At last, I said: “I’m grateful you want to honor my studies, but please don’t mistake a degree for maturity, competence, fitness for ministry, and certainly not for godliness. The one does not necessarily portend the others. All it really means is that I persevered long enough to meet some academic requirements.” From the standpoint... Continue Reading

Christ was zealous for his Father’s business. Zeal for God’s house consumed him so thoroughly that he was in great distress until his mission (that is, his excruciating death) could be accomplished (Luke 12:50; John 2:17). As such, argued Spurgeon, Christ always preached solemnly. “There was weight about every word that he said, meaning in every... Continue Reading

These films pitch their protagonists—Pearson and Bell—as brave rebels who challenged a rigid, bigoted, staid religious establishment in radical and costly ways. But if that’s the case, why are these films so tedious and flat? Perhaps it’s because the supposedly groundbreaking “rethinking” these men advocate is nothing new—just boring old heresy in modern new clothes.... Continue Reading

Isaiah’s prescription for this withering sickness of unbelief is a dose of God’s magnificent majesty, power, and glory. The promises of God are guaranteed by who and what He is. He is the Creator and Sustainer of the world and His people.   Your God Is Too Small is the title of the book written by J.B. Phillips, and... Continue Reading

These seven norms are non-negotiable principles in the thinking and ecclesiology of Francis Schaeffer.  These norms are commanded by God.  Any church that fails to engage in even one of these crucial norms forfeits the right to be called a true church.  However, Dr. Schaeffer believes there are many areas in which the church is... Continue Reading

A book of instructions will orient you and includes the mandate, “Be bored.”  The idea is that you do nothing.  You spend your time looking not at a screen but looking out the window into the woods.  Wander around outside, if you want.  Enjoy time with your spouse, if you come as a couple.  But have no... Continue Reading

“Open the eyes of my heart to see the glorious hope we have in Christ, your love for all of the saints, and your power at work in us who believe (Ephesians 1:18-21). Cause my heart to burn within me as we celebrate the gospel in song, learn and apply the gospel through the preached... Continue Reading

 To add “social justice advocacy” to the mandate of the visible church is to go beyond Scripture and imperil her true vocation. Individual Christians, however, have every freedom to band together to advocate for social policies and our brothers and sisters have a right to disagree with us about those social polices. One hopes that... Continue Reading

Union with Christ reminds us we cannot lay hold of one benefit of Christ without receiving the others. We cannot come to Christ for justification and somehow sneak away without sanctification. To have one benefit is to have Christ. To have Christ is to have all benefits. The benefits of justification and sanctification are, of... Continue Reading

This Greek word for seek, zeteo, can refer to simply looking for something, but when talking about seeking God, Christ, and His kingdom, it tends to mean something quite a bit stronger. In fact, you could use words like “require,” “crave,” and “demand.” You NEED it, so you seek it.   A few years ago, our family was... Continue Reading