Topic Archives: Spiritual Growth

Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God. (Genesis 6:9) John Bunyan, the author of Pilgrim’s Progress1, The Holy War, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, and many others books,2 was born into a poor family in England in 1628. He was a tinker, a blue collar worker in […]

The Foreword to Kenneth B. Wingate’s new Banner of Truth book1 There is a long and honourable tradition in the English-speaking world of lawyers who have distinguished themselves not only in their profession as attorneys, but in the exemplary way in which they have served their cities, states and nations with great distinction. The southern […]

Haven’t we all sympathised with Martha? Haven’t we all been there before? Here am I, slaving away in the kitchen preparing the food while my lazy sister is doing nothing to help me. You can imagine her saying, ‘There’s just so much to do!’ It’s all very well sitting and listening to Jesus teaching – […]

Of all the dangers that can overtake a Reformed church, pride is surely the worst and most serious. There is, of course, a right kind of pride, a thankfulness to God for our history and heritage. But the pride I am thinking of, is that ugly, self-righteous, self-preening brute that says with the Pharisees, ‘God, […]

There is nowhere in the Bible where we will find an expression of higher, more exalted joy, than in 1 John 3:1: ‘See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.’ It is as though the elderly apostle John is gathering […]

An extract from Chapter 6 of Paul D. Wolfe’s book, My God Is True: Lessons Learned Along Cancer’s Dark Road,1 pp. 96-101. One . . . aspect of the church’s life that we ought to consider in connection to suffering [is that] the Lord uses faithful preaching to shape the hearts and minds of his […]

A Tale of Two Cities The Christian believer is always living in an inescapable tension! Much as we would love to be free of this tension, until we leave this earthly scene and enter the nearer presence of our great and gracious God, we will be engaged every moment of every day in this tension. […]

And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. (Romans 13:11) Paul is writing to the congregation of new Christians at the heart of the Roman Empire. First of all he has given to […]

Why should Christians be familiar with the great doctrines of the Bible? Let me give you four reasons. 1) The first is the simplest of all: Because we love God. And if you love someone, you want to know everything about them. If a young man meets a girl and falls in love, he’ll want […]

Over the years I’ve done a lot of it. I can’t count the books, the articles and the various other items that I have composed. I always had a penchant for writing. In my first pastorate, I bought a Miller printing press; in order to bring it inside, I had to partially knock out a […]

It is a constant surprise to me that many Christians are worried about guidance. Please don’t misunderstand me. I do not mean that Christians should not be concerned about doing God’s will. But why is it that many (and I think ‘many’ is the appropriate word) Christians get worried, confused and at times even spiritually […]

Resting in the Redeemer Do you think that the Christian life is hard? If so, what makes it hard, and if not, why does it seem so hard for so many professing Christians? We can begin to consider this matter in terms of the context of the question and in terms of our defining what […]

Moses struck the rock twice and water poured forth. (Numbers 20:7) Obedience and faith bring power while disobedience and lack of faith yield impotence. When Israel continues to grumble and complain against God while in the wilderness, demanding water, accusing Moses of bringing them into the wilderness only to kill them, both Moses and Aaron […]

But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. (Jonah 4:1) General George Patton was commanding the Seventh Army in the summer of 1943, and his objective was to overrun the Italian forces on Sicily in order to drive them from the war. He also hoped to make Hitler commit troops from the eastern front, […]

Humility is a precious virtue that is highly commended by the Word of God. It is also a virtue too rarely possessed and practiced as well as too often misunderstood. The popular conception is one where weakness and mindless compliance characterize the attitude and actions of those who are humble. While it is true that […]

God’s will for all believers is unmistakable: ‘For this is the will of God, your sanctification’ (1 Thessalonians 4:3). This is priority number two in God’s eternal agenda (his first priority being his own glory). Again and again in the New Testament this great priority is impressed on God’s people. It is the omega point […]

We all like to see progress being made. This is true in every sphere of life and activity in which we are involved. Parents are thrilled at the ongoing development of their children, as they master new skills and cope with the challenges of growing up. Teachers rejoice when ‘the penny drops’ and students surge […]

The apostle urges us to ‘Put all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, slander away from you, along with all malice’ (Ephesians 4:31). Richard Cameron, the Lion of the Covenant, the powerful Scottish Covenanter preacher of the 17th century, along with so many other preachers, was driven from his pulpit by Charles II of England. Cameron and […]

Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only such a word that is good for edification, according to the need of the moment, that it may give grace to those who hear. [Ephesians 4:29] In January 1932, Adolf Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany and within seven years had plunged the world […]

The pure in heart are blessed by their seeing God (Matt. 5:8), and those who see God see all things rightly in his perfect light (Psa. 36:9). It is therefore no wonder that the Word of God emphasizes the vital necessity of men having pure hearts, while those who believe the divine testimony of Scripture […]

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. [Ephesians 4:25] I suggested in the previous article1 that we are prone to listen to the lie of the devil, namely that worshipping the creation rather than the Creator Redeemer brings Shalom, well being, prosperity, […]

Sin is a corrupting, spoiling, God-dishonouring disease. It manifests itself in a defiance of God’s Law, a rejection of God’s Son, and a dismissal of God’s church. Sin is multi-faceted. It betrays itself essentially by its self-oriented, earth-bound perspective on life. Its horizon is the stars, not the Creator of the stars. Its desire is […]

Therefore, laying aside falsehood, speak truth each one of you with his neighbour, for we are members of one another. [Ephesians 4:25] I had the privilege recently of speaking with Dr. Peter Jones at the Connecticut Valley Conference on Reformed Theology and the topic was modern paganism. My job was simply to prepare the way […]

Over the past weeks I have been reading through The Letter to the Hebrews. It has, as ever, been a fascinating, sobering and richly encouraging read. The Letter, as you will know, was written to Hebrew Christians who had become influenced by false teaching and were under pressure to give up on Christ and return […]

The Apostle Paul writes, “But to each one of us grace was given, according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Ephesians 4:7). William Farel became a true follower of Christ in the early 1520s, during the time the Reformation, under the leadership of Martin Luther, was raging like a wild-fire throughout Europe. Farel had a […]