Have you encountered an opportunity to sin, and instead of doing the common sense thing of walking away, you chose instead to stick around? Maybe, like me, you chose to dive head first into the experience. Odds are, if you did that, you ended up with consequences that were not enjoyable or easy to hide.... Continue Reading

Paul is in the middle of making a tremendous sacrifice. American prisons are country clubs compared to Roman prisons. But Paul is a messenger and all he cares about is the message. Even being in prison will work out for good in the grand scheme of things; Paul will do some great writing in prison.... Continue Reading

The pattern of the new life received in Christ continues to follow the baptismal plunge into the waters of death. Yes, life is ours, “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). But we have not yet appeared with him in glory. And so, the present life of faith requires that we die again and again... Continue Reading

He is from the root of David (just as was promised) who will overthrow the kingdom of darkness completely and take His rightful place at the right hand of the Father. He has done everything in the proper way and order and has conquered the forces that were against God and against us. Not only... Continue Reading

Do not be so enamored with any fallen sinner, that you lose your perspective.  He or she–just like you yourself–is nothing outside of Jesus Christ.  Follow good church examples, to be sure–but do so with the knowledge that all of us have “feet of clay.”   This little treatise is especially written for younger disciples... Continue Reading

Does this mean that Christians should withdraw from politics and be unconcerned with cultural values? Absolutely not. We “seek the welfare of the city” where we are exiled (Jer 29:7). Jesus’s call to neighbor love certainly includes working toward a just society wherein human beings can flourish according to God’s good design. Faithful Christians must... Continue Reading

As you look at the manger—whether liturgically or just historically—do not see a sentimental story. See the warlike wisdom of God. See the “One and the Same Son” who breached the fortress of the enemy not by power, but by humility.   As a good Presbyterian who holds to the Regulative Principle of Worship, I... Continue Reading

Ruling Elder, you are not a second-tier shepherd. You are a man set apart by God and His church to care for souls. The Lord has given you His Word, His Spirit, and His people to serve. He has called you to counsel, not in your own strength, but in the sufficiency of Scripture and... Continue Reading

The deepest problem is not that the Bible is a dead book. The deepest problem is that by nature we are dead in sin, and therefore we can handle even God’s Word without love for God, without submission to God, without faith in Christ.   It is a phrase you will hear often in charismatic... Continue Reading

We are to make decisions and formulate strategies in missions based upon Biblical presuppositions. “Strategy must be a servant, never a master, to the mission of God.”   As Christian leaders, we must make our plans for doing missions based on theological presuppositions. Missiological decisions must be rooted theologically. Theology provides “the purpose, the focus,... Continue Reading