δουλογος

What if?

2012-01-05T08:28:00.005-06:00

For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. - Matthew 5:18 [ESV]Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. - Luke 21:33 [ESV]In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. - Hebrews 8:13 [ESV]The Law

Engendered Truth

2011-12-20T10:35:00.003-06:00

Imagine, if you will, a man who (after watching Peter Jackson's rendition of "the Lord of the Rings") so identifies with the elven character of Legolas, that he begins to believe himself to be an elf trapped in a human body.Now imagine that this person is so obsessed with the notion that he was born an elf in a humans body, that he contracts a plastic surgeon to surgically alter his ears to

The citation for : have you no wish for others to be saved?

2011-12-06T10:58:00.004-06:00

Hello Internet.Here is a quote you have probably read before:"Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that." - Charles Haddon Spurgeon.You may also have seen it the quote prefixed to a larger paragraph, as though this were the paragraph from which the quote was lifted:"Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of

Happiness.

2011-11-29T07:38:00.005-06:00

I'll be happy when such and such happens.Maybe you've said something like that in your life. I know I used to say that quite often. For me it was a larger salary. No matter how much I made, I felt that I needed at least $20K/year more. I would be happy when that happened.For some of you, it might be something as inane as saying you will be happy when your spouse learns to pick up after

I Spoke To You In Your Prosperity

2011-11-18T11:06:00.002-06:00

Given that our God is sovereign, and that you are providentially reading this post, I thought I would pass along the thought God first expressed to those living in Jerusalem during the days before He exiled them to Babylon.There, in Jeremiah 22 we read the following:I spoke to you in your prosperity; but you said, ‘I will not listen!’ [NASB]If there is any tug in your soul when you read this, I

Overcoming Sin By Faith.

2011-10-31T07:52:00.003-05:00

You've probably heard it preached or said that we, as believers, overcome sin by faith. As true as that is, it isn't very helpful because such a statement is too vague. How does one overcome sin by faith? What should this faith be trusting in?Faith requires conviction, but faith is more than mere conviction. To give a biblical example, we are told that the demons "believe" (that is, they have a

Proverbs 4:18-19

2011-10-06T08:02:00.002-05:00

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, That shines brighter and brighter until the full day. The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble. - Proverbs 4:18-19 [NASB]Here is a simple truth with some practical application.Have you ever found yourself counselling someone who claims to be a Christian, but denies the reality of Christ in their life

Obligatory Grace? Part III

2011-09-09T09:21:00.000-05:00

As I closed the last installment of this series, I mentioned that in order for God to extend grace to a person that person has to exist. Here is where we come up against a temporal difficulty in that God dwells eternally in eternity, and we dwell temporally in creation. To speak of something happening "before" creation is to use language that has no application. There is no such thing as before

Presumptuous sin

2011-09-08T07:34:00.002-05:00

Psalm 19:13a reads, "Also keep back Your servant from presumptuous sins; Let them not rule over me;"A presumptuous sin is a sin that you willfully and knowingly commit on the presumption (however far at the back of your mind it might be) that you will be forgiven for it.A presumptuous sin has the same flavor as when some scoundrel determines to borrow money from someone while intending from the

Ode To A Spider

2011-09-06T08:27:00.002-05:00

Spider, spider, as brown as bark,With pointed legs and bristles dark,I shivered in my very core,When glanced I you upon my floor.How dare you sir, invade my home;And make my house your place to roam!At once I knew what I must do,And quick as rain I fetched my shoe.The sneaker strikes, your body warps,No coffin for your curled up corpse,No velvet cask, no pomp, no plush,Just water swirling as I

Obligatory Grace? Part II

2011-08-23T01:00:00.008-05:00

When I assert that no person presently bound in sin has the ability or desire to come to Christ of his own free will, I am asserting no more than what the bible teaches. John (the Apostle) records where Christ taught those who were following Him that no one has the ability to come to Him unless God Himself chooses to grant that ability (cf. John 6:44,65). As a result of this very teaching, many

Obligatory Grace? Part I

2011-08-22T10:34:00.003-05:00

If grace is no longer grace the moment grace becomes obligatory, then it follows that it is logically impossible to show grace to someone in answer to some any kind of obligation. The moment obligation becomes the "reason" you are showing grace, then grace is no longer grace. That's why I think the label Covenant Theologians use to describe God's redemptive plan (the "Covenant of Grace") is

“Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?”

