Jack Miller:

What I finally came to as I walked and prayed for you is the old, old story of getting the gospel clear in your own hearts and minds, making it clear to others, and doing it with only one motive — the glory of Christ. Getting the glory of Christ before your eyes and keeping it there is the greatest work of the Spirit that I can imagine. And there is no greater peace, especially in the times of treadmill-like activity, than doing it all for the glory of the Lord Jesus.

Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller, (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2004), 22.

John Owen:

Let us live in the constant contemplation of the glory of Christ, and virtue will proceed from him to r…

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I recently spent a whole day tucked away at a local library. It was a golden spot. Quiet. Secluded. I sat beneath a shower of grace: an open Bible, a hungry soul, a copy of Owen’s The Glory of Christ. I spent several good hours there reading and praying and preparing for a sermon about Jesus and his glory. It was easy to walk close with Jesus alone in the library.

I left that spot and within an hour found myself quickly ushered back into the mess of everyday life in the form of my defiant three-year-old and her younger sister who really needed a diaper change. I longed to be back at that library, tucked away from the mess and headache of real life — that is, until it dawned on me that …

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John Piper from 2001:

It seems to me that we are always falling off the horse on one side or the other in this matter of being tough and tender — wimping out on truth when we ought to be lion-hearted, or wrangling with anger when we ought to be weeping. I know it's a risk to take up this topic and John Newton in a setting like this, where some of you need a good (tender!) kick in the pants to be more courageous, and others of you confuse courage with what William Cowper called "a furious and abusive zeal." Oh how rare are the pastors who speak with a tender heart and have a theological backbone of steel.

I dream of such pastors. I would like to be one someday. A pastor whose might in the t…

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The late John Stott writes,

The sincerity of a preacher has two aspects: he means what he says when in the pulpit and he practises what he preaches when out of it. In fact, these things belong inevitably together since, as Richard Baxter put it, "he that means as he speaks will surely do as he speaks." . . .

Paul told Timothy and Titus to be models of Christian behaviour. Peter similarly instructed the elders, instead of domineering, to be "examples of the flock." The emphasis is plain. Communication is by symbol as well as speech. For "a man cannot only preach, he must also live. And the life that he lives, with all its little peculiarities, is one of two things: either it emasculates hi…

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Earlier this year at Passion in Fort Worth, TX, Pastor John spoke to a group of young leaders about the value of Scripture memorization. He gives five reasons why it matters:

1. Conformity to Christ
2. Comfort for yourself and others
3. Conflict with sin
4. Communicating the gospel
5. Communion with God

Stream or download the message.

Pastor John gets to the heart of Jesus and his metaphors:

Stream or download this week's entire sermon from John 10.

G. K. Chesterton writes,

The sun rises every morning. I do not rise every morning; but the variation is due not to my activity, but to my inaction. Now, to put the matter in a popular phrase, it might be true that the sun rises regularly because he never gets tired of rising. His routine might be due, not to a lifelessness, but to a rush of life.

The thing I mean can be seen, for instance, in children, when they find some game or joke that they specially enjoy. A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, "Do…

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What are the qualifications for elders in the New Testament? Chances are hospitality doesn't make our quick list, though it's listed in both 1 Timothy 3:2 and Titus 1:8.

In this two minute video, Jeff Vanderstelt, a pastor at Soma Communities, explains how his church takes this qualification seriously when they're assessing elders:

Jeff Vanderstelt, Ed Stetzer and Dave Harvey will be speaking on church planting at our upcoming National Conference, "Finish the Mission: For the Joy of All Peoples."

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Other videos with Jeff Vanderstelt —

• How Does a Pastor Make Time for Evangelism?

John Flavel, in 1678, instructs readers to see God as the author of all circumstances in life, including suffering:

Set before you the sovereignty of God. Eye Him as the Being infinitely superior to you, at whose pleasure you and all your have subsist (Psalm 115:3), which is the most conclusive reason and argument for submission (Psalm 46:10). For if we, all we have proceeded from His will, how right is it that we be resigned up to it!

Set the grace and goodness of God before you in all afflictive providences. O see Him passing by you i the cloudy and dark day, proclaiming His name, 'The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious' (Exodus 34:6).

Eye the wisdom of God in all your affl

…

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There are several aspects to biblical preaching and each preacher is more inclined to one than another. As you continue to learn and be balanced by the strengths of other pastors, what is the heart of your preaching ministry that you hope to leave with the next generation?

In this video, D. A. Carson, Tim Keller, and John Piper conclude that the most important legacy to leave is utter devotion to the Bible:

Watch the video at The Gospel Coalition.

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Other videos from The Gospel Coalition —

• Serving to Master Two? — Historical Background and the Bible
• How to Teach the Bible with Confidence
• Humility and Conviction in Biblical Authority