Matt Chandler helps prepare us for suffering

Matt Chandler is pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas area. Last Thanksgiving he discovered that he had a malignant tumor in his brain. Doctors were able to remove much, but not all of it, and he was given the prognosis of 2-4 years to live. He is in his mid-thirties with two young […]

Book Review: All Things for Good

Title: All Things for Good Author: Thomas Watson Publisher: Banner of Truth Trust (reprint), 1986; 127 pp. $8.00 ($6 in the church bookstore) Recommendation (4-star scale): I like to read. Always have. I like to go to bookstores. I’ll leave one bookstore (as I did yesterday), see another bookstore half a mile away, and want […]

T4G breakout sessions now available

The breakout sessions from the recent Together for the Gospel conference are now available for download. After now listening to most of the main sessions, I’m really looking forward to these additional messages. You can download the breakout sessions here.

Everything God sends is needful

Yesterday morning in our worship service, we introduced Thomas Watson’s exposition of Romans 8:28 — All Things for Good — as our book of the month (review forthcoming). The truth of God’s sovereignty in all things is a precious comfort and a source of stability to the believer. And Watson is hardly the only writer […]

Sunday Leftovers (5/9/10)

Writing of the importance of the home and in particular, the mother’s role in the home, John MacArthur has said this The family might survive the problems with children and husband-fathers if the women who are wives and mothers were faithful to their godly calling. Their influence is so strong and pervasive in the home […]

Do not be surprised at fiery ordeals

A few weeks ago I was talking to one of my daughters about a friend she was trying to encourage. He thought he was going through some unusually difficult times — and he was openly unhappy at God about it. How could she encourage him to endure and to trust God’s providence in his life? […]

Has Noah’s ark been found?

I think it was 30 or more years ago that I first heard a report that Noah’s ark was found on Mt. Ararat. Since then other discoveries have been claimed, including one a couple of weeks ago as reported by numerous news sources including FOX News and National Geographic. The question is whether or not […]

Impoverished believers

Mark Dever and Paul Alexander identify one of the things that makes a believer impoverished and weak in his spiritual life — and their assertion is in contradiction to the call of our day and culture: While our individual walks are crucial, we are impoverished in our pursuit of God if we do not avail […]

How God uses sin for our good

Romans 8:28 is a well-known, often-quoted, hard-to-believe verse. That God uses the beneficent acts of our lives for our good is comprehensible. We do not struggle to understand how God is working good in our lives when we are recipients or instigators of gracious words and activities. But when the worst things in life invade […]

God’s love for His own

Romans 7 speaks of the problem of indwelling sin in the life of the believer. He has a new disposition that wants to do good, but he still has the nature of the flesh that does the things he does not want to do (and doesn’t do the things he wants to do). But thanks […]

25 words for new graduates

Always treasure Christ and you will never be disappointed. If you are disappointed, you have hoped in something more than you have hoped in Christ.

Sunday Leftovers (5/2/10)

Who has influenced you for the cause of Jesus Christ? Who has been a dominant, guiding influence in the progress of your faith? The list is invariably substantial (and my best guess is that in heaven when our eyes are opened to the vastness of the expanse of God’s grace, the list will be greater […]

Faith and works

Yesterday I interacted with two stories relating to the nature of saving faith. When a man is genuinely saved, the fruit of that salvation will be evidenced in his life. That is, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he will be changed so that while prior to salvation he could do nothing good, now after salvation […]

Religious theists and saving faith

Faith in God is not enough to save a man. Two related stories that came across my computer screen this morning authenticate that statement. The USA Today references this morning a survey by Lifeway Christian Resources about the so-called faith of young adults (age 18-29). In this study, among those who identified themselves as “Christian:” […]

Dry and thirsty?

Many years ago, my brother and I went on a hiking expedition in the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California. Unfortunately, we were ill-equipped for the day. What began as a cool, refreshing, spring-like morning quickly developed into a hot, parching, dead-of-summer day. Soon I was overcome with the most overwhelming drive to quench my […]