• Equipper Verse

  One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple (Psalm 27:4).

• Recent Comments

  • Chip Van Emmerik on from one illegal immigrant to another
  • Mike on a case of theological amnesia
  • Champ on Is doctrine really important? (part two)
  • Mike on Is doctrine really important? (part two)
  • Champ Thornton on Telling Stories
  • Don Johnson on Telling Stories
  • Jon Trainer on o sacred head now wounded
  • Jon Trainer on on beauty in harmony
  • Danny Adkins on o sacred head now wounded
  • Danny Adkins on on beauty in harmony

• Blogroll

  • Albert Mohler
  • Desiring God
  • Ligonier
  • Of First Importance
  • Paul Tripp Ministries
  • Peacemakers
  • Reformation21
  • Together for the Gospel

• Friends

  • Bob McCabe
  • Dan Eads
  • Rob Howell

• Websites

  • 9Marks
  • Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals
  • Biblical Theology Briefings
  • Daily Lloyd-Jones
  • Desiring God
  • Enjoying God Ministries
  • Faith Comes by Hearing
  • Gospel Prism (Virtual M.Div.)
  • New Hope Online
  • The Gospel Coalition
  • Theology Network
  • Two Ways to Live

• Categories

  • biblical studies
  • biography
  • blogdom
  • book reviews
  • church
  • culture
  • ethics
  • fun stuff
  • hermeneutics
  • homiletics
  • mission
  • poetry
  • politics
  • theology

• Archives

  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • January 2009
  • November 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008

Doctrine is to the spiritual world what wisdom is to the visible world.
God hardwired the world we live in to work in particular ways.  This means that there are certain observable realities that can be ignored at your own risk. If you don’t work hard to tend your garden, God’s design [...]

Doctrine is important the way roads are important.
I’ve recently driven across several states–all through the night, in fact. Why? Not because I love driving (which I don’t). Not because the roads through Pennsylvania are models of engineering (which they’re not).
No, I spent seven hours on dark roads in order to spend time with extended family. [...]

After the devastating tsunami of 2004 a number of theologs attempted to explain the catastrophe in light of God’s love and justice. Here is my condensed version from a few sources of the conversation in those days, albeit paraphrased:
Reformed Judaism:  God had nothing to do with this.  There are things beyond [...]

Here is an excerpt from John Owen’s “The Glory of Christ” (Works of John Owen, volume 1; pages 291 & 292). Beholding the glory of Christ is the only way to be free from the bait and captivity of sin. (Owen is not easy to read, but is well worth the effort.)
Herein, then, our present [...]

This past two weekends in Sunday School, we have studied the Passion Week—the final week of our Savior’s earthly ministry. We noted how roundly Jesus condemned Israel and its leaders for being Israel for the sake of Israel. They longed for God to set them free from pagan oppression and bring in the kingdom He [...]

If you are not able to attend the Gospel Coalition conference near Chicago over the next few days, be sure to check out the sessions made available online.You can watch each of the main sessions live via streaming video. Or you can download the video or audio of each session within a few days of [...]

The ESV Bible Blog has helpfully integrated the events of the Passion Week with Google Map. Now you can see not only when various events occurred, you can also see where they occurred.
There are 89 total chapters in the four canonical Gospels (Matthew, 28; Mark, 16; Luke, 24; John, 21). Do you know how many [...]

Yesterday our Sunday School class covered the entire Sermon on the Mount. We spent the first 25 minutes going over the background and flow of thought or structure of this most famous of Jesus’ sermons. Then, since Matthew 5-7 is a sermon, we spent the final 25 minutes watching/listening to it as a sermon on [...]

In July 2008 the musical team at Sovereign Grace Ministries (lead by Bob Kauflin) released an entire CD of psalm settings in a contemporary style.
Revisiting Monday’s post (“Psalmic Imagery”), here are the lyrics and audio of their remix of Psalm 130 (“Out of the Depths”).
Out of the depths, O Lord, I cry to You
When I [...]

Following yesterday’s post, I also have appreciated the imagery of Psalm 131:2, which Pastor Jon read last Sunday.
But I have calmed and quieted my soul,
Like a weaned child with its mother;
Like a weaned child is my soul within me (ESV).
On this verse Charles Spurgeon quotes the following comments from Thomas Manton:
 Though the weaned child has [...]

There are a couple passages from the Psalms whose imagery deeply ministers to my soul. One I love is found in Psalm 130:6.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than watchmen for the morning,
More than watchmen for the morning.
A night guard walking his post on the top of a city might greatly long for morning to [...]

On Sunday, we took a third look at idolatry as we continued our trek through the Lenten season and focused on our need for self-examination and repentance.  Gary Beale’s work, We Become What We Worship, is a guiding text in the study.  Beale’s thesis is that we come to resemble what we revere, either for [...]

In his article, “The Biblical Gospel,” D. A. Carson integrates the Gospel into the over-arching trajectory of the Bible’s plot line. (Note how he also identifies God’s love as being at the center of His glorious Being.) This summary clarified my thinking and stirred my heart.
Thus the gospel is integrally tied to the Bible’s story-line. [...]

If I’m going to quote “The Princess Bride” earlier in the week, why not go ahead and site this memorable line (among many) from “Napoleon Dynamite“?
Here are several other links that I thought were spot on, reinforcing what I’ve been trying to articulate this week.
Tony Reinke has a great post on what “glory” really means.
And [...]

How can the essence of God’s unique person (i.e., His holiness, His godness) be benevolent goodness or love? If this were the case, how did He live out this love before creation? Wouldn’t that have required someone to love?
Exactly.
Jesus prays in John 17:24: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may [...]

keep looking »