Joy is not happiness. We think it is, but it’s not. How do we know? Because Peter makes it clear that it co-exists with grief (look up chapter 1 and read from verse 3, see what I mean?). Happiness changes with emotion, joy co-exists with emotions. Which of course should lead us to a conclusion:... Continue Reading

God’s solution to the universal problem of evil doesn’t change, from place to place or culture to culture. Prayer is the standard. In fact, part of the transformation that Christianity brings to each culture is how it seeks supernatural intervention. Philippi was also the place where Paul met a slave girl with a spirit of... Continue Reading

Carver speaks of finding God in nature because he was a scientist, but we can all frame the principle of finding God in terms of our own walk of life. What Carver says about nature, a professor can say about history or art or literature or psychology, and a homemaker about the domestic routine, and... Continue Reading

We changed for the worse in Adam’s failure (1 Cor 15:22), and then require another ontological change to be justified before God (John 3:3). Even if Adam had perfectly followed God’s command he still would have undergone a change.  He would have been made unable to sin and would’ve continued in that state to this... Continue Reading

James gives eight characteristics of heavenly wisdom, the wisdom which is joined with meekness. (1) It is pure and chaste, i.e., it holds fast truth and holiness, lest it be in any way polluted. (2) It is peaceable, avoiding contentions. (3) It endeavours after equity. (4) It easily gives place to right reason. (5) It... Continue Reading

It is true that what Kersey wrote would likely be offensive to most homosexuals. That doesn’t mean there was anything wrong with him saying it. There was nothing hateful about Kersey’s words, certainly nothing about the inherent value of a person or anything wishing them ill will. The claim that what he said is the... Continue Reading

The coming Messiah is repeatedly identified as the almighty God and eternal father, the wisdom of God, righteous, highly exalted, yet to be born of a lowly virgin. These prophetic verses can only be speaking of one person, Israel’s coming Redeemer, Jesus Christ, who is the God of Abraham (cf. John 8:58).   Like Jews... Continue Reading

There is not a single sin when it comes to the holiness of God that, done in isolation, doesn’t hurt others. Most importantly, all sin originating from the human heart is an affront to God’s holy and righteous character. The problem with secret sin is its sheer power over our lives.   Who can understand his... Continue Reading

Peter addresses us as a royal priesthood, a people belonging to God, loved by Him. He urges us to abstain from evil and devote ourselves to our Kingdom calling under the lordship of Jesus Christ, with an eye to provoking glory to God in the eyes of others.   that… they may, by your good... Continue Reading

As believers, we don’t have to grieve like the rest of the world. (1 Thess. 4:13) We know that because of Christ’s declaration that “it is finished”, we have the promise that the sting of death has been taken away. Because of this, we can rest in peace knowing that at the end of the... Continue Reading

Heritage is about inheritance. The Son is the heir of the nations. He is a new Adam, whose dominion will be to the ends of the earth. This is the Father’s promise to the Son, who will be the Son of David—Messiah—to reign forever. If Psalm 2:8 is a pledge to the Son of global dominion,... Continue Reading

The gospel is not brought to you so that you would reconcile God, and bring about a change in His affection, but instead, to beseech you to be reconciled to God, to take away all hostility out of your heart. This is the business which preachers have to do, to persuade you that the Father... Continue Reading

If you really want to see the glory of God and the power that comes with it there needs to be a growing love for the person and work of Jesus, and that begins with resting in how He shows Himself to be our Savior, both in His work of humiliation at the cross, and... Continue Reading

Israel could not save themselves; God had to do it. God initiated salvation (Ex. 12:1–2), designed salvation (Ex. 12:3–5), and provided salvation (Ex. 12:6). He reset their calendar so that the beginning of the year reminded them of the beginning of their salvation. His salvation blueprint was titled “Substitution,” saving Israel from death by a... Continue Reading

When eating and drinking identify us with idols, for example, and thus bring us into fellowship with demons, then we should avoid that kind of eating and drinking. Doing all to the glory of God requires us not simply to examine our hearts (which we certainly should do) but more importantly to examine the implications... Continue Reading