2011-08-18T07:42:00.002-05:00

That was the question Paul asked the believers at Ephesus (c.f. Acts 19:1-7). Paul wasn't asking them a theological question, that is, Paul wasn't asking them whether a believer receives the Holy Spirit when they come to saving faith, he was asking them about their own personal experience. Paul's inescapable expectation, in asking such a question, is that if they had received the Holy Spirit,

The prayer that settled my identity crisis.

2011-08-16T11:20:00.001-05:00

I remember, in the infancy of my understanding, fretting over the absence of the miraculous in my early Christian walk. I had heard other believers talking excitedly in church about what God had said to them that morning, or shown them in the week, and it was plain to me that God was not giving me the same, obvious messages to guide me through the minutia of my own days. Naturally I assumed the

Things I like to see

2011-08-16T08:44:00.002-05:00

I like to see: A frivolous lawsuit not only thrown out of court, but charges or fines levied against the one bringing the frivolous lawsuit to court. Parents raising their own children, rather than daycares doing it for them. A preacher, full of the Spirit, preaching the gospel without reservation, and full of passion. Sinners repenting. The sunrise over a dewy field. Sun showers. The

We come here to minister...

2011-07-29T07:36:00.002-05:00

I have another ministry besides blogging, and that ministry is of a teacher and as a leader in my local congregation. I don't get paid for that ministry either, nor would I want to. I bring it up, not to sound self important, but to use my own experience as an introduction into a topic that is near to my heart. Christian Ministry.I think it is fair to say that the kind of ministry I am engaged in

Grieving Over Someone Else's Sin can be instructive.

2011-07-20T07:58:00.003-05:00

Imagine that you love the Lord with all your heart, and not in the selfish way that some might imagine - that is, not because you "have" to in order to make God look upon you favorably enough to bless you or something like that. I mean imagine that the love you have for God is the real kind, and not just self preservation dressed up as "love".Now imagine that you have a son or a daughter who is

Learning To Love Others

2011-07-14T07:40:00.003-05:00

You have heard, no doubt, someone say that love is an action word. The grammarian in me chafes a little at that, preferring to express this particular thought with less poetry and more precision, thus: love is a verb.A verb, if you will recall, is an action word. So it may sound unnecessarily pedantic, or perhaps only superficially didactic to say that I prefer to use the word "verb" instead of "

Whole Hearted.

2011-07-11T09:45:00.004-05:00

My pastor preached an edifying sermon this past Sunday, and whatever else he may have said in the sermon, or whatever the point of it may have been, it was his mention of serving the Lord with one's whole heart that provoked a sudden stirring of Christ's Spirit within me.In particular, I was considering my own inconsistent obedience. I have known profound victory over sin in several areas of my

No Bravery Without Fear...

2011-06-29T06:55:00.003-05:00

Daddy, what can I do when I don't want to obey you because I am afraid?You've probably had to explain to your own little ones that unless one is afraid of something, one cannot act in bravery. I mean, every person knows fear (or should) but what makes a person brave is that they do not let their fear control their actions. When my five year old is afraid of the dark, and because of this fear

What the fall did to all mankind...

2011-06-28T14:11:00.001-05:00

This gadfly gets it.

Remember Achan?

2011-06-22T08:30:00.003-05:00

In Deuteronomy 7:6, we read something very germaine to our understanding of what eventually happened to the Israelites, on account of Achan. The passage reads, "And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction."This instruction was fairly straightforward: If you know that

The Law and Love

2011-06-16T06:59:00.002-05:00

And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus answered, "The most important is, 'Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' -

I will show you what he is like...

2011-06-13T17:01:00.004-05:00

Do you remember these words? They come from Luke 6:47, “Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and does them, I will show you what he is like:” [ESV]There are three conditions that have to be met in order for you to be like the man that Christ describes (the one who builds his house on the solid rock):[1] You have to come to Christ. That may sound overly simple, but you would be surprised

Does Christianity Cure Homosexuality?

2011-06-08T08:56:00.004-05:00

Can Christianity cure homosexuality?The best place to start with a question like that is to lay all my cards on the table at the outset, then go from there.First of all homosexuality is not a disease, therefore the notion of curing it is irrational. One does not cure homosexuality anymore than one cures lechery, or pride, or arrogance. So the short answer is that Christianity cannot cure

Deuteronomy 7:17-18 applied to your struggle.

