Believers often meditate on the love, the joy, and the peace of Jesus. However, most of us probably do not give enough attention to the thanksgiving of Jesus. One of the things that we can be certain of--concerning all of the sinless perfections of incarnate Son of God--is that Jesus expressed full and unceasing gratitude to His Father for every provision, every kindness, every protection, every soul-strengthening support and every miraculous act that the Father worked through Him during His earthly ministry. Without doubt, Jesus is the most thankful person who ever lived. ...
The more we understand the relationship between Satan and sin--keeping them in biblical perspective and viewing them in light of the person and work of Christ--the better equipped we will be to put sin to death and to avoid the temptations that so easily ensnare us. ...
Since the preaching of the gospel is the primary means by which God saves His people, ministers of the gospel should concern themselves with pursuing growth in their ability to skilfully communicate the truth of Scripture. Pastors should avail themselves of all the means of growth that are at their disposal. In so doing, we may never become the best preachers in the world, but we will--by God's grace--become more skillful in making known "the unsearchable riches of Christ." ...
With the potential for the entire world to stream into our minds and hearts by means of the internet, it is safe to conclude that there has never been a time when Christians needed discernment so much as at present....
I sometimes fear that there is a willful naïveté in the church with regard to the presence and power of Satan. One doesn't have to look far into the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, or the New Testament Epistles to discover the reality of the spiritual forces of darkness and to develop a theology of the assault tactics of the evil one. But it might surprise some to see what exactly these tactics are in their more subtle forms. ...
If the church is to be rooted in the timeless truths of God’s word, it needs leaders who are standing on the shoulders of giants in whom the Spirit of God was at work. If pastors are to navigate the overwhelming challenges of an increasingly secular and antagonistic society–not to mention the internal attacks from strong willed and self-seeking individuals within the church–they need to counsel of older and wiser saints. ...
In recent years, our society has rapidly embraced what has come to be known as the "cancel culture." If someone has said or done something--at any point in his or her life--that cuts across the grain of the suppose moral rectitude of society, he or she is swiftly excoriated to the point of irremediable social ostracization. An immediate sentence is determined by the masses and pronounced on social media in order to ensure its execution. There is no mercy, no call to repentance, and no hope of restoration...The rashness and widespread nature of the execution is, in part, the thing that makes cancel culture so brutal. The bitter and self-righteous speech of those pronouncing judgment gives the unremitting banter a veneer of justice. This is what makes cancel culture such a powerful weapon; yet, I suggest, a weapon to be avoided by Christians. ...
When we come to Christ, we learn to live in a way that is pleasing to God. We seek after His instruction and walk in His ways. Jesus is the rarest commodity–the eternal wisdom of God and sole source of righteousness and life. It is Him we must seek, find, and acquire more than any other commodities we may come to possess in life....
We live in a culture in which there are two competing sources of authority vying for the minds and hearts of professing Christians–--the Bible and the media. Many Christians have not come to recognize that they are in a battle to maintain biblical convictions and practices. 36 years ago, Francis Schaeffer wrote The Great Evangelical Disaster--in which he offered an anal...
Keep ReadingOne of the remarkable features of Jesus' teaching is the way in which He drew simple analogies and metaphors from the world around Him in order to instruct His disciples about the most profound truths of the Kingdom of God. Jesus spent much time reading the book of nature. He could point to a simple flower in order to explain to His disciples the mystery of God's providen...
Keep ReadingAfter a decade of church planting and pastoring in the beautiful Southern coastal city of Savannah, Ga., my family and I moved on to a new place to begin a new ministry and a new season of life. As our time in Savannah came to a close, my heart began to fill with sadness over the fact that we were leaving behind beloved friends, a house we loved, and a delightful city. At...
Keep ReadingI was recently struck with our propensity for creature worship while watching the documentary, "The Last Dance." If anything reveals our desire to give undue homage to creation, it is in the way the world worshipped Michael Jordan throughout the 80's and 90's. If anything shows the willingness men have to be worshipped it is the fact that Jordan goes by the code name "Yah...
Keep ReadingEvery morning, as I scroll through my social media feed, I see more and more articles, posts, videos, and comments in which individuals are trying to convince me of how I should be responding to our current situation, medical advice, economic impacts, and civil freedom. I am confronted with videos and posts about how I should be responding to a gut-wrenching shooting of a...
Keep ReadingOver the past several months, Ligonier Ministries has been publishing articles at Tabletalk Magazine online with a specific focus on our current global health crisis. Each of these articles seeks to address interrelated matters with the goal of building up believers during this time. Here are the articles published to date: Working Remotely to the Glory of God Covi...
Keep ReadingA prima faciareading of theScriptures seems to give us contradictory statements about the roll offearin the life of the believer. On the one hand we are called to fear the Lord (e.g. Lev. 25:17; Deut. 6:2; 1 Samuel 12:14; 2 Kings 17:39; Psalm 2:11; etc.) and on the other hand we are told, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves to...
Keep ReadingAnselm famously stated that God is "that being of which there is none greater." The members of the Westminster Assembly explained that God is "a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness and truth." The living and true God is an infinite and eternal being. He is also a personal and communicative being. The Triune ...
Keep ReadingUpon the news of a statewide "stay in place" order, our family started singing hymns in family worship that specifically focused on the church. Of course, we didn't stop singing hymns about Christ. After all, Jesus is our God and Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, Prophet, Priest, King, Shepherd, Brother, and Friend; and, He is the Bridegroom of the Church--which He purchased w...
Keep ReadingRecently--while working through the books of Jeremiah and Lamentation--I have been struck with the picture Scripture gives us of the tender heart of the prophet. Jeremiah has not been called "the weeping prophet" in vain. He weeps with and for the people who are together suffering for the sins of Judah. The pain of exile weighs heavily on the heart of Jeremiah. However, G...
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