The use of pornography undermines holiness, without which no one will see the Lord. This article considers Paul's command in 2 Timothy 2:22 to flee youthful passions, including porn, and pursue the fruit of the Spirit, and embrace Christian fellowship
This article looks to help pastors fight against pornography. It discusses the need for building a high firewall, what repentance entails, the lies and self-justifications there are, and the importance of relationships and accountability.
This article offers a word of hope for the discouraged pastor. It advises to cry out to the Lord, to lay down your life for the sheep, to turn to Christ in trials and afflictions, and know that nothing can separate you from the love of Christ.
This article describes a seldom-celebrated side of grace, sometimes referred to as uncomfortable grace. It shows how Scripture and church history overflow with this grace of God's.
This article shows how believing the exclusivity of Christ changes the way we live and interact with others. If he is the only way, we must be courageous, we won't detract from the truth, we will promote the Lord Jesus, and we will be thankful.
This article stresses the corporate aspect to the celebration of the Lord's Supper. This aspect impacts how we approach the table, and how we prepare to take the Supper.
This article outlines a practical way of incorporating the book of Proverbs into everyday family devotions or personal devotions, and explains the value of doing so.
This article first mentions two problems facing bi-vocational pastors, then outlines four considerations for them to follow in order to enjoy spiritual survival in their tasks.
This article discusses how to guide the church through this digital age. It reminds us that some things will change but God never changes, and it issues a call to guard family and community time.
This article outlines eight reasons why the Puritans are of great value for today. It provides also a brief annotated bibliography.
This article explains a way to do sermon preparation from the original Greek and Hebrew. It considers the strengths and struggles in this approach.
This article considers self-control, a fruit of the Spirit. It defines it, and urges the believer to fight for it with the help of the Holy Spirit.
How do you deal with disappointment? This article considers how we experience disappointment, what God's Word says about it, and how we should process it
This article discusses how the Sermon on the Mount is often read wrongly. It highlights the liberal way, the legalistic way, and the Lutheran way.
This article offers a perspective on reading books of the Bible that take between forty to ninety minutes to do so. It encourages focus for such personal devotions.
This article reflects on Jesus' teaching about his parables in Matthew 13:10-17. It confirms that the purpose of his parables was to reveal and conceal truth.
This article considers the value of times of silence in the life of a Christian. Silence exposes the soul, confronts the voices that we face throughout our life, teaches us to listen, and tests our need for noise. The author calls Christians to embrace the quiet.
This article considers how to start the discipline of reading whole Bible books in one sitting, for personal devotions. It explains that half of the Bible's sixty-six books could be read in thirty minutes or less. Above all, it emphasizes that while finishing the day's reading exercise is important, it remains subordinate to the ultimate goal of fellowship with God in Bible reading.
This article considers the manner in which Christians are to carry out their apologetics, according to 1 Peter 3:15.
This article mentions a problem with most Bible reading plans, that they train one to expect Bible reading to take a really long time. The author offers a new strategy, to prioritize larger units in your daily Bible reading habits. It points to a chart that shows the time it takes to read each book of the Bible, to illustrate that reading entire books of the Bible is well within our grasp.
This article considers the two aspects to a call to the ministry, the inward call and the external call.
This article argues that every pastor needs to be a theologian in his work. It explains how the Enlightenment reshaped the pastoral role away from the Christian academy, and then provides three reasons why it is valuable for the church to recover a vision of the pastor-theologian for the local church: it is biblical, historical, and necessary.
This article offers three critical facts that can equip the believer to respond to skeptical claims regarding the Bible's inerrancy: "inerrant" describes the original manuscripts, not the copies; the differences between the manuscripts are real; the New Testament text is highly reliable; and none of the variants affects any doctrine.
This article describes legalism and how it is alive and well in churches still today. It explains the value of the law, but also its limitations.
This article discusses how to preach doctrine in a way that does not divide a congregation. It explains that the preacher should show how doctrine is textual, biblical, personal, proportional, and should be communicated in a loving way.
Typically we stress the importance of preaching the cross of Christ. This article shows, however, that without the resurrection, eight awful truths emerge that render the faith as false.
This article offers some helpful considerations of the doctrine of sanctification. It explains the two ways that the Bible speaks on the matter, and goes on to say that sanctification is hard, is an aspect of our union with Christ, is different for everyone, and is a community project.
This article offers five tactics to help you read more efficiently. It suggests prioritizing reading, establishing a regular reading routine, taking advantage of small breaks in the day, putting down your phone, and listening to audiobooks.
What does the Lord Jesus mean in Matthew 17:20/Luke 17:6 when he speaks of faith moving mountains and plucking up mulberry trees? This article explains that it is not the quantity of our faith but the object of our faith that the Lord Jesus is referring to.
This article explains that one's personality influences his ministry. It discusses what personality is, and points out that God redeems and renews our personalities as well. It then explains that one's personality should touch but not torch one's ministry.
