If I say I believe in God and yet regularly neglect prayer, reading of God’s Word, and worship of God, while also unrepentantly practicing the works of the flesh, I am, in Charnock’s words, “deservedly termed” an atheist.   In Stephen Charnock’s classic work, The Existence and Attributes of God (published 1682), he includes a... Continue Reading

Ministers of the gospel in this age need to be ready and willing to lose their place in polite society to boldly proclaim the whole counsel of God and defend the witness of the church towards the good news of salvation in Christ alone, and the biblical holiness without which no man will see the... Continue Reading

With hundreds of visitors that attended each week, there was no way that Spurgeon could meet with every single one of them. This is why he taught his congregation not merely to visit with one another after the service but to be ready to engage those around them.   When Charles Spurgeon first arrived in... Continue Reading

The foundation of Daniel’s life and ministry was his absolute determination and resolve to serve the God of Israel and remain true to Him, even in the pagan land of Babylon (Dan. 1:8). He displayed moral integrity in the most difficult of situations.   Of all the great characters found on the pages of Holy... Continue Reading

Tough circumstances, continued disappointment, unmet desires, unfulfilled expectations, and unheeded demands work together in some fashion to produce the perfect environment for bitterness.   Have you ever been bitter about something? Are you bitter now? This week I have been studying through the Book of Ruth. In it, if you are one who currently is... Continue Reading

We must defy a spiritually dead culture and not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord: not because we hate the world, but because we love our God, and we love them. Do we love them enough to suffer for them? Even if we are chained up like criminals, the word of God is... Continue Reading

A myriad of cultural forces tell us that we must marginalize death in our daily lives to truly flourish. But Christians should know better. As the apostle Paul says, God’s good creation has been “groaning in labor pains until now” (Rom. 8:22). There is no point in denying it. In fact, Paul says that those... Continue Reading

What this means is that meditation is more than just studying Scripture, it’s more than just thinking about doctrine; it is “writing the Word of God on the tablet of you heart” (Prov 3:3, 7:3; Jer 17:1, 31:33; Heb 10:16). It is “letting the Word of Christ dwell in you richly” (Col 3:16). And what’s particularly interesting about that... Continue Reading

The question of how suffering could be beautiful given the relation of beauty to God is really a very strange question. It betrays a very strange conception of God. God is love, and mercy, and grace, and peace; but God is not only these things. God is also just, the defender of the stranger and... Continue Reading

Salvation is of the Lord from beginning to end. Yes, I must believe. Yes, I must respond. Yes, I must receive Christ. But for me to say “yes” to any of those things, my heart must first be changed by the sovereign, effectual power of God the Holy Spirit.   Soli Deo gloria is the... Continue Reading