Priority #1: Worship and Thanksgiving
The Lord has given us life, so the first priority in our lives on day one of the week is to worship the Lord.
The Lord has given us new life in Christ, raising our dead souls to life eternal so we give thanks to Him, we bless His name as the highest priority in our life. Before hugging her son, the Shunammite gave thanks to the Lord; how much more ought we give thanks to the Lord in... Continue Reading
Augustine and the Pelagian Controversy
Pelagian beliefs are still common today, even though Pelagius himself has largely been forgotten.
Pelagianism arose because the early church had failed to define the concept of sin with sufficient precision. Everybody agreed that human beings were sinful and in need of God’s grace for salvation, but there was a difference of opinion about what sin was and where it had come from. The Pelagian controversy takes its... Continue Reading
Navy Cancels Catholic Masses at Area Bases While Other Religious Services Continue
In a cost-cutting move, the Navy is canceling many religious service contracts, disproportionately affecting Catholics.
Religious services will be cut at bases where those services are readily available in the surrounding community outside the base. To the Rev. Jose Pimentel, a priest who has led services at Naval Base Coronado and North Island Naval Air Station for eight years, it isn’t just a personal loss—it’s a loss of the First... Continue Reading
Images of the Invisible God
The Weight and Wonder of Being Human
While fallen men make images of their gods, the true God made man in his own image—to image himself in the world. We humans are living, breathing, speaking, singing, moving images representing the invisible God to his world, so that others would remember and reverence him. In the image of God — it may... Continue Reading
More Than 100 Times Better
A greater than Elisha is here!
Jesus is the greatest prophet that ever lived. But His value is infinitely more than 100 times that of Elisha. For unlike Elisha who could but point people to the Lord, Jesus Christ the prophet is the Lord Himself. Then a man came from Baal Shalisha, and brought the man of God bread of... Continue Reading
God’s Clock and Man’s Clock
God fulfills promises in His perfect timing.
Whether praying for God’s intervention in our lives or observing what we deem to be significant prophetic world events, understand that God operates on a different clock than we do. Our calling is to pray in the Spirit according to God’s will and to wait patiently for His perfect timing… When thinking about measuring... Continue Reading
Abiding in Christ
The essential skill of discipleship is learning to abide in Christ.
Abiding is exercised through study of God’s Word and prayer. God’s Word, the Bible, instructs us in the way of God. It shapes our worldview. It nourishes our soul. It directs our steps. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for... Continue Reading
Karl Marx vs Charles Spurgeon
An Epic Struggle for the Souls of Men in 19th-Century London
It is extraordinary that both Karl Marx (1818-1883) and Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892) lived and worked in the same city at the same time. Both were, in a sense, evangelists contending for the souls of men with their competing visions of humanity. My next book (after this one) will focus on two men whose graves... Continue Reading
Do Not Grow Weary and Lose Heart
Our fulfillment must be in Christ alone or what we are pursuing is only another form of idolatry
The professing Christian who lacks this disciplining by God is illegitimate. They are not genuine believers. God’s discipline seems quite painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore, we must not lost heart in our weariness of the trouble seemingly never... Continue Reading
A Close Walk with Jesus
Time and effort invested in these God-given means of grace are actually an investment in Christ himself.
Abiding in Christ is bound up with our abiding in his word and in his love revealed in his word (Jn 15.3, 7-10). And it was this that Donald Macleod very much had in mind when he spoke of there being no substitute for ‘a close walk with Jesus’. We draw near to him and... Continue Reading