Committed Church Membership: The Sixth Mark of a Healthy Church Member

To many Christians today, church membership is a non-essential or an enigma.   Be it from the proliferation of extra-church ministries (i.e. Bible camps, collegiate ministries, or other parachurches), the ever-increasing array of Christian teaching diassociated from church membership (i.e. Christian TV, radio, Bible studies, etc), the creation of hybrid-churches (i.e. multi-site, Internet and virutal churches), or the simple neglect [...]

A Biblical Evangelist: The Fifth Mark of a Healthy Church Member

On Sunday night, the church I am interim, Calvary Baptist (Seymour, IN), looked at what it means to be a “Biblical Evangelist” according to Thabiti Anyabwile’s helpful study What is a Healthy Church Member?  During our time together, I suggested five ways to live out a life of intentional evangelism.  In addition to memorizing an evangelistic tract and /or [...]

Looking for the Kingdom of God in the Book of Ezekiel

When was the last time you preached Ezekiel?  Not from Ezekiel, but Ezekiel.  Not Ezekiel 16 and God’s graphic castigation of Israel’s spiritual whoredom; not Ezekiel 36 and the promise of a renewed heart and a clean spirit; not Ezekiel 37 and the valley of dry bones; I mean Ezekiel, the whole thing? 
If you did [...]

The Creative Power of the God’s Word

When God’s people hear about God and what he requires, they will respond.
- Mark Dever
Meditate on this quotation with me for a minute, and consider the creative power of God contained in his life-giving, faith-inspiring, soul-saving Word.
“When” – in the fullness of time God sent his son (Gal. 4:4), and at just the right time [...]

reMARK’s on the Church

Reading Mark Dever’s section on the church in A Theology for the Church, I came across a couple stimulating quotations.  One about the already-but-not yet marks of a true church by Donald Bloesch, another from Robert Reymond about the mark of true church being found in its connection with the apostle message, and finally one from [...]

Sex tells…the Gospel !?

Everyone knows that sex sells, but not everyone is equally well informed that sex also tells.   Indeed, for covenant-keeping married couples, sex tells the story of the Triune God who, though different from us, desires to be united with us.   Amazingly, God has ordained that within the matrix of marriage, covenant partners are privy to the delicacies of God’s [...]

Weekend Websites: Audio Resources from Desiring God and 9 Marks

One of the most edifying activities that I have engaged in since becoming a Christian has been listening to sermons, biographies, and interviews while driving, working at home, or doing monotonous computer work.  When I was a church janitor in Chattanooga, TN, I would often and repeatedly listen to John Piper’s expository messages as I vacuumed the [...]