How to identify a great deacon

This one is helpful not only in telling us what a deacon is there to do but how to identify a good one. Spoiler alert: it’s more than just a person who is quite good at fixing toilets.

Is temptation sin? – Not according to Martyn Lloyd-Jones

This is a helpful comment on concupiscence and whether temptation is necessarily sin. This one points to MLJ and a sermon of his on this issue. As a follow up, John also provided another post focused on a sermon from C.H. Spurgeon to the same effect here.

What really happened at Nicaea (video)

Were the books of the Bible chosen and decided at the Council of Nicaea? Did anyone actually authorise the people there to choose them? This one busts a common myth.

Preaching and me

I think preaching is really important. It is biblical. It is a vital aspect of our ministry in the church. Despite how it may appear at first blush, Eddie thinks so too. But he argues here that preaching is not the be all and end all of ministry. And I agree with him.

Do I share the gospel now?

I know many people struggle with this question of when and where it is appropriate to share the gospel during the course of your secular job. I appreciated the way this one thinks the matter through.

Do angels have free will? (video)

Bruce Ware answers this one and goes well beyond the question to explain what the Bible says about freedom more generally. The answer is excellent. My only minor quibble is that what he describes is free agency rather than free will. But that technicality aside, his answer is very helpful. Using Edwardsian language makes his use of the word ‘will’ understandable here, but Edwards use of ‘will’ is confusingly about free agency not free will in the philosophical sense.

From the archive: Five things we have to get serious about if we are going to see deprived communities reached with the gospel

‘If we are going to see churches planted in some of neediest, most deprived communities, several things are going to have to happen. We are going to have to get serious about all of these if we are going to reach the whole of our nation for Christ.’