Ray

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Ray’s Blog

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  • I can't" is relative"
    August 13, 2010
    Jani Ortlund
    It was late at night after a long and alarming day at the hospital trying to figure out what was causing our daughter so much trouble with her second pregnancy....
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  • Financial Brooding
    September 14, 2010
    Jani Ortlund
    Worry eats at us. It mires our hearts in apprehension and fear. It saps our strength and drains our peace. And that worry tempts us to believe the myth that...
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  • It was only a thing""
    September 21, 2010
    Jani Ortlund
    While we were living in Scotland, my husband’s parents stopped to visit us on their way back to the USA after ministering in India. Their work had been fruitful, but...
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  • Being all there" for your kids"
    October 5, 2010
    Jani Ortlund
    Being a mother is just plain, hard work. At times, it feels like slave labor! Moms can identify with the cartoon of a toddler looking at a wedding album with his...
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  • The Six-Second Kiss
    May 18, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    What can six seconds do for you? Woman to woman, let me encourage you that just six seconds a day can help safeguard your marriage.
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  • Missional Mothering
    May 18, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Young mother, it seems like everyone wants something from you. And you’re probably already giving way more than you ever thought you could give. But even with all your giving,...
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  • For the Young Mother: Ministry, Guilt, and Seasons of Life
    May 18, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Someone is going to be influencing your children, inculcating values and imprinting standards on their impressionable young minds. Let it be you!
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  • Do you mean I Can't or I Won't?
    August 27, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    There are some things I truly can’t do—I can’t win an Olympic gold medal, I can’t figure out calculus, I can’t bear another child of my own. And I’m fine...
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  • Here I am, or There you are?
    September 12, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    It is not an infrequent experience of mine. I am getting ready for a new Bible study or luncheon or neighborhood picnic or PTA meeting or family reunion and an...
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  • A Sacred Trust: Reflections on Discipling Women
    September 14, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Many of us hunger for meaningful Christian togetherness. We attend church seeking friendship and community, but often leave disappointed. To be part of Christ’s body means growing in deeper fellowship than...
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  • Video - Making Disciple-Making Disciples
    October 3, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Jennie Allen talks with Mary Mohler and Jani Ortlund about the command and privilege of leading others in the way of Jesus.
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  • Think of the Alternative…
    October 19, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    By now, many of you are settling into life without that college freshman you dropped off a couple months ago. Perhaps, like me, the adjustment to empty nesting has been...
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  • Empty Nest or Open Nest?
    October 25, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    A whole new way of looking at your empty nest. Do this, and it won't be empty long!
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  • Submission: An Age-Old Struggle
    November 9, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Ultimately, a wife's submission doesn't say as much about her view of marriage as it does about her view of God.
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  • The Leadership Lament
    November 23, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    How do you get your husband to lead you? A look at the right way and the wrong way from the lives of Mary and Sarah.
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  • When Your Soul Needs Rest
    December 18, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    Jani shares about one particularly difficult December and unpacks Psalm 62:1.
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  • My Favorite Christmas Word
    December 19, 2012
    Jani Ortlund
    This Christmas, let Jani's favorite word guide your thoughts, words, actions, and feelings.
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  • Making Noble Plans
    January 28, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    God's Word tells us to ponder and to plan. These six questions will help you do just that as you continue on into 2013.
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  • A Sneak Peek at My Lifetime Goals
    January 30, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Peek over Jani's shoulder at five of her lifetime goals—as well as how she broke them down into measurable goals for 2013.
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  • Ponder Anew…
    February 19, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Four-year-old Lizzie feels certain God will enter sympathetically into her world, her pain. How about you?
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  • Praying for Your Little Princess
    February 28, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Prayers Jani prays for her little princess.
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  • Praying for Your Little Prince
    March 1, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Prayers Jani prays for the precocious little princes in her life.
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  • Flakey Peter
    March 28, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Just as he saw Peter, Christ doesn't see you as who you are today, but as who you will be!
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  • Thank You, Edith
    April 4, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Edith Schaeffer passed away this week, but her legacy lives on.
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  • Your Faith… How Genuine Is It?
    April 26, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    There's only one way to find out…
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  • Hope from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
    May 6, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    What little Isaiah Daniel Ortlund can teach us about our forever home…
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  • Seven Ways to Love Your Pastor's Wife Well
    May 31, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Do you know a pastor's wife? Would you like to bless her? After forty-one years in a ministry marriage, here are some ways our people have blessed me.
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  • The Secret, Silent Bleeding of a Working Mother's Heart
    June 10, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    After being married for nineteen years, I had to go back to work. I was torn because I couldn't give 100 percent to both callings, and both our home and...
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  • Building a Palace for the Soul
    June 24, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    When Proverbs tells us "the wise woman builds her home," it obviously doesn't mean we must get hammer and nails and actually construct it, though I do have friends who...
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  • Meal Magic
    July 3, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Has your home become little more than a place for everyone to shower and sleep? Jani encourages us to rediscover the rewards of daily connecting as a family over a...
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  • Does Your Home Show God To Those Around You?
    July 19, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Each home has its own distinct atmosphere. What does yours feel like? Jani Ortlund encourages you to build an environment where God's love and care will be real to all...
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  • Cracking the Code of Discipleship
    August 15, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Discipleship isn't about first-class Christians trying to bring second-class Christians up to their level. The most important way you can disciple others is by enjoying Christ yourself in such an...
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  • A Video Plus Twelve Practical Discipleship Ideas
    August 16, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    We must cultivate in our sphere of influence—our homes, neighborhoods, workplaces, churches—spiritual daughters who in turn can pass the Truth on. The younger women among us are our sacred trust...
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  • Is There Any Hope For My Marriage?
    September 2, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    "I had no feeling, no hope—none. I blamed my husband. Before marriage I had high expectations and then total disappointment. I gave more condemnation than love. But now I realize...
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  • I Witnessed a Miracle This Week
    September 19, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    My forty-two-year-old single friend never thought her miracle would come driving from the west in a white suburban filled with children who would change her life in such dramatic ways....
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  • Help For Hurting Marriages
    September 21, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    Listen to Jani's breakout session talk from the Revive '13 conference.
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  • How To Soak The Next Generation In God's Word
    November 11, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    No book has affected the world more deeply. How can we raise Bible soaked and saturated children?
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  • When God's Will Is Hard
    November 21, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    What words do you use with God after the "do not resuscitate" papers have been signed? How do you pray for your friend as you hold her hand and she...
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  • Lessons Learned From Mom Ortlund
    November 29, 2013
    Jani Ortlund
    My mother-in-law died on November 4, and I miss her so. She was a radiant, life-giving servant of Christ who loved me—and many others—with all her heart. We walk in...
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  • In Light of Eternity
    January 21, 2014
    Jani Ortlund
    These past few months have taught me that soon, very soon, my earthly race will be over. How can I go deeper with God, give myself more devotedly to His...
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  • Casseroles, Cookies, and Christ: A Plea for Mentors
    March 24, 2014
    Jani Ortlund
    She needed me to call back to her, to tell her she'd find Jesus in her journey, and that He was worth every penny, every tear, every effort expended.
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  • Men Hear with Their Eyes
    May 15, 2014
    Jani Ortlund
    I took it personally when he didn't agree with me, adding hurt to the emotional mix I now had to process. I didn't know how to communicate with this man...
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  • Modesty, Beauty, and Men. Why Should We Care?
    July 15, 2014
    Jani Ortlund
    We live in a day of exhibitionism, and summer exaggerates the desire for more skin to be shown. Yet, our appearance is one of the most powerful ways we have...
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  • CHRISTMAS TRADITIONS: FOR PROGRESS AND JOY IN THE FAITH
    December 15, 2014
    Jani Ortlund
    "What are some of your family Christmas traditions?" our young friend recently asked us over dinner—not an uncommon question this time of year. Christmas, more than any other holiday, seems...
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  • How a Mom Fights for Joy
    May 4, 2015
    Jani Ortlund
    One of the best ways to grow as a mom is to learn from experienced moms who have gone before us. Today we'll do that as Nancy speaks to Jani...
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  • Courage is unanswerable
    June 10, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . and not frightened in anything by your opponents.  This is a clear sign to them of their destruction, but of your salvation, and that from God.”  Philippians 1:28 When...
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  • Where the battle rages
    June 11, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at...
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  • . . . if not a martyr’s death
    June 14, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “I spent the day chiefly alone, seeking personal holiness, the fundamental requirement in order to a successful ministry.  I was in Burleigh Castle for an hour . . . ....
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  • Elisabeth Elliot, 1926-2015
    June 15, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    She embraced the secret to practical Christianity, the very thing we today are most disinclined to: “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the...
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  • Living well
    June 16, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Isaac Hann was a little-known Baptist pastor who served a small church in Loughwood, England, in the mid-18th century.  At the close of his ministry the membership of his church...
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  • . . . if only God forgave
    June 17, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Then began a meeting the like of which I had never seen before, nor wish to see again, unless in God’s sight it is absolutely necessary.  Every sin a human...
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  • Behind the violence is the lie
    June 18, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let us not forget that violence does not exist alone and cannot survive in isolation; it is inevitably bound up with the lie. Between them there is the most intimate, most...
