This series of infographics that I’m calling “Visual Theology” has visited the ordo salutis, the attributes of God and the books of the Bible. Today I continue this series with a stop in Philippians 4:8. This is the first of the graphics that answers a request from one of the readers of this site and…
My recent studies of Ephesians have marked me deeply. It may be that the most important application to my life has been in the awareness of Satan’s work around me and, on that basis, learning how to stand firm. Ephesians 6 is a powerful call to be aware of the enemy and his army; it…
A Prayer for Cuba – Carolyn McCulley: “Few Americans have traveled to modern Cuba. But I had the privilege of visiting there in August 2011, right before some of the travel restrictions for Americans were lifted. Because we did not travel with a tour group, we had a credible view of real Cuban life.” Meet…
This morning I found myself looking back through some of my old notes on Jonathan Edwards’ The Religious Affections. It is such a dense and sweet book; I found so many powerful quotes and just had to share a few of them with you. (Each paragraph is its own quote, entirely disconnected from the one…
Treasure In, Treasure Out – R.C. Sproul Jr reflects on how his wife beautified his home and his life. “My beautiful wife loved nothing more than to beautify. She devoted herself to creating a beautiful home. She planted flowers, bushes and trees outside. Inside she hung, placed, painted and etched. Even when she was not…
You might have noticed when reading through the Gospels that, when it comes to Jesus predicting Peter’s denial, Mark records Jesus telling Peter that he will deny him three times “before the rooster crows twice” (Mark 14:30). Matthew, Luke and John, on the other hand, don’t mention a specific number of crows. They just record…
This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored the good people at ChristianAudio and they’ve got a pretty sweet prize package for you. Actually, they’ve got 5 of them. Five people will each win the CD or digital version (your choice) of the following: That is three great new audiobooks for your listening pleasure. Of the…
True Grit – I just finished listening to Donna Tartt’s amazing narration of the novel True Grit. Then I found that she had written this fantastic essay on the book. Romance Novels – Speaking of novels, I found this an interesting article on romance novels (Note: there’s one part that goes a bit awry when…
It was back in 2007 that I had an idea that genuinely changed my life. I wanted to read some of the classics of the Christian faith, but I knew that without some measure of accountability I would never have the self-discipline to make it happen. I realized that this accountability could come by reading…
The Penny Paradox – This article takes something worth just 2.4 cents to illustrate the problems with cutting a nation’s budget in any substantial way. Consider this yet another good reason not to be the one in power (and to pray for the one who is). That Lovely, Lovely Man – I love articles like…
Today I’ve got another batch of books that I didn’t review. Life is such that there are lots of great books that I just cannot find the time to read and many other books I’m simply not qualified to review. These books tend to find their way into these round-ups of the ones I received…
It has to be one of the most unexpected phenomena in the church today–that white middle-aged pastors are talking about rap music and, even more strangely, actually listening to it and recommending it. I don’t know that anyone would have or could have predicted it. I certainly wouldn’t have predicted that I would be one…
An Intrusion Into the Christian Bedroom – This is great and relevant stuff from Ed Welch: “Excuse me for barging in, but it might be time for more people to intrude into the marital bedroom. Though there are some good Christian books on marital sex, most of them repeat two basic mantras…” He isn’t so…
The Faithfulness Fallacy – Julian looks at recent situations involving John MacArthur and James MacDonald and offers some good wisdom on not falling for the faithfulness fallacy. “In logic an ad hominem attack is when you criticize a person rather than their idea. What I find fascinating in both of the above cases is that…
John Piper began his biographical message on the “frank and manly” J. C. Ryle two weeks ago with an explanation of what he called “masculine Christianity.” The theme of the Desiring God pastors conference, which is where he gave the message, was “God, manhood, and ministry,” and Piper’s presentation on the life of Ryle was…
You never want to waste a good crisis. That is true in politics and religion and any other field that values ideology, that values one thing over another or one thing in place of another. As Christians we know that the Lord often uses times of crisis to call people to himself, that when people…
There was so much goodness on the Net this weekend I’ve had trouble distilling it down to a few great links. But I gave it a shot and here are the ones that stood above the crowd. The Queen of Sheba – “A British excavation has struck archaeological gold with a discovery that may solve…
As I was sorting through some books today, I came across a volume by Philip Schaff. As I thought of him, I just had to go looking for this quote, the one that more than any other, has outlasted him. Jesus of Nazareth, without money and arms, conquered more millions than Alexander, Caesar, Mahomet, and…
Clarence – This is a touching article (even if it’s a mite over-stated at times). “We met you the first day we moved to Augusta. You introduced yourself as Clarence Davis, and you weren’t homeless but just ‘down on your luck’. You explained that you knew the previous owners and that you used to rake…
This week’s Free Stuff Friday is sponsored by the Ockenga Store at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. This store offers a wide selection of audio resources from conferences and events held at the seminary. It also has a variety of educational resources including Semlink, the distance learning program at GCTS, and Dimensions, education from seminary professors for…