Yah. I didn’t BLINK before I downloaded this! Acting the Miracle: God’s Work and Ours in the Mystery of Sanctification

Marty Bodrog  

When Tim Challies strongly recommends a book, I usually enjoy it and learn a lot too. Such is the case with David Murray’s, Jesus on Every Page: Ten Simply Ways to Seek and Find Christ in the Old Testament. Today’s reading from the chapter entitled Christ’s Promises contained this gem: “Previous administrations of the covenant of grace, especially the Mosaic administration, were so encumbered with external elements and ceremonies as to be comparatively carnal. The new covenant is more spiritual, more focused on the inward life. The covenants in both Testaments reveal a God who desires relationship with His people, a desire that finds ultimate spiritual satisfaction only through Jesus Christ.   The…

I was looking through Pastor Thabiti Anyabwile’s blog today for an article on leadership that I wanted to re-read and I stumbled upon two posts he did a few years ago on my video series: The Gospel and Peacemaking Women The Gospel and Peacemaking Women Part 2 I was so blessed by his comments and I thought they might be helpful to you if you are trying to think through whether this study might be a good fit for your church’s women. (Plus, honestly, our family could use a little income to help with some upcoming, kinda scary, bills so it’d be a blessing to us if you click on…

I’m reviewing Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love (by Jerry Bridges) for our “True Woman Discussion Course” tomorrow and I thought some excerpts might bless you too. Enjoy! “The grace of God is one of the most important subjects in all of Scripture. At the same time it is probably one of the least understood. All Christians by definition believe in grace. Many of us frequently quote Paul’s well-known words in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.” And John Newton’s beloved hymn, “Amazing Grace”…

I can’t stop thinking about what I read this morning in Jude: “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way …” Jude 1:14-15 What could have been so awful? So sinful?   “These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.” Jude 1:16 I can’t stop thinking about this. What is so awful? Complaining and being ungrateful. 

Thanks to Random Number Generator, Amanda W. is our winner for the video series! Please just make sure I have your mailing address, Amanda, and I’ll have that mailed out to you hopefully tomorrow.  Congrats and thanks everyone for joining in the fun! Blessings, Tara B. 

Fred told me he was thinking of my summer in Outer Mongolia this morning because the water in his shower was SNOW-CAPPED-MOUNTAIN-FREEZING-COLD water, poor dear. Then he went down to our basement to investigate the problem and found a FLOOD. (It gets worse.) And a dead water heater. (We knew this was coming one day because water heaters don’t last for sixty years.) And the only way to remove the water heater and put in a new one required a giant HOLE to be cut in the wall of my office. All of which would be very bad—but I am cringing a THOUSAND times because I left my office in…

I called a church recently on a conciliation-related matter and I was blessed by the most fun conversation with the church secretary. After I introduced myself (and asked for the pastor), it started out something like this: “Tara Barthel? Tara? Barthel?” (Yes.) “You’re a real person!?” (Smiling. Yes.) “We just did your video series and we loved it! I can’t believe I’m speaking with you in real life.” (Well, I’m super happy to get to meet you too. And yes, I’m a real person. My three year-old just came in, climbed on my lap, and spilled something all over me …) What a nice way to start the day. I…