I remember being a young child walking through the entrance to the church my family attended at the time. Looking up, I saw stained glass, and for the first time I wondered why it was there. I asked my dad, who replied . . . Continue reading →
Psalm 134: Come, bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord, who stand by night in the house of the Lord! Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord! May the Lord bless you from Zion, he . . . Continue reading →
I grew up in Nebraska, a Husker football fan by necessity. I still remember the first game I attended—my family and I saw our beloved Cornhuskers beat the Southern Miss Golden Eagles on a warm September afternoon in 1998. I was part . . . Continue reading →
“When you’re here, you’re family.” So read the old slogan of Olive Garden. Now, I have not eaten at Olive Garden very often, but I remember doubting this slogan because I never saw anyone in a knockdown, drag out argument while eating their pasta (maybe I just went to the less-exciting franchises). Continue reading →
As I lifted my hands, scanned the room, and gave my first benediction, the realization that I really was a pastor now hit me like a ton of bricks. From now on it was my job to “shepherd the flock of God… . . . Continue reading →
Arrival. It is a beautiful word, is it not? Making it to your vacation spot or returning home after a long journey—it is good to arrive when the destination is desirable. And there is no more desirable destination than God’s presence, and . . . Continue reading →
The pressure is immense. Then, we open social media and see absolutely no uniformity of agreement on how this should be done. There is pastoral disarray, it seems. Some of the most popular social media pastors are calling us to war, yes, . . . Continue reading →
In the first part of Psalm 32, we were treated to the guilt-ridden experience of David covering his sin and the life-giving restoration of the Lord’s sweet pardon. And now, from the knees of confession, David becomes our instructor, our encouragement. As . . . Continue reading →
“I am not stubborn; I’m just always right.” You have probably seen this saying, which is found on T-shirts, coffee mugs, and memes. And some of you might resemble this. Now sure, stubbornness can be mistaken for things like determination, grit, and . . . Continue reading →
Psalm 31 laid bare in all its ugliness the suffering of the psalmist, and yet amid this soul-wrecking agony, he confessed his trust in the Lord. And his good profession was not shallow, like some cheap Hallmark card, but it was rich . . . Continue reading →
In the effectual calling of God it happens that we are now present before God and clothed in the righteousness of Christ, yet we are not yet justified or said to be justified before the sentence of God the Judge about us . . . Continue reading →
And so, the Mediator, the Son of God, took upon His shoulders not only that first defection but also all our other defections and transgressions, and at the same time diverted to Himself the wrath of God the Father justly pursuing our . . . Continue reading →
You have most likely noticed a new warning that is out there. On certain movies, video games, and shorts, there is a photosensitivity warning which alerts of flashing lights that might induce an epileptic seizure in some people. Now, Lord willing, this . . . Continue reading →
Therefore, in this example even of Paul regenerate (for now regenerate he says this about himself) we see that even a regenerate person sometimes is made a slave of sin and is led away captive by it. ‘For what.’ He shows that . . . Continue reading →
In verse 27 of chapter 3, after he dwells for a little while on the conclusion of the demonstration and has preached a little more fully about the righteousness of faith, he connects the two parts of the principal syllogism and gathers . . . Continue reading →
And so, you have in that one verse 18 of chapter 1 these three things: First, man is not justified by works; second, man is condemned by works, which is the reason of the former; third, all the works of all men . . . Continue reading →
Dr Hywel Jones was ordained in the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1963 and ministered in several pastorates in Wales and England over 25 years. During those years, he was a member of the executive committee of the British Evangelical Council of . . . Continue reading →
For, to speak about this epistle to the Romans, nobody could now think, speak, or even write about it enough. For it contains that mystery and those unsearchable riches of Christ. Robert Rollock | Commentary on Ephesians, trans. Casey Carmichael, Classic Reformed . . . Continue reading →
In our pilot episode on Psalm 30, the poetry of its verses disclosed David’s close brush with death. Due to the infection of his affluence, his faith stumbled, and God disciplined him. From this ordeal, the psalmist learns a lesson that he . . . Continue reading →
Time is a funny thing. For one, it is the constant we all live under. Time moves at the same rate. The second hand on the atomic clock does not speed up or slow down. Hours cannot be lost or added. We . . . Continue reading →