Savor Christ in Every Psalm
The Joy of Singing with Jesus
With Christ, I rejoice that, first and fundamentally, Christ himself is the blessed man of Psalm 1; Christ is the righteous man of Psalm 15; Christ has the pure heart called for in Psalm 24. It is Christ who fulfills the high calling of the Psalms, Christ who can sing them with perfect assurance, Christ... Continue Reading
One Lord
Biblical monotheism is not mere abstract speculation but has at least four practical consequences for life and ministry.
Understanding biblical monotheism helps us to be clear about what we believe and are to teach. We do not believe in one God who is known by many names and who offers many paths of salvation. We do not affirm that it is enough to believe one God exists. We confess that we must trust... Continue Reading
Do We Desire to be with God?
Loving God with a Whole Heart
How do we receive the benefits of Christ’s perfect and all-sufficient mediation which enables us to grow in salvation? The means of grace. Therefore, it is right and proper (and lovingly pastoral) to communicate to our people their need for the means of grace. It is for their growth in faith, assurance, holiness, love, identity... Continue Reading
Prayer That has Power to Defeat Evil
As Christ-followers join Christ in ASKING that his kingdom would advance, the Father promises to act.
What Jesus taught is that prayer is WAREFARE. It is the way the kingdom of righteousness prevails over the kingdom of evil. It is the men of today’s church who need to heed this call to arms. It is the men who need to reclaim prayer as the way to fight for our loved ones against the... Continue Reading
3 Activities that Help Us Maintain Evangelical Unity
The more we are united in love, the more the world sees of Christ.
Fellowship dies when Christians take one another for granted and stop making a special effort to be with each other. While technology has bridged the communication gap in an incredible way, it can never replace being with fellow believers in the same space and time. In the context of such meetings, you get to know... Continue Reading
Sin is Worse than Sickness
The forgiveness of sins is where we find our ultimate reassurance.
Sin is the reason the horrors of sickness exist. This truth does not mean that if someone is sick, it is because of some specific sin in their life, but when Adam fell, all manner of distress was unleashed upon this world—even death. But for those of us whose sins are forgiven, even if disease... Continue Reading
Love What God Loves but Hate What God Hates
God hates arrogance and pride in people because those things are markers of our rebellion. When He regenerates us, we are new creations who are reborn and the rest of our lives He grows us unto Christlikeness.
We are commanded in scripture to not love the world. We must be in the world, but we cannot be part of it. If we love the world then we will also take on a love for the things above that God hates. We must love what God loves and hate what He hates. He... Continue Reading
Need for the Kingdom
"Thy Kingdom Come" Session 2 - Ecclesiastes
Ecclesiastes removes the rose-colored glasses we often wear as Christians and tells it like it is. Three phrases capture its analysis: “vanity of vanities,” “under the sun,” and “striving after wind.” We can put them together this way: under the sun we experience vanity, and our efforts amount to striving after wind. Let us... Continue Reading
Three Signs of Spirit-Given Prayer
Fervency, Reverence, and Confidence
If we realise, indeed, our own condition — how low it is, how base it is, how we cannot endure the clear sight of our own consciences — we cannot look on ourselves steadfastly without shame and confusion of face at the deformed spectacle we present. Much less could we endure to have our souls... Continue Reading
More than Conquerors
Nothing can ever take us away from the all-powerful grip of the hand of God that holds us close to His heart.
We possess the greatest thing in life, and the only thing that truly matters is a saving relationship with God through Christ. Despite the suffering, brokenness, pain, and problems that we experience, we still have God and His amazing love for us. This amazing love preserves us until the very end; until we experience it... Continue Reading
We Can’t Think or Live Christianly
We sometimes talk a good talk but when it comes down to it, we don’t live differently.
Most of the Christian life is about the quiet ordinariness of your domestic life. Your Christian duty is to love your spouse if you’re married, to raise your children in the faith if you’re a parent, to be a good friend and neighbour, to look after the poor, and to see the kingdom of God... Continue Reading
The Reformed Bride
Margaret Baxter’s Unyielding Love
Richard honestly reflected on Margaret’s proneness to anxiety and fear and her often perfectionist, sometimes obsessive, tendencies. She drove herself to the limit. Her desire to serve overtook her strength and, in the end, both body and mind gave way under the strain. But he celebrated her compassion for the poor and needy, as well... Continue Reading
5 Recommended Resources for New Christians
What do we need to know, and how do we grow in grace?
We may not think of ourselves as theologians, but the truth is, anytime we think about a teaching of Scripture and seek to understand it, we are engaging in theology, which refers to the study of God. In this book, Dr. Sproul surveys the basic truths of the Christian faith, explaining what God is like... Continue Reading
The Power of the Tongue
God has invested great weight and consequence into the small instrument of the tongue. Let’s use it wisely today, to the praise of His glorious grace.
Failure to keep the tongue in check does not simply tarnish a Christian’s reputation; it renders his whole religion worthless. Renders it useless, impotent, and devoid of force and power. In other words, an unbridled tongue takes a person’s whole public profession and divests it of potency and usefulness. Like a small leak in the hull... Continue Reading
Seven Questions for Deepening Your Friendships
The importance of building friendships and how doing so can transform your life.
Having seven questions each with five levels of depth can sound mechanical. You don’t build friendships like you stack Legos following the instructions to create what’s on the cover of the box. The seven questions are intended to help you to always have something to talk about. The five levels are meant to help you... Continue Reading
Our Priest in the Pattern of Melchizedek: Eight Conclusions Hebrews 5–7 Draws about Jesus the Messiah from Genesis 14:18–20 and Psalm 110:4
Because Jesus the Messiah is our priest in the pattern of Melchizedek, he guarantees a covenant that is better than the Mosaic covenant (Heb. 7:18–22).