This article explains that if one believes that true believers can lose their salvation and be cast away forever, there is much damage done to other biblical doctrines, such as election and predestination, the atonement, justification by faith, indwelling of the Spirit, and the promises of God.
This article shows how to be a Christian is to be a church member. It shows that there are four elements cast aside when one does not belong to a local church.
This article offers some suggestions as to how Christians should pray for their persecuted brethren. It first calls for understanding the nature of persecution and its reality in today's world, and then details what our prayers for the church should look like.
This article discusses legitimate and illegitimate reasons for people leaving their church for another one. As it happens, there are far more illegitimate than legitimate reasons.
This article explains that when it comes to the callto the ministry, a personal sense of calling is insufficient. The subjective sense must be validated by others, particularly the church.
This article is an excerpt from Boyce's Abstract of Systematic Theology, on the advantages of studying theology systematically.
This article explains that spiritual warfare is a reality not just on mission fields, but everywhere. In fact, the Bible is full of references to real and powerful spirits.
What should parents teach their children about death? This article offers five truths to explain to children when death happens close to them: death and judgment are coming to us all, death is not how it is supposed to be, death for the believer is to be with Christ, death will one day be destroyed, and death is something we all must think about. The article also explains what to say about the death of unbelievers.
This article discusses the benefit of Advent, as a help for training to wait, which is for our sanctification and relates to God's divine purposes.
This article looks at Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress" and suggests ways in which the English text could be clarified.
This article shows eight ways in which the Reformation ought to shape the life and ministry of pastors.
Some have argued that the Reformers had a poorly developed missiology. This article responds by explaining that the Reformers in fact recovered the Great Commission. To show this, it reviews the missiology of John Calvin.
This article provides suggestions for eliminating digital distractions in our lives in order to develop our walk with the Lord. It suggests to cultivate a deep walk through time in God's Word, in prayer, by making time for people and corporate worship, and by knowing what is truly important.
This article makes the case for teaching children about the Reformation. Such teaching brings them to know about God's faithfulness to his church, that the church is always in need of reforming, defending the Bible is dangerous but worth the risk, God does extraordinary things through ordinary people, and the gospel is everything. It ends with some suggestions on how to teach them, and some resources worth using.
This article addresses several questions about the Reformers, such as how they viewed each other, did John Calvin and Martin Luther ever meet in person, and Luther's apparent anti-Semitism.
This article recounts the theological discovery of Martin Luther that God is indeed merciful.
This article offers advice for every aspiring missionary, to cultivate certain habits in preparation.
In spite of claims that the doctrines of Protestantism are closer now to those of the Roman Catholic Church, this article explains that there remains a vast difference between the two traditions. It considers such differences in the doctrines of justification, Scripture and tradition, church and sacraments, Mary and the saints, indulgences, and purgatory.
This article explains that a central tenet of the Reformation was the doctrine of sola Scriptura. This, for Martin Luther, fueled the Reformation.
This article considers the circumstances leading to the Reformation, particularly in the life of Martin Luther, and what he helped the church to rediscover. From there, it explains that the Reformation is ongoing, into today.
This article highlights two illusions that the wife of a pastor needs to stop believing, that ministry will be free of hardship, and having deep friendships both inside and outside the local church is unimportant.
This article considers how the five solas of the Reformation are biblical.
This article considers five aspects of pastoral ministry. It states that a pastor needs to watch himself, watch his teaching, preach Jesus Christ, do personal work, and minister to the community.
This article discusses the fundamental importance of hospitality in the church, and provides five ways to pursue it, with 1 Corinthians 16 as springboard.
This article exposes the idol of pride, which is the ultimate secret sin, and explains how to overcome pride.
This article explains how the idol of pornography can take over one's life, and how to avoid it or turn from it. It explains that isolation is a breeding ground for sin, but sanctification is pursued in community.
This article exposes the sinful idolatry of performance identity, often found in academic pursuits. It calls for rooting out disordered motivations by not measuring our significance in grades, but in Christ.
Have you ever started a Bible reading plan only to get bogged down part way through? This article offers four strategies to consider if you have quit such a plan. It suggests reading the Bible in large portions, in small portions, with repetition, and on a whim.
This article explains that the greatest risk in using technology in preaching is not distraction but missing God himself.
This article gives a few reasons why a pastor ought to use all his vacation time each year: it would be for him, his family, and his church.
This article offers five points of encouragement for every new pastor, much in line with the encouragements Paul gave to Timothy.
This article draws lessons from the ministry of John the Baptist to encourage ministers to preach with confidence, freedom, and joy.
This article suggests that increasing evangelism in the church is crucial for supplementing the health of the church. It has a way of promoting biblical literacy, Christian unity, and personal holiness,
This article considers the matter of work ethic for the Christian. It stresses that Christians ought to be marked by diligence, integrity, and eternity in their work.
