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[John Piper @JohnPiper]

“The Lord of hosts has purposed it,
to defile the pompous pride of all glory,
to dishonor all the honored of the earth.” Isaiah 23:9

This is the fundamental problem of humanity. Esteeming self above God.

[John Piper @JohnPiper]

“Humility comes before honor.” Proverbs 15:33

[John Piper @JohnPiper]

“When Haman saw that Mordecai did not bow down or pay homage to him, Haman was filled with fury.” Esther 3:5

Oh, how much anger comes from craving human praise and approval. And not getting it.

[Divinely Designed @DivinelyDesined]

Butterflies prove Life is created.

Metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly requires a fully functional process from start to finish. Incomplete versions kill the insect - which means it cannot arise via step-by-step evolution.

I'll prove it 👇

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

Meditating this afternoon on the truth of assurance of salvation.

What has typically been called the "perseverance of the saints" sits solidly on God’s sovereign commitment to complete what He has begun in believers’ lives. God pledges to bring to completion the good work He started in believers at the day of Jesus Christ (Phil 1:6), establishing a foundation that transcends my weakness and circumstance.

Christ promises that those who follow Him will never perish because no one can snatch them from His hand or the Father’s hand (John 10:27–29). This dual security, held by both Christ and the Father, reveals an unbreakable grip. Nothing in creation: whether death, life, spiritual forces, present circumstances, or future events, can separate Christians from God’s love in Christ (Rom 8:38–39). The robustness of this list removes the possible threat to salvation.

God’s faithfulness grounds this doctrine. All whom the Father gives to Christ will come to Him, and Christ will lose nothing of what has been entrusted to Him (John 6:37–40). God’s gifts and calling are irrevocable (Rom 11:29), they do not hinge on changing circumstances or human performance. The Lord is faithful and will establish and guard believers against the evil one (2 Thess 3:3).

The work of the Holy Spirit provides active protection. Thank goodness I as a Christian am sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who serves as a guarantee of our inheritance (Eph 1:13–14). By God’s power, those found in Christ are guarded through faith for salvation ready to be revealed at the last time (1 Pet 1:3–5). Christ is able to save completely those who approach God through Him, since He continually intercedes for them (Heb 7:25).

This treasured Scriptural truth punctuates that those whom God foreknew and predestined are also called, justified, and glorified -- a chain of divine action that ensures completion (Rom 8:29–30). It's a progression moveing from eternity to final glorification, with no breaking point.

All who believe in Christ will have eternal life and be raised up on the last day (John 6:37–40), and believers may know with certainty that they possess eternal life (1 John 5:13). If you are a Christian rejoice in this reality, and if you are not a Christian let me tell you about the most amazing assurance you could ever experience!

[John Piper @JohnPiper]

What will you pursue?

“Riches do not profit in the day of wrath,
but righteousness delivers from death.” Proverbs 11:4

[Shahriq Khan @RealShahriqKhan]

Here’s me in Dearborn, Michigan a few minutes from their march location leading young Muslim men to Christ.

I have a team of 50+ evangelists there leading Muslims to Christ every week.

Just sayinnnnnnnnnn

[Melissa the Hopeful🏠Homemaker @BiblicalBeauty]

I hadn't listened to it since he delivered it in 2020, but I pulled MacArthur's sermon up again today that people are pointing to as evidence of a tremendous and destructive problem in his theology. What I had forgotten was that this was a sermon reflecting on the clarity the Lord had provided through the many battles and trials the church was enduring in that time–COVID, government oppression, weekly fines, ongoing legal battles, the theological fallout of wokeness and the social justice movement, pastors failing left and right, and the election of Joe Biden and the prospect of persecution likely to come from his administration's hostility toward the truth.

MacArthur's comments on how we should not expect to win according to an earthly understanding still make perfect sense now as they did then, and they were a reminder of how committed he was to remaining steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for the glory of God regardless of the trials we face down here. He understood that our hope was in Christ, not in our earthly circumstances:

"John 15, just read a couple of verses here. Our Lord talks to the disciples, chapter 15, verse 19. Verse 19 – well, verse 18, let’s start there.

“If the world hates you, you know that it has,” what? We don’t win here, you get this? They killed Him, they killed the apostles, and in every generation they kill the people who proclaim the truth. “You know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world,” – verse 19 – “the world would love its own; but because you’re not of the world,” – so if you want the world to love you, you’ve got to convince them that you’re not against them. But we are against them, not out of animosity, but out of love. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you’re not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” Chapter 16, verse 33, all the way at the end of that chapter our Lord says the end of the verse, “In the world you’ll have trouble. Take courage,” – what? – “I’ve overcome the world.”

We don’t win the battle here, you can’t, can’t fight. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world,” John 18. “If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would” – what? – “fight.” We’re not fighting this world, we get it.

“Blessed are those who are persecuted.” No, we don’t win here. In fact, it gets worse, doesn’t it? Evil men get worse and worse. I mean, read the prophetic declarations of our Lord in the sermon on His second coming. Read the book of Revelation. It’s not going to get better, it’s going to get continually worse. And every generation of Christians is going to suffer for two reasons: because the world hates it, and because suffering perfects our faith and gives validity to our testimony. So we’re not going to win.

You think we lost an election? No. No. We don’t win anything in this world. We’re not trying to gain this. Is there anything in this world we’re trying to gain? “For to me to live again is” – what? – “Christ.”

And then I look at evangelicalism and I see this clarity that’s coming in the culture. I love the fact there’s going to be the true church and the people who hate the truth. There’s going to be the truth and lies. There’s going to be church and anti-church. There’s Christ and Antichrist. I love that clarity. These are the best of times. Incredibly wonderful to have that kind of clarity, where there’s no reason to be a compromiser, because the price is too high.

