Our Ancient Challenges
Racial identity, disposal of unwanted children, and free sex. Those are the top priorities for a significant segment of western society—perhaps even half of society.
Friends, our cultural flashpoints have been seen before. They are precedented. Our fathers and mothers in the faith faced a cultural onslaught that makes ours tame by comparison. And they overcame. Yes, often through great suffering and persecution. And we ought to consider their example. I think I am becoming more and more known... Continue Reading
What Does Ecclesiastes 1:2 Mean?
Ecclesiastes reveals the necessity of fearing God in a fallen and frequently confusing and frustrating world.
Ecclesiastes describes the meaninglessness of living without God. We see that God created the world and called it “good.” But despite this original goodness, humanity fell into sin, and all creation was subjected to the curse of God. This brought into the world meaninglessness, violence, and frustration. Graciously, God did not leave his creation to... Continue Reading
Two Ways Parents Struggle to Provide for Their Kids
Our highest aim as parents is not to raise “happy” kids. It’s to build real people who, by God’s grace, love and serve Jesus.
This struggle of provision, like all the others, pushes us to our knees and makes us remember that we have a Father who doesn’t struggle at all. He knows how to provide for His children: “What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?... Continue Reading
Covid—A Missed Chance For Revival?
Jesus instructed His disciples to “pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into His harvest.”
It may just be that, by the grace of God, we will yet see revival in our nation once again. It is also important for us to remember that, generally speaking, it is not the preachers whom God uses to kick-start times of revival but it is the pray-ers whom God first uses. Back... Continue Reading
Christ’s Love for the Church
True love is understood and seen when we look at God's love.
If you are looking for a wonderful love story, look no further than to your Savior Jesus Christ and his love for you, a member of the church, his bride. For he loves you more than you know and will do so for all eternity: And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down... Continue Reading
Of Joy or Despair in Ministry Success
Whether there is joy or sadness, celebration or condemnation, one message remains the same—the kingdom of God has come near.
One’s heavenly citizenship is far more important than the experience of the greatest of miracles on earth. Do you see how this might help the joyful or the discouraged minister of the gospel? Do you see how this might help the passionate church volunteer in seasons of success and failure? It can. Are you a... Continue Reading
“Avoid Such People”
Don’t use all your time associating with Christians who don’t build you up in the love and worship of the Lord Jesus.
It’s always worth noticing that the command to make disciples is not just make lots of new Christians, but also therefore to grow all those Christians up into maturity. Maturity might include sometimes not associating with certain people for your own sake—immaturity definitely should. When reading through 2 Timothy with some folk a few weeks... Continue Reading
What’s the Difference between Venting and Lamenting?
The Psalms actually shape our laments and may even teach us to lament for things we currently do not perceive as problems.
Occasionally I hear people say that we see the psalmists venting, but that is to mistake the raw honesty we see in the Psalms with our experience of venting. In the Psalms, believers honestly vocalize their pain and suffering. But we don’t see sinful venting; we see believers talking to God through their pain. Moreover, the... Continue Reading
Paul: A Servant of Jesus Christ
Paul himself claims Jesus as the supreme influence in shaping his thought, not Gamaliel or the rabbinic scholars of antiquity.
Since Paul himself was an expert in rabbinic thought, the conclusion is reached (by a gratuitous leap) that all Paul’s teaching can be made clear by looking at the background of rabbinic teaching that formed Paul’s perspective. Indeed, even the so-called “new perspective” on Paul involves an attempt to reconstruct the old perspective that Paul... Continue Reading
Ministry Testimony: Life-Changing Hope through Faith
I thank God for the heavy burden he has placed on my heart. For, though it hurts so deeply and still moves me to weep, without it I would not remember to fall on his mercy continually.
In Romans 8, Paul considers that “the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (v. 18). Don’t you long for “the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (v. 21)? This is the hope in which we were saved (vs. 24)!... Continue Reading
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