Ask someone what some of the main themes of Ephesians are, and you will likely receive answers like salvation, family, how to relate to others, the church, spiritual armor and warfare, and theology. But it’s unlikely that you’ll hear the answer, “love.” Yet love is a dominant theme in this letter. The word “love” appears […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/3/11)Believers live in a place that is not their home. It is often all-to-clear that this is not our permanent abode. And yet there are also so many manifestations of God’s grace and kindness even while living amidst fallenness: Wrestling is to Iowa as football is to Texas. So when high school student Joel Northrup […]
Read More Grab BagRomans 7 speaks of the problem of indwelling sin in the life of the believer. He has a new disposition that wants to do good, but he still has the nature of the flesh that does the things he does not want to do (and doesn’t do the things he wants to do). But thanks […]
Read More God’s love for His ownAlways treasure Christ and you will never be disappointed. If you are disappointed, you have hoped in something more than you have hoped in Christ.
Read More 25 words for new graduatesPaul wanted to know Christ — even to the point of knowing the fellowship with Him that comes from suffering (Phil. 3:10). And Paul wanted his spiritual children to know Christ — that they would know the full confidence that is associated with the hope of His calling them to salvation (Eph. 1:19), and that […]
Read More On knowing ChristToday, on the day when the rest of the world celebrates the human love, what better time is there to remember the divine love of God for man. What follow are some reflections of men who have “said it better than me” about God’s love: When Karl Barth, the famed German theologian, visited the Untied […]
Read More Valentine’s Day and the love of GodJohn Bunyan, All Loves Excelling: …that a person so great, so high, so glorious, as this Jesus Christ was, should have love for us, that passes knowledge. It is common for equals to love, and for superiors to be beloved; but for the King of princes, for the Son of God, for Jesus Christ to […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Christ’s Love (Bunyan)John Calvin, quoted in John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, and Doxology: I call “piety” that reverence joined with love of God which the knowledge of his benefits induces. For until men recognize that they owe everything to God, that they are nourished by his fatherly care, that he is the Author of their […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Holiness (Calvin)D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter: Amid the crushing burdens or the burning trials that often befall the saints, it is the cross and the resurrection of Christ that remain the unshakable demonstration of God’s love and concern.
Read More Today’s Quote – God’s Love (Hiebert)Dwight Edwards, Revolution Within: When He’s viewed almost exclusively as a God of love, we see forgiveness as just part of His job. That leaves His love with no punch for us, no fizz, no sprakle. Assumed grace can never be transforming grace. We must be primed by the blazing holiness of God before His […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Grace (Edwards)Theodore Cuyler, God’s Light on Dark Clouds: Never has [God] promised us an easy road or a smooth road, or such a road as our selfishness may select. He never consents that the flock shall decide as to the lot in which they shall be pastured, or over what deep hills he shall conduct them, […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Trials (Cuyler)Title: Love or Die: Christ’s Wake-Up Call to the Church Author: Alexander Strauch Publisher: Lewis & Roth, 2008; 99 pp. $9.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): A few weeks ago I preached a message on Revelation 2:1-7 — the Ephesian church’s loss of love for Christ. A couple days after the message, a friend said to […]
Read More Book Review: Love or DieFear of leaving the love of God might leave some thinking that the attention to doctrine practiced by the Ephesians is detrimental to a passionate, heart-filled following of Christ (I have a friend who leans in that direction). Yet, John Piper this week made “A Plea for Heart Devotions and Head Study.” It is a […]
Read More Head and heartJohn 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)Gene Getz, Sharpening the Focus of the Church: Experience has demonstrated beyond doubt that knowing does not automatically lead to doing.…A Christian can know many things about God without sensing His greatness, His power, His riches, and His grace, without being moved by the marvel and wonder of it all.…In short, it is possible to […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Knowledge (Getz)
Words of Grace 