Scripture Memorization Help

Great Booklet. Now to do it...

The Root of our Rejoicing

Great post over at the DG blog on Luke 10:20. "Our joy is not rooted in our successes, and it's not extinguished by our failures. Our joy is rooted in the unalterable fact that in Christ our names are written on heaven's roll-call." (Dan--I suppose this makes me a liar about my quip about my fermenting blog?)

The Power of Personal Integrity in Preaching

By Ray Ortlan--good stuff.

There is, thirdly, a personal aspect to sermon preparation.  "Out of the overflow of the heart his mouth speaks."  That is very profound.  Observing preachers through the years, I am convinced this is the secret "genius," so to speak, of great preaching.  A man of authentic humaneness, goodness, Jesus-like-ness, might not be a doctoral-level exegete, he might not be rhetorically sophisticated, but that man's preaching will be compelling because he is compelling.  Something is flowing out of him, something of Jesus himself.  The preacher's good heart, his core being, is well stocked with insights into and personal experiences of the living Christ.  He is therefore able to speak out of both the biblical text and his own intuitive knowledge of the Lord into the hearts of the people where they really live.  And they are helped, freed, lifted, saved.

David Platt on Missions

A most excellent message.

Dear God, Corner Me

Ligon Duncan's message at the T4G conference was so good. The crux of it was this: As with Elijah and Moses, God will deny you the dreams you want if he knows they will become idols that replace him as the treasure of your life. And he does it to give you a better treasure: himself. And it may come to pass that your dream of what would satisfy you in the world most (be it a ministry dream or not) will never be experienced by you simply because he wants to have your heart devoted to and satisfied in him above all. Moses never entered the promised land. Elijah never say Israel restored back to God. But they both, one day, stood on a mountain and saw Jesus when it was all over. And they most certainly were more satisfied in what God gave them than in what they wanted to give themselves.

5 Things for the Inner Life

I'm parking this here for now. I suspect a few more things in the coming days. But then again, I could be imagining it.