Do you remember what Gollum called the ring of power in The Lord of the Rings?

His “Precious.”

J.R.R. Tolkien was reading the human condition when he came up with that little detail. It is our fallen human tendency to grasp a “Precious” to replace Jesus as our functional lord...

The Original Instruction

In the beginning was the Word (John 1:1), and all things were created through him and for him (John 1:3; Col. 1:16). The Triune God existed before creation, God spoke and all things were created through and carried out by Jesus Christ. The Spirit gave life where the spoken...

Now from the sixthhour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli,lemasabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Ma...

Ministering to children in the local church is difficult for a number of reasons:

• Children’s ministry leaders and servants are often under-appreciated.
• Children’s ministry leaders and servants are often taken advantage of.
• Children’s ministry leaders and servants are often...

Goodbyes are inevitable.

When a pastor leaves a church, it can be heartbreaking but also harmful to the community. These transitions can cause hurt, disunity, and doubt that hinders the growth and message of the church. Looking at Paul’s departure from Ephesus, we can see that it doesn’t...

What God says about his word is a deep, complex, and staggering thing. And each book of the written word testifies to the wonder of his revelation. I decided to take a look, book by book, selecting a representative passage from each to highlight many of the things God's word says about God's words.

T...

The Dad I Want To Be

Daniel Darling speaks the gospel into the struggles and regrets of fatherhood. 

Our Call: Missionaries in a Secular Land

"Sorry, Christian, we are not birthright owners. We are exiles. " -Ed Stetzer on our place in this world 

Jesus And Joysticks: Why The Church Should...

“All the world’s a stage,” wrote Shakespeare. “Line, please,” said I.

Shakespeare’s words begin a long speech about the eerie predictability of life, in which men and women are born, mature, grow old, enter “second childishness,” and die.

But no matter...

"We dwell in him."-- 1 John 4:13

Do you want a house for your soul? Do you ask, "What is the purchase?" It is something less than proud human nature will like to give. It is without money and without price. Ah! you would like to pay a respectable rent! You would love to do something to win Christ?...

I increasingly have these meetings. Church members notice and wonder and lament and need someone with whom to process. We are a church that is saying goodbye with much more frequency to some good brothers and sisters. It’s never easy. Especially when you see godly...

Not only has our culture distorted God’s view of marriage, but it has also distorted the purpose of sex. Sex has become a way to elicit attention, to get what you want, or nothing more than a physical experience. Fashion magazines, T.V. shows, and movies are not only to blame for...

I now have two years of evidence that my preaching does not produce the results I wish it would.

I’m young. Two years is my entire body of pastoral work. My entire corpus is now personal, historical proof that my preaching probably won’t result in the stuff of memoirs, church growth...

In Ephesians 2:1-10, Paul explains salvation. Verses 1-6 tell us what happens when God saves: he brings us from death to life. Verse 7 tells us why God saves: so that in the coming ages God could show us the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in...

Pastors, it’s inevitable that members of your congregation will suffer. D.A. Carson has famously said, “All you have to do is live long enough, and you will suffer.” As you seek to shepherd your congregation, don’t wait until suffering comes. Don’t start preparing...

To my sisters in Christ—

Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, was a Christ-exalting woman in Scripture. She was a prophetess who knew Scripture, and sat at the temple, worshipping, fasting, and praying constantly. She was there when the Son of God arrived for His dedication, and she recognized her...

I’m no prophet, but I believe we may soon see a swelling interest in reading the Bible both together & alone that could rebuild our faltering churches, and improve the good ones. My information is purely anecdotal but still substantial. I’m certainly not the only one seeing...

This past week was a hard week.

In much ways, it was a week like any other - same job, same tasks, same length of days. So what made it a hard week? I made some mistakes and had to apologize to several people. And that is hard.

Apologizing is hard because it goes against our grain. Our...

The Christian life doesn’t merely involve spiritual warfare; the Christian life is spiritual warfare. All of the followers of Jesus are soldiers and not civilians (2 Tim 2:3). We must be in constant preparation for spiritual battle and not a spiritual vacation. The Great Commission is not a...

"Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—- unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance…"- 1 Corinthians...

Should Pastors 'Get Things Done'?

A pastor's time may be organized well, but there are many aspects of his role that seem inefficient. John Starke defends the pastors who seemingly "don't get much done."

Trust God With The Spiritual Gifts He Gives

Sometimes we are not content with the gifts that God...

I am of the conviction that we should, as much as we can, have a reason for everything we do as a church. For instance, you should have a reason why your sanctuary is set up the way it is; the position of the pulpit, the communion elements, and the like. Everything symbolizes your beliefs, or...

"Thou art my hope in the day of evil."-- Jeremiah 17:17

The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God's Word, "Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;" and it is a great truth, that...

Nearly 60,000,000 people die every year on planet Earth. This is one of the things that makes human beings so bewildering. I'm not talking about the fact that people die, but the fact that they take so little time to consider death.

Human beings will do nearly anything to avert their eyes from...

When little kids want to tell you a secret, they climb up in your lap, cup their hands around your ear, and whisper warm, loud, and often incoherent words into it. For some reason, there is always condensation in your ear after the secret. I cringe even at the thought of this feeling. 

It’...

Stories detailing alleged moral failures by high profile Christian leaders have filled my newsfeed in recent days. I’ve learned not to be shocked by them, but not because I am a cynic. I’m not shocked because three-plus decades of life in ministry has shown me all too well the dark war...