In what may be the best paragraph to begin a book on missions, John Piper writes this: Missions is not the ultimate goal of the church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the […]
Read More Worship and missionsPart of our Scripture reading this morning is Acts 7-9. And this morning when I checked my email, I found this meditation on Acts 8 from Desiring God — “What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for You.” What this story from Acts 8 means, the author concludes, is that Luke wants the story of this emasculated […]
Read More What the Ethiopian Eunuch Means for YouI have been challenged by something I read recently — “I worry that our lives are like soap operas. We can go for months and not tune into them, then six months later we look in and the same stuff is still going on.” The urgency of the immediate prevents us from seeing the impact […]
Read More Uneducated and untrained men – changedIn general, while it is true that the question about our motivation to read Scripture is not so much “how will I provoke myself?” but, “will I provoke myself to delight in God and His declaration to me this day?” yet, there is still instruction about how to stimulate our hearts to read, as Thomas […]
Read More Be provoked to read, part 2Many years ago I attended a church where it was not unusual for the pastor to make application in his sermons that related to sexual sins. As a result I overheard some saying things like, “What’s his hangup — all he talks about is sex?” After having pastored myself for more than a few years […]
Read More Men and sexual sin — some Biblical helpThomas Watson relates our effectiveness in mortifying the flesh to the intake of the Word of God: We must provoke ourselves to reading the Word.…Our Savior bids us “search the Scriptures” (John 5:39). We must not read these holy lines carelessly as if they did not concern us, or run over them hastily, as Israel […]
Read More Be provoked to readHow far does one go in upholding the two words “one faith?” God has united believers in Christ into one body and called those members to preserve that unity because they possess only one faith — one gospel that will save and redeem men. To what extent will one travel to uphold that truth? One […]
Read More Sunday Leftovers (2/7/10)Do you ever feel unmotivated to open your Bible and read? At times do you feel apathetic about your life of prayer? The problem is not so much a lack of obedience as it is a waning set of motives for carrying out your spiritual disciplines. In his diary, Robert Murray M’Cheyne offers a succinct […]
Read More A motivation for devotionsYesterday, the Bethlehem Conference for Pastors concluded. The theme of the conference was “The Pastor, the People, and the Pursuit of Joy: The Apostolic Aim of Pastoral Ministry.” Ministry and joy. It’s not surprising that John Piper chose those topics or that he put them together in this conference. It is, however, likely that many […]
Read More Pastors, people, and joyAlmost two centuries ago Daniel Webster wrote, “There is nothing as powerful as truth and often nothing as strange.” In the intervening years, very little has changed — truth is still powerful and in our culture truth is still strange, and undoubtedly increasingly so. What matters to most individuals now is not truth, but “my […]
Read More What truth is and doesPaul says that humility is an inner attitude that will yield the peaceful fruit of unity in the church body. Echoing the same truth by denoting the danger of a lack of humility, Thomas Watson wrote, How many by the wind of popular breath have been blown to hell! Whom the devil cannot destroy by […]
Read More The danger of prideLast night while reading Memoirs & Remains of Robert Murray M’Cheyne, I came across his response when a friend of the family had said “That she was determined to keep by the world.” What do you say about one who, like Demas, loves the world and with intention and volition walks away from Christ? M’Cheyne […]
Read More A discerning mind exemplifiedIf I go to the grocery store, I can usually distinguish between the ripe, ready-to-eat fruit from the overripe and time-to-throw-it-in-the-garbage-can fruit. Take me to a used car lot, and I have a harder time determining what’s a good ride and what’s a worn-out set of wheels. Set two people in front of me who […]
Read More A discerning mindPaul says, “Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary” (Gal. 6:9). In the context, he is talking about doing the good of restoring a sinning brother to Christ (v. 1) — of carrying the heavy load of reconciliation (v. 2). He’s […]
Read More Do not lose heart in doing goodSovereign Grace is having their annual, month-long sale during February again this year. Among items on sale are all their books (most under $7), CDs ($6) and album downloads ($5). Among the books that I have found particularly helpful are: Humility: True Greatness Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing Preaching […]
Read More Sovereign Grace book sale
