A Gospel without wrath is not the Gospel. If people don’t believe they’re under judgment, they won’t see the need for a Savior. The absence of hell in our preaching leads to apathy in our pews.   A young man pulled me aside after a recent sermon. “I’ve been in church my whole life,” he... Continue Reading

The good things, the beautiful things, the haunting things are only messengers, heralds calling you to Someone truly good, beautiful, numinous. They can never satisfy the desire; they only whet it intolerably. They are images and symbols and signposts — bright shadows, echoes of Eden, gloaming glories that divine the dawn. They summon us to... Continue Reading

Teachers and volunteers don’t need to feel overwhelmed by all the possible diversity of needs in the classroom. They can simply get to know each student and do their best to meet their needs.   “We’re a small church but are blessed to have four boys with autism regularly attending. We want to make sure... Continue Reading

Pelagius truly exemplifies a strikingly modern spirit in ancient times, and if he were born in modernity, he probably would have been regarded as a leading theologian and philosopher. His confidence in human ability, emphasis on free will, and strongly contrarian spirit would make him fit perfectly with many during the Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment periods.... Continue Reading

If you assume young people disdain anything resembling Grandma’s church, you misunderstand the generational shift. Based on the statistics, Grandma probably didn’t even go to church…Meanwhile, Gen Z is fascinated by the trappings, craving the crumbs that fall from the mysterious church’s table. They want the weird.   A core value of the seeker-sensitive movement... Continue Reading

…it is enough to say, and that with the utmost firmness, that while there is occasion for believers to differ about civil matters like domestic or foreign politics, there is no sense in which the Christian faith requires us to support the present movement for Palestinian Arab statehood.  Those who suggest otherwise distort the faith... Continue Reading

Men are called to strength. At the end of King David’s life, he summoned his son to his bedside and said: Be strong, and show yourself a man, and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies that you may prosper in... Continue Reading

We are made to know God and only in knowing him can we ever find satisfaction. We have what Pascal called a “God-shaped void,” which no created thing can fill, try as we might. Only God can fill it and, consequently, we only truly become who we were created to be, and only truly find... Continue Reading

In his final temptation of Jesus, Satan proposes a “better” alternative to receiving universal dominion than the long path of obedience and the suffering it will entail. He offers Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if he will simply fall down before Satan and worship him (Matt. 4:8–9). But rather than choose the path... Continue Reading

We acknowledge that money matters and that we are accountable to God for the ways we use or misuse it. Yet we also acknowledge that it’s only money, that it is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. And the harsh reality is that we can be mastered by our money by spending too much... Continue Reading