During the Protestant Reformation, the church rediscovered the doctrine of justification, and the world got turned upside down. Today, I think it could be the church that is turned upside down if the application of the doctrine of justification were rediscovered. 

I don’t think I have to...

One cultural observer noted an unhealthy trait that characterizes our age. He said we tend to trivialize the important and make the important trivial. We prioritize the things that are insignificant while the things that matter most get little consideration.

This seems like a perceptive conclusion.

I...

I remember as a new Christian looking around during communion and wondering what everyone was doing. Everyone looked like they were doing something. I didn’t know. Because of this, I’m always happy to answer the question when asked, “What should I think about during the...

I awoke recently to a nice, fresh snowfall. Curious to see how much we received I ventured outside to take a look. It was a modest amount, maybe 3-5 inches. It was early, and I noticed the sidewalks had yet to see any foot traffic. I made my coffee, resolving to shovel after doing some reading....

Conversion is a doctrine that is often assumed. We assume that most people understand what the Bible teaches about the subject because they have been converted. But when we read the Scriptures we find that many people who claim the name of Christ aren’t actually converted (cf. Matt. 7:21-23)....

We are not intended to live our Christian lives alone. We are members of a community. Most of this living occurs within the context of our local church. It’s here that strategic relationships emerge with opportunities to provide deeply personal care. Overall these relationships are meant to...

I was blessed to have recently preached through Genesis. For those who may be interested, I’ve included some of my favorite resources for study and preparation below. 

Creation and Blessing, Allen Ross. 

Ross is consistently helpful for expositors by his attention to the overall...

I was looking to add some variety to my devotional reading of the Bible and decided to pick up a copy of John Stott’s little book on the Sermon on the Mount. It has been a rich blessing.

God used John Stott (1921-2011) in great ways as a Bible teacher. His knack for making difficult concepts...

Whenever something significant happens in our day we can count on the fact that the various media outlets will be flooded with both the details of and opinions about the events. There is no shortage of either. But there’s something else we can count on. And I don’t think this is...

I have heard of Randy Alcorn’s book The Treasure Principle for years. I have meant to read it and, sadly, never actually picked it up. Over the Christmas break I have been studying stewardship and so I picked it up. I wish I had earlier! I very much enjoyed the book. This will be no surprise...

I’ve recently read through a few books to study the topic of stewardship. In the process of reading about the use of time, I was helped by a few resources. I’ll share them below with a brief explanation.

Your Days are Numbered: A Closer Look at How We Spend Our Time & the Eternity...

Time is not something we instinctively grasp.

When we were young, we had little concept of time. Our parents and those in authority over us made decisions that kept us on time. They made sure we got up on time, ate at the right time, spent time on the right things, and went to bed on time. As we...

One of the blessings of holiday season is the opportunity to sing Christmas carols. Each year we dust off many of the old favorites and, for several weeks, get to sing with friends and family. Part of the charm that accompanies these songs is the archaic language. Like a unique and obscure feature...

What a striking scene Luke captures with his pen. It’s filled with irony and theological beauty. There is Mary, the mother of Jesus, wrapping up the second person of the Trinity in swaddling clothes.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a...

One of the hidden gems of pastoral ministry is watching God turn the lights on in a Christian’s mind. And, when he turns the lights on, he also turns on the heat. God is kind to open minds to understand the Word of God, and as he does, he enflames hearts to rejoice in the God of the Word....

It was a regular day. I got out of bed to an alarm. My warm feet from a night’s sleep recoiled slightly from the cold morning floor. Barely ambulatory, I made my way toward the living room. After making my coffee, I sat down in the chair I sit in nearly every morning, opened my Bible and...

Recently someone who is just beginning to investigate Christianity asked me an important question. As they are wading through the biblical data, the question came up, Why was Jesus both human and divine? Is this an important detail? 

This is an important question. It’s vital that we...

Each year the calendar flips to December, and the Advent season arrives. Like waves landing on a beach, the season comes to us with familiarity and beauty. The details of the incarnation are not new to us. But, isn’t true that each year (or each day) there is something fresh to grasp your...

If you are like most people you don’t like tension. We usually try to avoid it and keep things nice and smooth. But what I find fascinating is that Jesus doesn’t avoid tension, especially theological tension. He tends to run right into it—and he invites others to do the same. ...

Over a decade ago I faced some questions I felt were very important and would affect many subsequent decisions for ministry training — one of these questions related to my growing library with significant space restrictions. I did not have the room to accommodate my ambition....

Evangelism is something that we know we are called to do but often struggle doing. In a 2012 Lifeway study, 80 percent of those surveyed believe they have a personal responsibility to share their faith, but more than 60 percent have not told another person about how to become a Christian in the...

When talking about the biblical teaching on justification occasionally people will point back to a Hebrew understanding of the concept and then conclude that the forensic or legal understanding of the doctrine is incorrect. I found Berkhof’s opening words in his section on justification to be...

Most pastors work hard to preach their sermon with personal application. It’s admittedly a trying task. We may have our exegesis tight but struggle to press home the implications for the widow or teenager sitting in the pew. I have found Keller’s book on preaching, particularly the...

It’s one of the most arresting scenes in the history of literature. It’s filled with instruction and intrigue. But it doesn’t stop with my mind; it also gets after my heart and my will. Every time I read it I am humbled and compelled to change.

“And Jesus said, “Father,...

If you are like me, you often overestimate your ability and underestimate your tasks. Giving ourselves too much credit, we bite off more than we can reasonably chew. In time this pattern can not only hurt our productivity and efficiency, but it begins to weigh us down.

If this is true with projects,...