Reformation21

This year has witnessed a publishing event of real interest to many Christians: the publication of N.T. Wright's Justification: God's Plan and Paul's Vision. Wright is widely considered the most provocative writer on justification today and the arrival of this book has deservedly garnered much...

Dear believer, I desire to write you about something with which you are well acquainted: affliction. Much has been written on affliction by our forebears. A good part of it you have known for a long time. For example, you know that all affliction is ultimately traceable to our tragic fall in Adam...

Recently, a friend quoted John Kennedy to me: `To lead is to choose.' It is not a quotation that I have been able to verify, but whether Kennedy said it or not, it is surely a piece of brilliant insight into the nature of leadership. One of the luxuries of having no power or influence is surely the...

It has been a good couple of months for the celebrating of life at memorial services. First, there was the celebration of Michael Jackson's life and then there was Ted Kennedy, enfant terrible turned elder statesman. Both men, in their different ways, were proof positive that, in modern America,...

In order to establish the doctrine of penal substitution we are not dependent on a few isolated proof-texts here and there in Scripture. The doctrine is woven indelibly into the very fabric of the account of the crucifixion, with numerous threads drawn from the Old Testament. Rather than...

"From the Jordan to the wilderness with its wilde beasts, from the devout acknowledgement of the Baptist, the consecration and filial prayer of Jesus, the descent of the Holy Spirit, and the heard testimony of heaven, to the forsakenness, the felt want and weakness of Jesus, and the assaults of the...

Cravings and Conflicts James 4:1-2 C.J. Mahaney It has been ten years now since the first godly young man requested permission to marry one of my daughters. Today, all three girls are married and it brings me great joy to observe my sons-in-law as they lead and care for my daughters and six...

"You're not going to preach right through Job are you? This is going to be so depressing!" Such, at first, was the reaction of one or two of my congregation at the church door on Sunday morning after I began a series of twelve sermons working through this great book. Not the most encouraging of...

Theology and literary flair. These days it seems never the twain shall meet. The former often suffers from clunky constructions and idiosyncratic pedantry; but when mixed with the latter, however, it turns sweetly succinct and yet able to ply the heart, catapulting it upward. It's no mistake that...

'What makes a preacher choose any book or passage of the Bible to preach on?' That's the sixty-four thousand dollar question I tend to ask myself on not a few occasions and feel I have to answer to my congregation (usually when I'm beginning a new series). I suppose there is a degree of similarity...