holiness

The Familiar Case of Benjamin Dutton

Simonetta Carr
Jul 28, 2020
The Familiar Case of Benjamin Dutton Benjamin Dutton is not a recognizable name in Church history. He is usually remembered in passing as the second husband of Anne Dutton , the 18 th -century writer who confuted Wesley’s strive for earthly perfection and won the praises of George Whitefield and...

No Foolin'

Grant Van Leuven
Apr 1, 2020
Every year a late night talk show host encourages parents to prank their kids with a faux profession that they devoured all their little pumpkins’ Halloween candy. [1] The show features videos sent in of children throwing monstrous fits of rage and heartache until the parents reveal they are “just...

Humiliation & Exaltation: Christ's Ascension

Tim Bertolet
Feb 17, 2020
One vital component to the humiliation and exaltation of Christ is His ascension into heaven. The ascension is as central to the work of Christ as His death and resurrection, yet today it is largely unnoticed by the average evangelical believer. Our tendency is to focus on the cross of Christ while...

Revoice, or God's Voice?

Harry Reeder
Nov 12, 2018
The Revoice Conference is history. When first announced with its advertised purpose statement, sponsors, plenary sessions and speakers, my Session requested I pastorally address it for them and our congregation, especially since it was hosted by a PCA church in St. Louis and contained students,...

A Silence on Separation

Paul Washer
Oct 3, 2018
Today there is a void of serious teaching about holiness in life. There is, of course, a general teaching on holiness that everyone agrees on. "Let us be holy," they say, "we need to be more holy. Why not have a holiness conference?" But when you get specific about what that means, everything boils...

A Prayer for the Church (Galatians 5:16-26)

Chad Van Dixhoorn
Jul 16, 2018
Our Father in heaven, we rejoice to remember that hidden in the holiness of your Son, you count us holy in your sight. Not only as we pray, but as we live each day, you see us as saints, set apart by our Savior, for our Savior. And yet we live in the hope that what we see by faith, we will one day...

Can the "Welcoming Church" Speak the Truth?

Richard D. Phillips
Jun 8, 2018
One feature of life in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is the unveiling of the annual buzz-word for our General Assembly . This year, the word is "welcoming." So far as it goes, this is a fine aspiration for our denomination. We, of course, want our doors to be open not merely to certain...

A Functional Imperfect Perfectionism

Nick Batzig
Mar 10, 2018
There is a functional perfectionism that can subtly creep into the minds and hearts of even those who adamantly reject any idea of instantaneous sanctification in a believer's life. On one hand, it is altogether possible for us to convince ourselves that we have out-sinned the grace of God or that...

Cruciform Suffering

Daniel Timmer
May 30, 2017
The fact that the incarnate Son of God "learned obedience" (Heb. 5:8) is an essential aspect of Jesus' human nature and so is indispensable to sound Christology and soteriology. Apart from the cross itself, the clearest example we have of this "learning" is probably found in the Synoptic accounts...

Being Pence-ive about Dinner with the Ladies

Adam Parker
Apr 1, 2017
Adultery among any people group is a serious and dreadful act in this fallen world. In fact, in an increasingly fatherless culture where divorce is becoming more and more the rule rather than the exception, one would argue that this is empirically verifiable. When a pastor, who is supposed to be...