Top Fifty Stories of 2012 on The Aquila Report, Part 5
Numbers 1 through 10
Again this year we are featuring a summary of the top 50 stories. We are breaking the list into 5 parts, 10 a day; starting from the bottom and going up with 10 through 1 Number 10 Seven PCA Ministers from Metro New York Presbytery Transfer to the EPC Ministry views more in accord with... Continue Reading
Make a Fresh Covenant with Me: We Will Finish in Faith
John Piper on stepping down from leadership and looking toward the future
Here is what I am preaching to myself, and to you too, if you want to listen in: Long, effective ministries and lives can end very badly. Don’t let it happen. Finish in faith. Treat this year-end like the end of your life. Then be ecstatic that you get to start a new life tomorrow.... Continue Reading
Dear Worship Pastor: It’s Not About You
When leading worship, please don't leave the congregation behind
I enjoy praise and worship. I really do. And I appreciate the enormous effort and the talent that goes into excellent worship leadership. I hesitate to admit the following, because it seems like someone with a theology doctorate ought to be motivated by more cerebral concerns, but a significant (major but not main) part of... Continue Reading
5 Ways to Pray for Your Pastor in 2013
Ministers of the Gospel desperately need the prayers of the saints
One of my seminary professors used to tell the student body, “Pastors have a bull’s eye on their back and footprints up their chest.” This is quite an appropriate description of the hardships that God’s servants are called to endure for the sake of the gospel. The flaming arrows of the evil one are persistently... Continue Reading
All This We Will Do?
We rest in Christ alone for our righteousness
We live in tension between the already and the not yet. The believer is already justified, and yet we are not yet glorified. Finally, we have a desire for our holy God, and yet we still do daily battle with the sin of the flesh. Our default is to pull on our own bootstraps and... Continue Reading
The F250 Gospel
A providential pick-up truck and a reminder of God's free gift of grace
There’s a corner near our home where people put cars for sale from time to time. It was late on Monday afternoon when Allan begged me to stop to look at the black pickup truck that was sitting there with a red bow on it. I said, “Come on, Allan, you’ll never be able to... Continue Reading
How Not to Read Your Bible in 2013
Suggestions to improve your Bible reading habits in the new year
So as another year dawns, commit yourself anew to becoming a man or woman of the Word. But don’t overextend, do it alone, just do it whenever, live as if Paul lied, or treat means of grace like means of merit. Your Bible is one of God’s chief gifts to you in 2013. Open, read,... Continue Reading
Top Fifty Stories of 2012 on The Aquila Report, Part 4
Numbers 11 through 20
Again this year we are featuring a summary of the top 50 stories. We are breaking the list into 5 parts, 10 a day; starting from the bottom and going up with 20 through 11 Number 20 When to Leave Your Denomination? Should you leave your church if it’s forsaking biblical orthodoxy? Written by Mark... Continue Reading
At Israel school, anyone can learn to be a prophet
Hapartzy believes that the Messiah has already come and that the age of redemption is nigh, so it has possible to have prophets again
A 27-year-old tennis instructor attending the classes also showed some skepticism. While he expressed interest in the spiritual development the course offers, one crucial detail stands in the way of his religious elevation. “I’m not going to become a prophet,” he said. “I don’t think it pays very well.” Instead of long beards and... Continue Reading
The Need to Know Nuremberg: Hobby Lobby, Oliver Stone and the Orwellian United States Government
The Hollywood film director backs up his claim that the US has become an Orwellian state by giving various facts in the interview
Watch the US government’s reaction to Hobby Lobby very closely. It would not be surprising to me if the fines against Hobby Lobby were increased into the millions and millions of dollars. It would also not be suprising to me that if Hobby Lobby continues its defiance of Obamacare in the years to come, the... Continue Reading