2011-06-05T06:37:00.002-05:00

If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ You shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: - Deuteronomy 7:17-18 [NASB]This passage pictures the difficulty behind, and the solution to, the main hurdle of our sanctification. In the context Moses is addressing a very real sense of

Thought for the day: Thursday

2011-06-02T09:46:00.005-05:00

Thought: It should be a criminal offense to hijack the "back" button on a browser so that when you click on it to back out of a page, you end up reloading the same page all over again (ad infinitum). I hate it when I follow a link into some page that I don't want to be on, but can't back out of because they hijacked the back button. And you hate it too.

Does Abstaining from Sex Make You A Virgin?

2011-05-25T07:10:00.003-05:00

Provocative title? Check. I am under no illusion. I know that when you include abstinence, sex, and virginity in the title of a blogpost, you are likely to get more visitors than you would have otherwise. So welcome to my blog you people that wouldn't have come here unless you saw the word sex in the link.The question is a serious one, even though you can answer it before you read one word of

Wrong Again Mr. Camping

2011-05-22T07:18:00.002-05:00

In Matthew 24:36 it says plainly (no need to interpret), - "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone."If you would only read this verse, and believe it, I am sure you can spare yourself a third round of humiliation.

Dealing With A Frigid Spouse.

2011-05-20T07:42:00.002-05:00

You can remember the way it was when you first came into the relationship. It seemed you were always holding hands, always together. Snuggling. Hugging. Talking into the night. Over the years however (because it is so easy to take another for granted), those affections your spouse had for you (which once were so evident) began to cool down. Suddenly a decade or more has slipped away. Somehow, it

Job 31:29

2011-05-16T10:28:00.002-05:00

Famously, Job, in defending his own righteousness asks, in Job 31:29, "Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, or exulted when evil befell him?".I think that is a the best place, for me at least, to begin to express my belated thoughts concerning the recent success of a U.S. military operation wherein a primary military target (Osama Bin Laden) was successfully removed. When I heard that

How to read the Bible in 240 days (or less) and other interesting things on a Friday

2011-05-06T07:33:00.002-05:00

Here, in no particular order, are a few musing that I had this morning:Bible ReadingThere are 260 chapters in the New Testament. If you were to read a chapter a day from the New Testament, you could be finished reading the New Testament in 260 days.There are 939 chapters in the Old Testament. If you were to read four chapters a day, you would finish reading the Old Testament in 232 days.Thus, if

Abba Da Da?

2011-05-05T07:25:00.004-05:00

You have probably heard from the pulpit that in those three places in scripture (Mark 14:36, Romans 8:15, and Galatians 4:6) where the Aramaic word "Abba" has been transliterated into Greek, it means "Daddy".One might imagine, because this teaching is so widespread, that this teaching has been the understanding of the church from day one, but in fact it is a recent "translation".I want to start

Καλή ανάσταση σε όλους σας!

2011-04-24T08:57:00.003-05:00

Happy Resurrection (Sun)Day to you all!The Paschal Greeting of "Christ is risen" is answered with "Truly, He is risen" (or alternately, "He is risen indeed")It isn't necessary to practice such things - but many of us do it. If someone says to you today Χριστός ἀνέστη! (Christos Anesti! - Christ is risent!), you can say Ἀληθῶς ἀνέστη! (Alithos anesti! - Truly risen!).Spend time with God today!

Good Friday vs. Earth Day

2011-04-22T11:15:00.005-05:00

Today is the anniversary of the single most significant/important event in all history. It is the anniversary, in fact, of the one event in history that actually allowed there to be such a thing as history. Had Christ not come, God would have destroyed the world with Adam's sin. The cross stands, therefore, as the guarantee that there would be a history. Today is the anniversary of this event

The Holiest Weekend

2011-04-21T09:25:00.004-05:00

Today is the day that our Lord took bread and wine with His disciples in the upper room. On that evening He was betrayed by one of the twelve, Judas Iscariot, arrested, questioned, mocked, beaten, shuffled off to Pilate, then to Herod and back.These things are so important to remember, in fact Christ commanded us to remember them. He didn't command us to invent (or celebrate for that matter)

Baptism for the dead

2011-04-13T07:41:00.003-05:00

Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them? - 1 Corinthians 15:29 [NASB] επει τι ποιησουσιν οι βαπτιζομενοι υπερ των νεκρων ει ολως νεκροι ουκ εγειρονται τι και βαπτιζονται υπερ αυτων - 1 Corinthians 15:29 [Koiné]Do you remember the unbaptized thief on the cross next to Christ? Jesus told him plainly that he

For David...

