In wisdom and love God does not leave his people to live this life alone, but rather calls us into community. One of the sad inevitabilities of living in community is that we will sin against one another. The invitation to Christian community is ...
Eight Warning Signs for Forced Terminations of Pastors—Thom Rainer Christianity Today summarized some fascinating information about forced pastor terminations. Using the combined research of the National Congregations Study and the Review ...
Google in Africa - One of Google’s growing successes is bringing Africa online. “This burgeoning connectivity is making Africa faster, cleverer and more transparent in almost everything that it does.” The implications of this ...
I added an Audio tab to the site (parallel to Publications). I previously linked to some of these MP3s hosted on other sites, but after a few years, many of the URLs no longer work. So I uploaded 26 MP3s and link to them here.
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From one of my favorite Wesleyans, Timothy Tennent – Robust Christianity in a Post-Christendom World: The great project of our generation is to reclaim biblical Christianity as the Church. This will inevitably involve standing up and ...
This is a great statement from the Heidelberg Catechism: Question 86: Since then we are delivered from our misery, merely of grace, through Christ, without any merit of ours, why must we still do good works? Answer: Because Christ, having ...
“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should ...
I don’t think that the future of American faith practice looks like Europe. Europe had a whole different religious journey—there is much bitterness and resentment from state churches, persecution, and wars. I am not sure it looks like ...
The Southern Baptist blogosphere has erupted in conversation on whether it’s proper to use phrases like “asking Jesus into your heart,” “accepting Christ,” or methods like the “sinner’s prayer” when ...
You may have noticed some slightly different posts over the last couple of days. We’re adding a fairly regular link section here, highlighting something of interest elsewhere.1 The title of the post will have an arrow (→) in it, and ...
A thought-provoking talk from Andrew Errington on gender, given to the Christian group at Sydney University:
In fact, what we see here, I think, is a practice that is in a profound sense one of freedom. This may seem ridiculous, but I believe it ...
A few thoughts: 1. Avoid working in your weaknesses if at all possible. 2. If you can’t, then seek to become competent in your areas of weakness. You won’t become extraordinary in areas of weakness, but competence is sufficient. 3. ...
Just a Guy Playing a Guitar
In my experience, I’ve often observed the preaching pastor to be more of the theological heavyweight of the church and the worship pastor usually can get by with just knowing the basics of the gospel as long as ...
One of the more interesting sections of dialog in John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress has Christian and Hopeful discussing the danger of backsliding, of falling away from what had the appearance of spiritual life and growth. That ...
I encourage you to join us today—and each Tuesday—at 2:00 p.m. CDT, for The Exchange. On last week’s episode, I discussed my new book Subversive Kingdom. Here is a clip from that show. You can watch the entire…
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“She’s eating her baby!” my 5-year-old shrieked as we were watching an episode on Animal Planet. The narrator coolly explained that when threatened, the mothers in this species of the animal kingdom eat their young.
I comforted my ...
The Marian month is celebrated in a variety of ways. The highly sophisticated Mariology coincides with popular practices that are deeply rooted in folk Catholicism. From the bottom up, grassroots Marian movements organize vigils of prayer to Mary ...
“Wisdom is the principal thing; Therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding” (Proverbs 4:7). I think many evangelicals know that they should pray. They rightly expect that God will lead them as they do so. But they ...
President Obama’s recent statement concerning his views of same sex marriage has generated no small amount of discussion and controversy. In what was doubtlessly a political calculation the President made that statement couched in political ...
So, I was supposed to be in Atlanta at the National Conference on Preaching today. I was the guy holding Andy Stanley’s Bible. Then, I was headed to the ReFuel Conference in Lynchburg, VA, where I was going to have…
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Are You For Your Husband? - Rick Thomas lets women into a secret: “Men are needy. Your husband is not as independent and self-reliant as he may want you or others to think. If he can get over himself and this macho image thing he is wrapped ...
Crosses were dark in First Century Rome. Crucifixion was a horrific execution method reserved for the lowliest criminals. And yet, Paul writes his letter to the church in Corinth and organizes his theology and entire ministry around this object ...
