RenewalBlog

Migraine Mondays

6/1/2026

Few people have the opportunity peer into the life of the pastor—a real behind-the-scenes glance of life in a pastor’s home. Some television shows in the past have dramatized what life in a pastor’s home is like, but they’ve often presented a very inaccurate representation of what it’s like. I remember watching one show where the pastor was preparing his sermon in his office and one of his children interrupted him. What I thought was funny was that the shelves behind his desk were packed with what looked like photo albums, not serious scholarly books on theology and the Bible. Television portrayals aside, what is life like for a pastor on a given Lord’s Day?

Ben Sasse: Not Just Filling Time

5/25/2026

Kevin Nelson and his family once received a print of Gustave Dore’s “Adam and Eve Driven Out of Eden” as a gift from a congregant. In the work, Adam and Eve stagger toward the viewer surrounded by thorns and thistles, while a sword-wielding angel behind them guards the entrance to Eden.
The congregant was Melissa Sasse, wife of former U.S. Senator Ben Sasse.
Nelson — who pastors Faith Presbyterian Church in Gainesville, Florida — believes the print epitomizes the way the Sasse family approaches life in a fallen world.
“There is meaningful work to be done. There are important things that are good, but [the Sasses] never put their hope in this life … They know that they are here as pilgrims. This is not their home. And yet, it’s a life that has all sorts of beautiful God-given callings, and they want to do as much as they can in this life to serve God and glorify him.”
Nelson said this approach to adversity was true for the Sasse family when Melissa was the only one with serious health challenges. Now that Ben has Stage 4 metastatic pancreatic cancer, the family’s outlook has not changed.

Seeing Christ Through Gospel Lenses

5/18/2026

“Seeing Christ through Gospel Lenses” is my endeavor to capture the emphasis in Scripture, particularly the book of Colossians, on the present and future joy of every believer, to treasure the unsurpassable weightiness of Christ. When we contemplate what it means to “see” Christ, for many of us, we may relegate this sight of Christ to future glory when believers will see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).

Certainly, I do not in any way desire to trample upon this noble and glorious expectation for the believer’s future glorification, especially when Scripture holds this future glory aloft for our encouragement and strengthening. Yet, as we examine the contexts of our future hope in glory with Christ, we will find that our future is anchored and grounded in the finished, historical work of Jesus Christ!

Note To Self

5/11/2026

Preaching to ourselves? That is the question our author Joe Thorn asks of his readers and, in fact, serves as the theme around which he frames this book. Thorn writes, “the idea of preaching the gospel to ourselves is getting more press these days, but the actual work of preaching to ourselves seems to be slow in coming” (23).

Of course, it has been trendy in reformed circles over the last decade to exhort the church to preach the gospel to self. In the effort of fighting against the believer’s tendency toward legalism (which is often associated with the compilation of lists of moralistic principles) some authors have encouraged believers to, in effect, “let go and let God” by simply remembering the gospel each day.

One might argue: the Holy Spirit empowers the Christian walk through the proclamation of the gospel, therefore a believer should make it a daily habit to meditate on the truths of the gospel and the Holy Spirit will consequently energize the Christian walk through faith, and faith's fruit-bearing obedience.
On the other hand, many are concerned that this particular message ignores the power the regenerate believer has in Christ to obey for the glory of God, thus downplaying the New Covenant promise that the law has been written on the believer’s heart. So which is it? Or is there more to consider?

Puritans as Physicians of the soul and for Preaching

5/4/2026

Stephen Yuille is someone who is a respected pastor and professor and expert on the Puritans. He does work that makes the Puritans more accessible to the average person. What you first think of when you think Puritan may not be accurate!
Here are a couple of links to interviews he has done and to a devotional book he put together. We hope you come to appreciate the Puritans a little more and see the value they have for your Christian life. Voices of the past can be very helpful for today.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1pVfOZ-UHyg

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RrRKsDLdb7I

https://heritagebooks.org/products/the-fullness-of-grace-volume-3-yuille.html?srsltid=AfmBOoq7AORyICdC-ouosKRmL1BESrkse4IIjm_FYdNcACuct988p_GS

Warfield on the Holy Spirit's Aid in Prayer

4/27/2026

B. B. Warfield preached a wonderful sermon in Miller Chapel at Princeton Theological Seminary on the role of the Holy Spirit aiding God’s people in prayer. There is no date given, but text was Romans 8:26-27, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.”

Review: The Anxious Generation: How The Great Rewiring Of Childhood Is Causing An Epidemic Of Mental Illness By Jonathan HaidtbyHarrison Perkins

4/20/2026

Very few books, at least those that are uninspired, truly blow my mind and prompt immediate change in my lifestyle. Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation, however, sent me spinning almost every time I sat down with it. What I learned not only affected me tremendously in how I understand aspects of our modern culture; it also made me examine and adjust my own practices. To cut to the chase, pastors, parents, and Christians who use technology or know young people who do must read this book. It is that important.

Blogs Organized

4/13/2026

Watch Out for Loudmouths

4/6/2026

Over the years I’ve run into literally thousands of people who love and embrace the Reformed faith. Everyone’s story is a bit different—some found out about the Reformed faith through books, others through ministries, such as Ligonier or the White Horse Inn, and still yet others have grown up in the Reformed church. One of the classes of people I avoid, however, is the loudmouth. As a pastor I’ve found that there are usually at least two types of people: people who quietly serve and others who tell you all about what they know.
There were a number of people over the years who were raised in the Reformed church, love the Westminster Standards, and knew their Bibles very well. The interesting thing, though, was that they never told me any of these things. When they came to church they were quiet and reserved, and when a sign-up sheet went around looking for volunteers, they signed up without fuss or muss. A number of these people served, for example, in the children’s Sunday School—a task that many avoid like the plague. As cute as children can be, being locked in a small room with toddlers can strike fear into the heart of the most stouthearted person.

Podcasts Categorized!

4/1/2026

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