1 God demonstrates His sovereignty sometimes in unexpected ways in order to accomplish His purpose. He demonstrates that by using and directing secular governments and pagan kings as His agents. Second, God is going to show us through this book that His people are personally known to Him and that all of the people are […]

Although adopted into our English language, the word desideratum, as used in the title above, is Latin and may be somewhat unfamiliar. Why use it then? Because I can think of no other single word that says it all — that is, all that I wish to try to say about the matter of a […]

In upcoming issues, I hope to present to The Outlook’s valued readership some introductory-level instruction in biblical counseling philosophy and methodology. The instruction that will be provided is based on the training model we use at The Institute for Reformed Biblical Counseling (IRBC). A great deal of the material that will be shared in upcoming […]

An average of 1.04 billion people see this question every day.1 It’s the welcoming query of Facebook, a social media platform designed to help people around the world stay in touch. It’s an invitation to post something personal on your “wall” so that other people can “like” it (and recently, also react with “love,” “haha,” […]

What is a three-year-old doing in a church service? Really, it can seem hard for a thirteen-year-old to gain something from the service, so why bring in a young child? Isn’t there a better place for children? They might be disruptive, so maybe mom and dad should take turns staying home with them, each coming […]

Introduction In this series of articles, I am seeking to call our confessionally Reformed churches to humble self-examination, which is just another way of echoing Paul’s exhortation to “test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thess. 5:21). There is much that is good with our Reformed heritage. We are debtors both to God for […]

As you and I peruse the pages of Holy Writ, there are four fundamental questions we should always keep in the forefront of our minds: What is God doing in this passage? What is God saying in this passage? How are God’s people responding to God’s actions and words? How should you and I respond […]

Have you ever had that experience of not seeing or knowing something, but then as we sometimes say, “the light goes on”? When our children were babies they could not process how their mom or dad were gone one moment but there the next during peek-a-boo. This was because their brains were still developing spatial […]

If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. (James 1:26) In a previous article, I sought to show what it means to be “slow to speak” according to God’s Word. Guarding our speech, though, requires that we learn how to control the […]

Even before Indiana Jones wooed a generation of young people into pursuing careers in ancient history, archaeology was grabbing the world’s attention. The drama-laden story of Lord Carnarvon’s several-week journey to join Charles Carter in descending the steps of the newly discovered tomb of King Tut is nearly one hundred years old. In the 1800s, […]