There have always been those who object to zeal, calling it a rash and heady temper that hurts more than it helps, and a harsh and fiery spirit that blindly burns up everything in its path. It’s strange, however, that those who argue against zeal are themselves zealous. It could be their political persuasion, favorite sports team, reputation as the one who ‘never loses,’ pursuit of riches, or being ‘the best dressed’ among their peers, whatever it is, it’s safe to say that we’re all zealous about something. We all love something enough to make considerable, if not foolish, sacrifices for it. So it’s not really zeal itself which is opposed, is it? Continue reading “Being zealous for God”
The missing ingredient
Who among us cannot see the difference between the ancient church and us? between the Apostles and us? or even between the Reformers and Puritans of several hundred years ago and us? It was as if a fire burned in their bosoms. Are we even aflame at all? They seemed driven by a holy passion and resolve. Are we motivated by a holy passion for God? They were as men at war with their sin and they strove for holiness as if empowered by a heavenly strength. Do not so many seem to be at home with much of their sin and content to do the minimum God requires? Continue reading “The missing ingredient”
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Wives, submit to your husbands
I preached on Col 3.18 yesterday. This is an excerpt from the sermon. May it bless you, challenging you wives to submit to your husbands, and challenging you husbands to pray for your wives and to do everything in your power to make it easy for them to submit to you and treat you as a king.
Continue reading “Wives, submit to your husbands”
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What are you living for?
Each of us lives for something. We labor and strive every day and throughout our whole lives to get somewhere, to gain something, to move beyond where we are, to add to what we presently have. And whatever that thing is for which we live, it shapes our lives and deeply affects the decisions we make every day. In a real sense, it governs us. We’re enslaved to it. We’re driven by it. It preoccupies us. So what is it for you? What are you living for?
Continue reading “What are you living for?”
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The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 3
In the last two posts I’ve been explaining the advantage of Puritan spirituality over the spirituality of today’s church. It was the conviction of the Puritans (and is my own) that the inherent righteousness of every believer was to be shaped by the Ten Commandments, the moral Law of God. They are wrong who say that the Ten Commandments are not for the New Testament church. Continue reading “The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 3”
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The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 2
I explained in yesterday’s post about Puritan spirituality that it was the conviction of the Puritans (as well as my own) that the inherent righteousness of every believer was to be shaped by the Ten Commandments, the moral Law of God. This is because the Puritans rightly understood that the moral law provides the Christian with both light from heaven to expose his sin and truth from God to guide his feet in righteousness. Continue reading “The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality, Part 2”
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The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality
One of the saddest effects of Scofieldian Dispensationalism on the landscape of the American church is the almost wholesale disregard for and discarding of the Moral Law. Scofield taught a stark division between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament church, a division so great that the two were not one people or one church or under one covenant of grace, but were rather two peoples under two covenants, and two churches in two different administrations. Indeed, the New Testament church hardly needs the Old Testament, according to Scofield, since it is a book of the Jews, by the Jews, and therefore for the Jews. The New Testament church has all it needs in the New Testament revelation. Continue reading “The Moral Law and Puritan Spirituality”
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Sermon outlines!
For today’s post, I want to alert you to a new Page I added on my blog. It’s the Sermon Outlines page. You can see its link on the Pages Menu to the right. This is a static page (rather than an archiving page) and will therefore need to be changed each time a new post is added.
The purpose of this new page is self-explanatory. I plan to post my weekly sermon outline for your use and edification. These outlines are included in our Sunday bulletin so people can follow along as I preach; but they are also emailed out to the Congregation each week ahead of time (usually by Tuesday) so that people can better prepare their hearts and minds ahead of time for the preaching of God’s Word. Individuals can use them for their own study and parents can use them in times of family worship to prepare the children to listen and best profit from the message.
Hence the outline posted today is the outline for this coming Sunday’s sermon. Feel free to share the outline with your friends; and if the outline is helpful to you, then go to our church’s Sermon Archive site by Sunday afternoon to listen to the uploaded sermon. And be sure to check back each week (by Tuesday) for the new outline!
May the Lord bless your study and use these outlines to feed your soul on the riches of His holy Word.
Your soul’s well-wisher in Christ,
Dr. J
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Husbands, love your wives
I preached on Col 3.19 yesterday. This is an excerpt from the close of the sermon. May it bless you, challenging you as husbands to love your wives, and challenging you as wives to pray for your husbands and to do everything in your power to make it easy for them to love you and treat you as a queen. Continue reading “Husbands, love your wives”
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Getting victory over your sin
Jesus tells us to watch and pray in order that we might not enter into temptation (Mt 26.41). So why does it so often happen that we watch and pray and then still find ourselves falling into sin? The answer is because we’re watching and praying against the sin and not against the temptation. We’re on guard against the sin but not against the temptations which give rise to it. Continue reading “Getting victory over your sin”
