Check this out

Bring on the e-book era. The Evangelical Library of London is offering titles from the Puritan era in pdf format for a subscription of about $50 a year. This looks like it may be a worthwhile investment for those who love the great writers of old. Selections already included the classic work by James Buchanan on Justification and The Christian's Complete Armor by William Gurnall. The texts will be fully searchable!

33rd Anniversary of Roe V. Wade

Just a few days ago the NY Daily News reported that for every 100 babies born in New York City, 74 babies died in abortions in 2004. There were 124,100 live births and 91,700 murders of helpless, unique human lives at the hands of "doctors" in NYC in 2004. Face it: Saddam Hussein didn't kill as many people in one place in one year.

For a lot more information on this horror in America check out abort73. com for a wealth of information. There are some pretty eye opening videos on this website (especially the first two). The second one has a warning about some disturbing graphics but it is very powerful. You will be moved.

We are at war!

"Piper: 'Very few people think that we are now in a war greater than World War II, and greater than any imaginable nuclear World War III. Or that Satan is a much worse enemy than Communism or militant Islam. Or that the conflict is not restricted to any one global theater, but is in every town and city in the world. Or that the casualties do not merely lose an arm or an eye or an earthly life, but lose everything, even their own soul and enter a hell of everlasting torment (Rev. 14:9-11).

Until people believe this, they will not pray as they ought. They will not even know what prayer is.'"

Does belief in God's sovereignty quench prayer for the lost?

John Piper answers: "What I am saying is that it is not the doctrine of God's sovereignty which thwarts prayer for the conversion of sinners. On the contrary, it is the unbiblical notion of self-determination which would consistently put an end to all prayers for the lost. Prayer is a request that God do something. But the only thing God can do to save a lost sinner is to overcome his resistance to God. If you insist that he retain his self-determination, then you are insisting that he remain without Christ. For 'no one can come to Christ unless it is given him from the Father' (John 6:65,44).

Only the person who rejects human self-determination can consistently pray for God to save the lost. My prayer for unbelievers is that God will do for them what He did for Lydia: He opened her heart so that she gave heed to what Paul said (Acts 16:14). I will pray that God, who once said, 'Let there be light!', will by that same creative power 'shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ' (II Corinthians 4:6). I will pray that He will 'take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh' (Ezekiel 36:26). I will pray that they be born not of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God (John 1:13). And with all my praying I will try to 'be kind and to teach and correct with gentleness and patience, if perhaps God may grant them repentance and freedom from Satan's snare' (II Timothy 2:24-26).

"In short, I do not ask God to sit back and wait for my neighbor to decide to change. I do not suggest to God that He keep his distance lest his beauty become irresistible and violate my neighbor's power of self-determination. No! I pray that he ravish my unbelieving neighbor with his beauty, that he unshackle the enslaved will, that he make the dead alive and that he suffer no resistance to stop him lest my neighbor perish."

(HT: Adrian Warnock)

The balm of prayer

One more post from J. C. Ryle on prayer:

We live in a world where sorrow abounds. This has always been its state since sin came in. There cannot be sin without sorrow. And until sin is driven out from the world, it is vain for any one to suppose he can escape sorrow.

Some without doubt have a larger cup of sorrow to drink than others. But few are to be found who live long without sorrows or cares of one sort or another. Our bodies, our property, our families, our children, our relations, our servants, our friends, our neighbors, our worldly callings, each and all of these are fountains of care. Sicknesses, deaths, losses, disappointments, partings, separations, ingratitude, slander, all these are common things. We cannot get through life without them. Some day or other they find us out. The greater are our affections the deeper are our afflictions, and the more we love the more we have to weep.

And what is the best means of cheerfulness in such a world as this? How shall we get through this valley of tears with least pain? I know no better means than the regular, habitual practice of taking everything to God in prayer. This is the plain advice that the Bible gives, both in the Old Testament and the New. What says the psalmist? "Call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me" (Ps. 50:15). "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved" (Ps. 55:22). What says the apostle Paul? "Be careful for nothing; but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God: and the peace of God, which passeth all understanding shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7). What says the apostle James? "Is any afflicted among you? let him pray" (James 5:13).

