Truth Matters

Discernment

2012-01-28T18:57:00.000-05:00

"Discernment is not a matter of simply telling the difference between right and wrong; rather it is telling the difference between right and almost right."

C.H. Spurgeon

Wretched: Driscoll, Jakes, MacDonald and an Elephant

2012-01-28T16:35:00.002-05:00

A Fire That Fortifies Faith

2012-01-27T14:35:00.000-05:00

"Suffering strengthens resolve and increases the value of Christ for those who, in response to the presence of the Spirit in their lives, genuinely trust God's love and power. Rather than destroying faith-induced hope, suffering spurs it on. It is the fire that fortifies faith, stripping away the illusion of the world's glamour and gold and unmasking our powerlessness to solve our own problems, or provide for our own security (Luke 12:16-21). Suffering therefore teaches us to esteem God's promises as our only hope."

Scott Hafemann - The God of Promise and the Life of Faith p. 151

Spurgeon Devotional - Morning, May 26

2012-01-27T11:50:00.003-05:00

“Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.”

Psalm 55:22

Care, even though exercised upon legitimate objects, if carried to excess, has in it the nature of sin. The precept to avoid anxious care is earnestly inculcated by our Saviour, again and again; it is reiterated by the apostles; and it is one which cannot be neglected without involving transgression: for the very essence of anxious care is the imagining that we are wiser than God, and the thrusting ourselves into his place to do for him that which he has undertaken to do for us. We attempt to think of that which we fancy he will forget; we labour to take upon ourselves our weary burden, as if he were unable or unwilling to take it for us. Now this disobedience to his plain precept, this unbelief in his Word, this presumption in intruding upon his province, is all sinful. Yet more than this, anxious care often leads to acts of sin. He who cannot calmly leave his affairs in God’s hand, but will carry his own burden, is very likely to be tempted to use wrong means to help himself. This sin leads to a forsaking of God as our counsellor, and resorting instead to human wisdom. This is going to the “broken cistern” instead of to the “fountain;” a sin which was laid against Israel of old. Anxiety makes us doubt God’s lovingkindness, and thus our love to him grows cold; we feel mistrust, and thus grieve the Spirit of God, so that our prayers become hindered, our consistent example marred, and our life one of self-seeking. Thus want of confidence in God leads us to wander far from him; but if through simple faith in his promise, we cast each burden as it comes upon him, and are “careful for nothing” because he undertakes to care for us, it will keep us close to him, and strengthen us against much temptation. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.”

The Exodus Laws: Freeing or Restricting?

2012-01-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

Psalm 91

2012-01-23T11:30:00.000-05:00

My Refuge and My Fortress

1 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
2 I will say[a] to the LORD, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his pinions,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.
5 You will not fear the terror of the night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness,
nor the destruction that wastes at noonday.

7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only look with your eyes
and see the recompense of the wicked.

9 Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—
the Most High, who is my refuge[b]—
10 no evil shall be allowed to befall you,
no plague come near your tent.

11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways.
12 On their hands they will bear you up,
lest you strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the adder;
the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot.

14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him;
I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15 When he calls to me, I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
I will rescue him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”

God's Sovereignty and Man's Responsibility

2012-01-19T21:51:00.002-05:00

Leonard Ravenhill - Full Interview

2012-01-19T15:51:00.001-05:00

Sanctification

2012-01-18T08:14:00.004-05:00

What is meant by the expression, being sanctified? The essential part of sanctification means being set apart for holy uses. That which was meant to be used for God alone was sanctified, set apart, regarded as holy. The vessels of the sanctuary were sanctified when they were used only by the priests in the service of God. Of course; there arose out of this fact, which is the essence of sanctification, the further quality of purity, for that which is dedicated to God must be pure, that which is reserved for his service must not be defiled, it must be clean. We cannot imagine the holy God using unholy vessels in his sanctuary; so that sanctification comes to
mean purification, the making of that to be holy which was first of all set apart for holy uses. Holiness of character follows upon holiness of design. First are we set apart for God’s use, and then afterwards we are made pure that we may be fit for God’s use.

Make a Difference

2012-01-16T11:15:00.002-05:00

Exciting OT Play

2012-01-12T15:35:00.001-05:00

Our Compassionate Provider

2012-01-11T20:05:00.001-05:00

God Is In Control Of Our Trials

2012-01-08T09:13:00.000-05:00

"Paul and James both say that we should rejoice in our trials because of their beneficial results. It is not the adversity considered in itself that is to be the ground of our joy. Rather, it is the expectation of the results, the development of our character that should cause us to rejoice in adversity. God does not ask us to rejoice because we have lost our job, or a loved one has been stricken with cancer, or a child has been born with an incurable birth defect. But He does tell us to rejoice because we believe He is in control of those circumstances and is at work through them for our ultimate good."

Jerry Bridges - Trusting God, p. 175.

The Holy Spirit's Power And Our Effort

2012-01-07T12:35:00.001-05:00

Part 1

Part 2

Should Christians watch the TV? - Tim Conway

2012-01-06T12:26:00.002-05:00

Matt Perman On The Doctrine Of Vocation

2012-01-06T12:24:00.000-05:00

Monday Morning Motivation from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.

Answering Any Questions God Is Asking

2012-01-05T15:03:00.000-05:00

HT: Preaching With Greater Accuracy

Believing What God Says To Us

2012-01-03T11:27:00.001-05:00

From Do You Understand What You Are Reading?:

It's the first post of the new year. Here we go again and this year many of us are on the journey together to read through the Bible this year. Reading three or four chapters a day, six days a week, equals too many details for me to discuss. So, I'll try to comment on some big-picture issues in the chapters. For instance, in Genesis the phrase, "God said," occurs 30 times, about half of them in Genesis 1-3 (10 of them in chapter 1). Then, after seeing the King's speech create all of life, including ours, it is God's speech that is questioned and ultimately rejected in favor of another speech--that of the Serpent. That's basically the drama being played out in our lives every single day. Whose speech will you honor as reality this year?

