When I was four or five years old, it was not uncommon for me to ask my mother if I could use a table knife for a few minutes. I would take the knife to my bedroom, grab my green ceramic piggy bank, hop on my bed and carefully use the knife to extract the […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (4/5/09)Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed: All sin is either from false principles, or ignorance, or thoughtlessness, or unbelief of what is true.…It is good, therefore, to store up true principles in our hearts, and to refresh them often, that, in virtue of them, our affections and actions may be more vigorous.
Read More Today’s Quote – Scripture (Sibbes)John Piper, When I Don’t Desire God: We need the Word of God not only to see God in the Word, but to see him rightly everywhere else.
Read More Today’s Quote – Scripture (Piper)Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices: It is not the hearing of truth, nor the knowing of truth, nor the commending of truth, nor the talking of truth, but the indwelling of truth in your souls, that will keep your judgments chaste and sound, in the midst of all those glittering errors that betray […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Scripture (Brooks)What is the last thing you might tell your teenager as he is about to leave for his first semester of college? What is the last thing you might tell your employees before you leave for a new opportunity? What is the last thing you tell long-time neighbors before you leave the neighborhood? What is […]
Read More This is not an idle wordJohn MacArthur, Our Sufficiency in Christ: You’ll never know what the Word can do if you don’t study and apply it. It isn’t enough to simply say you believe it. It must occupy an exalted place in your life. Since God Himself exalts and magnifies it (Ps. 138:2), how much more should we?
Read More Today’s Quote – Scripture (MacArthur)It is good to maintain doctrinal purity in the church. It’s not only good — it’s the reason the church exists (1 Tim. 3:15) and is our calling and responsibility (2 Tim. 1:13ff). But there is no benefit to maintaining a doctrinal purity and clarity without devotion; nor is their benefit in keeping devotion without […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers, 3/22/09Today’s reading in the Psalms is a precursor to the hymn, “Count Your Many Blessings.” Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us; There is none to compare with You. If I would declare and speak of them, They would be too numerous to count. Take […]
Read More Count your many blessingsWith all the talk about the economy in recent days, many people’s minds are firmly on what they may or may not have in the future. Dwindling retirement accounts and diminishing potential inheritance bequests have stimulated no small amount of angst among many in our culture. Which makes you wonder what the Levites thought when […]
Read More Are you satisfied with your inheritance?Self-examination will lead to boasting. At least that’s what Paul says. And he says such self-examination and boasting is good and beneficial: But each one must examine his own work, and then he will have reason for boasting in regard to himself alone, and not in regard to another. Two truths dominate this verse: the […]
Read More Self-examination and boastingJohn Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion (1.13.22): …let us use great caution that neither our thoughts nor our speech go beyond the limits to which the Word of God itself extends. For how can the human mind measure off the measureless essence of God according to its own little measure, a mind as yet […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Scripture (Calvin)Thabiti Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?: …[in] the preaching of God’s Word and in Bible study, Christians should remain lowly and gentle before the Scripture, acknowleding it as the source of salvation and are to do so as people knowing our sinful nature, our spiritual poverty before God, and our need for the […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Teachability (Anyabwile)John Stott, Authentic Christianity: We need to repent of the haughty way in which we sometimes stand in judgment upon Scripture and must learn to sit humbly under its judgment instead. If we come to Scripture with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Conviction (Stott)One of the values of Scripture is that it teaches us — for we do not know and understand. Given that we are taught by Scripture a fair question to ask, then, is “what kind of learner are you?’ It is possible to be a Bible learner that learns without a Biblical purpose. We might […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (1/25/09)“And He appointed twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach…” (Mark 3:14) Seven words form the foundation of Christ’s discipleship process for His band of twelve followers. So that they would be with Him. A few fishermen. A couple little brothers. A tax collector. A […]
Read More Bible Reading Reflections, Mark 1-6
