Following Elijah’s stunning victory over the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18, he turns his attention to drought that continued to linger over the land. Back in 1 Kings 17, Elijah had announced a drought on the land because of the apostasy of the people. They had backed into Baalism and paganism. And...

This was probably a familiar scenario either when you were a child or now as an adult. Some instruction has been given by an authority. Let’s say, for example, “Do not eat the cookies.” The cookies look really tasty. They smell fantastic. And you really really want one. Likely,...

How did the gruesome spectacle of a public execution on a Roman cross come to be known as “Good Friday”? What is so good about this? Some linguists argue that an antiquated form of “good” actually meant holy. But the name “Good Friday,” as we understand “...

Last spring, I was asked to speak at a local Christian high school’s graduation ceremony. I felt sorry for the graduating class because a rival high school in the area had invited US Sen. Ben Sasse to be their graduation speaker. These poor kids got stuck with me. But it seemed to fit...

I’ve often heard that the sense of smell is the sense most closely related to the memory. A particular smell has a powerful way of effecting our recollection of a vivid memory. Every now and then, I’ll smell something and in my mind I’m instantly sitting at the round table in my...

The English pastor and commentator Matthew Henry (1662-1714) wrote a book on prayer just two years before his death. Henry's A Method for Prayer is the result of a life of meditating upon and praying through the Scriptures. This book is essentially an outline that walks the Christian through...

The Apostles’ Creed is a 2,000 year old confession of the basic contours of the Christian faith. From the earliest beginnings of the New Testament Church, the Church began articulating a “pattern of sound words” (2 Tim 1:13) of what Christians believe. When leading our...

On any given Sunday, I stand in the pulpit of the church I pastor and look out over a congregation of less than 100 people. In this small congregation there are men and women who are seminary trained or who have several PhDs ranging in everything from atomic physics to Assyriology (my computer'...

There is a great deal of confusion in society today about the roles of the Church and the State. What is the relationship between to the two? How does a Christian live in this current American context in a faithful and biblical way? Thankfully, chapter 23 of the Westminster Confession of Faith...

New Year's Day, like Thanksgiving before it, is often a time of feasting and celebration. We gather together with family and friends to celebrate new beginnings and the prospects of a new year ahead of us. However, there is much in the way that I have always celebrated at these times that seems...