This was the practice of all the saints whose history we have recorded in the Scriptures. This is what Jacob did when he feared his brother Esau. This is what Moses did when the people were ready to stone him in the wilderness. This is what Joshua did when Israel was defeated before the men of Ai. This is what David did when he was in danger at Keilah. This is what Hezekiah did when he received the letter from Sennacherib. This is what the church did when Peter was put in prison. This is what Paul did when he was cast into the dungeon at Philippi.

The only way to be really happy in such a world as this, is to be ever casting all our cares on God. It is trying to carry their own burdens which so often makes believers sad. If they will tell their troubles to God, he will enable them to bear them as easily as Samson did the gates of Gaza. If they are resolved to keep them to themselves, they will find one day that the very grasshopper is a burden.

There is a friend ever waiting to help us, if we will unbosom to him our sorrow - a friend who pitied the poor and sick and sorrowful, when he was upon earth - a friend who knows the heart of man, for he lived thirty-three years as a man among us - a friend who can weep with the weepers, for he was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief - a friend who is able to help us, for there never was earthly pain he could not cure. That friend is Jesus Christ. The way to be happy is to be always opening our hearts to him. Oh that we were all like that poor Christian who only answered, when threatened and punished, "I must tell the Lord."

Jesus can make those happy who trust him and call on him, whatever be their outward condition. He can give them peace of heart in a prison, contentment in the midst of poverty, comfort in the midst of bereavements, joy on the brink of the grave. There is a mighty fulness in him for all his believing members - a fulness that is ready to be poured out on every one that will ask in prayer. Oh that men would understand that happiness, does not depend on outward circumstances, but on the state of the heart.

Prayer can lighten crosses for us however heavy. It can bring down to our side One who will help us to bear them. Prayer can open a door for us when our way seems hedged up. It can bring down One who will say, "This is the way, walk in it." Prayer can let in a ray of hope when all our earthly prospects seem darkened. It can bring down One who will say, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Prayer can obtain relief for us when those we love most are taken away, and the world feels empty. It can bring down One who can fill the gap in our hearts with himself, and say to the waves within, "Peace; be still." Oh that men were not so like Hagar in the wilderness, blind to the well of living waters close beside them.

Christ and Cancer

John Piper preached a message called "Christ and Cancer" 25 years ago. I wish I would have realized this message by John Piper was available a long time ago. I have watched many people die with cancer including some of my own immediate family and close relation. If you know someone with cancer or some other life threatening suffering, this sermon is worth your read. Piper, who has just been diagnosed with cancer in the last month began this message preached 25 years ago saying,

"I regard this message today as a crucial pastoral message, because you need to know where your pastor stands on the issues of sickness, healing, and death. If you thought it was my conception that every sickness is a divine judgment on some particular sin, or that the failure to be healed after a few days of prayer was a clear sign of inauthentic faith, or that Satan is really the ruler in this world and God can only stand helplessly by while His enemy wreak havoc with His children—if you thought any of those were my notions, you would relate to me very differently in sickness than you would if you knew what I really think. Therefore, I want to tell you what I really think and try to show you from Scripture that these thoughts are not just mine but also, I trust, God's thoughts. "

Read the rest here.

Purpose Driven Life

One of the questions I am most frequently asked is, "What do you think of the Purpose Driven Life?" Nathan Busenitz has one of the most concise yet well-stated criticques of the book that I have found. This is the article that I give to people when they ask for some concrete analysis of the book.

How to Read the Scriptures

J.C. Ryles’ (1816–1900) hints for reading the Bible (From J.C. Ryle “How Readest Thou?” An Earnest Appeal to Search the Scriptures.)

1. Begin reading your Bible this very day.
2. Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it.
3. Read the Bible with deep reverence.
4. Read the Bible with earnest prayer for the teaching and help of the Holy Spirit.
5. Read the Bible with child-like faith and humility.
6. Read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self-application.
7. Read the Bible daily.
8. Read all the Bible, and read it in an orderly way.
9. Read the Bible fairly and honestly. Determine to take everything in its plain, obvious, meaning, and regard all forced interpretations with great suspicion.
10. Read the Bible with Christ continually in view. The grand primary object of all Scripture is to testify of Jesus. Old Testament ceremonies are shadows of Christ. Old Testament judges and deliverers are types of Christ. Old Testament history shows the world’s need of Christ. Old Testament prophecies are full of Christ’s sufferings, and of Christ’s glory yet to come. The first advent and the second, the Lord’s humiliation and the Lord’s kingdom, the cross and the crown, shine forth everywhere in the Bible. Keep fast hold on this clue, if you would read the Bible aright.

