Matt Chandler is pastor of The Village Church in the Dallas area. Last Thanksgiving he discovered that he had a malignant tumor in his brain. Doctors were able to remove much, but not all of it, and he was given the prognosis of 2-4 years to live. He is in his mid-thirties with two young […]
Read More Matt Chandler helps prepare us for sufferingTitle: All Things for Good Author: Thomas Watson Publisher: Banner of Truth Trust (reprint), 1986; 127 pp. $8.00 ($6 in the church bookstore) Recommendation (4-star scale): I like to read. Always have. I like to go to bookstores. I’ll leave one bookstore (as I did yesterday), see another bookstore half a mile away, and want […]
Read More Book Review: All Things for GoodYesterday morning in our worship service, we introduced Thomas Watson’s exposition of Romans 8:28 — All Things for Good — as our book of the month (review forthcoming). The truth of God’s sovereignty in all things is a precious comfort and a source of stability to the believer. And Watson is hardly the only writer […]
Read More Everything God sends is needfulRomans 8:28 is a well-known, often-quoted, hard-to-believe verse. That God uses the beneficent acts of our lives for our good is comprehensible. We do not struggle to understand how God is working good in our lives when we are recipients or instigators of gracious words and activities. But when the worst things in life invade […]
Read More How God uses sin for our goodAl Mohler, “The Pill Turns 50” “Has God Predetermined Everything? Even Sin?“ “Why fight sin if God uses it for good anyway?” Together for the Gospel panel discussions are now available A new book by John Piper, Jesus, the Only Way to God (July, 2010) Practical suggestions for how to encourage missionaries — and without […]
Read More Grab bagThe story of Israel in the book of Joshua is triumphal and victorious. It is filled with obedience, worship, and delight in God. The story of Israel in the book of Judges is sorrow and defeat. Judges is everything that Joshua isn’t. It is a book of disobedience, idolatrous worship, and rejection of God. And […]
Read More There are Canaanites in the land!It is tempting to look at the crucifixion of Christ simply as the result of the unchecked sin of unredeemed men and the unbelief of the nation of Israel. Considering only the responses of the crowds can lead one to think, “well, if they had believed, then this would never have happened — Christ would […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (3/28/10)The question about how the sovereignty of God relates to the responsibility of man is an old one. In His book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I. Packer addresses how God’s sovereignty relates to our responsibility in proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers. There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust faith […]
Read More Sovereignty and responsibilitySometimes, the smallest and seemingly most insignificant words in a verse carry the biggest implication. So it is in a verse of Scripture that we read this morning. The word “meanwhile” in Genesis 37:36 in Hebrew is actually the word “and.” It is generally translated as a simple connective or as a contrastive (like “but”) […]
Read More Meanwhile…J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God: There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust faith in the absolute sovereignty of God is bound to undermine any adequate sense of human responsibility. Such a faith is thought to be dangerous to spiritual health because it breeds a habit of complacent inertia. In particular, it is […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Sovereignty (Packer)In his book, The Hidden Smile of God, John Piper recounts the story of hymn writer William Cowper (pronounced “Cooper”). His is a sad tale including the death of his mother at age six, his abandonment by his father into boarding schools where it seems certain he was abused, and his constant battles with despair […]
Read More God moves in a mysterious wayAn assortment of miscellaneous articles and thoughts from around the web: Al Mohler, “Looking Back: TIME asks: ‘Is God Dead John Piper, “10 Reasons Why Believing in the Sovereignty of God Matters” A couple books that look interesting (I have not read these books and know nothing about them other than what you will read […]
Read More Grab BagA. W. Pink, The Attributes of God: [The sovereignty of God is] the exercise of His supremacy.…God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. None can thwart Him, none can hinder Him. Divine sovereignty means that God is God in fact, as well as in name, that He is on […]
Read More Today’s Quote – Sovereignty (Pink)Title: Just Do Something Author: Kevin DeYoung Publisher: Moody Publishers, 2009; 128 pp. $10.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): On my shelves and in my files are numerous books, pamphlets and articles on the topic of the will of God. Yet I recently acquired this book, Just Do Something, to augment my collection. Admittedly, the prime reason […]
Read More Book Review: Just Do SomethingWhat 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?
Words of Grace 