Articles

In his letter to Titus, the apostle Paul explains to his fellow minister that the grace of God trains us to “say ‘No’ to ungodliness and worldly passions” (2:12 NIV). Jesus uses similar language when He teaches His disciples to answer requests directly: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matthew 5:37). For the Christian, in other words, there is a right time to say no—and a crucial element of leadership is knowing when that time is.

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More than five hundred years ago, the Protestant Reformation called the church back to the authority of Scripture and the good news that sinners are justified by grace alone, through faith alone, and in Christ alone. Over the course of his pastoral ministry, Alistair Begg routinely took a Sunday adjacent to October 31—traditionally, the day when Martin Luther published his Ninety-Five Theses—to reflect on the Reformation’s legacy and relevance for today’s believers.

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At the dawn of creation, in humanity’s earliest days, God gave us work to do: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:15). Although we now know the curse of toil (3:17–19), work itself is part of God’s good creative handiwork. He didn’t make us to sit around and do nothing.

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While Jesus was masterful at sermon illustrations (in His case, often through parables), the apostle Paul wasn’t half bad either. In 2 Timothy 2:3–7, he uses a series of three illustrations to show his protégé, Timothy, what it means to be a pastor and a Gospel minister:

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John Stott has said, “Nothing hinders evangelism … more than the widespread loss of confidence in the truth, relevance, and power of the Gospel.”¹ Even within the present framework of contemporary Christianity, there has been and continues to be an erosion of conviction as it relates to the exclusive claims of Jesus and, thus, the power of the Gospel.

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Among the twelve Minor Prophets in the Old Testament is the book of the prophet Habakkuk. His book is not “Minor” because it is unimportant; it is “Minor” because, as many modern readers will appreciate, it has only three brief chapters, which take about ten minutes to read—that is, if it doesn’t make you stop to think!

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On September 11, 2001, the world watched in disbelief as a day of unimaginable tragedy unfolded. The terrorist attacks on the United States claimed thousands of lives, reshaped global events, and left a lasting mark on a generation. Twenty-five years later, the memories remain vivid, and the questions raised by that day continue to confront us: Where is God when evil strikes? How should we respond when our sense of security is shaken? And what hope is there in a world marked by suffering and uncertainty?

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Among the pitfalls of which Christians should be wary, surely one of the most prevalent in our day is the trap of a performance-driven life. For certain high achievers, contentment is hard to come by. Nothing is ever finished, done, or good enough—and it never will be. And while that sort of approach may lead to apparent success in academics, business, and so on, when we try to adopt it in the Christian life, we quickly make our faith little more than a long list of activities to do, lacking in life or spiritual health.

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Faithful preaching has never been measured merely by eloquence, personality, or even theological precision. Throughout church history, the men God has most powerfully used have recognized that preaching is more than delivering information; it is the work of shepherding souls with the crook of God’s Word.

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