Homosexuality Comes to Church: Standing Firm in a Culture That Embraces Chaos
Over the past 50 years, homosexuality has been one of the most controversial topics among Christians.
The mainline denominations were riddled with theological liberalism, particularly in their view of Scripture. Theological liberalism doubted the Bible’s relevance for modern times and sought to make it more palatable for the modern man. When psychiatric professionals said homosexuality was healthy and normal, the push by theological liberals was to rethink the Bible in light... Continue Reading
This Article Is Not About Tim Keller
The ‘winsome, third way framework’ seems to view politics through the lens of evangelism, and thus in an apologetic mode.
What does this have to do with the winsome, third way framework? Well, as I argued in my piece, it seems to me that this framework tends to think about politics through the lens of evangelism, and thus in an apologetic mode. This gets expressed in the overwrought concern with how Christians are perceived by... Continue Reading
The Power of Slander: How We Are To Deal With Slander Part 3
How should we proceed when we are tempted to slander another?
Slander is a powerful evil. We should avoid slander, either speaking or hearing it. Our calling, far from slander, is rather to speak the truth in love. “Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ” (Eph. 4:15).... Continue Reading
Murder Or Miracle In The Cathedral? Two Saint Augustines!
Whenever anyone is “born again” or “born from above,” a miracle takes place, whether in a cathedral, a church, or anywhere else!
While enrapt in the progress of this mystery, I was suddenly jolted by a common misunderstanding of many relating to the need for conversion and what it means to be a Christian. St. Augustine of Canterbury may have been born an Anglican, but he could not be born a Christian. One may be born a... Continue Reading
Learning to Forgive
Forgiving doesn’t mean we simply act like nothing happen, but means we cancel the debt the person who sinned owed us.
Those who have been forgiven by God of all their sins—past, present, and future—should be the ones most readily to forgive—no matter the severity of the sin. I understand the urge to hold a grudge. We’re all sinners so that is what comes most naturally. But when we remember we’ve been completely forgiven, we should... Continue Reading
Do Women in the Church Really Know God?
If we do not know our God then how can we call ourselves Christians?
Women are not inferior to men by Gods design. We have been made to have the knowledge and personal relationship with our God. As women, we need to get away from thinking we need women only books and Bible studies. Instead, lets realize that we are Gods children just as men as and should spend... Continue Reading
40 Random Pieces of Advice for the Christian Life
Distinguish between what is mandated by God and what is simply a matter of wisdom or prudence.
The Bible says nothing about date nights, the Billy Graham Rule, sleep training, and so on. Don’t hold strongly to what the Bible holds loosely (or vice versa). And that includes pretty much everything I’ve included in this article. Not every idea is worthy of an entire article. Hence, this one contain a long... Continue Reading
Of Stars and Black Holes
"Jesus called his people to be salt and light, to shine like stars in the world in their obedience to him."
Black holes are formed when stars die. They become like Dyson vacuums, sucking up all the mass and matter around them, exhibiting a gravitational pull so strong that even light particles cannot escape. A black hole’s existence is dependent upon the consumption of everything around it. Likewise, humanity’s selfish heart sucks up everything God created good... Continue Reading
The Balance of God’s Grace – Part 2
Grace has a call toward increasing Christlikeness, which we refer to as personal sanctification.
We desire to understand God’s grace in balance. If we only think of the comfort of God’s grace, we miss that grace has a direction and agenda. If we only consider the call of God’s grace, we end up being legalistic, list-oriented, and evaluating our relationship with God almost exclusively by our spiritual resume of service. Yet, both are... Continue Reading
Elders in the New Testament: Occasional Letters
Elders are involved even in the training and launching of others into Christ-honoring ministry.
The Christian elder in the first century church had responsibility to serve under Christ’s authority, caring for the people of Christ, providing Godly conflict resolution, decision making, teaching, preaching, administrating, praying, serving the sick, and diligently working up a Christ-like sweat while seeking the good of Christ’s people. Last post we began to discuss... Continue Reading
Practical Ways to Teach Your Children to Pray
Your attitude about prayer is important in building a foundation of prayer for your children.