Isaiah 30:18-26

2011-12-28T11:03:00.001-05:00

Isaiah 30:18-26 records an encouraging report about our Lord waiting to give us His best gifts. It proved to be very applicable for a Christmas Day message. The preaching portion included not only what God will do, but also how His people will respond. It is this future look that contains information on how genuine Christians respond to God now. In Isaiah, this type of response guarantees that God's people will escape destruction and be completely delivered in the Day of the Lord. Verses 20-21, for instance, describe a new capacity to see and hear. Spirit-controlled Christians have this capacity now. That leads to an inevitable change of lifestyle (v. 22) as genuine Christians do away with their idolatry. Contrast this response of the godly with Revelation 9:20-21 where we read of those who "did not...give up worshiping...idols..." The ethical sections of prophetic material instruct the Church by showing how genuine Believers live life now while they wait for their Lord's return.

HT: Preaching With Greater Accuracy

John Piper - Ultimate Self Denial Is Not Biblical

2011-12-28T10:45:00.000-05:00

Have a Blessed Christmas

2011-12-21T11:45:00.002-05:00

Truth Matters wishes you all a very blessed Christmas. May our Lord continue to make us conformed to the image of His Son in this New Year.

"From Adam to Moses, through 2500 years, and from Moses to Malachi, through 1100 years, the prophets were speaking for God to man. But at the end of the 3600 years their revelation of God was only partial. Then after a silence of four hundred years, when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, and in that Son the revelation of God is perfect."

Dr. William Pettingill - "Into the Holiest"

A Place For Healing

2011-12-19T15:41:00.000-05:00

"Someone might ask, “Have you always had such contentment, Joni?” And I would have to answer no. I well remember the first Christmas I got out of the hospital, my first visit home since the accident. Depressed and frightened, I remember going to church with my family on Christmas Eve. One particular carol stands out in my mind. I remember singing, with tears falling from my eyes:

Hail the heav’n-born Prince of Peace! Hail the Son of Righteousness! Light and life to all He brings, risen with healing in His wings.

When we got to that third verse of “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” I thought, Im sure this Christmas season I’ll get up out of my wheelchair-risen with healing in His wings!

Little did I know (and I don’t know if I would have understood even if you had explained it to me) that in due time, God would heal me-but on a level I would have never dreamed.

Just two years later, on another Christmas, I found the very peace and contentment that had eluded me. I also found joy, simply because I had embraced His will for my life.

And what is His will?

That you and I be in the best position, the best place, the timeliest circumstance in which God can be glorified the most.

For me, that place just happens to be a wheelchair.

That happens to be my place of healing."

Joni Eareckson Tada, A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, Kindle Location 469-77.

(HT The Works of God)

"Chance"

2011-12-14T07:41:00.000-05:00

"Nothing whatever, whether great or small, can happen to a believer, without God’s ordering and permission. There is no such thing as “chance,” “luck” or “accident” in the Christian’s journey through this world. All is arranged and appointed by God. And all things are “working together” for the believer’s good."

J.C. Ryle

Is It Important To You That a Sermon Contain One Major Theme or Idea?

2011-12-13T19:07:00.001-05:00

From Preaching With Greater Accuracy:

What it takes to be the "remnant of His people"

2011-12-13T18:56:00.000-05:00

From Preaching With Greater Accuracy:

Isaiah 28 is possibly the clearest presentation of God's people being made up of two groups: counterfeit believers and true believers. The intention of chapter 28 is to move true believers towards trusting God's invitation to rest in Him. Verses 12 states why Ephraim and its leadership were to be judged: "to whom [the Lord] said, 'This is rest...'; yet they would not hear." In contrast to Ephraim, true believers do listen to God's Word, they trust in God's "precious cornerstone" (v. 16), and they experience the results: "Whoever believes will not be in haste." Chapter 28 forces us to look at all the stressors in life that cause us to worry and be anxious. It forces us to look at the times when we're tempted to believe that God cannot deliver us. It forces us to look at all those other sources of rest we might be tempted to trust. The example of Ephraim and the leadership teaches us to "go and do otherwise." By exposing their unbelief, Isaiah urges true believers to believe in Christ and to live out that faith in the form of righteousness.

Desiring God Mission Update

2011-12-11T22:25:00.000-05:00

Fast Train

2011-12-09T20:38:00.004-05:00

The one and only time I ever took a train ride I was around 6 years old. It was a steam engine train in Strasburg. I guess times have changed since then...

Preaching With Greater Accuracy

2011-12-07T11:35:00.000-05:00

Dear Pastors and Scholars,

I want to direct you to a blog called “Preaching With Greater Accuracy” by Pastor Randy Pelton.

This blog attempts to show how hermeneutics affects the development of sermons. Preaching portions have ways of displaying theology which, in turn, creates relevant messages for the Church. The entries may provide direction for preaching a particular Text and also equip you to handle other Texts that present theology in similar ways. Those interested in Christ-centered preaching will observe numerous ways in which the Gospel fleshes out the interpretation and application of Scripture.

I would encourage you to visit this blog and take advantage of Pastor Pelton’s offer to answer any questions you may have.

Jonny Lang - On That Great Day

2011-12-06T18:39:00.000-05:00

The Incarnation Of The Lord Jesus

2011-12-02T10:29:00.000-05:00

"The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ marks the zenith of history. His life not only divides the calender, but also human destiny. As Jesus Himself warned those who rejected Him, "Unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:23), and on another occasion, "Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division" (Luke 12:51; cf. Luke 2:34). Like no one else, Jesus Christ evokes the antithetical extremes of love and hate, devotion and rejection, worship and blasphemy, and faith and unbelief. How people respond to Him divides the sheep from the goats; the wheat from the tares; believers from unbelievers; the saved from the lost."

John MacArthur - Commentary John 12-21

Gospel-Centeredness and Hebrews 6:1?

2011-11-30T08:31:00.001-05:00

Liquid Tension Experiment - Paradigm Shift

2011-11-29T16:27:00.002-05:00

Why We Must Be Theological

2011-11-29T10:38:00.000-05:00

Kevin DeYoung:

"If I’m not mistaken, our church has a reputation for being quite theological. I know this is why many people have come to our church. And I imagine it’s why some people have left, or never checked us out in the first place. But no church should apologize for talking about and loving theology. Now–and this is an important caveat–if we are arrogant with our theology, or if our doctrinal passion is just about intellectual gamesmanship, or we are all out of proportioned in our affections for less important doctrines, then may the Lord rebuke us. We should not be surprised theology gets a bad name in such circumstances.

But when it comes to thinking on, rejoicing in, and building a church upon sound biblical truth, we should all long for a richly theological church.

I could cite many reasons for preaching theologically and many reasons for wanting to pastor a congregation that loves theology. Let me mention six:"

Read the entire article here.