On The Exchange this afternoon at 2:00 p.m. CST, I will be joining Dr. George Guthrie and Philip Nation for a conversation about the importance of knowing the overarching story of the Bible. Dr. Guthrie is the author of Read the Bible ...
9 Tips for Eating Christianly: Nine tips/suggestions for how me might approach our consumption of food more thoughtfully and Christianly… Consternation over Ben Carson, Evolution, and Morality: If Emory University professors want to argue ...
Try Harder
My father loved me as best he knew how. I know he did. But he had a way of communicating to me about most everything I did: “Not quite good enough. You’ve got to try harder.” Grades and sports were where I most ...
As I’ve said before, I’m simultaneously fascinated and unconvinced by Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists. Brian Rosner recently interviewed de Botton for the Centre for Public Christianity:
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As I’ve said before, I’m simultaneously fascinated and unconvinced by Alain de Botton’s Religion for Atheists. Brian Rosner recently interviewed de Botton for the Centre for Public Christianity:
(more…) ...
Today I continue my series on the ethnolinguistic thread we find in Scripture (you can find part one here). My intent is that everyday Christians would view God’s sacred mission as being bigger than their ministry comforts or preferences ...
Russell Moore:
Sometimes believers will throw up their hands in frustration with non-Christian people they know. “I have said everything I know to say to her about the gospel,” one might say. “She already knows it all and ...
A good observation by Tim Keller in his book Ministries of Mercy: We have done a good job of teaching that every believer is a minister and to be a witness. But we haven’t done a good job of teaching that every Christian is to be engaged ...
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Pastor Matt Chandler interviews ...
I love writing book reviews and I love reading them. Since I cannot possibly read and review all of the interesting books out there, I publish occasional round-ups of reviews written by other writers. Here are a few notable links I’ve ...
From Lydia Brownback’s new book, A Woman’s Wisdom: How the Book of Proverbs Speaks to Everything (Crossway, 2012), pages 170–171:
The way we use our time is always going to be shaped by how we view our time. Do we see it as a ...
With the graduation season quickly approaching, you might consider purchasing a case of Don’t Waste Your Life (52 copies) for a graduating class. Available for a donation of $150. Shipping is free within the Continental United States. To ...
Come on, this is 9Marks. What do you think we're going to say to that question?
Too-obvious setup aside, our good friend Jeramie Rinne shared some helpful thoughts on the subject with his church in view of his own upcoming sabbatical.
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Many a father has held an infant son in his arms, looked at that child and declared his delight. Yet, sadly, many years later the delight has turned to disgust, the joy to mourning. The son has done something, he has become something, that has ...
I’ve been thinking often about this subject lately. I do not get much feedback except when I teach at a seminary—then I can see the evaluations of my students. I greatly value that. My church and my speaking engagements…
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Here are a few notable Kindle deals; all of these books are $3.99 or less: Wordsmithy by Douglas Wilson, a great read for the writer or aspiring writer; Note to Self by Joe Thorn and Christians Get Depressed Too by David Murray. ...
Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, explains cynicism and its danger in our day:
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In our circles, it’s common to hear pastors and scholars bemoan the lack of critical thinking in many evangelical churches today. From the books and magazines gobbled up by the evangelical populace to the sheer gullibility on display ...
Must Baptism Precede Church Membership? Of course! I hope it’s clear why I would say that baptism should precede church membership. Baptism is a public identification with the Trinity. That’s what Jesus means when he speaks of being ...
In January, Bob Yarbrough and Don Carson spoke at the EFCA’s theology conference: “Understanding the Complementarian Position: Considering Implications and Exploring Practices in the Home and the Local Church” (TGC report). The ...
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23–24
Have you ever had ...
Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,
knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.
Colossians 3:23–24
Have you ever had ...
As Mother’s Day comes to an end, the tides of shame recede for millions of women.
Being a mother (or father) doesn’t depend on whether your children are living. And that includes adults behind the nearly 55 million abortions ...
When the evangelist Graham Daniels wrote a little book about the gospel for non-Christians, he insightfully called it My Mate’s Gone Mad. For a new Christian, making changes to their life that their friends find mystifying, the book’s title ...
