Purpose.
This web site sets forth a Puritan call for today's church...

• Calling all people to a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
• Calling Christ's people to true Biblical purity in faith, life and worship.

I welcome your comments. I would especially like to hear from you if you find yourself in agreement with much of what you find here.

My Spiritual Odyssey.
I would like to relate to you how God has graciously revealed Himself to me over the years:

I grew up in Columbia, Missouri.  I first learned to distrust God's Word as a youngster in a Sunday School class when the teacher explained Noah's flood as a "local flood". From that time on, I was easy prey for the Evolutionist brainwashing served up by the public school system. While I may have thought myself to be an Atheist, it seems I must have implicitly believed in God's existence, for I was often thinking blasphemous thoughts about Him, or challenging Him to do some great miracle to prove His existence.

It was in High School that my Evolutionary views were challenged by some Christian friends.  We had lunch hour discussions over a period of several months, and the more we discussed the origin of life, the more apparent it became that they had scientific evidence on their side, and all I had to support Evolution was mere speculation and wishful thinking. (The years since have only confirmed this conclusion).  I began to take the Bible more seriously, and came under deep conviction from reading the book of Revelation and contemplating God's judgment.  I knew I needed to be reconciled to God.

About that time, the Lord provided a revival service at the church where my friends worshiped, and I went forward, confessed Christ as Lord, and was baptized.  This particular church taught that you had to be baptized to be saved.  I'm not sure how much I understood about Christ's substitutionary death for sinners, but I did understand that I needed God, and I submitted to baptism with the idea that I would emerge from the water as His child, forgiven of my sin and accepted by Him.

That was in 1969. The following year, I enlisted in the Marine Corps, and my Christian journey did not seem to progress much until 1972 when I was stationed in Okinawa.  One evening, some men from the local Servicemen's Center came through the barracks, witnessing to whomever they met.  When I told them that I was a Christian, they invited me to the Servicemen's Center, and for the rest of my stay in Okinawa, I spent a great deal of my free time at the Servicemen's Center, where I learned much about God's Word, and began to grow in my walk with God.

One evening, a Christian brother drove me back to the base from the Servicemen's Center.  I don't remember his name, but I do remember that he was the first one who ever explained the Gospel to me from a truly Calvinistic perspective.  He explained that God, out of His great love for dead sinners, made us alive and gave us faith in Christ.  I had been a pretty hard-core Arminian until that time.  This encounter helped me appreciate the beauty of God's sovereign love, even though I did not yet believe it to be true.

Another significant event occurred in 1973, after I had been transferred to Guam, at an evening Bible study.  We were studying Ephesians, chapter 2.  As I read the passage silently during the study, I was impressed by the fact that everything in the first 10 verses was accomplished by God!  I turned to a charismatic friend sitting beside me, and pointed this out to him. From then on, he referred to me as "my Calvinistic brother."  At the time, I hardly deserved the moniker, but Ephesians 2:1-10 left a lasting imprint, and the Lord was firmly, though gently, leading me to embrace the truth of His sovereign salvation.

The Servicemen's Center on Okinawa had taught me to understand the Scriptures from a Dispensational perspective.  Many Calvinists today have little good to say about Scofieldism, and many of their criticisms are quite valid.  Scofield was no Calvinist, he taught the "Carnal Christian" error, as well as other errors.  Yet, my time at the Servicemen's Center was largely constructive.  I really began to spend time in the Word, and much of the teaching was quite good.  (In a study on Romans 8:29, for example, the leader had us look up "foreknow" in Young's Concordance to see that it spoke of God's purpose and love rather than of His foreseeing who would believe.)

When I received my discharge from the Marines in 1974, I began attending a small Bible church in Columbia.  The pastor was both a Calvinist and a Dispensationalist, and he helped me to fully embrace all five points of Calvinism.  This began a relationship of many years, where I held to the view that the church began with Paul (in Acts 13, when he was first called "Paul" and assumed apostolic leadership), and that water baptism was for another dispensation.

From 1974-1980, I attended the University of Missouri and received a B.S. in Education in 1978, then an M.A. in Mathematics in 1980.  I taught mathematics in a public school in Jamestown, Missouri in 1980-1981, then moved to El Segundo, California in August of 1981 to work for a small engineering firm.

