John set forth a simple but highly evocative confessional statement: “Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” (1 John 4:2, 3). The negative part of the confession borrows the context from the first part—that is,... Continue Reading

If we’re honest, many of us are guilty of complaining about the aged among us being stuck in their ways, slow. And others of us are guilty of passing by the elderly without seeing them as people in need of the gospel. I know I recently came to the realization that being old doesn’t mean... Continue Reading

Just as its loudest opponents feared, granting same-sex couples access to marriage has further aligned the hoary institution with sexual choice, helping sever the link between sex and diapers—at just the moment when abortion rights face their greatest test in a generation.   If you want to understand the sexual revolution in a nutshell, read... Continue Reading

While the church needs to grow bigger, it must grow deeper first! If the members of the church lack proper knowledge of key biblical truths (like predestination), how will they be able to make disciples in the first place?   Predestination is one of the most hated and debated doctrines in the Bible. Yet, Charles... Continue Reading

God in His kindness and love and mercy and compassion, and in His infinite grace, looked upon men and women when they deserved nothing but hell and destruction, and gave them the promise of their wonderful redemption that would finally be consummated in His own eternal Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.   Our... Continue Reading

The danger today is that when we make men, strategies and models the centre of church growth we inadvertently begin to think the same thing about ourselves—that we are responsible. This is not merely an unbearable burden but an impossible and crushing expectation. Subtly, I wonder if it is the reason church leaders and pastors... Continue Reading

Any pastor who reads this book somewhat regularly will be equipped to develop their own practice of preaching because the theology presented is so clear and Biblical. Any churchgoer will be helped by a greater understanding of their pastor’s calling and work.   John Stott was an English Anglican pastor, whose commentaries and books on... Continue Reading

Pastors, elders, in kinship with David, guard your own heart and give yourselves to shepherd the church of God He has placed in your care. Let not numbers of salary or membership or square footage drive you. Rather, be driven by the compassion and care of Christ, who gave His life for His sheep, including... Continue Reading

But the particular concern I want to address in relation to “good and necessary consequence” is pastoral. Namely, we must learn to distinguish between “good” consequences and “necessary” ones. Failure to do so will lead either to a legalistic or a disobedient life. In short, unless a teaching we have derived from Scripture is both... Continue Reading

Whenever someone says “I am on the right side of history” they are presuming that their understanding of right and wrong is the same as whoever or whatever is in control of history. Since a large number of those who have adopted this phrase are self-avowed atheists, agnostics, or religious liberals their use of this... Continue Reading