2011-04-06T09:26:00.003-05:00

Perhaps I see only the evil in all men, but I presume that the primary reason Mr. Kjos triple-dog dared me to write a "square poem" was because in writing one I would be inclined to post it, and having posted it I would be inclined to link Back to David's blog in order to give the quote some context.Well, done David. Well done.Without further ado, here is my square poem. If you don't know what

Stupid 3D TV

2011-04-01T09:18:00.003-05:00

I am putting on my curmudgeon hat today in order to rant on about a technology that I think is about as stupid as they come. Yes, I am talking about 3D.Like you, I can only focus on one thing at one time, and my eyes tend to wander all over the place - picking out details to focus on, and letting the rest remain in the periphery. The trouble with 3D is that it doesn't work, and cannot work (at

What kind of Christians are we trying to be?

2011-03-25T07:54:00.006-05:00

Can I be open and shamelessly honest with you, dear Internet reader?I started my faith ignorant of the bible, but I was granted a hunger for truth, and began to read the scriptures over and over again in a strength that felt all my own, but was certainly God's grace at work in me. With each reading of the bible I became more certain of some things, and less certain of others. I began to challenge

Gone To Be With His Saviour

2011-03-24T06:17:00.004-05:00

Friends of ours have just lost their terminally ill child, Joel. He suffered through Peroxisomal Biogenesis Disorder (a disorder that fits somewhere in the Zellweger Spectrum) - which is a "mouthful" of a way to say that his soul was chosen by our Lord for a broken body and a difficult and short life. His parents are wonderful, Christ honouring folks who have spent the last few years caring for

Stop acting like you've lost your muse.

2011-03-16T07:28:00.002-05:00

Have you ever heard the sermon where you are told that you have to love the unlovable? I want to share something about that today.It is easy to love my children, my spouse, and my friends, and by easy, I mean that I have an affection for them that motivates me. I don't have to work up this affection, nor do I have to work to draw it from some place within me in order to bring it out. It is just

The Rational Response.

2011-03-06T06:25:00.002-06:00

Doctor to two patients addicted to the same poison, one is rational, the other irrational: This is a bottle of slow acting poison. It's effects are cumulative - every drop you drink will destroy you a little, an effect that cannot be reversed - there is no way to restore the damage done. Likewise there is no way to build up an immunity to its effects over time. Each drop you ingest brings you

I am finally an internet "somebody"!

2011-03-04T08:53:00.005-06:00

I posted a brief article on the Trinity over at the New Calvinist Gadfly blog (where I am a member in "okay" standing).If you haven't been following the new blog, you should check it out, I love the other guys who are writing, and it's all good stuff.

Hebrews 3:13

2011-03-04T08:53:00.001-06:00

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. - Hebrews 3:13 [NASB]The author of the book of Hebrews is talking about encouraging one another in the faith - in particular, encouraging one another to persevere in the faith.When I think of encouragement, I sometimes picture a coach who pushes his

1071: Youth Ministry?

2011-03-03T09:36:00.002-06:00

The first ministry I was ever officially involved in was a youth ministry. I loved it, though at first it terrified me. Yet through that ministry I saw several young adults mature in both body and faith, and I will always have a paternal concern for those whom I had the profound privilege to minister to. I love those kids - even though most of them are married and have their own families

1 Corinthians 3:1-3

2011-02-23T14:35:00.003-06:00

And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? - 1 Corinthianns 3:1-3 [NASB]

Romans 10:4

2011-02-21T08:37:00.004-06:00

"For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. - Romans 10:3-4 [NASB]If I tell you that my work day will end at 3:00 p.m., you will understand intuitively that the word end, in this case, describes the point at which my work day

Romans 8:13

2011-02-17T07:28:00.004-06:00

"for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live." - Romans 8:13 [NASB]I love this kind of arithmetic. If A then B, but if C then D. Two paths, two destinations. Simple. Paul is talking, in the context, about a Christian obligation. He has masterfully shown, in previous chapters, that no matter how

Romans 6:10

2011-02-16T11:13:00.000-06:00

For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. - Romans 6:10 [NASB]We can miss it as we zip through Romans six, so I want to put the brakes on a bit. Paul says something here that is world-shakingly important to any Christian who is actually trying to live their life in the manner that is worthy of the calling they were called to.You see it

Romans 5:18

2011-02-10T07:42:00.002-06:00

Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. - Romans 5:18 [ESV]The verse, in the Greek begins with a double connective (αρα ουν) that doesn't lend itself all that well to an English palate, so that most translations lose a bit of precision at the beginning of this passage when they translate it as "therefore"

When my heart feels so corrupt I can't trust myself to pray.

