If you assume most pastors finish poorly, you’d be wrong. As I look back on all my pastors and professors these last six decades, I see faithful men you’ve never heard of who got home before dark and left a quiet legacy of faithful service. It’s not right for their success to be overshadowed by... Continue Reading

[The CRC] Synod voted 134 to 50 to instruct churches that have publicly contradicted synod decisions “on unchastity to repent and to honor their covenant commitments to the CRCNA.” The same resolution said, “all office-bearers from churches in non-compliance, by actions or in any form of media, be placed on a limited suspension” where officebearers... Continue Reading

Some of God’s people in every age are ready to give up on the church, believing that there are no “good” ones near them or maybe even despairing that there are no “good” ones anywhere. But this is not true. David prayed in faith, knowing that his greatest needs.   Among other things, Psalm 142... Continue Reading

In the Bible, the distinction is made between a shepherd and a hired hand (John 10:11-15). A shepherd (elder) has in his heart a God-given love for the sheep and a desire to care for those entrusted to him. The hired hand is unwilling to become as emotionally involved.   The following is a list... Continue Reading

 Pastors who welcome those who go out to spread the gospel of Jesus’s death and resurrection have the dual effect of meeting the immediate needs of those ministers and modeling hospitality for the church. It may be this kind of ministry that Jesus has in view when He describes hospitality as the fulcrum of judgment... Continue Reading

The centrality and importance of this sacrament in the life of the local church is extremely obvious from the Bible. It is a way for God’s people, in the context of the local church, to remember Jesus’s death and partake—by faith— in his body and blood. In this, God gives real grace to his people... Continue Reading

A holy people cannot help but stand out—not merely for what they abstain from, but for what they pursue, defend, and build. Holiness is not passive resistance but active fruitfulness. A people set apart by God are known not simply by their confessions but by their cultivation of civility—their ability to be fruitful and multiply... Continue Reading

The image of God is still apparent in the Chinese people, but these tough times bring out the worst in the people’s sinful natures. I have focused all of my training, teaching, and church relationships on encouraging the church to be bold to evangelize and serve the sufferers.  It is only with the Gospel of... Continue Reading

“Christendom” is a better, and historically employed, term that expresses the basic truth that the British North American colonies – and, later, the United States of America – were political-legal and social-economic entities grounded for the most part on constitutionalism, British common law, and the Bible. Far from perfectly, of course. But largely and legitimately... Continue Reading

An in-depth example of Paul’s concern for motivation is found in his interaction with Philemon, the wealthy slave owner. The subject of Paul’s letter to Philemon is Philemon’s escaped slave Onesimus. After escaping, Onesimus had become a Christian, and part of Paul’s team. Paul writes to Philemon to request that he forgive and receive Onesimus... Continue Reading