About the time I moved to El Segundo, my pastor moved to Simi Valley, California (also in the Los Angeles area), along with his wife's parents, and so I was able to continue meeting with him and his family.  A family who had been involved in our church in Columbia had moved out to Lawndale a few years earlier, and they also met with us.  In time, others were added to the church as well.

Over the years, I taught both children's and adult Sunday School classes, filled in for the pastor when he was away, co-edited our church's magazine Bible Treasures, was a guest speaker at several churches, and attended Bible Conferences at Cedar Lake, Indiana.  These Bible Conferences were sponsored by churches and organizations which taught that the present church-age began with Paul.  I had the privilege of speaking at two of these Bible Conferences (1978, 1980).  For my first conference message, I was assigned the topic of "Victory," and I gladly taught from Romans 9 on God's victorious salvation.  While the message was warmly received by most, it roused some of the more vicious Arminians. The organization eventually split in 1979 over the issue of God's sovereign grace.

Since that time, my family and I have lived in the Wichita, Denver, Pagosa Springs (CO) and Kansas City areas.  We have enjoyed good fellowship and worship with brothers in Presbyterian and Reformed Baptist churches, as well as in some independent churches.

Around 1995, I was introduced to John Piper's books.  Desiring God left me hungering to know more of God, and The Pleasures of God helped fill the void.  The Supremacy of God in Preaching and Let the Nations be Glad! are first rate as well.  I believe these books have had an important impact on my Christian life, and I heartily recommend them to every brother in Christ.

Other books which have been a great blessing to me include A. W. Pink's The Sovereignty of God and Martin Luther's The Bondage of the Will. John MacArthur's books The Gospel According to Jesus and Faith Works should also be read by every Christian.

My Distinctive Views.
I fully agree with the view of God and salvation spelled out in the various Calvinistic Confessions: The Heidelberg Catechism, the Canons of Dort, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the 1689 London Confession, etc. However, on matters of church organization and ordinances, the relationship of the Church to society, and the future of Israel, I do not necessarily agree with these confessions.

The sections which follow are not meant to be a comprehensive statement of all that I believe. Rather, they are intended to touch upon some of the issues which I feel are important or which may require clarification.

God's Nature.
God is infinite in power, wisdom and understanding, and perfect in holiness, faithfulness, truthfulness, grace, mercy and love. He is eternally self-sufficient and unchanging. He is the one true and living God, and He eternally exists as three distinct persons, who are co-equal in deity, power, wisdom and majesty. These three persons are identified in the Bible as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

See my article The Sacredness of God for a further study of the excellency of God.
 

Sovereignty and Salvation.
God is the sovereign ruler of His universe. All that happens is not merely by His permission, but by His eternal decree and according to His infinite wisdom and eternal purpose. All earthly and angelic power was instituted by Him, and remains under His control, just as our Lord said to Pilate, "You would have no authority over Me, unless it had been given you from above..." (John 19:11).

Even the wicked acts of men were foreordained by our glorious God: "this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." (Acts 2:23). Yet, the wickedness of these acts derives from the creature, and not the Creator. God is not the author of evil.

In eternity past, God predetermined all that would ever come to pass, and in particular, He predetermined the eternal destiny of every human being who would ever live. He chose certain ones to be saved from sin, death and hell, unto justification, eternal life and eternal fellowship with Himself. The rest He allows to go their own way down the wide path of destruction, and He will someday judge them with everlasting torment in the lake of fire.

His choice is not based upon any foreseen merit in or decisions made by the people He chose, but rather upon His own free exercise of sovereign mercy alone. He gave Christ to die for these whom He had chosen, that He might fully bear the penalty for all their sins. In time, He imparts spiritual life to His elect people by His Holy Spirit who sovereignly creates faith and repentance in their hearts.

The salvation of God's elect had its beginning in eternity past, when God chose us, and is sealed with the the power of God's omnipotence and the committment of His unwavering love for us. God's elect will assuredly be saved—every single one of them.

See my articles God's Distinguishing Love, and Double Predestination for a further study of these issues.
 

