“You shall call His name Jesus”

From John Broadus on Matthew 1:21: It is familiar fact that Hebrew names were commonly significant, a natural and pleasing custom. This being no longer a usage with us, we often give names of great and good men who have lived in other days. Sometimes heroes of fiction. This too is beautiful. Names often make […]

As you prepare for worship, give thanks

This morning you may be in a hurry to get to church to worship. Your clothes may not look or feel right; your children may be complaining; you may have had some conflict with your spouse; you may have slept too late and now you are rushed. But in your haste to leave the house, […]

Don’t miss God at church tomorrow

Read a Scripture. Sing a hymn. Pray. Sing a hymn. Pray. Sing a chorus. Sing another chorus (or two). Pray. Read another Scripture. Hear the special music. Listen to the sermon. Sing a hymn. Pray. Beat the Methodists to the cafeteria. For many that is the extent of their worship experience. It just all seems […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles spotted recently: The timeline for the transition between John Piper and Jason Meyer as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church has changed again. Read the plan and rationale from John’s pen. Addressing the same theme that I did in the post, “Satan and sin — two defeated foes,” Mike Riccardi writes about “Freed from […]

Father, How Sweet

This week I’ve been thinking about the gift of our salvation, summed up in such simple words as “He saved us” (Titus 3:5). It was God’s kindness, love, and mercy that produced our salvation. We repeat those kinds of words frequently, but do we meditate on them and allow the weightiness of them to rest […]

Preparing for worship

Writer Don Hustad wrote a number of years ago about a circus parade that was moving through the streets of Milan, Italy. Suddenly one of the elephants veered from the line and marched into a church. [In Milan, church doors are large, and in the summer are often left wide open.] This visitor wandered up […]

Today…

Charles Spurgeon, writing on Psalm 95:7-8 (“TO-DAY! TO-DAY! TO-DAY!,” Sermon no. 1551) — “To-day” is a time of obligation. Every man is under a present necessity as a subject of God to obey his Lord to-day, and having rebelled against his God, every sinner is under law to repent of sin to-day. “Repent ye therefore, […]

A day in God’s courts

Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 84 and the joys of worship with the Lord. This is a fitting meditation to prepare us for worship this morning: This Psalm well deserved to be committed to the noblest of the sons of song. No music could be too sweet for its theme, or too exquisite in sound to […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the last week: “Take Care How You Listen,” a free ebook from John Piper. Good preparation for listening to tomorrow’s sermon. When one man asked his pastor, “What Can I Do to Save My Marriage,” this is how that pastor responded. First of all, 1. Decide if you are going to […]

Why do you enter relationships?

Preparing for my sermon on Sunday, I came across this statement by Tim Lane and Paul Tripp: We enter relationships for personal pleasure, self-actualization, and fun. We want low personal cost and high self-defined returns. But God wants high personal cost and high God-defined returns. And although we frequently disagree with God, his plan is […]

Preparing for tomorrow’s worship

How do you prepare yourself for worship? Do you prepare to hear the Word of God preached? Do you think about how you will listen to the sermon? Thomas Watson has some godly counsel for us: 2. The second duty of piety wherein we must provoke ourselves, is, in HEARING of the Word. We may […]

Thinking and praying about Sunday

As I was preparing for Sunday morning’s sermon, I came across a number of helpful statements about prayer, including these three: “No heart can conceive that treasury of mercies which lies in this one privilege, in having liberty and ability to approach unto God at all times, according to His mind and will.” [John Owen] […]

Would you be holy?

Thinking about the putting off of sin and the world and the putting on of Christ and grace, I’ve been thinking on the following statement from J. C. Ryle: Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then you must begin with Christ. You will do just nothing at all and make no […]

Let the congregation sing!

Not only was the book of Psalms the song book for Israel; it also included many admonitions to sing. As a very small sample, consider Sing praise to the LORD, you His godly ones, And give thanks to His holy name. (Ps. 30:4) Sing to Him a new song; Play skillfully with a shout of […]

Today’s Quote – Scripture (Galli)

Mark Galli, “Yawning at the Word:” Whenever the Bible is read, a hush should come over us. We should be inching toward the edge of our seats, leaning forward, turning our best ear toward the speaker, fearful we’ll miss a single word—the deeds and words and character of Almighty and Merciful God are being revealed! […]