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- Wed, Jul 1, 2009
- Permalink
Includes the articles Why Tell the Truth? by Joseph Stowell, and Spiritual Longing by Sinclair Ferguson.
Articles In This Issue
Article- Thomas Watson
- Thu, Oct 1, 2009
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"Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing" (Psalm 126:5-6 NKJV).
Grace dissolves and liquefies the soul, causing a spiritual thaw. A godly heart grieves that it is not more holy.
A godly man sometimes weeps out of the sense of God's love. Gold is the finest and most solid of all the metals, yet it is soonest melted in the fire. Gracious hearts, which are golden hearts, are the soonest melted into tears by the fire of God's love ...
- Article
- Daniel Henderson
- Thu, Oct 1, 2009
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Christ responds in extraordinary fashion to desperate, hungry, passionate souls. Conversely, He is saddened by self-sufficient, apathetic hearts. So, do we feel desperate today? If not, can we? We can get desperate either through crisis or cultivation. God is in charge of the crisis. It is always interesting to analyze the signs of the times—economic indicators and political developments—to assess how this might be unfolding. But ultimately, God can step in at any moment to create desperation in the hearts of His people through extraordinary and difficult circumstances. But I also believe Christ calls us to cultivate desperation ...
- Article
- Arturo G. Azurdia III
- Tue, Sep 29, 2009
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In 1854, the New Park Street Church extended an invitation to a young man to become their pastor. Their terms were simple and clear: he would come and preach for a six-month probationary period, at the end of which an evaluation would take place and consideration given to a permanent invitation. The young man, only nineteen years old, countered with a three-month probationary period because, as he said, "The congregation might not want me, and I do not wish to be a hindrance." That young man was Charles Haddon Spurgeon. The congregation was about 200 on his arrival, but within ...
- Article
- Sinclair Ferguson
- Wed, Sep 2, 2009
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The Book of Psalms has been described as “an anatomy of all the parts of the soul.” In the Psalms, nothing is hidden from us. Highs and lows are alike recorded. In the Psalms we see a description of our own experience.
But sometimes we also recognize a description of new experiences. Some psalms are really saying to us, “This is how God may work. Be prepared to recognize his hand in your life in similar ways.”
Such is the case with Psalms 42 and 43. They are unusually appropriate to our thinking about spiritual growth. Psalm 42 begins with ...
- Article
- Randall C. Gleason
- Mon, Aug 31, 2009
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Troubled by the spiritual decline in his congregation, Jonathan Edwards sought help from a book titled The Parable of the Ten Virgins by Thomas Shepard. Inspired by Shepard's passion to promote genuine conversions in his own New England church nearly a hundred years earlier, Edwards began preaching his own sermon series on the parable during the winter of 1737-38. Edwards soon realized the impact of Shepard's pastoral insights on his own congregation when revival broke out during George Whitefield's visit to Northampton two years later in 1740. And Shepard's voice echoes through nearly every page of ...
- Article
- Joseph Stowell
- Mon, Aug 31, 2009
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Truth-telling has fallen on hard times. Our culture has shifted to the ethics of expediency and self-advancement, so falsehood is not only tolerated but even encouraged in many cases. As a result, many of us have come to feel better about lying to others. If it takes a small lie to complete a sale, the falsehood is justified for the good of the company. If a slight exaggeration of one's productivity is needed to beat out someone else for a raise or promotion, the untruth is considered a "competitive edge." Such thinking has actually transformed nontruth from a vice ...
- Article
- Erroll Hulse
- Mon, Aug 31, 2009
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Jonathan Edwards wrote a treatise encouraging widespread corporate prayer, on the premise that the Bible makes many promises that have not yet been fulfilled. This being the case, there was great reason for God's people to anticipate and seek their fulfillment.
Do the Scriptures promise great revivals? That is a very important question. If we believe that the promises apply to the extension of the Messiah's kingdom, then we should feel constrained to explore their meaning. And as we view the prophecies, they create hope and vision, which in turn lead to intercession.
A bright future prospect for ...
- Article
- Paul David Tripp
- Mon, Aug 31, 2009
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"Resore to me the joy of your salvation" (Psalm 51:12).
You know whether a house is being restored or condemned by the size of the tools that are out front. If you see a crane and a wrecking ball, the house isn't being restored; it's coming down.
Wrecking-ball responses to the sin of another are seldom restorative. This is one of the things that's so striking about Psalm 51 and the history that surrounds it.
If God had had a wrecking-ball response to the sin of David, there would be no Psalm 51. He had every ...
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