Christian Audio has made available a great free resource this month: The Life of David Brainerd (Unabridged) by Jonathan Edwards as a free audiobook. Be sure to use the coupon code OCT2007 I cannot recommend this book more highly. In fact, if I ever get my copy back, after someone borrowed it , I will read this book again, and again, and again. For now, I’ll listen to it. This book was chiefly compiled and expanded from Brainerd’s own daily journal by Jonathan Edwards, who was affected mightily by the young missionary. Although Brainerd died at the young age of 29 — of...

“The Chinese join two characters to form a single pictograph for busyness: heart and killing. This is stunningly incisive. The heart is the place the busy life exacts its steepest toll.” – Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Busy?", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/10/01/busy/" });

“The greatest sin that was ever committed in the history of the world… was planned by God, namely the death of His Son.” – John Piper, concluding remark at Wheaton College address (”Treasuring Christ and the Call to Suffer,” part 3), September 6, 2007. — What is God’s relation to sin and evil? Consider these brief four-part offerings from Desiring God: Does God Author Sin? Does God Cause Sin? Does God Permit Sin? The Author-Story Model SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "The greatest sin ever", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/09/29/the-greatest-sin-ever/"...

Tuesday was the first day of classes at Cornerstone School of Ministry (CSOM) in Corvallis, Oregon (my 4th year teaching there). This term I am teaching NT 132 Acts + Pauline Epistles (4 credits), with NT 134 Romans (3 cr) in the Winter, and NT 133 Gospels + General Epistles (4 cr) in the Spring. It is a joy to labor in the Word with the Cornerstone students.  This year’s class is the smallest in quite some time, which has some benefits, namely, more discussion and closer relationships with the students.  Since it is a 75-mile trek each way for me, I ask your prayers and seek God’s...

“Grace fills us with very different feelings from the possession of anything else. If you have tasted the grace of the Gospel, the irresistible longing of your hearts will be, ‘Oh, that all the world might taste its regenerating waters.’” – Robert Murray McCheyne, letter dated 16 September 1840 SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "If you have tasted the grace of the Gospel …", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/09/24/if-you-have-tasted-the-grace-of-the-gospel/" });

Justin Buzzard (normally found here) has written a piece, “Three Pastoral Concerns in 800 Words” on the New Attitude Blog, dedicated to raising up a God-centered, Gospel-living, Bible-saturated generation of men and women who display Jesus Christ is in all their lives. Good stuff, especially the reminder that the Gospel is not just the entrance to the Christian life, it is also the imperative of all the Christian life, to be related to Christ and live in Him, at all times, in the Gospel. (Or, to use a metaphor I came up with, the Gospel is not merely the diving board into the pool,...

“To use the grace given is the certain way to obtain more grace.  To use all the faith you have will bring an increase of faith.” John Wesley, letter dated 15 September 1770 SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Give me more grace, I spent all I had", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/09/20/give-me-more-grace-i-spent-all-i-had/" });

This 6 minute excerpt is part of a sermon by John Piper entitled “God Strengthens Us by the Gospel.” Here’s part of it: “What’s the gospel? I’ll put it in a sentence. The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. That’s the gospel. You never, never, never outgrow your need for it. Don’t ever think of the gospel as, “That’s the way you get saved, and then you...

Owen Strachan recently wrote this thought-provoking post: Seeking Honest Answers: Are You a Christian? …. Here is a very short list of questions to ask those who claim to be saved but who show little evidence of such commitment. It’s not exhaustive but is intended to help start conversation. Do you love God? In your heart, do you desire to follow Him, worship Him, and obey Him? Does your professed love for God stretch into action? Does it have any practical effect on your life? Would others characterize you as one who loves God? Do you adore God? Do you want to adore Him? Do...

“We need to be as critical of ourselves as we often are of others, and as generous to others as we always are to ourselves.” – John Stott, The Message of the Sermon on the Mount, p 180. SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "True perspective of others and self", url: "http://www.deTheos.com/2007/09/10/true-perspective-of-others-and-self/" });