Preaching with Weight
A preacher’s job is to offer Christ, but in so doing to comfort the afflicted, and afflict the comfortable.
The one thing we really need to be doing in our preaching is offering Christ, unadulterated. He came to get us. He is the King of the cosmos. He became nothing, stooped low enough to scoop even us up and lift us to the heavens. We’re at the confluence of a few different currents... Continue Reading
Book Review: “God Made Me for Worship,” by Jared Kennedy
Helping Children Understand Church
God Made Me for Worship is Scripturally rich, gospel-centered, and accessible for children aged 4-12. My hope is that God Made Me for Worship will encourage Christian parents to see the preciousness, dignity, and necessity of Sunday worship for their families. Lately, I have been giving thanks to God for the recent influx of... Continue Reading
Do You Know What an Identity Is?
When we sit down to a discussion of identity, there is a lot on the table.
In Understanding Transgender Identities: Four Views, five authors, all identifying as Christians, engage in respectful, mostly irenic dialog about transgender identities and how they relate to Christians and Christianity. The book is a window into the many areas of dissent among believers and nonbelievers alike regarding identity, gender, sex, and sexuality. It is well worth your... Continue Reading
What Exactly is “Sola Scriptura” Protecting Us Against?
More than you think.
It is often forgotten that Sola Scriptura was designed to battle more than Rome. For Luther, he was equally concerned about the opposite problem. Many in the so-called “radical” Reformation had taken a posture of individualism, disregarding the history of the church, the classical creeds, and the church fathers. We might think here of Menno... Continue Reading
The New Business Model of Planned Parenthood
The abortion colossus is now the leading provider of hormone treatments for teens.
It is odd that an organization named “planned parenthood” does so much that has nothing to do with pregnancy. In reality, abortion and trans ideology are about sexual autonomy. This is why Planned Parenthood tells teens they can put puberty on hold: “You should be the one to decide what change you want to make... Continue Reading
The Dangers of Emotive Vagueness
On David Platt’s Radicalism.
Rev. Platt speculates that there are only two reasons why there are not more missionaries in the area from which he was filming. The first reason he offers is that Christians don’t know that there are billions of unsaved people across the world. Most Christians I know do know this. That fact drives them to... Continue Reading
Jesus is More Than Our High Priest
A mere priest does not make laws, command obedience, or rule—that is a king’s domain.
We might ask what difference it makes that Jesus is both priest and king. I suspect the readers of this letter were wondering the same thing. It makes a massive difference! The Word of God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). This profound truth leads an honest reader to ponder what Jesus’... Continue Reading
The First Artists, Part 1: Consciousness and Imagination
Like the artists of the cave paintings, Falk’s book paints a beautiful picture.
Falk is not attempting to pin down the GPS coordinates of the Garden of Eden. Instead, he argues that, in the mindset of the original author of Genesis, Eden is “not located somewhere on Earth but represents the whole earth.” If Eden is reimagined as the whole earth, then the artistic spirit may have awakened on opposite... Continue Reading
He Set Forth his Good Pleasure in Christ (Eph 1:9)
The relation between God and his good pleasure is that he proposes it to himself in himself, setting before himself a plan; on this basis he sets it forth in action in the world.
In Rom 1:13, Paul says that he “often intended to come” to the Romans. In that report of his (frustrated) travel plans, the pro- in protithēmi may have a temporal sense (projecting a plan for the future) or an imaginative sense (proposing an idea, setting it out there for consideration), or both. On this model, Eph 1:9 teaches that... Continue Reading
God Brings Us Bad to Give Us Best
As long as the Lord has us here on this Earth, it will continue to be hard; but knowing Jesus is worth it.
Stop concentrating so much on what God is asking of you; start focusing on what he’s already given you. When Christ endured the brutal whip, the jeering and fist-striking — when he suffered more than any of us have, he was standing in your place. You and I deserved the bloodlust torture Christ endured, for... Continue Reading
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