Paul’s teaching on “the heavenly places” in Ephesians reminds us of important truths. Jesus’s reign at God’s right hand in heaven is foundational for God’s purpose to make all things right in heaven and on earth (1:20–23). On account of their union with Christ, believers have been blessed with every blessing of the Spirit (1:3)... Continue Reading

The Lord is with you, mighty warrior? Now that is a shocking statement. It is shocking because Gideon was not a mighty warrior. He was threshing wheat, a common and necessary practice, but the usual practice of threshing wheat was to cut the stalks and then beat them with a rod. You would then discard... Continue Reading

Fast-forward millennia of human history, with God’s promise of sending a redeemer gradually taking shape (see Gen. 3:15) through a series of covenants and promises, and we arrive at Jesus. Jesus is at the very heart of history. As Paul writes, though Jesus “was in the form of God,” he was “born in the likeness... Continue Reading

The western world’s gnostic separation of the human person into a good soul and a bad body has manifested itself in the postmodern transgender movement. This radical, ultimately anti-humanistic form of dualism drives an arbitrary wedge between a person’s physical, biological sex and their so-called gender. To honor their “true” or “authentic” internal sense of... Continue Reading

When life’s trials crash in, we want a well-worn pathway to lead our children to the comfort of the God’s Word. However, they have a formidable obstacle to overcome if they “hate” reading. So what should a parent do in a culture where screens entice our children away from books? It is time to take... Continue Reading

The church is a people, not a place or a statistic. It’s a body, united into him who is the head. It’s a family, joined together by adoption through Christ. I pray that we pastors would increasingly recognize our awesome responsibility for the particular flocks over which God has made us undershepherds.   A Jarring... Continue Reading

Our social media habits have made slander so prevalent, so normal, that we’re willing to overlook its pernicious effects as long as it helps our cause or confirms our narrative. We no longer see this sin as disqualifying. We no longer even see it as sin. I fear we’ve normalized this form of worldliness to... Continue Reading

Contrary to what proponents claim, policies that support the social transition of children are not “kind.” Nor are they aimed at “what’s best for the kids.” Rather, these policies enable and protect practices that cause irreversible harm. This includes policies about pronouns. A pronoun matters because language matters. Language should match reality, not distort it. This... Continue Reading

Before GPS, SOS, and CPUs, the stars and land were essential to navigation of sea. There were few things more terrifying to a sailor than a storm causing the ship to drift off course and away from land. If both were lost, especially for an extended time like fourteen days, the situation would be nearly... Continue Reading

“Almost every day I am in conversation with one of our attorneys. We have engaged six different law firms to respond to the litigations brought against us.” The legal battles dragged on for 12 years before Iker and the Anglicans ultimately won. Finally, a Texas Supreme Court judge ruled that “under the governing documents, the... Continue Reading