Comforts when suffering

The path it takes is various, but one day soon, suffering will bypass a courteous request for entry and will intrude on your home and life. Perhaps it will take the commonly used roadway called personal sin. Through the impact of your own sinful choices and desires, you will suffer. Or perhaps it will take […]

Sunday Leftovers (1/9/11)

The story is told about a visit that the 18th century king of Prussia, Frederick II of Prussia made to a prison in Berlin. Expectantly, the inmates all vainly attempted to prove to him their innocence and the injustice of their incarceration. Everyone, that is, with one exception. Seeing that one lone, quiet prisoner, the […]

Discipleship and grace

Here are two statements worth contemplating that hit my inbox this week. The first addresses the cost of nondiscipleship. We rightly talk about counting the cost of following Christ, and that is obviously wise and biblical to do. But we also are wise to count the cost of not following Christ: This is the picture […]

Parenting Seminar with Jim Newheiser

On the weekend of February 4-5, Grace Bible Church in Granbury (TX) will be hosting a parenting seminar with Jim Newheiser, pastor of Grace Bible Church in Escondido, CA and director of the The Institute for Biblical Counseling and Discipleship. He has also recently co-authored the book You Never Stop Being a Parent with Elyse […]

Resolved, like Jonathan Edwards

In this season of resolutions — before all our promises are undone by the realities of weak commitments — we do well to hear the words of Jonathan Edwards about resolutions and the need for them to arise from a quest for God’s mercy and grace, as well as our own heart desire for transformation: […]

For the Love of God – a free book

Several years ago I read through the Bible using Robert Murray M’Cheyne’s Bible reading plan — a plan that leads the reader through the OT once and the NT and Psalms twice in one year. Somewhere during that time, I was made aware of D. A. Carson’s two-volume set For the Love of God, in […]

Book Review: The God Who is There

Title: The God Who is There: Finding Your Place in God’s Story Author: D. A. Carson Publisher: Crossway, 2010; 234 pp. $16.99 Recommendation (4-star scale): Three days ago our church again began our annual trek through the Scriptures. Now one of the so-called problems of reading through the Bible in one year is the inevitable […]

Free Bridges audio book

Every month Christian Audio makes available a free audio book and this month’s selection is a classic — Jerry Bridges’ The Pursuit of Holiness. Download it for free at Christianaudio. Just follow the instructions on the page.

Resolutions, moment-by-moment

Paul Tripp has noted that the effectiveness of resolutions is not in the decisiveness of one moment (e.g., January 1 resolutions), but in the 10,000 moment-by-moment decisions we make to reinforce those resolutions — You and I live in little moments, and if God doesn’t rule our little moments and doesn’t work to recreate us […]

John Piper’s report on his leave of absence

At the end of April, John Piper took an 8-month leave of absence from ministry — no preaching, writing, blogging, meetings, or any other responsibilities, apart from a few select opportunities that were agreed upon with his wife and elders. That leave ended at the end of December, and he is now returning to his […]

Resolved to read and pray

Today many people will make resolutions for the coming year. Even believers will make resolutions concerning their spiritual lives. Setting spiritual goals is a worthy enterprise. But the task of spiritual growth is often overwhelming: where shall we start and what shall we do? We know we need more biblical reading and study and memorization […]

What will God do in 2011?

What will God do in the coming year? What will life be like in the next 12 months? What changes or additions will be made in your life? It’s impossible to tell. No man knows the future — no palm reader, no crystal ball, no horoscope, and no biorhythm chart. Many will be attempting today […]

Book Review: The Call to Joy and Pain

Title: The Call to Joy and Pain: Embracing Suffering in Your Ministry Author: Ajith Fernando Publisher: Crossway, 2007; 192 pp. $14.99 ($7.99 as an ebook) Recommendation (4-star scale): For many generations, the Western church — and especially the American church — has sent missionaries with the message of the gospel to other countries. The […]

How big is your gospel?

We should preach the gospel, Jerry Bridges has said, to ourselves everyday. That is, the gospel is not a one-time event but a lifetime transformation. Paul said that we are not saved by the gospel and transformed by something else. The gospel, like Christ, is our life. A gospel which is only about the moment […]

Grab Bag

A few things I’ve spotted around the Internet recently: The end of the year means the inevitable “year in review” lists. Here is a list of “Top 10 Theology and Church Stories” (with many supporting links) from Colin Hansen. Accordance recounts a brief (and recent) history of the study Bible. [Accordance is my Bible study […]