If I Share The Gospel, I Might Ruin Our Relationship
Share the gospel today, because that’s what we have been called to do.
I know that every situation is different and that it takes a lot of wisdom, but generally speaking, I think that Christians wait too long to share the Gospel with loved ones. I want to encourage you to consider the following points to see if these are reasons why you haven’t pulled the trigger yet,... Continue Reading
We’re Called to Make Disciples, not Simply Converts
We should take notice of what Jesus did not say in the Great Commission. He did not say, “Go therefore and make converts of as many people as possible.”
The Great Commission is the call of Christ for His disciples to extend His authority over the whole world. We are to share the gospel with everyone so that more and more people might call Him Master. This calling is not simply a call to evangelism. It isn’t merely a call to get students for... Continue Reading
Confronting Neo Paganism Part 2
Who would have thought that forms of Evangelicalism would contribute to the Hinduization and paganization of Christianity?
In this movement are strange bedfellows, brought together in another on-line forum, called Evolutionary Christianity, which is one more example of Utopianism, what Thomas Molnar calls The Perennial Heresy. They include Evangelical theistic evolutionists, “progressive” Emergent Christian leaders, radical post-theistic Christian liberals, Christian non-dual mystics, pro-homosexual ministers, radical religious feminists, and recognized evolutionary scientists. Some are... Continue Reading
Why We Need the Armor of God
The devil is a very real, very powerful opponent, far too powerful for us to take on in our own strength.
Paul tells us that we are to be strong in God’s awesome, magnificent power, a power that is beyond compare. The words Paul uses here in Ephesians 6:10 are an echo of the same Greek words that he used in Ephesians 1:19 to describe the power of God that raised up Christ.2 In other words,... Continue Reading
On Jesus, Assumptions, Temptation, And Speculation
The very desire to have sex with someone of the same-sex is disordered, unnatural, and sinful. It is what the older Reformed theologians called “concupiscence.”
He speaks of being “‘biblically inclusive’ of sexual minority groups.” Let us be perfectly clear. All sinners are welcome in Christ’s church. They are welcome to visit. Indeed, we implore all sinners to come join with us sinners, to bow the knee to King Jesus with us, to acknowledge with us the greatness of their... Continue Reading
Tried with Fire: I’ve Got This!
Is self-reliance a virtue or a vice? The Bible includes passages that answers this question with a yes and with a no.
Should we try to be self-reliant? The answer to this question is yes in the sense that we should not expect other people to take responsibility for us. Even in this sense, however, our self-reliance needs to be grounded in a constant God-reliance. The Lord will put us in situations where we simply do not... Continue Reading
No Pang Shall Be Mine?
Death is not finally ended, but it is our final enemy, it is the last in a long line of hardships and horrors that dog the life of the Christian.
My mistake was as simple as it was profound – I had confused the sentence of death on death, with its final execution. I had mistaken the ‘already’ for the ‘not yet’, I had conflated the inauguration and the consummation of Christ’s kingdom, and I had dislocated my hope from the Final State, planting it... Continue Reading
Arminius: A New Look (Part 5)
Arminius always insisted that he did not teach anything contrary to the confessional standards of the church.
In July 1605, Arminius conducted a public disputation titled “On the Free Will of Man and Its Powers.” While the theses of the disputation themselves were not controversial, controversy soon swirled around him. In this excerpt from Saving the Reformation, Dr. W. Robert Godfrey examines Jacob Arminius and the Calvinists who opposed his teaching.... Continue Reading
When to Speak Out?
A Pastor's Engagement with Current Issues
Pastoral ministry…is counter-cultural and prophetic in its insistence that people encounter the Word of God. As people are “rooted and built up” in Christ and “strengthened in the faith” (Col. 2:7), pastoral ministry unleashes an equipped body of believers to be salt and light and carry a biblical worldview out into the world to make... Continue Reading
Peripatetic Sermon Prep
The way in which we articulate truth is nearly as important as the truth we are wishing to articulate.
While the list of helpful resources available to assist the pastor in his sermon preparation is seemingly endless, there is yet another invaluable element of sermon preparation to which we ought to give more serious consideration–namely, engaging in sermon preparation in community with other ministers. Discussions about sermon preparation tend to gravitate towards subjects... Continue Reading