Christian Doctrine

If I Can’t Go To Barbados, I’ll Vacation At Home

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 2 Comments

TeddyInBarbados

Health issues have made travel unwise for me. I last traveled in 2005, when I visited my home state of California. My mom died nine years later, seeing me only in photos and one Skype conversation. Needless to say, I’m not taking a vacation to Barbados anytime soon.

But I want a break from blogging for a week or so. Not a full break, but a lighter schedule allowing me to do some things just for fun. I’ll still do Saturday Sampler, Sunday hymns and the Monday studies on Colossians, if only to keep your attention. I doubt Continue reading →

To Call Out False Teachers Or Not Call Out False Teachers — Does It Have To Be One Or The Other?

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 5 Comments

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Six months ago, I lost a friend as a result of my participation in the Open Letter To Beth Moore. The lady agreed with many of the concerns about Moore, but she believes it’s more productive to teach sound doctrine.

She has a point. As I’ve been saying for a few years now, most of Paul’s epistles confront false teaching by offering the corrective of sound theology. In fact, my primary reason for taking you through Colossians each Monday is to show you how Paul taught discernment without ever naming a false teacher. In studying Scripture, I’ve learned that the apostles very rarely called out false teachers directly.

Furthermore, I’ve seen several self-proclaimed discernment blogs Continue reading →

Keys To Discernment: Paul’s Salutation To The Colossians

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 1 Comment

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“Oh DebbieLynne, no!” you’re saying. “Paul’s opening verses in Colossians don’t really talk about discernment. Can’t you just skip them?”

To be truthful, sisters, I seriously considered skipping these introductory remarks Paul made. Like you, I’m eager to get into the meat of the epistle! But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even these verses possess nuggets of doctrine that can help us discern sound teaching. Remember — true discernment comes through Continue reading →

To Save A Wretch Like Me

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Our Christian life is victorious. Certainly we should celebrate our victory over sin and death, as well as the temporal blessings and answered prayers God gives us. Truly, we live lives that overflow with a quality of joy that non-Christians can’t begin to imagine!

But the real victory is our salvation. In and of ourselves, we’re miserable wretches, totally incapable of any godliness. Yet Jesus took our sin on Himself, giving us His righteousness in exchange! He made us His own possession, though we did nothing to merit His favor. What a stunning victory!

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Flashback Friday: Forgetful Evangelicals And The Entitlement Mentality

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 1 Comment

Originally posted April 4, 2018

Glory Of The CrossI believe evangelicals of the 21st Century have by and large lost the sense that God has saved us for His honor and glory. As we’ve incorporated Charismatic teaching and psychological principles into our weakened version of Christianity, we’ve accepted the mistaken idea that God exists to heal our bodies, expand our bank accounts, make our marriages satisfying and remove all temptation from us. We conveniently forget why He calls us to Him in the first place.

9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. ~~1 Peter 2:9 (ESV)

Anyone can distort the Bible into false promises of health, prosperity and your best life now, insisting that God wants us to be happy. But, even though the Lord is a good Father Who gives good gifts to His children, He doesn’t give those gifts to Continue reading →

I Haven’t Blogged About Yoga In A Long Time

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 4 Comments

6aaf1-meditationIt’s funny how the Lord works.

When people ask me how the Lord brought me to Reformed Theology, I’m often tempted to answer simply,  “Yoga.” Undoubtedly, this temptation comes from my early adolescent days when I liked shocking people. But as an adult, I realize that doing things for shock value isn’t always helpful.

Researching Holy Yoga actually did play a role in leading me to Reformed Theology, I must admit. Of course, the Lord used a number of other factors, so I would be dishonest to attribute my change solely to yoga.

That said, I’ve always seen yoga (“holy” or otherwise) as a serious problem ensnaring far too many evangelicals. Sadly, I know several people who see no conflict between Continue reading →

The Drudgery And Privilege Of Prayer And Bible Reading

/ DebbieLynne Kespert / 1 Comment

Flourishes04We’ve all had those days. We grudgingly open our Bibles because we know we should, but we’d really rather finish that crafts project or read another chapter in that novel.

If I can publicly admit to having days that I simply don’t want to spend time with the Lord, the least you could do is privately confess it to Him. After all, He already knows your secret thoughts.

Of course we feel guilty about approaching our devotions as if they were a chore like cleaning the oven. And I have no intention of alleviating our guilt. We need to come to terms with the fact that we fail to Continue reading →