Give thanks to the Lord of lords … to him who alone does great wonders (Psalm 136:3-4). The authors of Scripture are unanimously in awe of the God about whom they are writing. And here the psalmist explains why: God alone does great wonders. “To him who by understanding made the heavens … to him who spread out the earth … the sun to rule over the day … the moon and stars to rule over the night” (Psalm 136:5-9). God is the God of creation.
Well Said
How To Keep Your Faith
Imagine you are about to move to a new area. Not just a new location, but a whole new part of the world—surrounded by a new culture and new faces, and without any familiar friends or contacts. Besides the personal, emotional challenges of such a move there would obviously be some significant spiritual challenges to anticipate. Whatever spiritual habits you have in place will be changed or challenged; the fellow Christians by whom you’ve been encouraged and to whom you’ve been accountable won’t be nearby to help you.
What Does Church Look Like?
What does the church of Jesus Christ really look like? Of course, I am not talking about the architectural style of the building in which it meets, but what a local body of believers looks like. We know the church should be sound in doctrine and zealous in proclaiming the gospel. But how does a sound church really function?
Worship Is Duty and Privilege
Worshiping God is both our duty and our privilege, no matter who we are. Jesus responded to Satan’s temptation with the biblical command, “You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve” (Matthew 4:10). If Jesus would quote this command even to Satan, surely there is no one exempt from the force of its demands. This is because, as Psalm 95:6 reminds us, the call to worship our Lord God arises from the reality that he is “our maker.” Every creature owes the one Creator their worship.
An Extraordinary Visibility
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (February 4, 1906 – April 9, 1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and a participant in the German resistance movement against Nazism. He was involved in plots planned by members of the Abwehr (the German Military Intelligence Office) to assassinate Adolf Hitler. He was arrested in March 1943, imprisoned and eventually hanged, just before the end of the Second World War in Europe. Bonhoeffer’s classic work The Cost of Discipleship was written at the height of his conflict with Nazi ideology and with the compromising German church.
Are You a Christian?
This beautiful, biblical description of a Christian comes from James Smith in 1856. As you read this pastor’s wise and insightful summary of the Christian life, prayerfully consider — not only whether these words describe you, but — how they may better describe you. May each of us as Christian believers learn Christ’s doctrines better, trust his promises better, and do his will better. If anyone is in Christ — he is a new creature:
Physics Says You Shouldn’t Exist
The creation is singing and dancing the praises of its Maker so clearly and so loudly, that Paul says everyone is “without excuse” when they ignore what is “clearly perceived” (Romans 1:20). The fine-tuning of this massive, marvelous, intricate universe we live in is just one of many ways that the creation is declaring the existence and glory of its Creator. Yet the effort to suppress the truth (Romans 1:18) continues in every generation, in a variety of ways.
Dilbert on Truth-speaking
Our goal when speaking to other Christians or unbelievers, Paul reminds us in Ephesians 4:15, is not to “debunk every belief you have.” It is to share the truth in love. The difference in these two ends should therefore lead to very different means, as well.