March 13th, 2018
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Preachers often give thought to the question of how they will get the message of the gospel out to people who need to hear it. The church is, after all, supposed to evangelize the nations.
December 25th, 2017
On this day as you revel in the cheer of the season, open gifts, celebrate with family, and perhaps take off to the movie theater to catch the latest show, consider that our triune God loved you before the foundation of the world.
December 5th, 2017
One of the things my family does each Thanksgiving is, before we partake of our meal, we sing the first verse of the hymn, “Now Thank We All Our God,” which states
October 10th, 2017
When new seminarians first begin their theological education I suspect they are overwhelmed with the tidal wave of new terminology that comes their way.
April 18th, 2017
When you study for the ministry you will take a number of preaching classes as a part of the Master of Divinity curriculum. One of the inevitabilities is that students end up reflecting the preaching style and conviction of their professor.
February 7th, 2017
A pet peeve of mine is when ministers stand in the pulpit and read the Bible and do so with no inflection. It sounds like the pastor is reading entries in a dictionary . . .
October 11th, 2016
When you go to church what do you hope to get out of the sermon? This is a question we should ask ourselves on a regular basis. I think most people rightly want to be edified, encouraged, and comforted.
September 13th, 2016
Regardless of your denominational affiliation, one doctrine that unites all Christians against other religions is the doctrine of the trinity. Whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, all so-called Christians affirm the doctrine that we worship one God who subsists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
July 26th, 2016
One of the things my wife constantly tells me is, “Don’t forget to smile!” It’s a simple thing, really, but something that I fail to do. You see, ever since I was born I have a tendency to walk around with a scowl on my face—in fact, my forehead has been trenched with wrinkles since my late teens given my scowling tendencies.
June 21st, 2016
I can remember listening to my critics in seminary as they berated me for my theology, “You Calvinists have everything figured out—you put God in your box and leave no room for mystery!”
May 31st, 2016
It has happened to me, and I’ve heard of it happening to other churches, namely, what do you do if at the last minute you can’t preach? In my case, I came down with a really bad cold to the point where I lost my voice.
May 10th, 2016
One of the things that I’ve noticed over the last ten years is, more and more Reformed churches are letting the evening worship service fall to the wayside. Churches either drop the service all together, or turn it into a Bible study, or perhaps only have one evening worship service a month.
January 5th, 2015
Every good businessman will, from time to time, close his business for inventory. This is considered standard practice for any business to succeed.
May 6th, 2014
When I was regularly preparing my weekly sermons I often wondered whether I would make any type of impact upon my church. After all, a pastor will pour anywhere between 10-20 hours of preparation to preach for 30 minutes, give or take.
July 30th, 2012
The Reformed understanding of the Lord’s Supper is grounded in an important distinction between the sign and seal (bread and wine), the thing signified (forgiveness through his blood, the “blood of the covenant”), and a sacramental union between the two (our Lord’s words “this is my body”).
July 23rd, 2012
Before our Lord Jesus ascended into heaven, he left his disciples with the following command: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
July 16th, 2012
Although any discussion of the role of the sacraments in the Christian life seems too “catholic” for many evangelical Christians, the sacraments do play a very important role throughout the New Testament.
April 11th, 2012
Foreign missions is undoubtedly one of the primary tasks of the church. After all, it was Christ who commanded his church to evangelize the nations in the Great Commission. Moreover, we know that the apostle Paul was one who had a great zeal for missions.
