“Moreover, it is the promise of the gospel that whoever believes in Christ crucified shall not perish but have eternal life. This promise, together with the command to repent and believe, ought to be announced and declared without differentiation or discrimination to all nations and people, to whom God in his good pleasure sends the... Continue Reading

“The review of the department’s rules relating to faith-based institutions comes after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last June in the Trinity Lutheran case. In that case, the court ruled that a Missouri law that prohibited a church from receiving funds as part of a secular aid program simply because it was a church was unconstitutional.”  ... Continue Reading

Ray Ortlund writes about the importance of a gospel culture. The anemic church needs an infusion of both gospel doctrine and gospel culture. Your leadership will set the tone for the culture you want to create. Be patient. Love them. To lead the people away from an unhealthy culture, begin by showing that church love.   Some churches... Continue Reading

Our busyness can cause us to miss God’s work, which is right in front of our face. I’m glad that church leaders are beginning to see this more and more. Many churches are pursuing a bit more “simple church.” We aren’t trying to keep the doors open eight days a week and have our schedules filled... Continue Reading

Into a political, economic, and moral cauldron Peter Martyr was sent by Gasparo Cardinal Contarini (1483–1542), himself a fascinating figure without whom the Reformation might not ever have reached Italy nor Peter Martyr, whose initial work was to begin to clean up the Cathedral Chapter and the cloisters of Lucca.    It was on 18 April 1521 that... Continue Reading

A Christian church teaches the Bible. It is committed to the inerrancy, sufficiency, clarity, and authority of the Word of God and therefore preaches it week by week with confidence and consistency. A Christianish church teaches about the Bible. It is committed to imparting life lessons and uses the scriptures as a starting point to... Continue Reading

It is only those churches that have theological confessions that are able to define heresy. Thus heresy, since it to be opposed, ought rightly to be opposed and condemned, not by individuals with their differing individual standards, but by the church courts, properly called. When the shortcomings of our forefathers are examined in light of... Continue Reading

Archaeology is not central to preaching, but it can play an informative role primarily in the areas of context and content. It is one of the sources that ought to be used to gather information about a particular text that is being preached. Other disciplines are also to be brought into the study: geography, linguistics,... Continue Reading

Today is the 399th anniversary of the publication of the Canons of Dort. The word canons means “rules” or “rulings” of the Synod. These are what people commonly (but incorrectly) call “the Five Points of Calvinism.” First, Calvinism was a nickname given to us. The Reformed Churches do not call themselves by Calvin’s name. We designate ourselves by our theology,... Continue Reading

For seven years, T and her husband had been active church members with marital problems, and many people had devoted hours of marriage counseling with them. The couple even flew to Missouri to participate in an intensive four-day marriage conciliation program. Now T was saying that after all that effort, things had become worse—and she... Continue Reading