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  • Everything just so
    June 24, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    The Countess of Huntingdon recalled the funeral service of Rev. Howell Harris in 1773: “On the day Mr. Harris was interred we had some special seasons of Divine influence both upon...
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  • What is marriage, according to the Bible?
    June 26, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.  Genesis 2:24 It is not true that the Bible teaches...
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  • Marriage Through Gospel Eyes: A Sweet, Permanent Complication
    July 1, 2015
    Jani Ortlund
    Can you love your husband the way God loves you? God doesn’t just tolerate you, in the Bible—He embraces you. Let’s not be wives who tolerate their husbands. Let’s embrace...
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  • Marriage Through Gospel Eyes: Loving the Way God Loves You
    July 2, 2015
    Jani Ortlund
    Can you love your husband the way God loves you? God doesn’t just tolerate you, in the Bible—He embraces you. Let’s not be wives who tolerate their husbands. Let’s embrace...
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  • Oppressive moral fervor
    July 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.  It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent...
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  • Marriage Through Gospel Eyes: Living as Mrs. Grace
    July 3, 2015
    Jani Ortlund
    When you’re frightened by the call to submit in 1 Peter 3, trust God. He is faithful to you. Ultimately, it’s not that you trust your husband, but that you...
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  • There, given, clear, rich
    July 3, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Suddenly, after ten thousand years of myth and history, we find ourselves floundering in a marsh.  The footing upon which our forebears proceeded through life has fallen away and we...
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  • Honorable manhood
    July 3, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
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  • Fourth of July Americana
    July 4, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
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  • The very essence of authentic Christianity
    July 4, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Though you have not seen him, you love him.  Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with...
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  • Booker T
    July 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
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  • Are we preaching Christ or preaching about Christ?
    July 7, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “My wife always says the most important thing about the man as a preacher was, you didn’t notice him.  He came quietly into the pulpit, started quietly, and then something...
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  • When to cover, when to confront
    July 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Love covers a multitude of sins.  1 Peter 4:8 Rebuke those who contradict sound doctrine.  Titus 1:9 When should we cover another Christian, and when should we confront another Christian?  The categories that guide...
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  • 2015 is the new 1968
    July 10, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    I remember the tumultuous days of 1968.  The top stories of that year included the murder of Martin Luther King Jr. in April.  Two months later, in June, Robert Kennedy...
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  • Only God remained, and to God they turned
    July 11, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “In Kiev, where I found myself on a Sunday morning, on an impulse I turned into a church where a service was in progress.  It was packed tight, but I...
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  • Your church can be a gospel culture
    July 14, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    The paper I read at the April TGC conference in Orlando — “How to build a gospel culture in your church” — is here: Paper Thanks for your interest.  I hope it...
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  • Pioneers of a new humanity
    July 15, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Without going into wearisome historical details, we need to remember that these letters were written, and the lives they indicate were led, against a background of paganism.  There...
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  • God bearing witness
    July 16, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Dawa . . . also told me that after the killing she saw cowodi above the trees, singing.  She didn’t know what this kind of music was until she...
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  • As we prepare to preach tomorrow
    July 18, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.  2 Timothy 2:15 Do your...
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  • My song is love unknown
    July 19, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
      The power of grace: “Love to the loveless shown, that they might lovely be.” This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Jesus is all the world to me
    July 20, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Pride of man
    July 21, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Hallelujah
    July 22, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • All praise to the name of the Savior who reigns
    July 23, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • When I survey the wondrous cross
    July 24, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    The greatest hymn ever composed? This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Job, broken friendships and reconciliation
    July 27, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Yesterday I posted this tweet: “Job chapter 42 is hope for broken friendships.  God can reconcile.  It does include some honest revisiting of the past.”  Some friends then asked me...
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  • God is satisfied
    July 29, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Christ’s righteousness is so imputed to believers that their justification is not merely the act of a sovereign dispensing with law but the act of a judge declaring the law...
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  • The glory Calvin’s eyes could see
    July 30, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “The little birds that sing, sing of God; the beasts clamor for him; the elements dread him, the mountains echo him, the fountains and flowing waters cast their glances at...
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  • Jackson
    August 1, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    How I got over How did I make it over You know my soul looks back in wonder How did I make it over How I made it over Going on over all these years You...
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  • “I die believing these words”
    August 4, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Robert Bruce, the disciple of John Knox and Andrew Melville, died at Kinnaird on July 27th, 1631.  He had come to breakfast and his younger daughter sat by his side. ...
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  • The secret to freedom
    August 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “What happens within a person at that moment when, suddenly torn out of an ordinary life, he is thrust under the jurisdiction of merciless and powerful forces which appear to...
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  • Want to be remembered in 20 years?
    August 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Of all the albums that formed the soundtrack to 1967’s ‘Summer of Love,’ The Doors is the one least tethered to its time.  More importantly, The Doors’ self-titled disc remains...
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  • Performance in Music City USA
    August 7, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Performance counts here in Music City USA.  And why not?  Everyone wants to shine, we do look for excellence, and there really is a lot of impressiveness around.  In fact,...
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  • The power of the Holy Spirit today
    August 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    WorshipGod15: Main Session 4 from Sovereign Grace Music on Vimeo. I thank my friend Bob Kauflin for the privilege of serving at the wonderful WorshipGod15 conference in Louisville last week. This post...
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  • Is the Sabbath still relevant?
    August 13, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.”  Exodus 20:8 Let’s not dictate Sabbath observance today.  The point of the Sabbath is a dress rehearsal for a future eternity of glad...
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  • God for us, or God against us?
    August 19, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    God is for us.  Romans 8:31 But I have this against you.  Revelation 2:4.  See also 2:14, 20; 3:3. So, which is it?  Is God for us, or is God against us? ...
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  • Prophetic power today
    August 25, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “There is not one of who did not receive this new certainty of God in such a way that the whole previous pattern of his life,...
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  • All are welcome here
    August 26, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “The cross of Jesus displays the most awful exhibition of God’s hatred of sin and at the same time the most august manifestation of his readiness to pardon it.  Pardon,...
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  • A Minister’s Inner Life
    August 28, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Chief corruptions to be watched against: sourness, sadness, timorousness, forgetfulness, fretting, and inability to bear wrongs . . . . Let me resolutely set myself to walk with God through the...
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  • The exuberant goodness of the Creator
    August 31, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “We hence see the exuberant goodness of the Creator, who hath not only provided for all the necessities, but also for the pleasure and recreation of all sorts of creatures,...
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  • Breakthrough power
    September 1, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Because its purpose is entertainment, and because people are more easily amused by the comical and ridiculous than by the noble and edifying, sensate art readily resorts to comedy, farce,...
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  • Is your church a culture of safety?
    September 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have seen so much emotional blackmail in my ministry, I am jealous to raise a warning against it.  Emotional blackmail happens when a person equates his or her emotional...
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  • Is not Christ the first and the last?
    September 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    John Wesley, writing to William Law: London, May 14, 1738. Reverend Sir, It is in obedience to what I think to be the call of God that I, who have the sentence of...
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  • Disillusionment
    September 3, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “The minute a person becomes a celebrity is the same minute he/she becomes a monster.  were once perfectly pleasant human beings with whom you might lunch...
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  • Can a label edify?
    September 4, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    My TGC ally Rick Phillips makes some good points in his post, “Church Discipline, Contemporary Grace Style”.  I thank him for those points. Tullian Tchividjian is my friend too.  As far...
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  • Vaughan
    September 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    HT: Eric Ortlund This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • How Edwards defined the meaning of life
    September 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “In the Edwardses’ world, the meaning of life was found in intense loves, including earthly loves.” George M. Marsden, Jonathan Edwards: A Life (New Haven, 2003), page 497. If I were in...
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  • The gospel, even the gospel, without love
    September 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “If we are Christians and do not have upon us the calling to respond to the lostness of the lost and a compassion for those of our kind, our orthodoxy...
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  • Outdo one another in showing honor
    September 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Outdo one another in showing honor.”  Romans 12:10 “They who avow the doctrines distinguished by the name of Calvinistic, ought, if consistent with their own principles, to be most gentle and...
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  • A responsive reading for 9/11
    September 11, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Leader:  “Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord.  “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.” All:  And Cain said to his brother Abel,...
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  • Five marks of revived churches
    September 12, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    J. I. Packer, writing in God in our Midst (Ann Arbor, 1987), pages 24-35, proposes that, among the variety of God’s ways, five constants appear in biblical revivals: 1.  Awareness of...
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  • At any cost, in any way, through any means
    September 15, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is one thing to love the Lord and His service, and quite something else to have an inexpressible longing for revival that cannot be denied.  It is one thing...
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  • Never better
    September 16, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Be not afraid at His sweet, lovely and desirable cross, for although I have not been able because of my wounds to lift up or lay down my head but...
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  • New Renewal Ministries website
    September 16, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Jani and I are excited to let our friends know about the new website at Renewal Ministries: www.renewalministries.com.  RM exists because everyone needs renewal.  The gospel assures us that “the...
