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  • Discerning in Doctrine But Not Discerning in Character

    Discerning in Doctrine But Not Discerning in Character

    I believe that discernment matters. I believe that spiritual discernment is a necessary mark of spiritual maturity while a lack of spiritual discernment is a concerning mark of spiritual immaturity. As the book of Hebrews tells us, “solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice…

  • Finding the Right Hills to Die On

    Finding the Right Hills to Die On

    Sometimes a book’s title is clever, or poetic, or deliberately opaque. Sometimes, though, the title just lays it right out in the open. This is the case with Gavin Ortlund’s Finding the Right Hills to Die On. The subtitle clarifies even further: “The Case for Theological Triage.” This is a book, then, about assessing different…

  • Wrong with the Prosperity Gospel

    What’s Wrong with the Prosperity Gospel?

    I was recently in Quito, Ecuador, to do some historical research, to preach at a local church, and to participate in an Ask Me Anything session. I thought you may be interested in this question and answer about the prosperity gospel. And I thought you might find it interesting to see what it’s like to…

  • Entertainment and Compromise

    Entertainment Choices and Compromise

    At a recent Ask Me Anything event in India, I was asked if I felt Christians often disconnected their entertainment choices from their faith, especially in the area of watching Hollywood and Bollywood films. Here is my response. Transcript Do you think that Christians often disconnect their entertainment choices from their faith? It’s actually a…

  • Milkshake Ducks

    Benny Hinn, Joel Osteen, and Milkshake Ducks

    A few years ago a video went viral among Christians, and I wonder if you remember it. It showed a preacher laying a verbal beat-down on Joel Osteen for his unwillingness to publicly declare that Jesus is the only way to the Father. This preacher went on to call Christians to be unashamed of the…

  • As Innocent as a Snake

    As Innocent as a Snake

    There is something deep within the human heart, even the regenerate human heart, that enjoys evil. There is something within us that is drawn, almost magnetized at times, toward those things that are improper or even outright vile. At times each of us wants to see, taste, touch, or experience what God forbids. We want…

  • Keep a Close Watch on Yourself

    Keep a Close Watch on Yourself!

    It happens with alarming, distressing regularity. And it hurts every time. It hurts every time we see a person we love or admire fall into a great sin or deny a precious doctrine. We are always left asking ourselves how it happened. What went wrong? How did we not see this coming? How did they…

  • Lay Aside Every Suitcase

    On August 3, 2016, Emirates airlines flight 521 crashed at Dubai International Airport. The pilots had just set down the plane when they received a warning that they had landed too late—they would run out of runway before the plane could come to a safe stop. They initiated the go-around procedure which would allow them…

  • 3 Quick Questions Before Quitting Your Church

    We all know there are times and circumstances in which the only right course of action is to leave a church. If the church leadership has apostatized or proven themselves unqualified for ministry, if they are preaching a false gospel, if they have surrendered to the culture, we need to get out. We can leave…

  • Is Seminary Really Necessary?

    The church has been well-served by pastors who ministered without formal seminary training. John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, and Martyn Lloyd-Jones are standout examples of men who had impactful and long-lasting ministries even though they never attended seminary. No wonder, then, that the question often arises: Is seminary really necessary? Might it be better to get…

  • The Beginner’s Guide to Conflict Resolution

    One matter of continual concern to me is interpersonal conflict within the church. It’s not the existence or even the quantity of conflict, but the inability or unwillingness to deal with it when it arises, and this despite the Bible’s clear teaching that Christians are to resolve conflict and how Christians are to resolve conflict.…

  • Discerning Your Call to Ministry

    We know the concept and are well-familiar with the phrase: “called to ministry.” We know that some men are called in a special way to a special task—the task of gospel ministry. But exactly what constitutes the call, exactly how to understand it, exactly how to know we’ve experienced it—these are matters of more than…

  • 5 Questions To Ask of a Book Before You Read It

    They are far and away the most common questions I receive (beyond, perhaps, how to pronounce my name—it rhymes with “valleys”): Can you tell me anything about this author? Have you heard of this book? Is it safe to read? Sometimes people ask to avoid wasting time or money on a book that would not…

  • What Should We Do with Books by Fallen Leaders?

    Today’s article was sparked by a question from a long-time reader of the site. “With the sad removal from ministry of yet another prominent pastor, I’ve been wondering how we are to view their ministry retrospectively. What do we do with their books? With their sermons? With their tweets and blog posts?” He told of…

  • I Feel I Think I Believe

    Have you noticed how everyone today seems to tell us what and how they feel? “I feel like we should pray about that before we do it.” “I feel like Hillary Clinton would make a terrible (or wonderful) president.” “I feel like that’s an unfair statement.” I could be wrong here, but aren’t these “I…

  • A Victorian Perspective

    Sex on the Silver Screen

    What would it take for you? What would it take for you, husband, to be okay with your wife baring her breasts and body in front of a movie camera? What would it take for you to allow another man to strip off her clothes, to kiss her, to fall into bed with her, and…

  • The Character of the Christian: Sound Judgment

    Today we continue our series on the character of the Christian. We are exploring how the various character qualifications of elders are actually God’s calling on all Christians. While elders are meant to exemplify these traits, all Christians are to exhibit them. I want us to consider whether we are displaying these traits and to…

  • Burning and Yearning

    The Bible allows us to distinguish between two kinds of sexual desire, a pure and sinless sexual desire and an impure, sinful one. We can term these yearning and burning. Yearning is a legitimate sexual desire, the desire to explore and experience sexuality with a God-given spouse. Burning is an illegitimate form of sexual desire,…

  • 10 Serious Problems with Jesus Calling

    Sarah Young’s Jesus Calling is a phenomenon that shows no signs of slowing down. According to publisher Thomas Nelson, it “continues to grow in units sold each year since it was released [and] has surpassed 15 million copies sold.” Nelson is involved in an expansive new marketing campaign that involves a new web site and…

  • Can You Help Me Find a Good Church?

    It may be the email I get more than any other: Can you help me find a church? Sometimes I receive it when a person has come to new theological convictions and realizes that his current church is completely unsuitable, but far more often he has just moved across the country or across the world,…