Encounter Recovery Ministries

There is nothing more contrary to Christ than an abusive preacher. And today, there are more than a few popular preachers within so-called conservative evangelical-reformed circles who believe they can verbally abuse you in their preaching, even to the point of making threats against you personally. -I will come down there and rip you- says one popular preacher. Please discern and reject such men.

The storyline of your relationship with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit did not begin at your conversion, but in eternity past with God's choosing you to be holy and blamless before him in love. God's electing purpose for you was that you would share in the love between the Father and the Son. This means God did not elect you because you needed redeeming, but he redeemed you because were elected in love. The Father sent the Son into the world to redeem those elected to holiness and love for eternity.

It is God's eternal purpose to create a people who share in his glory and display his own holiness. This purpose was made known to Israel, and fulfilled in the Person and work of Jesus Christ, and is now at work in those who belong to him. If you are in Christ, you are God's holy people living by the power of the Spirit of holiness. You are a new humanity shining like lights in a dark, fallen world.

The glorious -good news- we call the -gospel- is that God has included us in Christ's own story. From before the foundation of the world, God has chosen you -in him- so that his birth, his life, his ministry, his death, resurrection, and ascension, is now your story as well for you were and remain by grace, -in him.-

Most church-goers have never heard the good news of transformation in Christ Jesus. This indifference toward gospel sanctification on the part of today's preachers is appalling. You should grieved and even outraged by this spiritual neglect. Working to bring about Christ-like sanctification is the primary work of pastors and elders, and yet, it is largely dismissed in modern churches. In this episode, we look closer at who you are in Christ as set forth in the New Testament.

One of the hardest things to convey to new converts is the glorious news that who they now are in Christ is the true self, the new creation in Christ. Many just assume they remain vile sinners even after they come to Christ, but that is a great error. The old self was crucified with Christ, and the new self is to be worked out in very practical ways in their thinking and conduct. Be who you really are in Christ- That's the message of the New Testament.

The revival movement of the 1970's placed assurance on conversion, usually defined by reciting the -Sinner's Prayer.- It was a half-gospel that produced not half-Christians, but no Christians at all. In this lesson we examine the biblical ground for assurance of saving faith.

This is part two of a two-part series on the danger of friendship with the world's system. In this lesson we discover the remedy to this very natural default of worldliness is to be like Jesus, in thought, word, and deed.

Most American Christians live as friends of the present evil system the Bible calls -the world.- Perhaps they have not been taught that such friendship makes them an enemy of God- In this series, we examine how friendship with the world is the leading cause of relational conflict and even murder- Recent political and social news and headlines makes this one of the most important series you will ever hear, and hopefully, apply.

When we begin to speak of the glories of Christ and the Christian imperative to be conformed to him, some may mistake me as saying we are to ignore the way of the cross in favor the way of glory. That is not my goal. We need both. We have this treasure in earthen vessels as we await the full redemption of our bodies, even as we know the hope of glory that is, Christ in us.

The gospel of grace includes the moral transformation brought about as the Spirit of God produces ever-increasing conformity to Christ in the believer. For too long we have stopped short of this purpose in our preaching and teaching. We have instead made justification by grace through faith alone, as important is that is, the end of the gospel. But God's primary purpose in election, calling, and justification is the present-day glory of ever-increasing conformity to his Son both in this age, and perfectly in the age to come.

The root of our despair is that we are not being taught how to live, that is, to work out the good news of the gospel into our daily lives. In this brief exhortation, you will here how to overcome this despair by exposing yourself to the -good news- in the provided texts.

This is the second installment of a series addressing the Lenten season and its practices. In this lesson, we examine very similar religious practices to Lent within the ancient city of Colossae- practices Paul condemns. But the apostle then sets forth what genuine Christian piety looks like and the transformation it produces in Christian character and relationships.

There is serious danger in keeping Lent, not that the season itself is dangerous, but how people tend to treat its works of deprivation as pleasing to God. In this brief exhortation, I examine the Lenten season within the framework of the gospel of sovereign grace.

Throughout the history of God's people, there has been a propensity to look to men to save them from other men, to nations to save them from other nations. The result then and the result today is idolatry of the first-order. This is a call to avoid the hysteria on the left and right of an election year and instead walk in sobriety and peace, even toward your enemies.

The promise of moral transformation is to all who believe the gospel. Indeed, to believe and not experience genuine, Spirit-empowered transformation is unheard of in the New Testament. This is because it is God's primary purpose to restore his image in humanity by conforming those who believe the gospel into the image of his Son, who is himself, the perfect image of God.

Most people come to counseling fearing some form of mental illness but are actually suffering from a lack of pastoral care. Many times they have fallen prey to a form of soft legalism that is far from good news. Here are few signs of soft legalism.

Have you heard Jesus-- This is a question seldom asked these days, and yet, it is the central question within the Bible. This is because Jesus is the Prophet God promised by Moses who would come and speak to us for God, and to whom we must listen- How do we know we have heard him-- This is the question anwered in this brief study.

Faith in Jesus is both a gift from God and as we walk with Jesus our faith in him grows. And our redemption and healing from the destructive ways of our past comes to us in his timing and in his ways. We ought not be afraid to ask for Christ's healing touch time and time again as we go trhough life. His mercy is available to us today no less than as it was when we first believed.

Most Christians are aware of the historic controversy regarding grace and works. We know we are not saved by our own works, we are saved by grace. And yet, the New Testament is equally clear that grace is a transforming power in the Christian life. We are -created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.- And we know the great work we do daily is ever-increasing conformity to Christ's image.