Questions to ask when reading your Bible

Practical Tips for Reading Your Bible and Submitting to the Spirit — Read with the intent of knowing God and His mind, not “solving problems.” Establish a time and place that you will meet God every day — e.g., in the blue chair at 6:30 a.m. Keep a Bible, pad & pen (and maybe a […]

A new year of Bible reading

The spiritual life is simple, though it is not easy. It is simple in that the means to growing in Christ is not complicated; it is not easy in that the discipline required to apply God’s grace is difficult (discipline requires self-control, which is not natural for the natural man). So how does one grow […]

When the Bible is attacked

I haven’t looked at the newsstands recently, but my suspicion is that since it is a holiday season, there is soon coming a questioning of some measure of Biblical faith. Perhaps it will be another new gospel, or perhaps the discovery of a lost ossuary, or perhaps another tomb of Jesus, or another fiction book […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/26/07)

“If we understood Hell even the slightest bit, none of us would ever say, ‘Go to Hell.’ It’s far too easy to go to Hell. It requires no change of course, no navigational adjustments. We were born with our autopilot set toward Hell. It is nothing to take lightly — Hell is the single greatest […]

The high cost of sexual sin

In preparation for Sunday’s sermon, I came across this statement by Derek Kidner about the Biblical reality of what sexual sin is. [All the references are from Proverbs.] …sexual sin is presented in the darkest colours. It is a squandering of powers that were designed for the founding of a true family that should be […]

Sunday Leftovers (8/5/07)

“To the physician,” writes, Chuck Swindoll, “it’s merely a two-ounce slab of mucous membrane…But the tongue is as volatile as it is vital…[It is ] verbal cyanide. A lethal, relentless, flaming missile which assaults with hellish power, blistering and destroying at will.” This is the testimony of many Scriptures — Jesus, James, and Proverbs speak […]

Worthy of imitation

Several years ago, basketball player Charles Barkley created no small amount of controversy when he said, “I am not paid to be a role model. I am paid to wreak havoc on a basketball court. Parents should be role models. Just because I can dunk a basketball, that doesn’t mean I should raise your kids…” […]

Sunday Leftovers (4/15/07)

What you believe is reflected in what you do and how you do it. Everything you do reveals something about your belief system. Those two statements are important for individuals and churches as they make decisions about the future. To that end, we have identified a number of truths that are crucial to us as […]

They said it better than me: temptation

In a recent men’s study on Proverbs 6, we dealt with the issue of temptation. In preparation, I came across a number of statements about temptation that were particularly helpful: “When a man is confronted with the alluring temptation, he sees only the attractiveness of the desired object; only when his will has sanctioned the […]

Sunday Leftovers (3/18/07)

While Scripture has a high view of Scripture, the goal of acquiring knowledge of Scripture, meditating on Scripture and listening to sermons is not the mere accumulation of more knowledge. The goal of Biblical instruction is not just more knowledge. Rather, true Biblical instruction and knowledge will culminate in people and in a church that […]

Sola Scriptura

The audio from the recent Sola Scriptura conference hosted by Countryside Bible Church has now been posted. There are six messages in all, two each by Steve Lawson, Bruce Ware, and Don Whitney. I could only attend one evening, but have downloaded the rest of the messages and am looking forward to listening to all […]

Final Thoughts from Adophe Monod

I just finished reading Adolphe Monod’s Living in the Hope of Glory this morning. Several statements stood out as I completed the book: “We have no idea of what we would be able to do if we were completely lost in such total harmony with God; if we would seek no other will than his. […]

A good word about the Word

I came across this statement about the authority of Scripture in my devotional reading this morning: I declare, as though before the judgment seat of Jesus Christ, where I expect soon to appear, my unshakable conviction that when Scripture speaks, God speaks.…When Scripture speaks, God speaks. When Scripture proclaims God’s will or the way of […]

Thomas Boston on Scripture

“Consider the excellency of the scriptures. There is a transcendent glory in them, which whoso discern cannot miss to hug and embrace them. To commend the bible to you, I shall say these eight things of it. [Here is the first only.] 1. It is the best of books. They may know much, ye think, […]