While the selfish person believes they’re setting a trap for others, they’re actually setting a trap for themselves. Their ill-gotten gain turns out to be no gain at all. It’s a curse and a ticking time bomb that will most certainly go off.   Proverbs 1:8-19 Whether we’re young and still under the authority of... Continue Reading

Church leadership often works ‘underground’. Sermons reshape thinking long before behaviour changes. Pastoral conversations soften hearts long before repentance shows. Prayer alters spiritual ground long before revival appears.   Sometimes, nothing seems to work. Many—perhaps most—church leaders have experienced this, though it’s often hard to admit. Here are some examples. You pray faithfully, but the... Continue Reading

Both what we think the future holds (our telos) and what we think the story we live on is (our imaginary) dictate how we receive the world and understand our being within it.   It’s common in evangelical circles for people to talk about ‘going to heaven when they die.’ It’s common in slightly different evangelical circles... Continue Reading

The middle ground has proven to be not only ineffective, but deadly. May the Lord raise up more courageous Christians who are not afraid to speak up for truth, even if it may cost them friends and influence in this life.   In my last two posts (read them here and here), I laid out... Continue Reading

Our salvation is a miracle of sovereign grace from start to finish. If you love Christ today, it is not because you were smarter than your neighbor, or more sensitive, or more moral. It is because the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shone in your heart.   In Chapter 9,... Continue Reading

The ultimate goal of divine election, that is to say, the preeminent reason why God did not leave all humanity in the just reward of their sin, was so that the glory of his steadfast love and grace might be praised.    God’s Spiritual Family Predestination is that act in eternity past in which God... Continue Reading

The point of Paul’s gospel proclamation is to relate these two kinds of sonship, but the relation is only possible because of the infinite qualitative distinction between them.   When he wants to make the ultimate claim about the greatness of God’s love, Paul puts it into the ultimate perspective: He compares it to the... Continue Reading

All God’s people are commanded to sing to God and to one another in worship because of who God is and what God has done for us. If we take the message of our Directory to heart…we will be amazed at what God will do through His people’s praises Lord’s Day by Lord’s Day.  ... Continue Reading

The apostles were given the authority to speak in the name of Jesus, an authority that came with a special blessing of the Holy Spirit. And they used this apostolic authority to preach, apply, and unpack all that Jesus had taught.   ABSTRACT: During the time that elapsed between Jesus’s ascension and the writing of... Continue Reading

We must flee from anything closely connected to idolatry or demonic influence. We should recognize that media creates fantasy worlds that purport to represent reality. We need to develop discernment by immersing ourselves in Scripture and allowing it to shape our thinking. We bear responsibility for protecting those in our care, especially children, from content... Continue Reading