George Scipione on Drunkeness vs. Disease
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Dealing with Discouragement in Ministry
It is the common lot of those God has called into gospel ministry to become discouraged on account of the challenges and trials that come from serving as a pastor. I can almost always sense when a brother is weighed down by the pressures, demands, and discouragements that come with serving as a pastor of a congregation, because I have known them throughout my own pastoral service. The apostle Paul intimated the challenges that pastors face in the church when he added to the external opposition he experienced from the unbelieving world the care that he had for the church. He wrote, "apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches" (2 Cor. 11:28). So what are ministers to do when they feel overwhelmed by the discouragements of ministry?...
The Silent, Suffering Savior
We are meant to know that Jesus had to remain silent when he was judged so that we might have our mouths shut before the just tribunal of God. Then, having heard the sentence exacted against the spotless lamb of God, believers might open their mouths in praise to God for all the ways that He has removed their transgressions and the righteous condemnation that stood against us for Christ's sake. The silence of condemnation belonged to Jesus that praise for justification might be ours. ...
The Gift and the Gifts of the Spirit
Sadly, many professing believers approach the gifts of the Spirit by overvaluing the idea of the miraculous spiritual gifts (e.g., tongues, prophecy, healing) and undervalue the common spiritual gifts (e.g., salvation and sanctifying fruit). Holding faulty views of the miraculous spiritual gifts is usually due to a failure to grasp the redemptive-historical purpose of the gifts. When we come to understand the biblical teaching about the extraordinary gifts of the Spirit and the ordinary gifts of the Spirit, we will better value the greater and continuing gifts in the life of the church today....
Old Testament Signs in Redemptive History
When each of the Old Covenant signs (i.e., the rainbow, Sabbath, circumcision, and the Passover) are viewed in light of the fulfillment of all that they typified, we come to understand a great deal about the work of Christ...
Organic Christian Living in the Local Church
As we enter a new year with new personal goals and desires, the Lord wants His people to commit to Christian living among the members of the body. We must resist the urge to look to practices and programs in the local church to live out the Christian life or do the work of ministry for us. Our God has given us the enormous privilege and responsibility of diligently living out, daily, our Christian lives in Christ. Let’s commit ourselves to the practice of seeking to live the organic Christian life in the context of the local church to which we belong. ...
Singing the Song of Humility
The reason why Mary sang a song of humility is because she was focusing on what God was doing to provide the Savior she needed. Mary had been waiting on God to fulfill the promises that He had made throughout the Old Testament era. Mary doesn't speak of herself or her privileges because Mary was focused on her need for redemption. ...
The Spirit of Christmas
We rightly wonder of the coming of the eternal Son of God into the world in true human form while wrongly neglecting to wonder at the accompanying role of the Spirit of God in the ministry of the Redeemer....
Hope in the Certainty of Christ
In many of life’s circumstances, we struggle to understand how we will come to attain the promises of God, forgetting that their fulfillment is entirely based on the person and work of Christ. Jesus has secured an everlasting joy, an inheritance of hope for His people through His death and resurrection. Though we do not now see all that he has for us, we wait for him with patience. We are to be a people who trust in and wait for Christ in faith....
None But Zion's Children Know
While recent developments concerning the state of Israel have given us reason to revisit this subject--it would do us good to be settled in our minds about the fact that all who are united to Jesus by faith have been made children of Abraham and heirs of God (Gal. 3:29). Believers are the citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem (Phil. 3:20). This is the only Jerusalem that ultimately matters. As John Newton put it, "Solid joys and lasting treasures, none but Zion's children know."...
Euan Murray, Rugby and the Lord's Day
Most of you have probably not heard of Euan Murray. He's a rugby player (a real man’s sport). He’s a Scotsman. And he’s a Christian. Unlike many Christian athletes he has reversed the trend of playing sports on Sunday. He used to, but doesn’t any more. Murray plays rugby at club level for Northampton and at international level for Scotland...
Keep ReadingThe Puritan Exegesis Project: John Trapp on Ecclesiastes 11:6
John Trapp’s (1601 – 1669) commentaries were Spurgeon’s personal treasure. As biblical scholarship progresses the minister and serious student continue to benefit greatly from consulting Trapp’s thought, suggestions and devotional contributions. For years I waited patiently for a set of Trapp. After finally obtaining one, my dad--equally thr...
Keep ReadingIPC Lord's Supper Conference
Independent Presbyterian Church, in Savannah, GA, will be hosting a conference on the Lord's Supper this Thursday, February 4th and Friday, February 5th. Dr. Hughes Oliphant Olds will give three lectures dealing with Calvin and Knox on the doctrine and administration of the Lord’s Supper as well as presentations from Terry Johnson and Ron Parrish. If you are anywher...
Keep ReadingEric Alexander on the Work of the Spirit in the Book of Acts
Eric Alexander very wisely notes the foundational and temporary functions of the Holy Spirit in the book of Acts: If we are to understand the New Testament's teaching on the Holy Spirit we must concentrate on the teaching of Jesus in the Gospels, and on the systematic exposition in the Epistles—rather than on the narrative in the Book of Acts. A great deal of confus...
Keep ReadingThe Cross and the New Division
The apostle Paul was dealing with the problem of division in the church in 1 Corinthians 1. He introduces the idea of Christian unity with the words, "Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you?" This conflict sets the stage for everything that Paul goes on to write in the remainder of the chapter. Believers in Corinth were once part of the lost and perishing world, div...
Keep ReadingFeeling Like Christ Is All And Acting Like Christ Is All
In his book, The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis wrote: “We have a tendency to think, but not to act. The more we feel without acting, the less we will ever be able to act, and, in the long run, the less we will be able to feel.†I have often thought and felt a lot of things while listening to sermons or while reading Bible-saturated books or while looking...
Keep ReadingAdolph Monod: Five Discourses
Adolphe Monod's Living for the Hope of Glory has been one of the most influential Christian works I've read. Deeply affected by Monod's story as well as the spiritual mindedness with which his writings are marked, I have returned to his writings time and time again. Most of Monod's writings remain in French, though I recently discovered one that was translated into English...
Keep ReadingEchoes from a Geneva Pulpit: The Sermons of Calvin 500
In case you didn’t have the $6000 plus it cost to attend, you can now buy the sermons preached this past summer in 2009 from John Calvin’s pulpit from Ligonier. The Speakers include none other than my buddy Joel Beeke, and many more like; Iain Campbell, Bryan Chapell, Ted Donnelly, Ligon Duncan, Sinclair Ferguson, Robert Godfrey, Martin Holdt, Hywel Jones,...
Keep ReadingNew Perspective(s) on Paul Audio Resources
Ligonier Ministries has done a fine job of gathering some of the best audio critiques of the New Perspectives on Paul. You can find them all here. I especially recommend Sinclair Ferguson's lecture The New Perspective on Paul and Related Issues and Guy Waters' Christ the Center interview on N.T. Wright and the New Perspective on Paul (part 1) and (part 2)....
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