To Whom Shall We Go?

I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve 9Marks Ministry by doing a book review. You can read my review of a 19th century Baptist pastor's book on ecclesiology (doctrine of the church) over at the 9Marks website by clicking here .  I loved this quote from the book The Christian faith "was not designed for concealment. From its very nature, it cannot be hid. It inclines every one who possesses it, [ sic ] to do good to all mankind, and to make known the gospel by which all mankind are to be blessed” (121).    9Marks is an incredibly important ministry. Consider donating a few bucks to help them serve local churches with their materials and conferences. Here's the link to the donation page.

John Stott writes helpfully as always, If we have an advocate in heaven, Christ has an advocate on earth. The Holy Spirit is Christ's Paraclete, as the Lord Jesus is ours. But whereas the Holy Spirit pleads Christ's cause before a hostile world, Christ pleads our cause against our 'accuser' (Rev. 3:10) and with the Father , who loves and forgives his children. p 81 of his commentary on John's Letters

It was really great to preach through Ruth this past month. I come away from it with a renewed sense of God's grace, of his wondrous work of providence in the lives of ordinary people, and a greater appreciation of the thrilling work of redemption wrought by Christ Jesus. Here's a link to the sermon audio: click here . The final sermon should be up soon. Now I'm excited about moving on to 1 John. Here's a motivating quote from John Stott's little commentary : A fresh certainty about Christ and about eternal life, based upon the grounds which John gives, can still lead Christian people into that boldness of approach to God and of testimony to men , which is sorely needed as it is sadly missing in the church today.

The church I am blessed to pastor, New Covenant Christian Fellowship, is about to begin a new sermon series through First John. So I thought it seemed wise to consider how to capitalize on what we hear from God’s Word. We of course are familiar with the warnings in Scripture about what we do with God’s truth. James 1 for example reminds us to “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” To hear the word but do nothing about it is like someone forgetting what they look like after looking in a mirror! But how do we listen? Every parent in human history knows when a child is hearing but not really listening. So what are some ways we can ensure that we are both hearing and listening? Thabiti Anyabwile, a pastor in Grand Cayman who also has an excellent blog , has written a very helpful book called “What is a Healthy Church Member?” The first mark of such a person is that he or she is an “Expositional Listener.” Here’s how Anyabwile defi

God is infinitely wise, “his understanding is beyond measure” (Ps. 147:5). When we pray in light of this fact it is then that we are able to pray like this: If it be consistent with thy eternal counsels,             the purpose of thy grace,             and the great ends of thy glory,             then bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts ; If not, let me resign myself to thy wiser determinations. ( Valley of Vision , 10-11) In other words, we are certainly free to ask God for comforts and blessings on our lives (“bestow upon me the blessings of thy comforts”). But if he does not give them, then we know that he is doing something better. His “wiser determinations” have led him either to say “no” or “not right now” or something else. Let’s ask God for blessings! He is a good Father (Luke 11:13)! But let’s do so in light of his wisdom. His wiser determinations may lead somewhere else.

When a new Volkswagen Beetle comes off the production line in pristine condition, it has been through a long process. Computerized machines and careful human eyes have labored carefully to achieve the finished product. Last Sunday, in a sermon on Ruth 1, I reflected on how important it is for the church to seek holiness, both individually and corporately. Naomi’s lack of holiness (see Ruth 1:13, 15, 20-21) was thankfully not a hindrance to Ruth being drawn to the God of Israel. Still, a holy people provides a compelling, attractive picture to outsiders. I emphasized holiness as distinction. To be holy is to be distinct. The purpose of this emphasis was to offer hope to those who can only see their flawed, feeble faith. Holiness to them seems very hard to attain, even though they greatly desire to attain it. However, we must still emphasize that holiness is a big deal! So while we shouldn’t be discouraged in our apparent lack of holiness, we sho

How would you like to attend a class called, “How to Read the Bible,” taught by the Lord Jesus himself? There are a large number of passages in the gospel accounts that give the reader the opportunity to learn hermeneutics (=the science of interpretation) from Jesus. One that I came across recently is in Mark 12:26-27. 26  And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God spoke to him, saying, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? 27  He is not God of the dead, but of the living. You are quite wrong.” What are some of the hermeneutical lessons?   Jesus is familiar with Scripture and seems to have Scripture memorized. An absolute must. Jesus as one who was fully human had memorized Scripture and familiarized himself with it. Jesus gleans theology directly from the text. In other words, he gleans something about the character of God from simply observing tha