Redemption and Justification.
As guilty sinners, God, in justice, had every right and obligation to punish us for our sins; and the punishment we richly deserved was everlasting torment. But God in mercy saved His elect people from this horrific condemnation by pouring out His wrath instead upon His own glorious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In six momentous hours nailed to the Cross, our Lord bore the full penalty for the sins of His chosen people. In those six hours of anguish, Christ fully drained the cup of God's wrath which He bore against all His elect people for all their sins—past, present and future. When it was over, He cried out "It is finished!" and in that cry, He announced that nothing could ever henceforth condemn any of His chosen ones to eternal perdition. We have been eternally justified by the blood of Christ...

Romans 5:9 – Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.

When Scripture declares that we are justified by faith, it does not mean that faith has any merit or power in itself. Instead, faith looks to the One who is righteous and seeks from Him the righteousness we lack. Even unbelievers have faith in something to save them.  Often, it is faith in their own good works, or in religious cermonies or institutions.  Saving faith, however, recognizes that none of these things can take away our guilt or provide true righteousness, and trusts instead in Jesus Christ alone.  God, in sovereign mercy, forgives those who acknowledge their desperate need for forgivness and cry out to God to forgive their sins for Jesus' sake.  He not only forgives those who trust in Christ, but He also imputes Christ's perfect righteousness to them--regarding them to have Jesus' perfect righteousness.

See my article Particular Redemption for a further study of these issues.
 

Depravity, Faith and Sanctification.
Fallen man is so corrupted by sin that he is an incurable rebel against God. Only God's sovereign grace can overcome this depravity, changing man's heart into one which loves and trusts our sovereign Creator. Genuine saving faith issues naturally from the new heart which God gives to His elect people when He regenerates them.

See my article How Free is the Will? for a further discussion of these issues.

We should never suppose that salvation is a one-time coming to God to become changed into autonomous beings who can then live obedient lives by our own strength. Rather, salvation is an eternal relationship, which begins experientially at regeneration, of continual loving dependence upon God, seeking to glorify Him in all that we do, by displaying His grace in our lives and declaring His truth.

Genuine faith is more than just believing the facts of the Gospel. It involves loving God, delighting in Him, and realizing our own sinfulness and inability to please Him. It involves recognizing our continual need for God's mercy and grace, and thus praying to Him often for the grace to live each day unto His glory.

The Christian life involves a continual struggle with sin as the indwelling Holy Spirit conforms us more and more to the image of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We will never be sinlessly perfect in this life, nor is sanctification a smooth upward climb. A true Christian will sometimes fall into sin, but our God is faithful and will always restore him to repentance.

Not everyone who professes faith in Christ is truly saved (Matthew 7:21). Scripture calls upon us to test ourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5). Genuine salvation is marked by one's relationship to Christ and not simply by his words, works or doctrine.

However, if one's concept of God is seriously flawed, we should question whether he knows the true God. To deny God's sovereignty may well be as serious as denying His holiness, justice, omnipotence, omniscience or immutability. We are wrong to treat God's sovereignty as merely seminary material, inappropriate for new Christians. God's sovereignty is one of His glorious attributes, in which every Christian ought to frequently contemplate and find great delight.
 

Israel and the Church, Covenants, and the Eternal Kingdom.
I no longer regard myself to be a Dispensationalist, but neither am I a Covenantalist. I believe that God promised Abraham a literal, eternal land on earth, and that this promise was intended for Abraham and for those of his physical offspring who were chosen by God unto salvation. This promise was not founded upon the Old Covenant which God made with Moses many years later, but is a lasting promise which will see its ultimate fulfillment when God creates a New Earth in which righteousness dwells.

The death of Christ fulfilled the Old Covenant while it established a New Covenant with God's people Israel. God has graciously called Gentiles also into the New Covenant blessings of forgiveness of sins and the indwelling Spirit, grafting them as a wild olive branch into His "cultivated" olive tree, Israel. Thus, the Church is not something separate from Israel. Rather, it consists of the truly saved of Israel, with Gentile believers grafted in as well.

There is nothing in Scripture to indicate that Gentile believers are to be heirs of the land of Canaan which God promised to Abraham and his physical seed. Nevertheless, the Gentiles will have their own lands in the future eternal kingdom, which will be wonderfully blessed beyond anything we can presently imagine. Heaven will literally come to earth when God manifestly dwells with man in the new earth, and sets up His throne there.

