We Are the Temple
We, as the church, get to usher people into God’s presence.
When Solomon built the temple in 1 Kings 6, he paid attention to some intricate details. If I’m honest, I often blow past them. After all, what does the width of doors, or the kinds of wood and stone used for the interior of the temple, have to do with me today? I believe the... Continue Reading
Brought into His Own Presence
Hallelujah for the Father, orchestrating the great rescue!
God knew what was coming. He would one day send His Son, the Adam of a new Kingdom to do for us what we could not do for ourselves. He was born into this earth as a man, lived and died, and rose again to pay the penalty for our sins so that we could... Continue Reading
Caitlin Clark, Our Sinful Nature, and the Economics of Sports
Do American audiences really care about women’s professional basketball?
I’d like to gently suggest that economics, not race, is the real story here. Time is trying to sell magazines. ESPN is trying to sell subscriptions to its services and ads during its televised content. The NBA is trying to sell you on the idea that it cares about professional women’s basketball even though audiences have proven... Continue Reading
The Sorrowing Have a Savior
Lessons from Spurgeon’s depression.
Spurgeon points to the sorrowing Savior to defend those of us who experience depression from people like Job’s friends, friends too hasty with their help. Is another’s sorrow and fear warranted and proportional to what he or she is experiencing? After all, to cry about crying things and to feel frightened by frightening things are... Continue Reading
The Importance of Spiritual Gifts
Each church member is to use his or her Christ-given gifts.
There are many different kinds of gifts that God gives His people (see, for example, 1 Cor. 12:8-10, 28-30; Rom. 12:6-8; 1 Pet. 4:11). We should help one another recognize our gifts and encourage one another to use them for the edification of the church. Our gifts are “for building up the body of Christ”... Continue Reading
A More Protestant America?
For the nation to be a city on a hill, the church must itself shine within the city.
So how can America become more Protestant? That project is not mainly political or even cultural but evangelistic, ecclesial, and catechetical. Churches will need to focus on making new converts, reclaiming lost converts, and teaching their own flocks about the Protestant tradition. They will have to be less afraid to identify as “Protestant” or as... Continue Reading
Moral and Positive Law in the Sabbath
Perceiving the moral-positive law distinction in the Fourth Commandment, Christians should be strengthened in their personal conviction and better prepared to make that day a delight.
The bottom line is that the Sabbath’s moral component is two-fold: first, the purpose of the Sabbath is for rest and worship (with allowance – as Jesus taught – for genuine works of necessity and acts of mercy/piety); and, second, one-seventh portion of time is to be consecrated to God (Exodus 20:8-11). For brevity’s... Continue Reading
He Really Is Working All Things After the Counsel of His Will
It all matters to God. He is always working.
Maybe you failed significantly this year. Maybe you feel like you’re wandering in a purposeless wilderness. But don’t be “governed by present appearances”! The truth is far better: God “works all things after the counsel of his will” (Eph. 1:11). You can’t mess up his plan. And there is a plan, even in the small... Continue Reading
A Holy Nation
A royal priest are we.
We are priests of God, and as such we are called to a certain quality of life and a certain commonality of function. All believers are called to be holy, as God is holy—that is, to increase in Christlikeness day by day, that the perfect holiness of Jesus might increase in us and manifest itself... Continue Reading
The Darkness Does Not Win
Our confidence is rooted in history; our faith is based on fact.
If God can summon light into existence when there was only darkness, surely he can send his light into the world with assurance of complete success, no matter how impossible the odds. For this is the miracle and the wonder of Christmas: The Light of the world was born in the darkness of night, as... Continue Reading
A NAME Above All Names
God’s name is not a casual thing. It’s the banner under which we live, the identity we carry, and the truth we proclaim.
God’s name is holy. It is not to be spoken lightly, lived casually, or carried thoughtlessly. So how should we respond? By treasuring His name. By reflecting His character. By living in a way that proclaims to the world that God is worthy. This isn’t about legalism or guilt. It’s about awe. In the... Continue Reading
A 3D God in a 2D World
If God entered into the world He made, what would that be like?
Jesus often spoke of another world that should govern how we live in this one. That’s not to say this world doesn’t matter…Jesus was opening our eyes to realities that had prior to been unseen. “Once in our world, a stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.” —C.S. Lewis... Continue Reading
Of Pardons
No payment whatsoever was made for Hunter Biden’s sins since Joe Biden has not and cannot provide any kind of atonement for those sins.
A true pardon is only something a King can grant and herein lies very good news for us all, including Hunter Biden- The King of the Universe grants a full, complete, just, and satisfying pardon, to all those who place their trust in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, as their substitute. I have... Continue Reading
The Virgin Mary and Modern Therapeutic Culture
Western culture is stuck in a therapeutic ditch on what it means to live a blessed life.
Pursue your own happiness above all, and you’ll find yourself miserably enslaved. Willingly and joyfully enslave yourself to Christ, and you’ll find the freedom God created you to enjoy. Or as Jesus put it later in Luke, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save... Continue Reading
Christians Don’t Escape. They Persevere.
We ought to be careful that we aren't trying to escape from under something heavy just for the sake of our own comfort.
We live in a culture that doesn’t like persevering; we live in a culture that likes escaping. People escaping to amusement, fathers escaping responsibility, mothers escaping boredom, employees escaping the daily grind—it’s a culture bent on escape. A select few Christian virtues seem to get all the press. Love, joy, hope, faith—we often talk... Continue Reading
Whatever One Sows, That Will He Also Reap—Galatians 6:6-10
Given the hard work and sacrifice of doing good, how are we to keep from giving up or growing weary?
