Crumbs from the Master's Table

In Edwards' notebook Signs of Godliness , after citing Matt. 11:25-27, he makes the following observation: And so it is the spirit of ...

David Powlison: How are we—and those we counsel—simultaneously socially conditioned, self-deceived, and responsible for our behavior witho...

Introduction You know, there’s nothing quite like preaching your first sermon [1]  right after the preaching of President Dr. Philip R...

C. H. Spurgeon: "I have my own private opinion that there is no such thing as preaching Christ and him crucified, unless we preach wh...

In his quite good  exegetical guide on the Greek text of Colossians, Murray J. Harris provides this stimulating expanded paraphrase  of the ...

Let all the world in ev'ry corner sing,                                         My God and King .          The heav'ns are not to...

Coming the first day of a week in which we're focusing on  joy , here's my second contribution (see the first  here ) to our church...

Our home church, New Covenant Church in Naperville, has been producing an Advent reader with contributions from a number of members of the c...

In his book  Losing Our Virtue , in the course of discussing the disastrous move from virtues to values in the modern era, David Wells gives...

Writing in 1998, David Wells speaks a word about evangelicalism's ineptitude that is still pertinent today: The fact is that the encul...

George Whitefield: "I know Christ is all in all. Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till Go...

John Piper: Earnestness is not excessive in our day. It might have been once. And, yes, there are imbalances in certain people today who d...

Christianitity is indeed a religion of love. And without love, we are nothing (1 Cor. 13:2). If we do not love, we do not know God, for God ...

On the poet's utter need for solitude: The poem, as it starts to form in the writer's mind, and on paper, can't abide interrru...

Resolved, To be grateful not only today when everyone and his long lost cousin expect it, but in all circumstances and at all times (Eph. 5:...

Verse 1 of   The Church's One Foundation    contains these glorious lines about the definite redemption of Christ:    From heaven he c...

John Owen on an important distinction between the old and new covenants: This then is one main difference of these two covenants—that the ...

Lord, with what bounty and rare clemency                    Hast thou redeemed us from the grave!                            If thou hadst...

Manetsch on the significance of personal ministry among Calvin's "Company of Pastors": Throughout this study it has been evi...

It looks like there was a handout of Gary Chapman's love languages goo at Wheaton College. (I got the e-mailing about it a little over a...

So far from God's wrath being in opposition to God's love, the wrath of God is actually an expression of his love. Michael Reeves ex...

Yesterday I posted an update about Em's miscarriage. Finding some reprieve here the last day, and reflecting a little more on the Lord...

Perhaps you've noticed that my posts of late have been more personal than usual. That's true, I think. Normally I don't care to ...

I'm reading through Ezekiel nowadays for my soul's breakfast most mornings. And I came across Ezek. 14:12-14 today: And the word o...

I got a letter today from the associate dean of the Department of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. It read, in part: ...

C. H. Spurgeon: The motto of all true servants of God must be, "We preach Christ, and him crucified." A sermon without Christ in...

A helpful (but longish) piece on Halloween's antecedents and influences over at  The Calvinist International . The brief Christian respo...

Writing to his friend Owen Barfield, C. S. Lewis remarked: Talking of beasts and birds, have you ever noticed this contrast: that when you...

"The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD" (Job 1:21). What we've suspected for some time...

In the thick of a heavy season, I'm going to pull back from blogging for a while, probably at least until I finish up some graduate work...

Here  are some helpful resources on the Christian and work.

Martin Luther on 1 Peter: "The one who understands this letter has without doubt enough so as not to need more . . . because the apos...

In my previous  post  on 1 Cor. 11:17-34, I said I’d be considering the context of this text next. Considering the context carefully appear...

D. A. Carson on preaching a crucified Christ: And clearly [Paul] thinks the gospel is jeopardized by any kind of eloquence or rhetoric tha...

D. A. Carson on 1 Cor. 2:1-5: These verses do not prohibit diligent preparation, passion, clear articulation, and persuasive presentation...

"One wonders why, if Paul had been focally concerned about being a good steward of creation in his own time, he did not say a bit more ...

"There is nothing in the NT quite like the current infatuation for expressions like 'kingdom ethics,' in which 'kingdom...

Now before getting into some of the details of the text (1 Cor. 11:17-34), I want to do two things. First, I want to make clearer the diffi...

I'm going to begin a series of posts, probably fairly short, on a text that ought to be far more controversial than it tends to be in mo...

Leon Morris: The doctrine of final judgment . . . stresses man's accountability and the certainty that justice will finally triumph ov...

N. D. Wilson: Death is now. The choice is here.  Lay your life down. Your heartbeats cannot be hoarded. Your reservoir of breaths is dra...

Augustine: But what do I love when I love my God? Not material beauty or beauty of a temporal order; not the brilliance of earthly light, ...

Commenting on the appearance of "the angel of YHWH" in Exodus 3, D. A. Carson asks and oberves: We might well ask if, when the t...

Speaking about the virtual universal tendency to forget the lessons of history, D. A. Carson writes: "How many Christians in the West...

"To desire my fellow creatures' good and to seek after it, to desire God's glory, and so to live as to promote it, is the trues...

"When large numbers of people share their joy in common the happiness of each is greater, because each adds fuel to the other's fla...

"Come, O Lord, and stir our hearts. Call us back to yourself. Kindle your fire in us and carry us away. Let us scent your fragrance and...

"Oh to have done with all glory but glorying in the cross! . . . I am so sure about the whole matter, that if I were left alone in the ...

“He who would become really a man must abandon as early as possible the childish dream of reading everything. Except what is done for recrea...

“Exegesis and Systematic Theology properly go hand in hand. Neither is complete, neither is really safe, without the other” (Broadus, Prepar...

This series of posts is creative, interesting, and instructive. Here's how to preach like  D. A. Carson  without sounding like him. ...

Augustin on grace: Saint Paul teaches that he who sees ought not to boast as though what he sees, and even the power by which he sees, ha...

Here's a good  post  with good quotes on the importance of story, and the right kind of story, in the life of a child. One sentence fr...

"Far off, I heard your voice saying I am the God who IS . I heard your voice, as we hear voices that speak to our hearts, and at once I...

Render to Caesar what is his, but no more. A good reminder  for this 4th of July, the year of our Lord 2013. We ought to love our country, b...

My Tribute at the Memorial Service of Cpl. Brandon D. Meyers   Unfortunately, I didn’t know my cousin Brandon very well. For a variety ...