There are many adversaries

My family and I are on vacation in the mountains this week. One of the things we’ve been doing most days is taking hikes up and down the hills in our area. We start at around 7500 feet (where our accommodations are) and go up. And down. And up again. And down for a while. […]

Be steadfast

I like baseball. I have for as long as I can remember. I’ve suffered through four decades of mediocre baseball following my favorite team, the Texas Rangers, before they qualified twice for the World Series (without, alas, the victor’s rings). I’ve acquired thousands and thousands of baseball cards. I still reach first for the sports […]

He hears our prayers

In reading through the Psalms on Sunday mornings, certain themes recur. One of those is the frequency with which the psalmists pray and the regular reminders of the truth that God hears (and responds to) our prayers. Consider these recent examples: “Oh, give ear, Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock; You […]

Understanding New Testament Tongues

While in seminary, I took a required Greek course on 1 Corinthians. As part of the requirement for the course we had to right position papers on three topics that were prominent in the Corinthian church and letter: divorce and remarriage, the role of women in the church, and the sign gifts. The thinking of […]

Tests of love

1 Corinthians 13 is probably read publicly most often in wedding services. When I plan those services with engaged couples, I can almost predict with certainty when I ask, “What passages would you like to have read at the service,” that they will invariably respond with dreamy-eyed glances at each other, “1 Corinthians 13.” And […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last week: Clint Archer writes about “Celebrating Singleness” over at Cripplegate. His posts coincide nicely with what I wrote a couple of weeks ago on the same topic (“Four reasons for the unmarried to consider singleness”). Does church history confuse and bore you? Nathan Busenitz provides some insight and a […]

Learning to number our days

According to the latest statistics from the Social Security Administration, I have 29.84 years left to live. That leaves me with approximately 10,899 more days, which sounds like quite a few until you consider that I’ve already lived 18,195 days. By statistical probability, my life is well more than half over, and I am rapidly […]

Questions about spiritual gifts

In most Bible-believing and Bible-teaching churches, we are well-acquainted with the Biblical teaching on spiritual gifts (e.g., 1 Corinthians 12). We understand that there are various gifts and various results from those gifts (vv. 4-5) and that God is sovereign over both the giving of the gifts and the effectiveness of the gifts (vv. 6-7). […]

The Trinity illustrated

A few years ago, I posted this commonly used diagram as an attempt to explain the Trinity: Now Justin Taylor has provided this expanded diagram (and a helpful explanation to accompany the diagram) to explain the Trinity. See also J. I. Packer’s comments about how he would explain the Trinity to a child here.

The significance of communion

What is so important about communion? Or is it important? Every month we take time to eat a little piece of bread and drink a tiny cup of juice, and we say that it is an important and significant act of worship. Is it? We know that not only do the gospel writers provide accounts […]

The beginning of idolatry

D. A. Carson — With everybody wanting to be at the center of the universe, there can only be strife. I know full well that nobody goes around chanting, “I’m at the center of the universe.” Yet if I were to hold up your high school or college graduation class photo and say, “Here’s your […]

An example and a hope

The Old Testament can sometimes seem obscure and difficult to understand. There are all the laws, sacrifices, and festivals in the Pentateuch that often seem quite disconnected from where and how we live, then there are some weird stories in the historical books (e.g., Judges 19 and 21), and it all culminates in the prophets […]

Free David Brainerd Biography eBook

From Desiring God: In 1742 Yale College expelled David Brainerd. He had made some prohibited comments about some of the faculty and, though at the top of his class academically, Yale booted him. Add to this that in order to be an established minister in Connecticut you had to be a graduate of Yale, Harvard, […]

Running rules

I’m not a runner. (I’ve long said that my body is built for comfort, not speed!) But there is a kind of running that I must do and that all believers must do. We run the race of the Christian life (1 Cor. 9:24-27) — that is, we labor and work in the Christian life […]

A question of liberty

In 1 Corinthians 8, Paul explains the issue of liberty and freedom for the Christian — when is it permissible to exercise a freedom and when should practicing a liberty be avoided? There are numerous questions to answer in determining whether or not to use one’s liberty, and I thought it helpful to make it […]