Determine

Knowing Christ and Him crucified (1 Corinthians 2:2)

…not one gospel blessing will be enjoyed by anyone for whom the gospel’s greatest gift was not the Lord Himself.

John Piper

If you have looked at your resolutions, endeavors, workings, duties, qualifications, etc., more than at the merits of Christ, it will cost you dear.

Thomas Wilcox

Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man.

John Piper

You cannot be Christ-centered without becoming cross-centered. The crucified Christ is to be the center of everything I know about myself and my world.

Paul David Tripp

So we can say that we are more wicked than we ever dared believe, but more loved and accepted in Christ than we ever dared hope.

Tim Keller

A mind filled with the love of Christ as crucified will be changed into his image and likeness.

John Owen

The paradox is amazing… The all-powerful made himself vulnerable. The all-holy exposed himself to temptation. And in the end the immortal died.

John Stott

Whoever is not satisfied with Christ alone, strives after something beyond absolute perfection.

John Calvin

We are saved, not by some fine theory and not by some blinding revelation and certainly not by our own best effort, but by Christ’s atoning death.

Leon Morris

I am worse than I ever feared, and more loved than I’ve ever dreamed. That’s Christianity.

Mark Driscoll

True religion is a union of the soul with God, a real participation of the Divine nature, the very image of God drawn upon the soul…

Henry Scougal

The work of God in the cross of Christ strikes us as awe-inspiring only after we have first been awed by the glory of God.

Matt Chandler

When our sin reached its full horror, God’s love was displayed in all its glory. If you doubt God’s love for you, look at the cross.

Colin S. Smith

Deeply Flawed

As people, we’re deeply flawed; yet throughout history God has chosen to work through people rather than independent of people. We are deeply flawed, but more deeply lov ..

quotes21 May 2013

Part 08: I Am Afflicted

Christians will suffer; knowing what kind of suffering it is can help you endure your own affliction as well as comfort others in theirs. How are you and others around y ..

studies21 May 2013

Conversion is a Gift

We will never fully appreciate what a deep and awesome thing conversion is until we own up to the fact that it is a miracle. It is a gift of God. Recall again the point ..

quotes7 May 2013

Part 07: I Am Reconciled

Despite a literal and spiritual dividing wall of hostility between Jews and Gentiles—centuries of conflict starting with Abraham—in Christ, they are reconciled. Their id ..

studies7 May 2013

Part 06: I Am Saved

Your own works cannot save you; only Jesus’ works save. Salvation means saved from the penalty of sin in the past, from the power of sin in the present, and from the pre ..

studies30 Apr 2013

A Fresh Filling

For the last couple years I have wrestled over the doctrine of the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. Is it something that happens to all Christians upon regeneration, when t ..

blog25 Apr 2013

Jesus is Light

As we are at the outset of this post series on the Great Light, we first need to see that Jesus Himself is the Light. He makes this very explicit in the above verses in ..

blog16 Apr 2013

Part 05: I Am Appreciated

If you’re a Christian, Jesus appreciates you. This means that God’s faithful people can receive encouragement and thankfulness from Jesus, even if they don’t receive suc ..

studies16 Apr 2013

Sovereign Over Suffering

One Sabbath morning, I preached from the text, “My God, My God, why has Thou forsaken Me?” and though I did not say so, yet I preached my own experience. I heard my own ..

quotes11 Apr 2013

Predestination

God has the first, final, and authoritative determination of everything that occurs in the universe, particularly the salvation of human beings and he does this choosing ..

doctrine10 Apr 2013

An Identity Apart

Sin is the despairing refusal to find your deepest identity in your relationship and service to God. Sin is seeking to become oneself, to get an identity apart from him… ..

quotes4 Apr 2013

Trinitarian Blessings

In the opening section of Ephesians, the entire Trinity is mentioned as both our blessing and the source of all our blessings we hear of the “Father,” “Jesus Christ,” an ..

quotes2 Apr 2013

Part 04: I Am Blessed

We oftentimes assume that God doesn’t want to bless us, or, if he does, that we have to pay him back. But God is good; we don’t have to make him bless us. His people are ..

studies2 Apr 2013

Rest

Here Jesus uses a common Jesus metaphor for subjection to one another and the law in Judaism1:Take my yoke upon youTrying to work to please God through our own effort an ..

He is Risen

These words are powerful and true. May they soak in our hearts this Resurrection Sunday. Christ has risen from the grave and given us new life in Himself (2 Cor. 5:17). ..

blog31 Mar 2013

The King Nobody Wanted

This verse brings both the shocking and sobering reality of Good Friday to our hearts and minds. We killed Jesus Christ. Let those words sink in deep.While it is easy to ..

blog29 Mar 2013

Troubled Days

This verse surprised me. I’m not sure whether I’m more surprised by Jesus’ words or the by the fact that I have never noticed it before. Here Jesus tells us not to worry ..

blog29 Mar 2013

Grace Alone

These verses have been huge in speaking to me lately. I am learning more and more that it is God’s grace and His grace alone that saves. This grace comes through faith a ..

blog27 Mar 2013

Cosmic Rejection

The death of Jesus was qualitatively different from any other death. The physical pain was nothing compared to the spiritual experience of cosmic abandonment. Christiani ..

quotes27 Mar 2013

Romans 1:5

This first section and introduction to Romans is breathtaking. Paul declares himself a servant (Gk. duolos; lit. slave) and an apostle (“one sent as a messenger or agent ..

