May 2012
3 posts
There is a pleasurable fear. “His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” Isaiah 11:3 — John Piper (@JohnPiper)
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Spiritual Warfare - Stand!
We’ve all been faced with temptation. We’ve all failed. We look at how we’ve sinned and ask, “how did I get to this place?” There is a reality that all followers of Jesus are in the middle of a spiritual battle against our flesh, this world, and Satan.
To ignore it is to play the fool. To deny it is to reject reality. To underestimate it is to flirt with fire.
10...
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“Evil rarely looks evil until it accomplishes its goal; it gains entrance by...”
– Klyne Snodgrass, quoted by Peter O’Brien in his Ephesians commentary (Pillar) when discussing the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20)
April 2012
8 posts
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A Call and Agenda for Pastor-Theologians →
This article parallels much of my heartbeat and explains a lot of why I’m studying at Trinity. Being a Pastor and being a theologian is my calling. I want to be faithful in this for the glory of God, the advancing of His Kingdom, and the building of Church. “With God all things are possible.”
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Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Man of Sorrows! what a name For the Son of God, who came Ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude, In my place condemned He stood; Sealed my pardon with His blood. Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Guilty, vile, and helpless we; Spotless Lamb of God was He; “Full atonement!” can it be? Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Lifted up was He to die; “It is...
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“Christ, by his death, offered himself up a sacrifice where such a price was paid...”
– - William Gouge
17th Century Puritan in his Commentary on Hebrews
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“Christmas starts it all.
Good Friday bought it all.
Easter conquered it all....”
– Personal reflections on the coming of Jesus from the incarnation, to the crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
March 2012
7 posts
“You are free to abandon your wife when Jesus abandons his.”
– John Piper
SOLID!
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"Will you be my girlfriend"
At least it wasn’t a letter with the options of checking “yes” or “no.”
But it was me mustering all the courage in me to ask Erikah Danielle Combs to “be my girlfriend.” I was 15 years old, she was 14. We were freshmen at Lane Tech High School (represent!). It was March 27, 1996 at 10:53am just before 3rd period when I asked her to be my...
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“A person whose life is no different from that of unbelievers has learned nothing...”
– John Calvin
Commenting on Ephesians 4:21
: Why do we need Community Analysis? →
docfuder:
Q & A with Dr. Fuder
In order for the church to truly be an active presence in the community, to be engaged with the needs around us—not only to worship and study the Scriptures—we have to be increasingly aware of our audience outside the building: their needs, their hopes, their dreams. To…
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Praying for Spiritual Strength
I love having a window into Paul’s prayer life. The kind of window that tells us his prayer burden for churches. In Ephesians 3:14-19, Paul gets on his knees and talks with his heavenly Father praying for the people he loves.
He makes two requests and gives a reason for why he believes this prayer is important. By application, we see the importance of this prayer for us.
A Prayer for...
February 2012
14 posts
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Specifically, Who Were the Puritans? What Were... →
John Piper writes:
You may have heard people vilify or extol the Puritans. J. I. Packer is among those who extol. Indeed, he thinks that this century of pastors was the greatest the church has ever known.
Some of us have found our souls richly fed by these 350-year old pastors. When we have needed spiritual food, we have found ourselves grazing in the Bible-saturated, heart-searching seventeenth...
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A Wartime Lifestyle
“God is not glorified when we keep for ourselves (no matter how thankfully) what we ought to be using to alleviate the misery of unevangelized, uneducated, unmedicated, and unfed millions. The evidence that many professing Christians have been deceived by Western commercialism and materialism is how little we give and how much we own. And by an almost irresistible law of consumerism we have...
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The Dividing Wall of Hostility
Here’s my attempt at illustrating the Jew-Gentile relationship found in Ephesians 2:11-22 (I used this illustration in my message from this text on Sunday). The illustration breaks down, but I do hope it might help provide clarity in understanding this amazing passage on reconciliation between Jews and Gentiles, and God and man:
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and...
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"Why?" - A Hip Homiletic of Hope
Aware of my imperfections my spirit groans I’m a middle-aged adult, a teen, a mom at home I’m like everyone delirious and blind Aware of my imperfections my soul cries But I go about my days As if all is right, it’s wrong I don’t care, putting up a front feels safer then exposing my hurts bare Stare into the sky, ask “why?,” ask “who are you?” Is there a supreme being, a god, ultimate reality,...
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“I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have...”
– Jesus (John 16:33)
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“Oh, long and dark the stairs I trod,
With stumbling feet to find my God:
...”
– I first heard this poem from Dr. Michael Vanlaningham while taking his Romans course at Moody Bible Institute 10 years ago. This week, while preparing to preach Ephesians 2:1-10, I was reminded of it again. I remembered portions of the quote and Google’d what I could. I found the quote again...
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100 Ways Kids Can Help the Persecuted Church in... →
Voice of the Martyrs ( @VOM_USA ) has created this website Kids of Courage to help children become courageous about their faith and speak out on behalf of those who suffer for being Christians. The website has helpful PDF downloads, activity books, videos and practical tips for parents and ministries.
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January 2012
20 posts
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Praying Ephesians 1:15-23
Father God, give us the Spirit from whom there is wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ. May we have the eyes of our hearts enlightened, that we may know what is the hope to which you have called us, that we would know that we are the riches of your glorious inheritance, that we would know what is the immeasurable greatness of your power toward us who believe, according to the working...
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5 Worship-Quenching Attitudes
As I studied Ephesians 1:7-14 for a recent message, Blood-Bought and Sealed, the Spirit showed me Five attitudes of the heart that will choke out a heart of worship.
1. Ingratitude – It’s far too easy to view blessings from based on what we should be receiving materially rather than what God has promised and delivered in the “heavenly places” (Eph 1:3). When we have this...
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Sunday's Sermon: Blood-Bought and Sealed →
Here’s the message I preached yesterday (Sunday, January 22, 2012) at Good News Bible Church. We’re in the early stages of an expositional series on Ephesians that has been such a treat! My text was Ephesians 1:7-14. Praise God for His remarkable grace!
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Praying Ephesians 1:3-14
Blessed be You, O God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for you have blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. You chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless. In love you predestined us for adoption as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ. This was done just as you planned, according to the purpose of your...
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“And I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the...”
– Revelation 5:13-14
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“Then I looked, and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the...”
– Revelation 5:11-12
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“And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take...”
– Revelation 5:9-10
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“And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw...”
– Revelation 5:7-8
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“Then I saw in the right hand of him who was seated on the throne a scroll...”
– Revelation 5:1-6
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The Glory of God
I came across this quote of John Calvin as he expounded the phrase “to the praise of his glory” in Ephesians 1:14 (in light of its similar mentioning in 1:6 and 1:12) -
The frequent mention of the glory of God ought not to be regarded as redundant, for what is infinite cannot be too strongly expressed. This is particularly true in commendations of the Divine mercy, for which every...
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Christian Hedonist Calvinism →
What would the doctrines of grace sound like if every limb in that tree were coursing with the sap of Augustinian delight. (that is, Christian Hedonism)?
Total depravity is not just badness, but blindness to God’s beauty and deadness to the deepest joy.
Unconditional election means that the completeness of our joy in Jesus was planned for us before we ever existed as the overflow of God’s...
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WatchSunday, January 22, 2012 is the sanctity of Human Life Sunday. Choose Life. Video created by shotbyesso:
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