I am a historic, premillennial, post-tribulational, evangelical Christian who thinks it is possible that, when Jesus appears visibly and bodily on the clouds to establish his earthly kingdom, the Twin Cities could be 95% born-again, Bible-believing Christians, including the mayors, the city council, and the policemen.

“Lawlessness will be increased, [and] the love of many will grow cold” (Matthew 24:12). But, meanwhile, white-hot martyr-types will take the gospel to every nation (Matthew 24:9, 14).

These indomitable emissaries of Jesus come from white-hot churches. I see nothing in any prophecy that says Minneapolis (or San Francisco, or Jerusalem, or Mecca) could not be a place covered …

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This article first appeared in the January 2011 issue of The Banner of Truth Magazine. Reprinted here by permission.

One of the more remarkable facts about the history of the church is that some of its most significant events were barely noticed at the time of their occurrence. Examples are not hard to find. In the early church, for instance, the attention of the most powerful inhabitants of the Roman Empire was focused on the political and military accomplishments of their day and they gave scant attention to the persecuted band of men called “apostles.” Yet two thousand years later it is clear that, by the grace of God, those twelve men had a far more powerful impact than anything the Ro…

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Jesus speaks of three ways of seeing himself, each better than the one before.

1. There were the people who saw him, the incarnate Son of God, and did not see the self-authenticating reality of his divine glory. They only saw a teacher or a prophet. “Seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand” (Matthew 13:13).
2. Then there were the prophets and righteous people in the Old Testament who did not see the incarnate form of the Son of God, but did see his divine glory. “Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it” (Matthew 13:17).
   
   That is, they did not se…

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Register now for the 2011 Conference for Pastors on The Powerful Life of the Praying Pastor.

Why did Jesus still the storm? Imagine what the disciples might have been thinking a half-hour later.

*          *          *

The sea was quiet now. And there was just breeze enough to push the boat along.

The disciples were quiet too. Andrew was steering. He had taken over for Peter, who sat wrapped in a cloak, exhausted and lost in thought. He had been soaked to the skin. Others were bailing out the remaining water.

Jesus was sleeping again.

James leaned on the bow gunwale watching reflections dance on benign waves. He was trying to absorb what he had just seen.

James knew this sea. He and John had spent most of their lives on or in it. His father was a fisherman. So were most …

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It is a humble impulse to feel that our weak effect on people is our own fault. And it may often be true. There are character traits in speakers that God uses to overcome resistance in hearers (Acts 11:24; Matthew 5:16).

But we must not bear more than we should. Not all rejection of us and our message is our fault. The apostle John writes,

The reason why the world does not know us
is that it did not know him. (1 John 3:1)

John does not say: The reason the world does not know us is that we are hypocrites, or that our contextualization is inadequate.

He says: If the world rejected Jesus, the perfect manifestation of love, then there are times it will reject us, precisely because our…

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One of the most transforming forces in our lives is being regarded as better than we are.

There is something profound and paradoxical about the way God creates godly people by first justifying the ungodly (Romans 4:5).

Consider the order of God’s acts in transforming the exiles of Judah. First he says, “I will regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I have sent away from this place to the land of the Chaldeans” (Jeremiah 24:5). They are not good. But he will count them as good. This is the justification of the ungodly.

Then—and the order here is all important—he says, “I will give them a heart to know that I am the Lord and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they s…

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Today is John Piper’s 65th birthday. Join us in blessing a man for whom retirement from the kingdom work is not on the horizon!

Pastor John, in honor of your birthday the DG staff has compiled 65 reasons why we are thankful to God for you. (Many more were submitted!) And of course there are some similarities, but then again, some things simply bear repeating.

Heavenly Father, we really love Pastor John and are so grateful that you have made him a man who(se)

1. Really finds You, in all Your triune glory, to be his greatest treasure and points us to you.
2. Helps us see and savor Your Son, Jesus, more.
3. Relentlessly preaches Your supremacy in all things in a man-centered world.
4. Puts godlines…

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Yes . . .

If you mean: Ten million Christians should take 10 hours a week spent watching TV, and give that time to worthy social and political engagement.

No . . .

If you mean: The pastors should leave their Bible study and pulpits and counseling and evangelism, and put that time into politics and social ministries.

This is the second question and answer post with Jerry Rankin (read the first).

You have written directly on the subject of spiritual warfare. What led you to focus so much on this important topic, especially for missionaries?

If God’s ultimate desire is to be worshipped and exalted among all peoples, it is evident the adversary, Satan, who is jealous for God’s glory, is actively seeking to deprive God of his glory among the nations. 

Just as he robs God of his glory in our lives through temptation to sin, embracing of carnal values and self-centered gratification of the flesh, he is subtly imposing barriers to global evangelization. Scripture is prolific in alerting us to this spiritua…

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