(Adapted from remarks to my students at Reformed Theological Seminary Jackson on April 19, 2016.) I want for each of you a long and fruitful ministry. For that to happen, many things must take place. This afternoon I’ll focus on two. First, for a long and fruitful ministry you must intercede for your congregation in your secret prayers. Secret prayer – the time you spend alone with the Lord pouring out your heart for the congregation he has called you to serve and seeking those graces you must have if you’re to serve them well. Without secret prayer there can be no real Christian ministry. That’s why Bishop Moule sought to impress upon his ministerial students that the “the heart…
Read MoreMy remarks today at the dedication of Westminster Presbyterian Church’s new sanctuary in Huntsville, Alabama. ___ Today we celebrate a milestone – the dedication of your new sanctuary. Milestone achievements don’t come easily. This one hasn’t. You’ve made it here because you’ve done thousands of small things right – the thousands of quiet and loving and faithful acts of Christian care you’ve given each other. Most of these had nothing to do with the building you dedicate today. But without them we would not be here. The foundations of your sanctuary were laid not two years but six decades ago when Paul and Loraine Alexander devoted their lives to building a church and school that would serve the people of…
Read MoreToday Seth Starkey, Reformed University Campus Minister at Belhaven University, helped my RTS Worship class think through issues of worship in RUF large groups. He has proved a valuable resource and friend to our students.
Read MoreReading books and conversations about books are two of life’s finest pleasures. Add to the mix RTS Jackson students and spouses, and you have the makings for a perfect evening. Last night was the first of what Lynne and I hope will be many RTS book club meetings. After a chili diner, we discussed Jason Roberts A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became the World’s Greatest Traveler. My reflections on the book are here. I am grateful to students Justin Jones-Fosu and Ashley Williams for suggesting the club. In our “Christian Life in a Secular World Course,” reading Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death prompted conversations about the need to read books purely for enjoyment and personal edification, and in our situation, texts that…
Read MoreAre You Growing in Grace?
My “Principles of Sanctification” class at RTS Jackson reads J.C. Ryle’s classic, Holiness. Ryle always aims to reach the heart of his reader. Among the marks of growing in grace, he writes, is increase in love. The man whose soul is ‘growing’ is more full of love every year – of love to all men, but especially love toward the brethren. His love will show itself actively in a growing disposition to do kindness, to take trouble for others, to be good-natured to everybody, to be generous, sympathizing, thoughtful, tender-hearted, and considerate. It will show itself passively in a growing disposition to be meek and patient toward all men, to put up with provocation and not stand upon rights, to bear…
Read MoreI love to read and many of the books I enjoy were recommended to me in conversations with friends. In that spirit, I list below the books I completed in 2015. Several stand out: My favorite read this year was Donald Macleod’s Christ Crucified. Christian ministers who “preach Christ crucified” (1 Corinthians 1:23) will do so with renewed conviction as they take to heart this splendid exposition of the doctrine of the atonement. Archibald Alexander advised his students to read annually The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded. My return to Owen’s classic proved a blessing to my soul, and I need to read it more often, if not once a year. Bruce Gordon’s Calvin is a masterpiece, and…
Read More“ALMIGHTY God, who hast given us thy only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and as at this time to be born of a pure Virgin; Grant that we being regenerate, and made thy children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by thy Holy Spirit; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.” –1662 Book of Common Prayer MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WINGARDS!
Read More“In the New Testament, the incarnation of Jesus Christ is a profound testimony to God’s affirmation of the sanctity of prenatal life . . . The personal history of the Son of God on earth begins not when he was ‘born of the Virgin Mary,’ but when he was ‘conceived by the Holy Spirit.’ His human history, like ours, began at conception.” – John Jefferson Davis, Evangelical Ethics: Issues Facing the Church Today (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015), 152.
Read MoreOn Sunday morning, Lord willing, I shall complete a three month series in 1 Thessalonians. Like many other preachers, my favorite book of the Bible is the one I am preaching. This letter of Paul is no exception. Calvin, Simeon, and Stott were particularly helpful advisors as I worked through the text, and I put their books back on my shelves with thanksgiving for each man’s piety, skill, and wisdom. When in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, the apostle writes: “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” we obtain insight into how Paul the pastor prayed for his congregation.…
Read MoreLast night I spent a memorable evening listening to photographer and author Alysia Burton Steele, who traveled 6,000 miles throughout the Mississippi Delta to interview 54 African-American women who grew up, married, and raised children during the Jim Crow era. Her Delta Jewels: In Search of My Grandmother’s Wisdom shares their stories. One of the grandmothers is Mrs. Velma T. Moore of Benoit. Married for 49 years when widowed, 15 children, 145 grandchildren, 33 great-grands, 26 great-great grands, and 14 great-great-great grands. Her testimony: “I always said, “Lord, I want one husband. I want all of my childen to be by that one man.’ And God fixed it so . . . I’m still Mrs. Moore. I be Mrs. Moore until…
Read More