This study from the book of Acts will challenge the church to become more like a church.  The Church: First Thirty Years, traces the development of the early New Testament Church in both doctrine and practice.  It will challenge the church to fulfill its purpose, mission, and ministry. The purpose of the church is to worship God personally and collectively with God’s children.  The ministry of the church is to prepare the saints (the people of God) to understand the purpose and engage in th...

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Where did the church come from?   When did it begin?   What does it do?   Who owns it?  What is its purpose.  Those are all legitimate questions. Very few Christians are able to answer those questions because they have been taught there are various answers to all of those questions.  If the various answers are in contradiction,  then some of the answers must be true and others false or maybe all of them are false.  Either the truth has never been revealed or the doctrine of the Christian chur...

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The cultural elites have successfully deceived several generations into believing that truth is so abstract that it becomes practically useless.  Mental assent is sufficient for most and for the rest if truth really surfaces, it is to be put on a shelf so it will not divide the ranks.

So where does this leave the state of the Christian?  It leaves the Christian standing on the edge of a cliff about to fall into a neo dark age.

Debate and defend the truth as God illumines your mind.  The gre...

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The church is in the public arena.  The people and events associated with church life become the objects of either praise or scorn.  The praiseworthy church reflects the character of God's law in worship and morality.  The church that becomes the object of scorn reflects the character of Satan's deceptive devices.

The public sector judges the church based on the public lives of its members.  Specific sins such as gossip and slander practiced or known to be practiced by persons in the church ...

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    At the end of 2010 I ask the question “where on earth is the church or is it just in heaven?”  Why ask such a ridiculous question when we all know that the church of the living God is alive and well?  The question comes to mind when I am provoked by an ever increasing number of churches who have abandoned the true gospel for another gospel.  I recall a conversation with a seminary student about how difficult it is to find a biblical church.  During the conversation he told me about a ...
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Martin Luther was called to appear before the Diet of Worms because of his "teaching and books."  He appeared before Emperor Charles V. and his brother Archduke Ferdinand and a host of other rulers in the Holy Roman Empire.  Luther was asked whether or not he wrote the books that were placed on a table in the hall.  He did acknowledge them as his books.  Then Luther was asked:  "Are you prepared to retract these books, and their contents, or do you persist in the opinions you have advanced in...
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On the morning of April the 18th in 1521 Martin Luther, a monk from Whittenberg,  prayed this prayer.  Luther had been called before an imperial diet in Worms, Germany to give testimony of his writings which were considered by the Roman Catholic Church to be heretical, an offense punishable by death unless the guilty party recanted his or her teachings.  This prayer is a reformers prayer.  Luther's passion for reformation should be the passion for every Christian.

"O Almighty and Everlasting...

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The beauty of autumn reminds us of activities that are generally associated with this time of the year.  Hunting season, football games, and for many southerners this is the time of the year to hold church revivals.  An out of town preacher comes to the community and presents the gospel message and somehow or another the out of town preacher speaks a little louder, tells better jokes, and maybe speaks with  more authority.  Everybody goes to the meeting and calls it revival.

What is reviva...

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The rediscovery of biblical truth is a biblical principle known as reformation.  It is not just a dramatic change in the religious lives of people, it is a continual process.  There is a good bit of talk today among Christians about reformation and revival.  Every year on October 31st we remember the 16th century Reformation and how Dr. Martin Luther rediscovered "justification by faith alone."  The Reformed church has experienced biblical reformation throughout its history.  Sometimes it was...

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I recently finished my manuscript on Hosea.  It is a brief commentary, exposition and application of the book of Hosea.  The title is “Return to the Lord.”  It is so titled because God’s people, God’s people, not unbelievers are commanded to return to the Lord.  “O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you and return to the Lord” (Hosea 14:1).  Based on 30 plus years of experience with evangelical churches, I doubt if ...

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"The god of the Church Growth Movement" was written for those interested in biblical church growth.  Christians know that Holy Scripture must regulate every dimension of reality in faith and life even the plans for church growth.  I have devoted more time researching the church growth movement than any other aspect in the contemporary church scene.  I believe the church growth movement is the most dangerous movement the church has faced in the 20th century.  The reason I say that is because i...
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Theology, doctrine, and truth were landmarks of the evangelical church in centuries past.  Holy Scripture was the means to measure the worship and work of the church.  Sola Scriptura, Scripture alone, was the absolute universal standard.  Today those things that work best or more specifically those things that seem best at the particular time and situation measure the worship and work of the church, to a large degree.  The evangelical church has moved away from a God-centered ministry and has...

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