Monday, September 30, 2013

For the Lord's Day (+1)



“Modern masters of science are much impressed with the need of beginning all inquiry with a fact. The ancient masters of religion were quite equally impressed with that necessity. They begin with the fact of sin – a fact as practical as potatoes.”  ~G. K. Chesterton in Orthodoxy, 1908

Sunday, September 22, 2013

For the Lord's Day



“If God had perceived our greatest need was economic, he would have sent an economist. If he had perceived that our greatest need was entertainment, he would have sent us a comedian or an artist. If God had perceived that our greatest need was political stability, he would have sent us a politician. If he had perceived that our greatest need was health, he would have sent us a doctor. But he perceived our greatest need involved our sin, our alienation from him, our profound rebellion, our death; and he sent us a Savior.” -- Donald A. Carson in A Call for Spiritual Reformation

Sunday, September 8, 2013

For the Lord's Day - It's about worship!



“People ought to come to corporate worship services to get. They ought to come starved for God. They ought to come saying, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God is profoundly honored when people know they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God. And it is my job as a preacher to spread a banquet before them. I must show them from Scripture what they are really starving for – God – and then feed them well until they say, “Ahhh.” That is worship.” -- John Piper, The Dangerous Duty of Delight

Sunday, September 1, 2013

For the Lord's Day



“Some people are defeated in their Christian lives because they think they must continually earn God’s affection. They are weighed down by the perception that they must keep striving to fulfill the never-ending task of satisfying the righteous demands of a never-to-be-satisfied God. The truth is our best works are but filthy rags to God (Is.64:6). Our acceptance is always totally dependent on his grace (Eph. 2:8-9). We cannot do anything to gain more of God’s affection, but because God has fixed his regard for us as his own children, we do not despair. We will never be loved any more by God, and we can be loved no less, for God already loves us as he loves his own Son who resides in us. We have all of God’s love”
-- Bryan Chapell in The Promises of Grace