In Trial And Weakness And Trouble

2011-11-29T09:58:00.000-05:00

"In trial and weakness and trouble, He seeks to bring us low, until we learn that His grace is all, and to take pleasure in the very thing that brings us and keeps us low. His strength is made perfect in our weakness. His presence filling and satisfying our emptiness, becomes the secret of humility that need never fail. The humble man has learned the secret of abiding gladness. The weaker he feels, the lower he sinks, and the greater his humiliations appear, the more power and the presence of Christ are his portion."

Andrew Murray

John Piper - You Will Suffer

2011-11-28T18:38:00.000-05:00

Family Worship

2011-11-28T09:25:00.000-05:00

"We have found it important not to enter the family worship time with rigid expectations and a rigid plan. We want an atmosphere of freedom, where our teenagers feel free to ask questions, verbalize doubts, express confusion, debate applications, and try to draw inferences and applications, all without the fear of being silenced, rebuked, or ridiculed. We want the truth to connect, to convict, and to capture our teenagers, so we are in no hurry. We want to give them time to understand and the Spirit time to work. This time is for them. We have no expectations about the amount of material we cover and our goal is not to get our teenagers to agree with us. The goal is to stimulate in them a hunger for God, so we want to be relaxed, patient, and creative."

Paul Tripp - Age of Opportunity p. 186

Embrace The Paradox

2011-11-22T09:18:00.000-05:00

"Embrace the paradox of God's sovereignty and man’s responsibility. The sad thing is that some embrace the sovereignty of God over the human will and say: “It is wrong to portray God with His arms stretched out, inviting and calling.” And others embrace the responsibility of man and say, “If God invites and calls and beckons, then he can’t really be sovereign over man’s will, and man really is ultimately self-determining and God is not really in control of all things.” Both of these are sad mistakes. It is sad, because one group rejects something deep and precious that God has revealed about Himself for our strength and hope and joy and love – namely, his absolute sovereignty. Oh, how sweet it is when all around our soul gives way, and we need a reliable and firm rock in a world that sometimes seems utterly out of control and meaningless and cruel. Oh, how sweet at these times to know that God is not good and helpless, but good and sovereign. And the other group (who embrace the sovereignty of God) sometimes rejects something utterly crucial for understanding the justice of God in dealing with people, and they fail to see how we should plead with people and persuade people and invite people and woo people with tears, to Christ, and on behalf of Christ."

John Piper - How Shall People Be Saved? Part 2.

The Voice Of God In Sickness And Sorrow

2011-11-18T11:53:00.000-05:00

Every sickness and sorrow is the voice of God speaking to us. Each has its peculiar message. Happy are they who have an eye to see God’s hand, and an ear to hear His voice, in all that happens to them. Nothing in this world happens by chance.

And as it is with sickness, so it is with recovery. Renewed health should send us back to our post in the world with a deeper hatred of sin, a more thorough watchfulness over our own ways, and a more constant purpose of mind to live for God. Far too often the excitement and novelty of returning health tempt us to forget the vows and intentions of the sick-room. There are spiritual dangers attending a recovery! Well would it be for us all after illness to grave these words on our hearts, “Let me sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto me.”

Let us leave the passage with grateful hearts, and bless God that we have such a Gospel and such a Savior as the Bible reveals. Are we ever sick and ill? Let us remember that Christ sees, and knows, and can heal as He thinks fit. Are we ever in trouble? Let us hear in our trouble the voice of God, and learn to hate sin more.

J.C. Ryle, The Gospel of John, Kindle Loc. 1468-77.

(HT The Works of God)

Thought Life

2011-11-15T19:21:00.000-05:00

"Holiness begins in our minds and works out to our actions. That being true, what we allow to enter our minds is critically important. The television programs we watch, the movies we may attend, the books and magazines we read, the music we listen to, and the conversations we have all affect our minds. We need to evaluate the effects of these avenues honestly, using Philippians 4:8 as a standard. Are the thought stimulated by these various avenues true? Are they pure? Lovely? Admirable, excellent, or praiseworthy?"

Jerry Bridges - The Pursuit of Holiness p. 117

Fighter Verses on Your iPhone or Android

2011-11-15T19:02:00.002-05:00

The Best Day Of Fishing, Ever!

2011-11-10T15:23:00.001-05:00

I've heard of salmon jumping into boats but four deer were pulled from the icy waters of Stephens Passage, Alaska, by a group of locals on Tom Satre's 62-foot charter vessel. Four juvenile Sitka black-tailed deer swam directly toward the boat.

Once the deer reached the boat, the four began to circle the boat, looking directly at the humans on board. Clearly, the bucks were distressed. With help, the typically skittish and absolutely wild animals came willingly onto the boat. Once onboard, they collapsed with exhaustion, shivering.

Here the rescued bucks rest on the back of Tom Satre's boat, the Alaska Quest. All four deer were transported to Taku Harbour. Once the group reached the dock, the first buck that had been pulled from the water hopped onto the dock, looked back, then leapt into the harbour, swam to shore, and disappeared into the forest. After a bit of prodding and assistance from the humans, two others followed suit, but one deer needed more help.

The good Samaritans describe their experience as "one of those defining moments in life." I'm sure it was for the deer, as well.

HT: Dr. Dave Eichler

The Most Orphan-Caring

2011-11-09T06:16:00.000-05:00

Dan Cruver:

"Ephesians 1:5 clearly teaches that adoption existed in the mind and will of God before there was any such thing as people adopting children. The Graeco-Roman world did not invent adoption. God did. This means that adoption moved vertically, from God to man, before it ever moved horizontally, from man to man.

We must be very careful here, though. Scripture commands all Christians to love, forgive and welcome others, but it does not command all Christians to adopt. As a matter of fact, it doesn’t even require that some Christians adopt.

What we can say with absolutely certainty, though, is that God the Father does expect those whom He adopts to visit orphans in their affliction (James 1:27, “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans…”). My point is simply this: the Love that adopted us becomes a love in us that cares for orphans. As Christians, we should be moved and empowered to visit the fatherless because God himself visited us when we were without hope in this world (Ephesians 2:11-13). For some, this visiting will mean adoption; for others, it may involve helping others adopt or joining with other Christians to provide some form of humanitarian aide or support for orphaned and vulnerable children.

