Here I Blog

From The Squalor Of A Borrowed Stable (Immanuel)From the squalor of a borrowed stable,by the spirit and a virgin’s faith;to the anguish and the shame of scandalcame the Saviour of the human race!But the skies were filled with the praise of heav’n,shepherds listen as the angels tell of...

Santa has come once again. He comes in Jesus’ name. If there were no Christmas there would be no Santa. Yet, Santa remains popular regardless. The Christ in Christmas is Jesus. Yet, it is Santa who gets the focus and even makes the cover of The Wall Street Journal (Dec. 24th).Why is Santa s...

I’ve often wondered if Christians in the USA have freedom to their detriment. There are so many churches that they can leave one for another for whatever reason they like. Many start campaigns and stand against national department stores for not saying Merry Christmas. It is easy to complai...

I wanted to throw out a few Christmas gift ideas.Like comedy? From Christians even? Here are two with different styles. A friend of mine known as Mylo Hatzenbuhler, The Original Rock and Roll Farmboy, offers a very unique style of musical comedy. A wonderful singer when serious, yet ready to ente...

Below is a great poem/hymn by Joseph Hart. It is a great evangelistic call and a great reminder that even Christians need to continue to rest upon Christ. A Christian’s need for the Savior never ends.It seem appropriate so I moved the refrain of this hymn to the end as the last stanza as a ...

While preparing to gather with a local body of believers, Who will you worship? Pause for a moment and contemplate-try to wrap your mind around-Who.Who is this that we worship?The Baptist Catechism asks about Who God is and gives some Scriptural insight. What a wonderful question, answer and, esp...

‘I am Tiger Woods’ is a popular slogan repeated by several kids in a Nike commercial. Given Woods’ recent transgressions that phrase is even more true today. Except the adults are missing.GASP?!It’s true, as I mentioned in Tiger Woods and the cross, he is just like the res...

Fellow Southern Baptist and blogger Trevin Wax tweeted something today that really stuck.The world estimates your importance by how many people are serving YOU. God estimates your importance by how many people YOU are serving.First, the world does measure one’s importance by their popularit...

Can asking for prayer ever be a burden?That might sound like a strange question. It just might be right now, but hear me out. I am not talking about prayer requests that turn into gossip. Those requests that ask for prayer for uncle Bill’s and aunt Martha’s marriage only to go on to g...

Je­ho­vah Tsid­ke­nu is a name for God which means “The Lord Our Right­eous­ness.” This is easily forgotten today with the emphasis on doing good deeds for God.Preaching the Gospel to yourself is a great reminder that deeds do not save. It is the Gospel of grace through faith alone th...

The internet can be used for good, bad, stupid, indifferent, etc. like many things in life. The more sinful people get involved with these things the more we mess them up. Please, don’t look around the internet. Take my word for it.Funny, we still cannot stand in God’s way.God soverei...

Church is boring. Right?No matter what setting one is in the same basic activities are done each worship service. Sing, pray, Scripture reading, announcements, some sort of preaching, fellowship. Did I mention singing? However a worship service is set-up it is most likely going to be similar week...

The heart’s fierce effort to protect itself from every slight, to shield its touchy honor from the bad opinion of friend and enemy, will never let the mind have rest. Continue this fight through the years and the burden will become intolerable. Yet the sons of earth are carrying this burden...

Life. It is busy and demanding. Each day can bring new challenges. Some easy and routine. Some hard. Others life changing. How these challenges and demands are received can make all the difference in one’s attitude and thought life.During this time around Thanksgiving Day every year people ...

To sign or not to sign the Manhattan Declaration(MD)? That… is a good question.For the most part it seems to have been received on a positive note. There has been some push back though. For example, Albert Mohler felt the need to explain why he signed the MD. Fellow blogger Frank Turk expla...

Just have faith. Keep the faith. Faith is important. Everyone needs faith in something. These types of statements about faith can be found just about anywhere.What does having faith actually do?Faith gives hope. It is something to rely on in times of need. It gives comfort. But why? It is somethi...

Life is hard. Worshiping God can be harder. At times life seems to get in the way of God. Actually, it is our sinfulness that is in the way. The problem only gets bigger because without God there is no way for us. Thankfully, Jesus Christ has done for us in the Gospel what we cannot do for oursel...

Dr. William Lane Craig has an article called A Middle Knowledge Perspective on Biblical Inspiration. In this article he offers Molinism as the answer of how God can work with man to write inspired Scripture. This preserves man’s freedom while still giving God a level of control of the outco...

closed Wednesday's post with a list of four distinguishing marks drawn from a standard definition of "gambling." All four of these are true of every variety of gambling:One, something valuable is put at risk. ...

My good friends John and Shannon Jordan are going through one of those unexpected trials of life. On October 31 their six year old son Gideon was diagnosed with a brain tumor.They started a Facebook group (link at the end) for prayers and updates on Gideon. In less than a month, over 1,800 member...

Covenant and Communion: The Biblical Theology of Pope Benedict XVI by Scott Hahn has a few Protestant endorsements. The biggest stir was caused by Michael Horton’s endorsement. People are asking – Why endorse such a book? Would the Apostle Paul have endorsed a book on metaphysics by A...

Confession and PetitionHoly Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they wil...

Cross-Centered, Grace-Laden, Christ-Focused, Gospel-Driven: Towards reform of the discipleship culture of the American Church.

Many Christians around the world are preparing to worship. Nothing as powerful as God’s word to reflect on worship.When we understand just how sinful we are it is easier to truly appreciate God’s grace in saving us. It is a blessing to gather together as a community of Christians peti...

You might be thinking – Can I really do Christmas for 20 bucks?Yes, you can. You can do it for someone else. Children. Children in need.The Christmas list for these children does not include an Xbox, Wii, iPhone, Karaoke machine, laptop, remote controlled helicopter, a robot, DVD, etc. etc....

Doubt sees the obstacles, Faith sees the way! Doubt sees the darkest night, Faith sees the day! Doubt dreads to take a step, Faith soars on high! Doubt questions, “Who believes?” Faith answers, “I!” ~author unknown

On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther kicked off the Protestant Reformation. His purpose was to reform the church. That did not work, however, and the Catholic church instead responded with the Council of Trent. Today the protest continues as Trent stands in opposition to the biblical and Protestant ...

In An Idol Called Evangelism Dr. Roy Hargrave states that evangelism rather than the glory of God is driving many churches today.That might be too strong a position for some to fathom. Maybe unbiblical for others. It is not often that evangelism is spoken of in terms of idolatry. It is an uncomfo...

Christians are good at replacing the gospel with religious duties. There is a performance aspect to the Christian life that says-I got saved and now I’m going to do all this stuff to give back to God. It is a tendency to become either practical or actual legalists.Consider this definition o...