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Articles by Mark Dever
Mark Dever’s Remarks on the Sunday after 9/11
Editor’s Note: These are original remarks which Mark Dever delivered to Capitol Hill Baptist Church on the Sunday following the attacks on 9/11. “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance.
Compliance Conversations: Growing Need for Trusted Guidance
Regulatory expectations continue to evolve, creating new challenges for financial institutions as compliance teams work to stay informed and respond to change. Insights gathered through Compliance Conversations, a webinar series hosted by ProBank Education Services, reveal a common theme: compliance professionals are looking for timely information, practical guidance, and trusted resources to help navigate an increasingly complex environment.
Compliance Insights From ProBank Education Services: Q3 2026
Today’s pace of change demands active engagement from every compliance function. Professionals at Forvis Mazars discussed regulatory changes in the third quarter of 2026, enforcement actions, and best practices in our webinar, “Compliance Conversations With ProBank Education Services: Q3 2026.” Topics summarized below include regulatory vigilance, suspicious activity report (SAR) reporting, Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) priorities, and emerging fraud schemes.
Recognizing Elder Financial Exploitation & What to Do About It
The National Adult Protective Services Association defines elder financial exploitation (EFE) as the “illegal or improper use of an older person’s or vulnerable adult’s funds, property, or assets.”1 EFE is one type of elder abuse, which includes physical, sexual, emotional or psychological, and financial abuse or exploitation, neglect, abandonment, and/or self-neglect.2 This article will explore EFE schemes, along with actions for financial institutions to consider.
4 Convictions You Should Never Preach Without
Four Convictions Without Which You Ought Not to Preach When I was teaching at a seminary, which I did for fifteen years, I regularly told my students that they shouldn’t be allowed to graduate if they didn’t have four convictions about Scripture. I would say something very similar to those who are preaching or aspiring to preach. If these convictions about Scripture are not in place and operating in your hearts, I do not think you should be allowed to preach.
How Do I Know That I've Been Called into Ministry?
If you see people around you getting saved because you have shared the gospel with them, or if you see other people's lives being changed because of the things you're sharing with them from the Word, then you might well be called into ministry.
How ProBank Advisor® Can Help You Navigate Compliance
Financial institutions dealing with federal regulatory compliance can find assistance through the ProBank Advisor online platform. The site offers resources such as compliance guides, policy templates, regulatory tracking, and an “Ask an Advisor” feature. Advisors can respond to user queries within 24 to 48 hours—and often faster—offering personalized support that includes phone consultations for complex issues.
Navigating Compliance Challenges: Key Insights for Financial Institutions
The financial industry is navigating a whirlwind of regulatory changes, record-breaking activity, and emerging fraud schemes. For compliance officers, auditors, and other stakeholders, staying ahead requires a proactive approach to understanding and addressing these developments.
Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) Filings Hit Record in 2025
Last year saw a record number of SAR filings. According to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), banks, savings associations, and credit unions alone filed more than 2.193 million SARs in 2025, an increase of 7.66% over SAR filings in 2024. Seven groups in total file SARs, and during 2025, all seven groups filed more than 4.105 million SARs, an increase of 7.99% over total SAR filings in 2024.
Federal Rulemaking Shifts Shaping Current Compliance Priorities
In the evolving landscape of banking compliance, financial institutions continue to monitor developments related to fair lending, small business data collection, and Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) expectations. A recent webinar with ProBank Education Services highlighted how regulators are moving from broad policy signals toward more formalized rulemaking.
Make ProBank Advisor Part of Your Compliance Approach
In today’s evolving regulatory environment, financial institutions face increasing challenges to maintain compliance while focusing on growth. ProBank Advisor® is designed to help simplify compliance and support your team with practical resources and guidance. Here are four reasons to consider ProBank Advisor: 1. Compliance Help Anytime Access our subject-matter advisors with the click of a button. Our advisors include attorneys and prior banking compliance officers and lenders.
4 Things Jesus Came to Do
1. Expose Misunderstanding and Disobedience A central part of who Jesus is and therefore what we are to believe is found in Jesus’s teaching about what he came to do. He came to do a number of things. Jesus clearly came to reveal misunderstanding and disobedience among the Jewish people and their leaders. One interesting way to see this is to examine the three Sabbaths mentioned in the book of John.
Compliance Challenges: Flood Insurance, Executive Orders, & Nacha
The regulatory landscape for financial institutions continues to evolve, presenting both challenges and opportunities. Recent discussions with our clients have highlighted three critical areas: flood insurance issues during government shutdowns, the uncertain impacts of executive orders on compliance, and the National Automated Clearing House Association’s (Nacha) automation of requests for documentation of annual Automated Clearing House (ACH) audit completion.
