Category Reformation21

mors_22

In Praise of Christian Friendship

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom… A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. — Proverbs 18: 1, 24 (KJV) I’ve been…

smij_22

Defining Definitive Sanctification

Is it possible to “get saved” without getting sanctified? The 1689 Confession, in accordance with the Bible, answers with a resounding “No!” Sanctification is not an optional extra for Christians; it is an essential part of the salvation God gives…

smij_22

Whose Sanctification Is It, Anyway?

In the New Testament, the word often translated as “sanctification” is sometimes translated, “holiness.” The Greek is hagiasmos (ἁγιασμὸς), the noun form of the verb “to sanctify,” “to make holy” (hagiazo, ἁγιάζω). The basic meaning of the verb is to set…

carj_22

Replanting Our Churches

Every church in America is now a church re-plant. This is a hard truth, but healthy churches will own it, while those who ignore it will be walking down the path towards a painful decline. American Christianity has learned numerous…

poyj_22

Envy and the Megachurch

“You shall not covet…” — Deuteronomy 5:21 “Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor” (Ecc 4:4). Really? All toil? All skill? All driven by envy? What would that say…

ryap_22

My Reconstructed Faith

Among the ever-growing list of controversies and threats to Christ’s church, the disturbance of deconstruction looms large. Over the past two years, we have all seen and listened to many stories of deconstruction from authors, musicians, and even YouTube personalities.…

frab-22

Rules of Engagement

Quite a lot has happened in the last week, hasn’t it?  The recent ruling of the Supreme Court has pushed central questions back into the public conversation – questions like: What makes human life valuable?  How do we know right…