be looked down on by your peers.