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  • Gospel doctrine, gospel culture
    September 17, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture.  The doctrine of grace creates a culture of grace, as Jesus himself touches us through his truths.  Without the doctrines, the culture alone is...
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  • A beautiful alternative
    September 18, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Revival occurs as a group of people who, on the whole, think they already know the gospel discover they do not really or fully know it, and by embracing the...
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  • Tozer: pathways into revival
    September 20, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    1.  Get thoroughly dissatisfied with yourself.  Complacency is the deadly enemy of spiritual progress. . . . When speaking of earthly goods Paul could say, “I have learned to be content,”...
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  • Movement, monument, mausoleum
    September 21, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Some years ago a friend of mine used these three simple categories to objectify the stages of a church’s rise and fall. Movement A healthy church is born as a burst of...
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  • What it means to be revival-ready
    September 23, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “I cannot pray but I sin.  I cannot hear or preach a sermon but I sin.  I cannot give an alms or receive the sacrament but I sin.  Nay, I...
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  • If you can only groan or sob or sigh
    September 24, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “If you can cry out to Jesus, he will joyfully hear you.  If you will give him no rest, he will give you all the rest you need.  The Lord...
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  • The greatest enemies
    September 25, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    But just as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.  Galatians 4:29 “The...
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  • Gospel culture sets a new tone
    September 25, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”  Psalm 16:3 As for the saints in the land.  They are in Christ. ...
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  • The Awakening Seminar
    September 26, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Next Saturday, October 3rd, at Vintage Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, it will be my privilege to teach on spiritual awakening. What does awakening or revival look like?...
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  • How to advance the great work of God in our time
    September 28, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “At such a day as this, God especially calls his people to the exercise of extraordinary meekness and mutual forbearance.  Christ appears as it were coming in his kingdom, which...
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  • Honorable, holy, useful, ready
    October 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable.  Therefore, if anyone...
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  • Hello world!
    October 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing! This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Multiple Paragraph Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi...
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  • Image Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi...
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  • Blockquote Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi...
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  • Headers Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This Is An H1 Tag Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud...
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  • UL and OL Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi...
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  • Links Post
    October 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi...
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  • Our falls and bruises
    October 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “After conversion we need bruising, that reeds may know themselves to be reeds and not oaks.  Even reeds need bruising by reason of the remainder of pride in our nature,...
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  • Post with Gallery
    October 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Post of quotation
    October 8, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Voluptatem sit deserunt tenetur, iure totam maiores eius fuga iste maxime cumque molestiae perferendis ratione neque cupiditate numquam corrupti facilis, sunt tempore. This post...
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  • Do you have a theology of the body?
    October 12, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ?  1 Corinthians 6:15 Our bodies, the humblest part of us, are members of Christ, limbs of Christ, organs of Christ. ...
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  • Listening is living
    October 14, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works.  To the age-old question, ‘What shall I...
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  • Steve Brown in Nashville
    October 16, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    As part of our ongoing Peace In The City series, Steve Brown will be speaking this evening from 7 to 9 at Immanuel Nashville, with open Q&A.  All are welcome. ...
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  • Off this week
    October 18, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Back soon.  God be with you. This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Let us not be the spot-finders
    October 25, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “We should be merciful to one another in seeking never to look at the worst side of a brother’s character.  Oh, how quick some are to spy out other people’s...
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  • The great experience
    October 26, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “For how many a soldier in a concentration camp, weak with hunger and smarting under the whip of the torturers; for how many a person huddling in the last extremity...
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  • Proverbs 5:19
    October 27, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let her breasts fill you at all times with delight; be intoxicated always in her love.”  Proverbs 5:19 “The quality of her lovemaking is totally satisfying, and its quantity unending. ....
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  • A blunt, glorious, opposed doctrine
    October 28, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “You must be born again.”  John 3:7 You.  This is personal.  If I change the subject to someone else’s need, that could be evidence I have not been born again.  If...
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  • Petty
    October 28, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • The most dangerous thing we have
    October 29, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!  And the tongue is a fire . . . set on fire by hell.  James 3:5-6 “James tells us...
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  • When God seems unreal
    October 30, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all...
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  • Preaching flows from deep within
    November 3, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    The prophets will become wind; the word is not in them.  Jeremiah 5:13 “ are the words of one who has felt himself forced to speak by a greater than human...
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  • “Can he pray down the Holy Spirit?”
    November 5, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Worldliness in the church is the number one enemy, and that comes in when we have unspiritual people, and we have unspiritual people too often because they are nominal Christians. ...
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  • A spreading, not a defeated, goodness
    November 6, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “God’s goodness is a communicative, spreading goodness. . . . If God had not a communicative, spreading goodness, he would never have created the world.  The Father, Son and Holy...
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  • What does it mean for a man to lead his home?
    November 10, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • It would un-Jesus him
    November 18, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.  2 Timothy 2:13 “I tell you, if he were to shut you out, dear soul, whoever you may be,...
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  • They calmly sang on
    November 20, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    John Wesley finally saw how little he knew of Jesus in the middle of the Atlantic, on board the Simmonds, when a storm suddenly broke out.  A group of Moravian...
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  • Young dad, enjoy your kids!
    November 24, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Happy Thanksgiving
    November 25, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars...
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  • Your risen and ascended Savior
    December 1, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “God has provided for your perfect deliverance from sin in Christ.  Everything needed for this purpose was finished by him on the cross.  He was your surety.  He suffered for...
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  • Young dad, you are a husband first
    December 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Is your church racist?
    December 2, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    You are all one in Christ Jesus.  Galatians 3:28 He himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of...
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  • The Savior you could wish for is near you
    December 4, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “Jesus is no longer visible upon earth; but he has promised his spiritual presence to abide with his word, ordinances and people, to the end of time.  Weary and heavy...
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  • Certainty, openness and theological wisdom
    December 9, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Some Christians seem “all certainty.”  Maybe it makes them feel heroic.  But they see too few gray areas.  Everything is a federal case.  They have a fundamentalist mindset. Other Christians seem...
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  • How much difference would it make?
    December 14, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “‘Edith, I wonder what would happen to most churches and Christian work if we awakened tomorrow, and everything concerning the reality and work of the Holy Spirit, and everything concerning...
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  • Does your church need to die, in order to live?
    December 17, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.  John 12:24 My...
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  • Oh, that we were there!
    December 22, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    In dulci jubilo Let us our homage show Our heart’s joy reclineth In praesepio And like a bright star shineth Matris in gremio Alpha es et...
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  • Why it matters that God is our Father
    December 26, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • God’s goodness spreading toward us
    December 27, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    “God’s goodness is a spreading, imparting goodness. . . . God is more willing to bestow good than we are to ask it.  He is so willing to bestow it...
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  • I laugh, I smile, I leap for joy
    December 31, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
      “Glorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take his banner of love and spread it over you.  Others will follow you, if they see you strong in the Lord.  Their...
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  • The Immanuel Mantra
    December 31, 2015
    Ray Ortlund
    Start your New Year with gospel hope! This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • The heart of Jesus
    January 2, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am gentle and lowly in heart.” Matthew 11:29 “Now it is very remarkable that the only passage in the whole New Testament in which the heart of Jesus is distinctly...
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  • Do you believe in common grace?
    January 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Now and then a commenter asks why I post music videos that are not devoted to God.  Most inquiries are courteous.  A few are not.  In any case, here is...
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  • Satriani
    January 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Paul Tripp coming to Nashville
    January 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This public event is free and open to all.  Please register for childcare at ikidsregister.com. The address of Immanuel Church, our venue, is 4301 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, 37209. Join us! Paul...
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  • Romance: a non-ultimate good
    January 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “How can a human being be a god-like ‘everything’ to another?  No human relationship can bear the burden of godhood, and the attempt has to take its toll in some...
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  • For the brokenhearted
    January 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,...
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  • The most important thing my dad taught me
    January 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    I think about my dad a lot.  I miss him so much it aches.  But the most important thing he taught me was this.  There is only one way to...
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  • Himself
    January 12, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.”  Exodus 40:34 In Exodus 40:16-33, Moses assembles the tabernacle.  He does so carefully, thoroughly,...
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  • When God took the work into his own hands
    January 13, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    There are two levels at which God can bless a church.  At one level, God can bless the faithful efforts of the people: “Establish the work of our hands upon...
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  • Not your ordinary food
    January 14, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Penitent sorrow is only a purge to cast out those corruptions which hinder you from relishing your spiritual delights.  Use it therefore as physic , only when there is need,...
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  • Not your ordinary food
    January 14, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Penitent sorrow is only a purge to cast out those corruptions which hinder you from relishing your spiritual delights.  Use it therefore as physic , only when there is need,...
    READ MORE
  • Paul Tripp in Nashville this weekend
    January 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This public event is free and open to all.  Please register for childcare at ikidsregister.com. The address of Immanuel Church, our venue, is 4301 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, 37209. Join us! Peace...
    READ MORE
  • Paul Tripp in Nashville this weekend
    January 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This public event is free and open to all.  Please register for childcare at ikidsregister.com. The address of Immanuel Church, our venue, is 4301 Charlotte Avenue, Nashville, 37209. Join us! Peace...
