It is not unusual to encounter infertility. Perhaps you have walked through this yourself, or alongside friends and family who have. It may be a common prayer item at church, or in your daily prayers. It may be tempting to see this as a modern phenomenon, but the Bible attests in multiple places that it is not. Continue reading →
We live in a culture of non-commitment. People get new jobs and then quit them a few months later. They start classes at a university, then drop out after a few weeks. If someone has an issue with their friend, they bail . . . Continue reading →
Recently, the King of Spain, Felipe VI, met his subjects in the streets. Floods have lately ravaged Spain, and the monarch came to meet his people. Continue reading →
Yuri Gagarin is an unlikely candidate to make an appearance in our churches. The Russian cosmonaut died in 1968. Nevertheless, you may have heard of him. He was the first man in space. He is also becoming a favorite sermon illustration of some. Continue reading →
I’m good! It’s all good. You good? He makes good money at his job. Mike Trout and Aaron Judge are good baseball players. Your friend is a good person. As we all know, the word good has different meanings depending on the . . . Continue reading →
Having given this wonderful text of Psalm 42 an expositional and pastoral survey in our previous three articles, we return one last time for a fourth installment wherein we consider some further implications and applications: 1. The great Matthew Henry writes in . . . Continue reading →
When we left this psalm at the end of part 2, we noted that the psalmist was drawing from his spiritual reservoir, so to speak. Continue reading →
Last time, in part 1 of our study on Psalm 42, we began to consider how love for God’s house is the essence of true piety. Continue reading →
Most Christians probably agree that it would be nice to know exactly what God wants us to do in certain situations. For example, if your dear friend has been avoiding you lately, you might wish that God would specifically tell you what . . . Continue reading →
One reason to love the Psalms is that they serve as a fierce rejoinder to the trendy spirituality of our age. If we are honest, sometimes (whether through the influence of our wider culture or through the influence of other Christians), we . . . Continue reading →
Whenever I go on multi-day hikes with friends, we have friendly arguments about candy bars. When you are in the middle of a long hike, you dream about food. So the arguments start. Which candy bar is number one? KitKat? Twix? 100Grand? . . . Continue reading →
When Paul talks about peace as a fruit of the Spirit, we have to remember the above aspects of peace. It is found in God, and it is from God through faith in Christ. These are objective. When Paul mentions peace as a fruit, however, he is referring to peace in a subjective way. Continue reading →
In one episode of the 90’s sitcom Seinfeld, the catchphrase is “serenity now!” Frank (George’s dad) had high blood pressure and he heard on a cassette tape that if you say, “serenity now,” it would help keep your blood pressure down. So . . . Continue reading →
Having given this wonderful text of Psalm 6 an expositional and pastoral survey in our previous two articles, we return one last time for a third installment wherein we consider further implications and applications from this marvelous psalm. Inspired by the example . . . Continue reading →
Many people think that the purpose of life is to be happy. If you stop, look around, and think about it, you will notice that the chief pursuit of many people’s lives is happiness or pleasure. People today want to be happy. . . . Continue reading →
Last time in part one of our Psalm 6 devotional, we asked whether or not the reality of sin really troubles us—not necessarily the sin we see in society, but sin and of itself: the interruption, perversion, and warping of the natural . . . Continue reading →
How much does sin trouble us? I do not mean necessarily the sin we see in society. We are not thinking here specifically about the sexual revolution or the moral decay of our nation, though these are devastating. But rather, consider sin . . . Continue reading →
During the course of this year, some 64 countries across the world will be going to the polls to elect new governments. In South Africa, where I live, we have just had a momentous election wherein the African National Congress (ANC) lost . . . Continue reading →
In the first article of the series, we learned that the fruit of the Spirit are Christian virtues that glorify God, bless other people, and benefit us. When Christ redeemed us, he gave us his Spirit and united us to himself, giving . . . Continue reading →
For more than a decade I have owned a blueberry field and nursery as the tentmaking part of bi-vocational ministry. Beginning with tender youngstock, meticulously kept and established, the planting has spread into a thriving fruit forest. The plants started with a . . . Continue reading →