We need strength and it will be given

…the strength to live tomorrow will be given tomorrow, not today. And it will be given. Our task today is not to have the strength needed for tomorrow’s burdens. Our task today is to live by the mercies given for today, and to believe that there will be new mercies for tomorrow. Today’s mercies do […]

Do not be worried about your life

It would be a lot easier to enjoy your life if there weren’t so many things trying to kill you every day. The problems start even before you’re fully awake. There’s the fall out of bed that kills 600 Americans each year. There’s the early-morning heart attack, which is 40% more common than those that […]

Grace – it’s all mine!

“While I was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, And my prayer came to You, Into Your holy temple. Those who regard vain idols Forsake their faithfulness, But I will sacrifice to You With the voice of thanksgiving. That which I have vowed I will pay. Salvation is from the Lord.” (Jonah 2:7-9; NASB) The […]

Sermon: Hospitality, truth, love, and missions

Hospitality, Truth, Love, and Missions, Pt. 1 3 John 1-6 September 21, 2014 One thing we speak of frequently at GBC is the shape of our church ministry: what will we do and how will we do it? There are so many competing ideas of what a church is and how it should function that […]

Nothing compares with God

Nothing will so enlarge the intellect, nothing so magnify the whole soul of man, as a devout, earnest, continued investigation of the great subject of the Deity. Would you lose your sorrow? Would you drown your cares? Then go, plunge yourself in the Godhead’s deepest sea; be lost in his immensity; and you shall come […]

Nehemiah, the Leader

Nehemiah is recognized by most commentators as an example of extraordinary leadership. And the biblical book that bears his name is often mined for principles of leadership. And it might be tempting to suppose that Nehemiah was blessed with unique circumstances that made it easy to lead — he held a high and privileged position […]

Sermon: Restrictions to Fellowship

Restrictions to Fellowship 2 John 7-13 September 14, 2014 The first time I remember a Mormon coming by our house when I was a child was when we were living in Minnesota. I think it was January. My Dad answered the door, saw who they were, stepped outside, closed the door, and shared the gospel […]

Trying to decide about another job?

John Piper: In 1997 I put a list of Bible texts together to help folks think through what job to pursue. Below I have taken that list and added comments to flesh out more specifically what I had in mind. My prayer is that these thoughts will help saturate your mind with the centrality of […]

Sermon: The Basis of Fellowship

The Basis of Fellowship 2 John 1-6 September 7, 2014 Satan is the ruler of the world (1 Jn. 5:19). That makes the world a wicked and awful place. And despite our discouragement about what we find in the world, we’ve come to expect what we find in the world and from the world. But […]

What is the cross?

The cross is the burden of the gospel (‘we preach Christ crucified’, 1 Cor. 1:23; cf. 1:18; 2:2). It is the centrepiece of God’s eternal plan of grace (‘you redeemed were redeemed…with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb…chosen before the creation…revealed in these last times for your sake, 1 Pet. 1:18-20; cf. John. 3:16f; […]

We need the Bible

We need the Bible if we are to be competent Christians. The Bible will build us up so that we can endure suffering. It will give us discernment for difficult choices. It will make us strong enough to be patient with others and patient enough to respond with kindness when others hurt us. The Bible […]

Bill Cosby responds to Victoria Osteen

The Osteens say something heretical. Again. And Bill Cosby adds a fitting evaluation of her comment (it was Victoria this time, not Joel).

P&R Ebook sale

Westminster Bookstore is having a 3-day sale (only two days left) on over 100 ebooks from P&R Books. All the books are $1.99 and there are some great deals among the offerings. I purchased a number of books, and was particularly happy to get John Frame’s Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Christian Belief ($44.99 as […]

The “curse” of work

The curse under which we live today is not that we must work. The curse is that, in our work, we struggle with weariness and frustration and calamities and anxiety. And all this is doubly burdensome because now by this very toil we must keep ourselves alive. ‘In toil you shall eat of the ground.…In […]

Happy in your work?

In 1965 the future looked extraordinarily bright. Man was only four years from walking on the moon. The world was on the brink of a technological explosion — computer, microwave, laser, and communication advances were certain to revolutionize every facet of the way we lived. So a U.S. Senate Subcommittee in 1965 predicted that by […]