Tame Tongues
None of us need to be convinced of how difficult it is to tame the tongue. It is likely that you have already failed today. But in the midst of knowing how hard it is to tame the tongue, we…
Tag Church Life
Providential Opportunities
I was recently struck anew by reading Genesis 26. It’s the story of Isaac dwelling in Gerar. The story is familiar. We might read it in “like father, like son” fashion. As Abraham told Abimelech that Sarah was his sister,…
WCF 20: Of Christian Liberty and Liberty of Conscience
It is a sad fact: liberated Christians aren’t always good at practicing Christian liberty. We struggle to break free from the hold of besetting sins. Sometimes we even justify sin on the basis of our freedom in Christ. And we…
Majoring in the Minors: Malachi
If we fail to see to see the glory of Christ predicted in the Old Testament and then unveiled in the New Testament, we have failed to truly understand God’s Word. The Bible is replete with proclamations of the glory…
The Puritans on Habits and Christlikeness
For the previous post in this four-part series, part 1, part 2, part 3. Perhaps the most general Puritan principle on habits was their effects in promoting Christlikeness. The Puritans appealed to this in both a positive and a negative…
Majoring in the Minors: Nahum
At our once-rural (now-suburban) church, we have two weekly prayer meetings. On Wednesday nights, we gather to pray for an hour, structuring our time around praise, confession of sin, and supplication. On Lord’s Day afternoons, we gather for just twenty…
Majoring in the Minors: Micah
As we survey the twelve so-called Minor Prophets, Micah seems to be the prophet most obviously oriented on Christ the coming Messiah. More clearly and directly than the other eleven books that make up this canonical collection, the book of…
Justitia Sengers – a Forgotten Sixteenth-Century Exegete
Justitia Sengers – a Forgotten Sixteenth-Century Exegete Blindness was common in ancient, medieval, and early modern Europe, due to the frequency of infections, malnutrition, accidents, and acts of violence, as well as to the lack of effective treatments. Some men,…
The Spirit’s Fruit: Self-Control
As a believer, if I always entertained thoughts and engaged in deeds that are suitable to one who enjoys life in Christ, then self-control would not be an activity with which I would need to be concerned. However, undergoing regeneration…
Motivations Towards Evangelism
Evangelism is a dying art in the Church today. Gone are the days of faithful witnessing, preaching, and motivation to see lost souls saved for eternity. We simply have no passion or desire to declare this essential message. This…