    READ MORE
  • David Bowie, “Lazarus”
    January 16, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    David Bowie strips away all pleasant denial and faces the reality of death in his song “Lazarus”.  If only the rest of the story had also been told. This post was...
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  • The man who has God
    January 16, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.  Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment...
    READ MORE
  • The man who has God
    January 16, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The man who has God for his treasure has all things in One.  Many ordinary treasures may be denied him, or if he is allowed to have them, the enjoyment...
    READ MORE
  • Not one moment longer
    January 22, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “But in Passion Week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect — ‘That the Jews knew what they did,...
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  • Not one moment longer
    January 22, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “But in Passion Week, as I was reading Bishop Wilson on the Lord’s Supper, I met with an expression to this effect — ‘That the Jews knew what they did,...
    READ MORE
  • America’s greatness, God’s will, raw courage
    January 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • America’s greatness, God’s will, raw courage
    January 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • The Thinking Pastor
    January 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
      Yesterday it was my honor to address the pastors at The Pastors’ Conference of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida.  I thank my friends there for their many kindnesses.  Attached...
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  • The Thinking Pastor
    January 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
      Yesterday it was my honor to address the pastors at The Pastors’ Conference of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida.  I thank my friends there for their many kindnesses.  Attached...
    READ MORE
  • Readpray, studypray, workpray, thinkpray
    February 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am doggedly sworn to irrelevance, insofar as relevance implies a corrupt indebtedness to modernity. . . . My deepest desire as a theologian is to be permitted to study...
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  • Readpray, studypray, workpray, thinkpray
    February 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am doggedly sworn to irrelevance, insofar as relevance implies a corrupt indebtedness to modernity. . . . My deepest desire as a theologian is to be permitted to study...
    READ MORE
  • The deep happiness of heaven
    February 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let us look at our lives in the light of this experience and see whether we gladly glory in weakness, whether we take pleasure, as Paul...
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  • The deep happiness of heaven
    February 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let us look at our lives in the light of this experience and see whether we gladly glory in weakness, whether we take pleasure, as Paul...
    READ MORE
  • How to get traction in thinking
    February 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Proverbs 1:7 “ contains in a nutshell the whole Israelite theory of knowledge. . . . The...
    READ MORE
  • How to get traction in thinking
    February 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Proverbs 1:7 “ contains in a nutshell the whole Israelite theory of knowledge. . . . The...
    READ MORE
  • How to fight for truth
    February 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When the heart is cast into the mould of the doctrine which the mind embraces, . . . when not the sense of the words but of the things is...
    READ MORE
  • How to fight for truth
    February 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When the heart is cast into the mould of the doctrine which the mind embraces, . . . when not the sense of the words but of the things is...
    READ MORE
  • That part of gospel-centeredness we avoid
    February 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The resurgence of a gospel-centered paradigm of life and ministry in our time has the makings of historic revival. Clearly, God is doing great things, and we are glad (Psalm...
    READ MORE
  • That part of gospel-centeredness we avoid
    February 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The resurgence of a gospel-centered paradigm of life and ministry in our time has the makings of historic revival. Clearly, God is doing great things, and we are glad (Psalm...
    READ MORE
  • Amy Carmichael: Unconditionally Surrendered to Her Beloved King
    February 18, 2016
    Jani Ortlund
    Discipleship isn't about first-class Christians trying to bring second-class Christians up to their level. The most important way you can disciple others is by enjoying Christ yourself in such an...
    READ MORE
  • How to promote the great work of Christ in our time
    February 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Two things urgently needed in ministers, if they would attempt great advances for the kingdom of Christ, are zeal and resolve.  Their influence and power for impact are greater than...
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  • How to promote the great work of Christ in our time
    February 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Two things urgently needed in ministers, if they would attempt great advances for the kingdom of Christ, are zeal and resolve.  Their influence and power for impact are greater than...
    READ MORE
  • How the devil comforts us
    February 25, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ...
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  • How the devil comforts us
    February 25, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When the devil accuses us and says, ‘You are a sinner and therefore damned,’ we should answer, ‘Because you say I am a sinner, I will be righteous and saved.’ ...
    READ MORE
  • A pardoned sinner
    February 26, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Consider your state. You are a pardoned sinner, not under the law but under grace, freely, fully saved from the guilt of all your sins. There is none to condemn,...
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  • A pardoned sinner
    February 26, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Consider your state. You are a pardoned sinner, not under the law but under grace, freely, fully saved from the guilt of all your sins. There is none to condemn,...
    READ MORE
  • Quietness before God
    February 27, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “People today are afraid to be alone.  This fear is a dominant mark of our society.  Many now ceaselessly sit in the cinema or read novels about other people’s lives...
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  • Quietness before God
    February 27, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “People today are afraid to be alone.  This fear is a dominant mark of our society.  Many now ceaselessly sit in the cinema or read novels about other people’s lives...
    READ MORE
  • Traveling for a while
    March 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Friends, Jani and I will now be traveling for a bit.  I will be unable to blog during this time.  Thanks for checking in.  God be with you! This post was...
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  • Traveling for a while
    March 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Friends, Jani and I will now be traveling for a bit.  I will be unable to blog during this time.  Thanks for checking in.  God be with you! This post was...
    READ MORE
  • Ministry includes the intangibles of flavor, aroma, vibe
    March 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    A long flight to Asia two weeks ago gave me the time to read Sinclair Ferguson’s wonderful new book, The Whole Christ (Crossway, 2016).  The wisdom of this book guides...
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  • Ministry includes the intangibles of flavor, aroma, vibe
    March 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    A long flight to Asia two weeks ago gave me the time to read Sinclair Ferguson’s wonderful new book, The Whole Christ (Crossway, 2016).  The wisdom of this book guides...
    READ MORE
  • On this Day of days
    March 25, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • The new creation begins
    March 27, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When Jesus expels demons and heals the sick, he is driving out of creation the powers of destruction, and is healing and restoring created beings who are hurt and sick. ...
    READ MORE
  • You don’t deserve this
    March 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have been crucified with Christ.”  Galatians 2:20 So you’re a faithful pastor.  You’re walking with the Lord.  You’re preaching the gospel.  You’re loving the people.  You’re trying to evangelize, teach,...
    READ MORE
  • That’s why
    April 1, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Over half a century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of older people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen...
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  • A humane church: the new world visible even now
    April 2, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Have a reputation for gentleness.  Philippians 4:5, Phillips “One of the nicest compliments I have ever heard about L’Abri was from a young architect who made a profession of faith at...
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  • My soul, as a blank
    April 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have put my soul, as a blank, into the hands of Jesus Christ my Redeemer, and desired him to write upon it what he pleases. I know it will...
    READ MORE
  • This is Christianity
    April 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Possibly one of the most devastating things that can happen to us as Christians is that we cease to expect anything to happen.  I am not sure but that this...
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  • Let’s ponder this Schaeffer quote about once a week — at least
    April 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The central problem of our age is not liberalism or modernism, nor the old Roman Catholicism or the new Roman Catholicism, nor the threat of communism, nor even the threat...
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  • A real theologian
    April 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Augustine expressed his faith not with his heart alone, for the heart does not think . . . nor with his mind alone, for he never grasps truth in the...
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  • How to preach under pressure
    April 28, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    On 15 August 1937, under intense political pressure, Ernst Käsemann preached a sermon in Germany which led to his arrest.  His text was Isaiah 26:13 and these wonderful words, “O...
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  • Grace and Karma
    April 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “ my favorite word in the lexicon of the English language.  It’s a word I’m depending on.  The universe operates by Karma, we all know that.  For every action...
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  • Good morning, Amerika
    May 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Yesterday the Indiana primary confirmed that we are moving into a new America, starting in November.  In past elections, there seemed to be a positive path forward somewhere.  This time,...
    READ MORE
  • Psalm 1: Delight determines destiny
    May 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Psalm 40
    May 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • What real love looks like
    May 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    William Bradford, leader of the Pilgrims, describes the remarkable love with which they cared for one another during that horrible first winter: “But that which was most sad and lamentable was,...
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  • “Share in suffering as a good soldier”
    May 13, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”  2 Timothy 2:3 Very soon I will report in, and so will you.  “For we must all appear before the judgment...
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  • “Walk in love, as Christ loved us”
    May 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant aroma and sacrifice to God.  Ephesians 5:2 We white Christians mean well, but it’s hard...
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  • Amy Carmichael: Unconditionally Surrendered to Her Beloved King
    May 19, 2016
    Jani Ortlund
    Discipleship isn't about first-class Christians trying to bring second-class Christians up to their level. The most important way you can disciple others is by enjoying Christ yourself in such an...
    READ MORE
  • Peter Berger on church members actually converting to Christ
    May 21, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “We would be careful not to circumscribe the conditions under which God’s grace can enter a human life.  However, speaking empirically, we would suppose that conversion to the Christian faith...
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  • Stern optimism
    May 25, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “If you think of this world as a place intended simply for our happiness, you find it quite intolerable; think of it as a place for correction, and it’s not...