Legitimate Motivations for Daily Bible Reading
1. Duty. If we read the Bible out of duty we are still doing the right thing. “The
chief end of man is to glorify God.”

2. Doctrine. We should want to study the Scriptures to find in them the vital
truths for godliness.

3. “Defrost.” We should go to the Word of God to warm our hearts again for the things of heaven. [Jim Eliot closed one of his letters to his brother in this way, "Must get into the Book for a little defrosting" (Shadow of the Almighty, p. 64).

4. Delight. “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Remember that delight in the Word of God is a work of grace. You must pray earnestly to God to be gracious to you.

Hints
• Learn to measure your attention span.
• Learn to extend your attention span.
• Adjust the lighting.
• Get comfortable for brain work.
• Eliminate distractions.
• Learn to talk to yourself.
• Vary your approach. Sometimes study; sometimes read to “defrost.”
• Remember the best way to eat an elephant (one bite at a time).

(HT: Bob Bixby)

Piper and God-centered audio resources

If you're looking for careful, thoughtful, God-centered audio resources on practical theology, check out John Piper's practical theology courses at BiblicalTraining.com. They are all available online for free:

* Why We Believe the Bible
* T.U.L.I.P.: The Pursuit of God's Glory in Salvation
* Desiring God The Pursuit of Joy in Life and Ministry
* Living by Faith in Future Grace: The Pursuit of Holiness in Life and Ministry
* Suffering for the Sake of the Body
* Prayer, Meditation and Fasting: The Pursuit of Communion with God
* Gravity and Gladness on Sunday Morning: The Pursuit of God in Corporate Worship
* Sexual Complementarity: The Pursuit of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood
* Biblical Eldership (for those aspiring or currently active as an elder)


(HT: JT)

If you desire salvation

From the pen of J. C. Ryle:

If you desire salvation, and want to know what to do, I advise you to go this very day to the Lord Jesus Christ, in the first private place you can find, and earnestly and heartily entreat him in prayer to save your soul.

Tell him that you have heard that he receives sinners, and has said, "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." Tell him that you are a poor vile sinner, and that you come to him on the faith of his own invitation. Tell him you put yourself wholly and entirely in his hands; that you feel vile and helpless, and hopeless in yourself: and that except he saves you, you have no hope of being saved at all. Beseech him to deliver you from the guilt, the power, and the consequences of sin. Beseech him to pardon you, and wash you in his own blood. Beseech him to give you a new heart, and plant the Holy Spirit in Your Soul. Beseech him to give you grace and faith and will and power to be his disciple and servant from this day forever. Oh, reader, go this very day, and tell these things to the Lord Jesus Christ, if you really are in earnest about your soul.

Tell him in your own way, and your own words. If a doctor came to see you when sick you could tell him where you felt pain. If your soul feels its disease indeed, you can surely find something to tell Christ.

Doubt not his willingness to save you, because you are a sinner. It is Christ's office to save sinners. He says himself, "I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:32).

Wait not because you feel unworthy. Wait for nothing. Wait for nobody. Waiting comes from the devil. just as you are, go to Christ. The worse you are, the more need you have to apply to him. You will never mend yourself by staying away.

Fear not because your prayer is stammering, your words feeble, and your language poor. Jesus can understand you. Just as a mother understands the first lispings of her infant, so does the blessed Saviour understand sinners. He can read a sigh, and see a meaning in a groan.

Despair not because you do not get an answer immediately. While you are speaking, Jesus is listening. If he delays an answer, it is only for wise reasons, and to try if you are in earnest. The answer will surely come. Though it tarry, wait for it. It will surely come.

Oh, reader, if you have any desire to, be saved, remember the advice I have given you this day. Act upon it honestly and heartily, and you shall be saved.

