It is always possible to provide proof texts to support “positive” worship and getting people pumped, but seriously, can we really read the Bible and think that the Bible primarily wants us to get “pumped” in worship?

I met J.I. Packer in the early 90’s and worked off and on with him since 1994. I was very intimidated by him when I first met him. It took me quite a while to not be intimidated by him.

I share the common human habit of drifting into a prayer life where I censor my prayers and pray for things I could probably do myself if I ever got around to it.

The English Reformation, as seen in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, emphasized the Biblical notion that prayer to the Triune God is the proper place to begin common/public worship.

It is commonly said that the Reformation began in 1517 when Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door in Wittenberg. Martin Luther, along with John Calvin, became the two best known Reformers.

You will never have enough time to read the Bible. If you wait until you have enough time to read the Bible, you will rarely read the Bible. The world, the flesh and the devil will help fill your day. This means that you have to choose to take time.

Have you ever read all of the Bible? If not, what is stopping you? A follower of Jesus should read the Bible every day.

The Christian life is not moralistic, therapeutic or religious. It is the message that “God does not weigh your merits but pardons your offences.”

“Christianity believes it is exceptional, but every religion believes it is exceptional. There have been at least 10,000 religions and 100,000 gods. These are just facts that you have to accept.”

People who see me at day-long meetings where cookies are available, will sometimes comment on my self-control. I can go a whole day without taking a single cookie.

I have an authoritative teaching role. I do not say this to boast, or to assert my authority. In fact, writing what I just wrote fills me with a sense of my own unworthiness and inadequacy.

I am writing for you to pray for wisdom for Messiah in the weeks and months ahead. We need the Lord’s wisdom and guidance.

While it is always true that Jesus is the Christian’s Good Shepherd, it is especially important to remember this when we are in an extended season of difficulty.

The prayer helps you to: remember who the Triune God is; remember a simple but important thing He has done for you; remember five wise things to pray for the rest of the day; and finally, to remember the basis on which you can pray to the Lord with familiarity and confidence.

We need the Lord’s wisdom in all of these prayer requests. In fact, my five areas of prayer are really five different requests to receive godly wisdom from the Lord.

While seeing and knowing about an event is important, unless you know the meaning of the event, you do not really know what happened. This helps us to better understand the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Eschatology is the field of Biblical study where you look at all of the Bible and then try to put in order what the Bible says about the Last Things – the end of the world and the coming of the New Heaven and Earth.

It is hard to believe that on Saturday morning, March 14, I was sitting in a coffee shop. I paused in my sermon prep that day to talk with some of the church leaders about whether or not we would hold a church service the next day.

Sometimes when I am very anxious or very stressed I find it hard to pray. I will not bore you with all the details, but it is as if my mind is racing every which way and I cannot concentrate very well.