However we Christians are involved in visiting orphans in their affliction, it should be Christianity’s vertical to horizontal movement that moves us out in compassion. Christians should not only be the most loving, forgiving and welcoming people on the planet, we should also be the most orphan-caring."

Read the entire article here.

(HT Vitamin Z)

Shai Linne - Spurgeon

2011-11-03T10:12:00.000-05:00

Unremitting Triviality

2011-10-28T08:38:00.000-05:00

It’s the unremitting triviality that makes television so deadly. What we desperately need is help to enlarge our capacities to be moved by the immeasurable glories of Christ. Television takes us almost constantly in the opposite direction, lowering, shrinking, and deadening our capacities for worshiping Christ.

One more smaller concern with TV (besides its addictive tendencies, trivialization of life, and deadening effects): It takes time. I have so many things I want to accomplish in this one short life. Don’t waste your life is not a catchphrase for me; it’s a cliff I walk beside every day with trembling.

TV consumes more and more time for those who get used to watching it. You start to feel like it belongs. You wonder how you could get along without it. I am jealous for my evenings. There are so many things in life I want to accomplish. I simply could not do what I do if I watched television. So we have never had a TV in 40 years of marriage (except in Germany, to help learn the language). I don’t regret it.

John Piper

Dependent Upon God

2011-10-27T10:08:00.000-05:00

"God is not looking for the powerful and the successful and those who are able communicators. Instead, He looks for the person who has a broken and contrite spirit. Those individuals, whether they are extroverted or introverted, humorous or melancholy, are regularly in the quiet place bowing before God’s Word with a trembling heart and seeking fresh enabling from the Holy Spirit. They have been brought to see that they did not make themselves, nor did they save themselves. They are totally dependent upon God’s grace (Isa. 66:2)."

Alistair Begg - Made For His Pleasure, p. 164.

Free Will

2011-10-26T09:32:00.000-05:00

The Cripplegate:

"By proposing free will in salvation we may think we are defending the essence of the Gospel, but we are in fact denying it. Most who hold to free will assume they are preserving the quality of love between Savior and sinner, but are in fact diluting it. If you add free will to the equation it actually marginalizes the Gospel. The Gospel was necessary- exactly and specifically – because man did not have the capacity to bring himself to God. Such is God’s love. Jesus died because we could not save ourselves in any sense of the word. The Gospel is about a rescue mission and not about lending man a helping hand in his search for God.

To state it completely, it was the absence of freewill (total depravity) which necessitated the incarnation, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There is no Gospel where there is free will. He came into the world to save us principally because we lacked the free will to save ourselves, not because we possessed it. We were “dead in our trespasses.” Free will does not assist in defending the Gospel it does away with the need for it."

Read the entire article here.

Repentance

2011-10-26T07:36:00.000-05:00

"The portrait of Jesus in the gospels is altogether different from the picture contemporary evangelicals typically imagine. Rather than a would-be redeemer who merely stands outside anxiously awaiting an invitation to come into unregenerate lives, the Savior described in the New Testament is God in the flesh, invading the world of sinful men and challenging them to turn from their iniquity. Rather than waiting for an invitation, He issues His own – in the form of a command to repent and take on a yoke of submission."

John MacArthur - The Gospel According to Jesus, p. 107.

Adoption

2011-10-26T07:24:00.001-05:00

Matthew Lee Anderson has some reflections on Evangelicalism and Adoption:

"But the Gospel does not simply provide us the proper set of motivations to do what everyone else in the world does. Instead, it provides us unique insight into the structure of morality (Christ is our wisdom), such that we can open up new possibilities for action rather than staying within the framework provided to us by the world around us. The Gospel is not only an internal reality that helps us to get our hearts in the “right place” with respect to adoption. It is an external reality that should help us discern who we adopt and how we go about it."

Read the entire article here.

Think Hard, Stay Humble

2011-10-25T21:23:00.000-05:00

Fear Of God

2011-10-25T20:59:00.000-05:00

"What is this fear of God? It is the nonnegotiable motivator of the spiritual person. God, His presence, His will, and His glory are the reason the spiritual person does what he does. He has a single motivation in his life – to live so as to please his Lord. He does not live for his own pleasure or the pleasure of others. He does not live for what he can possess. He does what he does because God is and has spoken. This is the sole guidance system for his existence. He does what he does not because someone is watching, or out of fear of the consequences, but ultimately because of a deep, worshipful love and reverence for God. The thought of knowingly and purposefully disobeying Him is unthinkable."

Paul Tripp - Age of Opportunity, p. 118-119

Upside-Down World

2011-10-18T17:34:00.000-05:00

"Many of us in our churches think of ourselves as living upright and outstanding lives as faithful Christian women and solid Christian men, and that, therefore, God is going to accept us. He will not! All of us need to hear the law of God, taught frequently and powerfully, so that we may be convicted of sin and come to understand our continuing need for Christ.

Jesus preaches the gospel of forgiveness to those who seem farthest away from God: the prostitutes, sinners, tax collectors, and Samaritans. Today, our equivalent would be perhaps prostitutes, drug addicts, gang members, homosexuals, adulterers, corrupt business people and politicians, and any others whom we think of as being hopelessly wrong in their beliefs and lifestyles. These people have already graduated from the school of sin, and are often deeply aware of their need and shame. It is to the people who seem farthest from truth and righteousness that Jesus preaches the good news of salvation with the utmost grace and gentleness.

This may seem completely wrong to us, a kind of upside-down world. Think of attitudes in our society as well as our attitudes often found within the church: “Condemn the poor, the weak, the sinners! Commend the rich, the powerful, the upright!” Jesus, however, does precisely the opposite."

Jerram Barrs, Learning Evangelism from Jesus, p. 146

(HT Vitamin Z)

Welcome To The Jungle

2011-10-18T17:21:00.002-05:00

David Zahl:

"So Axl is sadly the product of the worst kind of religion: ultra-bootcamp Pelagianism compartmentalized to the point of cruelty (not to mention completely at odds with its founder). It wouldn’t be a leap to say that the distance that young Axl had to travel to escape, both geographically and lifestyle-wise, correlates pretty closely to the toxicity of his circumstances in Lafayette. As soon as he could, and after finding out that the preacher in question wasn’t even his biological father, he hopped a bus to LA, following his friend Izzy Stradlin, where he proceeded to dive headfirst into one of the more decadent scenes in the country. Or so the story goes. We all know that strict parents often produce rebellious kids, that the Law does indeed tend to increase the trespass, but still, there is only one Axl Rose. And his story just begins there."

