Headed to the Shepherds’ Conference

Tomorrow morning, a group from GBC boards a plane and heads to California for the Shepherds’ Conference. Encouraging fellowship + book shopping + excellent, heart-challenging preaching = a week of refreshment and encouragement. Grateful for the opportunity to go! (I intend to post updates from each session after they end.)

Who sinned?

In A View from a Zoo, Gary Richmond tells about the birth of a giraffe: The first things to emerge are the baby giraffe’s front hooves and head. A few minutes later the plucky newborn calf is hurled forth, falls ten feet, and lands on its back. Within seconds, he rolls to an upright position […]

Weeping in the night

David: Weeping may last for the night, But a shout of joy comes in the morning. (Ps. 30:5) Paul: Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory […]

Sunday Leftovers — GBC Vision Statement

Several years ago, GBC formulated a concise statement to attempt to articulate its vision and direction in ministry. That statement provided the criteria for adding new ministries and evaluating existing ones. All that we did needed to conform to this vision statement: Grace Bible Church exists to shepherd God’s people by God’s grace for God’s […]

Grab bag

Helpful resources for the growing Christian: Have you ever heard the statement, “I love him, but I don’t like him”? Me too. Too often. Rick Thomas demonstrates the idol behind the statement and how to address it in “Marriage problems.” How to handle public debate among Christians is a growing question and concern, though not […]

The work of the Word

This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers. Its doctrine is holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable. Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to […]

Those perplexing brackets in the Bible

The account of the adulterous woman at the beginning of John 8 has created no small amount of interpretative challenges. Two questions will help us sort out some of the basic issues and facts. 1. Why are there brackets around this story? The story (7:53 – 8:11) is bracketed because there is a question whether […]

Christ, the dividing line

Christ is the division point of history, marking the transition from B.C. to A.D. And Christ is the division point between men. What individuals believe about Christ will either unite them together or separate them from each other. This is exceedingly clear in John 7. The half-brothers of Jesus, having seen His life and ministry […]

Avoiding the two woes of temptation

I wish this were not true, but it is. There is an inevitability to sin. All men will sin because all men are fleshly and even those who are redeemed have not yet been finally redeemed. Our own natures will eventually produce sin. We are enticed by our own lust, James says (1:13-14). In that […]

George Herbert — The 23rd Psalm

The God of love my shepherd is, And he that doth me feed: While he is mine and I am his, What can I want or need? He leads me to the tender grasse, Where I both feed and rest; Then to the streams that gently passe: In both I have the best. Or if […]

Don’t miss the obvious, and…

Comparisons are virtually always a bad idea (I’d say “always,” but I was taught that it’s always bad to say “always”). Inevitably, we favor ourselves in our comparisons and we fail to be objective in those comparisons. Even in the church, it’s tempting to offer comparisons that are unfair to the ones compared. For example, […]

When you are in trouble

There are a number of ideas about David’s circumstances in Psalm 27, but no one is certain what actually was happening to him. But one thing is certain — he was tempted to despair. Notice all the different phrases he used to indicate the oppression he was under: fear (vv. 1, 3), dread (think “panicked […]

Sunday Leftovers — the God-Man, Christ Jesus

Louise Owen is a woman with a remarkable ability. She has what has been called hyperthymesia, or “highly superior autobiographical memory.” That is, she has an unusual ability to remember things that happened in her life. In fact, she can remember what has happened every day of her life since she was about 11 years […]

Grab bag

Some helpful articles from the couple of weeks: Greg Lucas offers “Seven Lessons from the Disability Community:” God is both sovereign and good. You have been brought into this community for a purpose. Disability magnifies our vision for joy in the smallest things. Community brings much needed perspective Outspoken men are often minorities. When marriage […]

“It is good for us to be here”

Two sentences prepared my heart for my Bible reading this morning. First, while reading Thomas Watson (reading a Puritan immediately after awakening is good and enlivening for the soul), I came across this sentence: “A man may be carnal while he is doing spiritual things…He delights in hearing [the Word of God] but it is […]