Dear Friends, Recently a friend asked me to explain what it means to be “justified”. It took me by surprise, as my friend is not a new believer, and he's been involved in ministry for several years. So my assumption was that he was already very familiar with this basic Christian doctrine. But as I began to talk with him, I realized that "justification" is one of those terms we hear thrown around by our pastors a lot, but don't always have an understanding of what it means to us on a practical level. In it's most basic form, “justification” is a word that declares the “rightness” of something. And not just symbolic or potential, but actual rightness. The Apostle Paul describes it this wa

Dear friends, The Bible clearly teaches us that, as believers, we can triumph over sorrow. That’s a truth I’ve been holding on to over the past several days as we’ve been processing the loss of a good friend who recently took his own life. As I’ve wrestled with the reality of our loss, the Lord has given me great comfort in the promise He gives in Psalms 30:11-12, which says, “You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever!” This is actually one of my favorite promises in the Bible, as it reminds me that God will help us t