We are not God. That seems obvious when we consider it and yet so often we act as if we actually are God, or gods, at least. John Piper talks about this and many of its implications in one of his meditations from Pierced by the Word. Here is what ...
Why does John Piper believe the Bible is true? When recently asked this question he responded that it is first because his mother had taught him it was so.
Grateful for his mother’s influence, Pastor John gave a message last month at ...
My new favorite song. (Yes, I know it’s been out a while. Just now catching up.) How could I stand here And watch the sun rise Follow the mountains Where they touch the sky Ponder the vastness And the depths of the sea And think for a ...
I made a terrible decision over ten years ago when I suddenly resigned from a church as its lead pastor after a six-month-long, emotionally intense battle with another elder. It is not always wrong to resign, but it always wrong to resign in ...
Must someone be baptized before he or she can join a church? Of course!
The fact that I hear more and more people asking this question these days suggests that people have lost track of what a local church is, what church membership is, as well ...
There was an interesting article in the weekend edition of USA Today. The article highlighted the fact that Mother’s Day is one if the highest attendance days of the year for churches. With research compiled by Ed Stetzer the article showed ...
Jewish women waited for a messiah. They hungered to be the mother of the Savior. They bore children in the hope of a messiah. They raised, nourished, taught, and sheltered their children in anticipation. Anticipation of salvation. Hope for a ...
Yesterday, I mentioned the Mother’s Day story on the front page of USAToday. You can read all the research information there—including a graph with details. Today, the full story is online. The intro was great: Hold the ...
The Hunger Games - Mark Meynell introduces an interesting two-part review of The Hunger Games. “What got me really fired up about the books was the surprise of how political they are. There are cultural and mythological references ...
Charles Spurgeon, The Sword and Trowel (September, 1873):
The devil never reckons a man to be lost so long as he has a good mother alive. O woman, great is thy power!
(Design submitted by Jennifer Knight. Follow DG on Pinterest ...
Stick with your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars. Do not stop to stone the devil’s dogs. Do not fool away your time chasing the devil’s rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie. Let sectarians quarrel. Let critics malign. Let ...
No matter how many such things one has, he is always lusting after what he has not; never at peace, he sighs for new possessions. Discontented, he spends himself in fruitless toil, and finds only weariness in the evanescent and unreal pleasures ...
Last Friday was the first public announcement of the Romanian version of the Desiring God website. But it didn’t happen here. Cristi Chivu, our translation partner, presented it to the Romanian crowd who had just heard John Piper give his ...
The Apostle Paul had a lot to say about preaching, but I think the majority of it can be grouped under six main headings or ideas. You could, of course, extract specific teaching points from each one, but I think there’s value in looking at ...
If you saw the front page of of USAToday this morning, you saw a new study by LifeWay Research shows that other than Easter and Christmas, Mother’s Day may be the most likely day people will attend church. In the…
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In the last post, I answered the question, What Is the Local Church? That brings us to the next question: what is church membership?
Answer: It’s a declaration of citizenship in Christ’s kingdom. It’s a passport. It’s ...
Is there a chronological progression that unfolds in the book of Revelation? Amillennialists basically say No, there’s an ongoing recapitulation, a retelling of the same story over and over. So they would say that the millennium is ...
Every so often I’ll run into someone who reminds me that long after we record an album, God continues to use it in people’s lives. In late January, I was in Orange County, CA for a Gathering event. On Sunday morning I spoke at the ...
Earlier this week at EdStetzer.com Breaking New Research: Americans Split on Whether Homosexual Behavior Is Sin President Obama, Same-Sex Marriage, and the Future of Evangelical Response Thankful for Richard Land’s Apology ...
Josh Hamilton - “I sometimes get nervous when I listen to Christian athletes talk about their faith on the big stage. While I appreciate their desire explicitly give glory to Jesus during interviews, they can come off as glib, token, or ...
Intro: Letter from John PiperPart 1: Why We Got Married
Part 2: Learning Contentment in Suffering
“Ian, you really need to pick your nose,” I said, as I started doing it for him. He pulled his head away.
“Thatʼs weird ...
