This is our third question and answer post with Joel Beeke on the subject of prayer (read the first and second posts).

What are some significant things you have learned from Christians abroad about prayer?

I’ve learned from the Irish to adore God Himself in prayer; from the Welsh, not to give up on praying earnestly for revival; from the Koreans, to discipline yourself to devote time to corporate prayer; and from a South African friend, the importance of intercessory prayer and maintaining a prayer list for your own spiritual benefit. 

Joel is scheduled to deliver two messages on prayer at our Conference for Pastors later this month. Register now and join us!

See the conference sp…

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Last year David Mathis outlined several good plans for people wanting to read through the Bible in a year. They're worth mentioning again, so I have reproduced the list (with minor updates) below.

Of course, there are tons of other plans out there. Just google "Bible reading plan" and you'll get pages of results of all different kinds, for personalities and lifestyles and needs of all different kinds.

[Update: Justin Taylor's post today brings together some great content on Bible reading plans and offers more detail on a few of them in particular.]

Bible Reading Plans

Discipleship Journal
NavPress’s Discipleship Journal plan has been the most used at Bethlehem for years. There are …

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This is the second question we put to Joel Beeke, upcoming speaker at our 2011 Conference for Pastors. (Read his answer to our first question.)

You wear many hats: seminary president, publisher, author, pastor, husband, father, etc. Such a heavy load must make prayer a difficult thing to fit into your schedule. What has been your experience? And what counsel would you give to those who feel too busy to pray?

Like every other Christian, I suppose, my experience has been that the more I am given to truly pray in my prayers the more keenly I feel how little I truly pray.

My mother is the greatest prayer warrior I know; for decades, she has regularly spent two or more hours per day in earne…

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This is the first post in a series of questions and answers with those who will be speaking at our 2011 Conference for Pastors. The questions will address a variety of topics, at times focusing more on prayer, which is the conference theme.

The following question was put to Joel Beeke.

You have written much on the lives and thoughts of the Puritans. Which Puritan do you think has the most to teach us about prayer? What would he teach us?

His response:

I’m sending a book to the printer this week, Taking Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer, which should be available in time for the conference. Three chapters are devoted to the Reformers: Luther, Calvin, and Knox. …

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The last week of the year is a good time—with God's help—to reflect on the past 12 months, do a little self-assessment, and decide what things to repent of and reach for in the next lap around the sun.

At the end of his first year as pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church, John Piper led his people in doing this through his sermon "I Have Kept the Faith."

Below is the conclusion of that sermon. Just plug in "2010" and "2011" where you read "1980" and "1981," and the content is still relevant 30 years later.

So, how did we do in 1980? If 1980 were the whole of our life, could we say with Paul, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth ther…

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In Miscellanies #191, Jonathan Edwards defines free grace as the kind of grace in which "the abundance of the benevolence of the giver is expressed, and gratitude in the receiver is obliged." Then he outlines three ways through which this kind of grace—which he also calls gospel grace—is realized (spacing and italics added):

Now I think these three things do constitute the freedom of grace. . .

(1) When the gift is to an offender, without satisfaction paid by him. . . .

(2) When 'tis given without retribution by way of condition, or without the receiver's profiting or pleasuring the giver. . . .

(3) When 'tis given without our worthiness; I mean without that excellency in our persons or …

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When has a preacher crossed the line into plagiarism in his sermon?

Matt Perman, senior director of strategy at DG, has posted his response today at The Gospel Coalition Blog. It follows in a series on plagiarism that began earlier this week, which also includes posts by Don Carson, Sandy Willson, Tim Keller, Glenn Lucke and Collin Hansen (the last two forthcoming; read Hansen's introduction to the series).

After explaining his answer, Matt gives this encouraging takeaway:

Just be free about letting people know the sources of your ideas and where you have learned things. This doesn’t diminish your credibility at all, and in fact benefits your listeners and the church by letting peopl…

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Jonathan Edwards explains how romantic love helps us understand Jesus' feelings towards the church (Miscellanies #189, spacing added):

We see how great love the human nature is capable of, not only to God but fellow creatures. How greatly are we inclined to the other sex! Nor doth an exalted and fervent love to God hinder this, but only refines and purifies it.

God has created the human nature to love fellow creatures, which he wisely has principally turned to the other sex; and the more exalted the nature is, the greater love of that kind that is laudable is it susceptive of; and the purer and better natured, the more is it inclined to it.

Christ has an human nature as well as we, and ha…

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Kenny Stokes made the following announcement before his sermon this weekend at Bethlehem:

As many of you know, earlier this year the elders granted Pastor John Piper a leave of absence from Bethlehem from May 1 through December 31. John will be returning to Bethlehem, as planned, the first week of January, but he and Noël will be in Georgia for New Year’s weekend (Jan 1-2) with her family. His first weekend back, God willing, in the Bethlehem pulpit will be January 8 & 9. Join us in praising God for his grace to the Pipers and to Bethlehem since May, and in praying with us for a strong finish to 2010, and a God-honoring start to 2011 as John is back with us.

If after watching "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (which released in US theaters this weekend), you find yourself or your kids feeling drawn to Aslan with alarming emotion, don't assume it's just the result of some cinematic spell. Aslan had that effect even back when he was knowable only through words on a page.

A concerned mother once wrote C. S. Lewis on behalf of her son, Laurence, who, having read The Chronicles of Narnia, became concerned that he loved Aslan more than Jesus. In his response, Lewis offered this relief:

Laurence can't really love Aslan more than Jesus, even if he feels that's what he is doing. For the things he loves Aslan for doing or saying are simply the thing…

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