Duane Garner

Whenever Reformed Christians start to talk about the Holy Spirit it seems that we quickly find ourselves in uncharted waters. We know what God the Father has done for us, we know what Jesus has done for us, and it might be easy for us to relate to God as Father, or God as Older

The reports are sickening. Over the past several days we have heard one story after another recounting the attacks of Muslim militants upon Christians in various parts of the middle east. These attacks are precipitated upon the terrorists’ belief that the conflict between the Western world and the Muslim world is a religious conflict. They are

More thoughts on April’s book of the Month The Holy Spirit, by Sinclair Ferguson… As we saw in the last post, Ferguson’s book on the Holy Spirit is so helpful and valuable because he does not merely camp out on the subject of tongues and miracles and various spiritual gifts, but rather He provides a foundational study

This month I will post a few items of interest and questions for discussion from The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson. You are welcome to interact with questions and comments below.  A Brief Review of The Holy Spirit by Sinclair Ferguson While you can read any number of books on the topic of the work and person

Whenever you are watching a sporting event or a movie with a large group of people, there is inevitably that one person who sort of wanders in and out of the room, or who arrives late, but who always expects someone to catch them up on the action when they finally sit down. I usually oblige

As you know, the season of Lent has been buried under a great weight of superstitions and silly practices that make us want to run far far away from any association with those things. At the same time we understand that just because certain branches of the church abuse a thing – whether raising hands

In the classic movie Shenandoah, Jimmy Stewart plays a hard-working family farmer from Virginia who is doing his best to stay out of the conflict that becomes the War Between the States. In one scene he offers grace before a meal, praying, “Lord, we cleared this land. We plowed it, sowed it, and harvest it.

While the Christian home ought to be a warm refuge from anxiety and fear, for many Christians the home is something less than a place of happiness, fruitfulness and discipleship. While we desperately want to see our family-life transformed by the joy and love of Jesus, we often feel powerless to effect the kind of

The doctrine of the priesthood of all believers does not mean only that we can pray directly to God, though it does mean that. And it does not mean only that we can read the Bible for ourselves, it does mean that. But it means primarily that we have a holy, happy duty to worship

In the last entry it was proposed that mankind was created by God primarily for worship. Where do we get this idea? From the first pages of the Bible we find that God created Adam, the first man, for worship. That is, Adam’s job and the purpose of his being was to glorify his creator

The statement “worship changes the world” strikes most Christians as a ridiculous proposition, because for most Christians attendance at worship is not a priority. It is secondary. It is non-essential. It is not perceived to be necessary for their lives, or their salvation. It is something that is okay to do, if you feel like

How would you like to change the world? Does that sound exciting? I’m sure like most people, you don’t like the way things are.  You don’t like the darkness and the ignorance and the poverty and the sin and the death. Great, let’s get started. What are we going to do? When we ask that

Why are we studying the Heidelberg Catechism, and why is this important? Why do we need catechesis (the study of the basic principles of the Christian faith)?

This coming Wednesday evening, we plan to begin a weekly study on the The Heidelberg Catechism. This document is one of the confessional statements Christ Church subscribes to and is a representation of the things we hold in common and believe together. It was written in the mid-1500’s by the German Reformer Zacharias Ursinus and