Posts with the category “article”

A Brief Sketch of the Life of AthanasiusAthanasius, in his life, was one of the men God used most effectively to combat a heresy now known as Arianism. In its day, Arianism was actually considered the...  Read More

A film is coming out this weekend (trailer below) on the life of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a man who is surprisingly one of the primary reasons I am a pastor.Back in 2012, I was working full time in corpor...  Read More

Four months after the devastating Battle of Gettysburg during America’s Civil War, Abraham Lincoln strolled through the battle ground. Before that point in time, he was not a Christian. In fact as a y...  Read More

Last week I published an episode of my podcast discussing the dangers of godless conservatism. While I do not intend this post to be a commentary on politics, the background is helpful. The general se...  Read More

As I prepare to preach a sermon this Sunday on the Lord’s prayer from Luke 11:1-4 (of which an extended version of the prayer is also found in Matthew 6:9-13), I cannot help but prayerfully consider h...  Read More

This week I have spent some additional time reflecting on the words of Psalm 61. In the opening few verses of that wonderful psalm, David prays the following words.“Lead me to the rock that is higher ...  Read More

In the late 1960’s, a group of twelve women, led by Kate Millet, sat around a table in New York City. Millet, known by many as the Female Marx, and a woman who would play a vital cog in the historic w...  Read More

The way we handle our money matters deeply to the condition of our soul. Money has the power to be a wonderful tool, a blessing both to our families and to those suffering around us. As Christians we ...  Read More

In this episode Pastor Raef digs into the fascinating passage of Genesis 6:1-4 and the story of the Nephilim, half angelic, half human giants that roamed the Earth before the flood of Noah, and even a...  Read More

On April 17, 2023 Newsweek ran a helpful summary of events that transpired in Chicago. The previous weekend mobs of teenagers had vandalized entire sections of downtown Chicago, the city where I live ...  Read More

The idea that an educated person would hold to the notion that the theory of evolution a fabricated fairy tale is, for many, laughable. I am very aware that some who read this post will get no further...  Read More

In this episode we look at the American Bible Society's newest 'State of the Bible 2024' which came out just last week. There are both encouraging and discouraging points of data to consider as we loo...  Read More

In this episode Pastor Raef digs into politics by considering what the Bible has to say about politics. We look at five different approaches that Christians throughout the ages have taken to politics ...  Read More

Once upon a time, not too long ago, you would be hard pressed to find a Christian who wondered what the answer to this question was. Love for one’s own nation was a Christian duty, rooted deeply in ri...  Read More

In this episode Pastor Raef looks at the life of David Brainerd, an early American missionary to the Native Americans. By studying his life together, not only will we get a wonderful picture of a life...  Read More

This post is actually the final concluding section of a lengthier paper I recently wrote on the book of Isaiah. The title of that paper was How Creation & Eschatology Form an Integrated Worldview in I...  Read More

Over the course of a Christian’s life, they will engage with hundreds, if not thousands, of sermons. For many, the expectation of a Sunday is that the preacher will include something novel in their ex...  Read More

By the grace of God I have been able to serve as a Pastor/Elder of our Church for 10 years. I pray, the Lord may grant me many more decades of service in this role. In this role I have also been able ...  Read More

A common question I receive from both members and visitors to our Church is whether or not Christians are supposed to keep a Sabbath one day a week. Recently, I preached on the theme of the Sabbath ou...  Read More

We find ourselves as Christians living in a modern secular age. Just as Judah, in the Old Testament, was forced to live as exiles in Babylon, so are we as Christians in the West forced to live in a so...  Read More

Reformed Experiential Preaching was a common method of preaching among the Puritans as well as later Reformed preachers beyond the Puritan era. The target of the experiential sermon is the entire of l...  Read More

The Enneagram is a popular tool used by many individuals, as well as corporations, to sort people into various personality profiles. There was a season where it was not uncommon to be in a conversatio...  Read More

Recently in Christian headlines there has been a controversy concerning one of modern protestantism’s great teachers, Alistair Begg. Begg has been under fire for comments he made when answering a gran...  Read More

To pray, and to know one is heard by God, is a wondrous event. To pray is to be ushered into the very presence of God where Christ Himself is seated, and delights in our petitions. To pray is to grasp...  Read More

When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him!” John 19:6 Perhaps there are no more haunting words ever spoken than the cry of the chief priests and the of...  Read More

"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, ti...  Read More

The Puritan Reverand William Greenhill gave a wonderful sermon titled What Must and Can Persons Do Towards Their Own Conversion. This brilliant sermon is a masterclass in Biblical soteriology (the Doc...  Read More

The Christian response to the problem of evil and suffering is profound. One of the greatest, or perhaps most often asked, questions or challenges aimed at Christianity surrounds what is historically ...  Read More

A short reflection on Christ's claim in John 8:12-20, "I am the light of the world.  " John 8:12-20 ESV "Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not wa...  Read More

The Christian faith is not neutral. It is warfare. Christians are soldiers commissioned by their King to take ground in the name of Christ. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We do not fight w...  Read More

If you were to speak to a committed Christian on the street and ask them for the reason for the hope that is within them, any number of responses might be given. Perhaps you may find some that have st...  Read More

One of the greatest needs among the modern Christian Church, is the restoration of an age old practice that has long become abandoned, the practice of daily family worship. There was a time when this ...  Read More