What is gratitude? It’s more than only saying, “thank you” for blessings received, as John Piper explains: …gratitude that is pleasing to God is not first a delight in the benefits God gives (though that will be part of it). True gratitude must be rooted in something else that comes firstnamely, a delight in the […]
Read More What is Gratitude?“…to believe the gospel is not only to accept the awesome truths that 1) God is holy, 2) we are hopeless sinners, 3) Christ died and rose again for sinners, and 4) this great salvation is enjoyed by faith in Christ-but believing the gospel is also to treasure Jesus Christ as your unsearchable riches. What […]
Read More The Gospel in a few wordsAt our recent men’s retreat, we were taught the principle of mortifying sin and the flesh by Stuart Scott. I thought back to that event when I read the following statement this afternoon from John Piper: “In marriage, anger rivals lust as a killer. My guess is that anger is a worse enemy than lust. […]
Read More Be killing anger“A Stunning Scale of Our Solar System, Drawn in the Dessert.” Then read Genesis 1 and Psalm 8. I’ve not seen the movie, “The Risen,” but here is a review that appears to be quite helpful. Samuel James posted “Some Thoughts on Christians, Movies, and Nudity.” And then some more thoughts. These are helpful and […]
Read More Grab bagThe battle against sin is a battle that is fought and won or lost in the mind. Long before any of us sins in any way we have lost the battle against that sin in our minds. And before we ever decisively act against any sin with our bodies, we have won the battle against […]
Read More The fight against sin…the strength to live tomorrow will be given tomorrow, not today. And it will be given. Our task today is not to have the strength needed for tomorrow’s burdens. Our task today is to live by the mercies given for today, and to believe that there will be new mercies for tomorrow. Today’s mercies do […]
Read More We need strength and it will be givenJohn Piper: In 1997 I put a list of Bible texts together to help folks think through what job to pursue. Below I have taken that list and added comments to flesh out more specifically what I had in mind. My prayer is that these thoughts will help saturate your mind with the centrality of […]
Read More Trying to decide about another job?The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that, in our work, we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities and anxiety. And all this is doubly burdensome because now by this very toil we must keep ourselves alive. ‘In toil you shall eat of the ground.…In […]
Read More The “curse” of workCrossway has just released John Piper’s latest biography, Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully: The Power of Poetic Effort in the Work of George Herbert, George Whitefield, and C. S. Lewis. Here is what Desiring God has to say about the release of this book: Herbert. Whitefield. Lewis. In the sixth volume of The Swans Are […]
Read More New book from John PiperWith all the cultural talk about the economy, it’s easy to get confused about financial priorities. And it’s hard to keep a biblical perspective for why we have money and material possessions. But the Apostle John won’t let us forget. “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers: Why God gives us material possessionsSome helpful articles from the last week: You may have made a resolution this week about your Bible reading for this year. Here is some good counsel for “How to read the whole Bible in 2014” (including a variety of Bible reading plans) by Justin Taylor. I’ve also posted several plans for our church here. […]
Read More Grab bagJohn Piper, “Preaching as Worship:” Believing in Jesus means coming to Him for the quenching of our souls’ thirst. Faith in Jesus is being satisfied with all that God is for us in Jesus. When we experience that, we magnify the preciousness and worth of God, because God is most glorified in us when we […]
Read More Believing in Jesus means…“When Your World Caves In” (Paul Levy) — a sober reminder of the cost of sin in general and the cost (and protection against) sexual sin in particular: “Recently I’ve spent some time with two friends who were in ministry but have fallen morally and so now find themselves out of a job that they loved, […]
Read More Grab bagFrom Desiring God: The fun begins early Friday afternoon. First it’s the seminars, then the opening plenary. Saturday brings four main sessions and a panel with the speakers. And the grand finale comes Sunday morning with a sermon, just the way C.S. Lewis would like it. At long last, we gather this weekend in Minneapolis […]
Read More Free Live-Stream of Desiring God ConferenceSeveral excellent theological resources are available for a short time for your Kindle — many of them published by Crossway. Consider these examples: A God Entranced Vision of All Things: The Legacy of Jonathan Edwards ed. by John Piper & Justin Taylor ($1.99) Jonathan Edwards and Justification ed. by Josh Moody ($3.99) God’s Grand Design […]
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Words of Grace 