One People of God: Christ Has Broken Down the Dividing Wall
There is essentially one people of God.
When I encountered Reformed theology and the Reformed Church, one of the first questions I asked my first Reformed teacher, Warren Embree, was, “What about Israel?” To which he replied, “the dividing wall has been broken down.” Again I asked, “But what about Israel?” Again he replied, “The dividing wall has been broken down.” A... Continue Reading
God Will Be Good Again Tomorrow
Taste and see that he really is good — and trust him for that grace to come again tomorrow.
God’s new mercy meets us each morning (Lamentations 3:22–23), and yet we’re often too consumed by tomorrow’s trouble to even notice. David models stopping, even in the midst of ongoing uncertainty and distress, to see daily grace, and he calls us to join him in the peace and confidence that seeing brings. I will... Continue Reading
The Time is Near: A Look at Revelation 1:1-3
We should read Revelation much like we read other books of prophesy. Such as Isaiah.
One thing v. 1 teaches us is that since Revelation is a revelation from God to His Son who then gave it to His servants, we know that every word in it is true. But that doesn’t mean that we are to take every word literally. As we will shortly see, that is impossible. If... Continue Reading
Westminster Hearer 2: God’s Word in Your Pastor’s Words
Receiving preaching the way the Scriptures speak of preaching will change your hearing as well as your spiritual life.
The Westminster Larger Catechism asks in Question 160, “What is required of those that hear the Word preached? The answer is, “It is required of those that hear the Word preached, that they…receive the truth…as the Word of God…” (Obviously the answer is heavily edited for emphasis.) Did you read that correctly? Preaching is to... Continue Reading
How to Know What Happens After You Die
What happened to Jesus will happen to all those who believe. We will be raised.
Those who trust in Christ as their Savior shall be raised even as he was raised. The resurrection of Jesus Christ in the first century is the primary reason for the believer’s confidence in this future reality. Because Jesus has already been raised from the dead in real time, space, and history, all Christians can be... Continue Reading
The Affectionate Pastor
In the image of the Shepherd and the sheep, we find an apt picture of the great affection that Christ has for His flock.
I naturally think of the image of the Shepherd with the sheep, when I read of Paul’s joyful affection for other believers. Though the sheep are often difficult, the Shepherd does everything to care for the sheep (John 10). Though they wander, he expends all of his time and energy seeking out the lost sheep... Continue Reading
Jesus Takes the Worry out of Worship
We approach “the throne of grace in time of need” with no fear, and with all confidence.
The worship system is not designed to keep God safe and clean from those grubby people, but to keep those grubby people safe from the God of whom a very glimpse would make you melt like the Nazi bloke in Indiana Jones who opens the ark of the covenant. Eyeballs dropping all over the place. There... Continue Reading
Life of the Mind, 2
If God renews our minds, the call of the Christian is to be "transformed by the renewal of your mind" (Rom. 12:2).
When God brings new life, a genuine re-generation, to sinners like us, more than our future is changed. In addition to the promise of eternal salvation, we are given new minds right now. God’s Spirit gives us a “new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.” (Col. 3:10) While... Continue Reading
The Struggles of the Christian Life
You have an opportunity each day to glorify God in the way you respond to the struggles you face.
As you face struggles in your life today, whether they be great or small, know that God has a purpose and plan behind each of them. We are never at the hand of fate or chance. The Christian has a loving heavenly father who is testing, correcting, and building our faith by the situations of... Continue Reading
The Entrenched Intellectualist
J.I. Packer speaking of two different kinds of Christians we find in the church today.
Think now of the entrenched intellectualists in the evangelical world: a second familiar breed, though not as common as the previous type. Some of them seem to be victims of an insecure temperament and inferiority feelings, others to be reacting out of pride or pain against the zaniness of experientialism as they perceived it, but... Continue Reading