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Motherhood Is Victory
The Story of Ian & Larissa
Josh Hamilton, Relapse, and the Means of Grace
In case you missed it, Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton hit four home runs in one game last week.
In case you don't know baseball, that's a big deal. Only 15 other players in Major League history have accomplished the feat.
But what's impressive about Hamilton is that it's not just one good game. It's now several outstanding seasons, and an unusual career. An unashamed evangelical, Hamilton is one of the more amazing sports stories of our time as he has recovered from drug addiction and alcoholism, with God's help, to become one of the game's elite players. Not only is he a four-time All-Star, and the 2010 Most Valuable Player, but he currently leads the American League in batting average, ho…
The Avenger
Four superheroes unite in "The Avengers Initiative" — Thor, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, and the Iron Man — a collaborative of the world's greatest powers, called together when cosmic evil threatens the planet.
This is the storyline behind the The Avengers (2012), a movie that brought together these superheroes into one allegiance. And audiences have responded. In its first three days in U.S. theaters, the movie earned a record-smashing $200.3 million in box office revenue.
We are attracted to this team of superheroes because they are a response team called on to suppress evil. But when we walk out of the movie theater, we are faced with questions. Why don't we see God destroyin…
Standing Against a Vicious "Gospel"
I recently had the pleasure of joining a group of people that included a Christian man from Ghana. He loves Jesus and holds tightly to the promises of God in ways that are beautiful and humbling. He has been evangelizing, mentoring, and teaching for years in Western Africa, including some very dangerous places.
Last year he lost his daughter to an illness. She was a beautiful 21-year-old young woman about to finish college. He and his wife have suffered greatly. The response from some of the Christian "leaders" he knows made me sick. Confess your sins, they told him. "If you confess your sins she will be made well." Others even said they had received a prophetic word that God had heard…
God Made the Maternal Instinct to Magnify Himself
“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 daughter. “Don’t worry, Sweet Pea. I would never eat you. If I felt threatened then I would turn to Jesus instead of chewing on you. Even though your little toes look just so tasty . . .”
More shrieking ensued as I pretended to eat her toes.
You may have felt like a “mother bear” at times when protecting or defending your children, but your instinctive motherhood is different than that of a brute animal.
Richard Baxter described how God created the maternal…
The Book of 1 Corinthians in 40 Tweets
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 of shame.
In God's wisdom the cross has become the place, as D. A. Carson explains, where "God has supremely destroyed all human arrogance and pretension." (The Cross and Christian Ministry, 15). Indeed, this message is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who believe, the cross is the power of God.
1 Corinthians is a book about the cross. And like with Romans, we've tried to summarize the book in a series of tweets that we'll be postin…
The Gospel Is Big Enough to Fight for Itself
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 doesn’t believe.”
Often what we seek is another argument, a hidden angle that our interlocutor hasn’t thought through before. But that’s rarely how the gospel is heard and received. Think about it in your own case. Did you believe the gospel the first time you ever heard it? Perhaps you did, but if so, you’re quite unusual. Most of us heard the gospel over and over and over again until one day it hit us in a very different way.
And what was different about it? Was it a …
Workloads, Busyness, and Time-Hoarding
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 gift or as a right?
Those who view time as a gift can echo the psalmist who said, “Teach us to number our days, that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Ps. 90:12). They realize that their time is actually a God-given asset that they are to invest for God’s glory. They are cognizant of the fact that an hour gone by can never be relived.
Conversely, those who view time as a right tend to hoard their hours for selfish pleasure and often resent having to invest energy …
Resources for Upcoming Graduates
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 order, please call 888.346.4700.
A few other graduation resources...
1. Pastor John's 2006 graduation address to The Bethlehem Institute, How a Dead Dog Loves a King.
2. Pastor John's 2007 graduation address to The Bethlehem Institute, Four Mistakes I Hope You Don't Make.
3. Pastor John's 2009 graduation address to The Bethlehem Institute, Remember the Rich Young Man.
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Other case specials —
Are You Cynical About Prayer?
Paul Miller, author of A Praying Life, explains cynicism and its danger in our day:
Listen to Paul Miller talk more about prayer in this episode of Theology Refresh and stream or download his message from the 2011 Conference for Pastors.
Mothers for Whom Jesus Died
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 reported in the United States since 1973. The second Sunday of May can be a painful reminder.
Jesus hates abortion. But there's something about him we must understand: he didn't come to this world mainly to stop abortion. He came to die. John Piper explains,
God is not only a God of terrible holiness and wrath; he is also a God rich in mercy. And so he sent his Son into the world, not condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him from God’s o…
