Reformation21

The current phenomenon of ministers downloading or otherwise cribbing sermons is yet another symptom of a church that is spiritually out to sea. The Bible says that the ascended Christ gave pastor/teachers to his church (Eph. 4:11), not that he gave sermons. And there is a big difference. Instead...

God bless you. I believe that future history (whether in heaven or on earth) will look back on these present years and realize that the most valuable servants in Christ's kingdom were those humble, faithful, Spirit-filled men of God who labored in obscurity, usually serving small churches. You are...

Perhaps we've already mentioned this volume--I can't remember--but readers may be interested in the publication of Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints , by Joel Beeke and Randall Peterson, published by Reformation Heritage. Its 900 pages contain biographical sketches of 140 Puritans...

At the risk of doubling Derek's envy, Eschenbach played Mozart piano concertos 23 and 24 to rapturous applause. Our seats are on the back side of the orchestra, in the third tier -- perfect for this concert because we could watch Eschenbach conduct with nods of the head, raised eyebrows, and other...

A member of Tenth Presbyterian Church recently gave me a sermon CD from the British evangelist Ray Comfort, with a marvelous real-life story of God's work through the ministry of a man from Sydney Australia. My assistant Anne Davies has kindly typed a transcript, which I will share in subsequent...

A number of years ago in a Baptist church in Crystal Palace in southern London, the Sunday morning service was closing and a stranger stood up in the back, raised his hand; he said, “Excuse me, pastor; can I share a little testimony?” The pastor looked at his watch. He said, “You’ve got three...

First thing Monday morning is my main time of prayer for our missionaries. In reading and praying over recent missionary correspondence this morning I came across a good reminder from Robert Speer: "In this supernatural cause (world missions), which rests on a supernatural charter and is led by an...

A dear friend from the UK told me this weekend that he'd been catching up on the Ref21 blog and noticing that we seemed to have far too much fun! Well, he is a friend and his perspective skewed as a consequence. His "universe of discourse" (to cite John Murray ) is favorable. But Phil's entry has...

I saw the new Bond movie at the weekend. Nothing like it to make me proud to be English. After all, it just couldn't be done by, say, the Welsh. `The name's ap-Llymrys Jones, Gwynfor ap-Llymrys Jones' just doesn't cut it frankly.

Rodders, jealousy will be the undoing of you!