    READ MORE
  • Blunt Belloc
    May 28, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “We sit by and watch the Barbarian.  We tolerate him.  In the long stretches of peace we are not afraid.  We are tickled by his irreverence.  His comic inversion of...
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  • Why did God make toads?
    May 29, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This is my grandson.  He is lost in thought, contemplating a toad.  All else has faded away, for a toad is at hand.  And, surely, this is why God made...
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  • The wife of your youth
    May 31, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Be intoxicated always in her love.”  Proverbs 5:19 It’s a good translation.  The verb is used elsewhere for a man staggering in drunkenness (Isaiah 28:7).  The sage’s point is that a...
    READ MORE
  • How to pray before preaching
    May 31, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    I am posting this chapel address by Dr. Hudson T. Armerding at Wheaton College from November 15, 1996, primarily, because of how he prays at the beginning (4:55 to 5:53). ...
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  • Here, now, us
    June 2, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Unbelief says: Some other time, but not now; some other place, but not here; some other people, but not us.  Faith says: Anything He did anywhere else He will do...
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  • “At every word, a reputation dies”
    June 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”  Exodus 20:16 The Westminster Larger Catechism: Q.  What are the duties required in the ninth commandment? A.  The duties required in the ninth commandment...
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  • Free will?
    June 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In the film “Lawrence of Arabia,” after Lawrence has been humbled by his discovery of his own weakness, he and his friend Ali have a conversation: Lawrence: I’ve come to the...
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  • The unBeatitudes
    June 8, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Congratulations to the entitled, for they grab what they want. Congratulations to the carefree, for they shall be comfortable. Congratulations to the pushy, for they shall win. Congratulations to the greedy, for they...
    READ MORE
  • Always something new and fresh
    June 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “There are certain things which have to be said over and over again, of necessity, and yet this is the marvel and the wonder of the cross, that however many...
    READ MORE
  • “Here I am, Lord”
    June 13, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The risen Jesus appeared to a Christian named Ananias and commanded him to go find Saul, now blinded by the glory he had seen on the Damascus Road.  Ananias was...
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  • Literally
    June 14, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The cross is laid on every Christian. The first Christ-suffering which every man must experience is the call to abandon the attachments of this world. It is that dying of...
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  • At any cost, in any way, through any means
    June 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is one thing to love the Lord and His service, and quite something else to have an inexpressible longing for revival that cannot be denied.  It is one thing...
    READ MORE
  • An insight from my dad
    June 19, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,” and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.  Proverbs 24:33-34 “Your danger and...
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  • He knows how to renew us
    June 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The church’s ever-living Head knows how to usher in creative epochs, to rally his people to some converging point through the lapse of centuries, and to gather up under this...
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  • Stretchability
    June 29, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”  Ephesians 3:19 “The definition of ‘fullness’ is neither superiority nor maturity but stretchability.  It means we have...
    READ MORE
  • The Qur’an, the Bible
    June 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Three significant differences between the Qur’an and the Bible are considered here: TheQuran_and_TheBible_handout This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • When the Spirit makes us throw up
    July 1, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I could tell you a case of a man back home, forty-five years old – a pagan, illiterate, who knew nothing about Christ.  Then he was brought by grace, through...
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  • Reformed theology at worship
    July 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    When I fear my faith will fail, Christ will hold me fastWhen the tempter would prevail, He will hold me fastI could never keep my hold through life’s fearful pathFor...
    READ MORE
  • Three compelling questions for us all
    July 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This morning at Immanuel Nashville one of our fine members, Mr. David Tolbert, proposed three compelling questions for us all to consider, with further implications.  With David’s kind permission, I...
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  • Three compelling questions for us all
    July 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    This morning at Immanuel Nashville one of our fine members, Mr. David Tolbert, proposed three compelling questions for us all to consider, with further implications.  With David’s kind permission, I...
    READ MORE
  • Then Christ’s hand reaches out
    July 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let us then as Christians rejoice that we see around us on every hand the decay of the institutions and instruments of power, see intimations of empires falling to pieces,...
    READ MORE
  • Then Christ’s hand reaches out
    July 11, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Let us then as Christians rejoice that we see around us on every hand the decay of the institutions and instruments of power, see intimations of empires falling to pieces,...
    READ MORE
  • Turning to God in great affliction
    July 14, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “In Kiev, where I found myself on a Sunday morning, on an impulse I turned into a church where a service was in progress.  It was packed tight, but I...
    READ MORE
  • Then slowly help rebuild
    July 14, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.  His successor will then pick up the...
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  • Then slowly help rebuild
    July 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “I expect to die in bed, my successor will die in prison, and his successor will die a martyr in the public square.  His successor will then pick up the...
    READ MORE
  • Turning to God in great affliction
    July 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “In Kiev, where I found myself on a Sunday morning, on an impulse I turned into a church where a service was in progress.  It was packed tight, but I...
    READ MORE
  • Daily slogging in the power of the Spirit
    July 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    One of the books from my dad’s library which I received after his death in 2007 was this one: He had his assistant use this book to keep a record of...
    READ MORE
  • Daily slogging in the power of the Spirit
    July 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    One of the books from my dad’s library which I received after his death in 2007 was this one: He had his assistant use this book to keep a record of...
    READ MORE
  • Strife or revival?
    July 27, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is an instructive and solemn fact, brought out in the history of more than one revival, that when a whole neighborhood had been well watered with the showers of...
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  • Strife or revival?
    July 28, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is an instructive and solemn fact, brought out in the history of more than one revival, that when a whole neighborhood had been well watered with the showers of...
    READ MORE
  • Why angels?
    August 1, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . ministering spirits sent out to serve . . . .”  Hebrews 1:14 God sends out angels to serve “those who are to inherit salvation,” as Hebrews 1:14 goes...
    READ MORE
  • Why angels?
    August 2, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . ministering spirits sent out to serve . . . .”  Hebrews 1:14 God sends out angels to serve “those who are to inherit salvation,” as Hebrews 1:14 goes...
    READ MORE
  • Who can fight the Lord’s battles?
    August 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “We should never come to with true Christians without regret and without tears.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  Believe me, evangelicals often have not shown it.  We rush in, being...
    READ MORE
  • Always begin with the fullness, the plenty
    August 3, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I...
    READ MORE
  • Always begin with the fullness, the plenty
    August 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I...
    READ MORE
  • More than a view of Scripture
    August 8, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When you encounter a present-day view of Holy Scripture, you encounter more than a view of Scripture.  What you meet is a total view of God and the world, that...
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  • More than a view of Scripture
    August 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “When you encounter a present-day view of Holy Scripture, you encounter more than a view of Scripture.  What you meet is a total view of God and the world, that...
    READ MORE
  • Nothing more acceptable to the Father
    August 15, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Men are afraid to have good thoughts of God.  They think it is a boldness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, kind, loving.  I speak of saints.  They can...
    READ MORE
  • Nothing more acceptable to the Father
    August 16, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Men are afraid to have good thoughts of God.  They think it is a boldness to eye God as good, gracious, tender, kind, loving.  I speak of saints.  They can...
    READ MORE
  • The heart of a gospel culture
    August 16, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    A gospel-beautified church is defined by the mega-fact that the gospel is good news for bad people.  That good news is preached and sung and memorized and meditated on and...
    READ MORE
  • The heart of a gospel culture
    August 17, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    A gospel-beautified church is defined by the mega-fact that the gospel is good news for bad people.  That good news is preached and sung and memorized and meditated on and...
    READ MORE
  • Happy beyond description
    August 19, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In 1851 a group of British missionaries to Tierra del Fuego was forced to winter in the bitter cold while they waited for their supply ship to arrive.  It came...
    READ MORE
  • Happy beyond description
    August 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In 1851 a group of British missionaries to Tierra del Fuego was forced to winter in the bitter cold while they waited for their supply ship to arrive.  It came...
    READ MORE
  • Real church gets messy, and that’s good
    August 22, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all...
    READ MORE
  • Real church gets messy, and that’s good
    August 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all...
    READ MORE
  • Why books like this matter so much
    August 25, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    There is a reason why a book like Jerry Bridges’ The Blessing of Humility matters so much.  The depth of personal spirituality represented here is not in our DNA.  We...
    READ MORE
  • Why books like this matter so much
    August 26, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    There is a reason why a book like Jerry Bridges’ The Blessing of Humility matters so much.  The depth of personal spirituality represented here is not in our DNA.  We...
    READ MORE
  • Our Immanuel “Week of Waiting”
    August 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    What a week the Lord gave us! Grateful. The post Our Immanuel “Week of Waiting” appeared first on The Gospel Coalition. This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Our Immanuel “Week of Waiting”
    August 31, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    What a week the Lord gave us! Grateful. This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Fifty years ago today
    September 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today, 7 September 1966, my dad and mom gave me a new Bible.  It was my senior year in high school, the first week of two-a-day football...
    READ MORE
  • Fifty years ago today
    September 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today, 7 September 1966, my dad and mom gave me a new Bible.  It was my senior year in high school, the first week of two-a-day football...
    READ MORE
  • Fifty years ago today
    September 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today, 7 September 1966, my dad and mom gave me a new Bible.  It was my senior year in high school, the first week of two-a-day football...
