Why are you afraid?

The list of things that stimulate fear is long. Do a google search of phobias and you will find lists of dozens and even into the hundreds of fears (I found one list with 536 phobias) — including such things as aulophobia (fear of flutes), linonophobia (fear of strings), sinistrophobia (fear of things on the […]

Sola Gratia conference

Countryside Bible Church is hosting on Feb. 19-21 the fourth of five scheduled conferences around the theme of the five solas of the Reformation. This year’s topic is Sola Gratia — salvation by grace alone, and the speakers are Richard Phillips, Russell Moore, and John Hannah. Registration is now open. The conference is free. If […]

Sovereignty and responsibility

The question about how the sovereignty of God relates to the responsibility of man is an old one. In His book, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J. I. Packer addresses how God’s sovereignty relates to our responsibility in proclaiming the gospel to unbelievers. There is abroad today a widespread suspicion that a robust faith […]

Why should we glorify God?

Why should we glorify God? Glorifying Him does not add to His character or worth — our glorying in Him does nothing to increase His preeminence. So why glorify Him? Why should we glory in His name? Because God has made all things for his own glory.…especially has he made the godly for his glory; […]

Sunday Leftovers (1/17/10)

John Piper has written much, often, and well on the topic of the glory of God. In his tribute to Jonathan Edwards, God’s Passion for His Glory, Piper notes that “The exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of human souls are one thing. The implications of this are breathtaking.” Among those implications are […]

The glory of God and prayer

In anticipation of tomorrow morning’s sermon (on Paul’s doxology in Eph. 3), I was reading again in A. W. Pink’s work, Gleanings from Paul: the Prayers of the Apostle. He makes several helpful statements about the glory of God and its implications for prayer: …we should be deeply concerned with the glory of God, that […]

Meanwhile…

Sometimes, the smallest and seemingly most insignificant words in a verse carry the biggest implication. So it is in a verse of Scripture that we read this morning. The word “meanwhile” in Genesis 37:36 in Hebrew is actually the word “and.” It is generally translated as a simple connective or as a contrastive (like “but”) […]

The true spirit of prayer

What kind of spirit is most conducive to God-exalting prayer? In his sermon, “Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer,” Jonathan Edwards provides insight into an attitude that will stimulate believers into greater dependence on the powerful sufficiency of God: The true spirit of prayer is no other than God’s own spirit dwelling in the […]

Enjoy C. S. Lewis?

If you enjoy the works of C. S. Lewis, you might appreciate a number of resources put together by Desiring God. John Piper has written often of the significant influence Lewis had on his own life and ministry and this year his biographical sermon at the Bethlehem Pastor’s Conference is going to be about Lewis. […]

An excellent deal on devotional books

This month only, Grace Books International is offering John MacArthur’s two volumes, Daily Readings in the Life of Christ for the combined price of $10. That’s two books for $10. What a deal! Volume two was our book of the month selection last month (I think it was $8-10 alone), and I am currently using […]

What God will not give you

God can and will do for His own, “far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). But there are some things that He will not do for us or give us. He will not lead us into temptation. And He will not share with us His glory. Thomas Watson says it […]

Prayer and the power of God

We have something to say to God every day. Many are not sensible of this, and it is their sin and misery; they live without God in the world, they think they can without him, are not sensible to their dependence upon him, and their obligations to him, and therefore for their parts they have […]

Alone – with God

Jacob was where you and I may have been on occasion — alone (not only from friends, but from any form of hospitality), running from trouble, and the recipient of bad counsel (twice, and from his mother both times!). When he put down his head on a rock to sleep (a fitting demonstration not only […]

Holiness is not peripheral

The book of the month for January is The Holiness of God (Tim Challies has a good review of the book). Why pick a book on holiness? Aren’t we over-saturated with talk about holiness? Do we need to read another book or hear another sermon on holiness? We are Christians; we do know that holiness […]

Sunday Leftovers (1/10/10)

The power of God is that ability and strength whereby He can bring to pass whatsoever He pleases, whatsoever His infinite wisdom may direct, and whatsoever the infinite purity of Hi will may resolve.…As holiness is the beauty of all God’s attributes, so power is that which gives life and action to all the perfections […]