“Dad, do we have to go to the psalm sing tonight?” “Well, it depends on what you mean by ‘have to.’ If you mean, ‘does the church require all members to attend?’ the answer is no. We can sit right here and watch the game if we like—which I suspect is the real reason for …
Deep Preachers
“I believe that many ‘deep’ preachers are simply so because they are like dry wells with nothing whatever in them, except decaying leaves, a few stones, and perhaps a dead cat or two” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 210).
A Slander on the Oyster
“I heard one say the other day that a certain preacher had no more gifts for the ministry than an oyster, and in my own judgment this was a slander on the oyster, for that worthy bivalve shows great discretion in his openings, and knows when to close” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. …
Vipers in Diapers?
Green Baggins is nearing the end of his chapter by chapter review of “Reformed” Is Not Enough, and thus far I think it is fair to say that he has not found anything that would place me outside the pale of Reformed orthodoxy as he defines it. He has found multiple places where he think …
Penitential Seasons
INTRODUCTION: We are nearing the conclusion of the historic season of Lent, the preparation season for the celebration of Easter. This is Palm Sunday, the day in which we mark and celebrate the Lord’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. As we are trying to orient ourselves by and with a Christian year, instead of the secularized …
If It Be Truth
“Be sure you have the truth, and then be sure you hold it. Be ready for fresh truth, if it be truth, but be very chary how you subscribe to the belief that a better light has been found than that of the sun” (Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students, p. 208).
To Whom Much Is Given
“Be masters of your Bibles, brethren . . . When grace abounds, learning will not puff you up, or injure your simplicity in the gospel. Serve God with such education as you have, and thank Him for blowing through you if you are a ram’s horn, but if there be a possibility of your becoming …
No Countermeasures
When we gather to worship the Lord, when the call to worship is uttered, the Holy Spirit gathers us up, and ushers us all into the heavenly places where we then worship God in the name of Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit. We have not come to a mountain that can be …
What Ritual Can Do
Baptism in water can be a complicated subject—and yet the author of Hebrews treats it as one of the Christian “basics.” This should make us wary because the evangelical Christian world doesn’t have this sorted out yet, and yet it should also make us eager to sort it out—to grow up into maturity as our …
A Minister’s Family
“We ought to be such husbands that every husband in the parish may safely be such as we are. Is it so? We ought to be the best of fathers. Alas! some ministers, to my knowledge, are far from this, for as to their families, they have kept the vineyards of others, but their own …