A Christian burial service offers you a chance to preach the gospel to your loved ones from beyond the grave. It will press eternal truths directly upon tender hearts. It will preach gospel hope directly into open ears. Why would any believer pass on such an opportunity? Scattering your ashes off the dock at the... Continue Reading

The imperative of Exodus 20:4-6 is not saying: “Make all of the images you like so long as you do not worship them.” Instead, the passage forbids us from even making unsanctioned images in the first place. Because God knows how quickly our hearts will leap into worship, He has not only forbidden the worship... Continue Reading

While the temptation is to marvel at the lives of the saints listed in Hebrews, John Owen notes, “Until now he had suggested that they look to people who had professed the Christian faith in the past, but now the focus is on him who is the author and perfecter of our faith. Thus the... Continue Reading

For us, we try to change things up once a week. Monday through Thursday, we do a Bible study and prayer (probably around 15 minutes), but Friday is different. On Friday, everyone shares one specific thing they are thankful for that week, and one prayer request. For a while, those prayer requests were pretty predictable... Continue Reading

To be jealous for God is to be burdened when other nations praise and worship false gods. To be jealous for God is to see men exalted and to be filled with holy zeal. To be jealous for God is to want to bring in the atheist nations so that they can give God the... Continue Reading

Obadiah speaks not only of judgment on Edom but also of the “day of the Lord” (Obad. 15), which will bring judgment on all nations (Obad. 16) and deliverance for God’s people (Obad. 17). At first glance, it sounds as if these will take place at the same time. However, the biblical prophets regularly collapse together... Continue Reading

Job has just found out in repeated hammer blows of bad news that all of his wealth is gone and his family is no more. He tore his robe and shaved his head in grief. However, did he curse or blame God? He recognized that God allowed it to happen and that God is sovereign... Continue Reading

A church that is real will not be too quick to judge but will rather be honest enough to recognise that each member sins, each member has their own struggles and each member – if they nevertheless love Jesus and want to obey his commands – is saved by grace and fully accepted by him.... Continue Reading

We think God won’t mind a few sins here and there. The problem with this thinking is that we don’t get it. We don’t get how holy God is, and we don’t get how sinful we are. Isaiah understood it when he saw a vision of the Lord in his glory. He cried out, And... Continue Reading

Our culture calls many things “hate speech”, but Scripture clearly defines it as any speech which denigrates people’s nature as God’s image-bearers and any speech—or silence—that promotes sinful and destructive behavior.  In order to love our neighbors as ourselves, we must pray for them, acknowledge their personhood, and lovingly seek their good by confronting sin... Continue Reading