Gentle Reformation

Back to Basics

May 08, 2021

Sometimes I wonder if we have not complicated church life more than we ought - there is a flurry of activity, but focus is obscured and fruitfulness is absent. PrioritiesAnd when it was

Christian Attitude Towards Persecution

Preparing for the Stewardship of Persecution

May 07, 2021

If a coming persecution should dispel that appearance for what it is – a mere mirage – then let the church of Jesus Christ assume its ancient glory and rest in the infallible promise of Jesus.

3GT Episode 227: Untwisting Scripture

May 06, 2021

The professor starts reading another listener's letter, causing the pastor and parishioner to flinch. But when they realize they're not being flogged again, they relax and get into the spirit of the theme

Hello! My Name Is...

May 06, 2021

I click on an email and see it yet again – another email with “Hello!” as the salutation. As I spend much of my life looking at email, I can safely say that such

Diaspora Jews

Desperation of Diaspora?

May 01, 2021

Introductory MusingsI've just been thinking a little about the dispersion and return of the Jews to and from Babylon. I couldn't help notice, too, that the Jews were not the only tribe to

Racism

Racism is Receding But Still Requires Christ's Redeeming

April 30, 2021

Racist attitudes have declined substantially, even in our lifetimes, but they aren't gone. Christians black and white should pray together for true healing.

3GT Episode 226: Lady Justice

April 28, 2021

In the Bible's book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman who says, "I walk in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of justice" (Prov. 8:20). With

2 Corinthians

A Book for the Overwhelmed

April 27, 2021

2 Corinthians offers clarity and hope for when the believer and the church find themselves overwhelmed.

preaching

Hermeneutics vs. Homiletics Analogies

April 26, 2021

Like others who teach or write about preaching, I have noted before (such as here, here, or here) that often people confuse teaching or lecturing with preaching. Preaching certainly includes teaching but goes

connection

Unfathomable Interrelationship

April 24, 2021

If you feel these days like anxiety is literally in the air, you might be right ...

3GT Episode 225: How to Burnout Your Pastor

April 22, 2021

The parishioner wants some professional advice from those with pastoral experience. What can he do to help burnout his pastor? In this Screwtape Letters-esque episode, the other two guys seem happy to oblige!

justice

The Quest for Justice

April 22, 2021

We must always remember that justice will be imperfect at best until the great and perfect Judge returns.

Guilty!

April 21, 2021

As I watched and listened I felt it. I didn’t feel sad and I didn’t feel celebratory. But I did feel the weight and heaviness of that word: Guilty.

Why Circumcision?

April 19, 2021

While teaching a class recently in a different context than my regular courses at RPTS, at one point I referenced Abraham. Though somewhat tangential to the lesson at hand, I explained briefly the

pastoral ministry

Brokenness & Usefulness

April 17, 2021

A number of things of late have prompted me to write this piece - the latest was meeting a friend who I hadn't seen for some time, to whom I had to offer

Isaiah 40:12-26

Our Cosmic Creator

April 16, 2021

Last Lord's Day evening I was preaching on Isaiah 40.12-26. In the course of the sermon I was speaking about two verses that are parallel in the symmetry of the passage, verses

Writing

Literary Efforts to Magnify the Word

April 15, 2021

...writing is rewriting. Christian writers recognize that the Bible is the only perfect book ever written. Our writing is imperfect, worthy of critique and yet hopefully helpful to readers in showings something of the truth, beauty, and goodness of our Savior.

Smart-phones

3GT Episode 224: They're not Called Wisephones

April 14, 2021

Need proof our listeners are a discerning lot? Then listen to the professor read a few letters 3GT has received. After these reminders of how he often has to deal with the unruliness

connectional church

The Joys and Sorrows of the Connectional Church

April 13, 2021

In the surgery waiting area, I sat with one of my church members. Her relative had been in a terrible car accident. This lady had a large extended family, and it seemed most

Biblical inerrancy

Thankful for Those Boundary Stones

April 12, 2021

As a pastor in a confessional church and president of a seminary that subscribes to the Westminster Confession of Faith, I often give thanks for the doctrinal parameters the Lord has set for

Of Pharaohs and Easter

April 10, 2021

Last Saturday night, with great fanfare and razzamatazz, under tight security and the gaze of a television audience, twenty-two of Egypt’s Pharaohs were moved to their new home in the National Museum

spiritual warfare

Reading about Spiritual Warfare?

April 08, 2021

I am regularly asked: “What should I read on spiritual warfare from a reformed perspective?” or some variation thereof. We consider three helpful contemporary works on the subject.

3GT Episode 223: The Hall of Faithlessness

April 08, 2021

Is Scott like a non-Newtonian fluid or not? Google it and you be the judge! Then get on with this episode. For the guys have more serious matters to get to as they

This Messianic Age

April 05, 2021

In their influential book When Helping Hurts on poverty alleviation, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert speak of the "god complex" or "savior complex" that so many exercise - especially in the West -

easter

"Jesus and Resurrection? What's This Babbler Trying to Say?"

April 03, 2021

But this accidental tourism soon turns sour: “the city was full of idols.” That discovery drives him to do what he loves best: he preaches. This piqued the attention of the philosophers...