Tag God

Article Roundup: Helpful Reads

philipmcduffie Leave a comment

I’m the pastor of First Baptist Church Jackon in Jackson, Alabama. Once a week, I share a post titled “Article Roundup: Helpful Reads,” where I compile articles that I believe are beneficial for the saints who make up FBC Jackson. I am confident that these articles can also be helpful for followers of Christ around the world. Happy reading!

Are You Your Spouse’s Biggest Cheerleader? By Bob Lepine

This article challenged me. I want to be more careful with my words and strategically use them to edify and build up my wife. Maybe this article will challenge you, too. “Your marriage should be like the “Home on the Range,” “where seldom is heard a discouraging word and the skies are not cloudy all day.” The best marriages are filled with grace that pours forth in enthusiastic encouragement for one another. That’s something worth cheering about.”

How Healthy is Your Soul? By Scott Hubbard

In this article, Scott Hubbard asks six questions that will help you diagnose your spiritual health. I should note that this article will probe the innermost parts of your soul. “The devil uses many weapons in his assault against our soul, but one of the most overlooked is simply time. We are changeable creatures in a long war, called to “resist the devil” not for a day or a week or a year but a life (James 4:7). And spiritual health yesterday does not guarantee spiritual health today. So, at the end of a new year, on the edge of another, let’s stop to take some spiritual vitals. How healthy is your soul?”

6 Ways to Find (and Protect) the Time You Need to Read Books By Tony Reinke

This isn’t a new article, but it is so beneficial that I wanted to share it again. If you want to do a better job of carving out time to read books in 2025, this is the article you need to read. “You don’t need to be a professional book reviewer to read a lot of books. And you don’t need to be brilliant either. But you do need to be purposeful and consistent. And if you can discipline yourself, you will find the time you need to read.”

Battered by Moses? Why We Still Need to Preach the Law By Jared Kenndy

I just started teaching through the Ten Commandments on Sunday evenings at FBC Jackson. This article covers some of the points I mentioned to our church family in my introduction to the Ten Commandments. “God’s law is a word of grace. But it’s a demanding word that graciously shows us that when we pursue life and salvation apart from Christ, we’ll always fail. It’s the gracious word that always batters the old sinful man and leaves him dead. And after it kills, the law is the gracious word that drives us away from ourselves to the perfect One in whom we’re given resurrection life.”

Biblical Optimism for the New Year By Randy Alcorn

A pessemistic Christian is an enigma. Christians ought to be the most optimistic and hopeful people on the planet. Our future is bright, indescribably and gloriously bright! “What we need is a perspective on our coming year that’s hopeful, yet grounded in eternal certainties. No Christian should be a pessimist. We should be realists—focused on the actuality that we serve a sovereign and gracious God. Because of the reality of Christ’s atoning sacrifice and His promises, biblical realism is, ultimately, optimism.”

Article Roundup: Helpful Reads

philipmcduffie Leave a comment

Is Living Together Before Marriage Really a Sin? by Daniel Darling

The short answer is yes. But, for a detailed biblical explanation that includes practical reasons for not living together, read this article by Daniel Darling. “Our bodies aren’t autonomous. We belong to our Creator. We’re not our own. What’s more, we’re indwelled by God’s Spirit as his temple (1 Cor. 6:15–20). So sexual activity outside marriage is a serious sin against God. It’s not unforgivable. It’s not beyond God’s redeeming and restoring grace. But what we do with our bodies matters to God, and if we’re committed to following Jesus, we’ll be committed to following his plan for our lives, including sex.”

Have You Lost the Ability to Think Deeply? by Lydia Kinne

I don’t want to fall prey to brain rot! That said, this article motivated me to delete some social media apps, pick up a book, and start reading. “We may have gradually and unintentionally adopted our culture’s entertainment habits, but we can purposefully create our own culture of discipline and deep thinking. Proverbs 1:5 implores us, ‘Let the wise hear and increase in learning, and the one who understands obtain guidance.’ Our society desperately needs more people who can think wisely, discern clearly, and guide the next generation in God’s truth. It sounds like a big task, but it can start with something as small as turning off the TV and picking up a good book.”

What “Christmas Spirit” Should Actually Mean by J.I. Packer

The great doctrine of the Incarnation of the Son of God encourages Christians to live humble lives marked by sacrificial service. “The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob. For the Christmas spirit is the spirit of those who, like their Master, live their whole lives on the principle of making themselves poor—spending and being spent—to enrich their fellow men, giving time, trouble, care, and concern, to do good to others—and not just their own friends—in whatever way there seems need. There are not as many who show this spirit as there should be.”

