It seems we’ve come to a time in history when there’s no problem we won’t blame on technology. Digital technology is ruining our attention spans and social skills, it’s destroying our memories and displacing our hobbies, it’s demolishing the way we see the world and downgrading the way we interact with one another. We are…
We don’t want to live in the past or dwell on former sins. On the whole, not much good comes of thinking back to the unwise things we’ve said or the depraved things we’ve done. We trust that God has fully and finally forgiven our sins, and we do well to leave the past in…
I love Bible studies. I love sermons. Both have their place and both can be tremendously beneficial in the life of the church and the spiritual diet of the believer. But I’ve observed that some sermons are actually Bible studies and some Bible studies are actually sermons. Though I will grant there can be a…
It is clear in the Bible that God’s intention for marriage is that it remain in effect until the death of one spouse. I believe it is also quite clear that God has provided a limited set of circumstances in which a marriage can legitimately be severed. However, many people—even Christians—offer reasons to divorce that…
My trip to Germany has come to an end. At least, it will be at an end bright and early tomorrow morning when I’ll head back to Toronto. There are quite a lot of things I’m taking away from the trip, which you can read about in these little excerpts from my travel journal.
It’s a drum I beat again and again: Your sanctification is a gift to others. Your continual growth in holiness is not something you emphasize merely for your own benefit or your own assurance, but something you pursue for the benefit of others. This message cuts hard against the individualism of western society, so is…
My journey through Germany continues as I go searching for church history. I realized, though, that in all I’ve said about this trip and the project behind it, I’ve failed to give key information. So on one of these pages I tell what this trip (and the book it will lead to) is really about.
I continue my journey through the Land of Luther, all as part of the project I’m calling EPIC. Today we visited Erfurt where Luther entered a monastery and began life as a monk. Here are a few notes and a couple of photos.
I’m not sure the news will ever be the same after the presidency of Donald Trump. While the industry has already been in a long decline, it seems to have entered into an era of near-insanity as the networks and websites compete against one another to set new standards in thoughtless, bloviating reporting. Whether those…
The EPIC trip to Germany continues. Yesterday we toured Wittenberg (where Luther lived, taught, preached, and, of course, nailed those 95 Theses to the door) and today we spent time in Eisleben (where Luther was born and died). As before, click any image to see it larger.
The EPIC journey continues. Most of today was spent in travel, though the official event did begin with a lecture this evening. Here’s my journal for the day… (Click any image to see it bigger)
My EPIC journey has begun and the first trip is taking me to … Germany. My plan for this trip is not to blog about what I’m doing, but to journal about it the old-fashioned way. Like this: (click any of the images to see them bigger) I will provide another update on Monday.
This weekend I am setting out on the biggest project I’ve ever attempted, a project that will take me around the world and through the ages. In a series of journeys that will unfold over the next couple of years, I will travel to the four corners of the earth to complete research for a…
Every culture has certain standards that distinguish good and respectable people from the bad and disreputable people. Every culture has ways of compelling people to adhere to its standards. Some force adherence through guilt, some through fear, and some through shame. In a guilt-innocence culture, your standing before others depends upon your level of guilt…
It’s not easy to become a pastor. A pastor is not qualified to ministry by something as straightforward as obtaining a master’s degree or possessing the ability to hold the attention of a crowd. A pastor is qualified to ministry by something far rarer and far more difficult to gain: godly character. He must be…
Every week a pastor or worship leader chooses the songs his church will sing the following Sunday. Every week he combs through the possibilities to select the five or six that will best fit within the service he is planning. How can he choose well? How can he best serve his congregation in their singing?…
There’s a new gospel in town, and it has recruited cadres of evangelists. This new gospel heralds peace with God and man, it proclaims enlightenment through acceptance. Yet it’s not acceptance of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, but acceptance of a new morality, the embrace and endorsement of what Christians have long understood to…
Some people get married too soon. After love at first sight and a whirlwind romance, they quickly plan a wedding, exchange rings, and settle into a marriage that soon turns sour. So much pain can be avoided by working through issues before that wedding day. While courtship and engagement is, of course, the time to…
Every few weeks I like to share an example of one of our services at Grace Fellowship Church. I do this because I believe we can benefit from seeing how other people worship in other congregations and other contexts. I hope you find it helpful! This service’s cast of characters included Paul (our lead pastor)…
We used to live on the fringes of a small town surrounded by farmland. We quickly learned that of all the farm creatures in the world, pigs must be the stinkiest. It was not unusual to drive down the highway on a hot summer afternoon and to begin to detect a faint whiff of pig…