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

(HT Jim Hamilton)

Carl Trueman and the Elephant Room

2011-10-17T13:34:00.001-05:00

Listen to Carl Trueman discuss James MacDonald and the Elephant Room here.

Sow to the Spirit - Tom Schreiner

2011-10-16T19:15:00.001-05:00

Sow to the Spirit from Southern Seminary on Vimeo.

(HT Dane Ortlund)

Blind Boys Of Alabama - I shall Never Walk Alone

2011-10-13T19:22:00.000-05:00

Designed For Our Good

2011-10-10T09:20:00.002-05:00

"Faith upholds a Christian under all trials, by assuring him that every painful dispensation is under the direction of his Lord; that chastisements are a token of His love; that the season, measure, and continuance of his sufferings, are appointed by Infinite Wisdom, and designed to work for his everlasting good; and that grace and strength shall be afforded him, according to his need."

John Newton

He Loved Us Before Time Began

2011-10-08T08:51:00.001-05:00

"When I fly into it for a moment, and think of the great doctrine of election -

"That vast unmeasured love,
Which from the days of old,
Did all the chosen seed embrace,
like sheep within the fold."

It makes the tears run down one's cheeks to think that we should have an interest in that decree and council of the Almighty Three, when every one that should be blood-bought had its name inscribed in God's eternal book. Come, soul, I bid thee now exercise thy wings a little, and see if this does not make thee love God. He thought of thee before thou hadst a being. When as yet the sun and the moon were not,—when the sun, the moon, and the stars slept in the mind of God, like unborn forests in an acorn cup, when the old sea was not yet born, long ere this infant world lay in its swaddling bands of mist, then God had inscribed thy name upon the heart and upon the hands of Christ indelibly, to remain for ever. And does not this make thee love God? Is not this sweet exercise for thy love? For here it is my text comes in, giving, as it were, the last charge in this sweet battle of love, a charge that sweeps everything before it. "We love God, because he first loved us," seeing that he loved us before time began, and when in eternity he dwelt alone."

Charles Spurgeon

The Night of Weeping

2011-10-06T05:57:00.000-05:00

(HT THEOparadox)

Scripture Memorization

2011-10-06T05:51:00.000-05:00

"To memorize Scripture effectively, you must have a plan. The plan should include a selection of well-chosen verses, a practical system for learning those verses, a systematic means of reviewing them to keep them fresh in your memory, and simple rules for continuing Scripture memory on your own."

Jerry Bridges - The Pursuit of Holiness p. 86

Fighter Verse Pack (ESV)

Apple iPhone 4S Siri demo

2011-10-04T18:07:00.000-05:00

Philippians 3:1-16

2011-10-03T12:08:00.003-05:00

Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you is no trouble to me and is safe for you. 2 Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers, look out for those who mutilate the flesh. 3 For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh— 4 though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

"Charity" Towards Heresy?

2011-10-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

"There are some truths which must be believed; they are essential to salvation, and if not heartily accepted, the soul will be ruined.

Now, in [the early church], the saints did not say, as the sham saints do now, "We must be largely charitable, and leave this brother to his own opinion; he sees truth from a different standpoint, and has a rather different way of putting it, but his opinions are as good as our own, and we must not say that he is in error."

That is at present the fashionable way of trifling with divine truth, and making things pleasant all round. Thus the gospel is debased, and "another gospel" propagated.

I should like to ask modern broad churchmen whether there is any doctrine of any sort for which it would be worth a man's while to burn or to lie in prison. I do not believe they could give me an answer, for if their latitudinarianism be correct, the martyrs were fools of the first magnitude.

From what I see of their writings and their teachings, it appears to me that the modern thinkers treat the whole compass of revealed truth with entire indifference; and, though perhaps they may feel sorry that wilder spirits should go too far in free thinking, and though they had rather they would be more moderate, yet, upon the whole, so large is their liberality that they are not sure enough of anything to be able to condemn the reverse of it as a deadly error.

To them black and white are terms which may be applied to the same colour, as you view it from different standpoints. Yea and nay are equally true in their esteem. Their theology shifts like the Goodwin Sands, and they regard all firmness as so much bigotry. Errors and truths are equally comprehensible within the circle of their charity.

It was not in this way that the apostles regarded error. They did not prescribe large-hearted charity towards falsehood, or hold up the errorist as a man of deep thought, whose views were "refreshingly original"; far less did they utter some wicked nonsense about the probability of there living more faith in honest doubt than in half the creeds. They did not believe in justification by doubting, as our neologians do; they set about the conversion of the erring brother; they treated him as a person who needed conversion; and viewed him as a man who, if he were not converted, would suffer the death of his soul, and be covered with a multitude of sins.

They were not such easygoing people as our cultured friends of the school of "modern thought", who have learned at last that the Deity of Christ may be denied, the work of the Holy Spirit ignored, the inspiration of Scripture rejected, the atonement disbelieved, and regeneration dispensed with, and yet the man who does all this may be as good a Christian as the most devout believer!

O God, deliver us from this deceitful infidelity, which, while it does damage to the erring man, and often prevents his being reclaimed, does yet more mischief to our own hearts by teaching us that truth is unimportant, and falsehood a trifle, and so destroys our allegiance to the God of truth, and makes us traitors instead of loyal subjects to the King of kings!"

C. H. Spurgeon

(HT Pyromaniacs)

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper

2011-09-30T11:09:00.000-05:00

Bloodlines Documentary with John Piper from Crossway on Vimeo.

The Cost of Friendship

2011-09-29T11:51:00.000-05:00

Michael Haykin:

"The year following Fuller’s death, Ryland published a biography of his close friend. In the introduction, he stated the following about their friendship:

Most of our common acquaintances are well aware, that I was his oldest and most intimate friend; and though my removal to Bristol, above twenty years ago, placed us at a distance from each other, yet a constant correspondence was all along maintained; and, to me at least, it seemed a tedious interval, if more than a fortnight elapsed without my receiving a letter from him.

When Ryland moved to Bristol in 1793 he was no longer close enough to his friend in Kettering for them to meet on a regular basis. The only way that they could keep their friendship alive and intact was through the medium of the letter. Thus, for more than twenty years, they faithfully corresponded with one another. Ryland notes that if he did not hear from Fuller at least once every two weeks he found the time gap "tedious." Both Ryland and Fuller knew that their friendship was a fragile treasure that could be easily lost or neglected in the unpredictable business of life if they did not give it the attention it needed. As the American preacher Haddon Robinson has recently noted, "Even strong friendships require watering or they shrivel up and blow away."

