Are You a Worship Service Participant or Just a Spectator?
The alarm clock rings. And rings again. And again. Mom and Dad stumble out of bed and cajole sleepy kids to scarf down their breakfast and find shoes. Kids dawdle, Mom and Dad frantically grab coffee mugs, and somehow everyone makes it into the car. By the time you get…
Remembering Dr. David F. Capetz
February 13, 1948 – August 22, 2021 On August 22, Dr. David Capetz went home to be with His Lord. Dr. Capetz was a family man, a Christian educator, founder of the IBNet website, and my mentor and friend. A mutual friend recently told me how he considered himself to…
Adoniram Judson: Man of Conviction
Adoniram Judson is perhaps the most famous Baptist foreign missionary. He caused a sensational stir when he changed his Congregational paedobaptist convictions to become a committed Baptist. He is widely regarded as the father of American foreign missions. This title is appropriate because he was the first vocational missionary, and…
The Beginning of Fundamentalism: The Niagara Bible Conference
Spiritual forces were at work in nineteenth century Western society to undermine biblical authority and dash the blessed hope of the church upon the rugged terrain of unbelief. The twin knock-out blows dealt to the Christian denominations were Darwinian evolution and historical criticism. The only force standing in bold opposition…
Praised, Yet Awful: A Review of Philip Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace?
In my discussion earlier in this series of Paul's seminal statement, Ye are not under the law, but under grace I mentioned Philip Yancey's influential book, "What's So Amazing About Grace?" I alluded to the fact that it, along with a few other original works and a whole bunch of…
What About Fearing the Future?
Thank you for reading today. Our greatest desire is that you would be encouraged in the Lord! In my daily time with God in His Word today, the Holy Spirit spoke to me about “fearing the future.” Right now it is a difficult time for many around the world because…
The Detection of Legalism
This is the third in a four post mini-series on legalism set within the context of this series on grace. These are by Pastor Joe Cassada of the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Maryland Heights, Missouri. In the last two posts, I warned that two popular understandings of legalism will…
An Atmosphere of Grace
In the last post we discussed Peter's wondrous turn of phrase: "growing in grace". I likened it to a plant that grows in the soil, and we discussed briefly being rooted in Christ and established in the faith. I want to return to Peter's primary thought today, and specifically to…
How Do I Become a Godly Man?
1 Peter 1:13-16, Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; (14) As obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance: (15) But…
Hannah: Commendable & Unusual
“…the name of the one was Hannah…” (I Samuel 1:2) Hannah stands spiritually above her contemporaries and counterparts even as Saul stood physically head and shoulders above the people of his day. Her quality of spirituality is both commendable and unusual. She demonstrated in her everyday life better Christian character…