Take Heed Lest You Fall into an Affair by Alan Nobile

Unfortunately, due to our sinful nature, Alan Noble’s warning is necessary. That said, you should read and take heed! “In the past few years we’ve seen it happen to pastors and theologians and apologists and lay Christians who otherwise appear to live righteous, holy lives and who preach the gospel faithfully. It can happen to you and it can happen to me. So what are we to do?”

The Darkness Does Not Win by Kevin DeYoung

Be encouraged! The darkness DID NOT and WILL NOT overcome the light. “That baby was really born, to a real virgin, just as the prophets foretold. He lived. He died. He rose from the dead on the third day. He is coming again. We know that the darkness will not be victorious over the world, because it was not victorious over the One through whom the world was made. If God can summon light into existence when there was only darkness, surely he can send his light into the world with assurance of complete success, no matter how impossible the odds. For this is the miracle and the wonder of Christmas: The Light of the world was born in the darkness of night, as the Word of God lay in the manger unable to speak a syllable.”

Article Roundup: Helpful Reads

philipmcduffie Leave a comment

Here’s a roundup of profitable articles and blogs that I have read over the past couple of weeks. Perhaps one will interest you.

The Tragedy of IVF by Carl R. Truman

Carl Trueman discusses the tragedy of IVF, an issue that Christians should pay much more attention to. “While I do not deny the humanity of the child born by IVF or surrogacy, the procedures do. The child in the womb is treated not as a person but as a thing, not as a subject but as an object, not as intrinsically valuable but as having value only as instrumental to some other end. This is something that many Christians fail to see.”

When the Blind See and the Seeing are Blind by Mitch Chase

The Bible frequently uses physical maladies to illustrate spiritual maladies. Mitch Chase delves into how Scripture uses physical blindness to reveal spiritual blindness. “A person’s spiritual perception—or lack thereof—is revealed in how they respond to Jesus. The man who confessed Jesus is the one who truly sees. And these Pharisees, these teachers and leaders in Israel, are blind.”

The Doctrine of the Bible and a Pastor’s Ministry by Andreas Kosteberger

The Bible is crucial for effective, fruitful, and productive ministry. Andreas Kostenberger provides a brief overview of why this is the case. “The Bible is unlike any other book. It is a library of 66 books. And it is not just an ancient artifact; it is alive! Through the Bible, God still speaks today. At the same time, the Bible contains diverse literary genres and thus requires careful interpretation. Yet the Bible is not a law book but a story about God’s love in Christ. The Bible is sufficient for all of life and espouses the life-giving truth of God.”

The Harvest is Plentiful and the Workers Won’t Stay by Krista Horn

I knew there was always a need for more missionaries, but I was unaware that many of those who are sent do not stay in the field for very long. “Although the lack of workers for the harvest has been a persistent problem since the time of Christ, nowadays there is a new and noticeable trend in missions: those who go don’t necessarily stay. The definition of what it means “to stay” will differ from one person to the next. I won’t attempt to argue that point since I don’t have a concrete answer myself. What I’m pondering is the noticeable shift in less missionaries staying for an entire career or even a lifetime, compared to our predecessors throughout history.”

We Won’t Do Nothing for Eternity by Benjamin L. Gladd

Many people lack understanding about the eternal state, particularly concerning what glorified saints will do for all of eternity on the New Earth. Thankfully, Benjamin Gladd provides us with some clarity. “According to a recent survey, roughly 73 percent of adults in the United States believe in heaven. Drilling down further, about 60 percent believe the afterlife entails a future free of suffering where we’ll have “perfectly healthy bodies.” But I suspect the majority have thought little about what they’ll do in these bodies for all eternity. This article considers what activities the church will perform for eternity as described in Revelation 22.”

10 Theories of the Atonement by Kevin DeYoung

Kevin DeYoung goes over 10 theories of the atonement. I was unaware of half of them! “Over the centuries, theologians have articulated several different theories or models of the atonement. Most of the models get something right, though some are much closer to the mark than others. We will look at ten models, concluding with penal substitution, which is at the heart of the atonement and the “theory” that holds all the biblical insights of the other theories together.”

