“It is ironic that prayer is actually the rescue chopper from the captivity of sin. It’s the only way out. Like making contact with a Search and Rescue Team, prayer discloses our location and position. The way out of the spiraling pattern of sin is to confess it.”   The other day I preached on... Continue Reading

“The act of encouragement is wonderfully simple and good, but extraordinarily difficult for sinners. So my encouragement to you (and myself!) would be to lean hard on the Spirit and ask for help. Reflect afresh on the gifts God has given you and think how those can be used in new and lively ways among... Continue Reading

“As Christendom collapses in the West, the church again finds itself marginalized, even exiled, in society and culture. An increasing number of church leaders are calling the church to recover the lost vision of the early church and return to the mode of witnessing as a faithful minority in a not-so-friendly world.”   Common sense... Continue Reading

“If TULIP wasn’t original to Calvin, how did we get it?  What are traditionally known as the Five Points of Calvinism sprung from theologians who were actually opposed to Calvin’s teachings, specifically those on predestination.”    Ask someone if they know about Calvinism and most likely they’ll bring up TULIP, a helpful acrostic that stands... Continue Reading

In choosing things like “class favorites,” we place a premium on performance, personality, and appearance above all else. And in doing so, we harm both the kids who win and the kids who don’t. Homecoming awards re-enforce all the wrong messages that our kids get from pop culture already: you are what you can do,... Continue Reading

First-Houston remained in the PCUSA, but according to an Oct. 13 letter sent to church members, “in the minds of the significant majority of those voting, the vote left us in the worst possible position: nearly two-thirds of our church wanting to leave the PCUSA but being prevented from doing so by an inability to... Continue Reading

“To be sure, doctrinal unity is prior to and provides the grounds for genuine relational unity. But it is never enough for a church to exist with corporate commitment to specific theological truths without a hearty commitment to inter-personal unity.”   Six months ago I was ordained as an elder at Grace Bible Fellowship in Sunnyvale, CA. Prior... Continue Reading

“Ideally, we should give our attention and thought to themes and details in proportion to their importance. Granted, we don’t usually know the major thrust of a passage until we’ve spent some time with it. But if we want to land on the main point, we should give our energy to the evidence and supporting... Continue Reading

“First, when we employ the abbreviation R.I.P. we are inevitably admitting a state or condition inseparably linked to the idea of the afterlife. We are not speaking of something indifferent to the truth of the hereafter.”   I have great admiration for non-Christians who have contributed to the improvement of society through their inventions, production, leadership,... Continue Reading

“Sanger was a leading advocate of the eugenics movement, specifically of negative eugenics, which promoted the reduction of sexual reproduction and sterilization of people with undesired traits or economic conditions.”   This weekend Planned Parenthood celebrated its 100th anniversary, commemorating the day that Margaret Sanger, the organization’s founder, opened the first birth control clinic in America.... Continue Reading