The study of Covenant Theology is a topic vital to pastoral ministry and, frankly, to Christian ministry of any kind. And so I am convinced that the time that you put into your study will be well spent. It will pay not only you dividends but the people of God whom you serve dividends for years to come. Let’s hear God’s word in Hebrews chapter 6, we’ll begin in verse 9. “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have…Introduction to Covenant Theology
The study of Covenant Theology is a topic vital to pastoral ministry and, frankly, to Christian ministry of any kind. And so I am convinced that the time that you put into your study will be well spent. It will pay not only you dividends but the people of God whom you serve dividends for years to come. Let’s hear God’s word in Hebrews chapter 6, we’ll begin in verse 9. “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have…
Sinners (and that’s what we are) are incapable of approaching a Holy God directly. We need a mediator, a stand-between, a reconciler, an advocate who will represent us before God, and take our place, and bear our sin, and render us acceptable to God, and bring us into God’s presence with joy. In the Old Testament human priests and sacrifices symbolically fulfilled this function, but Jesus Christ is the only real mediator for the people of God. It is he who has paid the penalty for our sins and opened the way to God. Though human priests…
The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Brazil began its work on Saturday evening, July 19. The Rev. Dr. Augustus Nicodemos was elected Vice-Moderator. I had the joy and privilege of hearing him preach on Sunday morning, July 20 at Igreja Presbiteriana Marinas Praia Sul in Natal. Then on Sunday evening, July 20, I preached the opening worship service of the General Assembly. Organizers announced that 6000 were in attendance. My translator was Dr Valdeci dos Santos, who was my student at RTS Jackson and is now a leader in the IPB…
This is one of my very favorite hymns. I love its true and moving words. It is a glorious and realistic and emphatically Christian and spiritual meditation on God’s providence. This one is worth memorizing. “It was composed in 1641 with the heading ‘A Song of Comfort. God will care for and help everyone in His own time,’ under the text Psalm 55:22. The author was robbed by highwaymen near Magdeburg as a student and left destitute with no prospect of earning a living. At last he unexpectedly received an appointment as tutor in the…
Sometimes reverence and joy are viewed as mutually exclusive in the worship of the church. I have friends who suspect “reverence” is a code word for austere, cold, somber and dour. So, when they hear someone talking about the need for…
I will be heading to Natal, Brazil soon for the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Brazil (in Portuguese Igreja Presbiteriana do Brasil, or IPB). The IPB is the largest and oldest of the Presbyterian and Reformed denominations in Brazil.…
It has just been announced today that Dr. Paul Kooistra, former Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson faculty member, former President of Covenant Theological Seminary and retiring PCA Mission to the World Coordinator has been named the new…
Many years ago, my friend Dr. Mark Dever, Senior Pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, shared this moving quotation with me from the hand of the great English Baptist minister William Kiffin, writing in 1682, of the death of…
Isaac Watts (17 July 1674 – 25 November 1748) was an English hymnwriter, theologian and logician. A prolific and popular hymnwriter, he was recognised as the “Father of English Hymnody”, credited with some 650 hymns. Many of his hymns…
Here is the Intercollegiate Review’s list of the fifty best books of the 20th century (edited by Mark C. Henrie, Winfield J.C. Myers, and Jeffrey O. Nelson). They are going to post their fifty worst books of the 20th century soon. Good…