2011-02-03T06:14:00.004-06:00

It happens. It is the feeling of guilt over our sin. Perhaps it is failure over some particular sin that we are unwilling to surrender, or perhaps it is many such sins -but make no mistake, we all will feel, from time to time, the ache of guilt so deeply that when we bow our heads to pray to God about it, we feel as though there is no way we can express our grief and failure because deep down,

Faith?

2011-02-02T09:27:00.005-06:00

Why did so many of the prominent Jews of Christ's day reject Him as their Messiah?Think this through for a second: Was it because those Jews rejected the idea that God was going to send a Messiah? I don't think so - these Jews were described by Paul in the book or Romans as zealous. I don't think they were ignorant, and I don't think they were denying the fact that God was going to send a

The word of grace

2011-01-14T06:16:00.003-06:00

And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. - Acts 20:32 [ESV]Paul was about to depart from Ephesus, on his way to Jerusalem where the Holy Spirit had informed him he would be incarcerated. He knew this was going to happen, but if he was daunted by it at all, it is clear that his

The apathetic Christian

2011-01-11T11:41:00.003-06:00

I wish this weren't so, but I believe it is. I believe that the average person who professes faith in Jesus Christ does not make it his or her daily practice to walk in the Spirit.Do you understand what that means? It means that I believe the average Christian is apathetic when it comes to living the Christian life.Somewhere along the way the ability to articulate an orthodox expression of

Prayer versus scripture reading

2011-01-06T05:55:00.004-06:00

"Read your bible, pray every day, and you'll grow, grow, grow"In our assembly, we call spending time each morning in prayer and study of God's word our "morning devotions". Typically, and I am sure this is common amongst most bible preaching assemblies, we call our members to practice a daily regiment of bible study and prayer, and we regard the keeping of this regiment as a good indicator as to

Merry Jesus-was-born day.

2010-12-25T13:39:00.001-06:00

Here is wishing that every reader of this post is blessed today on the day that we celebrate the coming of the Savior into this world.

Thoughts on James 2:14-17

2010-12-06T12:25:00.002-06:00

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 2:14-17 [ESV]If

Mortality.

2010-11-15T13:16:00.002-06:00

It isn't that I was ever living on the edge or anything. I lived a more or less quiet life. People died now and again, but by and large I didn't really have to deal with death very often. For my daily life, death was not something I really had to deal with. I knew my own death was coming "one day" but like everyone else, I was taught that thinking about your own death was just depressing and

WD7500BPVT and the Macbook Pro 13 (7.1)

2010-11-09T07:45:00.005-06:00

I spent some time the other day upgrading my 13" Macbook pro at home. I had previously bumped up the RAM to 8 GB, and this time around I determined to upgrade the 250 GB HDD to what is supposed to be the largest 9.5 mm (height) SATA drive that can fit (comfortably) in a 13" Macbook Pro: a 750 GB Western Digital HDD (WD7500BPVT).Several things complicated this particular upgrade, the most major

What is expected of a member in a local, Christian congregation?

2010-11-04T13:51:00.003-05:00

I don't think church covenants are biblical. That's not all that fascinating. I doubt anyone would argue that a church covenant is biblical. I think some folks like church covenants because they are so practical when it comes to pointing at something and saying, "See! This is what you signed your name to when you became a member!"I mean, don't get me wrong, I like pacts as much as the next guy,

Reformation Day Lesson is up...

2010-11-02T09:44:00.003-05:00

I know, you prefer to refer to October 31st as all Hallow's eve, or 'Halloween', but it is also the day that Luther nailed his 95 thesis to the door, and the reformation was ignited. Following along with William Gurnall's the Christian in Complete Armor, this past Sunday's lesson was on answering the question of our spiritual posture when we are vexed by the enemies accusations over our sin - of

Thoughts on Immortality and the Soul.

2010-11-01T14:43:00.001-05:00

Plato reasoned (and I am grossly paraphrasing here) that every instance of a concept as found in our reality was merely an imperfect reflection of an ideal form of the actual concept. These "forms" were not only the ideal that was only imperfectly expressed (or recognized) in reality, but were in fact the "cause" of the expression. Thus Plato reasoned in the Phaedo that since the soul is living

1041: Friday Briefs

2010-10-29T08:26:00.003-05:00

Because I am hopelessly verbose, I thought I might try an experiment today. Posting snippets of thought that I won't bother to expound upon. Each of these would have been a post in and of itself, but I just didn't get around to it.Being presently unemployed does not constitute or factor into a call to the pastorate.Do you feel empty spiritually? That emptiness is there by design: it is intended

Terms of Endearment.

