August is approaching and thus this will be my last blog until September. [I know there is one more Friday in July, but cut me a bit of slack please] I've been spending a lot of time in old books lately. I find that books by dead guys often give me more to chew on both theologically and practically than anything by undead guys. But I digress. Today I want to share some thoughts on Christian freedom from one of the dead guys I've been reading. In order to hear his wisdom prop

A number of weeks ago I wrote about the books I was planning on reading this Spring and Summer. Since I've worked through the list I thought I would give you a brief 2-3 sentence review of each of the books I have read. Then I want to update you on where I'm going from now until September since I've changed my mind on what I want to read. I know that several of you have picked up one or more of the titles on my previous list and have shared your thoughts with me as you have

I’ve had many people ask me my thoughts on the controversial Bill C-9 which became law a few months ago in Canada. I've avoided commenting on it because I don’t usually speak about politics. But since the question has popped up several times in several places I thought I would address it. This is about as much political talk as you will ever get from me. So here it is. For those who don’t know Bill C-9 has been labelled the Combating Hate Act. It was designed to strengthen ex

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I will not be preaching on John 7:53-8:11, the story about the adulterous woman. The reason I will not preach these verses is that I do not believe that they were written by the Apostle John and therefore are not part of his Gospel. This means that this passage is not inspired, infallible, inerrant and authoritative Scripture and should not be preached or taught as God’s Word. I do not take this decision lightly. For to make a mistake ei

In his 1943 lectures and subsequent book (published in 1944 and reprinted many times) The Abolition of Man C. S. Lewis recalls the observation of a waterfall recorded in a contemporary English grammar which he calls “The Green Book” which is authored by “Gaius” and “Titius.” (He was referring to a real grammar used in English schools but desired to disassociate the authors from his critique by using the imaginary title and pseudonyms for the authors.) In this section of the f

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

A few weeks ago I made a comment something like this during my sermon, 'When Jesus says “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life” he is not simply referring to evangelism, the way to be saved, but also to sanctification -- how we receive every spiritual blessing from the Father.' I want to take a bit of time to explain what I meant since we won’t get to that passage until November 15 (Lord willing). Let me quote John 14:1-6 so we understand the context in which Jesus' statement

Each year Ligonier Ministries and Lifeway Research combine to do a survey entitled, “The State of Theology.” According to their website, “It is a nationwide survey revealing how people today view key doctrines of the Christian faith.” This year, I think it might be the first, they did the survey in Canada. Some of the findings are a bit disturbing. Full disclosure, when I added up the numbers you will read below I included only those that were either on the agree (strongly or

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

I think most people have the following expectations regarding their lives. They are usually unstated, that would be arrogant and foolish, but they are definitely there. They believe that, They and their loved ones will be healthy and happy throughout their lives. Everyone they know will live to a ripe old age then pass peacefully. No calamities will happen to them. They may struggle at times but nothing too big will have to be overcome; at least nothing they can’t handle. Gra

On Tuesday night we had our Men’s BBQ which sort-of officially ends our Men’s Nights for the church year. I have mixed feelings about this night. I am encouraged to see how many men come out to these nights to discuss the book we read together. The church is in good hands because of the quality of men we have within it. However, I’m saddened that it has to end. Four months without these meetings seems to become a longer break each year. I love the camaraderie, the discussions

One of my favorite theologians is the Dutchman Herman Bavinck. (1854-1921) He is the author of probably my favorite single volume Systematic theology text, Our Reasonable Faith (recently rebranded as The Wonderful Works of God by Westminster Seminary Press) as well as one of the outstanding multi-volume works of Reformed theology entitled Reformed Dogmatics. In the former book he takes aim at the fundamental issue of our human condition -- we are made for so much, but settle

Source Unkown I think everyone, especially men, who have seen the Lord of the Rings: Return of the King gets excited (and maybe a bit emotional) toward the end of the film when Aragorn stands before the Black Gate of Mordor with a tired but determined army desperate to distract Sauron from what he hopes to be a marauding Frodo and Sam who are heading to Mt Doom to destroy the ring of power and bring peace to all of Middle Earth. As he stands before the gate knowing that he mu

*** As we do every year, we will be breaking from the blog for a month after our April 3 post. Look for more content in May. Three quotes today (all for the same price) based on Romans 12:3-4, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” In my sermon on this passage (which you can listen to here) I said this,

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

We return today to C S Lewis, this time from his essay, "God in the Dock." Human beings often struggle with their place in the world. Even Christians, who know that God is the Creator and Sustainer of all that is struggle to submit to him as their Lord. All of us have had moments in which we pull God down to our level, actually below it, then evaluate his actions in order to determine whether or not he is truly acting like God should. The stakes are high. If he is judged wort

This book is a concise story of how the Nicene Creed, and its doctrinal affirmations, came to be. The Gospel Coalition bookstore describes the work perfectly, “ The Story of the Trinity relates the settings, characters, and conflicts that led to the Council of Nicaea and the creation of the Nicene Creed, a simple yet beautiful statement of faith that expresses core Christian beliefs that continue to be affirmed worldwide.” If a history book can be an exciting page turner thi

We continue in the vein of quotations from various sources. Today our topic is preaching. Preaching is God’s means of grace given to the church to proclaim his gospel and declare his glory. I should not have to convince you of the priority and primacy of preaching for the church. At CRC we already know this. But allow me to quote two verses in defense of my original statement. It is Paul writing to the young pastor Timothy regarding the priorities of his ministry. Paul writes

NOTE: I have invited the contributions of Stu Reimer to write in this space on the issues of marriage and family. If you follow CRC at all you will know Stu to be my frequent substitute in the pulpit and I am looking forward to his work as my substitute from time to time in this space. Expect his blogs to appear every 6 weeks or so. Stu is no expert on the things on which I have asked him to write (Just ask his wife and children), but he is a committed reformed Christian and

We are continuing on our recent theme of offering quotes from valuable Christian works and writers. This one is a bit different, and by that I mean a bit longer and with a bit more commentary. The quote we start with is from Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis. “All the worst pleasures are purely spiritual: the pleasure of putting other people in the wrong, of bossing and patronizing and spoiling sport, and back-biting, the pleasures of power, of hatred. For there are two thing