I am definitely a premillenialist, and I believe that Christ will return at the end of the seven-year tribulation period which will precede the Millennium. The church will be caught up (or "raptured") to be with the Lord in the air (1 Thessalonians 4:17) when He returns to establish His Millennial kingdom. Matthew 24:29-31 says that after the tribulation of those days, he will gather His elect.

I view the Millennium as a prelude to the eternal kingdom—a welcome foretaste of the perfection to come.

See my article The Kingdom of God for more details.
 

The Bible.
These views are based upon my conviction that the promises of the Bible are, in the main, intended in the plain sense of their words, and that we should avoid drawing theological conclusions which do not have clear, direct Biblical support.

I believe that the Bible is the complete, authoritative, inerrant Word of God, and that it has been faithfully preserved for us through the numerous Greek and Hebrew manuscripts which have survived the centuries. There is no other authoritative source for faith or worship than the Bible alone.

I also believe in the perspicuity of the Bible... that the essential teachings of the Bible are plainly declared in Scripture, and that ordinary Christians, illuminated by the indwelling Holy Spirit, are able to read and understand all that is needed for basic Christian faith and obedience.

While I believe that God has ordained teaching pastors to lead and teach the flock (Ephesians 4:11-12), I deny that we are to regard any pastor or institution to be infallible in its teachings. Even the apostle Paul was subjected to scrutiny by the Jews at Berea (Acts 17:11), and Scripture calls them "noble" because they "searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so."

I regard the King James Version to have been an excellent translation in its day, but I reject all theories about its being an "inspired translation." I also reject the notion that it is based on the best available manuscripts. There are several good translations available today, such as the New American Standard (NAS), the English Standard Version (ESV) and the New International Version (NIV), and these are based upon a much larger base of reliable manuscript evidence than was available in 1611.

Creation.
Having wrestled with the issue of Creation versus Evolution, I have come to the conclusion that the Bible and true scientific evidence clearly attest to a recent creation and a subsequent worldwide flood. The Bible plainly says that the world was created in six literal days (evening/morning cycles of darkness and light), and that the weekly Sabbath enjoined upon Israel commemorated this fact. It also says that the flood of Noah's day covered the highest mountains. It would have been pointless for Noah to have built the ark, or to have brought the animals into the ark if the flood were anything less than a worldwide catastrophe.

When we examine the scientific evidence, we find fossil-bearing sedimentary rock covering most of the earth's surface, and often quite deep. This is what we would expect a worldwide flood to produce. Scientists often claim that these rock strata are hundreds of millions of years old. However, the methods they use to arrive at such dates are highly suspect. They often assume Evolution to be true in order to date the various rock strata.

There are cases where fossilized trees are found perfectly preserved, crossing a multitude of rock strata, which demonstrates that the various strata could not be more than a few months different in age, for otherwise the tops of the trees would decompose before they could be fossilized in the upper layers of rock.

One would think that "younger" rocks should lie on top of "older" rocks, but Evolutionists often assign older dates to the upper rock layers, based on the fossils found in the rock layers.  How do Evolutionists explain such anomalies?  They claim that the older rocks were "thrust" on top of the younger rocks by tremendous earthquakes.  The problem with this explanation is that there is seldom any physical evidence of seismic movement—such as grinding and scarring—along the alleged thrust plane.  Usually, the boundary between the "old" and "young" rocks looks no different from a normal sedimentary bedding plane.

Their "seismic thrusting" theory is particularly incredible given the tremendous sizes of the blocks of stone that were allegedly moved.  The so-called "Lewis Overthrust" in Montana, for example, is several hundred miles wide and several miles thick, and was supposedly moved over 50 miles with no visible evidence of thrusting along the contact plane!  Mythen Peak in the Swiss Alps has rocks that were supposedly pushed all the way from Africa to Switzerland. When scientists have to resort to such unsupportable explanations in order to justify their pet theory, they are no longer behaving like scientists!

Evolution requires intermediate forms, but the "missing links" have remained missing ever since Darwin concocted his theory. If Evolution were true, we would expect to find nearly continuous sequences of intermediate fossils in the rock strata.  Instead, scientists have had to admit that the gaps are systematic and universal—150+ years of searching has not uncovered any undisputed transitional fossils of animals or plants.  The Bible says that God created distinct kinds of animals, and that each "kind" produces offspring of the same "kind". This agrees with observed evidence.