2010-10-27T11:35:00.003-05:00

I have never, to my knowledge, referred to my wife as "Spousie-poo".Yet as I come to think of it, having invested myself this far in coming up with a silly term of endearment, I wouldn't mind tossing it out there tonight and see if it annoys her or not. You never know. Our sense of humor runs along that line where the absurd is funny.Notwithstanding, any use of the term "spousie-poo" would be

Sunday Adult Bible Study (October 24) now Online

2010-10-26T12:30:00.004-05:00

If you're are following along with our Adult Bible Study as we work our way through Ephesians 6, studying the Armor of God, and what it means to the Christian etc. The next installment is up and can be found in the right margin.

The Cross-tian

2010-10-26T11:12:00.007-05:00

I remember the first time I heard that some believer somewhere decided that the label "Christian" had too much baggage associated with it. So he (or she?) decided to identify himself (or herself?) as a "Jesus follower" (or was it a "Christ follower"?) instead.I live in the same world that you do. That is, I am aware that in our culture whenever a person identifies himself or herself as a

Christians rot from the inside out.

2010-10-20T05:54:00.004-05:00

That isn't to say that all Christian are rotting - Lord knows there are enough people in the world today who would love to hear a Christian "admit" it; rather it is to describe the nature of spiritual rot as it (or perhaps when and if it) affects the believer. I have never seen the rot of sin come in any other form - it begins internally - there is some temptation that is indulged, a little at

Spiritual Growth through emotional manipulation?

2010-10-19T07:17:00.003-05:00

Some speakers are very practiced in the art of emotional manipulation. That is, they are considered powerful speakers because they have learned to excel in producing a desired outcome.When a movie affects us emotionally, whether it makes us sentimental, or happy, or causes us to tear up, or even get angry - we typically conclude that the movie was well done, even if we don't agree with some

1035: New Adult Bible Study Available...

2010-10-18T07:54:00.004-05:00

If you are wondering what those numbers are in the titles lately, they represent the post number. This is my 1,035th post. Many posts are not published, so you can see the gap between one post and the next.I do that so that anyone who is interested will know that it isn't that I am not writing anything for my blog - I am just not posting much lately.But that is an aside.For those very few of

1032: New Adult Bible Study is available...

2010-10-13T13:56:00.003-05:00

For those who have opted to follow along our study in Ephesians 6, the latest teaching can be found in the righthand margin (October 10, 2010). I plan to update this post later and post my notes at that time).

1030: Adult Sunday School!

2010-10-04T12:48:00.004-05:00

As some of you readers may be aware, I lead an adult bible study each Sunday for the adults in my congregation. We are presently in our third year of examining together William Gurnall's "the Christian in Complete Armor". For those of you who are unfamiliar with this particular Puritan work, I can only say that it is one of the most spiritually rewarding but difficult to follow Christian

1029: Grace and Faith

2010-10-04T08:30:00.003-05:00

I am guessing here, but I suspect that the average evangelical congregation, or even to be more specific, the average evangelical Christian, would not have a problem with a pastor who stood up one Sunday and preached from the pulpit that those who are being saved are being saved by their faith.As someone who has preached, I have, from time to time, endured the unfortunate intellectual or academic

Six Weeks Old Yesterday!

2010-09-22T07:28:00.005-05:00

Our youngest turned six weeks old yesterday. She is, by all accounts, a wonderful little child; full of life, charm, and strength (look at her holding up her head like a pro!) My wife and I have been richly blessed; all colic aside.Yes, it is true. Our little sweetheart has begun to suffer through colic (and we with her) each night for around three hours or so, usually beginning around ten thirty

1023: Applying a simple proverb.

2010-09-16T07:09:00.006-05:00

In the 18 years of my marriage my wife and I have had many disagreements I suppose. Certainly in the first five years of my marriage (years when I was far from the Lord in my heart) there were many arguments and we came very close to destroying our marriage forever. Of course that all turned around on the day I, by God's grace, was able to turn my heart to follow Him in earnest. So I can say

1021: When Is Divorce Sanctioned By God?