A farmer sows seeds into the ground with the harvest in mind. Tilling, sowing, watering, and weeding are all difficult tasks, but in the end, they yield a crop. Like a farmer focuses on the harvest, we set our eyes upon our eternal rest and reward in Christ. Indeed, such a focus will help us... Continue Reading
I Will Raise Up a Righteous Branch
God’s Messianic Promise in Jeremiah 23:5
In Genesis 3:15, God plants the promise of a future son who will be victorious through suffering. And across the Old Testament, that promise grows. Jesus is the Branch emerging from the messianic hope that grows not only through the Old Testament but through David’s family in particular. There are different titles to give... Continue Reading
Handel’s Messiah and the Great Awakening
On the Reformation of Music, Culture, and Strangely Warmed Hearts
Handel’s Messiah really does open up a plethora of other questions for evangelical churches to consider about the overflow of our hearts to the actions we take within this world, to the things we say, the things we sing, and the things we create and build for the blessing of future generations. To the evangelical... Continue Reading
Teach Your Teen About Christian Freedom
While we’re teaching our teens to resist people-pleasing, we must also teach them to resist selfish independence.
Just as fish are made for water, a Christian is made for confidence in Christ and for unselfish love of neighbor. If teens search for freedom in people-pleasing or selfish independence, they’ll be enslaved. But if we teach them to live as God has made them, aligned with their Christian identity as “perfectly free lords”... Continue Reading
Religious Ways to Hell
You may be an orthodox Calvinist and find yourself in the very bottom rungs of hell if your knowledge does not come to you in life-saving Spirit power.
Too many churchgoers never take their sin seriously. They presume on God’s grace by either persuading themselves they will repent eventually later in life, or by persuading themselves that they can sin safely because God is merciful. How Can Churchgoers End Out in Hell? How do churchgoers wind up in hell? We should not... Continue Reading
A Collection of Random Thoughts on Christian Living
I hope there’s something here that is helpful to you.
Perhaps the best gift you can bring to God is not a list of good deeds, but evidence of a character that has become transformed to the image of Jesus Christ. The deeds will follow the character. Not every thought makes a good article and sometimes an entire article can be distilled down to... Continue Reading
At Last, the King: Handel’s Messiah Sections 18-21
Everything must be seen in light of this reality—the King has come and he is coming back!
Christmas is the most wonderful time of year because it points us to the first and second advents of the King. It reminds us that peace on earth is not an empty slogan, but a purchased reality brought by the Shepherd King. We sing and rejoice because Christ came, he died, he rose again, he ascended... Continue Reading
Euthanasia Is Now the Fifth Leading Cause of Death in Canada
It should not come as a surprise that giving people a quick—and final—way to escape from their pain and distress has been abused.
If you’ve ever walked with someone through a losing battle with cancer or been around a person whose mind, for all practical purposes, died long before their body, the idea of sparing them from that fate can seem merciful. On some level, maybe it is. But the Bible teaches that—with few exceptions—when a life ends is up... Continue Reading
The Axe is Laid at the Root of the Tree
Every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down for firewood.
Will we turn ourselves towards God and his Kingdom, knowing that we cannot help ourselves but desperately need the Christ to change the world and our hearts? Because the axe is laid at the root of the tree that does not bear good fruit. I wonder if you’ve ever cut down a tree? I’ve... Continue Reading
Michigan Church Votes to Exit EPC
The 500-member church expressed growing concern that the EPC seems to be pursuing cultural relevance and social justice rather than the Gospel.
Established in 1903, First Presbyterian Trenton was one of the founding churches that formed the EPC 44 years ago….Despite this long and historic connection, the congregation reached a point where they were no longer in “theological alignment” with the EPC. Concerned by “theological progressive leaning” within the EPC, one of the largest churches in... Continue Reading
Finding Jesus in Ruth (Ruth 3)
We are helpless outsiders until Jesus, our divine Redeemer, pays the price to give us new life and his love.
Boaz points us to Christ’s compassion and generosity. Just as Boaz extended kindness and protection to Ruth, a foreign outcast, Jesus offers His grace to all who are spiritually destitute. Just as Boaz redeemed Ruth from her destitution, Jesus redeems believers from their spiritual poverty and makes them his own. The story of Ruth... Continue Reading
Examining a Favourite Christian Punchline: God Willing
When we say “God willing” we are surrendering ourselves fully to the sovereign will and rule of God.
Believers use the expression “God willing” appropriately when they know and trust in the character of God. They acknowledge that God is the one who meticulously ordains all that comes to pass and whose plans cannot be thwarted (Job 42:2). Kenya is considered a Christian country. Most people acknowledge the existence of God and... Continue Reading
Celebrating Christmas, B.B. Warfield
A summary of the development of Christmas practices over the centuries.
“…no other Christian festival has so intimately wedded itself with the family life and the life of the people as Christmas. Nevertheless, for more than three hundred years the Church got along entirely without it.” In the book review that follows, B. B. Warfield summarizes the development of Christmas practices over the centuries and... Continue Reading
Henry A. Boardman, “This Is Not Your Rest”
Dr. Henry Boardman delivered this sermon New Year 1866 while pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia.
Dr. Boardman was born in Troy, New York, January 9, 1808. He was a brilliant student at Yale graduating first in his class in 1829. He then studied for the ministry in Princeton Theological Seminary. He was ordained and installed the pastor of Tenth Church on November 8, 1833. His hand never came from the... Continue Reading
The Face in the Mirror
When it comes to owning our sins, we are quick to look everywhere else.
Recognize that you are your own worst enemy. If you can acknowledge this truth, you’ll make greater progress in your growth in grace. As a pastor I regularly listened to people give all sorts of reasons and excuses for their sinful conduct. As a parent, I have listened to my children blame everyone else... Continue Reading