Navigating the Shifting Sands of Financial Compliance in 2025
The financial compliance landscape is in constant motion, and staying ahead requires vigilance and strategic adaptation. Key insights from the recent Q2 2025 Compliance Conversation reveal that financial institutions must prioritize robust change management, stay current on operational requirements like deposit holds and flood insurance, and intensify their efforts in the ongoing battle against fraud and money laundering.
Regulatory Uncertainty: A Framework for Resilient Compliance
In today’s ever-shifting regulatory environment, financial institutions face a significant challenge: how to maintain robust compliance when the rules of the game are constantly changing. The key to navigating this uncertainty is not to react to every fluctuation, but to build a compliance framework that is inherently resilient, proactive, and adaptable.
Federal Reserve Banks Payment System Updates: Fedwire & NSS
The Federal Reserve banks operate two large-value payment services: the Fedwire Funds Service (Fedwire) and the National Settlement Service (NSS). The Fedwire is a real-time gross settlement (RTGS) service that allows participating financial institutions (participants) to send and receive individual electronic funds transfers up to one penny less than $10 billion in value that are immediate, final, and irrevocable.
What the Three Judgments in Revelation Teach Us About God’s Justice
Judgments in Revelation There are three series of judgments in the book of Revelation. First, seven seals are opened. Then seven trumpets are sounded by angels. Then seven bowls are poured out. At the conclusion of each series is a storm. After the seventh seal is opened, John writes, “there came peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning and an earthquake” (Rev. 8:5).
FinCEN Provides Relief on Suspicious Activity Reporting | Forvis Mazars
On October 9, 2025, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), jointly with the prudential banking regulators, issued answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs) regarding suspicious activity reporting (SAR) and other anti-money laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) considerations for Financial Institutions (or “FIs”) covered by SAR rules.
Learn from Job How to Trust God Even Through Suffering
Suffering Produces Trust Job is one of five books in the middle of our Old Testament that are called “wisdom books”—Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon. In these books, there are no great events (like in the books of history or prophecy) and no new laws (like in the first five books of the Bible). These books aren’t so much about creation or God’s corporate people, Israel. Instead, these books focus on individual people who, in many respects, are like us.
What Philemon Teaches Us About Forgiveness
Introducing Philemon If you read Paul’s letter to Philemon, you’ll notice that this letter is full of people. You can count twelve different people in the twenty-five verses of this brief letter. In addition to Paul, Philemon, and Jesus, you have Timothy, Apphia, Archippus, Onesimus, Epaphras, Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke.
How Exodus Challenges Our Preconceived Notions About God
Exodus directly challenges the idea that God does everything for humanity’s sake. Humans are not the ultimate purpose of creation. God’s own glory is! On Sunday mornings at our church, we generally study smaller sections of Scripture than an entire book like Exodus. But some things can only be seen from a great height.
How Exodus Challenges Our Preconceived Notions About God
God’s Work in Exodus On Sunday mornings at our church, we generally study smaller sections of Scripture than an entire book like Exodus. But some things can only be seen from a great height. So from time to time we divert from spending multiple weeks in one book in order to have what we call “overview sermons.” Right now, we are in a series of five such studies on the first five books of the Bible. Here, we look at the second book, the book of Exodus.
Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor
Bibles Books Tracts Articles Donate By D. A. Carson, Foreword by Mark Dever ... Show All The Triumphs and Trials of an Ordinary Pastor During a Forgotten Era of Church History D. A. Carson’s father was a pioneering church-planter and pastor in Quebec. He ministered during a transformative era for French Canada, navigating the harsh realities of persecution and imprisonment faced by Baptist ministers, and ultimately witnessing the spectacular growth and revival in the 1970s.
God or “Son of God”?
Who the Messiah Is One of the most interesting parts of these early records of Jesus’s ministry, and particularly of John’s Gospel, is the strength of the opposition to Jesus. When Jesus taught about who he was, people reacted strongly. Many of his contemporaries not only rejected his teaching, they rejected it violently. It is ironic that so many books these days will refer to Jesus kindly. One calls him a model chief executive officer. Another calls him a reflection of God.
SBA Orders Lookbacks to Fight Debanking
On August 26, 2025, the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) sent a notice to its network of approved lenders directing them to complete certain actions by December 5, 2025. The move is in response to Executive Order 14331, Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans (EO 14331), which aims to eliminate discriminatory banking practices—commonly referred to as “debanking”—where financial institutions deny services based on political, religious, or lawful business affiliations.