2010-09-13T10:25:00.003-05:00

IN THE CASE OF "ACTUAL" ADULTERYI say, "actual" adultery, because there are some situations where some would argue that adultery has taken place, when in fact it has not.Consider the married woman who is raped. She has not committed "adultery" against her husband in becoming the victim of a violent sexual crime. She has been sexually violated, but she has not committed adultery.Consider the

1019: Sex, Money, Division of Labour

2010-09-10T11:12:00.003-05:00

Some things are so delicate and difficult to express, that I can write twenty posts that never see the light of day. If you are reading this it is not because I have found some way to express what I mean to say correctly, but more likely that I became so annoyed with writing the same thing ten different ways, that I gave up trying to satisfy my inner critic and just posted it, letting the cards

1014: Justified By Faith (Part III): Living by faith.

2010-08-26T09:54:00.003-05:00

In part I and II of this post, I have expressed the notion that Christianity is not a set of rules to follow apart from God, but rather a life that is supposed to flow from a walk of faith. In this post I hope to show how the preceding posts are put into practice in the Christian life by comparing living by faith with living apart from faith.the righteous will live by his faith... for we walk by

The Sin That Leads To Death

2010-08-25T06:15:00.005-05:00

1 John 5:16 says, "If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this." [NASB]I picture a lot of believers with little floating question marks over their head when they read this passage in first John. The

Teaching Christian Mimicry

2010-08-24T08:42:00.003-05:00

As I munched on cereal for breakfast this morning I casually examined a shiny new children's book that someone had left upon the kitchen table. It was written by some lady - a doctor, and was just one in a series of children's books intended to teach biblical virtues to toddlers. This particular tome was focused on thankfulness.It was illustrated in soft pastels, the text was large and simple,

1011: I am a Daddy ... again.

2010-08-11T20:05:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, at 2:00 a.m. my wife woke me up. She was in labour. After a leisurely drive to the hospital, and a brief moment in obstetric triage, the clock struck a quarter to five, and in that moment our Lord saw fit to bless us with a healthy baby daughter. She weighed only six pounds and twelve ounces (just over three kilograms) and measured some twenty inches (50 centimetres). She has a

1010: Justified By Faith (Part II)

2010-08-06T07:46:00.005-05:00

Have you ever felt like your prayers are not getting through to God?You know, where you feel like even though God is aware of all things at all times, that is, even though you know that God must hear your prayer, yet because you know that you are not as holy and pure in your prayer today as you were on your best day, that because of your current spiritual deficit, or rather your currently acute

1008: Justified By Faith (Part I)

2010-08-04T07:13:00.008-05:00

You know how some Christians pray for patience, as though God granted patience apart from living in the Spirit? These are often encouraged in this direction by well meaning enablers who touch their noses and nod as they look over their glasses and say in their best Troy McClure voice, "You know if you pray for patience, God is going to bring things into your life that require patience..."

1005: Do not be distressed.

2010-07-29T07:15:00.003-05:00

There is a scene in Genesis (c.f. Chapter 45), where Joseph's brothers are reacquainted with him. Recall that as a youth, his brothers despised him first because their father favored him, and again because he had dreamt two dreams that, when interpreted, suggested his brothers would all bow down to him one day. On a day when the brothers were together, and far away from their father, Joseph came

1004: Christian Parenting Decisions: Spiritual vs. Religious Superstition

2010-07-27T14:49:00.003-05:00

My wife and I received a godly friend over yesterday for a visit. In the course of the visit my youngest daughter came in, all giggles, and shared her (latest) favorite scene from Nickelodeon's Avatar: the Last Airbender. Our guest was a little shocked, because the characters in the cartoon live in a world that has been modelled after a fantasy medieval Asian, where reincarnation is not only

New Header.

2010-07-15T23:41:00.003-05:00

Yeah, so apparently something wacky was going on with my blog so that it refused to load for people using Firefox (I am looking at you Mr. Kjos...) So, because my header was a swf file, I figured that might be the culprit. I slapped up a rather ugly temp header, and that was good enough for the day.It turns out the problem was not in my header at all, but in one of the scripts running on my

994: Repent vs. Repent

2010-07-14T13:20:00.003-05:00

If you google "define repent", the first link is to a survey of various "web" definitions - a sort of dictionary aggregator that lists definitions for "repent" from various sources: Princeton, Wikipedia, Wictionary, etc. etc. In order of appearance, here are the first ten definitions given (omitting references to things like plays or poems that have the word "repent" or "repentance" in the title

991: Thy Kingdom.

2010-06-29T07:18:00.002-05:00

Christ, when teaching His disciples how to pray, taught them to ask God to usher His kingdom in on the earth ("Thy kingdom come").This kingdom, of course, is to be ruled by Christ until all things (including, and perhaps especially, death) are put under Christ's feet by God. At that point Christ steps down, and God the Father rules. Christ is the King of kings, and the Lord of Lords, but He will

989: Oranje!