Mike Wittmer has been posting some hilarious bloopers he’s come across in papers from his students. Click here, here, and here for all them. I’ve posted a few of my favorites below: “Before the tree, Adam enjoyed sex ...
Justin Buzzard, Date Your Wife: A Husband’s Guide (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 23–25 (numbering added): A dream is what drives a man. As a boy grows up, he gradually forms a dream for his future marriage. . . . Some men dream about ...
Impatience Is Not a “Lesser” Sin
I’m often astonished by my lack of patience. I’m also convicted by it, as Paul establishes patience as a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22).
By implication, my lack of patience is ...
Estimados amigos,
Deseando a Dios existe para ayudar a gente de todas partes a comprender y aceptar la verdad de que Dios es más glorificado en nosotros cuando estamos más satisfechos en él. Y yo agregaría, sobre todo en el ...
Following on from my previous post, I am still thinking of beginnings. This time it is in a different way. I am in Wheaton, Illinois this week. I’m attending a Charles Simeon Trust workshop for people who teach the Bible.… (more…)
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“The presidential election will tell if Americans view support for gay marriage as a political sin but the vote is in on whether it is theologically sinful—and it’s a close call” writes Cathy Lynn Grossman of USAToday ...
In my world as a pastor’s assistant, the need for hard-working, high-capacity, tough-as-nails assistants is growing.
As people continue to meet Jesus and churches continue to be planted in various cities around the nation, it’s clear ...
Sometimes I like to think of myself as a refuge for my kids, a safe place they can run to from the storm of the world. I can hold them while they cry for friends back in Africa, or back in Minnesota, depending. I can kiss skinned knees and pray ...
In Revelation 17:6 the whore John has described in 17:1–5, “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations,” is described as “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of ...
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a short series of articles on The Lost Sin of Envy, saying that envy is a sin that few of us still have a category for and, therefore, a sin that many of us have unwittingly fallen prey to. As I studied envy, I saw ...
“Why was that big guy hugging you and Mom in the middle of the road?” That was the big question from our kids before bed last night. The story that answers it tells us something about us as image bearers. After picking our son up from ...
After both Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan pushed for acceptance of same-sex marriage over the weekend, North Carolina became the 30th state to amend its constitution to define marriage as an act between one ...
You shouldn’t even bother reading the excerpts I’m pasting below, just click this: Marriage and the Presidency, by Ryan T. Anderson, Robert P. George, and Sherif Girgis and read the whole thing. Here are the excerpts: The Historic ...
Evolution’s End? - Dr. Mohler writes about President Obama’s evolution toward this new “historic and tragic milestone.” “An incumbent President of the United States has now called for a transformation of ...
Intro: Letter from John Piper
Part 1: Why We Got Married
We were riding in our car, the quick two-hour trip to my sisterʼs house. I, in particular, was struggling with our lot that morning, a fairly common struggle for me. I asked Ian ...
Sunday School. Small groups. Home community groups. How we weigh the strengths and weaknesses of these models depends on what their primary purpose is. The traditional Sunday school model seeks to use the hour before or after a worship service ...
Perhaps because of President Obama’s endorsement of same-sex marriage yesterday, this post of mine from last fall has jumped to the top of my page views again. “How I Wish the Homosexuality Debate Would Go” Just once, I’d ...
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Is President Obama’s “evolution” on same sex marriage finally complete? His call for the legalization of same-sex marriage yesterday is an historic and tragic milestone. An incumbent President of the United States has now called ...
Good word from Proclamation Trust, a great UK ministry promoting excellent preaching, on determining your preaching call: There is little in scripture explicitly about the feelings or desires of the people set apart for word ministry. When Paul ...
A couple of weeks ago, I was critical of some of Richard Land’s comments. My comments were reported rather widely, not because of any great influence, but because of my employment. I was the only Anglo agency member in my…
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Praying "in Jesus’ name" is more than attaching the phrase to the end of each prayer. So what types of prayers are prayed "in Jesus’ name"?
In this three-minute clip from his latest sermon, Pastor John says it has ...
It’s hard to think of anyone better equipped than Tim Challies to write a book about the impact of technology on the Christian life. He’s a husband, father, and pastor; a web designer by trade; and a popular evangelical blogger (at ...