This article presents the essential features of a type, doing so by rooting typology in the presuppositions of biblical theology and in Scripture. This helps to reveal much about how the New Testament authors conceived of the nature of types.
This article argues that beneath any legitimate type in Scripture is a covenantal topography that rises and falls throughout Israel's covenant history. It demonstrates how biblical types follow this topography from historical prototype, through covenantal ectypes, to their intended antitype—Christ.
This article discusses how Boaz in the book of Ruth is a type of Christ, and Jesus is a true and greater Boaz. The author first defines a Christological type. Then he addresses whether Christological types can be identified in the Old Testament even if the New Testament authors did not identify them. Afterwards, he notes the correspondences and escalation between Boaz and Christ. Finally, he draws some conclusions.
This article shows how Mark 11–Mark 12, and the Old Testament quotations therein, expound typological correspondences with Israel’s historic temple. That temple is judged and a new temple is erected, the temple of the community of Christ's followers. In the process, Mark 11:24 becomes clear: “whatever you ask in prayer” is meant in reference to the ministrations of the temple now fulfilled in such followers. In short, the events of Mark 11–12 comprise an extended temple antitype.
This article considers a typological pattern developing in Scripture, namely, that of an Adamic figure, Joseph, within the Pentateuch and then stretching through the exilic figures of Mordecai and Daniel, and into the New Testament. The author considers this in light of the question of whether such typology stands merely as an act of reading or as a part of writing. He argues that such typology exists within the OT as an act of writing and not merely a way of reading.
This article provides five important reasons why it is vital for every Christian to gather weekly for corporate worship.
This article explains how when the church makes use of God's ordinary means of grace, God's power shines through. With five reasons it encourages the building of a ministry around these means of grace.
This article discusses the value of reading aloud to your children, from babies in the womb to teenagers. It offers some principles of reading, as well as some recommended literature.
This article discusses the value of the Christian's reading fiction. It suggests that fiction ignites our God-given imagination, offers insight to the human condition, and fosters empathy for others.
This article discusses one approach to memorizing books of the Bible, and how to retain them in memory.
This article considers what the consequences would be if there was no resurrection of Christ from the dead. Then Good Friday is just another Friday, and there is no hope for Christians.
This article offers three key components that should be in a funeral message: acknowledge the need to grieve, make the hope of the gospel clearly known, and call your hearers to respond to the gospel.
This article explores the views of William Kiffen and John Owen on justification by faith, and the contextual forces at play as they formulated their respective viewpoints.
This article considers the interaction that John Owen had with the Socinians. It puts it into historical perspective, explaining the heresy of Socinianism, namely, its anti-Trinitarian view. The author goes on to assess the way Owen linked the Socinians with others, especially Richard Baxter and Hugo Grotius.
This article raises common objections to church discipline, such as the claim that the sin of others is not one's business, and evaluates each of them.
Does the call to holiness impact your life? This article explains a passage like Hebrews 12:14, “Pursue holiness, without which no one will see the Lord,” does not frighten us enough. It lists thirteen reasons why the Bible's emphasis on holiness does not often drive us to pursue holiness.
This article discusses the biblical image of the pastor as a watchman. From this it shows the responsibility of today's pastor to act as watchman, by delivering God's Word to his people and keeping watch over their souls.
Do you have a habit of interacting with politics on social media? This article offers seven questions you should consider before you post.
This article explains how it can happen that someone regards their devotional life over time as more of a burden than a blessing, with the end result that their life collapses into a sinkhole of sin. It stresses not to give up devotional time even when life becomes busier.
How do Christ's undershepherds come to grips with the truth that they are sinners preaching to sinners? This article explains that preachers have to sit under their own preaching and teaching.
This article addresses the notion that evangelism should be left to the leaders of the church. It provides a number of biblical reasons why every believer should evangelize.
This article offers a suggestion as to when a pastor could take a break from his sermon series.
This article discusses what kind of connection sports have with Christian discipleship. It considers the biblical language related to sports, as well as the leadership lessons that can be learned from sports.
This article discusses the importance of self-discipline in the Christian life, as we conform to Christ. The author argues that the only road to godliness is through the practice of the spiritual disciplines.
The nature of a pastor's work often means he needs to be strategic about making time to continue learning. This article offers five practical ways to continue to grow theologically in the ministry.
This article takes issue with the phrase, "Be who you are," by explaining that the Bible says we are to be transformed by the renewal of our mind. In other words, we must be who we aren't, namely, who God created us to be. The only one who can be who he is is the Lord.
This article considers the background and life of John Owen.
This article counsels pastors on how to be comfortable in pastoral visits where there can be silence at times. It suggests learning to be comfortable with such silence, especially with the elderly, as well as making an effort to learn the things they like and enjoy.
This article offers three principles of theological writing that pastors and theologians can glean from John Calvin: write with brevity, clarity, and a single purpose.
