Dear Brothers and Sisters, On Sunday I mentioned that I'd like to take a bit more time in 2nd John than I had originally planned because I wanted to spend some time helping us as a congregation think through the doctrine of Christ. It is crucially important to the Apostle John in 2nd John. He goes so far as to say that if we do not continue on in the teaching of Jesus (an...

Dear Brothers and Sisters, A couple of weeks back I offered 16 resolutions for our church in 2016. For those of you who were at the members' meeting, you may recall that I brought these up again in our meeting this past Lord's Day. In particular, I mentioned resolution #1, that we should resolve to remember, rejoice, and rest in the whole obedience of Jesus Christ. I want...

Below is a list of 15 reasons why I am fully persuaded that Jesus got up from the dead. These are fairly common reasons for believing in the resurrection. I'm not really plowing any new ground here. I'll simply state many them. In other words, I don't fully explain the logic behind some of these reasons, but there is a logic behind each one that I'd be happy to discuss wit...

In our discipleship hour this past Sunday, we dove into a thrilling discussion on God's gracious work in the salvation of sinners. I've been in the midst of doing some reading for school and I came across this helpful excerpt on the subject from J. Gresham Machen's classic work, Christianity Liberalism. "The beginning of the Christian life is an act of God. It is an act ...

In addition to their daily Bible reading and prayer, I generally encourage Christians to make a practice of reading through various kinds of Christian writing. It is good to read through categories like: Theology, Church History, Christian Biography, Discipleship, and Culture (issues like Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, etc.). I try to practice something similar when I'm n...

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Some time ago, I remember a believer asking me to help them answer a question from a child. The child had asked, "How do we know God exists?" In preparation for an upcoming class, I've been reading the various arguments for God's existence. There are almost an infinite number of arguments advanced to make the case for the existence of God, but most have recognized that, hi...

Theology helps us to live coherent lives. Take, for example, the doctrine of God's providence. As the Baptist Catechism of 1813 states, "God's works of providence are his most holy, wise, and powerful preserving and governing all his creatures and all their actions." This truth is confirmed by the testimony of Scripture. Ephesians 1:11 In him we have obtained an inheri...

Sometimes we fail to recognize the interdependent nature of much of theology. In other words, while one doctrine may be distinct from another that does not mean they are unrelated. That seems fairly obvious when we think of the doctrine of the Trinity and the Doctrine of the Second Person of the Trinity. There is clearly a connection between the two. The same can be said o...

On Sunday we had the privilege of studying Psalm 45. In the sermon I pointed out that the King was described as being divine. Verse 6 unmistakably makes that point, "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of uprightness." I took a little bit of time to explain that this makes complete sense with regard to what we know about Jesus....