Read the entire article here.

Dead Man Washing: Why Baptism (Really) Matters

2011-09-29T07:34:00.002-05:00

Forgiven

2011-09-29T07:33:00.000-05:00

"What do you do with the person who says, “I’ve asked God to forgive me about this, but I still feel guilty”? I hear that statement over and over again. I usually say to these people, “If you still feel guilty, then pray to God again. But this time don’t ask Him to forgive you for the sin that is haunting you. Rather, ask Him to forgive you for insulting His integrity by refusing to accept His forgiveness. Who are you to refuse to forgive yourself when God has forgiven you? When God promises to forgive His people when they repent, He is not playing games. If He says He will forgive you, then He will forgive you. And if God forgives you, you are forgiven.”

R.C. Sproul - The Intimate Marriage, p. 127-128.

Jetman Flight at Grand Canyon West

2011-09-27T08:28:00.001-05:00

Bears' 'incredible' return goes for naught

2011-09-26T13:30:00.000-05:00

Hospitality

2011-09-23T13:24:00.000-05:00

"Romans 12:13 said that we should "be constant" or persistent in our practice of hospitality. Hebrews says the same thing in a negative way: don't neglect it. Evidently it is something that can easily fall into neglect. Indeed it can.

The physical force of gravity pulls everything to the center of the earth. In order to break free from earth-centered life, thousands and thousands of pounds of energy have to push the space shuttle away from the center. There is also a psychological force of gravity that constantly pulls our thoughts and affections and physical actions inward toward the center of our own selves and our own homes.

Therefore the most natural thing in the world is to neglect hospitality. It is the path of least resistance. All we have to do is yield to the natural gravity of our self-centered life, and the result will be a life so full of self that there is no room for hospitality. We will forget about it. And we will neglect it. So the Bible bluntly says, "Stop that!" Build a launching pad. Fill up your boosters. And blast out of your self-oriented routine. Stop neglecting hospitality. Practice hospitality."

John Piper

(HT THEOparadox)

Kingdom of God

2011-09-23T09:47:00.000-05:00

"I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of God. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of Him to whom I owe all my hopes in time or eternity."

David Livingstone

Russell Moore on Calvin's Institutes

2011-09-23T09:44:00.000-05:00

Russell Moore:

"I consider myself a conscientious objector in the Calvinist/Arminian wars. First of all, it’s because I find the issue more complicated than such partisanship can convey, and I think both sides are right at certain points. Second, I find the polemics rather boring compared to the glory of the big scope of God’s kingdom. Third, I don’t think the distance between mainstream Calvinists and mainstream Arminians is really all that great. And, finally, because I find the professional Calvinists and professional anti-Calvinists to be shrill and exhausting.

So when my friend John Mark Reynolds (an Eastern Orthodox dispensationalist; and I thought I was eclectic!) asked me to write an essay on Calvin for his new volume on the great books, I hesitated. But Calvin is more important than the coffee shop debates over the extent of the atonement and how many elders can dance on the head of a pulpit. So, here’s what I had to say about Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion:"

Read the entire article here.

A Disturbing Vision of The Condition Of God's People, Plus A Way Forward

2011-09-21T18:31:00.002-05:00

If the flash player does not appear, you can listen to the sermon HERE.

Grace Abounding

2011-09-17T10:31:00.001-05:00

“I saw my sin most barbarous and a filthy crime. I had to conclude, with great shame and astonishment, that I had horribly abused the holy Son of God. I felt my soul greatly to love him and my heart to yearn for him, for I saw that he was still my friend and did reward me good for evil. . . . I thought, had I a thousand gallons of blood within my veins, I could freely have spilled it all at the feet of this my Lord and Savior.”

John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners (Edinburgh, n.d.), page 75. Style simplified.

(HT Ray Ortlund)

Russell Moore Responds to Pat Robertson

2011-09-16T08:41:00.001-05:00

Russell Moore:

Pat Robertson’s cruel marriage statement is no anomaly. He and his cohorts have given us for years a prosperity gospel with more in common with an Asherah pole than a cross. They have given us a politicized Christianity that uses churches to “mobilize” voters rather than to stand prophetically outside the power structures as a witness for the gospel.

But Jesus didn’t die for a Christian Coalition; he died for a church. And the church, across the ages, isn’t significant because of her size or influence. She is weak, helpless, and spattered in blood. He is faithful to us anyway.

If our churches are to survive, we must repudiate this Canaanite mammonocracy that so often speaks for us. But, beyond that, we must train up a new generation to see the gospel embedded in fidelity, a fidelity that is cruciform.

Read the entire article here.

Suffering Has Great Purpose

2011-09-14T07:26:00.000-05:00

"Suffering is a part of the process by which the children of God are sanctified. They are chastened to wean them from the world, and make them partakers of God’s holiness. The Captain of their salvation was made perfect through sufferings, and so are they. There never yet was a great saint who had not either great afflictions or great corruptions. Philip Melancthon said it well: “Where there are no cares, there will generally be no prayers.”

J.C. Ryle

(HT The Works of God)

The Galaxy

2011-09-10T19:16:00.001-05:00

How the Christian says, "I'm Going To Die." by Randal Pelton

2011-09-05T21:57:00.001-05:00

If the flash player does not appear, you can listen to the sermon HERE.

Christ Alone

2011-08-28T08:15:00.000-05:00

"True salvation is not to be found through the mere reception of any creed, however true or scriptural. Mere “head notion” is not the road to heaven. “You must be born again,” means a great deal more than that you must believe certain dogmas. The study of the Bible cannot save you! You must press beyond this; you must come to the living, personal Christ, or else your acceptance of the soundest creed cannot avail for the salvation of your soul. Salvation lies in Jesus only!"

C.H. Spurgeon

You Shall Sing a Song of Deliverance

2011-08-26T06:54:00.000-05:00

"God is wonderful in His design and excellent in His working. Believer, God overrules all things for your good. The needs-be for all that you have suffered, has been most accurately determined by God. Your course is all mapped out by your Lord. Nothing will take Him by surprise. There will be no novelties to Him. There will be no occurrences which He did not foresee, and for which, therefore, He has not provided. He has arranged all, and you have but to patiently wait, and you shall sing a song of deliverance. Your life has been arranged on the best possible principles, so that if you had been gifted with unerring wisdom, you would have arranged a life for yourself exactly similar to the one through which you have passed. Let us trust God where we cannot trace Him."