This content is for those that have signed up for Leadership Coaching with Pastor Mark. Please sign in at http://theresurgence.com/.
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In just a couple weeks I’ll be down in Orlando, FL helping to lead corporate worship at the very last NEXT. The theme of this year’s conference is You and Your Church. I’ve been involved with the music at NEXT ever since Josh ...
There's an amazing story recorded for us in I Kings 13. If you remember the context, Jeroboam has built an altar in Bethel to compete with the temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem. Then suddenly, an unnamed prophet let loose a blast against the ...
Kasper has keen insight into Catholic and non-Catholic theology, that is, assuming one supplements his treatment with evangelical Protestant thought, without which I’m unsure whether it is properly “catholic.”
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EVOLUTIONARY HYMN by C.S. Lewis Lead us, Evolution, lead us Up the future’s endless stair; Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us. For stagnation is despair: Groping, guessing, yet progressing, Lead us nobody knows where. Wrong or justice, ...
Update 5/9: We’ve just released a new update into the app store, addressing crash reports and miscellaneous bugs. The latest version also includes a new feature of Evernote integration. We value your feedback!
Watch, ...
In part one of the interview with Jonathan Dodson, we primarily discussed his new book Gospel-Centered Discipleship. In part two, I asked him to discuss the recent emphasis on gospel centrality which we are seeing in many streams of ...
The Written Defense of the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj Delivered to the Sari Court of Justice - Sari, Iran December 3, 1993
A born Muslim who decided to follow and serve Jesus and paid the price with his life
"In the Holy Name of God who is ...
The Written Defense of the Rev. Mehdi Dibaj Delivered to the Sari Court of Justice - Sari, Iran December 3, 1993
A born Muslim who decided to follow and serve Jesus and paid the price with his life
"In the Holy Name of God who is ...
This from an elegant piece entitled “Looking for Release” in the Image Journal, a compendium of faith-driven writing and reflection. How do you handle encounters in adulthood with people who hurt you in your childhood? Allison ...
Runners love their watches. This is because runners love to measure their progress. As a runner myself I am always looking down at my watch measuring my splits and trying to stay on pace with my goal. We like to achieve our goals therefore we ...
The following is a guest post from Brian Croft. Brian serves as the senior pastor of Auburndale Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to contributing to the 9Marks blog, Brian also writes regularly on his own blog called Practical ...
It is among the most emotional—certainly one of the most stirring—scenes in The Lord of the Rings. The enemy forces have pressed hard against Helm’s Deep, they have approached in overwhelming numbers, they have raised the siege ...
My friend Eric Geiger shared a powerful caution about the dangers of moralism. Read this—your children (and your church’s children) will thank you. Leo Tolstoy: Youth Group President—Eric Geiger [Leo] Tolstoy pursued perfection ...
Her Primary Ministry - I’ve been enjoying Gloria Furman’s series on the pastor’s wife. Looking to the New Testament she asks, “But where is the list of qualifications to be an elder’s wife? Scripture-based ...
Intro: Letter from John Piper
“You will never regret loving this much.”
John was there, watching our wedding, just a few months after his dear wife had passed. She lived with cancer for too many years, and for each day in ...
Eckhard Schnabel, 40 Questions About the End Times (40 Questions; Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2011), 321 (numbering added): Archer, Gleason L., ed. Three Views on the Rapture: Pre-, Mid-, or Post-Tribulation. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996. ...
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also be patient. - James 5:7-8 I struggle ...
Leo Tolstoy: Youth Group President? Tolstoy pursued perfection in his own strength and energy apart from the grace of God. He constantly lived under guilt and shame, and he died a miserable vagrant. He never enjoyed the Christian life because he ...
The Good Pinterest Life
The world of Pinterest is an art heaven. Ideas, photos, projects, and creations galore invite you to enter and explore. We peruse the art, drool over the recipes, marvel at handmade gifts, and get inspired by mid-century ...
It has been some time since I posted last. I am supposed to be posting a short piece every week. Further, I am to be writing one longer piece every month. I haven’t lived up to either commitment yet. I… (more…)
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Leaders, you need feedback. But most of us aren’t getting it. Why? Because feedback is scary.
