Matthew 10:30:

But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.

Charles Spurgeon:

You all take care of yourselves to some extent, but which of you ever took so much care of himself as to count the hairs of his head? But God will not only protect our limbs, but even the growth of hair is to be seen after. And how much this excels all the care of our tenderest friends!

Look at the mother, how careful she is. If her child has a little cough, she notices it: the slightest weakness is sure to be observed. She has watched all its motions anxiously, to see whether it walked right, whether all its limbs were bound, and whether it had the use of all its powers in perfection; but she …

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At 4:00 AM on February 24, 1807, the British Parliament overwhelmingly voted to abolish the slave trade and then “rose almost to a man and turned towards [William] Wilberforce in a burst of Parliamentary cheers…while he sat, head bowed, tears streaming down his face.”¹ 

This extraordinary moment was the culmination of 20 years of relentless, determined personal and legislative exertion to bring this evil trade to an end. After that Wilberforce would fight another 26 years until the evil of slavery itself was also defeated. Parliament voted to emancipate slaves three days before Wilberforce’s death on July 29, 1833.

William Wilberforce is one of histories great examples of unswerving de…

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Psalm 111:2 reminds us of a fundamental principle: Delight leads to study. A Lover can recall every feature of his Beloved’s face. A mother knows every dimple, hair, and birthmark on her baby’s body. When we recognize something as full of splendor and majesty, careful attention is no chore. When we are fascinated, when we marvel at some wonder, when our hearts rise with delight in some reality, the natural and unavoidable response is to move further up and further in, to seek after the object of our affection, to devote concerted effort to observing, understanding, and evaluating what we love and then to feel, apply, and express what we’ve seen.

“Great are the works of the Lord, studied b…

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Ephesians 2:4–7

But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ — by grace you have been saved — and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Puritan Thomas Goodwin, who passed away on February 23, 1680, wrote this of verse 7:

What is pardon of sin to heaven? It is but so many riches buried in the foundation.

What is the Spirit’s pouring forth here? It is but the earnest of that riches which is to come.

All…

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Of course, the courage of Bonhoeffer to defy the compromising state church of Germany in the early days of Nazism is inspiring. A church that did not stand with the Jews,  he said, was not the church of Jesus Christ. So at great risk he came out.

Wolfhart Pannenberg, 84, is the retired professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Munich where he served since 1968. He was very much the rage when I was in seminary, and I was honored to sit in some of his lectures while I was a student in Munich.

The connection I am drawing between Bonhoeffer and Pannenberg is their strong statements about what constitutes the un-churching of a church. For Bonhoeffer it was the failure to stand wit…

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Pastor John:

We do not give God authority over our lives. He has it whether we like it or not. What utter folly it is to act as though we had any rights at all to call God into question! We need to hear now and then blunt words like those of Virginia Stem Owens who said in [the] Reformed Journal,

Let us get this one thing straight. God can do anything he damn well pleases, including damn well. And if it pleases him to damn, then it is done, ipso facto, well. God's activity is what it is. There isn't anything else. Without it there would be no being, including human beings presuming to judge the Creator of everything that is.

Few things are more humbling, few things give us that sense o…

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Pastor John explains the nature and effects of anxiety,

Think for a moment how many different sinful actions and attitudes come from anxiety. Anxiety about finances can give rise to coveting and greed and hoarding and stealing. Anxiety about succeeding at some task can make you irritable and abrupt and surly. Anxiety about relationships can make you withdrawn and indifferent and uncaring about other people. Anxiety about how someone will respond to you can make you cover over the truth and lie about things. So if anxiety could be conquered, a mortal blow would be struck to many other sins.

. . . One of the most important texts has been one I underlined when I was 15 — th…

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It doesn't happen often, but it does happen — people see my son Paul and ask if they can pray for him.

At places like WalMart (where it has happened) I usually accept their offer after quietly and quickly assessing their motives and authenticity. And people are usually appropriate.

But a scenario occurred recently where I struggled to respond graciously. The Holy Spirit helped me in that moment as I could feel my pride being challenged. Here’s the story. 

A Prayer for Healing

We got to our church service a few minutes late. I plopped Paul down in the seats just outside the sanctuary while we got our bearings on who was going where. A gentleman noticed Paul and asked me what "disease"…

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I have a new acronym.

Along with I.O.U.S. and A.P.T.A.T. and A.N.T.H.E.M. I now use A.I.M.S. to help me maintain my Christ-consciousness through the day.

Two times in his second letter Peter said he meant to stir us up “by way of reminder” (2 Peter 1:13; 3:1). This is what I need all day long. Reminders of massive truth.

If my mind is empty or worldly, my faith languishes. My joy in Christ weakens. I need truth. “You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).

My mind needs glory: “Set your minds on things that are above” (Colossians 3:2). I need to think on excellent praiseworthy reality:. “If there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, t…

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A lot has changed since 1743 — but not everything.

The "true excellency of a minister of the gospel" is the same today as it was back when Jonathan Edwards preached an ordination sermon by the same title for a young Presbyterian pastor in Pelham, Massachuesetts.

Though in our own day we're surrounded by an abundance of resources and leadership tips, we'd do well to hear Edwards as relevant now as he would have been if we were sitting under his counsel 269 years ago.

Below is an outline of his sermon, "The True Excellency of a Minister of the Gospel."

Sermon Text — John 5:35

"He was a burning and a shining light; and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light." (KJV)

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