The second lie is that I don’t need ‘them’. That is the saints. I could be with them. I could fellowship with them, enjoy them, be strengthened by them. When I choose to consistently absent myself when they are together, I am believing the devil’s lie that I am sufficient within myself.   When we... Continue Reading

The evangelical church is increasingly aware of the need to witness to Christ in acts of mercy, especially since some evangelicals in the past spoke almost exclusively of individualistic and future salvation. In reaction, some today are adopting “orthopraxy” (right action) as their main emphasis, downplaying or even abandoning “orthodoxy” (right belief). But good works and sound belief... Continue Reading

God’s decretive will takes in absolutely everything, even sin. It is worked out in the big and little things of God’s providential dealings with us. But it is unknowable to us except in retrospect. You know it only after it happens. Knowledge of God’s will in this sense cannot guide us through life just because... Continue Reading

As my Baptist brother says:’you paedobaptists baptise a child, saying to the child you are now part of the church, you belong to the people of God, you are as much part of the church as the rest of us, now we are going to do the most important thing this church ever does, hear... Continue Reading

I hadn’t thought too deeply about my table until a wedding this summer. A pastor prayed for the young couple, specifically for their table and all the things that happen around a family’s table—a lot! A kitchen or dining room table often serves as the center of a home.   The table in my dining... Continue Reading

There is no greater gift you can give to your husband or to the kingdom than to continually seek to know the Lord. Be a prayerful wife. Take your burdens to the Lord before you take them to your husband. Drink deeply from the sweet waters of time spent in fellowship with Jesus. Come to... Continue Reading

Grace must raise the temptation to think we can sin as we please; if it does not, we have not understood the true extent of grace. However, at no time can we yield to the temptation to think this way (note Paul’s answer to his question in 6:1—“by no means”), because Christians are called to a life... Continue Reading

And, to put it bluntly, Keller is the transformationists’ best shot today.   It does not matter how often we tell each other that our celebrity transformationists are making headway, such claims are only so much delusional hype.  A Broadway play and a couple of nice paintings do not help the man who cannot rent space... Continue Reading

Good works are not optional for the Christian. We must do good, not as the means of our acceptance with God, but as an expression of it. In the lifelong pursuit of holiness, we would do well to consider all the biblical motivations for Christlikeness. For at one time or another, we will need them... Continue Reading

Being an evangelical Protestant, a Baptist, indeed a Southern Baptist, are all important markers of my place within the community of faith, but there is a more primary confession I must make: I am a trinitarian Christian who by the grace of God belongs to the whole company of the redeemed through the ages, those... Continue Reading