How to pray for your pastor

Have you ever wondered about how to pray for your pastor? Have you pondered, “What are the needs he has and what would be most beneficial for me to pray for him?” The apostle Paul’s requests for the prayers of the churches for him are fitting places to start (see Eph. 6:19-20; Col. 4:3-4 as […]

Thinking with sound judgment

A few years ago Money magazine reported that, “When researchers at Duke, Harvard, and Northwestern asked investors how their mutual funds performed last year compared with Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index, a third claimed their funds outperformed the market by at least 5 percent. One in six said their funds fared better by more than […]

All things are from Him…

“For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.” (Romans 11:36; NASB) A few years ago, popular author John Gray (Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus) released a new book: How to Get What You Want and Want What You Have. His thesis? […]

Discipleship Conference

This fall, our church will again be hosting our Biblical Counseling and Discipleship Conference. This conference will be held over three weekends in the months of September (21-22), October (12-13), and November (9-10). This conference fulfills the basic training requirement for becoming a certified counselor through NANC (currently, we are still the only training center […]

Does God disappoint?

Is God disappointing? Does God disappoint people? Many (most?) would answer those questions, “yes.” In fact, many (Christian) books have been written on the topic, either affirming that supposition directly, or seeming to suggest it is acceptable to express disappointment with and be disappointed in God. In his book Disappointment with God, Philip Yancey quotes […]

The riches of God’s mercy

Is God unfair to condemn sinners to hell? Many people — even many members of many church denominations — will say, “Yes, that is unjust of God. How could God be less kind than me?…” Yet Paul answers very differently. In Romans 9, interacting with the question of theodicy — God’s righteousness is judging the […]

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 […]

Shepherds’ Conference registration now open

Registration for the 2013 Shepherds’ Conference is now open. And for a limited time, you can register for $275 — a $25 savings from the full price. Among the keynote speakers this year are John MacArthur, Al Mohler, Steve Lawson, R. C. Sproul, Tom Pennington, and Phil Johnson. Register here.

I heard the earth talk

“For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” (Rom. 8:22-23; NASB) I heard […]

They are “one flesh”

Mark Dever on unity in the covenant of marriage: The context of this unity of husband and wife is the covenant of marriage; we can tell by what we read here [Mark 10] that this is a hugely important covenant. In fact it’s so important…that it takes priority over other family relationships — with either […]

Bearing fruit

Several years ago, a friend gave my wife a plum tree for her birthday. I think I was as excited about the gift as my wife, as I had memories of my grandmother’s plum jam and anticipated spreading that succulent delight on fresh-baked bread. With eagerness I anticipated the first year’s crop. And there was […]

Free ebook on disability from DG

In recent months, Desiring God has published a number of smaller works in ebook formats (PDF, ePub, and Mobi). The latest of these is Disability and the Sovereign Goodness of God by John Piper and Tony Reinke. The book is about 70 pages long and looks to be very helpful. Download the free book, Disability […]

Good news

There’s good news. And then there is the best news. This is the best news about the good news (from Romans 6). How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (v. 2) Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead […]

Jesus loves me

When the German theologian Karl Barth visited the Untied States many years ago, a student at a seminary supposedly asked him, “Dr. Barth, what is the single most important truth you have learned as a theologian?” Barth replied, “The most important thing I have learned is this: ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the […]

A blessed life

Having suffered a knee injury while dancing a few years ago, Connie Munro of Juneau, Alaska underwent surgery. But the problem persisted. In her words, “it just wouldn’t loosen up….I thought I was permanently disabled.” And then she arrived for work at the state Education Department in downtown one morning, got out of her car […]