Boredom isn’t what it used to be. Boredom used to be the absence of stimuli, the lack of interest in any available activity. Boredom was being left alone with your thoughts. Today, though, boredom has taken on a new character. Today, boredom is the presence of a screen and an ever-scrolling timeline of social media.…
I’ve been surprised at how much people are enjoying these little summaries of our worship services at Grace Fellowship Church. I probably shouldn’t be, though, because I rather enjoy experiencing worship in other churches and learning how different communities of Christians worship the same God in different contexts. So here is another explanation of how…
God had promised his people a land. He had promised to lead them out of captivity and into a place of their own. And now he had delivered them from their bondage in Egypt, he had led them across the Red Sea, he had remained with them for forty years of wandering, he had taken…
It’s a fair question for the Arminian to ask: How can you preach the free offer of the gospel when you believe in a limited atonement? How can you preach the “whosoever” of John 3:16 if you cannot be certain that Christ’s atonement was for every person? How can you say, “Turn to Christ and…
Oh, Envy. You are a cunning enemy, a persistent foe. You linger on the sidelines of our lives, whispering your cunning words of discontentment. “You deserve better. You should have what he has. His success should be your success, her life your life.” The Old Testament tabernacle had one exceptional feature that set it apart…
It’s little surprise when privileged men rise to prominence. Born into high circumstances, given an exceptional education, and exposed to remarkable opportunities, no one marvels when these men are successful. But we take notice when men rise from the lowest and least likely of circumstances to change the world. This is the case with a…
In many ways, the Reformed resurgence of the past couple of decades has been built upon a particular style of preaching. Many Reformed leaders have faithfully practiced and forcefully advocated what we might call “consecutive exposition.” This is the practice of preaching from the beginning of a book of the Bible to the end, then…
Few of us meet with the success we hope for. We embark on new projects, our minds filled with grandiose dreams, but then have to content ourselves with far less than we had longed for. We set out to conquer the world but find the world doesn’t always go along with our plans. Fantasy and…
I recently shared an example of how we worshipped one Sunday at Grace Fellowship Church. Quite a few people seemed to appreciate that example of a worship service and asked me to share more. I will be glad to do so from time to time. Here is how we worshipped one Sunday just a few…
I recently returned from a whirlwind visit to Rome where I was conducting research related to a forthcoming project. Though I was not in the city for long, I made the most of it and over two long days journeyed hither and yon, tallying a little over 50 kilometers (31 miles) of walking. I rate…
Sometimes it seems like everywhere I go, I hear people grumbling about others. Maybe it’s me. Maybe people consider me a fellow grumbler and are comfortable unburdening themselves in my presence. But I’m inclined to believe it’s actually all of us and we all find some kind of catharsis in complaining about people. Even backstage…
The Bible has a lot to say about money, and for good reason. Money, we find, has a uniquely powerful way of exposing our hearts and displaying our priorities. Ultimately, we see that it comes down to a matter of loyalty: “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and…
The Bible instructs us in how we must worship God and tells us what elements we must include in our worship services. Yet it still allows a lot of leeway for us to interpret those elements to our culture and context. I thought it might be fun to share from time to time the liturgy…
Life is too difficult for us to do it on our own. We are too weak, too unwise, too full of sin. Thankfully, God does not intend for us to carry out the Christian life independently. Instead, he gives us the strength, the wisdom, and the godliness of other Christians so they can bear our…
Christians are called to love. We know this. We’ve been loved by God so we can love in return. We display proof of our salvation when we stop living self-focused lives and begin living others-focused lives. We show our love and appreciation for God in the way we turn our love outward to become “zealous…
Musician David Byrne recently advanced an interesting theory about humanity and technology. The overarching agenda of technology, he believes, is intended to eliminate human interaction. The displacement of human beings by modern technology has become so obvious and so widespread that he has been forced to conclude it is more than an unintentional byproduct of…
Sometimes God’s truth goes into your life like a quiet whisper. Sometimes it goes in like a hand grenade. Have you had one of those times? One day you hear a sermon, or you have a conversation with a fellow church member, or maybe a friend confronts you with a sin they’ve seen in your…
I love to review books that are of special interest to Christians. And even when I’m not able to review them, I still love to make people aware of titles that are new and noteworthy. Based on the number of books that are stuffed into my mailbox just about every day, I presume that Christian…
Blogs have come a long way in a short time. Though an early form of blogging existed as early as the 90s, it was not until the early 2000s that the term became widely-used and the medium became widely-adopted. In this way blogging is still in its infancy, though some are convinced it’s also in…
A well-planned worship service is a tremendous blessing to those who participate in it. A well-planned service is not necessarily one in which the projector never flickers and the microphones never buzz, or one in which the transitions are smooth and the sermon doesn’t go long. Rather, a well-planned service is one whose elements have…