Our response to Jesus should come most dominantly from reading his Word—since that’s the only completely trustworthy place we can go to find the true Jesus. So when I realised the propensity for my heart to be more strongly influenced by “The Chosen” than Scripture, I had to make the decision to leave off watching it. The... Continue Reading

God established worship: an encounter with his people mediated through the tabernacle. The tabernacle safeguarded the presence of God: the personal, active God was invisible. With the golden calf, there was accessibility to a visible god who was an impersonal object.[vi] In true worship, we encounter the holy, the awesome. In idolatry, we encounter the... Continue Reading

We see Jonah’s disobedience and the Lord restoring him afterwards. We should be ever grateful that the Lord’s mercies are new every morning (Lam 3:22–23), and as John says, “We have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (1 Jn 2:1).  Our God is not only merciful and gracious to us in our... Continue Reading

It’s probably still the best plan of action to at least try to follow the Matthew 18 pattern as close as you can for as far as you can. We shouldn’t be in a rush to write someone off (1 Cor 13:7). We don’t want to assume the worst. We should long for restored relationship more... Continue Reading

Puritans viewed habits in developing spiritual maturity was through aligning a believer’s will to that of God’s. Through habits, or frequent practice, the Puritans would say that a believer begins to now want what God wants by being regularly conditioned spiritually in frequent obedience to Him. God works through the repetitive obedience of believers to... Continue Reading

Attendance is necessary, but members should do more than just attend. They should serve. They should  “do the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12). They use their gifts to serve God and other members, building up the church in the process. Great encouragement comes from knowing you’re not the only one on the team. Great comfort comes... Continue Reading

Mill, Havel, and Kundera all point us to a terrible truth: our moral weakness, desire to evade responsibility, and illusion that the majority makes right have led us down the slippery slope of forfeiting our freedom. How do we respond to those working to undermine human rights? The solution is simple, but not without personal costs. Stop... Continue Reading

Those willing to identify themselves as having an LGBT+ identity therefore make up 3.7% of the population. This is lower than the latest church membership figures (c.10%) or church attendance figures at around 4.7%. Of course, the key difference here is that LGBT+ is growing rapidly, whilst church membership and attendance is in decline. Similarly, the LGBT+... Continue Reading

If we fixate upon the tone of the service—stamping out laughter and mirth—making sure we have the proper atmosphere of being around the holy, we’ll never arrive at anything more than contrived stillness. Because when you focus upon being blood-earnest you’re no longer really preaching.   C.S. Lewis once spoke about the difficulty of sustaining... Continue Reading

Amid the New Year’s hubbub about self-focused resolutions and self-improvement and self-care and self-whatever, don’t forget that 2023 is not about you. It’s about Jesus. It’s good to ask how this year could be different than the one before—but for Jesus’ sake, not just ours. Whatever our plans, intentions, hopes, or fears are as we... Continue Reading