Let me tell you the story on where this post is coming from.
Learning to Prune
Last year I moved to Silicon Valley to start Garden City Church. ...
I have been able to conduct quite a few interviews in the many years I’ve been running this blog. Recently I ran through those interviews and noted how many of them featured Christian artists, ranging from musicians to photographers to ...
Maurice Sendak, who just died, doesn’t seem, at first glance, to have much to teach Christians. After all, he was an atheist with a cynical outlook and a foul mouth. But underneath all of that, I think, Sendak saw something of the fallen ...
Calling it “Tom’s Targum,” Bob Gundry makes some important points about translation theory and much else in an entertaining and spirited review of N. T. Wright’s translation of the New Testament. Some highlights: Time was ...
It is interesting to me that Austin, Texas has become one of the hotbeds of gospel conversation over the past few years. A few years ago, LifeWay Research did a city study in Austin and looked at how churches can…
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Every May about 30,000 people come to visit us in Omaha. The people are great; they’re friendly, happy, and help the local economy. We like them. However, we may not even notice them if it were not for their lanyards and large badges. So ...
David Brooks always makes me think. I believe his comments on online education will have major ramifications in seminary training: The Campus Tsunami—David Brooks How are they going to blend online information with face-to-face discussion, ...
Honor the Vanilla Men - Carl Truemen on the apostle Paul: “What he advocates is the appointment of rather bland, non-descript, respectable men as elders. These vanilla men, basically competent and with no skeletons in the cupboard, ...
Dear Friends,
Desiring God exists to help people everywhere understand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. And I would add, especially in suffering.
Being satisfied in God ...
Recent polls show younger evangelicals leaning to the left of their parents and grandparents, politically at least. Bloggers and authors have discussed and debated the meaning of the shift and its possible causes. Jonathan ...
Leadership Training Doesn’t Work: At best classes convey concepts, but those same concepts are available in books around the world. Small group leaders don’t come from small group leader classes, campus pastors don’t come from ...
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“KNEEL! Is not this simpler? Is this not your natural state? It’s the ...
A local church is a group of Christians who regularly gather in Christ’s name to officially affirm and oversee one another’s membership in Jesus Christ and his kingdom through gospel preaching and gospel ordinances. That's a bit ...
I encourage you to join us each Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. CDT, for The Exchange. This week, I’ll be discussing my new book Subversive Kingdom and giving away a book a minute in the chat room. You can watch the…
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The Lord directs us to look in his face and to enjoy his favor. That is what it means to seek his face (Psalm 27:8–9). That is what it means to have his face “shine upon us” (Numbers 6:25).
But the link between the face of God and the ...
I love Re:Train and am excited about this upcoming year. Here’s why.
I love the mission of Re:Train, which is to train leaders for Jesus-centered, gospel-saturated ministry to serve their churches in a biblically faithful, culturally ...
This is my once-monthly post on the Puritan John Owen. In this series of posts I am sharing some of what John Owen says about putting sin to death, or what he calls mortification. I have been going through his book Overcoming Sin and ...
When Jerry Rankin and I wrote Spiritual Warfare and Missions: The Battle for God’s Glory Among the Nations, we discussed a “linguistic thread” in Scripture. When traced throughout scripture, this thread reveals God’s ...
Just read through the USA Today op-ed piece by Jonathan Merritt, a young evangelical leader. A talented writer, Merritt started an evangelical climate change initiative that drew the signatures of many movers and shakers a few years back. In ...
People operate with inconsistencies and even contradictions in their world views. This is perhaps no more apparent then when sports writers and reporters attempt to weigh in on moral issues. I experienced this first-hand the other day as I ...
I thought this was helpful from Len. Be sure to read the entire thing to get what some of them mean (like the first one). 10 Ways to Get Fired from Your Ministry—Len Evans Is your job secure? Here’s…
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There are not too many stories from the life of Jesus that made their way into all four of the biblical accounts of his life. Each of the authors writes for a different purpose or to a different audience and this leads them to different emphases. ...
