By Faith Alone Podcast

Paul’s letter to Timothy was all about church revitalization. The reason for church decline is often due to the preaching. Preaching needs to be Christ-centered, Scripture-saturated, and life transforming. Let us pray that preaching would be for the equipping of the saints and that it would be effective to accomplish the purpose for which Christ sent it. This is a public episode. If you would like...

God’s people are called to pray persistently. The prayers of the early church were a great example of the way churches should pray. Our prayers should be filled with praise for the sovereign God. They should be bold prayers that God would remove enemies, that his servants would speak with boldness, and that he would work powerfully in his church. This is a public episode. If you would like to disc...

What we find in today’s message is that God’s grace leads to a transformed life by conforming us to his will. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchristoffels.substack.com

The goal of the Christian life is glorification, when our faith becomes sight and when the new creation comes. God will one day transform our lowly body to become like Christ’s glorious body. We will be freed from sin in both body and soul and dwell with him forever in the new heavens and new earth. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to...

God grants and credits salvation to his people. The gospel is only about what is done to us. It’s all on Christ and his work. And yet the gospel is also worked out in us. We have been redeemed by Christ, but now the Holy Spirit applies the benefits of our redemption to us. That means that we are sanctified. We are free in order to serve him, conforming to the image of Christ as we walk after him i...

Families tend to stick together, especially where there are threats to a family’s reputation to the outside world. Those who believe in the Lord have been brought into the family of God. Though they don’t deserve it, God adopts them into his family. This is a glorious message of hope and assurance that God has adopted his children, even as Christ is our elder brother. This is a public episode. If...

Our union with Christ shows that we have been crucified with him, and we also are being made holy with the resurrection life that he gives us. The law causes us to be captive, but we are justified by faith alone in order to receive the promised inheritance. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchristoffels.sub...

In the biblical concept of regeneration, we are shown how we are united to Christ in both his death and resurrection. This supernatural work is all of God, who makes dead hearts alive. When we are discouraged as a church about what seems to be lack of fruit or growth, we can be encouraged that it’s the Spirit who does the work. But that should also encourage us to live lives of holiness in respons...

Today we begin a few sermons that focus on gospel basics from the book of Galatians. A revitalized church needs to get the gospel right. Paul wrote to the churches of Galatia because there were false teachers that were forcing them to go back under certain requirements of the law. Yet what we find from Paul’s own calling is that God calls his people by his grace. This is a public episode. If you w...

God’s people are not only called to remember, but also to repent, to turn back to a godly gospel living. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian church, he tells them about why he is rejoicing. Even though he had to write to them a difficult letter to correct them, he hears an encouraging report from Titus about how they received it. And he tells them of how they demonstrated a godly repentance....

This week we begin a sermon series on church revitalization, the topics which are found in chapters from Harry Reeder’s book From Embers to Flame . God calls churches to look to the past to remember what God has done in order to move to a firm foundation for the future. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchr...

It can be hard for us to wait until God makes all things right, especially when there is a great deal of suffering. Yet today is a good reminder for us to pray that the Lord would indeed come. We need to be warned that this holy city is not for everyone, and that we are not to add or take away from God’s word. Yet we can be encouraged that we have his trustworthy revelation, that he is coming soon...

We know for certain that life will bring us joys as well as sorrows, highs as well as lows. Revelation 21 presents a great picture of joy. We see a new city, a place where God is present with his people and the curse of the garden of Eden is reversed. It’s a place that God has made that is beautiful and adorned as a bride. There is no need for a temple, for the Lord is the temple, and all those th...

Today’s passage presents to us a sobering picture of judgment. We don’t always want to think about the wages of sin and the ultimate punishment of hell. Yet here we have hope in Christ who has done away with death and has brought us into new life. You can subscribe to By Faith Alone on Apple podcasts or on Spotify . This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers...

In this chapter we find a great celebration of the marriage supper with the Lamb. After the promised judgment of Babylon, it can seem like a long time until God takes care of wickedness and avenges the suffering. Yet here we thank God that a great Hallelujah of praise happens in heaven and Jesus Christ becomes our great champion. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with oth...

We are living in Babylon - a world that is against God and his ways. We see so many evils in the world that we live in. But in Revelation 18, God calls us to come out of Babylon. What does it look like for a Christian to live in this world but not of it? That can be a challenge, but God calls us to flee from sin and embrace the salvation that we find in Christ. This is a public episode. If you wou...

Faith in the Son of God is all about believing in Jesus. It’s a faith that is given to us by God. It’s a faith that results in the life lived for the Lord. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchristoffels.substack.com

What we explore today is that the reality that we find on earth often has its opposite in heaven. When believers suffer on earth - they are rewarded in heaven. And when the wicked enjoy a comfortable life here on earth - they will one day be judged. Today we see a beautiful picture of the redeemed standing in victory and singing the song of the Lamb. This is a public episode. If you would like to...

In life we belong to the Lord or we belong to the devil. We bear the mark of the one we belong to. Jesus will gather all people - some to eternal life, and some to eternal wrath. Let us repent and come into the kingdom of God. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchristoffels.substack.com

Persecution still exists against the church today. The forces of evil attack Christ’s church and kill the saints. Yet Christ chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Though suffering is real and the body they may kill, our souls belong to Christ forever. We are called to rejoice in suffering and trust in Christ who died to save his saints. This is a public episode. If you would like to...

The church of Jesus Christ often seems small and weak, especially in a time of suffering. Revelation 12 is a picture of the battle that’s been going on since creation between the offspring of the devil and the offspring of the woman. What we find is that the accuser can no longer be present in the heavenly council but is sent to the earth. Though he may cause suffering, he cannot take away the ete...

Today we are reminded that Christ’s church is both attacked on the outside and at the same time is eternally secure. John is told to measure the temple in a similar manner as we see in the book of Ezekiel. What is measured is under the divine protection of the Lord. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit joshchristo...

In this closing chapter of Mark, the gospel writer specifically draws attention to the fact that a group of women who followed Jesus were witnesses to everything that had happened. They had witnessed Jesus’ death on the cross. They had witnessed his body being placed in the tomb. And when they came to the tomb on that Sunday morning, they had been witness this his body was not there. They were wit...

Psalm 31 is a prayer asking for a king to rescue and save. David prays for God to be a rock of refuge, a strong fortress to deliver him. On Palm Sunday, Jesus entered into Jerusalem humble and riding on a donkey. But Jesus truly was the rescuing king who was an answer to the prayer that David had prayed so many years before. Even in all our distress, we need to pray for this same rescuing king. Th...

It’s important to know why it is we belong to a church. We might belong for all the wrong reasons - good programs, a friendly atmosphere, or a great youth group. But this passage show us another reason for belonging - that is, confessing that Jesus is the True Son of God. The Centurion saw the way Jesus was crucified, he saw him cry out in forsakenness before God, and he saw the way that he died w...