Category Archives: Kingdom Notes

Legislating Morality

“You can’t legislate morality” is yet another cultural aphorism that both makes a sound point and makes no sense. The sound point is this. While laws, and attendant criminal penalties for breaking said laws might be something of a restraint … Continue reading

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Smile, God Loves You

In one of his rare less gentle moments with a pen, my father once began an article in Tabletalk magazine this way, “Smile, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Unless your name is Esau.” While … Continue reading

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Kingdom Now

I am deeply grateful to my Old Testament professor. Though I was young and foolish while in seminary, I have, by God’s grace, been growing less young and less foolish over time. I used to argue with him about as … Continue reading

Posted in "race", 10 Commandments, abortion, Apostles' Creed, Biblical Doctrines, Biblical theology, church, communion, creation, eschatology, grace, hermeneutics, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, sovereignty | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Holes in Our Sermons

It is easy enough to grumble about what goes on at the giant church down by the interstate. It could be that there you’ll find the prosperity gospel at its most crass. Maybe the pastor has a fleet of exotic … Continue reading

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Seeing Beyond The Shadowlands

It has long been my contention that the Reformed church never quite got over the Enlightenment. While we rightly reject this premise and that conclusion at the heart of the Enlightenment experiment, we still drink deep of its spirit. We … Continue reading

Posted in beauty, Biblical Doctrines, church, communion, creation, Devil's Arsenal, eschatology, kingdom, Kingdom Notes, RC Sproul JR, resurrection, wonder | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Crying Wolf

It’s a simple enough exercise, good for getting to bedrock principles. I ask my ethics students if it is ever right to tell a lie. Roughly 90% of them answer in the affirmative, with almost all of them embracing the … Continue reading

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The Son Rising in the East

The early church faced at least two distinct and competing enemies. While Jesus walked the earth and after, the great challenge to the kingdom of God was found both in the Roman Empire and in Judaism. An armed force that … Continue reading

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Power Preaching

All those who preach want their preaching to have impact. I suspect that in all those who preach, this desire is born of a mixture of two other desires, the desire to have congregants and the kingdom blessed, and the … Continue reading

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Conscientious Objecting- Choosing Your Twitter War Wisely

Either/or either works, or it doesn’t. Sometimes we really do have to pick our poison. Other times we find ourselves being roped into a false dilemma, and escape through a tertium quid, a third option. Joshua asked the Captain of … Continue reading

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Castles in the Sand

There are, when we disagree, almost always two disagreements. Most of the time the smaller disagreement is the bigger one. Consider election. There are some in the church who believe that God chooses who will believe His gospel. There are … Continue reading

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