You learn a lot about someone when you take everything away from them. I’ve been learning a lot about myself lately, and I haven’t even lost that much compared to Paul. One day all of us have to face the question: what’s left when everything is stripped away? It’s happening to all of us in... Continue Reading

First Peter 3:14–17 is a classic text for Christian apologetics. Peter tells believers that they are always to be prepared to make an apology, translated “a defense” in the ESV, for the hope that is in them. This defense is to be a reasonable presentation of the gospel that has brought them hope and why... Continue Reading

The call to excellence may seem like a heavy burden. How can I be excellent in every area of my life? Fortunately, God is not calling us to do what he hasn’t made or empowered us to do. Excellence is working to the best of your ability in the areas and ways God has called... Continue Reading

When we could not come to God nor could we find our way, God came to us. It is, therefore, our duty to exercise ourselves unto godliness—pursuing holiness as a means of bringing glory to our God and Savior Jesus Christ.   Recently, in my men’s group, we were reading George Swinnock on the subject... Continue Reading

More than anyone else I’ve ever read Bonar makes the central truths of the chief article of the gospel piercingly and pastorally clear. And a clear gospel is essential for both the heart and work of a minister, indeed every Christian.   When I found that Banner of Truth was slated to reissue nineteenth-century Scottish... Continue Reading

People from every nation, age, social, and economic class are subject to death. Why, for example, are infants subject to death if they have never personally committed a conscious sin? Quite simply, they are subject to death because of Adam’s representative action.   In the highly individualistic age in which we live, few embrace the... Continue Reading

Christine based her defense of the dignity of women on both Scriptures and the example of virtuous women in church history. She even took a Latin proverb that men used to slander women (“God made women to weep, talk and spin”) to show how Christ had compassion on the tears of many women.   Christine... Continue Reading

Perhaps one of the most remarkable (and often overlooked) examples of apostasy is Saruman in Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. I’ve been re-reading the books lately in my coronavirus quarantine, and I was struck anew by the role he plays in the overall story.   There’s been a lot of chatter the last couple years... Continue Reading

Our future is not really about us leaving the earth. It’s about heaven reuniting with earth and God living here, healing and restoring everything that’s broken, and bringing life and healing to the world.   We began a series on the storyline of the Bible way back on March 1, which was in a different... Continue Reading

The members of the pastor’s family are in one sense not ordinary church members because of their unique familial relationship to the pastor. Yet, when it comes to the church’s expectations of them, they should be treated as ordinary members.   Pastoral ministry today is especially challenging. The most recent figures show that 50 percent... Continue Reading