Reformation21

The recent issue of Ambassador magazine, of the Melbourne School of Theology, features our resident celebrity, Dr. Trueman. Nevertheless, he still has street cred: few celebrity pastors get the title "International Scholar."

A helpful illustration: A church member who had been devoutly active for many years suddenly was absent. One cold winter evening the pastor knocked at his door. Actually, the pastor and the church member had been long-time good friends. As they watched the wood burn in the fireplace, the minister...

Words: Jo­si­ah Con­der, 1836. My Lord, I did not choose You, For that could never be; My heart would still refuse You, Had You not chosen me. You took the sin that stained me, You cleansed me, made me new; Of old You have ordained me, That I should live in You. Unless Your grace had...

"Why was I made to hear Thy voice, And enter while there's room, When thousands make a wretched choice, And rather starve than come?" So asked William Cowper. And so might each child of God ask, with a thousand more questions besides. Why was I chosen to receive life, when many die in their sins?...

For those who may not know, the fourth annual P uritan Reformed Theological Seminary Conference will be held August 23-25 at Calvin Prince Center , Grand Rapids , Michigan . This year the theme is "The Beauty and Glory of the Father." Here are the topics and speakers: -- Jerry Bilkes, Father and...

How would you close a sermon? How would you bring to an end a sermon in which you were pleading for sinners to receive God's great pardon for sin? Here is an example from Spurgeon, preaching from Psalm 25.11 ("Pardon my iniquity, O Lord, for it is great"), in a sermon entitled "Great Pardon for...

I return from a welcome holiday (during which the growing murmur of delight at the prospect that I might have been banished, or for some other reason no longer be contributing here, was becoming distinctly audible) to find that life continues apace at Reformation21 (and I shall have my ear open for...

I was back in my pulpit yesterday after a relatively short Summer break. Our Summer was not the one we had planned. Our eldest son was due to get married on July 25th, and three days before the event it was all called off. The emotional, financial and legal implications of the decision we are still...

One of the joys of Fridays in the UK is 5 minutes with.... on the BBC website. Someone of some relative interest is given a 5 minute interview by Matthew Stadlen, this week columnist Peter Hitchens is interviewed , Hitchens is right wing, holds some odd views but is a Christian and gives great...

I'm so grateful for my friend Carl's reply. It appears, perhaps, that I was a bit too subtle in the single point that I was trying to contribute, so I thought that I might take another run at it more directly. If a seminary's purpose is to train ministers and those who serve beside them, then I...