Articles

The following interview is from Tabletalk Magazine and was published online at Ligonier.org. It is reproduced here with permission. Tabletalk: How did God call you to become a seminary professor, and how does that calling serve the local church? David Garner : Some have enjoyed a deep sense of call...

Read Matthew 6:9-13 There is no more vital subject for Jesus followers than prayer. Jesus provides instruction on giving and fasting (cf. Mt. 6: 2-4, 16-18), but he elaborates more fully on prayer. Keeping with his theme of avoiding showiness, Christ next tutors his disciples on what not to do (Mt...

Classically and I think helpfully, this prayer is divided into two main parts. First comes the address and then six main petitions. Initially, there are God-ward petitions, followed by petitions for human need. A. Let’s think about the Address first—it tells us how to approach God—the object of...

Worth Reading Very little writing warrants reading more than once. Less still deserves numerous readings. An exclusive group of writings rises to the level of “must read once a year” for me. One of them is Geerhardus Vos’ inaugural lecture to his new post as Professor of Biblical Theology at...

Read Mt. 6:9 So having first told his disciples how NOT to pray, Jesus also told them what to do; and now he moves on to give them a model or perfect example for prayer in Matthew 6:9-13. The parallel in Luke 11 reports that the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray (Luke 11:2). His primer is...

Matthew 6:6-8 Think you can live without doctrine? Try that with prayer. Far from being an obstacle to godly living, doctrine helps. Specifically, when we pray we should be clear to WHOM we’re praying. For example, if you think of God as a syrupy and sentimental you might pray that your feelings be...

Glorious Symphony The Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF) paints Scripture’s beauty with its own eloquent verbal strokes: “the heavenliness of the matter, the efficacy of the doctrine, the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole” (WCF 1.5). In this 33-chapter...

Read Matthew 6:5-13 The verses in Mt. 6:6-8 show us how Jesus instructed us NOT to pray. He said that we were not to pray seeking fame and admiration from others. He also cautioned us not to pray with vain repetition or saying the same meaningless phrases all the time. He warned us that if we pray...

The Covenant Many in evangelical and even reformed churches lack appreciation for the biblical concept of covenant, finding it obscure and even arcane. The irony is stark. What many perceive as academic smoke is actually just the opposite. Covenant puts boots on theology. It grounds biblical...

I’m very thankful for the opportunity to contribute a column at Place for Truth, and I pray the Lord will use my contributions for the furthering of His kingdom. Given the Alliance’s clear emphasis on the subject (coupled with evangelicalism’s increasing murkiness), I can think of no better theme...