Where I was last night

Encouraged by self-examination and confession

“If you are truly trusting in Christ, you can’t confess a sin for which God has not provided forgiveness in Jesus.Indeed, if you work at the discipline of confessing your sin, it should not lead to despair at all, but rather to rejoicing over the extent of God’s love to you in Christ.” — Mark […]

Voyage of the Dawn Treader

You will rarely find me talking about movies. But the latest adaptation of one of C. S. Lewis’ books from The Chronicles of Narnia series is coming in December. [This post is primarily for my daughters who have been anticipating this movie for about 18 months!] (HT: Justin Taylor)

When confession may not be confession

There is a reason that not all confessions result in real reconciliation: (HT: Challies)

Deceptive desires

It was when she was at the peak of her fame and fortune with 146 tournament victories behind her, married to tennis player John Lloyd that Chris Evert-Lloyd commented: “We get into a rut. We play tennis, we go to a movie we watch TV, but I keep saying, ‘John, there has to be more.’” […]

An amazing testimony of God’s grace

I regularly listen to the interviews produced by 9 Marks. This month’s conversation is with Mez McConnell — probably a name unknown to most American pastors and church goers. His story is a reminder of grace in two ways. Few will have endured what he did in their childhood and young adult years — that […]

When change is slow

Why is it that we sometimes remain unchanged in our walk with Christ? Or why does change sometimes seem to come slowly? Here are at least three reasons why transformation may degrade into stagnancy: We substitute rationalization for repentance (Acts 8:14-24, esp. vv. 20-24). We substitute our desires (i.e., sins) for God’s desires (i.e., righteousness; […]

Sunday Leftovers (10/17/10)

How dark is the darkness of sin? How black is the blackness of sin? Scripture tells us a number of realities about what it means to live in the dark: It is impossible to be “partially dark.” if one lives in any part of darkness, then he lives in full darkness and that darkness is […]

An acceptable use of a church sign

Very often church signs have messages on them that are not necessarily fitting for an organism that exists to uphold the eternal truth of God. Often I have passed church signs and cringed over poor theology, or muttered a “huh?” wondering what was meant by a particular slogan. But I saw this one on CNN […]

Jeremiah, destruction, and Christ

This morning I finished reading the last few chapters of Jeremiah — prophecies of the destruction of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Elam, and Babylon. And then the account of Judah being taken into captivity in Babylon. With all the words concerning the judgments of God and then that judgment being demonstrated against His own people, […]

Blessing God in affliction

Jeremiah Burroughs helps us to think about righteous responses to God in times of affliction. I have used and referred to this section often: …where contentment of heart springs from grace, the heart is very quick and lively in the service of God. Yea, the more any gracious heart can bring itself to be in […]

Are all religions equal?

In God Is Not One, Thabiti Anyabwile quotes from a recent book to demonstrate that all religions are not equal — Which of the following–baseball, basketball, tennis, or golf–is best at scoring runs? The answer of course is baseball, because runs is a term foreign to basketball, tennis, and golf alike. Different sports have different […]

Is it possible to be culturally cool and still effective for Christ?

Phillip Jensen asks Mark Dever the question, “How do you see the culture affecting us negatively?” Most helpful statement: “We can’t fall prey to the lie that we’re going to figure out a way to follow Jesus with there being no cost. We’re not going to figure out a way that people are not going […]

Once in every fifty years….

BALL GAME! This has nothing to do with biblical truth or the church, but there is a measure of grace in a team that has never won anything in the postseason — 50 years of futility — finally winning at least one series. I’ve followed the Texas Rangers for all 38 years that they have […]

Looking for a commentary?

A few days ago someone asked me for a recommendation of a commentary on the book of Deuteronomy. I have not preached through Deuteronomy so my stack of books was somewhat thin to pick from to begin with. Additionally, the theological persuasion of the interpreter is particularly important in this book — i.e., is the […]