Brothers,  I read this today and it reminded me of my own fight against indwelling sin.  It was raging today! How are you doing? This little section from Paul Tripp's book reminded me again today that pastors need the church more than the folks in the pew. We are to watch our life and doctrine.  I'm so thankful for fellow elders here. I pray that you have brothers around you to encourage you.  Garrett  ----------- The Church Is Essential If you take God's change agenda seriously, making his sanctifying work your spiritual life work, then you will be thankful for the gift of the church.  There is no such thing as a vibrant, ever-maturing, and ministry-oriented Christian life without the ministry of the local church. For the believer, the church exists because the lifelong process of progressive sanctification exists. I am persuaded that, for many Christians, their lack of understanding of the centrality of the work of sanctification to their Christian life ...

  Justifying grace frees you from the paralyzing burden of guilt. No longer do we have to live in regret, dragging the heavy load of our past sins into our present and future. No longer do we have to hide in fear of the hammer of God’s anger coming down on us. No longer do we have to do the burdensome work of denying, minimizing, and hiding our sin, working to make our sin feel in our hearts as less than sinful. No longer do we have to defend our righteousness when people near us lovingly confront us with wrong. Redeeming grace has freed us from these burdens. No longer do we have to carry the burden of shame. Jesus shamed shame on the cross , so that we would no longer live in bondage to it. In the eyes of the one with whom it eternally matters, we are no longer stained, no longer dirty, and no longer scarred by sin. Because of justifying grace our record is spotless and we are righteous in God’s eyes. We don’t have to go slump-backed through life, protecting ourselves from onlook...