Image Bearers: Ways You are Made Like God
He made you to reflect your Maker.
From creation, God made human beings in His image for His glory. So, reflect your Maker in who you are and what you do. Represent Him well wherever you are. Glorify Him because He made you in His own image to reflect His likeness. No, you are not omnipotent, and you never will be.... Continue Reading
Faithfully Engaging a Post-Christian World
Three Worlds, Three Strategies
Aaron Renn charts the decline of social and legal acceptance of historic Christianity from the 1960s to the present. He identifies three eras of this decline: a “positive world” in which Christianity was still widely favored (1964-1994), a “neutral world” in which Christianity was one acceptable choice among many (1994-2014), and a “negative world” in which... Continue Reading
Why Should I Attend Church in College?
Christians are not meant to live in mono-generational communities. College students need the church.
College students need to live around the older and younger members of the covenant community. It isn’t that other generations are better than the current generation of college students, but rather that they have different struggles than college students. They have lived experiences and perspectives that are needed for a well-rounded preparation for adulthood. The... Continue Reading
We Pray in the Person and Work of Christ
Seeking Help Through the Forgiveness of Sins and the Glory of the Resurrection
The more and more we learn about and of God the more we will trust Him with our deepest thoughts and desires, and the more we read His word and understand His will and purpose for our lives the more our prayers will model the example of Christ who sought that His every moment would... Continue Reading
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article V
Progressive Revelation
Though revelation progresses, it does not ‘correct or contradict’ what was disclosed earlier, for God is the divine agent in all revelation. There is no error in the being of God. He does not error in his first disclosures nor in his later disclosures. What appear to be corrections or contradictions only appear as such... Continue Reading
How Preaching Is Necessary for Conversion
Preaching the Word Is a Powerful Instrument
The Word doesn’t work without the Spirit. No instrument, no tool, no hammer, no axe can build a house without the mason and carpenter moving them. But it doesn’t follow that they are not instruments at all! All that follows is, “God does not work faith by the preached Word alone, but by the omnipotency... Continue Reading
Zeal for Your House has (not always) Consumed Me
Christians are to be a zealous people.
“Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.”– Romans 12:11. And yet it would be hard to fault a people for their lack of zeal if those who led them were lacking too. Which is probably why Paul explicitly tells leaders, ‘the one who leads, with zeal’. No escaping it, no skipping... Continue Reading
Fruit After Faithfulness
In God’s grace there is fruit.
Be faithful, even when you don’t see the fruit. Keep going back to God and trusting His promises. It is not a fool’s errand to run at his command. Because really, it all hinges on his faithfulness. You can count on it: there will be fruit after His faithfulness. I look at my son,... Continue Reading
True Shepherding
Attitudes to Cultivate
Remember that the grieving and dying are facing many terrors, so offer comfort to the saved, and evangelize the unsaved. What joy we feel as pastors when we see the grieving saved and growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ under our shepherding! Every morning for several months, my wife and I walked... Continue Reading
PCA Minister, Don Keith Clements, Called Home to Glory
Don Keith Clements, 85, of Blacksburg, VA, was called home to glory on Wednesday, June 5, 2024.
Don was a committed churchman. As an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), he served pastored churches in Savannah, GA, Virginis Beach, VA, Blacksburg, VA, and Narrows, VA. In 2003 he started Metokos Ministries, which focused on consulting full time with small churches on revitalization and officer training. He served a number... Continue Reading
“Servant and Lord: The Carmen Christi” (Philippians 2:1-11)
The “Christ Hymn”
The Carmen Christi is packed with theological significance, and is beautiful in its form. It was likely sung in the early churches and we ought do the same. It is cited by Paul to remind us of Jesus’ attitude toward others. Jesus counted all his advantages as nothing and made himself a servant. While we... Continue Reading
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article IV
The gift of language is a means of revelation.
God’s Word is given to mankind to know His will for our conduct and for our salvation; it is altogether clear and sufficient for Christian faith and practice. Through history, poetry, prophecy, and didactic instruction, God speaks to us in His Word in an intelligible manner. That is, God uses language to reveal to us... Continue Reading
Please Don’t Call Her Pastor
There is so much good ministry that women can and should be doing in our churches; we don’t help them at all by giving them an unbiblical and unnecessary job title.
When God’s good design for men and women is so under attack in our day, why would anyone who embraces that design deliberately add to the confusion by using such a loaded term for female ministry personnel? Our church is complementarian, which means that we value and embrace the God-given differences between men and... Continue Reading
One Measure of Greatness
None of us ever evolves beyond our need for the ordinary means of grace.
Piper talks about the measure of the greatness of a man (or woman), and we know from the Bible that true greatness is marked by humility, for “whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12). While all of us ought to see evidence of marked growth in... Continue Reading
God-Breathed
Remembering the potency of Scripture in a world of competing voices.
Our world is full of competing voices. It is a cacophony of opinions, most of them false, all jostling to be given attention and credibility in the ever-shifting arena of public opinion. But there is one Voice that transcends them all. There is one Voice that rises above the rest and has the power to... Continue Reading
God Did Not Make a Mistake When He Made You
My Condition - My Blessing
You are fearfully and wonderfully made. Despite the hardships we may endure, there is always hope in God. If you are His child, He cares for you, and His grace is sufficient. As you face any diagnosis or personal challenge, remember that God did not make a mistake when He knit you together, body and... Continue Reading
Till Death Do You Part: A Case for the Permanency and Indissolubility of Marriage
Covenants are not "Contracts"
The teaching of natural law, Scripture, and the church have been consistent on the permanency of marriage. The issue is not an overly complex one. The problem is that we live in a culture where marriage and family are arbitrary creations of convenience for the purpose of promoting self-fulfillment. Long before our culture began popularizing... Continue Reading
Cultural Revolution
It is the task of the Christian in the twenty-first century to underscore the unique call that God gives to us to be people who are non-conformists to a fallen and pagan culture.
