Joy Erupts

See this great YouTube video. I love Dr. Ortland's analogy to the church. Would that we would demonstrate more of the joy of the Lord.

The Gospel

Someone said that anything with D.A. Carson's name attached to it is worth reading. That holds true for this editorial from Themelios concerning the gospel. Thanks to Justin Taylor for putting us on to this.

Carson rightly reminds us of what actually constitutes the gospel. We tend to identify the results of the gospel with the gospel. I cannot count the number of times I have heard statements like, "He doesn't preach the gospel; he doesn't give an altar call."

Proclaiming the gospel is not the same as what may result from the proclamation of the gospel.

Quiet Time Performance

I was raised and educated in the toxic atmosphere of legalism. As such, this post by Tim Challies is really helpful. It's amazing how we can take something that is good and helpful and make it an instrument of bondage and guilt. I love this statement by Jerry Bridges: “Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace.”

Soul Care

John Owen has a timely word for today's Christian culture that seems to place more value on how we feel than on what we know. The cultivation of the mind is an important part of soul care:

The principal charge and care of the soul lies on the mind; and if that fail of its duty, the whole is betrayed, either as unto its general frame or as unto particular miscarriages. The failing of the mind is like the failing of the watchman in Ezekiel; the whole is lost by his neglect.

The Works of John Owen, Vol.VI (Banner of Truth)

More Keller

It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord - lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness - that you are on the verge of understanding the gospel and becoming a Christian indeed. when you realize that the antidote to being bad is not just being good, you are on the brink. If you follow through, it will change everything: how you relate to God, self, others, the world, your work, your sins, your virtue. It's called the new birth because it's so radical. - Tim Keller, The Prodigal God, p. 78