    READ MORE
  • We are our secrets
    September 12, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    O. Hobart Mowrer, the psychologist, set himself to understand more deeply our hollowed-out emotional lives.  He noted that, commonly, when we perform a good deed, we advertise it, display it,...
    READ MORE
  • We are our secrets
    September 12, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    O. Hobart Mowrer, the psychologist, set himself to understand more deeply our hollowed-out emotional lives.  He noted that, commonly, when we perform a good deed, we advertise it, display it,...
    READ MORE
  • We are our secrets
    September 13, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    O. Hobart Mowrer, the psychologist, set himself to understand more deeply our hollowed-out emotional lives.  He noted that, commonly, when we perform a good deed, we advertise it, display it,...
    READ MORE
  • Showing honor
    September 19, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10) I wonder if Romans 12:10 is one of the most under-obeyed commands in Scripture. I wonder if we have lowered our standard to...
    READ MORE
  • Showing honor
    September 19, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Outdo one another in showing honor. (Romans 12:10) I wonder if Romans 12:10 is one of the most under-obeyed commands in Scripture. I wonder if we have lowered our standard to...
    READ MORE
  • Showing honor
    September 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Outdo one another in showing honor.  Romans 12:10 I wonder if Romans 12:10 is one of the most under-obeyed commands in Scripture.  I wonder if we have lowered our standard to...
    READ MORE
  • How to promote theological faithfulness in your church
    October 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Whenever a change occurs in the religious opinions of a community, it is always preceded by a change in their religious feelings.  The natural expression of the feelings of true...
    READ MORE
  • How to promote theological faithfulness in your church
    October 4, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Whenever a change occurs in the religious opinions of a community, it is always preceded by a change in their religious feelings.  The natural expression of the feelings of true...
    READ MORE
  • How to promote theological faithfulness in your church
    October 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Whenever a change occurs in the religious opinions of a community, it is always preceded by a change in their religious feelings.  The natural expression of the feelings of true...
    READ MORE
  • When you can’t count on anything else
    October 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    What do you have going for you everything is against you?  What will not fail you when what you thought was true and solid and real collapses beneath you?  Who...
    READ MORE
  • When you can’t count on anything else
    October 5, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    What do you have going for you everything is against you?  What will not fail you when what you thought was true and solid and real collapses beneath you?  Who...
    READ MORE
  • When you can’t count on anything else
    October 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    What do you have going for you everything is against you?  What will not fail you when what you thought was true and solid and real collapses beneath you?  Who...
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel: interview
    October 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The book is available at amazon here. The post Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel: interview appeared first on The Gospel Coalition. This post was originally published on The Gospel...
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel: interview
    October 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The book is available at amazon here. This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel: interview
    October 10, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    The book is available at amazon here. This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
    READ MORE
  • The heart of Jesus for the undeserving
    October 17, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon entitled “The Temper of Jesus, or, Grace to the Chief of Sinners,” Benjamin Grosvenor (1676-1758) presented the risen Jesus addressing his apostles, as they were about to...
    READ MORE
  • The heart of Jesus for the undeserving
    October 17, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon entitled “The Temper of Jesus, or, Grace to the Chief of Sinners,” Benjamin Grosvenor (1676-1758) presented the risen Jesus addressing his apostles, as they were about to...
    READ MORE
  • The heart of Jesus for the undeserving
    October 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon entitled “The Temper of Jesus, or, Grace to the Chief of Sinners,” Benjamin Grosvenor (1676-1758) presented the risen Jesus addressing his apostles, as they were about to...
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel launches today
    October 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Today is the official launch of my new book on marriage.  But this is not a book of handy tips for married people, helpful as that might be.  Nor is...
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel launches today
    October 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Today is the official launch of my new book on marriage.  But this is not a book of handy tips for married people, helpful as that might be.  Nor is...
    READ MORE
  • Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel launches today
    October 31, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Today is the official launch of my new book on marriage.  But this is not a book of handy tips for married people, helpful as that might be.  Nor is...
    READ MORE
  • Honesty, prayer, healing
    November 1, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  James 5:16 “Orders of a Religious Society Meeting in Fetter’s Lane, in obedience to...
    READ MORE
  • Honesty, prayer, healing
    November 1, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  James 5:16 “Orders of a Religious Society Meeting in Fetter’s Lane, in obedience to...
    READ MORE
  • Honesty, prayer, healing
    November 2, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  James 5:16 “Orders of a Religious Society Meeting in Fetter’s Lane, in obedience to...
    READ MORE
  • Let’s show our nation what healing looks like
    November 8, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Now we must ask, what happens when someone has been hurt by my sin?  The Bible teaches that the moment we have confessed this sin to God, the shed blood...
    READ MORE
  • Let’s show our nation what healing looks like
    November 8, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Now we must ask, what happens when someone has been hurt by my sin?  The Bible teaches that the moment we have confessed this sin to God, the shed blood...
    READ MORE
  • Let’s show our nation what healing looks like
    November 9, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “Now we must ask, what happens when someone has been hurt by my sin?  The Bible teaches that the moment we have confessed this sin to God, the shed blood...
    READ MORE
  • An inexpressible mercy
    November 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  Romans 5:5 “The Comforter gives a sweet and plentiful evidence and persuasion of...
    READ MORE
  • An inexpressible mercy
    November 18, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  Romans 5:5 “The Comforter gives a sweet and plentiful evidence and persuasion of...
    READ MORE
  • An inexpressible mercy
    November 19, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  Romans 5:5 “The Comforter gives a sweet and plentiful evidence and persuasion of...
    READ MORE
  • Live orthodoxy
    December 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The main condition of spiritual life, according to 1 John 1, is fellowship with God; and the prerequisite for communion with God is ‘walking in the light,’ which may be...
    READ MORE
  • Live orthodoxy
    December 6, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The main condition of spiritual life, according to 1 John 1, is fellowship with God; and the prerequisite for communion with God is ‘walking in the light,’ which may be...
    READ MORE
  • Live orthodoxy
    December 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The main condition of spiritual life, according to 1 John 1, is fellowship with God; and the prerequisite for communion with God is ‘walking in the light,’ which may be...
    READ MORE
  • The ministry vision I believe in
    December 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . the end to which all church order, on the Puritan view, was a means, and for which everything superstitious, misleading and Spirit-quenching must be rooted out, was...
    READ MORE
  • The ministry vision I believe in
    December 7, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . the end to which all church order, on the Puritan view, was a means, and for which everything superstitious, misleading and Spirit-quenching must be rooted out, was...
    READ MORE
  • The ministry vision I believe in
    December 8, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “. . . the end to which all church order, on the Puritan view, was a means, and for which everything superstitious, misleading and Spirit-quenching must be rooted out, was...
    READ MORE
  • The key
    December 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The early Christian was very precisely a person carrying about a key . . . . The whole Christian movement consisted in claiming to possess that key.  It was not...
    READ MORE
  • The key
    December 20, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The early Christian was very precisely a person carrying about a key . . . . The whole Christian movement consisted in claiming to possess that key.  It was not...
    READ MORE
  • The key
    December 21, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “The early Christian was very precisely a person carrying about a key . . . . The whole Christian movement consisted in claiming to possess that key.  It was not...
    READ MORE
  • Immanuel
    December 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “‘Immanuel, God with us.’  It is hell’s terror.  Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that...
    READ MORE
  • Immanuel
    December 23, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “‘Immanuel, God with us.’  It is hell’s terror.  Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that...
    READ MORE
  • Immanuel
    December 24, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    “‘Immanuel, God with us.’  It is hell’s terror.  Satan trembles at the sound of it. . . . Let him come to you suddenly, and do you but whisper that...
    READ MORE
  • William Carey’s 11 commandments of missions
    December 29, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    1.  Set an infinite value on immortal souls. 2.  Gain all the information you can about “the snares and delusions in which these heathens are held.” 3.  Abstain from all English manners...
    READ MORE
  • William Carey’s 11 commandments of missions
    December 29, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    1.  Set an infinite value on immortal souls. 2.  Gain all the information you can about “the snares and delusions in which these heathens are held.” 3.  Abstain from all English manners...
    READ MORE
  • William Carey’s 11 commandments of missions
    December 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    1.  Set an infinite value on immortal souls. 2.  Gain all the information you can about “the snares and delusions in which these heathens are held.” 3.  Abstain from all English manners...
    READ MORE
  • Shake the world again — and why not now?
    December 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    To eat, to breathe to beget Is this all there is Chance configuration of atom against atom of god against god I cannot believe it. Come, Christian Triune God who lives, Here am I Shake the world again. Francis...
    READ MORE
  • Shake the world again — and why not now?
    December 30, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    To eat, to breathe to beget Is this all there is Chance configuration of atom against atom of god against god I cannot believe it. Come, Christian Triune God who lives, Here am I Shake the world again. Francis...
    READ MORE
  • Shake the world again — and why not now?
    December 31, 2016
    Ray Ortlund
    To eat, to breathe to beget Is this all there is Chance configuration of atom against atom of god against god I cannot believe it. Come, Christian Triune God who lives, Here am I Shake the world again. Francis...
    READ MORE
  • A kind of explosion of joy
    January 4, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command.  It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’  This...
