There was a time when I thought the verb “enjoy” and the noun “God” should never be used in the same sentence. I could understand “fearing” God and “obeying” God, even “loving” God. But “enjoying” God struck me as inconsistent with the biblical mandate both to glorify God, on the one hand, and deny myself, on the other. How could I be committed above all else to seeking God’s glory if I were concerned about my own joy?

My gladness and God’s glory seemed to cancel each other out. I had to choose between one or the other, but embracing them both struck me as out of the question. Worse still, enjoying God sounded a bit too lighthearted, almost casual, perhaps even flippant, and I knew that C…

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The English word “hallelujah” is a transliteration of two Hebrew words, "hallelu" and "jah". The first word, "hallelu", is the second person imperative of “praise.” The second word, "jah," is the short form of "Jahweh" (or "Yahweh").

So when we say, “Hallelujah!” we are exhorting others (people and angels) to join us in praising Yahweh.

What gives a punch to my singing, “Hallelujah,” is that Jah (= Yahweh) is not a generic word for God, but the personal name of the God of Israel.

To shout, "Hallelu Jah!" — "Praise Jah" — is like standing in the council of the gods and boldly saying, “Not to you, Molech!” “Not to you, Baal!” “Not to you, Dagon!” “Not to you, Artemis!” “Not to you, Zeus…

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Vision, no matter how clear, tends to rust over time. We need to hear it again and again.

In this two-minute video, John Piper exhorts Christian leaders to find creative, fresh, Spirit-anointed ways to reiterate the goal and direction of their leadership:

More resources on spiritual leadership from John Piper:

• Christian Elders in the New Testament (1976)
• For Our People and for the Cities of God (1981)
• The Marks of a Spiritual Leader (1995)
• Guidelines for Leading Leadership in Major Decisions (2002)

Theology is never static. It's not a box of propositions we store in the garage, pushed out of sight from the ebb and flow of our everyday. It's meant to change us. God has spoken and the world is not the same — how we see, how we live, the things we care about.

And this is why abortion matters.

In this episode of Theology Refresh, Justin Taylor discusses the sanctity of human life and why pastors cannot ignore this important doctrine.

Stream or download the audio of this 16-minute interview.

[Subscribe to Theology Refresh through iTunes.]

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Recent Theology Refresh podcasts —

• John Piper on the Celebrity Factor and Pastoral Ministry
• Paul Miller on the Doctrine of Prayer
• Jerry …

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In 1976 John Piper asked a two-part question:

• What is God's goal in the history of mankind from its beginning at creation to its climax in the new heavens and new earth?
• And how should we respond to this goal?

This is ultimate. We are in deep water. And yet the reasoning behind such a question is quite simple: in Jesus we are God's children and children want to know their Father. Pastor John explains,

[Y]ou don't really know a person until you know what moves him most deeply. It makes no sense to say that we know God when we are not acquainted with his strongest desire and with the goal that guides all his actions. But if we don't know him, then we can't worship him and we can't imi…

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In his new book,Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson talks about how all of life is relevant for mission. From drinking coffee to changing diapers, from cutting the grass to washing dishes — all of life can be lived to the glory of God by those who have been awakened to the gospel of our exhaustively sovereign Savior.

He writes,

One of the attendant aims of missional evangelicalism is to challenge the compartmentalizing of the Christian faith that we see within the Western church. We are fantastic at itemizing our schedules, and even if we don't assign God a very large bracket, we are constantly remorseful that we "haven't made much time for him." While such compartmentalizing — as if "time…

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Doug Wilson will speak on the subject of "father hunger" at our 2012 Conference for Pastors (Jan 30 – Feb 1). Registration is now open.

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Recent posts for the 2012 Conference for Pastors —

• Departing from Masculinity: Two Ditches to Avoid (Video from Doug Wilson)
• Dads, Your Leadership Role Is Inescapable (Video from Doug Wilson)
• Dads, Five Ways to Make Your Words Count (Excerpt from Crawford Loritts)

Pastor John in 1981:

Since wisdom is found in the Word of God, we must apply ourselves in study and meditation to know the Word and do it. "The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." (Psalm 19:7). Therefore, we must devote ourselves to know and understand the testimonies of the Lord. And here I commend not only faithful Bible study, but also regular reading of great books on theology and biblical interpretation, books that distill the wisdom of the greatest students of the word over the past 1900 years.

Now, I know what you are thinking: I don't have the time or the ability to get anywhere in books like that. So I want t…

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Richard Sibbes:

The sighs of a bruised heart carry in them a report, both of our affection to Christ, and of his care to us. The eyes of our souls cannot be towards him unless he has cast a gracious look upon us first. The least love we have to him is but a reflection of his love first shining upon us.

As Christ did, in his example to us, whatever he charges us to do, so he suffered in his own person whatever he calls us to suffer, so that he might the better learn to relieve and pity us in our sufferings. . . .

But our comfort is that Christ drank the dregs of the cup for us, and will succour us, so that our spirits may not utterly fail under that little taste of his displeasure which we…

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In his article this past Wednesday at Christianity Today, Bishop Hwa Yung considers how mistakes in missions over the past several hundred years have created a sense of guilt in the Western conscience.

But he says it’s important to understand where that guilt really comes from.

The very fact of Western guilt may be one of the supreme evidences for the enduring validity of the gospel in the post-Christian West. For it shows that the gospel has the power to shape the conscience of a culture, even when its propositional claims have been forgotten or largely rejected by that culture.

Then he exhorts Westerners to understand what the correct response to that guilt should be.

Yes, Western guil…

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