A Call to Prayer

J. C. Ryle wrote a booklet over 150 years ago that rings with a question that haunts me: Do you pray? It is powerful and convicting. My problem is that I so often am impacted by a book for a brief time and then forget it. I publish this post with the hope that I will not soon forget what this man has taught me about prayer. Here are some quotes that have have impacted me greatly.

"What is the reason that some believers are so much brighter and holier than others? I believe the difference, in nineteen cases out of twenty, arises from different habits about private prayer. I believe that those who are not eminently holy pray little, and those who are eminently holy pray much."

"Look through the lives of the brightest and best of God's servants, whether in the Bible or not. See what is written of Moses and David and Daniel and Paul. Mark what is recorded of Luther and Bradford the Reformers. Observe what is related of the private devotions of Whitefield and Cecil and Venn and Bickersteth and M'Cheyne. Tell me of one of all the goodly fellowship of saints and martyrs, who has not had this mark most prominently - he was a man of prayer. Depend upon it, prayer is power."

"Tell me what a man's prayers are, and I will soon tell you the state of his soul. Prayer is the spiritual pulse. By this the spiritual health may be tested. Prayer is the spiritual weatherglass. By this we may know whether it is fair or foul with our hearts. Oh, let us keep an eye continually upon our private devotions. Here is the pith and marrow of our practical Christianity. Sermons and books and tracts, and committee meetings and the company of good men, are all good in their way, but they will never make up for the neglect of private prayer."

"He loves me best who loves me in his prayers."

A prayer for the New Year

Here is a prayer for John Calvin as Christians begin a new year of persevering in our faith:

"Grant, Almighty God, that as you have given us once for all your only begotten Son to rule us, and have by your good pleasure consecrated him a King over us, that we may be perpetually safe and secure under His hand against all the attempts of the devil and of the whole world, - O grant, that we may submit ourselves to be ruled by His authority, and so conduct ourselves, that He may ever continue to watch for our safety: and as you have committed us to Him, that He may be the guardian of our salvation, so also permit us neither to turn aside nor fall, but preserve us ever in His service, until we at length be gathered into that blessed and everlasting kingdom, which has been procured for us by the blood of your only Son. Amen."

(HT: Ligon Duncan)

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Can Christians Trust Psychology?

Ed Bulkey, a Christian pastor, wrote a very insightful book years ago called Why Christians Can't Trust Psychology--one of the first books that dared to question the tenets of psychology in Christian counseling. His book was written from a Christian perspective. Now even the Los Angeles Times is questioning the validity of the psychobabble that continues to grow in our culture. Al Mohler comments on this phenomenon.

Jonathan Edwards new year resolutions

Jonathan Edwards penned 70 resolutions that governed his life. These resolutions, written when Edwards was a young man, guided him throughout many years of fruitful ministry and they go far beyond the secular ones that people make at this time of the year. For a great summary of these resolutions read what Nathan Busenitz writes at Faith and Practice, a new blog.

Some great Bible reading helps

With the increasing new technology, there are great opportunities to make your Bible reading more enriched and more organized. Over at the ESV Bible blog they introduce some new RSS feeds or some webpages that you can link to every day to read the Bible through in a year among other features. I am using the One Year Bible program this year but the other options are great as well. Check it out and upgrade your Bible reading a bit for the year!

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Questions for a New Year

Don Whitney has some excellent questions for you to ask yourself as you start a new year. They will require some thought and planning but are well worth the effort. On a personal note, Don is now home and you can read about his continuing recovery and pray specifically for requests he has listed here.

Memorize the Word

Our church has launched our Scripture memory program for the year. This year we are using the MacArthur Scripture Memory System, Vol. 1. We will be memorizing 52 key Bible passages this year to help us fight the fight of faith!

MacArthur writes, "A critically important responsibility for believers is hiding God’s Word in their hearts. The ability to recall Scripture on a daily basis, as well as in moments of crisis, is fundamental to the growth of every Christian. There is a tremendous blessing and power in knowing where various passages are found and what kind of help and resources they can provide. One verse of Scripture is more powerful than the entire self-help industry. "

Oh, I pray that I along with the flock of God here will be very diligent in using this means of grace to grow more like Christ and be transformed from glory to glory.