The question is, "What does 'sola fide' mean?" It's a Latin phrase that means "faith alone". Christians have been professing the "five ..read more

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Eph ..read more

"The liberals are taking over!" "The institution is rotten to the core!" "Misogynists continue to oppress women!" "The seminaries have gone woke!" These are just a few of the allegations I’ve heard leveled at the denomination with which I’ve been affiliated for the last 26 years. There is no question that significant and controversial moves have been made by the denomination in recent years which have invited such diverse and heavily stated critiques. In fact, there have not merely been critiques, but in recent years, there has been a significant exodus from the Southern Baptist Conventio ..read more

The battle rages on, dear Christians. But take heart. Christ will deliver us. After the doxology in the previous verse, wherein He calls for glory and dominion to be Christ's forever and ever, John writes in Revelation 1:7, Behold, this glorious King who has all dominion is "coming with the clouds." According to Matthew Poole, this is to say that it will be in a glorious manner. Poole cites Matthew 24:30, where Jesus says, "...they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (emphasis mine). Poole also highlights other details provided by the Script ..read more

The book of Proverbs provides the Christian with much-needed wisdom. There are a variety of topics that Proverbs address. Each topic has verses scattered throughout the book. As such, it is helpful to compile these verses to see how Proverbs address these themes. This article is the first of several that will provide a thematic compilation and categorization of Proverb verses.   The Fear of the LORD Defined The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Prov. 9:10 ESV) The fear of the LORD is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes be ..read more

What is the regulative principle? The regulative principle is a concept, a biblical concept, that historically flows out of the Reformation. The regulative principle holds to the idea that God is the one who gets to regulate and define worship. God is the one who gets to say this is how you should worship me. Where do we find out how God wants to be worshipped? It's in his Word, in the Bible. When we look at the Scriptures, we see that there are certain things that God commands the church to do when it gathers together. When we look at 1 Timothy 4 or 2 Timothy 3, we see that the church is ..read more

What is sanctification? I think the place to begin answering that question is to consider that, as Christians, we are united to Jesus Christ for our salvation. We are united to him by faith, and it is by virtue of our union with him that we receive from God through Christ all the benefits of salvation. Of course, the chief benefit of that salvation would be our justification, that God forgives our sins and counts the righteousness of Christ as our very own. He imputes that righteousness to us. But no less important than justification is the grace of sanctification. Sanctification is the wo ..read more

  After instructing various members of Christ’s body, Paul exhorts them to “work heartily” in all they do. Why? Because they are “serving the Lord Christ” in these things.   Our work, whether it be the work of a mother at home or an employee on the job, is done in service to Christ. The end of all Christian labor is the glory of God.   We are motivated to work heartily for the Lord by a love for him that stems from him first loving us. This love of God (both for him and from him) motivates the Christian to work with enthusiasm and vigor; this love of God motivates the Christi ..read more

In counseling, there is a fear of sounding trite, using well-worn clichés, saying something everyone knows you’re “supposed” to say. Sometimes telling a couple in trouble that they need to pray can sound like that. “Pray for your wife… pray for your husband… pray with each other… pray about that…” can sound like, “Take two aspirin and call me in the morning.” But I want us to think about prayer differently. If we think about prayer as a mere formality, we are missing something powerful. If we don’t see how prayer fits into spiritual warfare, we will be weak, detached from God, and from eac ..read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGClJu_caWI One of the most difficult doctrines for both Christians and non-Christians to grapple with sometimes is the doctrine of Hell. Many people wonder if the doctrine of Hell is just, if God is just to condemn sinners to Hell. Many people make the objection that the punishment doesn't fit the crime, that Hell is too extreme of a punishment for the sins of man. Other people will argue that since God is love, he would never send people to Hell. But there is this question that remains: "is God just to send people to Hell?" because Hell is a biblical concept ..read more