The Message of the New Testament
Bibles Category Text Bibles Study Bibles Journaling Bibles Children & Teen Bibles Church & Ministry Bibles Premium Bibles Key Features Large Print Thinline Cross-References Red Letter Single Column Compact Popular Bibles ESV Study Bible ESV Scripture Journals ESV Church Bible ESV Student Study Bible ESV Large Print Thinline ESV Economy Bible Christmas Gift Guide Books Category Devotionals Bible Studies Discipleship Christian Living Theological Studies Children and Youth Authors Paul Tripp...
The Message of the Old Testament
A Big Picture Overview of Each Old Testament Book The Old Testament is the story of God’s promises to his people. Below its somewhat obscure surface is hidden magnificent truth about the love and power of God. Throughout its pages the reader can find promise after promise from God, all of which are fulfilled in the New Testament—in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.
The Cross Is the Answer. How Well Do You Know the Question?
The Landscape of Scripture The highest I have ever been above the surface of the earth has been in an airplane. A commercial airline cruises at around 34,000 feet, which is about 5,000 feet higher than the tallest mountain on earth. Only military pilots, astronauts, and a few daredevils have been higher than I! Of course, countless people—millions?—have been just as high, sitting comfortably in pressurized cabins, munching away on peanuts or pretzels.
The Church: A Family, a Fellowship, and the Body of Jesus Christ Original
Can you define what a Christian is without mentioning the church? If you can, your definition just might not line up with the Bible's. Think about it. If you're an orphan, you don't adopt parents; they adopt you. If your adoptive parents are named Smith, you now attend the Smith family dinners with the parents and all the children. You share a bedroom at night with the Smith siblings.
Mark Dever’s Vision for Pastoral Ministry in 4 Words
Looking for Leadership When Mark Dever first got to Capitol Hill Baptist Church in 1994, the deacons had been talking about closing the church down. They’d been going through a really hard time. The church had gone through a rough split when a pastor left and took a lot of young families with him out to the suburbs, leaving the older generation behind wondering who was going to lead them. A new pastor came to the church who was incredibly gifted, but his godliness did not reflect his giftings.
A Light on the Hill
Bibles Books Tracts Articles Donate By Caleb Morell, Foreword by Mark Dever ... Show All Format: Crossway+ members receive 30% off books. Learn more. Availability: In Stock Retail Price: $34.99 By Caleb Morell, Foreword by Mark Dever ... Show All God’s Faithfulness on Display in an Engaging Church Biography Capitol Hill Baptist Church, located just blocks away from the center of American power, has a rich 150-year history.
Crossway+ Special: Additional 10% Off Your Order
An Exclusive Offer for Crossway+ Members Now through February 5, 2025, Crossway+ members can receive an additional 10% off their entire order. Take the opportunity to get a Bible study from the new Meet Me in the Bible series or the Flourish Bible Study series, grab a new volume from the Building Healthy Churches or Church Questions series, or check out one of the books in the new Lives of Faith and Grace biography series for middle grade readers. Limited to one order per account.
4 Ways Healthy Church Members Cultivate True Growth
Growing to Be Like Jesus How do healthy church members cultivate growth? The following are some suggestions for continuing to develop godliness or holiness in life. 1. Abide in Christ Jesus said: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
What a Church Is . . . and Isn’t
The church is a people, not a place or a statistic. It’s a body, united into him who is the head. It’s a family, joined together by adoption through Christ. I pray that we pastors would increasingly recognize our awesome responsibility for the particular flocks over which God has made us undershepherds. During my graduate studies, I remember one conversation with a friend who worked for a Christian ministry that was not affiliated with any one church.
October 2024 New Releases
New Books Below is a list of the new and notable resources releasing this month from Crossway. Titles include Daily Doctrine by Kevin DeYoung and the Daily Liturgy Devotional by Douglas Sean O’Donnell. Daily Doctrine: A One-Year Guide to Systematic Theology Kevin DeYoung Designed to make systematic theology clear and accessible for the everyday Christian, this devotional walks through the most important theology topics over the course of a year.
On the Importance of Ecclesiology for a Church Plant, with Matt Smethurst (Pastors Talk, Ep. 276)
In this episode of Pastors Talk, Mark Dever and Jonathan Leeman interview Matt Smethurst, a pastor of River City Baptist Church, on the importance of ecclesiology for a church plant. ***** Subscribe and listen to this episode on Spotify and Apple Podcast Future 9Marks Articles delivered By Alex Duke, Jim Hamilton, Sam Emadi By Deepak Reju, Garrett Kell, Hayley Satrom
What Is a Healthy Church?
