The audio from the messages of the Sola Gratia conference hosted by Countryside Bible Church last weekend is now available. The three speakers for this event were Richard Phillips, Russell Moore, and John Hannah. I missed hearing John Hannah, who spoke only on Sunday, but was introduced to Phillips and Moore, hearing them both for […]
Read More Sola Gratia conference audio availableMany years ago, one pastor ventured into a land of discovery — his quest was to find how much his people read their Bibles each day. He pastored a godly and effective church, so his expectation was that they read their copies of Scripture more than most believers in most churches. It was a reasonable […]
Read More Read the BibleTitle: Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life Author: Donald S. Whitney Publisher: NavPress, 1991; 254 pp. $15.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting,” wrote G. K. Chesterton. Rather, “It has been found difficult and left untried.” This could not only be said of the Christian life in […]
Read More Book Review: Spiritual DisciplinesMeditating on the story of Moses and Jethro (Exodus 18), Jon Bloom meditates on how a godly man receives counsel and correction. “Moses: When God’s Direction Comes Through Correction” provides more insight than just how to receive correction, however. The article also serves to encourage those who give counsel about how to offer it in […]
Read More Giving counsel and receiving correctionWhen offering the gospel, John Piper asks the question, “If you can have all the good things and blessings of Heaven, and God is not there, do you still want Heaven?” The point of the question is to elicit what the desire of the individual is — does he want God, or merely the good […]
Read More Whom have I in Heaven?This week we began reading the book of Leviticus in our Bible-reading plan. It is for most people a somewhat confusing book to read — and certainly disconnected from what NT believers understand about faith in Christ. After all, the system of sacrifices is long-departed. So how are we to understand these things? In short, […]
Read More Reading LeviticusA short Q & A about spiritual gifts — 1. What do we mean with the term “spiritual gifts?” Spiritual gifts can be defined this way: “Spiritual gifts are received from God and His unmerited grace — and they are diversely and sovereignly given to believers at the moment of salvation by the Holy Spirit […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (2/21/10)Interpreters of Ephesians 4:9 have long wrestled with the meaning of the phrase “the lower parts of the earth.” Many have conjectured that phrase means that after the crucifixion Christ went to Hell to proclaim the truth of His death and resurrection to those who resided there. Interpreters base this understanding not only on Ephesians […]
Read More Did Jesus descend to Hell?It has been said of this generation of Christian believers (in America and the West particularly) that our weakness is that we do not think often enough or deeply enough about God. It’s not that we hate God or are angry with God or confused about God — our problem is that we are too […]
Read More Think on these thingsThis may be the best sermon I’ve heard in weeks or even months. In his final message at the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors, Sam Storms proposes that the best way to fight sin is to have a different affection. Instead of telling people seek God instead of pleasure, Storms says that we must seek our […]
Read More A really good word about killing sinWhile thinking about yesterday’s comment from M’Cheyne about trials and the preciousness of Christ, I came across this extended statement by Thomas Watson in his classic work, A Body of Divinity. It comes near the end of his answer to the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, “what is the chief end of man?” […]
Read More God is a delicious goodIf the words that emanate from an individual’s lips reveals the content of that person’s heart, then it is also true that what a person writes is indicative of what is in his heart. It is with that understanding that Tim Challies has embarked on an interesting adventure for this year — he is endeavoring […]
Read More Bestselling books and what they reveal about our soulsI’ve recently begun reading the biography of Robert Murray M’Cheyne. And this weekend I came across this statement from him that I’d come across in another source: You will never find Jesus so precious as when the world is one vast howling wilderness. Then he is like a rose blooming in the midst of desolation, […]
Read More The gracious tests of stormsTitle: In-Laws: Married with Parents Author: Wayne Mack Publisher: P & R Publishing, 2009; 48 pp. $4.99 (available in the GBC bookstore for $3) Recommendation (4-star scale): I have dozens of books on marriage and many more on men’s and women’s issues — how a man can be a godly husband and lead his wife […]
Read More Book Review: In-LawsHow well do you appropriate the grace given to you by Christ. If you are like Samuel Rutherford, probably not sufficiently well — Every man thinketh he is rich enough in grace, till he take out his purse, and… then he findeth it but poor and light in the day of a heavy trial. I […]
Read More Have enough grace?
