Ebola Strikes Another American Aid Worker
The missionary group SIM USA announced Tuesday (Sept. 2) that one of its American doctors has been diagnosed with Ebola in Liberia
He was not treating Ebola patients in the hospital’s isolation unit, however. The group said in a statement that it isn’t known how the doctor was infected. The doctor isolated himself as soon as he developed symptoms, and he has been transferred to the Ebola isolation unit. He is doing well and is in good... Continue Reading
Should a Pastor Be Discouraged if His Church is in Decline?
Pastors, preach the word, love those people, stay a while, and may God give you grace to determine what your “decline” should say.
How many people now attend a church versus ten years ago and why, does give us some helpful insight into why a church is struggling, but that does not always tell the full story. This way of evaluation can also be an unnecessary source of discouragement to a pastor. The more I hear the push to overcome the... Continue Reading
Victoria Osteen, The Glory Of God, And Reformed Worship
Do we worship for God’s own glory, or do we worship God for our own good?
God made us to glorify him. That is what we are for. That’s what we’re here for. “That’s why I’m here,” to quote James Taylor. And when we do what God made us for, when we fulfill the purpose he put us here for, we experience his pleasure, the enjoyment of his glory, the blessing of... Continue Reading
The Fugitive, The Truth, And Social Media
James tells us that the tongue is a powerful and dangerous thing. How much more a keyboard or a keypad on a mobile device?
Remarkably, wonderfully, graciously Jesus obeyed and died as the substitute for liars, backbiters, slanderers, and gossips but we, who name Christ’s name, who’ve been baptized into that name and into his church, who have been taught the truth, must now be committed to the truth and not to lies in our face-to-face communications and in... Continue Reading
David and the Consecrated Bread: Were Mark and Jesus Mistaken?
A response to one of Peter Enns' “Aha moments: biblical scholars tell their stories.”
I can understand why some scholars may not be convinced by this solution. But I am consistently amazed at how few ever even acknowledge knowing about it, much less interacting with it. I have cited it in several of my books as have other leading evangelical commentators, who have found it completely satisfactory. It’s unfortunate... Continue Reading
What Would it Have Been Like to Attend a Puritan Worship Service?
A description of a typical worship service
In each service he would clearly have understood that the way of worship was not simply the manner in which the particular assembly of Christians wished to worship God, but rather that it was the kind of worship that God himself demanded in his Word. The lengthy readings from the Scriptures, the Baptismal formula taken from... Continue Reading
Preaching & Piety: Are we Donatists?
What does the holiness of the minister have to do with the efficacy of the preached Word?
A plain reading of the text leaves us with little doubt that personal holiness and perseverance in holiness are means (along with teaching true doctrine) that God uses in the salvation and sanctification of Christ’s bride. What a thought, for ministers, that watching ourselves and our teaching has eternal consequences for us and our people.... Continue Reading
Can I Handle The Seasons Of My Life?
I can’t handle the seasons of my life on my own, but “He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it”
“Seasons are appointed. And we see in these verses that they are appointed by a sovereign, good God. “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” How can this be? Sure, there is abounding beauty in my life, but everything? What about suffering, adversity, and dirty dishes? The Scripture goes on to explain, “Also, he... Continue Reading
An Open Letter To The False Church
For those who hear God speak them, “Away from me” will be the most pure, righteous, just and all at once terrifying words ever breathed.
“Indeed, this letter, for many who read it, will be marked “return to sender.” Such is the nature of deception. Those who labor beneath it have become so accustomed to its crushing weight that they’ve lost all sense of it. It is my humble hope and simple prayer that, if this is you, upon reading... Continue Reading
How To Talk To The Dying
The way to talk to the dying is to return them from death to the immediate experience of life
“How are you?” is not, then, the best thing to say to a cancer patient. Lisa Bonchek Adams, who lives with metastatic breast cancer and chronicles her experience in a moving and informative blog, suggests, “Is this a good day or a bad day?” The question is apt, because even though bikur holim (visiting the... Continue Reading