Remember to model for them, but also give them opportunities to pray alongside you. James Dobson rightly concludes, “There is nothing more important than parents passing on a generational legacy of faith and values to their children.” When you teach your children to pray you are giving them a greater opportunity for a close relationship with God. ... Continue Reading
Judge Not
We are not to hold one standard for ourselves and another standard for someone else. That’s called hypocrisy.
In a Christian family it is not only the children who must abide by the law of God but the parents must as well, even though they are the ones who exercise discipline. We are all sinners in need of grace. None of us occupies the high moral ground. Any judgment on our part must be... Continue Reading
Defective Evangelism
The chief work of the evangelist, is to preach upon SIN.
As Christ’s salvation is a salvation from sin, from the love of it, from its dominion, from its guilt and penalty; then it necessarily follows, that the first great task and the chief work of the evangelist, is to preach upon SIN: to define what sin (as distinct from crime) really is, to show wherein its infinite enormity consists,... Continue Reading
Faith in Princes
Elon is neither your enemy nor your savior.
I don’t think he’s trying to fool us about what he believes, and I don’t think we’re fooling ourselves, either. The friends of freedom always have to build coalitions. Those coalitions always come with risks, some of them severe. But we take them knowingly because we understand this fallen world, and because we are not... Continue Reading
The Push to Normalize Infanticide
There must be justice for the five babies whose remains were recovered from Cesare Santangelo’s abortion business, and the legislative efforts to legalize infanticide in California must be stopped.
Thankfully, some states (18) have their own laws requiring medical care to be given to abortion survivors; however, D.C. has no such law. This fact makes it even more necessary that the D.C. medical examiner perform an autopsy on the five babies found to determine if they suffered an illegal abortion or an act of infanticide. ... Continue Reading
Got the Lot?
Life turns upside down, most stresses and voices yield a counsel of despair.
The marvel of the Gospel is how we come to share such hope! Just like the lost, we, like the rest, deserve to incinerate. “There go I, but for the grace of God!”It is by Sovereign Grace alone, and the Cross of Christ, where fanned-up wrath of the Father’s fire and brimstone scorched, that we,... Continue Reading
What Makes a Sermon Difficult to Listen to
Preachers can assist listening and comprehension by providing some kind of an outline.
Commentaries are crucial when it comes to properly understanding a text. Preachers rightly spend a good bit of their prep time learning from experts through their commentaries. But there aren’t many occasions when the preacher should quote these experts. To read a quote from a commentary, and especially at length, is to radically change the... Continue Reading
Superiors, Inferiors, and Equals
Humbly resting in who we are in the community of faith smacks so hard against our arrogantly individualistic culture.
Regardless of which category we fall into the first issue at hand is what do we do with the place the Lord has granted to us in His purpose. If we are a Superior are we encouraging biblical fidelity among those in our purview? If not we are sinning against them. John Flavel in his... Continue Reading
“Underhanded”: School Invites Students to Observe LGBTQ Day Without Parents’ Knowledge
The advocacy group GLSEN invited schools across the country to hold a demonstration Friday to show support for LGBTQ students and their allies.
Emailing students an invitation to participate in a pro-LGBTQ rally, and sending them a slideshow with a political message without parents’ knowledge “seems underhanded to me,” the mother said, “especially if they’re going to ask kids to basically participate in … political engagement.” She wonders whether administrators at her son’s school “would be equally willing... Continue Reading
It’s the End of the World as We Know it (And I Feel Fine)
For far too long, the church has adopted an end-times theology that looks more like a fatalistic doom and gloom instead of a future dominion and glory.
