O How I Love Your Law!

The Insolent Smear Me with Lies | Psalm 119:69

The insolent smear me with lies,but with my whole heart I keep your precepts; Psalm 119:69 ESV The insolent in this verse are those who lord themselves over God's Word. Like scoffers, they mock and belittle the testimonies of the Most High, rejecting His authority over them as their Creator. Indeed, like the fools that …

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To Manuscript Or Not to Manuscript?

https://open.spotify.com/episode/70FTMuYp58fhAG3RsiYzBW?si=WFJsG3TJQcaHzwpkLBFc0g That is the question that every preacher must ask, and he must answer that question for himself in accordance with the wisdom of the Spirit. I know plenty of faithful fellow preachers on both sides of the question. Even so, here is my experience attempting to answer the question. I began my pastorate eight …

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The Lord Is My Shepherd

Bread from Heaven | Exodus 16:13-36

https://youtu.be/a3oq5ZH6wCQ While this chapter of Exodus most notably describes the miraculous gift of manna (the bread of angels) to the Israelites in the desert, we began the chapter last week without discussing the manna much at all. Instead, we focused upon the grumbling of the Israelites, the provision of God, and the reason for both …

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Biblical Wisdom

When the Tempest Passes | Proverbs 10:25

When the tempest passes, the wicked is no more,but the righteous is established forever. Proverbs 10:25 ESV We do right to compare suffering and affliction to storms. Like a tempest, trials often race across the horizon and overshadow us in a moment, and the destruction that they leave in their wake can be devastating. Indeed, …

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How Sin Makes Us Fearful

While my favorite aspect of Matthew Henry’s commentaries are his brief yet piercing nuggets of application, my journey with Henry through Genesis 3 led me to the insights below, which were captivating enough to me that, instead of highlighting a couple of sentences like I normally do, I simply wrote at the top of the …

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The Lord Is My Shepherd

Then You Shall Know That I Am the LORD Your God | Exodus 16:1-12

https://youtu.be/7u6gEC8YlOs Having been redeemed from their slavery in Egypt, chapters 15-19 of Exodus provide us with a description of Israel's journey from the Red Sea to the foot of Sinai. Through the wonders that the LORD worked upon the land of Egypt, God made His name known to Israel, to Egypt, and to Pharaoh personally. …

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The Dead Still Preach

Ecclesiastes 9:5 states quite bluntly, "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten." The vast majority of those who've died are forgotten (or will soon be forgotten). Most of us leave surprisingly little evidence of our having …

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O How I Love Your Law!

You Are Good & Do Good | Psalm 119:68

You are good and do good;teach me your statutes. Psalm 119:68 ESV This is a marvelous verse and a mighty confession for all of God's people to make alongside the psalmist. First, he confesses a deep truth regarding God's nature: God is good. As with all of God’s attributes, we must take care not to …

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Does God Control Evil?

I have little more than 100 pages left to read before finishing John Piper’s Providence, and it has been a truly profound book. The great value of John Piper’s ministry (sort of like John MacArthur’s ministry) is that even if you disagree with him, his reasoning is so rooted in Scripture that your knowledge of …

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The Lord Is My Shepherd

Bitter Made Sweet | Exodus 15:22-27

https://youtu.be/R2UsPRav1EA In our present text, we find the remainder of Exodus, indeed of the Pentateuch, in miniature. Being led through the wilderness in chapters 15-18, God brings Israel to the foot of Sinai to receive His covenant and commandments and from there to enter the Promise Land (though they would, of course, spend forty years …

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