The various alleged "ape-men," such as Neaderthal, Cro-Magnon Man, Peking Man, Java Man, Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man and Zinjanthropus, are now regarded, even by Evolutionists, not to be the "missing link" they were once alleged to be. In most cases, the evidence is highly suspect. Nebraska Man, for example, was based solely on a tooth, which turned out to be the tooth of a pig! Piltdown Man was proved to be a hoax, constructed from an ape's jaw and human skull fragments which had been treated with iron salts to make them appear much older than they actually were. Java Man turned out to be a composite—a collection of bones of different species.  The bones of Peking Man were conveniently lost, so that all that remains is an artist's plaster reconstruction of a skull, and a handful of teeth.   In every case, it seems that the zeal to "prove" Evolution has overshadowed the need for scientific objectivity and integrity.

Numerous scientific considerations attest to a young age for the earth: the salinity of the oceans, the decay of the earth's magnetic field, the enormous pressure of oil gushers, the low levels of Helium in the atmosphere, the relatively small size of the Mississippi River delta, the earth's high rotational rate, the high frequency of comet observations, the small amount of ocean sediment, the thickness of lunar dust, the rate at which the rim of Niagara Falls recedes, the rate of growth of cave formations, the shrinkage rate of the sun, the age of the oldest trees, etc. Many of these argue for an age of the earth between 5,000-10,000 years.

The fact that dinosaurs, saber-toothed tigers, wooly mammoths and other animals which once existed do not exist today is no proof that evolution occurred. All it proves is that species can become extinct.

Evolution does not deserve to be called a theory, much less a fact. It is a popular myth or lie, perpetuated by man's hostility toward God, and propagated by intimidation, suppression and misrepresentation.

See my articles Evolution is Not Science and How Old is the Earth? for a more detailed discussion.
 

Ordinances and Christian Liberty.
Salvation is not obtained through the observance of ordinances. There is no saving merit or function to water baptism or any other ordinance.

See my article Does Water Baptism Save? for a further study of this issue.

I hold a minority view on water baptism... I believe the Presbyterians are right in saying that the mode is sprinkling, but that the Baptists are right in saying that believers only should be baptized.  In any case, however, I do not believe that our Lord intended for His Church to divide over the issue of water baptism. When Baptists require water baptism for church membership or for taking communion, not only are they acting without Scriptural foundation... far worse, they are erecting a wall of division which treats non-Baptist brothers as outsiders or second-class Christians.

Water baptism was intended to welcome new believers into the family of God... it was never intended as a way to exclude true believers from the assembly of Christ's people. Nor was it ever intended as a legalistic requirement to burden the conscience of Christians who have faithfully served the Lord for many years. Apart from the context of a recent conversion to Christ, water baptism serves no Biblical purpose.

See my article Water Baptism for more details.

I believe that God intended the Lord's Supper as a means of spiritually nourishing the Christian as we meditate upon the meaning of the elements. Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper at a Passover meal, when he explained that the Passover bread represents his body broken for us and the Passover wine represents his blood shed for our salvation. In 1 Corinthians 5:8, the apostle Paul explains the significance of leaven with respect to this sacred meal—saying that leaven represents malice and evil whereas unleavened bread represents sincerity and truth—thereby teaching us the importance of using unleavened bread for the Lord's Supper. Many churches throughout much of church history (including even Reformed and Puritan churches) have failed to recognize this important symbolism. With no Biblical support whatever, they have chosen to use leavened bread, which proclaims a sinful Savior feeding us with bread of "malice and evil". This error has serious, if unintended, consequences regarding the way it represents our Lord, and the kind of benefit it provides to his people. Surely, God is often gracious to overlook the unintended flaws in our worship, but how much greater glory would he receive, and how much greater nourishment would we experience if we would worship him the way he prescribed?

See my article This is My Body for more details.

I do not believe that Christian unity should depend upon conformity to ordinances. We should be willing to fully receive any true Christian brother who loves the Lord, acknowledges His Sovereignty, believes His Word, confesses his own corruption and unworthiness, and who demonstrates love, humility and compassion for the brothers. After all, our Lord commanded us to love our brothers in Christ as He loved us, and Paul urged us to "Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." (Ephesians 4:2).
 

The Church.
The church is comprised of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. A local church represents a part of Christ's universal church. (However, if it contains some who are not genuinely saved, these unbelievers are not members of the universal church).

