The question for today is, Is an unbelieving Israelite “according to the flesh,” an heir of the promised blessing of righteousness? Is he a “justified” person, declared righteous by God so that all his sins are forgiven, without having personal faith in the sacrificial offering of Jesus Christ the Son of God?   Introduction In view of... Continue Reading

It’s easy to think the world is out of control and our lives are random. When things are hard, it’s easy to stop believing in God and doubt if He’s real. Then Revelation 4 comes along and shows us what’s really happening in this world. God occupies the throne of heaven. He is infinitely beautiful and... Continue Reading

Who knows what the year ahead holds?  Who knows what decisions will have to be made?  Who knows what troubles we may have?  There will be plenty of times when we don’t know what to do.  But we have no reason to fear if we keep our eyes on God!   As I read about Jehoshaphat, I was really... Continue Reading

Equating events to ‘biblical’ isn’t a bad starting place. Most of us will do this, and do so without knowing what is ‘biblical’. In 2025, believers, sceptics and investigators will each turn to the Bible to image, explain and interrupt the events in our world, both great and small.    ‘It’s biblical’. The disaster is... Continue Reading

We come [to the King] and keep coming—daily in prayer, weekly in corporate worship. God’s Spirit gives us reverence with confidence, humility with boldness, awe with audacity. In light of God’s might, we approach him with holy fear; in light of his mercy, we come with expectant delight. In Christ, we enter not only assured... Continue Reading

Christians do need to obey God’s command to gather regularly with their fellow saints under the oversight of a faithful minister (1 Peter 5:2–3). This is the way God has ordered his church on earth so that his sheep are properly cared for and guarded from the snares of the evil one (Hebrews 13:17). You... Continue Reading

As the people said to Moses in the book of Exodus when he was instructing them in faith, “na’aseh v’nishma”: We will do and then we will understand. That change in belief might come from experiencing benefits you didn’t expect, but it also reveals a basic truth about the mind. As much psychological research over... Continue Reading

Perhaps we should refrain from seeing the news from Meta in strictly left-coded or right-coded ways….We should see it as a renaissance of basic common sense, a summoning of procedural fairness, and an invocation of classic constitutional principles of free speech to refine public discourse in more equalizing ways.   Some quotes we come across... Continue Reading

What does God have for me on earth, while I await heaven? Or better, how I do God’s will on earth as it is in heaven. If that is the prayer Jesus teaches us to pray (Matt. 6:9), how then should we live? As new creations in Christ, how do we order our steps? Do... Continue Reading

Warning passages are a God-ordained means to a God-ordained end. They’re one of the ways God ensures that all genuine believers will persevere. And that’s why I think the bumper sticker line “once saved, always saved” is misleading. A more accurate way to say it is “once saved, always a believer” or “once saved, always... Continue Reading

Carey offered to care for the widows and bring up the children alive. But he did not only make offers to the people. William Carey went from village to village and from house to house, preaching the gospel of God concerning Jesus Christ His Son. Carey knew that the hope for India was not in... Continue Reading

It is important to build your understanding of the Trinity from the Scriptures, which are perfect, and not an external source, which is imperfect. Extra-biblical sources can be very helpful in explaining and understanding what the Bible teaches, but the foundation must be Scripture.   The belief in Triune God is a core foundational doctrine... Continue Reading

Cultures may recognize and employ moral principles, but this doesn’t mean they created these principles. In fact, many scientists and philosophers are suspicious about any causal relationship between evolution and moral virtue. The evolutionary process often results in disharmony and strife; morality seems to require us to overcome the “evolved beast” in each of us.... Continue Reading

Christian Journaling or Psychic Channeling? dramatically unmasks many Christian-sounding ideas set forth in Jesus Calling by comparing them to what Scripture really says and means in context. [This] work is an excellent, biblical resource for Christians who might otherwise be deceived by the lure of Jesus Calling, or those who have known something was amiss but struggled... Continue Reading

If somehow you started your Christian life without someone explaining that you were signing up for suffering, it’s time to break it to you: there is no such thing as a Christian life without suffering.   There is a line in a well-known story of Jesus (Matt 20:20-28) that often gets overlooked. James and John... Continue Reading