    READ MORE
  • A kind of explosion of joy
    January 4, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command.  It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’  This...
    READ MORE
  • A kind of explosion of joy
    January 5, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “There has been a long tradition which sees the mission of the Church primarily as obedience to a command.  It has been customary to speak of ‘the missionary mandate.’  This...
    READ MORE
  • It multiplied
    January 10, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of...
    READ MORE
  • It multiplied
    January 10, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of...
    READ MORE
  • It multiplied
    January 11, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of...
    READ MORE
  • “I am . . . nothing”
    January 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am royal, I am lordly, I am mighty, I am honored, I am exalted, I am glorified, I am powerful, I am all-powerful, I am brilliant, I am lion-brave,...
    READ MORE
  • “I am . . . nothing”
    January 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am royal, I am lordly, I am mighty, I am honored, I am exalted, I am glorified, I am powerful, I am all-powerful, I am brilliant, I am lion-brave,...
    READ MORE
  • “I am . . . nothing”
    January 20, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I am royal, I am lordly, I am mighty, I am honored, I am exalted, I am glorified, I am powerful, I am all-powerful, I am brilliant, I am lion-brave,...
    READ MORE
  • The most important thing about us, but not easy to discern
    February 1, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . For this reason the gravest question before the Church is...
    READ MORE
  • The most important thing about us, but not easy to discern
    February 1, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . For this reason the gravest question before the Church is...
    READ MORE
  • The most important thing about us, but not easy to discern
    February 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. . . . For this reason the gravest question before the Church is...
    READ MORE
  • True worship, brotherly peace
    February 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of...
    READ MORE
  • True worship, brotherly peace
    February 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of...
    READ MORE
  • True worship, brotherly peace
    February 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of...
    READ MORE
  • Spurgeon versus Hyper-Calvinism
    February 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, Iain Murray draws four lessons from that conflict: 1.  “Genuine evangelical Christianity is never of an exclusive spirit.  Any view of the truth which undermines catholicity has...
    READ MORE
  • Spurgeon versus Hyper-Calvinism
    February 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, Iain Murray draws four lessons from that conflict: 1.  “Genuine evangelical Christianity is never of an exclusive spirit.  Any view of the truth which undermines catholicity has...
    READ MORE
  • Spurgeon versus Hyper-Calvinism
    February 8, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, Iain Murray draws four lessons from that conflict: 1.  “Genuine evangelical Christianity is never of an exclusive spirit.  Any view of the truth which undermines catholicity has...
    READ MORE
  • Wisdom for a tender conscience
    February 9, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel.  If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel,...
    READ MORE
  • Wisdom for a tender conscience
    February 9, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel.  If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel,...
    READ MORE
  • Wisdom for a tender conscience
    February 9, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “It is the supreme art of the devil that he can make the law out of the gospel.  If I can hold on to the distinction between law and gospel,...
    READ MORE
  • Jesus and tithing
    February 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These...
    READ MORE
  • Jesus and tithing
    February 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These...
    READ MORE
  • Jesus and tithing
    February 20, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness.  These...
    READ MORE
  • Three profiles, always present
    February 21, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense...
    READ MORE
  • Three profiles, always present
    February 21, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. At my first defense...
    READ MORE
  • Three profiles, always present
    February 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds.  Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message.  At my first defense...
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  • Three lies we might easily believe
    February 27, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    It is very much in the Devil’s interests that we despair. If he can get us to believe any of these three demoralizing lies that he loves to whisper into...
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  • Three lies we might easily believe
    February 27, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    It is very much in the Devil’s interests that we despair. If he can get us to believe any of these three demoralizing lies that he loves to whisper into...
    READ MORE
  • Three lies we might easily believe
    February 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    It is very much in the devil’s interests that we despair.  If he can get us to believe any of these three demoralizing lies that he loves to whisper into...
    READ MORE
  • What does it mean to ‘accept Jesus’?
    February 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9) You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons. Our hearts are deeply divided, more...
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  • What does it mean to ‘accept Jesus’?
    February 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9) You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons. Our hearts are deeply divided, more...
    READ MORE
  • What does it mean to “accept Jesus”?
    March 1, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”  1 Thessalonians 1:9 You and I are not integrated, unified, whole persons.  Our hearts are deeply divided, more...
    READ MORE
  • Something profound in our generation
    March 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    A nice church filled with nice people doing nice things will make no impact in the intensity of our times. Every hybrid form of “Christianity” deserves to die, and will...
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  • Something profound in our generation
    March 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    A nice church filled with nice people doing nice things will make no impact in the intensity of our times. Every hybrid form of “Christianity” deserves to die, and will...
    READ MORE
  • Something profound in our generation
    March 3, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    A nice church filled with nice people doing nice things will make no impact in the intensity of our times.  Every hybrid form of “Christianity” deserves to die, and will...
    READ MORE
  • How to preach with biblical fullness
    March 6, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I love the simplicity of the Scriptures, and I wish to receive and inculcate every truth precisely in the way, and to the extent, that it is set forth in...
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  • How to preach with biblical fullness
    March 6, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I love the simplicity of the Scriptures, and I wish to receive and inculcate every truth precisely in the way, and to the extent, that it is set forth in...
    READ MORE
  • How to preach with biblical fullness
    March 6, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I love the simplicity of the Scriptures, and I wish to receive and inculcate every truth precisely in the way, and to the extent, that it is set forth in...
    READ MORE
  • Quietness vs. prominence
    March 10, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have calmed and quieted my soul.”  Psalm 131:2 How did David get into that quiet place before God? He forsook ambition. “My eyes are not raised too high,” he wrote...
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  • Quietness vs. prominence
    March 10, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have calmed and quieted my soul.”  Psalm 131:2 How did David get into that quiet place before God? He forsook ambition. “My eyes are not raised too high,” he wrote...
    READ MORE
  • Quietness vs. prominence
    March 11, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I have calmed and quieted my soul.”  Psalm 131:2 How did David get into that quiet place before God?  He forsook ambition.  “My eyes are not raised too high,” he wrote...
    READ MORE
  • Down deep, where we’d rather not go, is where Jesus awaits us
    March 16, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon preached during the First Great Awakening, George Whitefield laid bare the four archaeological layers always uncovered in true repentance.  Preaching on “They have healed the wound of...
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  • Down deep, where we’d rather not go, is where Jesus awaits us
    March 16, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon preached during the First Great Awakening, George Whitefield laid bare the four archaeological layers always uncovered in true repentance.  Preaching on “They have healed the wound of...
    READ MORE
  • Down deep, where we’d rather not go, is where Jesus awaits us
    March 17, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In a sermon preached during the First Great Awakening, George Whitefield laid bare the four archaeological layers always uncovered in true repentance.  Preaching on “They have healed the wound of...
    READ MORE
  • Preaching the Ten Commandments
    March 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    When I preach through the Ten Commandments, each sermon has four points, because each commandment does four things at once. First, each of the Ten Commandments is revelation. Each one gives...
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  • Preaching the Ten Commandments
    March 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    When I preach through the Ten Commandments, each sermon has four points, because each commandment does four things at once. First, each of the Ten Commandments is revelation. Each one gives...
    READ MORE
  • Preaching the Ten Commandments
    March 20, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    When I preach through the Ten Commandments, each sermon has four points, because each commandment does four things at once. First, each of the Ten Commandments is revelation.  Each one gives...
    READ MORE
  • “Get back to your burdens”
    March 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Get back to your burdens” (Exodus 5:4).  That’s what the Pharaoh said to God’s people as they groaned under the subhuman evil that slavery is.  “Get back to your burdens”...
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  • “Get back to your burdens”
    March 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Get back to your burdens” (Exodus 5:4).  That’s what the Pharaoh said to God’s people as they groaned under the subhuman evil that slavery is.  “Get back to your burdens”...
    READ MORE
  • “Get back to your burdens”
    March 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Get back to your burdens” (Exodus 5:4).  That’s what the Pharaoh said to God’s people as they groaned under the subhuman evil that slavery is.  “Get back to your burdens”...
    READ MORE
  • ‘One Anothers’ I Can’t Find in the New Testament
    March 29, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    The beautiful “one another” commands of the New Testament are famous. But it is also striking to notice the “one anothers” that do not appear there. For example, sanctify one another,...
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  • ‘One Anothers’ I Can’t Find in the New Testament
    March 29, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    The beautiful “one another” commands of the New Testament are famous. But it is also striking to notice the “one anothers” that do not appear there. For example, sanctify one another,...
    READ MORE
  • “One anothers” I can’t find in the New Testament
    March 30, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    The beautiful “one another” commands of the New Testament are famous.  But it is also striking to notice the “one anothers” that do not appear there. For example, sanctify one another,...
    READ MORE
  • The sanctuary within
    April 5, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son.”  Romans 1:9 There was, for Paul, a deeper dimension to his gospel ministry, far beyond...
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  • The sanctuary within
    April 5, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son.”  Romans 1:9 There was, for Paul, a deeper dimension to his gospel ministry, far beyond...
    READ MORE
  • The sanctuary within
    April 6, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son.”  Romans 1:9 There was, for Paul, a deeper dimension to his gospel ministry, far beyond...
