Grab bag

Some helpful articles spotted recently: A lesson in truth-telling, and what makes Christians different: “Mike Daisey, Apple, and Our Culture’s Crisis in Truth-Telling.” “Temptation Is Not Sin,” writes Bill Mounce. He makes three points: 1. Temptation is not sin, 2. No one can make you sin, and 3. God is on your side. The question […]

Living Ready for Heaven

Though he is best-known for a sermon about hell, I have often said that some of my favorite writings from Jonathan Edwards are about heaven. Here is an example: We ought not to rest in the world and its enjoyments, but should desire heaven. We should “seek first the kingdom of God.” 236 We ought […]

The Lord’s prayer

In prayer (when we are genuine and truthful), our hearts are exposed and revealed as in no other way. That is true as well of the heart of Christ, which makes the Lord’s prayer in John 17 a particularly rich and stimulating passage of Scripture. Of this passage, Melanchthon wrote, “There is no voice which […]

Take courage

Jesus never promises His followers a pain and trouble-free life. In fact, He promises just the opposite. There will be troubles, and often those troubles are because we are followers of Him. As two examples, consider: “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted […]

Ask whatever you want…God will do it

Found on the internet recently: “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 Is that what that means? And what about Jesus’ words in John 15? “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done […]

Life on the farm

One of my favorite pictures from my childhood is a picture that was taken of me and my farmer grandfather. I was maybe four or five-years-old and I was standing with my grandfather in one of his fields. He was surveying the crop; I was more interested in the camera. In those years, I would […]

Fearful?

What do you offer a man who is discouraged and hopeless? What do you offer someone whose world is shattered? What do you offer someone who has captured a glimpse into the future, and the fear of it is not startling, but terrifying in its deadliness? What did Jesus offer the disciples? On Thursday night […]

The Father and the Son

Several years ago, Mark Ashton-Smith was on a planned 4-day kayak trip around the Isle of Wight in England when his kayak capsized. Unable to get back into the canoe and in frigid and rough waters, he reached for his phone (which he’d had the foresight to place in a watertight container) and called the […]

The lovingkindness of God

“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised” (Ps. 48:1). The words are familiar to us. He is great. We do praise Him. But do we think on Him in ways that are fitting of Him? Do we consider His character and His activities and recognize them as the facets of greatness that they […]

Sunday Leftovers — How an Elder Leads

Elders are the gift of God to the church to lead the church to spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:11-13ff). But what do elders do to lead the church? The New Testament provides many functions for the elder. Here are some of the basics. He teaches. This is emphasized in Titus 1:9; 1 Tim. 3:2; 4:6, 11, […]

The Anatomy of Holiness – Kevin DeYoung

This morning Kevin DeYoung asks an important question: What exactly does it mean to be holy? What does it look like? Here’s one to think about it: consider growth in godliness as the sanctification of your body. The mind is filled with the knowledge of God and fixed on what is good. The eyes turn […]

Christ, the Servant

Jesus is the greatest of all men. He is greatest not because He is like every other man, but better. He is greatest because as a man, He is incomparable. He is the God-Man (both fully God and fully man), and that separates Him from every other person in the category of men. There is […]

The flesh is weak

The crucifixion of Christ would occur within hours. So Jesus went to the garden to pray and asked the three disciples in the “inner core” — Peter, James, and John — to also pray (Mk. 14:32-42). These were not immature or ungodly men. They loved Christ. Peter had just professed that he would die for […]

Free Lloyd-Jones audio sermons!

From an announcement by the MLJ Trust this morning: This is probably the biggest announcement the MLJ Trust will ever make. Starting from tomorrow, April 12th, all 1,600 recorded sermons by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones will be available to download, at no cost, to anyone who wants to listen to them! There are no exceptions, so […]

“It must happen this way”

Last week was the Passion week, which culminated in Easter Sunday. Many spent the week reading and contemplating the final events of Christ’s life before the cross. And then this week our Bible reading plan has taken us to that same week again. Isn’t that just too much about the cross? Do we really need […]