“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.” - Matthew 6:9   What does it mean that the first person of the Trinity is called “Father”? There is a lot that could be said here. Among other things, “Father,” according to Scott Swain, means, “Before the existence of creation…the Father and his only begotten Son dwelled in eternal, mutual delight in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.” So, first and foremost, “Father” tells us something of how the persons within the Trinity relate. “Father” also means that all things [...]

“Our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” – Titus 2:13-14   “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit…The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist [...]

In his little book What Is Biblical Theology, Professor Jim Hamilton says, “What we think and how we live is largely determined by the larger story in which we interpret our lives.” Then he asks, “Does your story enable you to look death in the face? Does your story give you a hope that goes beyond the grave?” The story that creates and sustains this kind of hope is the story of the Bible, where we find the true story about how God defeated death. How this story grows [...]

Longing for God Amidst Tears   There is so much mystery in suffering. What is not mysterious in the Bible is that suffering is where we often see God most clearly. Psalm 42 begins with the psalmist saying, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God,” and then in the very next verse, “My tears have been my food day and night” (vv. 2-3). Then a couple verses later he talks about his soul being “cast down” and “in turmoil” (v. 5). The psalmist is crying his eyes [...]

  Will we remember our lives on earth when we’re in heaven?  You may wonder why we would even want to remember this life with all its pain and strife and sin?  What good could come of remembering our life on earth while we live in heaven? I think there is reason to believe that we will have memories of our life on earth when we’re in heaven, but it must be said clearly that this remembering will not be with any pain or regret or tears because those [...]

First John 1:7 says that “if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.” And James 5:16 tells us to “confess our sins to one another, that we may be healed.” One of the ways we follow Jesus together is by finding a trustworthy brother or sister and talking to them about the specific ways we’re sinning and struggling. James says this brings healing into our lives. John says it creates fellowship. Relationships full of the light of truth open [...]

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25   In this article, I will make four observations from this text specifically related to the ministry of encouragement in a local church: First, the writer of Hebrews contrasts “not neglecting to meet together” with “encouraging one another.” We know this because he uses the conjunction “but” [...]

God’s will for your life is in the Bible, but not in the way you may expect. One of the ways we discover God’s will for our lives is by learning the principles of God’s word.  For example, the Bible doesn’t tell us who we should marry, but it does tell us a lot about marriage and purity and what kind of person we should marry.  The Bible doesn’t tell us where we should work, but it does teach us about the nature of work, about laziness, about submission [...]

Abraham Lincoln is probably the best known and most loved president in the history of the United States of America. His rise to prominence, however, was totally unpredictable. He was a nobody from nowhere. He was born in Kentucky to poor, subsistence farming, Reformed Baptist parents who moved to southern Indiana where he spent most of his childhood working on his father’s farm instead of going to school. His mother died when he was nine and his father was verbally and physically abusive. His sister died in childbirth when [...]

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution that declared that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states.” Two days later, on July 4, 1776, the Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. We honor this day with barbeque and fireworks because it marked the beginning of our new nation. The Declaration of Independence, however, did not lay out the specifics about how we would be governed. The Articles of Confederation were supposed to do that. They were drafted in 1777 [...]