    READ MORE
  • Listening is living
    April 18, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works.  To the age-old question, ‘What shall I...
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  • Listening is living
    April 18, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works.  To the age-old question, ‘What shall I...
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  • Listening is living
    April 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “We are justified freely, for Christ’s sake, by faith, without the exertion of our own strength, gaining of merit, or doing of works.  To the age-old question, ‘What shall I...
    READ MORE
  • Edward John Carnell, 1919-1967
    April 24, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today Dr. Edward John Carnell died.  My purpose now is to honor him from a personal angle of vision.  I believe that the second most important reason...
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  • Edward John Carnell, 1919-1967
    April 24, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today Dr. Edward John Carnell died. My purpose today is to honor him from a personal angle of vision. I believe that the second-most important reason we...
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  • Edward John Carnell, 1919-1967
    April 24, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Fifty years ago today Dr. Edward John Carnell died. My purpose today is to honor him from a personal angle of vision. I believe that the second-most important reason we...
    READ MORE
  • Three kinds of suffering
    April 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    We experience three kinds of suffering in this life. One, deserved suffering.  We sin, and we suffer misery for it.  Sin always spawns misery.  It’s all sin can do.  So, deserved...
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  • Three kinds of suffering
    April 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    We experience three kinds of suffering in this life. One, deserved suffering.  We sin, and we suffer misery for it.  Sin always spawns misery.  It’s all sin can do.  So, deserved...
    READ MORE
  • Three kinds of suffering
    April 29, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    We experience three kinds of suffering in this life. One, deserved suffering.  We sin, and we suffer misery for it.  Sin always spawns misery.  It’s all sin can do.  So, deserved...
    READ MORE
  • A new post-war world for every one of us
    May 3, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    On December 26, 1944, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese army was sent to the Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to resist the American advance, and he...
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  • A new post-war world for every one of us
    May 3, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    On December 26, 1944, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese army was sent to the Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to resist the American advance, and he...
    READ MORE
  • A new post-war world for every one of us
    May 4, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    On December 26, 1944, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese army was sent to the Philippine island of Lubang.  His mission was to resist the American advance, and he...
    READ MORE
  • Romans is about God
    May 16, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “To the question ‘What is Romans all about?’ a variety of answers might be given. . . . An interesting point emerges if we approach the epistle statistically. . ....
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  • Romans is about God
    May 16, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “To the question ‘What is Romans all about?’ a variety of answers might be given. . . . An interesting point emerges if we approach the epistle statistically. . ....
    READ MORE
  • Romans is about God
    May 17, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “To the question ‘What is Romans all about?’ a variety of answers might be given. . . . An interesting point emerges if we approach the epistle statistically. . ....
    READ MORE
  • Is your church an institution?
    May 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    To call anything an “institution” today can be its death sentence, including a church. Should we be ashamed of the institutional aspects of our churches? What is an institution? An institution...
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  • Is your church an institution?
    May 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    To call anything an “institution” today can be its death sentence, including a church. Should we be ashamed of the institutional aspects of our churches? What is an institution? An institution...
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  • Is your church an institution?
    May 23, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    To call anything an “institution” today can be its death sentence, including a church.  Should we be ashamed of the institutional aspects of our churches? What is an institution?  An institution...
    READ MORE
  • Reformed theology gone sour: a warning
    June 1, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    The Rev. William Still, a patriarch of the Church of Scotland in the 20th century, preaching on Romans 5:5 and the love of God being poured into our hearts, said...
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  • Reformed theology gone sour: a warning
    June 1, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    The Rev. William Still, a patriarch of the Church of Scotland in the 20th century, preaching on Romans 5:5 and the love of God being poured into our hearts, said...
    READ MORE
  • Reformed theology gone sour: a warning
    June 2, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by:Ray Ortlund The Rev. William Still, a patriarch of the Church of Scotland in the twentieth century, preaching on Romans 5:5 and the love of God being poured into our...
    READ MORE
  • ‘I went all the way back’
    June 12, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “Later on in my ministry I faced another crisis that equally influenced the writing of my books. It came after I had already been a pastor for ten years in...
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  • “I went all the way back”
    June 13, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by:Ray Ortlund “Later on in my ministry I faced another crisis that equally influenced the writing of my books.  It came after I had already been a pastor for ten...
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  • ‘But Wasn’t the Bible Written By Drunk Monks?’
    June 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Yes, I really have heard that objection. But there are many ways one can cast doubt on the Bible. It’s a huge subject, and it quickly becomes technical. But, for...
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  • “But wasn’t the Bible written by drunk monks?”
    June 23, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Yes, I really have heard that objection.  But there are many ways one can cast doubt on the Bible.  It’s a huge subject, and it quickly becomes...
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  • Something altogether unearthly
    June 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    William C. Burns was preaching in Perth, Scotland, in 1840. His biographer writes, “The power indeed that attended his words, and the effects which often in the most unexpected quarters followed...
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  • Something altogether unearthly
    June 29, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund William C. Burns was preaching in Perth, Scotland, in 1840.  His biographer writes, “The power indeed that attended his words, and the effects which often in the most...
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  • Seven ways delighting in God benefits us
    July 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Richard Baxter, in A Christian Directory (Ligonier, 1990), page 140, lists seven benefits of looking by faith to the Lord, as to no other, for our...
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  • Seven ways delighting in God benefits us
    July 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Richard Baxter, in A Christian Directory (Ligonier, 1990), page 140, lists seven benefits of looking by faith to the Lord, as to no other, for our deepest delight. Updating...
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  • Gospel + Safety + Time = a church where anyone can grow
    July 15, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Gospel + safety + time.  It’s what everyone needs.  A lot of gospel + a lot of safety + a lot of time. Gospel: good news for bad...
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  • Gospel + Safety + Time = a church where anyone can grow
    July 15, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Gospel + safety + time.  It’s what everyone needs.  A lot of gospel + a lot of safety + a lot of time. Gospel: good news for bad people through the...
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  • How to build a gospel culture in your church
    July 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Galatians 2:11-21 has been unsettling me for forty years.  Paul rebuked Peter publicly — for what?  They agreed on gospel doctrine: “We know that a person is not justified by...
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  • How to build a gospel culture in your church
    July 23, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Galatians 2:11-21 has been unsettling me for forty years.  Paul rebuked Peter publicly — for what?  They agreed on gospel doctrine: “We know that a person is...
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  • At all times, continually
    July 25, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  Psalm 34:1 It is possible for two psychologies to coexist in our hearts at once—pain...
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  • At all times, continually
    July 26, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund I will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth.  Psalm 34:1 It is possible for two psychologies to coexist in our...
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  • How the devil spoke through an apostle
    August 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund When Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” the Lord replied, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah!  For flesh and blood...
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  • Prayer is boring
    August 9, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “The work of the Spirit can be compared to mining.  The Spirit’s work is to blast to pieces the sinner’s hardness of heart and his frivolous opposition to God.  The...
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  • Prayer is boring
    August 10, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund “The work of the Spirit can be compared to mining.  The Spirit’s work is to blast to pieces the sinner’s hardness of heart and his frivolous opposition...
    READ MORE
  • My statement on Charlottesville
    August 15, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • My statement on Charlottesville
    August 16, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund This post was originally published on The Gospel Coalition
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  • Why we grow so slowly
    August 21, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    In his Thoughts on Religious Experience, Archibald Alexander asked why we grow so slowly as Christians. First, he rounded up the usual suspects: “The influence of worldly relatives and companions, embarking...
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  • Why we grow so slowly
    August 22, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund In his Thoughts on Religious Experience, Archibald Alexander asked why we grow so slowly as Christians. First, he rounded up the usual suspects: “The influence of worldly relatives...
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  • Brothers together in Christ
    August 28, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Intensely felt, openly demonstrated love between manly men of God—who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Three ways to create that culture in our churches: One, “Outdo one another...
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  • Brothers together in Christ
    August 29, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Intensely felt, openly demonstrated love between manly men of God – who wouldn’t want to be a part of that?  Three ways to create that culture in...
    READ MORE
  • Justification and violence
    September 6, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “hen classic justification, based on the propitiatory work of Christ, is absent, human beings will grasp for substitutes, often grotesque ones. . . . We have here [in the French...
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  • Justification and violence
    September 7, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund “hen classic justification, based on the propitiatory work of Christ, is absent, human beings will grasp for substitutes, often grotesque ones. . . . We have here...
    READ MORE
  • When the Spirit makes us throw up
    September 8, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    “I could tell you a case of a man back home, forty-five years old – a pagan, illiterate, who knew nothing about Christ.  Then he was brought by grace, through...
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  • When the Spirit makes us throw up
    September 9, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund “I could tell you a case of a man back home, forty-five years old – a pagan, illiterate, who knew nothing about Christ.  Then he was brought...
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  • Rejoice in the Wife of Your Youth – Letter To A Would-Be...
    September 19, 2017
    Ray Ortlund
    Written by: Ray Ortlund Dear Husband, I thank God for this moment with you. I only wish I could be present with you and look into your eyes and speak as earnestly...
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