As I look back over 32 years of pastoral ministry at Bethlehem one of the sweet legacies I savor is the solid place Bible memorization has in the church. I am not the only, or even the main reason for this. David and Sally Michael hold that place under God’s good providence. But I have loved it, nurtured it, and tried to model it.

Because I believe in it with all my heart.

At the core of this commitment is what we call the Fighter Verse program. This is a church-wide encouragement for young and old to memorize together each week a portion of Scripture. The verses are planned out for five years. Then we start over.

They’re called “fighter verses” because the one offensive weapon in our spi…

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We know from Romans 6 that from the early days of the church there has existed a temptation to distort this gospel of God’s grace by deemphasizing God’s holiness. Which is tragic. It’s precisely God’s holiness that makes his grace toward us sinners so amazing! Understanding the doctrine of God’s holiness is absolutely essential if we are to rightly understand the doctrine of God’s grace and the miracle of sanctification.

This is what the Children Desiring God National Conference, being held in Minneapolis May 2–4, is all about. The conference theme is “The Splendor of Holiness,” plenary speakers include John Piper and Bruce Ware, and there will be dozens of workshops.

If you are a children…

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1. Charles Bridges, The Christian Ministry

2. Jonathan Edwards, End for Which God Created the World

3. David Daniell, William Tyndale

4. Joel Beeke, A Puritan Theology

5. Charles Spurgeon, Lectures to My Students

6. G. K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy

7. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

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In the summer of 1968, between college and seminary, I read Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. It was then, and is now, spiritually and theologically powerful. Lloyd-Jones was one of the best preachers of the 20th century. Thanks to the grace of digital technology, he still is.

Now these 656 pages are recorded by Chris Allen in five apps for your phone, with about six hours of reading in each app. What is unusual about these apps is that the text of the book scrolls as they are read to you — or you can just read. It’s like getting an audio book and ebook and a player, all in one.

Besides the scrolling text and the audio, there is a built-in glossary of unusual or cu…

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My seminary education was unbelievably special. It was a unique and weighty privilege to give myself for a season to the intense, disciplined, and uninterrupted study of God in his word.

I graduated this May from Bethlehem Seminary, and I can honestly say I would do it all over again, if given the chance. I simply wouldn’t trade the lessons learned, friendships forged, or skills acquired for anything. Seminary was a sweet and special season. But was it really special?

In a fresh article for Tabletalk, summarizing the blog series “How to Stay Christian in Seminary,” David Mathis says no. I wish I could have read this in August of 2008 before diving into my seminary season. While it can be…

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It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea than that he should cause one of these little ones to sin. –Luke 17:2

It may long be remembered as the night Sinclair Ferguson went rogue.

The date was June 28, 2009. During the congregational singing, he felt an unusually strong impression to preach something altogether different — both text and topic — from the manuscript he was holding in his hand for the exposition he had prepared on Romans 6:6–14.

Here’s how he explained himself on the fly in abandoning the announced topic:

There are rare occasions when during the course of a service there is such an impression made upon one’s spiri

…

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Today is the official launch of the New City Catechism, which is marked by an extraordinary combination of fortes.

Produced by The Gospel Coalition and Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York, this new catechism has a lot to be excited about in the various strengths coming together in this project. The New City Catechism

• both draws from the riches of history (being adapted from three outstanding Reformation-era catechisms — Calvin's Geneva Catechism, the Westminster Shorter and Larger Catechisms, and in particular the Heidelberg Catechism) and takes care to address the kind of questions people are asking today

• is both substantive and conveniently sized — with 52 questions, one for each…

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Ever tire of scrolling through long lists of sermon titles when picking a podcast? Are you the kind who would be relieved to have someone help you with the picking?

Our friends at Ligonier want to help. They are providing a new web app called RefNet: 24-Hour Christian Internet Radio. Available free for iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, RefNet includes broadcasts from R.C. Sproul, Alistair Begg, Al Mohler, and John Piper.

Just tap the RefNet icon, and listen in, any time of day or night. And the picking's been done for you.

If you don't have a mobile device, you can stream it through your computer on the RefNet website.

Check out the video:

Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). That is, we should pursue our wives in sacrificial love, leading as husbands who have been transformed by the gospel. We should date our wives.

So then, what is at stake if we don't?

Justin Buzzard, author of Date Your Wife, answers in this 12-minute video:

Watch the trailer and get the book from Amazon or WTS Books.

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Interview with Justin Buzzard:

• Biblical Manhood and the Gospel's Power
• A Clear Job Description: Date Your Wife
• The Problem with Commitment

Justin Buzzard summarizes his new book: "If you want to change the marriage, change the man. Jesus changes the man." He explains more in this seven-minute video:

Watch the trailer and get the book from Amazon or WTS Books.

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Interview with Justin Buzzard:

• A Clear Job Description: Date Your Wife
• The Problem with Commitment