Mother’s Day is a particularly sensitive time in many congregations, and pastors and church leaders often don’t even know it. This is true even in congregations that don’t focus the entire service around the event as if it were a feast day ...
Things Introverts Dread in Church - I can identify with all of these, though I’ve learned to enjoy at least a couple of them. This is a list of The Top 5 Things Introverts Dread about Church (written so extroverts ...
In John 14:12 Jesus tells his disciples that believers will do "greater works" than Jesus himself did on earth. Whoa, wait, what?
So how are believers’ works "greater" than Jesus’ works on earth? John Piper explains ...
Late last year, I wrote a blog post titled “Your Podcast Is Not Your Pastor,” prompted by this comment from Russell Moore: When I am talking to young evangelicals, often who are in ministry, and I say, “Who has been ...
In 2010, Ray Ortlund preached a series on Proverbs, and it’s now available in Kent Hughes’s Preaching the Word series: Raymond C. Ortlund Jr. Proverbs: Wisdom That Works. Preaching the Word. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012. 216 pp. ...
Why Men Should Read More Fiction: Perhaps fiction’s greatest creativity boost is what literary critic Viktor Shklovsky said is the purpose of fiction: to make the familiar strange, so that we look at things in a new light. Fiction ...
When it comes to numbers, churches tend to err in one of two ways: they either discount them as unimportant or they put to much emphasis on them.
The reality is that numbers are important, and though they aren’t the only sign of a ...
As I said in The Briefing #398, these are some of my reflections on what God has taught me about the ministries of women. Following on from the importance of women in ministry considering themselves to be Bible teachers and of cultivating joy in ...
This month marks the 50th anniversary of The New Bible Dictionary [Amazon], first published by IVP back in May 1962. Initially edited by James D. Douglas, it featured contributions from a host of evangelical scholars, including Australians like ...
Last year, I tweeted that I had a free Sunday and wanted to preach at a “normal” church. I described “normal” in this way: “A normal church has under 100 in attendance each week, might have a bivocational pastor, ...
Like Ezekiel, we step into the pain and death of humanity with eyes wide open, but we must not stop there. We believe that bones can live. Crazy as it sounds, indeed, “foolish,” according to Paul, it is true. Why is this so? Because Jesus ...
What do we mean when we say that God is sovereign? A.W. Pink tackles this question right out of the gate in his book The Sovereignty of God. He explains what the Bible means when it claims that God is sovereign and he then compares this to ...
Matt Chandler:
Grace-driven effort is violent. It is aggressive. The person who understands the gospel understands that, as a new creation, his spiritual nature is in opposition to sin now, and he seeks not just to weaken sin in his life but to ...
O Eternal God, Sanctify my body and soul, my thought and my intentions, my words and actions, that whatsoever I shall think or speak or do, may be by me designed for the glorification of Your name, and by Your blessing, it may be effective and ...
Stress of Ministry
In a 2010 feature, “Taking a Break From the Lord’s Work,” the New York Times reported that, “members of the clergy suffer from obesity, hypertension, and depression at rates higher than most ...
Two of my books are on sale in ebook form. I am not sure how long this will last, but if you have a Kindle, you can grab them at Amazon.com at the links below: Comeback Churches on Kindle. Lost…
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You Belong to Christ - I appreciate what Luma gets at in this article about motherhood. “I am NOT anti-motherhood, I am for Christ-centered motherhood! It is because I have lived at the two extremes of neglecting family, and making family ...
John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Crossway, 2003), page 162:
Missions exists because worship doesn’t.
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In our sickness, we need a Savior, in our wanderings a guide, in our blindness someone to show us the light, in our thirst the fountain of living water that quenches forever the thirst of those who drink from it. We dead people need life, we ...
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Reflecting on the recent death of his wife, R. C. Sproul, Jr. wrote this on Twitter: “I wish I had held her hand more” That’s all he said. That one got to me. Husbands, hold your wife’s hand more. Love … ...
The mission of Desiring God is that people everywhere would understand and embrace the truth that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him. Earlier this week, we provided an update that in the last 12-months we’ve seen ...
It was the very joy and delight of her heart to labour for that blessed Jesus who had bought her by His precious blood, in the full assurance of the blessed fulfillment of this word, “Forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the ...