In truth, it wasn’t until my late twenties that I began to question the popular narrative of eschatological defeatism, to plumb the depths of Biblical truth, and to discover for myself, what God has really said about the “end”. Since then, my journey has taken me all over the Bible, through the annals of ancient... Continue Reading
Listen to the Church in China
Review: Faith in the Wilderness: Words of Exhortation from the Chinese Church
Faith in the Wilderness is a powerful and moving collection of sermonic letters and I am glad to recommend it. I am quite sure that if you take the time to read it, you will be both blessed and encouraged. Best of all, you will be better equipped to endure pandemic, persecution, and whatever else providence... Continue Reading
Problem Gambling
Covetousness is what makes gambling exciting, satisfying, compelling, and even addictive, but it is a lustful, evil pleasure.
Gambling is thus idolatrous and immoral, but it is also simply foolish. The essence of gambling is its unpredictability and to invest resources in totally unpredictable events is irrational. Averages can be predicted but individual events cannot. One gambling win does not affect the probability of the next wager. The “gamblers fallacy” is that, if... Continue Reading
Elders in the New Testament: What do the Gospels and Acts Say About Elders
The New Testament speak of elders as servants of Jesus caring for and administering Godly decision making in the church.
Paul gave an account of his own service (20:18-27) to the believers in Ephesus at this meeting with the Christian Ephesian elders. He then gave a solemn charge to the group of elders he was speaking with (20:28-31): 20:28 Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you... Continue Reading
The Ascension
Imagine the shock and profound panic that filled the hearts of these disciples when Jesus said that it was just about over.
Jesus says that their hearts will not simply be touched by sorrow or grief or disappointment, but there will be a fullness of sorrow that saturates the chambers of their hearts. They will be overcome with grief. Their mourning will reach the limits of its human capacity. But Jesus says the condition that they will... Continue Reading
Franklin Graham and the Mayor of Liverpool – Which One is the Real Hate Preacher?
Franklin Graham is not a "hate preacher"
The American evangelist is due to speak at a youth event in the Wirral and at the Liverpool exhibition centre on 14 May as part of his God Loves You UK tour. The invite says, “Join Franklin Graham as he shares a personal message of hope and enjoy an exciting evening of live music. This... Continue Reading
A Defense of the Good Name of Vanguard Presbytery
A response to some members who have withdrawn from Vanguard Presbytery.
Vanguard Presbytery has had wonderful fellowship for these past two years. Except for this late unpleasantness caused by a few parties who have now left due to their desire to rush to judgment on one issue in violation of the Scripture and our Constitution. Vanguard has new churches that are starting in various places and... Continue Reading
God has Changed Every Table
As we eat by faith we are lifted to the heavenly Temple and feast on Christ’s body and blood, a genuine foretaste of the feast at the end of history.
We should be serious about food, about feasting, about serving the best our resources and skill allows—whether that’s chicken dippers or cordon bleu cuisine. We become friends around a table, because we become friends with God around a table. If at the Lord’s supper God meets with man, then at our tables man can meet with man... Continue Reading
Omnipotence
God’s power is a supremely wonderful thing, because it is wedded at every point to His justice, faithfulness, truthfulness, and love.
It cannot be bought. It cannot be perverted. It cannot be misused. God wields His power as the Father of the fatherless and the protector of widows, orphans, and outcasts. The One who binds up the hearts of the broken-hearted. This is ultimate power. God has often been said to be “omnipotent,” meaning, literally,... Continue Reading
A Church of Suspicious Minds
“It would be better to be deceived a hundred times,” Charles Spurgeon told his students, “than to live a life of suspicion.”
Suspicion is not wisdom, so let’s not confuse it with discernment. We don’t begin with the assumption of guilt and then look for evidence; we begin with love and assume the best—bearing with one another, pursuing the truth together, carefully listening to discover what someone means by the words they use, and sharing fellowship as... Continue Reading
A Plea to Pulpit Committees
Pulpit committees who treat the calling of their pastor like a company hiring an employee run the risk of using human wisdom over God’s calling.
The process should look like this: after receiving the ministerial data forms, the pulpit committee needs to pray through the names, see which ministers seem to line up best with their congregation, rank them in order, and then start with the first name on the list and pursue it until there is a yes or... Continue Reading