Format: Crossway+ members receive 30% off books. Learn more. Availability: In Stock Retail Price: $14.99 Other Books in This Series: Key Traits of a Healthy Church to Develop within the Local Body What is an ideal church, and how can you tell? How does it look different from other churches? More importantly, how does it act differently, especially in society? Many of us aren’t sure how to answer those questions, even though we probably have some preconceived ideas.
What a Church Is . . . and Isn't
A Jarring Conversation During my graduate studies, I remember one conversation with a friend who worked for a Christian ministry that was not affiliated with any one church. He and I did attend the same church for a couple of years. But while I joined the church as a member, my friend didn’t. In fact, he only came for the Sunday morning service and would slip in about halfway through, just in time for the sermon. One day, I decided to ask him about his half-hearted attendance.
3 Principles of Self-Denial for Every Christian
1. While self-denial especially concerns God, it also pertains to others. Now, in these words we observe that the denial of ourselves has reference partly to other people and partly (and especially) to God. Thus, when Scripture directs us to act toward other people such that we show them preference in honor before ourselves, so that we genuinely devote ourselves to looking out for their interests (Rom. 12:10; Phil.
Unity Is Not the Same as Total Agreement
Unity as Striving Together for the Gospel An extreme view of Christian unity is found among those who will work together only with those with whom they agree on everything—doctrinal and practical. They often divide over styles of worship, political and social issues, modes of child discipline and education, church organization and administration, the use of social media, eschatological views, and so on. As you will notice, these are all non-gospel issues.
7 Tips for Loving “Those” People in Your Church
This article is part of the 7 Tips series. A Common Struggle What do you do with “those” people in your church—the ones who drive you crazy? Maybe it’s their vocal political opinions. Maybe it’s a personality that gets under your skin. Maybe it’s a particular lack of appreciation or sensitivity to your culture. Maybe it’s someone who’s critical of you in ways that seem wrongheaded. And then of course, there are the people who have hurt you.
Help! People at Church Are Driving Me Crazy
This article is part of the Help! series. Conflict at Church Who isn’t discouraged by conflict at church? After all, church should be as close as we get to heaven on earth, right? Yet there are so many opportunities for disagreement at church. Conflict comes from differences of opinion, like whether church leaders were right to reduce support for the crisis pregnancy center you love.
10 Key Bible Verses on the Church
This article is part of the Key Bible Verses series. All commentary notes adapted from the ESV Study Bible. 1. Acts 2:42–47 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
What Did the Cross Achieve?
Bibles Books Tracts Articles Donate By J. I. Packer, Foreword by Mark Dever ... Show All Format: Crossway+ members receive 30% off books. Learn more. Availability: In Stock Retail Price: $9.99 Other Books in This Series: By J. I. Packer, Foreword by Mark Dever ... Show All A Classic Essay on Penal Substitutionary Atonement from Theologian J. I.
Pray for God's Help
Introduction Let me describe a relationship, and you see what you think. It's a relationship with no expectations, so there's no shame, and there's no embarrassment. There's no confidence that the other party will respond. That may sound a little bit like you don't care, or you don't think they do either. There's no desire, nothing you particularly like, and nothing that—on the other hand—you particularly want. There's no communication: you don't talk, they don't talk.
How Do I Know That I've Been Called into Ministry?
If you see people around you getting saved because you have shared the gospel with them, or if you see other people's lives being changed because of the things you're sharing with them from the Word, then you might well be called into ministry.
Should Infants Be Baptized?
I think that even as most of my friends who believe in infant baptism would only admit believers to the Lord's table, and that doesn't undermine the fact that it's a gracious ordinance, a gracious sacrament just by the fact that we participate in it. It doesn't undermine the graciousness of God's promises held out to us in Christ in baptism for us to require faith. Our faith. That faith is a gift, as we know from Ephesians 2.
The Compelling Community Study Guide
By Mark Dever, Jamie Dunlop ... Show All Format: Paperback Crossway+ members receive 30% off books. Learn more. Retail Price: $9.99 Availability: In Stock By Mark Dever, Jamie Dunlop ...
Who Should Be Baptized? How Should Baptism Be Done?
Baptism should normally be done by immersion. I do think that Baptists over-argue when we say it can only mean that. I think we can overemphasize immersion - the important question is who is baptizing, not so much how. The thing that protects the shape of the church is that it is believers who are part of the church. Photo Credit: ©SWN Design
According to the Bible How Old Is the Earth? How Important Is This?
The Bible doesn’t say how old the earth is. We know that God made it special. We know he made it in an amazing way—He spoke, and the worlds were made. So, everything that scientist would look at for the ages of the earth are not the things we Christians have our faith tied up in. there will be all kinds of things we do not know.
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