Simply stated, creation refers to everything that exists that has not always existed. It refers to all that God has brought into existence, which is everything apart from God himself—including angels and, eventually, Satan and his ...
Tyler Kenney joins this Friday’s edition of Behind the Blog with updates from the frontlines of Desiring God’s translation efforts, including how to access the ten different language options of our site.
Among other things mentioned ...
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Sometimes you have to step away from all the serious blogging. Sometimes you have to watch an awesome movie trailer. That’s just what you have to do.
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Earlier this week at EdStetzer.com Emily Freeman - Thursday is for Thinkers Subversive Kingdom: Now Available Church Discipline: A Closer Look Thursday is for Thinkers: Jimmy Roh (Special Tuesday Edition) Monday is for Missiology: Engaging Well, ...
As glorious as the accomplishment of the redemption of Christ is the gospel would not be “good news” if we had to do something to merit or achieve it. Like a skinny, boney-kneed, white kid trying to dunk a basketball we would just never get ...
Rascal Flatts probably won’t ever sing a song about baby death.
I chose this week’s song when I read Roseanne Cash mention how out of kilter it is in today’s music culture to hear the kinds of songs one heard all the time in ...
Muscular Christianity - Michael Horton has penned a good and interesting article in which he takes issue with the idea that Christianity needs to be masculine and muscular. It’s a bit dense and the font is pretty small, but make your way ...
Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions (Romans 6:12).
It bears repeating: if you want life, deny yourself (Matthew 16:24–25). The narcissistic nihilist will kill you if you do not.
This truth left ...
Dave Harvey, Am I Called? The Summons to Pastoral Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012), 63–64: [E]verything we’ll talk about presupposes that your sense of call is focused more on serving the church than on fulfilling a dream. Here ...
Anyone who has ever lived east of Vienna can relate to this video. HT
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In the 1980s and ’90s, “worship wars” sprung up around the world, with some churches drawing lines in the sand around classic hymnody. Others threw out the hymnal and restructured services around contemporary praise and worship ...
In the final session of The Pleasures of God Discussion, John Piper interacts with questions on chapters 7–9:
The Pleasure of God in Doing Good to All Who Hope in Him
The Pleasure of God in the Prayers of the Upright
The ...
We conclude this series by looking at the other reason why I think egalitarians and complementarians react differently to ‘in house’ differences and the need for charity in how we address these ‘in house’ differences within ...
What follows are 20 quotes that caught my attention as I read Matt Chandler’s new book, The Explicit Gospel (Crossway, 2012):
“More often than not, we want him to have fairy wings and spread fairy dust and shine like a precious little ...
When I was in Louisville for Together for the Gospel I bumped into Russell Moore and had a few minutes to speak about reading fiction. I quickly saw that he has done a lot of thinking about fiction, about the morality and responsibility of ...
Junior Seau, football hall-of-famer and former New England Patriot, is dead. It appears that he committed suicide. Seau was 43 and had an ex-wife and three children. This is the latest in a growing line of NFL suicides, and Seau … ...
PREVIOUSLY Halim Suh, Pastor of Equipping at Austin Stone Community Church in Austin, Texas, and coauthor of Creation Unraveled: The Gospel According to Genesis, shared how we must examine our love of God through the lens of the head, ...
I have always been a list guy. If I can get it down on paper then I may actually get it done. The downside to such lists is that you may develop such a lengthy list that even Methuselah couldn’t live long enough to get it done. This ...
Lloyd-Jones on Prophecy - Martyn Lloyd-Jones is often used as an example of an advocate of continuationist theology, but here is an article that argues against it. “Although charismatics and Pentecostals have both claimed him as an ...
The 10 Warning Signs of an Inwardly Obsessed Church—Thom Rainer Any healthy church must have some level of inward focus. Those in the church should be discipled. Hurting members need genuine concern and ministry. Healthy fellowship among ...
John Newton, the slave-trade ship captain turned pastor and hymn-writer, wasn’t exactly a blogger. Many of his writings, however, fit in the category of we today would call blogging. He wrote mostly letters — small, topically oriented and ...