Many of our Reformed Theological Seminary friends and supporters have probably been receiving the RTS 2024 Generosity Report that was just recently mailed out. It is a testimony to God’s generous provision and to the faithful, sacrificial giving of thousands of our partners. We give thanks for what the Lord has supplied, what he has enabled us to do, and indeed what he has given us the privilege to do for him, for the church, this last year. Below are just a few of the highlights. In 2024, RTS donors contributed $12.9 million to RTS, supporting 2,038 students, and enabling them to take…RTS 2024 Generosity Report
Many of our Reformed Theological Seminary friends and supporters have probably been receiving the RTS 2024 Generosity Report that was just recently mailed out. It is a testimony to God’s generous provision and to the faithful, sacrificial giving of thousands of our partners. We give thanks for what the Lord has supplied, what he has enabled us to do, and indeed what he has given us the privilege to do for him, for the church, this last year. Below are just a few of the highlights. In 2024, RTS donors contributed $12.9 million to RTS, supporting 2,038 students, and enabling them to take…
Philippians. One small letter. Four brief “chapters.” 104 verses. About two and a half pages in 12 pt Times Roman type on 8 x 11 typing paper. Only about 2,381 words in English. Chock full of glory! Back in 2007, I did an exposition of Philippians called “Fighting for Joy, Growing in Humility, Knowing Christ and the Peace that Passes Understanding: A Study of Philippians” at the First Presbyterian Church of Jackson, MS. You can access the whole series, in audio and transcript, for free, at the First Pres. website.…
Worship is not evangelism, but our worship services should always have the free offer of the Gospel in mind, and if we are God-centered and Bible-directed we will be evangelistic. Those who most believe in the sovereignty of God, and most long for his glory in worship and all the world, most yearn for the lost to be found and the prodigal to come home. Beginning in the 70s, many evangelical churches decided that the real reason we meet on Sunday as a congregation is to evangelize, and so they changed the structure and substance of those…
The “Preacher” of Ecclesiastes has a relentless message (he doesn’t wait long to tell you, just look at the second verse of the book). The message is this: all our efforts to find happiness apart from God are useless. This life, apart from God, is meaningless, it is hopeless, and it is only filled with despair. Now, that is an important message, because from the very beginning chapters of the book of Genesis, the Old Testament asserts this fundamental truth: that there is a Creator, He is distinct from His creation, we are His…
The gathering of the people of God to praise him ought to be a delight – the chiefest of delights, because true Christian worship is filled with delight—the delight of the believer’s heart in God himself. The congregation delights in God…
There is a trend today in some evangelical Christian circles to deny that the New Testament has a category for gathered, public worship like the Old Testament did. The arguments vary. Some point to the lack of Old Testament liturgical language in…
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…
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…
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…
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…