God moves in a mysterious way
/On Sunday I shared the poem, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" by William Cowper (1731-1800), with Downtown Cornerstone. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Over the years it has become deeply meaningful to me.
Read MoreOn Sunday I shared the poem, "God Moves in a Mysterious Way" by William Cowper (1731-1800), with Downtown Cornerstone. It's an oldie, but a goodie. Over the years it has become deeply meaningful to me.
Read MoreJohn Stott on the secret to understanding what Jesus’ cross was for.
Read MoreRight thoughts, carried by the Spirit, throw gasoline on the fire of our affections, while wrong thoughts douse them. Here's how America’s greatest theologian put it.
Read MoreIt's difficult to not like John Bunyan (1628-1688). He had an incredible gift for preaching to the heart. If anything, Bunyan teaches us that we will never plumb the unfathomable riches of the gospel (and its implications), but we should give it a try any way.
Read MoreI have a deep respect and admiration for Martyn Lloyd Jones. If you're not familiar with him, you should alleviate that problem immediately and pick up his Studies in the Sermon on the Mount or Spiritual Depression: It's Causes and Cure. If you're a pastor and preaching is a regular part of your service to God's people, his book Preaching and Preachers is a must read. Over the last couple years many of his sermon recordings (which were originally only captured for church members who were too sick to gather with the church on Sundays) have been released here at MLJ Trust. If you're looking for more then I also recommend Iain Murray's double volume biography. There are a handful of defining principles I've learned from MLJ and one of those is the importance of knowing yourself well enough to preach to yourself. Here's a classic excerpt from Spiritual Depression:
I say that we must talk to ourselves instead of allowing 'ourselves' to talk to us! ... I suggest that the main trouble in this whole matter of spiritual depression in a sense is this, that we allow our self to talk to us instead of talking to our self....Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you...The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, questions yourself...And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do. Then having done that, end on this note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say: 'Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.' (Spiritual Depression, 21)
A common mistake is to value Jesus primarily for the good he can do for us - and he does offer us more good than anything in the universe - rather than valuing him as the ultimate good himself. So we ask him to make us happy, rather than finding our happiness in him. We ask him to give us a fulfilled life, rather than finding our fullness in him. We ask him to give us strength, rather than finding our strength in him. If we're looking to Jesus to give us happiness, fulfillment and strength on our terms, we'll always come up short - and feel as though Jesus has let us down. If we go to Jesus for Jesus, we'll be more happy, fulfilled and strong than we could ever imagine. The difference is subtle, but couldn't be more important. Bask in his beams and you will not lack on any account. Seek him for other things and you'll always find yourself lacking. All that you long for can be traced back to him. I love how Charles Spurgeon put this in his Lectures to my Students...
Read MoreThis morning we kicked-off a new two-year residency for developing eight potential pastors and church planters within our church. Our hope is to raise-up local elders, church planters and leaders for planting teams - domestically and internationally. We're beginning with a study of Charles Spurgeon's Lectures to My Students as a launch pad for discussing personal spiritual vitality. This week we covered "The Minister's Self-Watch", "The Call to Ministry", "The Preacher's Private Prayer" and "The Minister's Ordinary Conversation." Whether you are currently serving as a pastor, or working through a call to it, you should read this book - and then revisit it regularly. If you want to learn more about rolling out something similar at your church, I encourage you to connect with these guys. Here's a sample of Spurgeon's urgent call to a diligent self-watch.
Read MoreThese are some helpful thoughts from AW Tozer on how to read the Bible well in public. There is more to it than most think and, in my experience, few who do it well.