Articles
Galatians Timeline & Map
The churches of Galatia, to whom Paul is writing in his letter to the Galatians, were the churches that Paul planted on his first missionary journey in the cities of Pisidian Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, Derbe. You can read about it in Acts 13-14, and you can see it below. Thanks to David Barrett (biblemapper.com) for the great map! The question of how the timeline of Galatians 1:11-2:14 fits into the narrative of the book of Acts is a very difficult question. Since…
No Other Gospel
This Sunday we will be starting a new sermon series through Paul’s letter to the Galatians. In Galatians, Paul passionately defends the gospel of God’s grace against those who would distort it by suggesting that our justification before God comes in part by our own righteousness, instead of solely through faith in what Christ has done (Galatians 2:16). “Justification by faith”, then, is the main doctrine dealt with in Galatians. It is at the heart of the Christian message, and can’t…
What does “Presbyterian” even mean?
I’m 3/4 of the way done teaching our membership class. This is only our second time going through the class, but it is becoming a favorite of mine. Not only do I have the chance to get to know better some great people, but also we get to discuss exciting things like church polity. Ok, that isn’t the most exciting thing we discuss, but it is one of the things we go over in the class. Church government, as has frequently been stated, concerns not…
Jonah & Ruth
After our series in Hebrews, we’ll be doing 2 short series in Jonah & Ruth. Both Jonah and Ruth are somewhat unique books in the Old Testament, and share some commonalities and contrasts: They both are vivid stories which are told in a 4-scene structure, they both deal with the themes of faithfulness and the gospel’s implications for “outsiders”. But, whereas in Jonah, his unfaithfulness and hypocrisy is displayed, in Ruth, faithfulness and integrity are displayed. Whereas in Jonah, the gospel…
Justification & Sanctification
We’ve been looking at Hebrews 12 and the call for Christians to strive for holiness in their lives. Distinguishing between “Justification” & “Sanctification” is very important to understanding the Christian gospel. Here are the definitions given by the Westminster Shorter Catechism: “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the righteousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith alone.” “Sanctification is the…
A Fashionable Faith?
“Christianity especially has always thrived under persecution. For then it has no lukewarm professors.” – William Wilberforce In the early days of the Church, Christianity was not a legal religion in the Roman Empire, which created a climate of expected, though intermittent, persecution. Church Historian Stephen Neill describes it in this way: “Every Christian knew that sooner or later he might have to testify to his faith at the cost of his life.”1 We see 2 effects of this persecution: The first is…
Blessed are the merciful
The following post is by Troy Hostetter, an elder at Redeemer Church: Recent events in the lives of friends and neighbors reminded me again of the need to be merciful to those who are in need of mercy. What follows is a great call to be merciful by D. Martin Lloyd Jones in his Sermon on the Mount series, as he walks us through what it means for the Christian to be merciful. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive…
Hebrews
We’re beginning a new series on the book of Hebrews. I’ve come to love the book of Hebrews. I’ve studied it numerous times, and am fairly certain that most of those times I didn’t really understand it (not to claim that I’ve mastered it this time! Probably next time I study it I’ll say the same thing). Hebrews is a wonderful book, somewhat unique in the New Testament in the way it describes the nature & implications of Jesus’ role…
Sermon on the Mount
I’ve been preaching through Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount”. If someone is familiar with any of the teaching of Jesus, then chances are it is this sermon. In the words of John Stott, this sermon “is probably the best-known part of the teaching of Jesus, though arguably it is the least understood, and certainly it is the least obeyed.” In the sermon, Jesus speaks to those who are his disciples, and presents a radically high view of the Christian life…