John Crotts has written mulitple books, mainly on biblical manhood or ecclesiology and yet (to my knowledge) this is his first effort writing a biography. Crotts explains the story of John Newton for the series Bitesized Biographies, which lives up to its title, since the book is a brief 137 pages. The outline of the book is simple. Chapter one is the …
This has been quite a week in America. The bombing in Boston and Texas has awakened many dormant hearts. For those directly or indirectly impacted, suffering now has a face. Though I will write more about John Newton (the man known best for penning the great hymn, Amazing Grace) in the months to come, I wanted to convey …
Claire Smith is well-known in the ranks of Australian evangelicalism, but here in America, her name is relatively obscure. She attained her PhD in New Testament studies at Moore College in Sydney and is a wife, mother, lecturer and conference speaker. This book, God’s Good Design, was written to be a biblical examination of God’s … Continue reading »
Lately, I have been listening to lectures on church history by Dr. S. Fortson III from Reformed Theological Seminary. The last few lectures have been on the subject of medieval Monasticism. Beyond the spiritual benefit of such reminders, I have been thinking about the lack of contemplative time with God in American Christianity. The word … Continue reading »
In all of Knox’s writings, there was no subject on which he wrote more than the doctrine of Predestination, on God the Father’s electing love of worthy sinners to salvation. He stated, “The doctrine of God’s eternal predestination is so necessary to the church of God, that, without the same, can faith neither be truly … Continue reading »
Question: How is prayer learned? By the action of Praying There are many good resources for learning how to pray, but the best way to learn how to pray is to pray. By meditating on Scripture Meditation is the missing link between Bible intake and prayer. The process works like this: After the input of … Continue reading »
Evangelism is a task of communicating a message from the Creator to rebel mankind. The message begins with information and ends with an invitation. The information concerns God’s work of making His Son a perfect Savior for sinners. The invitation is God’s summons to mankind generally to come to the Savior and find life. God … Continue reading »
Jonathan Edwards, the great 18th century American theologian, has again reminded me of the dangers of Nominal Christianity and consequently, challenged the content and focus of my preaching. One of the most recent books on this subject is titled Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity, written by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney. These men have labored to … Continue reading »
The Discipline of Fatherhood Being a dad is hard work. I have made many mistakes and after 12 years I am still learning daily. Yet it is an undeniable fact that fatherhood is critical to a child’s development. Donald Whitney states, “The terrible fact is, we can either grace our children, or damn them with … Continue reading »
