The blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin

When it comes to blood, I am squeamish. On two separate occasions I’ve almost fainted while making a pastoral hospital visit. When a hospital scene comes up in a television show, I always avert my eyes. When someone wants to show off a scar or wound, I ask not to be shown. Yet there is […]

What should we think about yesterday’s Supreme Court decisions?

Yesterday the Supreme Court of the United States handed down two significant rulings concerning homosexual marriage. What should we think about them? First of all, Joe Carter tells us, “9 Things You Should Know About the Supreme Court’s Same-Sex Marriage Cases.” His article helps to simplify the complexity of these cases and provides an overview […]

What God has done

For the past two days, I have been meditating on the first part of Ps. 40:5 — Many, O Lord my God, are the wonders which You have done, And Your thoughts toward us… The words are penned by David and I have pondered what kinds of things he might have contemplated as he considered […]

11 reasons to read Revelation

The book of Revelation, along with some of the OT prophetic books is among the most daunting books for believers to read. While the overall message of Revelation is clear (judgment is coming!), yet the meaning of the particulars in the book is sometimes more difficult to discern. So we are tempted to skip reading […]

It happens every day

It happened every fall. I worked as a pool cleaner while in seminary and as soon as the weather got too cool to swim, to save a couple of dollars, a few customers would request to have their pools covered and winterized and their service discontinued until the spring. We would show up to do […]

Our God who hears our prayers

Virtually every believer will acknowledge that he does not pray enough. We don’t pray for a variety of reasons. And one of those reasons is that we do not think highly enough about God who hears our prayers. We have a deficient functional theology. Oh, we would likely say the right words about God and […]

Sin is not master

John Murray, Redemption, Accomplished and Applied: There must be a constant and increasing appreciation that though sin still remains it does not have the mastery. There is a total difference between surviving sin and reigning sin, the regenerate in conflict with sin and the unregenerate complacent to sin. It is one thing for sin to […]

Sunday Leftovers: four reasons for hope for the believer who sins

Toxicologists Frank LoVecchio and Jeffrey Suchard of the Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center in Phoenix conducted a study a few years ago and discovered that 15% of Arizona rattlesnake attacks occurred after the snakes had been mortally shot, bludgeoned, or even beheaded. One man shot and decapitated a snake, then waited five minutes before picking […]

Don’t be like everybody else

Martyn Lloyd-Jones: It should not be our ambition to be as much like everybody else as we can, though we happen to be Christian, but rather to be as different from everybody who is not a Christian as we can possibly be. Our ambition should be to be like Christ, the more like Him the […]

14 free Piper eBooks

Desiring God has made many of John Piper’s books available for free in PDF format for many years. In the past couple of years, in addition to his major writings, DG has also published a number of smaller works (mostly biographies) by Piper that are only available as ebooks. These also are free. Recently, they […]

Kindle ESV Study Bible on sale

The Kindle version of the ESV study Bible is on sale for $4.99 — that’s a great deal if the ESV is your primary Bible for reading and study. Go to Amazon.com to purchase this Bible.

The earth is the Lord’s

God, through Asaph, says in Psalm 50: “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains.” […]

For what do you wait?

“And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.” (Ps. 39:7; NASB) The plight of Merhan “Alfred” Nasseri was an unusual one, to say the least. In 1988 he arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris on a two-day trip, but without a visa. Apparently his Iranian passport was confiscated […]

Berkhof’s Systematic Theology

Bible Training has made a copy of Berkhof’s Systematic Theology available in both .pdf and epub formats. This was the primary theology text I used in the first couple years of seminary, and I have repeatedly returned to it and found it helpful. The eschatology section in this book won’t be as helpful, but most […]

Ready to worship?

“O Lord, who may abide in Thy tent? Who may dwell on Thy holy hill?” (Psalm 15:1; NASB) It was a simple question. We do not know the circumstances under which it was asked, but we do know the heart from which it came. David, the man whose life was patterned after the heart of […]