C.H. Spurgeon

Steve Jobs

2011-08-25T13:20:00.000-05:00

(HT What's Best Next)

Russell Moore - Fencing the Lord's Table

2011-08-24T07:00:00.001-05:00

Russell Moore’s article on the importance of fencing the Lord’s Table can be read here.

Miracle

2011-08-24T06:27:00.000-05:00

"A ‘no’ answer has purged sin from my life, strengthened my commitment to Him, forced me to depend on grace, bound me with other believers, produced discernment, fostered sensitivity, disciplined my mind, taught me to spend my time wisely … and widened my world beyond what I would have ever dreamed had I never had that accident in 1967.

My affliction has stretched my hope, made me know Christ better, helped me long for truth, led me to repentance of sin, goaded me to give thanks in times of sorrow, increased my faith, and strengthened my character. Being in this wheelchair has meant knowing Him better, feeling His pleasure every day.

If that doesn’t qualify as a miracle in your book, then-may I say it in all kindness?-I prefer my book to yours."

Joni Eareckson Tada - A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty, p. 55-56.

(HT Works Of God)

Prosperity Gospel: Is it Salt and Light?

2011-08-23T16:28:00.002-05:00

Why Does Randy Alcorn Make Minimum Wage?

2011-08-23T10:03:00.000-05:00

Election

2011-08-22T17:23:00.000-05:00

"Some of us, over the duration of our lives, have been shaken to the foundations by this truth of God’s sovereignty over man’s belief and unbelief. We have run from it, pretended it wasn’t there, argued against it, wept over it, and finally bowed our heads and hearts before it, and then discovered it to be one of the most deep and firm and precious foundation stones in the house of our fragile faith. We see now, with trembling joy, that without it we would not have believed, and we would not endure to the end and be saved."

John Piper

What the Gospel Demands

2011-08-18T06:20:00.002-05:00

True Zeal

2011-08-17T08:07:00.000-05:00

"Let us take heed we do not sometimes call that “zeal for God and His gospel” which is nothing else but our own tempestuous and stormy passion. True zeal is a sweet, heavenly, and gentle flame, which makes us active for God – but always within the sphere of love. It never calls for fire from heaven to consume those who differ a little from us. It strives to save the soul – but hurts not the body. True zeal is a loving thing, and makes us always active to edification, and not to destruction."

Cudworth

The Girl Who Lost Her Faith Listening to CCM

2011-08-16T13:59:00.000-05:00

Denny Burk:

"She talks about how CCM changed from the 80′s to the 90′s and became more and more adept at producing material that could compete with its secular counterparts. She loved CCM and was the ultimate fan until one day as a young teenager she saw MTV for the first time in her life. She writes,

I couldn’t have told you what the word “irony” meant, but I knew I’d been cheated by Christian rock. This was crack, and I’d been wasting my time sniffing glue.

And so she forsakes her CCM fandom and begins smuggling the more secular fare into her parents’ home.

But this article isn’t really about music so much as it is about a girl who becomes increasingly disillusioned with a vapid, degraded church culture. She found evangelical church culture to be much like the CCM was listening to—just a lame imitation of another product that was by all accounts superior. Her church’s attempt to be cool was ultimately what turned her off to the faith altogether."

Read the entire article here.

The Spirit Of Adoption

2011-08-16T08:24:00.000-05:00

"There is a nameless charm there: we cannot describe or understand it: it is a sacred touch of nature, a throb in the breast that God has put there, and that cannot be taken away. The fatherhood is recognized by the childship of the child. And what is that spirit of a child—that sweet spirit that makes him recognize and love his father? I cannot tell you unless you are a child yourself, and then you will know. And what is “the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba, Father?” I cannot tell you; but if you have felt it you will know it.

It is a sweet compound of faith that knows God to be my Father, love that loves him as my Father, joy that rejoices in him as my Father, fear that trembles to disobey him because he is my Father and a confident affection and trustfulness that relies upon him, and casts itself wholly upon him, because it knows by the infallible witness of the Holy Spirit, that Jehovah, the God of earth and heaven, is the Father of my heart.

Oh! have you ever felt the spirit of adoption? There is nought like it beneath the sky. Save heaven itself there is nought more blissful than to enjoy that spirit of adoption.

Oh! when the wind of trouble is blowing and waves of adversity are rising, and the ship is reeling to the rock how sweet then to say “My Father,” and to believe that his strong hand is on the helm!—when the bones are aching, and when the loins are filled with pain, and when the cup is brimming with wormwood and gall, to say “My Father,” and seeing that Father’s hand holding the cup to the lip, to drink it steadily to the very dregs because we can say, “My Father, not my will, but thine be done.”

Well says Martin Luther, in his Exposition of the Galatians, “there is more eloquence in that word, ‘Abba. Father,’ than in all the orations of Demosthenes or Cicero put together.”

“My Father!” Oh! there is music there; there is eloquence there; there is the very essence of heaven’s own bliss in that word, ” My Father,” when applied to God, and when said by us with an unfaltering tongue, through the inspiration of the Spirit of the living God.

My hearers, have you the spirit of adoption? If not, ye are miserable men. May God himself bring you to know him! May he teach you your need of him! May he lead you to the cross of Christ, and help you to look to your dying Brother! May he bathe you in the blood that flowed from his open wounds, and then, accepted in the beloved, may you rejoice that you have the honor to be one of that sacred family."

C.H. Spurgeon

A Winding and Troubled Road

2011-08-14T08:12:00.002-05:00

Sharing Your Life - Hebrews 13:16

2011-08-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

"Very simply, the life of a Christian is not only to be a worshiping, praising life, but a shared life; a life of doing good for others and sharing your possessions and your heart with others. Verse 16 says, "Do not neglect [or forget] to do good and to share what you have." Then a reason is given for why we should do this: "For such sacrifices are pleasing to God."

What sort of things does the writer have in mind? I think we can see if we look back to the beginning of the chapter. Hebrews 13:1–3: "Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them; and those who are ill-treated, since you also are in the body."

