All things work together for good for those who love God and are the called according to His purpose. This assurance from God is a deep assurance in times of natural calamity, but it is even more profound when we are confronted with the consequences of sin and rebellion. This too, is controlled by God …
Why Don’t You Hear?
Minister: Lift up your hearts! Congregation: We lift them up to the Lord! How long are You going to forget me? You are eternal; Is Your forgetfulness the same? How long do You intend to hide Your face? How long will I have to counsel myself? Communing with nothing but my own sorrow? How long …
Quite Cozy in the Basement
One day the apostles and prophets backed their concrete truck up to the building lot, and they poured a marvelous foundation. Jesus Himself came and placed the cornerstone, and when they all had left, the foundation cured, and was soon ready for building. The evangelists were capable loggers, sawmill operators, and truckers. They soon brought …
The Sabbath Mind and the Tithe
We have seen that we are not to twist and distort God’s sabbath kindness—we are not to boil a kid in the mother’s milk. And throughout this section of Deuteronomy, although we may not be addressing the weekly sabbath directly, we are still concerned to cultivate what may be called the sabbath mind. “Thou shalt …
More On Louisiana Presbytery
I am grateful to be able to announce that Steve Wilkins has been cleared (for a second time) by his presbytery. “Louisiana Presbytery, after thorough examination and investigation of TE Steve Wilkins as per the SJC directives regarding allegations made in the Central Carolina Presbytery Memorial, finds no strong presumption of guilt in any of …
Westminster XXX: Of Church Censures
1. The Lord Jesus, as King and Head of His Church, hath therein appointed a government, in the hand of Church officers, distinct from the civil magistrate (Isa. 9:6–7; 1 Tim. 5:17; 1 Thess. 5:12; Acts 20:17–18; Heb. 13:7, 17, 24; 1 Cor. 12:28; Matt. 28:18–20). The Lord Jesus is the Head of the Church, …
Gearing Up for Mother’s Day
One of our cultural customs honors our mothers once a year on Mother’s Day. There is no divine sanction for the particular day chosen, but the theme of the observance is required in the Ten Commandments, and Paul tells us that this is the first commandment with a promise—that your life may be long in …
A Second Battle of Tours 2
Introduction: Our intent is to contrast some of the key differences between the biblical Christian faith and Islam, and to do so in a way that leads us to see the fountainhead of those differences, which is the triune nature of God, over against the radical monotheism found in Islam. In other words the differences …
One of the Truly Great Principles of Scripture
We come now to a law which strikes modern ears as somewhat odd. The law, considered in itself, is clearly a kind one, but the occasion that gave rise to the law is not one we encounter every day. Or do we? At this point, we should discover that the more things change, the more …
The Church Is Like . . .
You have perhaps heard the old saying that the church is not a rest home for saints, but rather a hospital for sinners. Like everything else that is true, we must guard against holding this truism falsely. We are the covenant people of God, and we should want to live faithfully before Him over the …