1 Thessalonians 1:2 We give thanks to God always for all of you, constantly mentioning you in our prayers, 3 remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ. John Piper, in a sermon “The Fruit of Hope: Endurance” Let us probe the connection between … More “Must or shall?” Both/And!
J.C. Ryle on the Transfiguration account in Luke 9: …this passage shows us that the Old Testament saints in glory take a deep interest in Christ’s atoning death. We are told that when Moses and Elijah appeared in glory with our Lord on the Mount of Transfiguration, they “talked with Him.” And what was the subject of … More J.C. Ryle on the centrality of the Cross
John Piper on Psalm 135: The psalm begins by calling us to praise the Lord: “Praise the Lord. Praise the name of the Lord.” Then, starting in verse 3 the psalmist gives us reasons for why we should feel praise rising in our hearts toward God. It says, for example, “Praise the Lord, for the … More Does God Really Take Pleasure in All He Does?
ESV Study Bible explains: 1 Chron. 25:1–8 David and the leaders of the Levites divided the musicians into the three family groups of Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman (see 6:31–47), who prophesied with musical instruments, i.e., wrote songs. In some cases, their songs seem to have become part of OT Scripture, for Asaph is named in the titles of Psalms 50 and 73–83, … More Worship Leaders
Sam Storms on Colossians 4:18 ….But why call on them to “remember” his “chains”? Certainly he’s not asking for pity. The last thing he wanted was for them to shift their focus from the sufficiency of Christ to the suffering of his servant. Still, it was important that they (and we) not forget where devotion … More Remember my chains
Luke 9:20 Then he said to them,“But who do you say that I am?” And Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” J.C. Ryle: We should pray frequently that God would raise up more Christians of the stamp of the apostle Peter. Erring, and unstable, and ignorant of his own heart as he sometimes proved, that blessed apostle … More Wanted: a few more Peters
Psalm 133:1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! In John 17, Jesus prays for us as believers to have this unity, that we should be one. And in Acts 4:32, we read that, “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.” As in music, … More Sweet harmony!
1 Chronicles 21:13 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” God’s mercy is indeed very great! We should always choose God’s mercy over putting ourselves at the mercy … More His mercy is very great!
John Piper relates this story in a sermon, “Devote Yourselves to Prayer” There is a story about D. L. Moody making a visit to Scotland in the 1800’s and opening one of his talks at a local grade school with the rhetorical question, What is prayer? To his amazement, hundreds of children’s hands went up. … More God loves to be asked for things!
Our passage today in Luke 9 is similar to one in Mark 8. John Piper comments in a recent post on the Desiring God Blog: After Jesus had fed both the 5,000 and the 4,000 with only a few loaves and fish, the disciples got in a boat without enough bread for themselves. When they … More The Loving Meaning of the Leftovers
