Nothing is more sweet, precious and valuable unto a soul conflicting with sin and temptation, than to hear that sin shall not have the dominion over it.
HT: @johnpiper
Category Archives: John Owen
Pastor, Focus on Christ As You Preach!
There are some Sundays I think I hit a home run, and then there are Sundays (more often than I care to admit) when I feel like my sermon fell in front of the pulpit. I need confidence in Christ, not my cleverness!
Trust God to work through yesterday’s sermon!
Listen to this encouragement from John Owen.
When you have preached well nineteen times, this will be no security for the twentieth. . . . If you lean upon books or men, or upon your own faculties and attainments, you will be in fear and in danger of falling continually. But if you stay yourself upon the Lord, he will not only make good your expectations, but in time will give you a becoming confidence in his goodness, and free you from your present anxiety.
HT: @MattSmethurst
Pastor, Preach from Love
A sermon is not made with an eye upon the sermon but with both eyes upon the people and all the heart upon God.
No Imaginary Jesus
We cannot behold the glory of Christ by conjuring up pictures of him in the mind and by trying to form the shape of a person in heaven in our imaginations. The way to behold the glory of Christ is by the steady exercise of faith on the revelation of this glory of Christ given to us in Scripture. It is our duty, therefore, constantly to meditate on the glory of Christ. This will fill us with joy which will, in turn, move us to meditate on his glory more and more.
John Owen, (ed. by R. J. K Law), The Glory of Christ (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 67.
Preacher, Preach to Yourself First
No man preaches that sermon well to others, who doth not first preach it to his own heart.
HT: challies.com
Lost in Wonder, Love, and Praise
We are never nearer Christ than when we find ourselves lost in a holy amazement at His unspeakable love.
HT: @revjohnowen
Eye Has Not Seen…
The glory of seeing Christ will be a thousand times more than anything we can imagine.
HT: @revjohnowen
God Doesn’t Despise Small Things
Know that God despiseth not small things. He takes notice of the least breathings of our hearts after him when we ourselves can see nor perceive no such thing. He knows the mind of the Spirit in those workings which are never formed to that height that we can reflect upon them with our observation. Everything that is of him is noted in his book, though not in our ours . . . even whilst his people are sinning, he can find something in their hearts, words or ways, that pleaseth him; much more in their duties. He is a skillful refiner, that can find much gold in that ore where we see nothing but lead or clay. He remembers the duties which we forget, and forgets the sins which we remember.
Hot Water Draws the Tea out of the Bag; It Doesn’t Put the Tea in the Bag
Temptations and occasions put nothing into a man, but only draw out what was in him before.
HT: @revdaveharvey
The Glory of Christ
The glory of kings is in the wealth and peace of their subjects; the glory of Christ is in the grace and holiness of his subjects.
HT: @johnpiper