How Good is the Steadfast Love of God?

philipmcduffie Leave a comment

Psalm 63:3

Within Psalm 63, David says, “Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you” (Psalm 63:3). As you can see, David places two good things before him, the steadfast love of God and life, and compares them. In order to understand the beauty of what is being said here, we need to first understand what David means by steadfast love of God as well as life. Let’s begin by looking at what David means by the steadfast love of God.

Steadfast Love

Within Scripture, the steadfast love of God, in this particular context, is the loyal, faithful, and unfailing love that God had shown Israel because of the relationship He had with them. And in the Bible, we see that the steadfast love of God leads God to redeem his people from their enemies, to preserve them from death, to give them spiritual life, to forgive them of their sins, and to keep his covenant with them (Ex. 15:13; Ps. 86:13; Ps. 119:159; Ps. 25:7; Neh. 1:5). This is the steadfast love of God. It is that loyal, faithful, and unfailing love that God shows his people by being a hundred percent for them rather than against them. Now let’s look at what David means by life.

Life

By life, David means the good, valuable gift of living in this world and, inevitably, all the good things that comes with living in this world. By all the good things, I simply mean things like kids, a loving spouse, business success, honor and glory, sex, entertainment, food, drink, etc. Though that was probably obvious, it was helpful for us to ponder nonetheless.

Comparing Them

The reason it was helpful for us to ponder is because David places the steadfast love of God and the good valuable gift of living in this world together for the purposes of comparing them. And when he does compare them, he ends up saying that the steadfast love of God is better than life. Or to put it another way, “The steadfast love of God is better than life. O! it would be better not to have lived than to have lived without knowing the steadfast love of God!”

These are amazing words. David is rightly esteeming the steadfast love of God. And, when it comes to us personally, as New Covenant Christians, we ought to be able to say this with the same level of earnestness as David. For, when you think about it, we have seen more redemptive history than David. Therefore, we have more evidence that enables us to better see the infinite value of God’s steadfast love.

Steadfast Love in Christ

Just think about it. We have seen God show his steadfast love for us by sending His own Son, Jesus Christ, into this world to be a wrath appeasing substitute on our behalf. We have seen him raise Jesus from the dead and exalt him to His right hand showing us that Jesus Christ is a faithful High Priest who always lives to make intercession for us. And we have seen Him give us the Holy Spirit to enable us to put sin to death and to live to the glory of God. Then, as if all that were not enough, we have seen him elaborate on how unfailing his steadfast, never-failing, and unceasing love for us is when he says that nothing will be able to separate us from his love for us in Christ (Rom. 8:39).

Just think about all of that. Isn’t it apparent that the steadfast love of God is better than life? This is the testimony of the Scriptures and, in all honesty, it ought to be engraved on the tombstone of every martyr that has died for the sake of Christ! For, is this not what they were testifying to when they poured out their blood unto death for Christ?

Martyrs Testified to this Truth

Wasn’t Stephen, not with his mouth but with his life, saying that the steadfast love of God is better than life when he was being stoned to death for his faithful preaching of the gospel in Acts 7? Or think about Lady Jane Grey, a strong Christian woman who lived during the reign of Bloody Mary. Was she not saying with her actions that the steadfast love of God is better than life when she placed her head on the execution block and prayed to Jesus, saying, “Lord, into thy hands I commit my spirit”? And then they severed her head because of her faith in Jesus.

And think about John Bradford. In the year of 1555, during the reign of Bloody Mary, he and John Leaf where tied to a stake to be burned alive for their faith in Jesus. As the fire was about to begin, John Bradford turned to John Leaf and said, “Be of good comfort brother, for we shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night.” Every martyr throughout church history testified to the truth that the steadfast love of God is better than life.

We Should Testify to this Truth

And, as Christians, this ought to be our testimony as well. We ought to look to the heavens and tell God the Father that his steadfast love is better than life. We ought to look to friends and remind them of this precious truth. And we ought to look at the enemies of Christ and inform that they can take away our possessions, families, reputations, and even your own lives because the steadfast love of God in Christ is infinitely more valuable than all of it.

What God the Father has done for us in Christ Jesus our Lord is better than life. Spurgeon put this so beautifully when he said, “Life is dear, but God’s love is dearer. To dwell with God is better than life at its best; life at ease, in a palace, in health, in honor, in wealth, in pleasure; yea, a thousand lives are not equal to the eternal life which abides in Jehovah’s smile.” Ponder on this truth today. Be enraptured by it. And, just as David mentioned in this verse, let this truth lead your lips to praise the God that has been pleased to make you a recipient of His steadfast love.