People have six days to be entertained, but the seventh day is a day of rest from worldly amusements and a time to seriously worship the risen Christ. If the church one is attending is theater-driven, tickling people’s ears with what they want to hear while using the world’s methods in an attempt toward relevancy, then the... Continue Reading

I would not deny that I am an “elite” myself. I trade in ideas. I teach at a college. I write books. My hands are soft through lack of doing what anything that my grandfather might have referred to as “real work.” And the challenge this poses for me is: Who are truly my brother... Continue Reading

Not only was rest given for the enjoyment of Lord Adam of Eden: the ultimate beneficial reason for the giving of the Sabbath to the human race, was so that when the Word took Flesh, Jesus, Himself, might sanctify this day of rest. From before the world was made, the Logos fully intended to use... Continue Reading

Here’s one way we can be sure that we do know Jesus: we long to know him more. Our hearts say with the apostle Paul—who, after enjoying, worshipping and faithfully serving Jesus for around three decades, near the end of his life declared this—“My goal is to know him and the power of his resurrection... Continue Reading

While the early believers certainly cared for those within the Christian community who were in need, they also courageously communicated the truth of the Gospel with the world around them. The scriptures tell us they were of “one mind in the temple”. What was this “mind” they shared? Repeatedly, and in spite of intense opposition,... Continue Reading

We are not to fast and pray for the sake of fasting and prayer. We are to fast and pray for the sake and attention of our heavenly Father. As Matthew 6:16-18 makes clear to us, fasting is a means of grace if and only if presented for the notice of your heavenly Father who... Continue Reading

Trust God to handle the sin against you, your family, your neighbor, your community, or others. God will. He does not release the guilty. God’s wrath functions in righteousness and keeps you from the poison of your own. Your wrath spoils. You only hurt yourself.   Possibly you, like so many, have been sinned against... Continue Reading

Within the economic Trinity there is a Divine Person with a non-divine will that makes Jesus’ submission to God both possible and fitting. Accordingly, the Christ to God authority and submission is not a Trinity consideration per se but a limited consideration of the union of two natures in one hypostasis. Yet the submission of wife to husband finds its analogy to Christ to God not in an ordering of being but in creative design just the same.   A... Continue Reading

The objective, verifiable demonstration of God’s power and pardon for sins is the resurrection; the “standing-up” again of Jesus from the dead. This is the centre of Luke’s message in his written accounts to Theophilus: Jesus is the resurrected Saviour and Lord of the world.   I was running an early morning devotion for a... Continue Reading

Whether it is Pastor Story Hour or something else, we want our children to see us active in the world. We do not want them to grow up hiding from culture. We do not want them to believe that our faith is private, quiet, and secretive. We do not want them to grow up afraid... Continue Reading

Walt’s Disenchanted Kingdom concludes by citing a poll showing that customer satisfaction and respect for the Disney brand have plunged from 77 percent to 51 percent in the last year alone. This confirms the simple truth, that a significant majority of parents do not want their children indoctrinated in gender ideology or any other social justice agenda by... Continue Reading

Deception starts with a questioning of the plain meaning of Scripture. “Did God really say…?” Without a high view of Scripture and a belief in its perspicuity, we can twist the Scriptures to meet our own preferences. Once we start down that road, we will begin to fashion the Word to suit our own image.... Continue Reading

The real point of all this is that the Church of England is now to bless same-sex unions in clear defiance of both the Bible and the tradition of the Christian church. It will do so even as many of the more conservative churches in the Anglican Communion threaten to break from Canterbury. It will... Continue Reading

What I hope to offer is a practical diagnostic for Christians that helps them discern what technologies they will and will not adopt based on the purpose of technology to support humans in their calling to live freely before God and in community with one another. I call it the Terminator Test: does it aid... Continue Reading

The amillennial interpretation of this text supplies a truer, richer, and far more comforting meaning than that of our dispensational brothers. The Lord is not speaking here of a pre-tribulation rapture, but of a three-fold coming to his disciples: first at the moment of their new birth, second at the moment of their death, and... Continue Reading