Piper, from God’s Passion for His Glory: Living the Vision of Jonathan Edwards: Sometimes people ask: should we pursue obedience to God or joy in God? Edwards would answer: The question involves a category confusion. It’s like asking: should I pursue fruit or apples? Obedience is doing what we’re told. And we are told to […]
Archives for 2011
Avoid Overparenting
From Kevin Leman’s book What a Difference a Daddy Makes: The Indelible Imprint a Dad Leaves on His Daughter’s Life: A dad who overparents will smother his daughter. He is positive he knows just how his little girl should turn out, and he’ll raise her to be like a seal that claps its hands when […]
What Pastors Can Miss About the Bible
Jonathan Leeman has a good post at the 9Marks blog on why he wrote his latest book, Reverberation: How God’s Word Brings Light, Freedom, and Action to His People. Here’s what he has to say: Wanna grow as a Christian? Then apply yourself again and again to your understanding of God. That’s been the lesson […]
The Great Reversal in the Parable of the Good Samaritan
Tim Keller explains what Jesus is doing in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37) in his book Ministries of Mercy: The call of the Jericho Road. Read carefully. This is very, very fascinating. Most commentaries on the gospel of Luke note that Jesus reverses the lawyer’s original question. He had asked, “Who is […]
Being Proactive is Christian
I posted about six months or so ago on what it means to be proactive. In that post, I quoted from Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. I think we all realize the truth of Covey’s observations from the nature of human experience. As a parent, for example, it seems undeniable to […]
Tim Keller on Preaching to Himself
A good summary from the Reformissionary blog from a recent Q&A Keller did with Bryan Chapell.
All Things Work for Good for Those Who Love God — But Not Automatically
Just a good reminder: And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28, NASB) In other words: All things work together for good for those who follow Christ, but this does not happen automatically. God […]
Was William Carey Being Biblical When He Said "Expect Great Things from God"?
William Carey is well known for saying “Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God.” Is that biblical? Yes. Here’s one passage that gives the foundations for Carey’s words: Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work […]
The Cape Town Committment on the Need for Developing Godly Leaders
As you know, I was in Cape Town for the Third Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization last fall. The statement working group from the congress has recently released the Cape Town Commitment: A Confession of Faith and a Call to Action. Here’s the section on leadership, especially as it pertains to the church in the […]
A Review of John Piper's The Supremacy of God in Preaching
I wrote this several years ago in seminary, but it remains just as relevant today: The Supremacy of God in Preaching is built upon the premise that “the vision of a great God is the linchpin in the life of the church, both in pastoral care and missionary outreach” and that, consequently, “our people need […]