The more holy we become through Christ’s life in us, the more sin we will see in ourselves. There is less sin than before, but we hate it more. We begin to see evil through the eyes of Jesus Himself; that is, we begin to despise it for the filth it truly is.   For... Continue Reading

W.H. Green was honored with the Doctor of Divinity by both Princeton University in 1857 and the University of Edinburgh in 1884, to which was added the LL.D. by Rutgers College in 1873. In 1868, he was elected to succeed President Maclean at Princeton University, which he declined, but he did serve the university as... Continue Reading

Had Adam fulfilled the Covenant of Works, he would have been granted an end to his probation and been brought into eternal life. Just as Adam’s fulfillment of the covenant would have presumably resulted in physical changes to creation, so perhaps his failure resulted in corresponding changes. This, of course, is speculative. But it is... Continue Reading

God’s word is applicable in each generation, and surely there are ways to apply God’s word today that the original hearers would not have considered thousands of years ago. But the encouragement, the commands, the original intentions are the same.   It is a glorious task to search out God’s word. “It is the glory... Continue Reading

Many baby boomers removed the burden of social expectations and duties from their children (including the duty to provide grandchildren) in the name of freedom. But it turns out that there is no freedom to move in zero gravity—you just float aimlessly. By refusing to weigh their children down with norms and hard economic realities,... Continue Reading

As you get deeper into addiction, you get better and better at covering your tracks and deceiving other people. You believe your own lie that, “Things aren’t that bad.” You learn to hide your actions from family and healthy friends. You avoid God and the thought of God in every way you can. Honesty may... Continue Reading

The story of these sincere Anabaptist-type progressives has confirmed me, a Presbyterian, in my commitment to an Augustinian anthropology and belief in the importance of Scripture as normative for doctrine and life. Calvin once declared that doctrine without zeal is like a sword in the hand of a lunatic. One of the many lessons of... Continue Reading

First published in 1678, John Flavel’s The Mystery of Providence is based on the words “God that performeth all things for me” (Psalm 57:2). It shows us how providence works for us in every stage and experience of our lives. The Mystery of Providence is richly illustrated from the lives of believers and from the... Continue Reading

The travelogue of Nehemiah 9:8-31 chronicles God’s personal involvement in their lives as His people to deliver, sustain, rescue, and lead them. Though they were faithless, He remained faithful. Don’t believe it? Look at the pictures. Open the family album and behold the glory of your God.   “And You divided the sea before them,... Continue Reading

Barba-Kay admits digital technology has improved and will continue to improve our lives in particular ways. However, he doesn’t leave us guessing about his basic evaluation: “I regard the digital revolution as a basically dehumanizing force”.   Our digital devices are history’s first “natural” technology. The printing press and the telephone, for example, each changed... Continue Reading

Astonishment receives God’s word with humility. We have no claim to our Creator’s words, no right, yet he speaks to us freely, opening his heart to us, showing us his character, inviting us to fellowship with him. By such gracious speech, he shatters our pride and sheds light on our dark ways.   A new... Continue Reading

On Monday, January 20, 2025, President Elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated to his second term as President of the United States after serving his first before current President Joe Biden. Thus, he is the second president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. Each time a new president is inaugurated, it reminds the American people of... Continue Reading

Huff and Rogan discussed when Rogan brought up the anti-Christian prejudice among elites, listening audiences are increasingly open to consensus-bucking narratives. Apologists should discard inadequate tools regardless of their utility, but there isn’t even a shallow pragmatic excuse left for keeping them now. The future of apologetics is maximalist.   Christian apologist Wesley Huff’s recent... Continue Reading

The Lord Jesus was innocent, was perfectly righteous. He suffered more than you and I can ever imagine, and remember what God’s Word tells us? ‘When He was reviled, did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously.’   Twelve-year-olds Peter, James, and John... Continue Reading

Paul is showing us that human beings are always serving something. The question isn’t whether we will serve but what we will serve. When we’re liberated from sin’s dominion, we’re not set free into autonomous independence but into life-giving dependence on God. This is why, in God’s upside-down kingdom, true liberty comes through submission to... Continue Reading