In previous posts I have spoken of the importance of the local church in the life of the Christian. I am trying to show how the local church is indispensable for every Christian. No other ministry is on par with the church. No other ministry could replace the local church. It would be a misguided Christian who would say…

• “The local church is okay, but what my son in college really needs is a good campus parachurch ministry.”
• “I can move anywhere in the country - whether or not there is a solid church nearby - as long as I can get ________ Christian broadcast in the area.”
• “The best thing to help children know God and live for Him is a Christian school.”
• “I won’t have any church involvement while I go to college for the next 4 years. I’ll be too busy for that, with school and work. I can simply listen to good audio sermons and read good Christian books.”

The apostle Paul would be one of the first to oppose such thinking. He saw the local church as unique and irreplaceable in the life of every Christian. He described the local church as…

1 Timothy 3:15
…the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

I have reflected on the first three descriptions of the local church in previous posts. Today, I will focus on the local church as the “support of the truth.” Click here to read more…

Here is a difficult topic that I have found a hard time finding good information on. I wrote this is part of a graduate degree in counseling, and it was published in The Journal of Modern Ministry (www.JofMM.com) last year (Fall 2006 issue).

What does the Bible say about marital separation? Is this an acceptable option for the Christian? Given the frequency and dangers of domestic violence and marital infidelity, should it be allowable in some circumstances? What if the separation is only temporary, or for a “cooling off” period? These and other questions demand that Christians, and particularly biblical counselors, be equipped to answer from Scripture the many questions that will arise concerning marital separation. While there is no specific passage of Scripture that will answer all of the intricacies and complexities of every specific separation, a survey of the Bible and the application of biblical principles certainly enables Christians to know what is acceptable in God’s sight.

Click here for the full text of the article.

A couple days ago I shared some fantastic quotes from Mark Dever’s book, What is a Healthy Church? Now, I would like to offer a review of the book organized under three questions:

• How does this book differ from Dever’s booklet, Nine Marks of a Healthy Church?
• What are the strengths of the book?
• What are the weaknesses of the book?

Click here to read my review .

I have always agreed with the truism that the constitutional doctrine of “separation of church and state” never intended to “separate God from government.” Still, while I pray that our government leaders seek God (1 Timothy 2:1-4) and make decisions that reflect his divine design for government (Romans 13:1-6), I’m hopeful that the government will continue to keep their hands out of what we do in the church.

Well there is a new issue that has brought this discussion into the foreground once again. The leader of the Senate Finance Committee has demanded to look into the financial practices of some major “Christian” ministries, based on the suspicion that there is some illegal activity going on. You can read about it in the New York Times. Without going into detail, these “Word-Faith” teachers are dishonest at best, and heretical at worst.

But is this investigation a good idea? What biblical and constitutional issues are at stake? Read on for my thoughts and musings on politics, constitutional law, and at least one proper biblical response…

I just finished reading, What is a Healthy Church? by Mark Dever. I will write a short review of it soon, but first I would like to share some quotes from the book that I thought were FANTASTIC!

Click here to read the quotes.

I recently received an honest inquiry about seeker-friendly churches from someone at our church, and thought that the response I wrote to them might be helpful for others to read and interact together about. The question arose in response to some guarded and indirect comments I made in my sermon this past Sunday about the recent admission by Willow Creek and Bill Hybels that their emphasis in ministry has not produced spiritual maturity in Christians. You can read a short article regarding this here, as well as some follow up comments and clarifications by Greg Hawkins, the co-author of the book.

Their specific confession regarding their church programs was, “Increasing levels of participation in these sets of activities does NOT predict whether someone’s becoming more of a disciple of Christ. It does NOT predict whether they love God more or they love people more.”

The particular person in our congregation asked the following questions:

So here’s a question regarding “seeker churches”…such as Saddleback in California or others like it…Why do you think they are seemingly able to accomplish such great things for the Lord if they are “off base” Biblically?…

Read the rest of their question, along with my response by clicking here , or on the title above…

I continue with my posts on the importance of the local church (click here to see the last one). We are looking at the apostle Paul’s description of the local church. He says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I write so that you [Timothy] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.” Today, we want to focus on Paul’s third description of the local church: “the pillar…of the truth.”

The local church is unique in that it is the pillar of the truth. Read more…

Very often we will get questions about the Sabbath. Last year in preparing a series of lessons on the Ten Commandments I attempted to systematize and articulate the biblical teaching on the Sabbath. Here is my humble attempt. I welcome your questions and comments, and will try to answer them as I have time.

We begin by simply acknowledging that whatever the Bible means by the Sabbath, it was not anything remotely resembling what the Jewish leaders had turned it into by the time of Jesus. Without going into any detail, it is VERY clear that the understanding of the Sabbath regulations, as they were applied to Jesus (and often made the grounds of accusation), were the traditions of men.

There are a large number of Christians, most of whom come out of the reformed tradition (the Calvinists, and the Puritans), who hold to a Christian Sabbath. Here are a couple of examples…

Read on for my full exposition on the Sabbath!

I began a series discussing the importance of the local church. It has been a while since my last post (I’ve had a lot of projects going on around the house). I’ll pick up right where I left off - with 1 Timothy 3:15.

Paul says in 1 Timothy 3:15, “I write so that you [Timothy] may know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God which is the church of the living God…”

I recently bumped up against an old post on a blog that expressed a kindred conclusion toward the idea of sin, self-examination, and the Lord’s Table. Paul’s warning to examine yourself before partaking of the bread and the cup, lest you take in an unworthy manner, should not be taken lightly. However, the opportunity for self-examination, rather than scaring you away from the Lord’s Table, should result in an opportunity to receive afresh the cleansing of forgiveness (1 John 1:9).

You can check out the article I found at this link: mymiscellanies.blogspot.com .

The biblical exhortation of self-examination was not meant to frighten, intimidate or “guilt” the sinner away from celebrating communion because they have sinned this week, or feel unworthy (who isn’t unworthy, really?). Rather, it was meant to expose the unthinkable nature of coming to the table of remembrance without it also being a table of cleansing. Here are some notes from a message I preached on 1 Corinthians 11:17-34….