J.C. Ryle comments on Matthew 10:26-31 at Grace Gems!: Those who try to do good must keep before their minds the providential care of God over them. Nothing can happen in this world without His permission. There is no such thing in reality as chance, accident, or luck. “The very hairs of their heads are … More J.C. Ryle: There is no such thing in reality as chance, accident, or luck.
John Piper concludes a message from Acts 13:1-12 this way: God is a searching and saving God; that he is a God on a mission; he has straight paths that lead to faith; he is still sending us “to seek and to save the lost.” He is not aloof or passive or indecisive. He is … More Piper: Launching pads for missions and straight paths of faith
John Piper, in a sermon, “Execution, Escape, and Eaten by Worms” from Acts 12 This chapter is about God and Herod. This Herod is Herod Agrippa I, the grandson of Herod the Great who was king when Jesus was born and ordered the infants killed in Bethlehem. He was brought up in Rome and made … More John Piper: Execution, Escape, and Eaten by Worms
Sin is sin. Betrayal is betrayal. Evil is evil. Joseph’s brothers’ evil intentions to kill him shaped his life forever. The consequences from their actions are part of his history. Joseph doesn’t excuse their behavior or act as if it never happened. BUT he sees God’s hand in his brothers’ treachery. He believes that God was working … More God’s sovereignty, purpose, providence and human responsibility
John Piper preached a sermon, “He Saw the Grace of God and Was Glad,” from Acts 11:23. Here is an excerpt; please read or listen to the entire sermon at DesiringGod.org The Grace of God Uses Suffering In other words, the good news about Jesus Christ came to Antioch because of persecution. Barnabas saw this … More John Piper: The Grace of God Uses Suffering
The brothers of Joseph had committed great sins. They knew this, perhaps were plagued with guilt, but thought they had gotten away with it. Now, after obtaining life-saving grain in Egypt from Joseph (NOT knowing who he really was) they discover the payment for the grain was back in their sacks. Their immediate response? At … More Sovereign God summons and saves
“Joseph’s master took him and put him in prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined.” Genesis 39:20 Henry Law, at “Grace Gems!”– Prison is a place of humiliation and of shame. It is peopled by those who are under accusation of crime, or who are awaiting the sentence of outraged law. As such, … More Henry Law on Genesis 39: “In every page the voice of Jesus is heard”
John Piper’s sermon, “The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God” concludes his way: The story of Joseph is the story of a righteous one who is sinned against and suffers so that tribe of Judah would be preserved and a Lion would come forth, and would prove to be a Lamb-like Lion, and … More Joseph: Dreams, Destruction and Deliverance
Acts 8:1-4 And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. 2 Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. 3 But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off … More “I think I’m still surviving today because our God is great”
Acts 5:17-21a But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is, the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, “Go … More John Piper: The preciousness of spiritual power is that it is God’s power and not ours.