2010-06-24T14:47:00.004-05:00

1:0@HTIf you don't get the title, you probably don't get the first line from this post either.Lang leve NL!update: 1:1@65' - Doh!update#2: 2:1@84' - YAY!

In Denial

2010-06-23T10:53:00.001-05:00

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands. They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see. They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell. They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; and they do not make a sound in their throat. Those who make them become like them; so do all who trust in them. - Psalm 115:4-8 [ESV]

987: Awesomeness.

2010-06-22T07:13:00.003-05:00

I set aside, each morning, time to read the bible. I have done so each morning (but not without fail) ever since I turned away from living for myself, and determined, in as much as in me is, to follow in obedience, the teachings of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I don't think that makes me better than people who don't read the bible, but it does make me more joyful, more certain, and more

Sanctification - Done Right.

2010-06-15T08:05:00.004-05:00

I followed a link from David Kjos's blog the other day (www.ThirstyTheologian.com), over to the Gospel Coalition's blog (www.thegospelcoalition.org). The link was to Justin Taylor's corner of the blog, and the article in particular was provocatively titled, in the Puritan tradition, How Do I Know If I'm Mortifying Sin by the Law or by the Gospel?. Here Mr. Taylor listed the eight subject

The Disobedient Christian

2010-06-11T07:34:00.002-05:00

Yeah. You.Though the apostle John was merely rephrasing a truth that rang throughout the whole of scripture when he said it, his words paint the truth so clearly for all to see, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us." [NASB].I like the way John states it too. He doesn't say, "if we say that have never sinned..." - which might lead someone to

What if church is boring?

2010-06-10T07:19:00.002-05:00

First of all, church isn't what happens on Sunday morning. If you are bored with your Sunday Service, you aren't finding church boring, you are finding your Sunday morning service boring. There is grand difference between the two.The church isn't the service, and it isn't the building, it is the term we use to describe the body of Christ, that is, the body of believers. To say that you find

The beauty of His holiness.

2010-06-09T10:43:00.002-05:00

Immature believers are easily convinced that any continuing presence of sin in their life proves or at the most strongly suggests something illegitimate about their faith. Who among us, no matter where we are in our walk, can say that we have never experienced concern about the legitimacy of our confession, having found ourselves at some weak moment, in the grip of sin? As we mature, we begin to

Wirelessly connecting your Macbook to an external HDD that is connected to your iMac or Mac Mini.

2010-06-07T08:38:00.007-05:00

How's that for a title?I picked up a new 13" Macbook Pro on Friday. As a Homeschooler, I qualified for educational pricing, and again, for the free 8GB iPod Touch back to school promotion. Instead of costing the standard $1249 [CDN], the price was reduced to $1149 [CDN], and with a $219 [CDN] iPod Touch thrown in to sweeten the deal I ended up paying $1286.88 [CDN] after taxes instead of $1398.88

The Mercy Seat.

2010-06-02T14:57:00.008-05:00

The mercy seat was fashioned to sit on top of the ark of the covenant. While it is a common enough error to imagine that the mercy seat was just the "lid" of the ark of the covenant, it actually was a separate piece. It was placed atop the open ark, but it was not a part of the ark, not simply a fancy lid with a name.The primary purpose of the ark was to hold the tablets of the covenant.

To the Glory of God.

2010-05-26T10:50:00.002-05:00

I was having a religious discussion with a Muslim friend, who in describing Muslim forms of worship gave the example of moving a salt shaker on the table from point A to point B. He said that if he moved the salt shaker mindlessly, according to his own capricious whim, or even according to some pragmatic function, that the gesture, spiritually speaking, was inert or neutral. If however, he

The Yellow Light Of Death

2010-05-22T08:21:00.002-05:00

About two years ago I bought a used PS3. It was one of the original 60GB variety, containing an actual PS2 chip for true, hardware, backwards compatibility. It had four (rather than two) USB ports, and three memory card readers, including SD/miniSD, Sony Memory Stick Pro, and a CF card reader. These particular units are sought after because they were better built and far more functional than

How Blessed Am I.

2010-05-14T07:34:00.002-05:00

This morning, as I sat down to take my cycling shoes off, I noticed, a thin thread of metallic gold on my black cycling shorts, consistent, I say, with the long hair of my youngest daughter. I don't actually wish that I personally had hair that looked like spun gold, but I have to admit, I find it cool. Yet when I saw it I didn't marvel at the wonder of God's creation, though I ought to have; I