So the kind of thing he means by doing good and sharing would be hospitality (having people—even people you don't know—over to your house after Sunday service); visiting people in prison; caring for any who are afflicted. But of course there are hundreds of ways to do good for people and to share your life with people. The point is that people who get their strength and their wisdom from the altar of the cross, from Jesus Christ, are people who live for others. They get up in the morning and think about how they can do the most good for other people today. This is the sacrifice that they offer to the Lord day after day."

John Piper

Final Perseverance

2011-08-11T09:37:00.000-05:00

"For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame." Hebrews 6:4-6.

"God preserves his children from falling away; but he keeps them by the use of means; and one of these is, the terrors of the law, showing them what would happen if they were to fall away. There is a deep precipice: what is the best way to keep any one from going down there? Why, to tell him that if he did he would inevitably be dashed to pieces. In some old castle there is a deep cellar, where there is a vast amount of fixed air and gas, which would kill anybody who went down. What does the guide say? "If you go down you will never come up alive." Who thinks of going down? The very fact of the guide telling us what the consequences would be, keeps us from it. Our friend puts away from us a cup of arsenic; he does not want us to drink it, but he says, "If you drink it, it will kill you." Does he suppose for a moment that we should drink it. No; he tells us the consequences, and he is sure we will not do it. So God says, "My child, if you fall over this precipice you will be dashed to pieces." What does the child do? He says, "Father, keep me; hold thou me up, and I shall be safe." It leads the believer to greater dependence on God, to a holy fear and caution, because he knows that if he were to fall away he could not be renewed, and he stands far away from that great gulf, because he know that if he were to fall into it there would be no salvation for him."

C.H. Spurgeon

Read the entire article here.

Take Comfort Afflicted Christian

2011-08-09T20:43:00.000-05:00

"No words can express how much the world owes to sorrow. Most of the Psalms were born in the wilderness. Most of the Epistles were written in a prison. The greatest thoughts of the greatest thinkers have all passed through fire. The greatest poets have “learned in suffering what they taught in song.” In bonds Bunyan lived the allegory that he afterwards wrote, and we may thank Bedford Jail for the Pilgrim’s Progress. Take comfort, afflicted Christian! When God is about to make pre-eminent use of a person, He put them in the fire."

George MacDonald

Adoption: The Heart of the Gospel

2011-08-08T14:40:00.001-05:00

John Piper lays out eight similarities between what God does in adopting us as His children, and what happens in a Christian adoption today:

1. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) costly.

2. Adoption did (for God) and does (for us) involve the legal status of the child.

3. Adoption was blessed and is blessed with God’s pouring out a Spirit of sonship.

4. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) marked by moral transformation through the Spirit.

5. Adoption brought us, and brings our children, the rights of being heirs of the Father.

6. Adoption was (for God) and is (for us) seriously planned.

7. Adoption was (for God) and often is now (for us) from very bad situations.

8. Adoption meant (for all Christans) and means (for Christian parents) that we suffer now and experience glory later.

Read the entire article with commentary for each point here.

Taken the Wrong Turning

2011-08-08T07:14:00.000-05:00

"An individual Christian may see fit to give up all sorts of things for special reasons – marriage, or meat, or beer, or cinema; but the moment he starts saying the things are bad in themselves, or looking down his nose at other people who do use them, he has taken the wrong turning."

C.S. Lewis

A Scratch on a Penny

2011-08-08T07:07:00.000-05:00

“Now suppose both death and hell were utterly defeated. Suppose the fight was fixed. Suppose God took you on a crystal ball trip into your future and you saw with indubitable certainty that despite everything — your sin, your smallness, your stupidity — you could have free for the asking your whole crazy heart’s deepest desire: heaven, eternal joy. Would you not return fearless and singing? What can earth do to you, if you are guaranteed heaven? To fear the worst earthly loss would be like a millionaire fearing the loss of a penny — less, a scratch on a penny.”

Peter Kreeft, Heaven (San Francisco, 1989), page 183.

(HT Ray Ortlund)

Patience For The Day Of Sickness

2011-08-07T21:10:00.000-05:00

Another principal responsibility which sickness requires of you, is that of “living a life that is constantly ready to bear it patiently.” Sickness is no doubt a trying thing to flesh and blood. To feel our nerves weakened–to be obliged to sit still and be cut off from all our usual pastimes–to see our plans destroyed and our purposes disappointed–to endure long hours and days, and nights of weariness and pain–all this is a severe strain on poor sinful human nature. Is it any wonder that irritability and impatience are brought out by disease! Surely in such a dying world as this we should study patience.

How will we learn to bear sickness patiently, when it is our turn to suffer sickness? We must lay up stores of grace in the time of health. We must seek for the sanctifying influence of the Holy Spirit over our undisciplined tempers and personalities. We must make a real business of our prayers, and regularly ask for strength to endure God’s will as well as to do it. Such strength is to be had for the asking: “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” [John 14:14]

I cannot think it needless to dwell on this point. I believe the passive graces of Christianity receive far less notice than they deserve. Peace, gentleness, faithfulness, patience, are all mentioned in the Word of God as fruits of the Spirit. They are passive graces which especially glorify God. They often make men think, who normally despise the active side of the Christian character. Never do these graces shine so brightly as they do in the sick room. They enable many a sick person to preach a silent sermon, which those around him never forget. Would your beautify the doctrine you profess? Would you make your Christianity beautiful in the eyes of others? Then take the suggestion that I give you this day. Store up a reserve of patience for the day of sickness that is sure to come. Then, though your sickness does not end in death, it will be for the “God’s glory.” [John 11:4]

J.C. Ryle

(HT The Works of God)

What is Redemptive About Sports?

2011-08-06T08:18:00.000-05:00

Barnabas Piper:

"So what is redemptive about sports? At its most basic, the answer is the reflection of God’s glory through created beings doing things in a truly spectacular fashion. Through sports we can see aspects of God’s amazingness that can’t be found anywhere else.

There is also an avenue for fellowship in rooting and enjoying, common interest, and genuine pleasure in participation. There is an opportunity to use the gifts God has given us, be they limited (like my basketball skills) or supreme. There are opportunities for relationships and ministry in unique fashions."

Read the entire article here.

A Condition For Salvation - A Big "IF" In Scripture

2011-08-05T10:05:00.000-05:00

Colossians 1:21-23 "And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, IF indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister."

Nancy Guthrie on Suffering, Hope, and the Centrality of Christ

2011-08-05T07:02:00.000-05:00