And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might (Deuteronomy 6:5). Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind (Matthew 22:37). It is one thing to recite these words…
Isaac Backus—Baptist Defender of Religious Liberty In recent times the separation of church and state has become an argument for barring the church from any input in the secular state. But the original idea was to bar the state from meddling in the church, not the converse. This critical distinction is evident in the thought…
Grace Community Church in Sun Valley California has been in and out of court for the past few weeks. North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara California had a “cease and desist order” posted on its doors forbidding the congregation to hold indoor services. Many other churches in California and across the country are continuing…
Ephesians 5:15-17 Lemmings are small, furry rodents who inhabit cold, snowy regions like Norway and Siberia. Though you may never have seen one before, it’s possible you’ve heard of them thanks to their famous reputation. Many believe that lemmings have the unusual habit of committing mass suicide by mindlessly jumping off cliffs into the sea.…
“Samuel went to Saul, and Saul said to him, ‘Blessed are you of the Lord! I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ But Samuel said, ‘What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?’ And Saul said, ‘They have brought them from the…
Here we are, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, with no clear consensus (it seems) regarding the truth about the event. On one hand, we have official pronouncements from government officials and health authorities, giving dire warnings based on models produced by epidemiological think-tanks. On the other, we have countless critics and naysayers calling…
“If you can do anything else, don’t go into pastoral ministry.” I really wish we had not given that advice to young men considering a call to ministry. The advice was intended to communicate the idea that you need to be so committed to the call to ministry that you cannot be content doing anything…
Every day there are new headlines spotlighting the Coronavirus pandemic across the world. Our news feeds are flooded with stories, statistics, and opinions about what is going on. No doubt, every church in our country, and around the world, is making decisions that, in some way, have the virus in mind. Pastors who are worth…