Yesterday, Devin Dwyer from ABC News reported on the first year of Barack Obama’s presidency from the religious perspective. In his opening paragraph, Dwyer stated that the Obama attended church only three times during his first year. Obviously, as the article later explains, it is quite difficult for the President to attend a gathering without [...]
Archive for January 2010
Exegeting the Context
January 19, 2010As someone who is still relatively new to preaching, I am finding myself given more and more to not only the content and delivery but also reception. In other words, I am giving myself not only to rightly understanding the text of Scripture but also the context of people’s lives. We often stress the importance [...]
The Bible Isn’t Boring!
January 18, 2010Good Works Before Men, Righteousness Before God
January 16, 2010Jonathan Edwards says in his book Religious Affections that the chief of all signs of true and saving grace is Christian practice. He makes his argument on numerous texts, beginning with “by their fruits you will know them” (Mat. 7:16). He goes on to say that Jesus gives others the right to judge us on [...]
Continue to pray for Matt Chandler
January 15, 2010Here’s the latest from Matt Chandler. May God continue to give Him grace to suffer well and commend to a watching world the unsearchable riches of knowing and treasuring Jesus Christ.
His Joy in Us for the Race Before Us
January 12, 2010For the past couple of weeks, I have been meditating on a familiar passage of Scripture as I have been preaching on gospel-driven endurance from Hebrews 12:1-3. Sometimes the more familiar passage, the more we miss because of our assumption that we know all that the Spirit is teaching us on that particular verse. At [...]
Lord, increase my faith.
January 8, 2010This Sunday, I’m preaching on “the sin” of unbelief which ensnares believers in the Christian race. I have been meditating on this prayer from The Valley of Vision called “Faith and the World” as it has been very fruitful in my thinking. Would that God increase our faith and cause us to run with our [...]
The soil in which plant…the soil in which we die.
January 5, 2010So much of the discussion of church planting focuses on gathering the fruit without first deepening the roots. A flourishing church comes to life when there are people who have come to die. In the words of Jesus, “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it [...]
Steve Timmis on Laying Down Your Life for the Gospel
January 4, 2010This morning, Steve Timmis rolled out a series of tweets that are really convicting. I have compiled them here and want to share them with you. * How can I be sure I would lay down my life for sake of Jesus & the gospel? Perhaps I’ll be like Peter in his bravado and subsequent [...]
Universally His, Subject to His Will, Devoted to His Ends
January 3, 2010In his book, Religious Affections, Jonathan Edwards argues that the chief of all distinguishing signs of true and saving grace is Christian practice. In a list of supporting reasons why he believes this to be the case, he speaks of the practical exercise of holy affections in making a “full choice” of God. Starting off [...]
Praying in the New Year
January 1, 2010O Lord, Length of days does not profit me except the days are passed in Thy presence, in Thy service, to Thy glory. Give me a grace that precedes, follows, guides, sustains, sanctifies, aids every hour, that I may not be one moment apart from Thee, but may rely on Thy Spirit to supply every [...]
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