blog25 Mar 2013

Your Real, New Self

Your real, new self (which is Christ’s and also yours, and your just because it is His) will not come as long as you are looking for it. It will come when you are lookin ..

quotes25 Mar 2013

New Identity as Saints

While it’s true that sin has affected the totality of our persons, including our minds, wills, and emotions, we fail to say all that the Bible does regarding our identit ..

quotes19 Mar 2013

Part 03: I Am a Saint

Paul writes to the church in Ephesus and starts by saying they are saints in Christ. A Christian’s identity is primarily saint, not sinner. You will sin some of the time ..

studies19 Mar 2013

First & Last Adam

In the Bible, Paul called Jesus the “last Adam” [1 Cor. 15:45] because he is the remedy for idolatry and the redeemer of humanity, whereas the first Adam was the source ..

quotes13 Mar 2013

Theology in Community

One of the things that the western world is sadly lacking is a rich sense of community. This is apparent in our neighborhoods, schools, restaurants, and sadly even our c ..

Part 02: I Am in Christ

There are only two categories of human beings: those who are in Adam, and those who are in Christ. Are you in Adam or in Christ? In Ephesians 1, Paul says that if you ar ..

studies5 Mar 2013

Resting in Love

If we are to change we must be regularly preaching the gospel to ourselves and believing it. We must be continually showing ourselves, and those we counsel, the depths a ..

quotes4 Mar 2013

Part 01: I Am ____?

Who do you think you are? God says you are made in his image and likeness; you’re a revelation receiver who is humbly honored, made to mirror, and blessed to bless. Sata ..

studies26 Feb 2013

Sanctification Simplified

Dear saint, you must always remember who you are, especially when you need it most. Theologians explain it in this way. The imperatives of the Bible (what you should do) ..

quotes23 Feb 2013

Site Updates

Today marks the launch of the newly-refreshed Determine site. The home page is now 100% more useful with a global feed that pulls content in from all over the site. The ..

blog20 Feb 2013

Servanthood + Slavery

As Christians we are called to serve Christ with willing hearts. The Greek word doulos is used here for “servant” and it is often used in the New Testament and can refer ..

Session 5: Faith

In this study we examined what the Bible has to say about faith. We learned from the Old Testament and New that faith is a work of God that He produces in our lives that ..

studies5 Feb 2013

A Great Light: a new Ser ..

I was inspired the other day by this verse as I was creating an artwork piece around a photograph that I took. The image makes me think of Jesus teaching in a synagogue, ..

blog29 Jan 2013

Full Persuasion & Peace

The miner who is fully persuaded that the rope which draws him up from the pit will not break, is drawn up without anxiety and alarm. The believer who is thoroughly acqu ..

quotes28 Jan 2013

My Name is Hope

This immensely practical book is a treatise on “anxiety, depression, and life after melancholy.” Written in John Mark’s straightforward and honest voice, it addresses th ..

books29 Dec 2012

Forgotten God

This powerful, winsome and honest book about the Holy Spirit breaks down the barriers and walls that we can put around the third Person of the Trinity. Chan’s honest and ..

books24 Dec 2012

Hope

A confident and joyful expectation, grounded in the Person of God, that trusts Him for all that He is and all that He promises, looking ultimately to Jesus’ return.

doctrine18 Dec 2012

Session 4: Hope

Questions for DiscussionWhat do we hope for? If we had to sketch out right now what we are most hoping for, what would that look like?What is the connection between hope ..

studies18 Dec 2012

Concise Theology

As its title suggests this little book is packed with concise, punchy, historical, orthodox descriptions of major Christian doctrines and is easy to pick up and navigate ..

books15 Dec 2012

Erasing Hell

This arresting response to Rob Bell’s Love Wins is a straightforward but Bible-saturated look at the doctrine of Hell from an Orthodox Evangelical perspective. The book ..

books15 Dec 2012

Finally Alive

Finally Alive is an expounding of the doctrine of the New Birth. In classic form, Piper takes a scrutinizing look at the doctrine of Regeneration from Scripture, showing ..

books15 Dec 2012

Systematic Theology

This tome is perhaps the most accessible, relevant and helpful Systematic Theology of the modern era. It is thoroughly Bible-saturated and piercing in its logic, exegeti ..

books14 Dec 2012

The Explicit Gospel

Matt Chandler presents a very sweeping view of the historical Christian Gospel through the lens of Scripture. His unique terminlogy of a “Gospel on the ground” and a “Go ..

books14 Dec 2012

Session 3: Incarnation

IntroductionChristmas is all about the incarnation. The spirit of the holy day and all of Advent is to celebrate the beautiful reality that God clothed Himself in humani ..

studies4 Dec 2012

Incarnation

God becomes flesh and adds humanity to His divinity, embodying all that it is to be human, including joy, suffering, pain, and death, tasting the sin of humanity all whi ..

doctrine3 Dec 2012

Session 2: Mission

IntroductionAll things were created for God’s glory (Isaiah 43:6-7, Colossians 1:16, Revelation 4:11). All that God does in saving us is doxological, that is it done wit ..

studies20 Nov 2012

Mission

The sending of the Church by God into the world for His glory to make disciples of all nations, drawing them into worship of King Jesus.

doctrine19 Nov 2012

Worship

The communication to God and the world through our voices, prayers, thanks, hearts and lives what we deem to be most supreme. Of God, our worship is a multi-faceted subm ..

doctrine6 Nov 2012

Mere Christianity

A Christian classic that walks from philosophical proofs to the existence of God, through Christian behavior, and into Trinitarian theology and the heart of what it mean ..

books31 Aug 2011

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