it really is finished

May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:11-14 ESV)

"It was during that time that I really rediscovered functionally the NOW power of the gospel. I had been preaching the gospel with great passion for many years. I had been preaching it with great conviction and yet it wasn’t genuinely functional until God brought me through the crucible of pain and suffering. I began rediscovering the reality and beauty and the brightness of the gospel.

"Everything I needed and longed for in Christ, I already possessed.

"It was during that time that God was helping me connect the dots between what I was experiencing and what Christ had already accomplished for me. And it was specifically in Colossians chapter 1, second part of verse 12-14 where Paul says you’ve already been transferred, you’ve already been qualified, you’ve already been forgiven, you’ve already been redeemed, everything you could possibly want, everything you could possibly desire, is already yours in Christ. It’s a done deal.

"It really is finished.

"Now I live my life under a banner that reads, 'IT IS FINISHED', and it is that reality gripping my heart that’s set me free in ways that I had never ever been free before and it radically changed me. I tell people all the time that my focus is singular; my passion is myopic now. I don’t care as much as I used to what other people think about me, both good and bad.

"I’m freer than I’ve ever been and my preaching has radically changed. Everything about me has changed. I’m still learning, obviously, and will until the day I die, but I really, really learned how the power of Christ’s finished work intersects with my daily grind in a brand new way."

Interview with Tullian Tchjividjian, author of Jesus + Nothing = Everything

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Howard Hendricks on OT books chronology

When I was in seminary, Howard Hendricks (aka "Prof") gave us a little card with the books of the OT chronologically arranged. The scanned copy I have was a bit blurry and I wanted to make something like this available for our church class in OT theology ("Story of Redemption"). A few minor edits and here it is...

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