A Dirty Doeg
“With which person in the Bible do you most identify?” This is a question I have often asked others in the church over the years. Most of us lack even…
Nick Batzig
A Roadmap for the Song
When I was a boy, my parents often took my sister and me on trips to various parts of the country. I well remember my mom having a roadmap opened…
The Bewildering Mr. Brainerd
I have, for the first time, finally read through David Brainerd's Diary. I'm not sure why it took me this long to get around to it. I now understand why this…
Misplaced Presumptuous Tenderness
We live in a day of comfort. Every new product boasts a greater measure of ease than that which preceded it. Our public discourse insists that the highest form of…
A Merry Luther Christmas
Of all the advent sermons I have read, none are so profound and moving as those preached by the great German Reformer, Martin Luther. Luther was accustomed to preaching in…
The Missing Strings of Sanctification
When I was fourteen, I picked up a guitar and taught myself to play. I functionally sacrificed my high school education on the altar of seeking to impress girls with…
It’s Not Until…
God's word is so rich and full, we will never be able to exhaust its wisdom, instruction, correction, comfort, encouragement and restorative power in this life. There is much in…
The Least Mentioned Sin?
"You scratch my back; I'll scratch yours." This familiar idiomatic phrase sometimes simply refers to the way in which people with differing skills and abilities seek to care for one…
No Special Providence?
Many Christians profess to believe in the sovereignty of God. They will speak of God's sovereignty in the salvation and damnation of sinners. They may even remind others that God…
By Some Means…
In recent years, a number of Reformed theologians have introduced the phrase ordinary means of grace to a forthcoming generation of ministers. The incorporation of this phase into the vocabulary of the…
Unsung Heroes of the Church
Every week, important church related matters come streaming into the inbox of my email account. Many of those matters also make their way into the inboxes of our elders. On…
The Household Baptist
I was baptized in the Reformed Episcopal church. I grew up in Reformed and Presbyterian churches. My father diligently taught my sister and I the distinctives of a Reformed covenant…