But there is something of a problem if, amid a service of worship to the one true God, centred on the glory of Jesus Christ who is himself God – who attained for us our righteousness at the cross and our justification in his resurrection – we invite someone to preach who manifestly does not... Continue Reading

The Bible gives very few legitimate reasons for breaking a marriage vow. The words, “till death do us part,” captures the nearly unbreakable bonds of marriage. Now, while church membership is not a marriage, we should nevertheless treat our membership vows like a marriage vow.   It seems like far too many people treat relationships... Continue Reading

“As we get more comfortable around each other, and as we get more comfortable in a certain place, we tend to become more critical. We quickly blow things out of proportion and end up growing in our discouragement of others. But the writer of Hebrews is looking at his contemporaries of the first century and... Continue Reading

I was struck by how often Schaeffer responded to people. He was somewhat of a Christian household name at this time in his ministry (although I doubt he would have liked for me to call him that) and still took the time to write thoughtful letters to hard questions often to people he barely even... Continue Reading

We must always go back to the teachings of the early church, the New Testament, but the church itself was a mess. Much like today. We are a mess, too, so we go back to the teachings that went to our messy brothers and sisters. We learn from them and the teachings—not to be like... Continue Reading

Ron Brown, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Panama City, Fla., has put out a call for help to rebuild from the effects of Hurricane Michael. Here are a number of requests that Pastor Brown has posted. Contact information is provided below. UPDATE: October 24, 2018 In our brief process of the long road to... Continue Reading

A number of these pastors did not see their counseling sessions as fruitful. They did not know if they were helping, hindering, or hurting. They did not know how to evaluate the effectiveness of their counseling. Some wondered with transparency if they were wasting their time.   I recently conducted an unscientific but revealing social... Continue Reading

This was my experience while teaching at Wheaton College and is very different from the environment at Hillsdale College. At Wheaton, the piety encouraged assumptions that all students and faculty were in agreement about Christianity. Yes, we might worship in different communions and congregations, but we were all essentially one in Christ.   Call me... Continue Reading

True religion is primary a matter of the heart, of holy affections. Of course, such affections often times will have an impact on the body. But not always. Furthermore, the body can be influenced and manifestations awakened and sustained by causes other than affections.   The division among Christian folk during the revival we know... Continue Reading

When Nathan confronted King David on the adultery and murder that he was hiding so carefully, he did so by drawing David into a story of a man whose actions were so selfish, so unloving, so disturbingly hurtful that David’s sense of justice and right was acutely aroused.  Only then was David able to finally... Continue Reading