What makes me a Christian dad is not that I have mastered the art of raising children beneath a tasteful banner of biblical conviction. No, What makes me a Christian dad is that Christ keeps dragging my fatherhood out of the closet of image and into the house of repentance, clinging, and real love.  ... Continue Reading

The Bible does not give a list of rules, but it does give us several principles that help us think wisely. Self-control is one of them. The loss of self-control leads to real harm, and it is striking how often the deliberate aim of drug use is precisely to lose control.    We live on... Continue Reading

Unrealistic expectations ultimately impoverish the church’s witness. A congregation that forgets how to bear with its shepherds forgets how to bear with one another, thereby undermining the very pastoral care it demands.   The History of Unrealistic Expectations Placed upon Pastors Throughout the history of the church, pastors have been burdened with expectations that exceed... Continue Reading

The tragedy is not that the world rejects the truth; it always has. The tragedy is that the Church, more often than not, no longer has the courage to proclaim it as written.   The real issue before us today is not differences in style or methods, but whether the Church still fears God enough... Continue Reading

God has been kind to restrain sin and allow truth to surface even in a fallen world. But He hasn’t left us to piece together the human condition from fragments. He’s spoken clearly in His Word.   Common Grace Is Not a Blank Check There’s a growing pressure inside the church to make peace with... Continue Reading

We should avoid a hermeneutical approach to Scripture that says God’s revelation progresses after the Bible to make us more just, more equitable, and more merciful than the Bible is itself.    A common narrative is that Christianity slowly, over time, realized that slavery was wrong. Although it took centuries, it followed from the logic... Continue Reading

God has promised never to leave you nor forsake you, even to the end of the age. Be content. You have everything you really need. You have Christ. Surely he is enough.   If you’re asked, “Has God ever failed you?” or “Will God ever forsake you?” you are likely to answer no to both.... Continue Reading

When Christ came first out of the other world, from the dead, clothed with that heart and body that He was to wear in heaven, what message sends He first to them?…His first word concerning them is “Go tell my brethren.”   God’s Love Demonstrated Let us now take a view of our Savior in... Continue Reading

If your understanding of God remains intact in the wilderness, the wilderness will not define you. It will refine you. And when you emerge, it will not be because you mastered the process, but because you entrusted yourself to the One whose nature does not change, even when His ways stretch you beyond what you... Continue Reading

Pastor Martin preached as if he was dying to have you either converted or sanctified. And supporting his preaching was the scrupulous consistency of a man determined to keep a clear conscience before God and men. By God’s grace he was enabled to finish his race well and keep that clear conscience to the end.... Continue Reading