This is the fifth post in a series of twelve. The content comes from “Twelve Appeals to Prosperity Preachers” found in the new edition of Let the Nations Be Glad.

The reason the writer to the Hebrews tells us to be content with what we have is that the opposite implies less faith in the promises of God. He says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’” (Hebrews 13:5-6).

On the one hand, we may trust in the Lord to be our helper. He will provide and protect. And in that sense there is a measure o…

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Sam Crabtree recently commented on his blog,

Mothers Day is not primarily about being a mother and receiving honor, but thanking God for the mother he gave you, and giving honor. The people giving honor should include all moms. Persons receiving honor as moms should also be giving honor for their God-given moms.

Mothers are a gift from God, and every last person has one. So Mother's Day is really a holiday for everyone, a day for thanking God for his goodness in giving us mothers, and an occasion for letting that gratitude play itself out in tangible expressions of special honor.

From the Mother's Day sermons John Piper has preached, here are a few you may find…

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(Click through if you don't see the video.)

Her primary problem was her ignorance, which is exactly what Jesus addresses in John 4:10. Instead of answering her question, he points out the need for it to be reconfigured.

“If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you...” Jesus says this to point out that she doesn’t know who he is. That's the most essential problem in the life of this Samaritan women, not her five failed marriages and the fact she's living with her boyfriend. She has no clue who it is that just asked her for a drink of water.

In the verses that follow, John shows us how this woman's interaction with Jesus leads her out of this ignorance.

First she identifies him as a Jewish man (v. …

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Yes he is. He tells us so in Scripture:

Then the Lord said to (Moses), "Who has made man's mouth? Who makes him mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?" (Exodus 4:11)

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:1-3)

To be clear, God's sovereignty doesn't mean he merely permits disability. These verses show us that he sovereignly intends it, both for his glory and for our good—"that the works of God might …

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Did you know that there are still over 2,000 languages in the world that don't have any of the Bible translated? That means that the more than 350 million people who speak those languages have very little or no access to the word of Christ and the faith that comes by hearing it (Romans 10:17).

Bible translation is a very strategic ministry. Cameron Townsend realized this. He once said, "The greatest missionary is the Bible in the mother tongue. It never needs a furlough, and is never considered a foreigner." That's why he established Wycliffe Bible Translators and gave it the global vision of seeing "God's Word, accessible to all people in the language of their heart."

Wycliff…

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Why were Jesus' disciples so wigged out when he stilled the sea? Already afraid of the great storm, you'd think they might have been calmed by Jesus' calming of the waves. But it seemed to have the opposite effect. Mark 4:41: "And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even wind and sea obey him?'"

The disciples now seem to be perplexed about their master's identity. "Who then is this . . . ?" Stilling the sea is such a show-stopping demonstration of power that flooding their souls isn't the happy realization that their buddy Jesus has more power than they had estimated, but the unnerving new awareness that they may have misunderstood his very …

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This is the fourth post in a series of twelve. The content comes from “Twelve Appeals to Prosperity Preachers” found in the new edition of Let the Nations Be Glad.

Getting rich is not what work is for. Paul said we should not steal. The alternative was hard work with our own hands. But the main purpose was not merely to hoard or even to have. The purpose was “to have in order to give.”

“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need” (Ephesians 4:28). This is not a justification for being rich in order to give more. It is a call to make more and keep less so you can give mo…

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This is a well-balanced and helpful word from Tim Keller in his book Ministries of Mercy:

Often books and speakers tell Christians that they should help the needy because they have so much. That is, of course, quite true. Common sense tells us that, if human beings are to live together on the planet, there should be a constant sharing of resources. So when the statistics are brought out to show Americans how much of the world’s resources we use, it creates (rightly) a sense of concern for those with less than ourselves.

But this approach is very limited in its motivating power. Ultimately it produces guilt. It says, “How selfish you are to eat steak and drive two …

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We know that—for the most part. But still, we can be tempted to think that if we just figure out the secret formula—the right mixture of Bible meditation and prayer—we will experience euphoric moments of rapturous communion with the Lord. And if that doesn’t happen, our formula must be wrong.

The danger of this misconception is that it can produce chronic disappointment and discouragement. Cynicism sets in and we give up because devotions don't seem to work for us.

The longing for intimate communion with God is God-given. He will satisfy it fully some day. And the Spirit gives us occasional tastes. But God has other purposes for us in our daily Bible meditation and prayer. Here are…

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