Melchizedek brought out bread and wine, and bread and wine symbolize the broken body of the new and greater Melchizedek. I think this is another example of picture prophecy (i.e., typology) that God intended all along. When Jesus the Messiah died, he inaugurated the new covenant—the better covenant. And we remember that with bread and wine. I don’t... Continue Reading
What Is Your Name?
Peter came to Bethsaida to see and hear John the Baptist. But he did not know that God had other plans for him, plans that would change his life completely.
Peter had been brought to see Jesus by his brother Andrew, and both brothers were invited to spend the day at the place where Jesus was lodging that week. Intrigue drew them to Bethsaida, but they did not yet know that in God’s providence, greater things were planned for them. Roughly contemporaries, Jesus and Peter... Continue Reading
The Old Man on the Rock
The only safe place is the rock.
The old man took his place in the center of the rock and seemed unfazed by the whipping winds. But the young man began to cry out in despair. He was dashed against the rock, wave after wave. He began to swing wildly at the weather and shake his fists, but still he was beaten... Continue Reading
Anxiety and God
Even the sparrow has found a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may have her young (Psalm 84:3).
Now in Sydney with Ian’s parents, we investigated long-term employment and made ends meet with his General Practice locums. My stress accrued with his long hours away, morning sickness, and our unsettled, energetic boys. Our morale sunk lower with each long-term job prospect that turned out negative. We had insufficient funds to buy into any... Continue Reading
4 Psalms You Didn’t Realize Point to Christ
Read the Psalms with a focus on Christ.
When we read a psalm of praise such as Psalm 145, we are not being asked to carry the burden of praising God on our own; rather, we are invited to join the choir of Jesus as he leads us in praise. The initiative is with Jesus, the song is by Jesus, the tune is... Continue Reading
Joshua Bohannon & Missions to Native Americans
Bro. Bohannon was loved and honored by all with whom he associated. He was a diligent and faithful student, a consecrated, conscientious Christian–in short, all that may be expected of a true Christian gentleman.
He had consecrated his life to the Master’s service; and often said if it were not for the great need in his own Territory, and his adaptability to that work, he would unhesitatingly go to the foreign field. His life was full of promise, and he looked forward with joy to winning many souls to the... Continue Reading
Posting the Ten Commandments in Classrooms Will Not Fix Dysfunctional Public Schools
Know right from wrong is one problem in schools. Knowing why it matters is another. A recent piece of legislature won’t fix that.
More importantly, debating the constitutionality of the bill avoids the real crisis afflicting students in public schools. It’s not so much that they don’t know right from wrong (though this is obviously a problem); it’s that too many lack the very capacity to know right from wrong. Thinking morally and empathetically requires some degree of... Continue Reading
Folly has a Strategic Plan to Get You
Folly has the packaging, but its contents are meaningless at best and often deadly.
You don’t have to know everything to follow wisdom and avoid folly, but you have to know where to start. If you trust and follow Jesus, he promises, in fact he delights to lead the simplest person into profound wisdom. Jesus himself, as he reveals himself in Scripture, comes with spectacular packaging. And in our... Continue Reading
The Death of Doubt in the Death of Christ
Our history, the story of humanity, is one of crime - crime against one another, and above all, cosmic treason against a holy God.
Before God saved me, I was not an innocent man who happened to be chained to a dead sinner – I was both the dead man and the murderer. “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked” (Ephesians 2:1). Let’s forever banish the notion that when Christ saves us... Continue Reading
The Bible Is Not Boring (Part 1)
But Here Are Eight Reasons You Might Think It Is
The method for establishing familiarity is frequent exposure, even immersion. Ask yourself what book of the Bible you’re least familiar with. Now, why not do something about it? The Bible is not boring. It is the Drama of the ages, the Story of all stories. In this book we read of the living God’s... Continue Reading
Words That Are Worth More than a Picture
The Apostles’ Creed has helped the followers of Christ over the centuries focus on a particular core of beliefs refined from the teachings of the Bible.
Today, we need the Apostles’ Creed more than ever, but in our current church culture, there is a tendency to reject words for an emotional experience. Far too often, we see performance-driven worship use imagery to draw us into a higher emotional state. I read an article a while ago that has stuck with... Continue Reading
3 Imperatives for Christ’s Early Disciples (and for Us)
Repentance has always been and will always be the way into restored fellowship with God.
Three thousand people could point to that specific day when they repented, were baptized, and received forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit. That first Pentecost was not only the dividing line of history; it was the dividing line in their lives. “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that... Continue Reading
Does Hebrews 6 Teach You Can Lose Your Salvation?
This passage confuses us because it relates to how we process the relationship between the gospel’s promises and its admonitions.
The preacher expects us to take to heart both the urgent warning against a final departure from Christ and the admonition to assured confidence in God’s promise without any whisper of contradiction. He doesn’t admonish us to doubt the inheritance that God assures us by his sworn oath and promise. God regularly uses warnings and... Continue Reading
What Does the Bible Mean by “The Heart”?
The heart conveys the totality of our inner self.
There is nothing in the Christian’s heart—whether in the mind, desires, or will—that is untouched by God’s grace. Our hearts are enlightened, made pure, and established in the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We know God truly, love Him sincerely, and follow Him resolutely. We call those white flakes that appear in... Continue Reading
How to Show Mormon Missionaries That the Bible Contradicts Their Gospel
You can help Mormon missionaries see that the Bible is at odds with the teachings of Joseph Smith and the LDS Church.
Even if an angel from Heaven brought the Mormon gospel, Paul warns us not to believe it. At this point, gently ask them if they know the gospel Paul preached. If they don’t, share the true gospel of salvation—Ephesians 2:8-9. I want to make a promise to you. After reading this, you’ll be prepared... Continue Reading