When your heart wants to give your children the world, it can be difficult to say ‘no.’ But caring for your long-term financial picture is caring for your kids’ long-term financial picture. Because it is probably your children that will take care of you when they are adults. And your decisions today can make that... Continue Reading

It is with that conviction and comfort–and with great joy, praise and thanksgiving to the Lord Almighty–that we announce our Committee’s unanimous and enthusiastic recommendation that the congregation call Dr. George W. Robertson as the next senior pastor of Second Presbyterian Church.   You elected your Senior Pastor Search Committee 19 months ago. Our prayer—as yours—has... Continue Reading

Victorians found this letter so shocking that some “simply refused to believe that Jane wrote this. How could this model of young womanhood have so abused an older man and a cleric?” Ives asks, conveying their perplexities. In reality, Jane’s words were neither exceptional nor mean.   By the 19th century, the story of Lady... Continue Reading

“Luther rejects the idea that man stands in the middle and can choose between a good spirit or bad flesh, or that original sin has only partially hindered man’s ability to perform acts of righteousness. Instead, he looks to Christ’s words John 3:6 that what is born of flesh is flesh, and what is born... Continue Reading

Besides his New Testament translation, Trubar authored 24 books, 22 in Slovene and two in German, paving the way for other translations and publications both in Slovene and in Croatian. Today, he is considered the founder of the Slovene language. What’s more, since a unified language brings unity, his contribution is deemed essential in the... Continue Reading

Its organization reminds of the three categories of guilt, grace, and gratitude in the Heidelberg Catechism, which was written twenty years later. Some of its language is also similar, raising the possibility that the treatise influenced the catechism’s authors. For example, the first chapter, on sin and misery, is followed by a chapter on the... Continue Reading

We express this embodied totality in corporate worship through our shared symbols, rites, and rituals; through our posture and gestures as we bow, kneel, or lift our hands; through our actions when we stand or sit in unison or pour out our hearts musically in congregational song. And our clothing belongs on this list. By... Continue Reading

In fact, many Christians of the past who are held up as examples of why we should work 70+ hours a week also suffered with various physical, emotional, and mental afflictions; and some of them died very young. But this doesn’t usually make its way into their biographies. Or, at least, it’s never connected to... Continue Reading

This is what makes preaching powerful. It is not enough to read Bible commentaries, though many of preachers need to read more of them than they do. Commentaries help us understand the text, but they do not help us meet the goals of preaching. Though the Spirit is sovereign in his work, lacking zeal, vigor, or... Continue Reading

The truth is God doesn’t call us to simplification. He calls us to sanctification. He calls us to obedience. He calls us to love. “Then Jesus told his disciples, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose... Continue Reading