Shepherds’ Conference seminars

The Shepherds’ Conference begins three weeks from today. Grace Community Church has posted some videos explaining some of the seminars scheduled for the conference. Here are some of the speakers talking about their seminars: Steve Lawson on C. H. Spurgeon — “The Evangelistic Zeal of a 19th Century Calvinist:” Lance Quinn on “The Biblical Counseling […]

Evangelism and God’s sovereignty, part 2

Continuing yesterday’s quotation from J. I. Packer’s, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God. Today’s quote centers on how God’s sovereignty relates to our duty to evangelize. The sovereignty of God in grace gives us our only hope of success in evangelism. Some fear that belief in the sovereign grace of God leads to the conclusion […]

Amazed by unbelief

It is not for lack of evidence that belief that people don’t believe in Christ. They do not believe in spite of the evidence that they are given. As one writer has noted, “What a man does not want to believe, he can find a way to deny.” Unbelief has always been a common response […]

Evangelism and God’s sovereignty, part 1

Last Sunday’s message was about what we do and what God does in evangelism. The best work on this subject is J. I. Packer’s book, Evangelism & the Sovereignty of God. The last chapter of the book ties together the two themes of our work and God’s work in the process of evangelism. The entire […]

A full basket of provision

Ministry can be relentlessly busy. There are days when you just want to stop. You don’t want to leave Christ or quit your ministry; you just want a break from the pace. The disciples certainly knew that desire. You can almost read it between the lines of their complaints in Matthew 14. The opposition to […]

Valentine’s Day: God’s love for His own

What is God’s unique love for His redeemed people? He made us His children and given us One who is greater than the one in the world Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. (1 Jn 4:4) […]

Desiring God has an app

Keep up with all the latest blog posts, articles, sermons, and conference messages at Desiring God through its new app. John Piper demonstrates the app: The Desiring God App.

Jesus and the demoniac

Jesus demonstrated His supreme power over nature in the stilling of the storm (Mk. 4:35-41), and immediately after crossing the lake to the other side, he is confronted by a powerful demoniac (Mk. 5:1ff). We know he is powerful because the man has lost complete control over his senses, as evidenced by his lack of […]

Sunday Leftovers: the Gospel and Evangelism

Few topics produce guilt in the mind of the believer like evangelism. We know we should be more attentive to evangelism, but too often we see it as a dutiful obligation and task instead of a joyous privilege and honor. Over the past three weeks, we have spent time considering principles relating to evangelism in […]

Two helpful definitions of evangelism

The Lausanne Conference on Evangelism (1974) defined evangelism this way: “To evangelize is to spread the good news that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead according to the Scriptures, and that as the reigning Lord he now offers the forgiveness of sins and the liberating gift of the Spirit […]

A psalm of the cross

Psalm 22 is familiar to many readers not so much for the psalm itself, but for how Christ and the New Testament writers used this psalm. Spurgeon calls it “The Psalm of the Cross,” writing, “It is the photograph of our Lord’s saddest hours, the record of his dying words, the lachrymatory of his last […]

A motive for evangelism

In Acts 17:16, Luke notes that while Paul was in Athens, “his spirit was being provoked within him as he was observing the city full of idols.” Contemplating this verse, John Stott offers a motive for missions that is not often considered. He’s right. “…the pain or ‘paroxysm’ which Paul felt in Athens was due […]

Something unexpected on my iPod

Those who know my musical tastes (think Beethoven, Mozart, and Handel for “secular” music and Michael Card, Fernando Ortega, and the Gettys for Christian music), might be as surprised as my daughter was the other day to find Shai Linne on my iPod. Christian rap is not something I listen to with regularity, but I […]

Understanding Christ’s Parables

In Mark 4 (the parallel passage of Mt. 13 and Luke 8) Jesus begins teaching in parables, starting with perhaps the most well-known parable, the parable of the soils. Yet as He taught, the disciples were confused (v. 10; cf. also Mt. 13:10; Lk. 8:9) — why was He changing His method of teaching, and […]

A brief lesson about demons

In Luke 8, Jesus confronts the demoniac known as Legion. And in a spectacular demonstration of His power, and with something of a sense of irony, Jesus sends the demons into a herd of pigs, who then rush over a cliff to a watery grave. Yet in this story, some basic realities about demons are […]