Is is right that we plead for prayer for an upcoming mission trip to the Philippines? Doesn’t God know our needs before we ask? Isn’t He sovereign? Yes, yes and yes. And He TELLS us to pray for more helpers to bring in the harvest! John Piper, in a sermon “Prayer at Harvest Time: Now!” … More Farm Hands Beg For Help
Missions can be risky business. Perhaps not so much in the West, yet. In many places in our world, you could be tossed in jail, beaten or killed for speaking about Jesus. (For current news on persecution fo Christians, go to Voice of the Martyrs.) This is not a new development. In our reading for … More It is right to risk for the cause of God.
If you were a missionary in a remote tribal jungle, where previous missionaries had been eaten by cannibals, and you had been praying and sharing the good news for years and yet few believed…how would you respond? Would you be discouraged? How about if your wife and newborn baby died, leaving you alone? Such was the … More Discouragement in missions?
“Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”….After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the … More At the beginning of Matthew we still have a “come-see” pattern. But at the end the pattern is “go-tell”.
He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. Psalm 1:3 The psalmist draws a picture for us of a tree in a dry climate, which thrives because it is planted near a constant … More A Fruitful Tree and Missions
Noel Piper’s “hunt” for God as she reads with a highlighter has been an inspiration to me, as I have looked for different attributes of God in the Bible over the years. So, this year I am going to “hunt” for passages that relate to missions and spreading God’s glory as I read through the … More Why hunt for missions texts?
One of the Most Important Principles in Reading the Bible by John Piper at Desiring God blog: Sometimes readers of the Bible see the conditions that God lays down for his blessing and they conclude from these conditions that our action is first and decisive, then God responds to bless us. That is not right. … More One of the Most Important Principles in Reading the Bible
One year ago today, I started this blog/website. It has been quite a journey through the Bible, getting to know God more deeply through His Word. I’m grateful for all the positive responses from readers, and I look forward to seeing more of God this year in my read through the Bible. Here’s some encouragement … More PLAN how you are going to read the Bible in 2010
John Piper, in a sermon “Rivers From the Heart” Now perhaps we are ready to hear the words of Jesus as they come to us: “If any one thirst, let him come.” The invitation is universal, and yet it is conditional. There are no ethnic, intellectual, or social qualifications for drinking at Jesus’ fountain. The … More “…the hardest thing is not to satisfy their thirst but to make them feel thirsty for God.”
John Piper, in the last sermon in a series on Ruth, “Ruth: The Best is Yet to Come” What one main thing does the author want us to take away from reading this story? Here’s what I would suggest as the main lesson: The life of the godly is not a straight line to glory, … More The Best is Yet to Come!
