Dr. Robert Stout Rayburn Retires after 41+ years at Faith Presbyterian Church: A Reflection
Robert Stout Rayburn is retiring from the RPC,ES/PCA ministry after 41 plus years of pulpit ministry at Faith Presbyterian Church in Tacoma, Washington.
During his tenure at Faith Presbyterian, Dr. Rayburn preached three times each Lord’s Day with two different sermons. Then there was the Wednesday night sermonette before Prayer Meeting. In addition to the preparation of multiple sermons each week, he mentored the numerous church officers, taught Latin at the church’s high school, Covenant High School, wrote... Continue Reading
Living on the Brink of Eternity: The Life of David Brainerd
God used David Brainerd’s diary to fan the flames of what we know today as the Modern Missions Movement.
Jonathan Edwards was impacted by the life and ministry of this young man who had only been a believer for eight years prior to his death. He took Brainerd’s diary and other personal writings and added his own commentary that he gleaned from his friendship with Brainerd. An Account of the life of the late... Continue Reading
Moms Have Outsized Spiritual Influence On Teenagers
Father may know best, but mom knows their teenager better and is more likely to be a spiritual influence on them.
Teens are more likely to go to their father with political questions and their friends to talk about sex. Teens are also most likely to say mom is the one who most encourages them to go to church, encourages them in other ways, sets an example, talks with them about God’s forgiveness, and teaches them... Continue Reading
Mary Rowlandson – Seizing God in the Wilderness
When God calls a person to anything, and through never so many difficulties, yet He is fully able to carry them through.
The Algonquians allowed her to keep a Bible they had taken, among other things, from the village, and she read it avidly. Some portions, such as Deuteronomy 28, persuaded her the calamity that had fallen on their village was a result of their sins. Deuteronomy 30, however, provided assurance of God’s mercy and unbreakable promises.... Continue Reading
Andrew Murray’s Initial Reserve Toward Spiritual Revival
Murray went on to support the awakening and was significantly used of the Lord in promoting it in South Africa.
“The fruits of that revival were seen in the congregation for many years. They consisted, among others, in this, that fifty young men offered themselves for the ministry. And this happened in days when it was a difficult matter to find young men for the work of the ministry.” From the statements made by and about... Continue Reading
It is Well …
A great hymn came from the pen of a troubled—and troublesome—man.
His own ship, breached by disaster, was sinking. Rather than confess his failures and start repaying his debts, Spafford abandoned his faithful church and embraced the fervent millenarianism and spiritualism of his day. Jesus must be coming soon, and His sinful, broken, yet obedient servant must be on hand to meet Him. With Anna beside... Continue Reading
Rachel Held Evans, Progressive Christian Writer, Dies At Age 37
Evans died Saturday morning at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, after she had been in a medically induced coma for several weeks.
Evans announced on April 14 that she was in the hospital to treat the flu and a urinary tract infection and had a severe allergic reaction to antibiotics. She then began experiencing symptoms that caused her to have constant seizures and was admitted to an intensive care unit. Rachel Held Evans, a New York... Continue Reading
Whole Christian Villages Wiped Out, Media Silent
Hundreds more dead and wounded Christians lay in villages in Nigeria while the world sleeps.
“After that attack, I came to visit the villages in the two-mile area around my church, and it was like a cemetery,” said Father Ikeh, weeping. “More than 150 people had been murdered.” In 2015, the Boko Haram was ranked the world’s deadliest terror group by the Institute for Economics and Peace. Another week.... Continue Reading
Small Beginnings: J. C. Ryle in Exbury
Ryle’s early life teaches us the importance of not despising small beginnings.
Pastors are often tempted to be dissatisfied with their churches and long for greater prominence and larger congregations. But this dissatisfaction is part of the enemy’s lies and such outcomes must be left to the Lord. Instead we should see that God is also at work even in less than ideal situations. When we... Continue Reading
Jordan Peterson: High Priest for a Secular Age
Peterson is right about many things, but not always for the right reasons.
Peterson wants us to live as if there is a God because he understands well the disastrous consequences of living as if there is not a God. But what good is the recovery of transcendence if it is only an evolutionarily useful figment of imagination? As a high priest of traditional Western values, Peterson’s temple... Continue Reading
