In today’s passage, Jesus refers to two familiar figures of speech to explain who He is — I am the door of the sheep (vv, 7, 9) I am the good shepherd (vv. 11, 14) Jesus and the rest of Scripture frequently use such images to help us understand the character of God and His […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (10/28/07)Some leftover quotations after thinking about God’s purposeful (read: sovereign) intention to use all circumstances to make worshippers out of unbelievers: “Our trials reveal the measure of our affection for this earth — both its good things and bad things. Our troubles expose our latent idolatry.” [John Piper, Life as a Vapor.] “In order to […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (10/21/07)The truth that not all who claim to believe Christ are genuinely believers in Christ is not a popular message. The common assumption is that all who profess Christ possess Christ. Yet it wasn’t that way in the day of Christ, and it isn’t that way now. The people of Galilee were interested in Christ […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (9/30/07)See the deplorable condition of all ungodly people! In the other world, they shall have a life that always dies and a death that always lives. [Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture.] Most people — whether they trust in Christ or not — think too little of hell. Believers think too little of hell, not […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (9/23/07)The heart of pride is not only the exaltation of self, but even more tragically, it is the diminishing of God. As Thomas Watson has noted, “pride is the greatest sacrilege; it robs God of his glory.” Every prideful act is a defiant gesture of the inadequacy of God, and the self-exaltation of self. This […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (9/16/07)The story of Jesus and the woman caught in adultery (John 7:53 – 8:11) is fundamentally not about the woman, not about her sin, and not about the scribes or Pharisees. It’s not even really about judgmentalism. It is about Jesus Christ. And specifically, it is about how Christ is the bridge between the Law […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (9/9/07)“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 […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/26/07)In the last few years, I have heard an increasing number of times, “I love _____, but I don’t like him/her…” Such a notion is a completely foreign concept in Scripture. To love someone is, by definition, to be both a friend and friendly to that person. No where should that be more evident than […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/19/07)In “How Much is Enough?” Al Mohler demonstrates the cultural bias towards a preoccupation with and dependence on material goods and wealth as god. That theology constantly bombards our souls and is dangerous for both us and our children. So, here are some random thoughts as I reflect on yesterday’s sermon and think about how […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/12/07)“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 […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (8/5/07)Yesterday morning I read an extended quote from Tedd Tripp’s book Shepherding a Child’s Heart (one of the very best books on parenting). Here is the rest of the quote that I left unread (the entire quote was from pp. 38-40): Remember Proverbs 4:23. Life flows out of the heart. Parenting cannot be concerned only […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/15/07)For the most part, the much dreaded millennium bug was pretty much a non-event. For a 105-year-old woman in Norway, it provided an occasion for a reflective chuckle. Because the computer for a local government agency that offered free daycare to all five-year-olds in Oslo, it pulled all the records of children born in ’94 […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/8/07)It was supposed to be just a simple, brief, quiet lunch at home with Raye Jeanne and the girls. A respite in the midst of a busy schedule. The taste of some sweet fellowship to nourish our hearts with each other until we came together again at the end of the day. At the time […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (7/1/07)The cross is God’s “foolish” work to extricate pride from our lives. Now don’t misunderstand; by that it is not meant that men should not boast. Not only do all men boast, but all men should boast. The question is not whether or not we should boast. The question is whether we are boasting in […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (6/24/07)This morning I read a quotation from Thomas Fuller (1608-1661). It is a succinct reminder both of the weight of our influence on and the extent of God’s grace on our children as we seek to father them to the glory of God. Lord, I find the genealogy of my Savior strangely checkered with four […]
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Words of Grace 