Tag: faith
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Jesus and the Fulfillment of Israel’s Covenant: Holy Land and Holy People
[Another version of this essay was published under the title “The Story of Israel” on the Theopolis website.] Today’s news headlines, popular podcasts, and social media discussions, are dominated with questions about the modern nation-state of Israel and land disputes in the Middle East. Who owns the land, sometimes called the “holy land”? I am…
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Pastors as Specialists in the Bible and Generalists in Culture/Life
Pastors, by definition, are generalists. We are supposed to be specialists in the Bible, but the Bible is so broad in its scope, a teacher of the Bible must be a generalist. A good pastor is one of the last generalists left in our highly specialized society. The Bible teaches on marriage, sex, parenting, money,…
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TO KEEP THE SHIRE, YOU HAVE TO DEFEND THE SHIRE: A CIVILIZATION WORTH FIGHTING FOR
[A version of this essay will be published in an upcoming issue of Fight, Laugh, Feast magazine.] The Christian faith built Western civilization. While Western Civilization (aka “Christendom”) was never perfect, it was glorious – certainly the apex of human history thus far. Christendom was our Shire – a civilizational and cultural home we had…
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Modern Liberalism’s God-Shaped Hole
Modern liberalism has a God-shaped hole. To put it another way, modern liberalism is just classical liberalism secularized; it is classical liberalism with God taken out of the picture. The values of classical liberalism are basically synonymous with the American founding era. Liberalism is basically just Americanism. When America was Christian, the system worked pretty…
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Hebrews 5:7 and Gethsemane
Hebrews 5:7 is one of the most interesting texts in the entire NT, especially when connected to other NT passages: “In the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His…
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Confessions of a Worship Leader
This is an excerpt from an article by Jonathan Aigner, found here: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2022/01/07/confessions-of-a-former-worship-leader-2/. While Aigner ended up Lutheran, classic Lutheran and Calvinistic/Reformed theologies of liturgy largely overlap. The stress is on seeking God where he has promised to be found — in his Word and sacraments, not in our emotions or fluctuating feelings. Whereas the medieval…
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2/15/26 Baptismal Exhortation: There Is More to Baptism Than Meets the Eye
One of the great confessions produced the Reformation era is the Belgic Confession of Faith, authored by Guido de Bres in 1559, a few years before his martyrdom in 1567. The entire section on baptism is excellent, but here is part of it: By [baptism] we are received into God’s church and set apart from…
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Medieval Myths
These notes are based on my sermon from November 6, 2005. Audio available here: It is useful and fitting to reflect on the saints who have gone before us. This reflection leads us especially to the saints of the Middle Ages and to the many myths that surround the medieval church. While the medieval era…
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Psalm 72
These notes are based on my sermon from July 19, 2009. Audio available here: Further notes are available here: Psalm 72 presents a magnificent vision of the ideal king and his kingdom. This essay explores the psalm through four key questions: Who wrote it? Who is it about? What does it promise? And what does…
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Liturgy and the Gospel
[This short essay was written for the Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Austin TX. It appeared in the church newsletter sometime in the late 1990s, when I was on staff there.] One of the most talked about aspects of our church is our worship. Considering the centrality of gathered worship in the Scriptures, this is probably how…
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