“Let all Pastors, therefore, learn from this,…
2 Corinthians 12:15 “I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” (ESV) This, certainly, was an evidence of a more than fatherly affection — that he was prepared to lay out in their behalf not merely his endeavors, and everything in his power to do, but even life itself. Nay more, while he is regarded by them with coldness, he continues, nevertheless, to cherish this affection. What heart, though even as hard as iron, would such ardor of love not soften or break, especially in connection with such constancy? Paul, however, does not here speak of himself, merely that we may admire him, but that we may, also, imitate him. Let all Pastors, therefore, learn from this, what they owe to their Churches. (John Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians)
Almost two years ago, my friend Bryant Taylor, a Ruling Elder of Redeemer Church, Jackson, MS, delivered an invitation to me to preach for the 10th anniversary of this vibrant, urban, multi-ethnic, cross-cultural PCA congregation. I immediately agreed. I’d had the honor of preaching the particularization service of this church back on February 13, 2005, so this opportunity was particularly meaningful to me. Before I preached the sermon this morning, I asked for a moment of personal privilege to make a statement to the congregation on…
It is to take nothing away from the rest of the imperatives of the New Testament to say that the great fight of the Christian life is to trust God. To trust his promises, to trust his providence, to trust his goodness and love, to trust his presence and plan, to trust the wisdom of his commands. To trust HIM.
Our God is a forgiving God. From the beginning of the Scriptures to the end, God is praised as a God of pardon. Moses can exclaim that the God of Israel “keeps lovingkindness for thousands” and “forgives iniquity, transgression and…
On August 29, 2005, nine years ago today, Hurricane Katrina crashed ashore, and changed New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coast forever. Here is the article that I wrote for the First Presbyterian Church newsletter, The First Epistle, that…
Many years ago, my friend Dr. Mark Dever, Senior Pastor of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church in Washington, DC, shared this moving quotation with me from the hand of the great English Baptist minister William Kiffin, writing in 1682, of the death of…
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) is probably best known to you as a great hymnwriter (think “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” and “Joy to the World”), but did you know that he was a faithful preacher too? Dr. Matthew McKellar of Southwestern Baptist…
Yesterday, at the monthly Executive Committee meeting of Reformed Theological Seminary, I read from C.H. Spurgeon’s classic work Morning and Evening as part of our devotional. I have been deeply moved by his meditation on “Brethren, pray…
“Whatever is esteemed or loved, feared or served, delighted in or depended on, more than God that (whatever it is) we do in effect make a god of.” – Matthew Henry