The New Testament church spread the gospel to the whole world through the missionary zeal of independent local congregations — each one God’s fully equipped unit for evangelism — and that pattern, not human zeal alone, is how the work is to be done. The early…
What looks like defeat is often the path to victory in God’s kingdom: we lose life to save it, find it by losing it, gain by spending, live by dying, and conquer through the cross — for the way of the cross leads to life, and…
The Old Testament is the inspired Word of God — a claim made by the writers themselves, confirmed by Jesus Christ in person, and endorsed by the apostles throughout the New Testament. The church has at various times been tempted to treat the Old Testament as…
The problems that multiply with the number of preachers are not primarily doctrinal in the obvious sense — they are structural and character problems that arise when the preacher’s role is not well understood or well executed. A church with a clear understanding of what a…
Sanctification means to set apart — to consecrate something or someone for God’s specific use or service. The word carries no inherent reference to moral sinlessness; it refers to the status of belonging to God, of being separated from common use for sacred use. In the…
The Bible does not define sin abstractly — it defines it relationally and legally. “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness” (I John 3:4). Sin is the violation of God’s law. This definition is sufficient: it specifies what sin is (lawlessness), relates…
Christ is the Prince of Peace, who alone gives peace with God, peace with others, and peace within; sin is the disturber of all three, and that peace is enjoyed only by being reconciled to God in Christ and submitting to His terms. Everyone is hunting…
No one can afford to despise small things — the universe is built of them, God made and cares for them, Christ tended the “little ones,” and Christian character and service grow little by little — so the believer must be faithful in the small things…
The gospel preacher’s responsibility is not to the institution that employs him, the congregation that likes him, or the reputation he has built. It is to God who commissioned him, to the church whose truth he represents, and to the hearers who need what he has…
Among all the forms that sin takes, four are identified in Scripture with unusual consistency and severity: hypocrisy, slander, worldly pleasure, and selfishness. They are “cardinal” not because they are the only sins but because they are foundational patterns — forms of sin that shape the…