In Scripture, every believer was considered to belong to the church. When churches impose membership requirements beyond a credible faith in Jesus Christ, they thereby divide Christ's people into two groups: those who are members, and those who are not. Yet, such a distinction is foreign to Scripture, and it violates the many exhortations to maintain unity with our brothers in Christ. Contrary to the opinion of some, such formality is not needed for a functioning church, nor for the exercise of church discipline.

A local church should typically have several pastors who share the work of shepherding God's flock. These must be men who are spiritually gifted by God to teach the Word of God and to act as leaders and overseers. In Scripture, the terms "pastor," "elder" and "overseer" were used interchangeably of the same men. There is no Biblical evidence that these men left their secular occupations to become "full-time" employees of the church. Nevertheless, the church was to compensate them materially for the time and energy they devoted to their pastoral ministry.

The concept of a "bishop" who was to have authority over more than one church, is unknown to Scripture. The Greek word episkopos, sometimes translated "bishop", simply means "overseer", and is used in Scripture equivalently with the terms "pastor" and "elder". Biblical churches were answerable to God alone, and had no heirarchy governing over multiple churches.

See my articles The Biblical Model for Church Organization and The Structure of the Local Church.
 

The Christian and Society.
I believe our response to society must be based upon the clear teaching and practice of Christ and His apostles. They never sought to seize political control, nor to impose the Mosaic Law upon society. The consistent message of the New Testament is that true conformity to God's Law can only be achieved (1) judicially, by the sacrifice of Christ, and (2) practically, by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the believer. It was the hypocritical Pharisees who sought to please God by outward conformity to His Law, and our Lord was relentlessly critical of their hypocrisy. We must not promote the error of the Pharisees by trying to coerce God's Law upon unbelievers. Under Israel's theocracy, God's Law could be validly imposed upon God's covenant people, but apart from theocratic rule, the Law can only serve the evangelical purpose of leading men to despair of their own righteousness that they might seek Christ.

Our primary responsibility to society is to proclaim the glories of our Sovereign God to a lost world. Also, we are to be responsible citizens, obeying the government except when it requires us to disobey God. We should pray for our public officials, that they may provide a peaceful society in which we may openly worship God and proclaim His majesty. We should take the Gospel to our lost relatives and acquaintances, and should support the local church and missions. We should daily ask God for His grace to become more conformed to Christ's image. As we become more like our blessed Lord, our family and others who know us will benefit as well, and will witness God's glory written on hearts of flesh.
 

Credits and Recommendations.
If I have done anything truly good or worthwhile in my life, I ascribe it all to God.  I know that my thoughts and actions have often been sinful, selfish, unkind or corrupt. My only hope of peace with God is that He sent His only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ to suffer and die as the Substitute of everyone who trusts in Him as their Lord and Savior. It is by His sacrifice alone that we receive forgiveness and cleansing.

If you do not know this Savior, I urge you to acquaint yourself with Him, for there is no other salvation from our sin and from God's judgment than Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death on the Cross.  You are invited to visit my Gospel page.

If you do know Him, I urge you to draw closer to Him by:

1. Meeting regularly with other saints who believe in God's sovereign grace.
2. Sitting under the preaching of the Word of God.
3. Personal Bible study and meditating upon God's Word.
4. Fully trusting the Bible and allowing scripture to mold your beliefs—resisting the temptation to "reinterpret" a passage just because it doesn't fit cultural norms, church traditions or cherished personal opinions.
5. Daily communion with God in prayer—daily seeking from God the grace we need to live the Christian life.
6. Keeping your heart and mind focused upon God and upon the Cross of Christ.
7. Learning to love and desire God with all your heart.
8. Daily singing hymns of praise to God (visit my Hymns page for suggestions).
9. Interceding for our families, pastors, missionaries, the persecuted church, other Christians, government leaders, and for the salvation of unsaved relatives and acquaintances.
10. Reading books and articles by Christian authors who exalt God, His Word and His sovereign mercy (check out my Books page, Library page and Links page for suggestions).
11. Following the example of Christ and the apostles in kindness, generous giving, witness, humility, compassion, and selfless love for our brothers in Christ.
12. Upholding the five Sola's of the Reformation: Christ Alone, Grace Alone, Faith Alone, the Bible Alone, and Glory to God Alone.