We are to seek to live transformed lives and to have our minds informed not by what other people are doing in the secular culture, not by what is deemed acceptable in television episodes or movie scenes of extramarital sex or by homosexual relationships, but we are to have our minds informed by the Word... Continue Reading
Statement From Philadelphia Presbytery on Liam Goligher
Liam Goligher was immediately suspended from the sacraments and his office for his contumacy
Because of TE Goligher’s refusal to comply with the lawful proceedings of this court in defiance of BCO 32-6b, these proceedings are hindered and continuing without due repentance from TE Goligher for his contumacy poses a serious risk to the wellbeing of witnesses and victims named in these proceedings. In accord with BCO 34-4, TE Liam... Continue Reading
Jimmy Fallon and Your Next Pastoral Call
You never know who’s watching.
People judge books by their cover all the time, whether it’s fair or not. And, people are always making evaluations all the time about the people around them. What type of an impression will you make? In the end, your desire should be to make a good impression, not because you’re looking to promote yourself... Continue Reading
The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy: Article 3
Affirmation of Scripture as Revelation
We see that Scripture as revelation is breathed out by God. Typically, one of the more technical descriptions used to refer to God’s breathing out of Scripture is verbal plenary inspiration. Inspiration refers to the way in which God led the writers of sacred Scripture, by the power of the Holy Spirit, to write down exactly what He desired them to... Continue Reading
What Does 2 Timothy 3:16 Mean?
Scripture is “profitable” for readers in regard to four very specific tasks.
“Teaching.” Scripture tells readers positively what they must believe; it gives sound doctrine. “Reproof.” Scripture tells readers negatively what they should not believe; it disabuses readers of unsound doctrine. “Correction” means “setting right, . . . most likely with a reference to conduct.”1 Scripture tells readers negatively what not to do. “Training in righteousness” indicates... Continue Reading
Is Salvation by Faith in Jesus Unfair to Those Who Never Hear of Him?
Understanding the Difference Between Justice and Grace
God’s grace is freely given—not to those who are owed it, but to those who aren’t. No one can say that justice demands they be given something they didn’t earn; and if someone gives an undeserved gift to one, in no way is he required to give the same gift to all. As Sproul concludes, this... Continue Reading
How and When will all Israel be Saved?
Who is “all Israel”?
God never intended to save all of ethnic Israel. He always intended that the children of promise or elect Israel were to be the heirs of the promises. That has not changed. Gentiles are included as children of the promises made to Abraham. That has not changed either. It is about mercy, not law-righteousness. All... Continue Reading
The Lifestyle Ratchet Is Hard to Avoid
Changes in the culture make opting out of lifestyle upgrades difficult to pull off.
Economic, technological, and social changes affect the availability and norms of society in ways that make it difficult to avoid adapting to them. I want to dial in on cultural and social expectations. Because these can put pressure on people to upgrade their lifestyles in ways that might be possible to resist, but which are difficult... Continue Reading
Priestesses and Goddesses in the Church?
What gender language “monitoring” at the United Methodist General Conference reveals.
The impulse to downplay male-female difference and treat men and women interchangeably against God’s clear revelation—in the home, in the church, in marriage, and in society—is the same impulse that attempts to approach God on one’s own terms, making God in one’s own interchangeable image. This is the definition of idolatry, the opposite of Christianity. Headlines... Continue Reading
The Problem Is Us
When we encounter something that troubles us in Scripture, we are tempted to think that the problem is with the text or with the God who revealed it.
The invasion of Canaan, in which God executed His wrath in an immediate and dramatic fashion, was a foretaste of the judgment to come. But a greater wrath lies ahead, and there is only one way to escape it—by trusting in Christ alone. Ultimately, then, the invasion of Canaan, for the people of God, is... Continue Reading
General Assembly Preview: Polity, Procedure, & Personnel
The PCA's 51st General Assembly in Richmond lacks the social controversies that overshadowed recent assemblies, but this year's GA has the potential to reshape the character of the PCA.
The Assembly will have the opportunity to consider whether to uphold our polity and/or to reform our judicial procedures. Additionally the Assembly will take crucial votes regarding the personnel who comprise our GA Committees and Judicial Commission as well as for the staff who administer the daily operations of the denominational agencies. Thanks to... Continue Reading
Complementarians And The Rise Of Second-Wave Evangelical Feminism
Over the last three decades, cracks in the complementarian movement have grown to the extent that two forms of complementarianism are now distinguishable.
For complementarians like these are emptying complementarity of any positive content, thereby aiding the project of the late modern West, which is warring against the sexual binary and any attempts to identify traits, features, customs, habits, or callings as characteristically—much less, exclusively—masculine or feminine. We don’t even have mothers anymore—only “pregnant people” and “birthing persons.”... Continue Reading
Stop Swiping, Start Serving
What does it say about you if you know more about the controversies in the wider church than the needs in your local church?
Consider how you can replace self-indulgence with expressing love to others, self-centeredness with a life of blessing and serving others. For this is why God made you, why he called you, and why he saved you—so you could live a life of doing good to others for the glory of his name. I’m going... Continue Reading