Psalm 27: A Shelter in the Day of Trouble
When life falls apart, how do you respond? When a conversation with your friend or spouse erupts into a volcanic argument, what does your mind dwell on for the next few days? When your colleague, or even a fellow Christian, wrongly accuses you, what do you immediately seek? When you seem to find opposition and trouble at every turn, to whom are you eager to turn? When life falls apart, what is the one thing that consumes you?
How Many Generations Does It Take for a Church to Die?
Justin Taylor has highlighted some of Sean Lucas‘s reflections on his research about the history of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mississippi:
As part of the research work that I’ve been doing, I’ve tracked down various churches that are mentioned in biographical sketches or represented in various events. Just today, for example, I tried to find information about Point Breeze Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh (where Harold Ockenga ministered); Central Presbyterian Church in Chattanooga (where Wilbur Cousar pastored); United Presbyterian Church in Wheeling, WV (where John Reed Miller served for a time) and Central Presbyterian Church in Jackson (where R. E. Hough pastored). What do these congregations have in common? They were all thriving, large, significant churches, pastored by conservative, talented men: and they no longer exist today. Read more…
Psalm 23: If You Have the Shepherd, You Have Everything
Without question, the 23rd Psalm is the best known chapter in the book. Its simple lines have captured the imagination of the faithful and the faithless alike. They are often recited at funerals (both real and on film), reshaped into hymns, set to classical music, and sampled in pop music from Pink Floyd to Coolio. What can account for their enduring legacy among such diverse audiences? Two things: Read more…
Reflecting on A.W. Tozer’s description of someone with a contentious spirit, Ray Ortlund comments:
When negativity about someone else pours out of our mouths, could we be exposing, without realizing it, our own evil? If that irony dawns on us, we are ready to hear the gospel at a deeper level. We are ready to see God’s wrath unleashed not against the person we despise, nor against us, but against Christ on the cross. And then we are ready to become honest about ourselves and generous toward the other sinner.
Read the whole thing here.
“an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will . . . come out.”
No, John 5:28-29 is not the basis for another bad zombie movie (is there any other kind?). Rather, it speaks to one of the central, yet not always well understood, tenets of the Christian faith: resurrection. Read more…
More on the Mission of the Church
A couple weeks ago we linked to a thought provoking conversation between Tim Keller, Matt Chandler, and Michael Horton on whether the mission of the church is identical to the mission of individual Christians. This hour-long panel discussion from last April’s Gospel Coalition conference, including Matt Chandler, Kevin DeYoung, Trevin Wax, and Jonathan Leeman, takes this conversation further.
HT:JT
Psalm 16: The Sufficiency of God in a Decaying World
We live in a culture infatuated with preserving youth. From 1998 to 2009 the money spent at health and personal care stores doubled. From 2000 to 2010, the number of cosmetic surgery procedures in the U.S. rose by 77%. And yet the problem is not so much that we long for a full and lasting life—we were wired to desire eternal satisfaction. The problem is our tendency to look for it in things that are just as prone to decay as we are, all the while ignoring the sufficiency of God and the hope of the resurrection. Read more…
Gospel-centered Guidance
Eating disorders. Sexual abuse. Marital infidelity. Rebellious children. Addiction. Abortion. Suicide.
Sin and brokenness are very creative, and it can be very difficult to know how to begin thinking about some of the diverse challenges we face, or help others to face. As a pastor, I believe firmly that the gospel of Jesus is powerful enough to deal with the sin, rebellion, brokenness, and injustice of this fallen world. But what precisely does the gospel have to do with the challenges of being a single parent? How does it speak to me in my addiction, or help my step-child cope with the difficulties of a blended family? That’s why I’m thankful for the gospel-centered guidance supplied by CCEF’s minibook series. Read more…
A Portrait of Gospel-Shaped Suffering
Steve Allen and I grew up together. We actually came to faith together back in 1996. We were in each other’s weddings two weeks apart. We both ended up in vocational ministry–I, a pastor at Westgate Church in Massachusetts; Steve, the RUF campus minister at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Few people have ministered as deeply into my life as Steve. And part of his ministry is the love that he and his wife Jen have for their children, in particular their daughter Amelia. Read more…
The opening question of Psalm 15 (“O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”) invites us into a conversation that is both familiar and disorienting at the same time: corporate worship. It’s familiar for North American Christians largely because of the so-called “worship wars”—the ongoing debate about what Sunday morning worship should look like, particularly in terms of music. And yet Psalm 15 disorients us a bit because it’s not interested in the same kinds of questions that generally surround this debate (e.g. style, syncopation, skill).
in the meantime 