“Thy mercies, LORD, are above all thy works; faithful art thou in all thy promises, just in all thy doings. Be a merciful Father unto us for Christ Jesus thy Son’s sake. Govern our ways for we are weak; strengthen us for we are frail; refresh us f0r we are famished; and plentifully bestow thy good gifts upon us. Defend us from the snares of Satan, our old enemy, that he tempt us not out of the right way, but that we be evermore ready to praise and glorify thy holy name, through Jesus Christ. AMEN.” – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 145
Read MoreThomas Brooks reflects on humility: “Labor to be clothed with humility. Humility makes a man peaceable among brethren, fruitful in well-doing, cheerful in suffering, and constant in holy walking (1 Pet. 5:5). Humility fits for the highest services we owe to Christ, and yet will not neglect the lowest service to the [most ordinary] saint (John 13:5) . . . Humility can weep over other men’s weaknessses, and joy and rejoice over their graces. Humility will make a man quiet and contented in the [lowliest] condition, and it will preserve a man from envying other men’s prosperous condition (1 Thess 1:2,3). Humility honors those that are strong in grace and puts two hands under those that are weak in grace (Eph.…
Read MoreJemar Tisby, RTS Jackson’s African American Leadership Initiative Director, and Steve Lanier, Assistant to the Pastor at Redeemer PCA, help my Introduction to Missions students think through cross-cultural missions. Very valuable instruction!
Read MoreCREATOR OF HEAVEN AND EARTH, however greatly the affairs and cares of this world do trouble, molest, and avert us from rendering unto thee that honour and obedience due unto thee, yet we beseech thee that, forgetting all other things, we may have no other aim but to praise and glorify thee all the days of our life, for the great benefits which we continually receive at thy hands, through Jesus Christ our Lord. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 136.
Read MoreMOST MERCIFUL GOD, Author of all good things, who hast given thy holy commandments unto us, whereby we should direct our life, imprint them in our hearts by thy Holy Spirit; and grant that we may so renounce all our fleshly desires, and all the vanities of this world, that our whole pleasure and delight may be in thy law; that we, being always governed by thy holy Word, may in the end attain to that eternal salvation which thou has promised through Christ Jesus, thy Son. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 125.
Read MoreTomorrow evening at First Presbyterian Church Yazoo City I begin a series of sermons on the Psalms. One of the highlights of preparing to preach Psalm 1 is returning to an old and trusted friend, William S. Plumer’s Psalms: A Critical and Expository Commentary with Doctrinal and Practical Remarks. His exposition is faithful to the text, and his doctrinal and practical remarks are full of the pastoral wisdom that makes for solid sermon applications. Since I purchased this book in the early 1990s, it has been my “go to” commentary on Psalms. Nuggets from this week’s reading: “The sum of [Psalm 1] is that the just and he alone is blessed.” “However tried and afflicted, every servant of God has vast treasures of good things in…
Read MoreStudy When It’s Time to Study
“Study when it’s time to study,” writes Baptist preacher, H.B. Charles, Jr. “You know how it goes. When you finally get to the study, you are blitzed by the temptation to do other things. By all means, resist that temptation. When it’s time to study, study. Don’t web surf or answer emails or play with your smartphone or clean your desk or organize your books or . . . . You get the point. Put your behind in the seat. Get to work. Don’t procrastinate. Pray. Read. Study. Think. Write. You have no right to complain about the time you do not have if you do not use the time you have wisely. Remind yourself that you will never get…
Read MoreAdmissions Director Brian Gault and his team have produced a splendid six minute overview of RTS Jackson’s Marriage and Family Therapy and Counseling Program.
Read MoreO GOOD LORD, unto whom appertains all glory and magnificence, grant us that by the preaching of thy holy Evangel thou mayest be acknowledged throughout the whole earth; so that all nations may have a perfect feeling of thy mercies, and that thy faithfulness may be more and more manifested, through Christ Jesus, thy Son. AMEN. – Prayers on the Psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1595 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2010), 124.
Read More“It is a sad and dangerous thing to have two eyes to behold our dignity and privileges, and not one to see our duties and services. I should look with one eye upon the choice and excellent things that Chris hath done for me, to raise up my heart to love Christ with the purest love, and to joy in Christ with the strongest joy, and to lift up Christ above all, who hath made himself to be my all; and I should look with the other eye upon those services and duties that the Scriptures require of those for whom Christ hath done such blessed things, as upon that of the apostle: ‘What, know ye not that your body…
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