Throughout Scripture the faithful have been the few, not the many — the narrow gate is found by few, and only a remnant has ever held true — so the disciple must have the strength to stand in the minority and be faithful when most are…
Love for God is not a feeling — it is a pattern of obedience. What looks like love but does not produce obedience is not love. What produces obedience, even in the absence of feeling, is love. The normal condition of the human heart is to…
A gospel preacher who does not know the truth he is preaching, the error that opposes it, the conditions he is preaching into, or his own responsibilities has not simply failed to prepare — he has disqualified himself from the task. Knowledge is not optional equipment…
The Bible that records the history of human sin also reveals the remedy for it. The remedy is not spontaneous or accidental — it is a plan, conceived before the creation of the world, assigned to the Redeemer in a covenant between Father and Son, and…
The word “worship” in some form occurs in the Bible 191 times — 113 times in the Old Testament and 78 times in the New Testament. That frequency alone establishes its importance. But frequency of occurrence does not tell us what worship is or whether any…
A Christian is not forbidden recreation, but he is governed in it; the same Lord who owns his worship owns his leisure, and every amusement must be measured by whether it can be carried on to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31). Few questions reach…
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…