The mystery revealed by God is the gospel and its effects. The mystery that was not known in the Old Testament and has now been revealed by the Holy Spirit through the apostles and the prophets. Specifically, this mystery is the working of the gospel to include the Gentiles into the plan of salvation, according […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (5/31/09)Tim Challies, The Spiritual Discipline of Discernment: It must be noted that while Scripture does not explicitly forbid self-forgiveness, it also does not require or endorse it. It seems, then, that we do not need to forgive ourselves, nor should we make this our practice. If we struggle with guilt or shame, forgiving ourselves may […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Forgiveness of Self (Challies)John Piper, Battling Unbelief: …one powerful way of overcoming bitterness and revenge is to have faith in the promise that God will settle accounts with our offenders so that we don’t have to.
Read More Today’s Quote – Forgiveness (Piper)Tim Challies, The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment: Richard Phillips writes, “Theology bores today’s Christians, which is another way of saying we are bored with God himself.
Read More Today’s Quote – Theology (Challies)Today is Memorial Day. It is a day to appropriately remember those who have given their service and their lives for the sake of the freedom of our country. On this Memorial Day Monday, I cannot help but think back to last Monday when our family viewed a number of memorials on the National Mall […]
Read More Memorial DayJonathan Edwards (The End for Which God Created the World; in God’s Passion for His Glory): …the glory of God is the ultimate end of the work of redemption, which is the chief work of providence towards the moral world, as is abundantly manifest from Scripture. For the whole universe is put in subjection to […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Redemption (Edwards)Preaching from Ephesians 1:7, John Calvin said, God puts our sins out of his remembrance and drowns them in the depths of the sea, and, moreover, receives the payment that was offered him in the person of his only Son. This is the gift of redemption that comes from God through the God-Man Jesus Christ. […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (5/24/09)Well, maybe I haven’t been quiet, but all has been quiet on my blog for the past week or so. Other responsibilities and distractions have just conjoined to keep me away from my blog, which has been a benefit and a disappointment. A benefit because other items have been more needful (e.g., it was more […]
Read More I’ve been quiet…What does it mean when the Bible says, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated” (Rom. 9:13)? Can God really hate people? (We know it is righteous to hate sin.) If so, how is that hatred righteous (as it must be for God to be God)? And what specifically did it mean when Paul quoted […]
Read More Does God hate?For all the questions that may be raised about the doctrine of divine, unconditional election, what is particularly striking about Ephesians 1:4 is its clarity and simplicity. That God was the one doing the choosing is unmistakable. That man is incapable of offering anything meritorious for his salvation, is also clear. God chose before the […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (5/3/09)What if the swine flu becomes bad? Really bad? Of pandemic proportions? How will the Christian respond? As Al Mohler notes this morning in “Love in Time of Swine Flu,” such an epidemic will create unique opportunities. [Aside: neither he nor I are predicting such an impact from this flu is imminent, only that it […]
Read More What if the swine flu becomes pandemic?John Piper, “Jesus Christ and the Rescue of Joy, Part 1:” That word “magnify” is tricky. Because microscopes magnify and telescopes magnify. And they do something very different. Magnify with a microscope and you mike a very tiny little thing look bigger than it is. If you try to magnify God that way, you blaspheme. […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Magnify God (Piper)Title: A Passion for God: the Spiritual Journey of A. W. Tozer Author: Lyle Dorsett Publisher: Moody Press, 2008; 189 pp. $14.95 Recommendation (4-star scale): Shortly after beginning seminary, I purchased a small anthology of A. W. Tozer’s works. I did not need to read long before I was taken by this writer. I knew […]
Read More Book Review: A Passion for GodIn preparation for yesterday’s message on Ephesians 1:4 (and the one or two that will follow it), I have not only done a fair bit of reading, but have also listened to a number of sermons that have benefited me. The ones I have linked below have been the greatest help to me. [Aside: I […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (4/26/09)Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Every little that [the Saints, contented men] have is but as an earnest [guarantee] for all the glory that is reserved for them; it is given them by God as the forerunner of those external mercies that the Lord intends for them.
Read More Today’s Quote – Spiritual Blessings (Burroughs)
