Stop Praying “Be With” Prayers
Jesus said, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28 v 20).
If you were to record my prayers, I have a sad suspicion you’d hear a lot of “be with”: “Dear Lord, I pray you will be with Tom as he goes to work, and be with Mary also, who’s having her wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday, and be with… and be with… and be with…... Continue Reading
Do You Have to Go Twice?
The Benefits of Evening Worship
Will one service strengthen our faith? Sure! Will a morning service feed our souls with spiritual milk? Absolutely! But a second service, whereby Christ and his glories are set before us, provides even more food to fatten the sheep. In addition, the evening service gives more opportunity to hear the “whole counsel of God.” More... Continue Reading
Maybe There’s Too Much Rain
Sometimes a brown lawn doesn’t mean there’s been too little rain; it means there’s been too much.
Rain, we tend to think, is about life. It’s about growth. It’s about prosperity. It’s about plenty. And most of us live in a state of rain, for we indeed have plenty. And perhaps that is part of the problem. At the first sign of adversity, we might tend to throw our hands up in... Continue Reading
The Three Ways the Bible Refers to Death
The correct understanding of death comes to us from God’s Word.
The first is spiritual death, which is separation from God (Ephesians 2:1,1). Then, of course, there is physical death (Hebrews 9:27). Then there is eternal death, which is referred to as “the second death” in Revelation 20:11-15). While many would consider the topic of death to be a subject to be avoided, it is vital... Continue Reading
Truth Twisting
Is genuine Christianity made up of essential truths that are knowable?
When confronted with the truth, heretics and their apologists almost never willingly admit that they do not affirm orthodox Christianity. However, the church prior to the mid-19th Century stood against heretics and their teachings using Church discipline to rid the Body of Christ of them and their heresies. However, things changed about 150 years ago... Continue Reading
“Reformed Theology” is Shorthand for: “Understanding-the-Bible Theology”
A Reformed understanding of the bible explains the human condition.
Historic Reformed theology is a way to understand most of the reasons why we do what we do, because it is an understanding of the bible’s covenantal themes. Reformed theology is Covenant Theology, which is the underlying doctrine of the great exchange. That is the good news of the imputation of our sin to Christ,... Continue Reading
Sanctification Signaling
Religious affectionism is what makes evangelicals (even those who think they are Calvinist) so unreliable in either ecclesiastical or civil matters.
The pursuit of nice often ignores both sides of a disagreement. It opts for the third way without really sorting out what’s right and wrong in the controverted issues. Which means, that love or nice is its own sort of polemical meanness because in taking no side and offering no alternative except to say “love”... Continue Reading
The Work of the Pastor
Richard Baxter unstintingly applied the Biblical work ethic to the pastoral task.
Baxter’s pastoral work ethic is undeniable. His energy is passionate and unrelenting. His enthusiasm is in evidence on every page. Both his rhetoric and his practical counsel are charged with passion for Christ, the doctrines of grace, the purity of the church, the necessity for clerical holiness, the discipling purposes of education, and the high... Continue Reading
The Last Enemy
We need a renewed emphasis on our future resurrection, not as a fine point of theology, but as the hope that helps us when we face our last enemy.
Since we’re all going to die, a good part of the Christian life must be preparing to die. We need to talk about it often. We need to sing songs that anticipate that day and help to prepare us. We often live as if death isn’t our reality. Life is short, and the inevitability of... Continue Reading
The Forgotten Attribute of God
Why Modern Theology Abandoned Aseity and Why We Must Recover It Today
Doctrines like aseity are a better means for affirming modern impulses to avoid philosophical captivity, to offer apologetic relevance, and to stay attuned to sound exegesis than the alternatives offered by modern theology. Aseity remains one basis in the doctrine of God for Christian appreciation of the gratuitousness and victory of God. Aseity refers... Continue Reading