Duty and Cause
Church leadership’s first concern, yes obligation, is the spiritual health and maturity of each Christian—the re-ordering of the soul.
When individual Christians do involve themselves in cultural matters, they end up merely following the world and add nothing distinctively Christian to the issue except maybe on an obvious moral issue. So, in every way the Christian voice, if not lost, is very diluted, limp and the witness of Christ is muted. When or if... Continue Reading
Dangerous Families
The reason we learn about spiritual warfare is not to sit down in victimhood, but to rise up as victors.
I know we like to think that political engagement, social movements, big seeker-sensitive churches, and things like that will win the day. But they won’t! Satan is not attacking families as hard as he is for no reason. Godly, Christ-honoring, fruitful, and multiplying families are dangerous to the kingdom of darkness. If we want to... Continue Reading
How the “Angry Psalms” Fit within the Story of God and His People
Where lies destroy lives and the innocent are slaughtered, these angry psalms beg for God to enact just judgement according to his promises.
The imprecatory psalms are the liturgical, prayerful means by which the sons of God protect the sanctuary and subdue the earth, enacting their appointed role as characters in the story of the Scriptures. Adam was exiled from Eden for failing to drive out the serpent, and a Psalter without imprecation would be a recapitulation of... Continue Reading
One of the Most Overlooked Arguments for the Resurrection
That fact is simply this: the earliest Christians came to believe, against all odds and against all expectations, that Jesus of Nazareth had been raised from the dead.
At the end of the day we are faced with a remarkable confluence of events. We have an early Christian movement that radically reverses it’s view of Jesus—from defeated would-be Messiah to the true and only Messiah—and also believes that the tomb was empty and that Jesus appeared to more than 500 people at once.... Continue Reading
Didactic Singing
Songs founded on and infused with biblical doctrine are a powerful pedagogical tool.
Music is undeniably an effective means of administering balm to the soul. When the Word of God is set to a beautiful melody, the music can stir within us a zeal and hope that nothing else can. Music is, as Abraham Kuyper wrote, a “means for bringing a worshiper’s soul out of the ordinary and... Continue Reading
The Responsibilities of a Faithful Minister Part 1: The Light Reveals All Iniquities
Our great concern is simply to be a faithful fragrance of Christ in our Gospel preaching.
Brother pastors, will you renounce all pretense and hypocrisy? Will you hold yourself open to the people you serve, exposed to the light of God’s Word, that it might be plain that you are sun-tested, who minister “as from sincerity”? By the open statement of the truth, be sincere preachers of the Word, not cheap peddlers.... Continue Reading
Ex Nihilo and the LGBT+ Charade: Part 2 Of 2
We take the gifts from God and use them for our own purposes, to fulfill our own desires.
It is God who opens and closes wombs. It is God who blesses those of us with children, and the withholding of offspring is not a sign of His cursing. It is not for us to covet God’s decree at which women are given children and which ones He said “no” to for the time... Continue Reading
You Can Obey
Being made alive by the Spirit means that we are capable of obedience.
Our sinful nature is not zapped away when we trust in Christ. But does that mean we cannot obey? No. We have God’s Word and God’s Spirit to guide and empower us to obey. Which means any time we sin as believers it is not because we are unable to do what is right but... Continue Reading
Her Weakness is Her Strength
Within every church there will be some who are especially weak.
As we relate to those who are weak, we are to ensure they do not draw our censure, our criticism, or our condemnation, all of which flow so naturally from our sinful hearts. We are to ensure we do not regard them as a trial, burden, or embarrassment. Rather, we are to accept them as... Continue Reading
Some Kindness Stings
Why Love Uses Hard Words
Nathan risked offending King David (2 Samuel 12); it’s why Paul risked offending Peter (Galatians 2:11–14); it’s why Jesus risked offending the scribes and Pharisees; and it’s why we are sometimes called to risk offending someone with a painful rebuke. In these cases, if our motive is love and our goal is to remove a stumbling block... Continue Reading
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