Biting & Devouring One Another

Why do Christians bite and devour one another?   Paul’s admonition to the Galatians 5:15 came to mind after attending a difficult church meeting recently.   “If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.”  (Galatians 5:15)
Cannibalism seems so foreign, so bizarre, so unusual, doesn’t it?   Cultures [...]

I Am A Vile Polluted Lump of Earth

I wonder what acrostic you and I might compose to reflect our true standing before God.   In this day and age of self-help, self-centredness and self-congratulation, let us be reminded that we are sinners, rebellious sinners who transgress God’s law and have a deceitful heart that is desperately wicked.  (Jeremiah 17:9)   Praise God for His [...]

No Pulpits for Politicians

Kairos Journal, a free on-line journal for pastors, published this great article on C.H. Spurgeon.   Would that today’s leaders, particularly American, would refuse to use their pulpits for politicians, yet speak out clearly on the issues of the day.   This is thought-provoking!
Spurgeon: Setting a Light “in the Face of All Men”
Charles Haddon Spurgeon was not [...]

Fireproof

Focus on the Family’s Monday broadcast profiled the new movie “Fireproof” starring Kirk Cameron.    Check out the Fireproof Movie website.
May God use this movie to deeply impact marriages and challenge everyone with spiritual realities.

In Seasons of Grief

I love the fall season.   Today, the last day of summer, brings no tears to my eyes but joy in anticipation of a season of harvest.    Cool nights, frost on the pumpkins, changing leaf colours are to me indicators of a very special time of year.
Today’s hymn speaks of seasons – not Spring, Summer, Fall [...]

To Study, To Do, To Teach

Yesterday at TBS, where I’m seeking to serve God, I spoke in chapel on the subject “To Study, To Do, To Teach.”   Ezra 7:10 has to be one of my favourite verses on the subject of theological education.   It portrays Ezra who traced his lineage back to Aaron the High Priest as having the gracious [...]

Thomas Wilson – Counsel to Pastors

Glen Zeidler, a student at Toronto Baptist Seminary forwarded me an encouraging and challenging insight which had been sent to him.  I reproduce it here for your edification whether or not God has called you to serve in leadership.   Do pray for your pastor/shepherds today that they may be men who reflect this type of [...]

Ray Boltz – Why?

Christianity Today posts a sad announcement that Ray Boltz has announced his commitment to a sexually immoral lifestyle.   It is another grievous day in the contemporary Christian music scene as another leader yields to the pull of evil.
I have in my library Sandi Patti’s “Broken In the Last Row” as she recounts her involvement in [...]

Purpose Driven

More and more churches are using “purpose-driven” in their advertising.    I assume this is a buy-in of Rick Warren’s philosophy exemplified at Saddleback Church.   But honestly aren’t all churches “purpose-driven?”   Are those that don’t buy in to Pastor Warren’s ecclesiological “style” without purpose?
What are some biblical purposes which churches could adopt?   Do we really need [...]

To Serve or To Be Served

To be or not to be that is the question – so Shakespeare wrote.
To serve or not to serve that is the question, I suggest, that today’s preacher-pastors need to ask.    Is our task to be served by the flock or to serve the flock?     God rebukes the shepherds of Israel in Ezekiel for misusing [...]