“Cancer is the best thing that ever happened to me”

Zac Smith died of cancer at 33. He left behind a wife and three children. Yet he said before he died: “Cancer is the best thing that has ever happened to me.” After his death, his wife continued to walk in similar faith in God — “God doesn’t just throw stuff to us and then […]

Sunday Leftovers (2/20/11)

Having spent five sermons on the topic of marriage from Ephesians 5:22-33, here are a number of principles that I found particularly important and compelling as we made our way through these verses: The commands for a wife to submit (v. 22) and a husband to love (v. 25) are a choice. They are not […]

God’s hears some prayers of unbelievers

A few days ago, I was reading a debate on whether God hears the prayers of an unbeliever. Here is the kind of prayers from an unbeliever that the Lord hears and answers: Tom Martin Testimony on Vimeo on Vimeo. Let this also serve as a guide for our own praying for the unsaved! HT: […]

Grab Bag

Believers live in a place that is not their home. It is often all-to-clear that this is not our permanent abode. And yet there are also so many manifestations of God’s grace and kindness even while living amidst fallenness: Wrestling is to Iowa as football is to Texas. So when high school student Joel Northrup […]

But God…

“But Daaa-dddddy” ranks as one of the all-time great whines. “But God” ranks as the all-time great hope. Think about it. Can you conceive any dilemma for which there is no possibility of intervention from God? Can you conjure up the image of any burden that God is inadequate to carry for you? Can you […]

If you live in spiritual darkness…

Jonathan Edwards explores one of the reasons an individual might be caught in a state of depression: If you live very much in spiritual darkness, and without the comfortable presence of God, it may be this is the cause. If you complain that you have but little sweet communion with God, that you seem to […]

No guaranteed answers to prayer

Prayer is not a manipulative tool by which we receive our wishes and desires. Our wants may be godly or they may be ungodly. In either case, prayer is not a wishing-well tool to access those wants. The example of Christ demonstrates that God sometimes answers our petitions with, “No:” There are, no doubt, passages […]

Sunday Leftovers(2/13/11)

Blogger Ian Vaillancourt recently wrote: Give us men! This is what our world needs. Men who follow Christ and lead in the home and in the church…by laying down their lives for the men and women they lead. Give us men! Give us churches filled with these kinds of men who show the beauty of […]

Sola Conference audio

The audio from the Sola Conference this weekend at Countryside Bible Church. With the list of speakers, it was something of a small foretaste of the Shepherds’ Conference next month. Download it here.

Tim Challies: 5 More Questions with John MacArthur

Yesterday, Tim Challies began an interview with John MacArthur with five questions. Today he posted MacArthur’s responses to the second five questions. A sample: How can we best critique people who are “in our camp” and yet believe things different from us? Or behave in ways we do not appreciate? How can we know where […]

It is Not Death to Die

Chip Stam, who continues to battle cancer, wrote this week: “Truth be told: My health situation is worsening. The LORD has put it on my heart to prepare for death, whether it be days from now or years from now. I am comfortable and content and confident in the arms of the Savior.” Reflecting on […]

Tim Challies interviews John MacArthur

Tim Challies: A couple of weeks ago I asked the readers of this site to help me interview John MacArthur. I collected several of the best questions, added in a few of my own, and sent them off. Dr. MacArthur was kind enough not just to answer them, but to answer them very thoroughly. I […]

Wisdom is calling

Does not wisdom call, And understanding lift up her voice? (Prov. 8:1) Scripture (particularly in Proverbs) says that the fool is the one who chases the adulterous. The fool is the sluggard who is too lazy even to feed himself. The fool is the one who rejects correction and instruction. The fool believes himself always […]

The work of God’s fingers

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him? (Ps. 8:3-4) All this God created with His fingers (Ps. 8:3) — He cast these spheres and […]

No religious Super Bowl ads allowed

After watching the Super Bowl yesterday — and watching too many empty-headed, violence-encouraging, and sexuality-exalting advertisements, I read this morning about a commercial for “Lookup 3:16” that was not shown last night: Fox Sports refused the ad because, according to a statement, “Fox Broadcasting Company does not accept advertising from religious organizations for the purpose […]