Preparing for Worship
If our lives are oriented around worship, we may experience a greater joy in gathering to worship the one true and living God.
We worship on the first day of the week, moving from rest to work on the following six days. Such is the great privilege of living in the resurrection power of Christ. This affects every moment of our lives and should move us to prepare to meet the Lord and experience the peculiar joy that... Continue Reading
Let Your Sins Be Strong
We like to talk about sin and forgiveness, but we do not like to admit that we are truly sinners.
We must stop trying to diminish the sin we have committed in order to maintain dignity. We must let them be strong, and look at them in all their wretchedness. We must see our sins as they mock God and refuse to obey Him in all His Holiness. Taking ownership of our sins is the... Continue Reading
David Clarkson and Soul Idolatry, Part 2: The Remedy Applied
When we as Christians value anything above God, it never gives us the comfort, relief, whatever that it promises
In the end, the “choicest worldly enjoyments” are vain, uncertain, dissatisfying, deceitful, and unprofitable. With this in mind, we must recognize that “lawful comforts” can be “the most dangerous snares” as we feel secure in them and pursue them “too eagerly.” Our last post identified the problem of soul idolatry from David Clarkson’s book, Soul... Continue Reading
Don’t Be A Grumbler, Be A Groaner
Do all things without grumbling? Every single thing? That’s the call.
Grumbling doubts God’s goodness and shakes our fist at him. Groaning by the Spirit hates the brokenness of the world—the sin and the suffering—because it’s not how it’s supposed to be, but also holds onto the sure that that one day, things will be exactly how they’re supposed to be forever. Grumbling is Natural... Continue Reading
Fill Your Heavy Heart with Heaven
Counsel for the Downcast
The mercy God offers us in Christ is far greater than the mercy we need, and should dominate over our worries or griefs. Our imaginations will be constrained or distorted by worry and doubt, particularly in the midst of anxiety and depression, but will be enlarged by what God says about himself (Ephesians 3:20). ... Continue Reading
Brothers, shall we weep?
For ourselves, for the sheep, for lost souls?
There is an urgent need for true tears, for hearts which feel the depth and breadth of the need of God’s people to be awakened, for the name of Christ Jesus to be personally and visibly held in highest honour among us, for his greatness and grace to be the obsession of our hearts and... Continue Reading
The Myth of Theological Development
We must not follow the impulse to assume the development and evolution of theology.
We need to see the past not as rungs on a ladder up to the present. But as individual experiences of theologians walking on the path to knowing God in Christ Jesus through worship. This will free us from the self-confidence of our own times that weighs down with a burden that could eventually crush... Continue Reading
New York Presbyterian Church Hosts Pagan Deity
The United Presbyterian Church of Binghamton hosted “the Sviatovid idol” which depicts a ninth-century Slavic deity.
Maybe Sviatovid was invited into the church in the spirit of multiculturalism. Perhaps it was a subtle nod to universalism. False teaching, but a desire for the best for (literally) everyone. To put a false god in the same spot as God’s communion table, regardless of the fact that it was not during a worship... Continue Reading
Not Conformed but Transformed (Romans 12:1-2)
In response to God’s lavish grace, surrender everything, including what you’re most tempted to believe.
In response to God’s lavish grace, surrender everything, including what you’re most tempted to believe. That’s what happened to Becket Cook. He went from agnostic/atheist to child of God, but it didn’t stop there. Upon my conversion, God gave me a new heart and put his Spirit in me (Ezek. 36:26 ), and that transformed... Continue Reading
How Sinful Is Man?
Our bodies are fallen, our hearts are fallen, and our minds are fallen
“Sin affects our behavior, our thought life, and even our conversation. The whole person is fallen. That is the true extent of our sinfulness when judged by the standard and the norm of God’s perfection and holiness.” Imagine a circle that represents the character of mankind. Now imagine that if someone sins, a spot—a moral... Continue Reading