Persecution always does that, right? Nobody goes to the gulag for something they’re faking. And then I just look at it from an evangelical side and I watch the sifting of evangelical leadership, people who used to be preachers that people wanted to listen to, nobody cares what they say. Used to be bloggers people wanted to read, and nobody cares what they write. They wrote books that you read; they can’t get off the shelf. So much compromise, horrible compromise; much of it because of the social justice issue. That is a disaster maybe more than any single disaster, but collectively with everything else, has done irreparable damage. Said it would, and it has, and it’s not nearly done. But the whole evangelical, seemingly elite, rolled over and bought into social justice, critical race theory, intersectionality, racial identity. And now we’re going to have the fruit of it. I’ll give you an illustration.

America’s always functioned with equal justice. Get that? Equal justice. I mean, the modifier is clear, right? Equal. Equal for everybody. Everybody’s equal under the law, that’s equal justice. No, it’s gone.

Now we have social justice. What social justice means is unequal justice. It means that it’s justice to basically determine by whether you’re a part of the oppressed group or the oppressors. What you’re seeing in America when the new President says, “In the future all the money from the government is going to go to homosexuals, LGBTQ, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera,” that is social justice. That’s not equal justice.

When you hear the new Attorney General say, “In the future all charities are going to have to give their money to disenfranchised, oppressed minorities like homosexuals,” you’re realizing that you have just seen the death of equal justice. How could a Christian jump on that bandwagon?

Something’s pretty clear. God does not hold somebody else responsible for what’s wrong with you, He holds you responsible. Social justice blames someone else for your defects and sin. How could Christians get anywhere near that? I did a whole series on Ezekiel 18, trying to make that clear.

So we’re stepping into an era of injustice. We’re stepping into an era where there’s no need to cover sin. There’s no real need to be a hypocrite. Everything is in the open. Stepping into an era where hatred of the truth is going to go to a level we haven’t seen it. We’re stepping into an era where compromising leaders in the evangelical movement have basically nullified themselves, neutralized themselves, taking themselves off the battlefield out of the fight. That’s sad, but I still love the clarity.

Do we have a hard future? Sure. We don’t win here, we just die. I mean, do you understand that? The Christian life is about two crucifixions. The Christian life is about two crucifixions. It’s about the crucifixion of Christ and it’s about the crucifixion of the believer. Do you understand that?

You signed up, you signed up for death."

And his closing comment: "The kingdom is here, the King is alive, and He’s ruling in His church."

If that's loser theology, I'll take it.

[Justin Peters @JustinPetersMin]

Such a great quote from Spurgeon. 👇👍

[Scott Roberts @ScottRoberts]

On the fence about the series The Chosen? The Season 5 finale shows an agonizing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Of course, this is one of the most sacred and emotionally weighty moments in all of Scripture. During this ordeal, the writers invent Jesus wandering through Ezekiel's valley of dry bones.

And then, in an absolute insult to Scripture, they portray Jesus as seeing the ghost of his earthly (step)father Joseph coming and comforting Him, with uplifting, heartwarming music accompanying it (see the screenshot below of Joseph on the left).

The Bible says no such thing. This is exactly why adding fictional scenes to the life of Christ is so dangerous. God's Word is already perfect and sufficient.

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Yikes

[Grace to You @gracetoyou]

"Do you know that a prince this day has fallen in Israel."

Watch the full tribute at https://t.co/Ii6eRa8TUN

[Ligonier Ministries @Ligonier]

When someone tells you that God has spoken to them, how should you respond?

Watch as Sinclair Ferguson clarifies how the Lord speaks to His people.

[Ligonier Ministries @Ligonier]

Have you ever heard a preacher say that God’s love is unconditional?

What is the problem with this statement?

In this clip, @RCSproul encourages us to be wary of this misleading claim as he presents the biblical alternative.

Watch the full message: https://t.co/xExwl496JF

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

I’m standing in Vilvoorde Prison dungeons, built on top of the ruins of Vilvoorde Castle, located six miles north of Brussels in Belgium. The original fortress became the site of William Tyndale’s imprisonment after his betrayal and capture in Antwerp on May 21, 1535. Once imprisoned in Vilvoorde, Tyndale occupied one of the castle’s foul dungeons, surrounded by dampness, rats, and the sounds of the moat outside. The significance of this prison to Tyndale’s legacy lies not merely in his confinement there, but in what he accomplished during his captivity. 

Rather than despair, Tyndale continued writing and translating while imprisoned. After spending 18 months in the castle, Tyndale faced trial and was condemned as a heretic in early August 1536. In his last few months of life he wrote a letter, entreating the local lord commissary to allow him warmer clothes and, “a leave to use a lamp in the evening for it is tiresome to sit alone in the dark. But above all, I beg and entreat your clemency earnestly to intercede with the lord commissary, that he would deign to allow me the use of my Hebrew Bible, Hebrew Grammar, and Hebrew Lexicon, and that I might employ my time with that study.”

Tyndale was strangled and then burned not far from the Castle, on October 6, 1536. His final words were, “Lord, open the king of England’s eyes.” A prayer answered, when in 1538 — only two years after his death — Cromwell issued injunctions on King Henry’s behalf requiring every parish church to purchase a complete English Bible by Easter and keep it accessible to all parishioners. The Great Bible was issued in April 1539 to fulfill this mandate. It’s been estimated that as much as 90-95% of the Great Bible’s New Testament was derived from Tyndale’s translation.

[Wes Huff @WesleyLHuff]

If you love Jesus you should love what Jesus loves, and that ultimately means you should be an official, active, and serving member of your local church (Eph. 5:25).

Church membership should be normal for Christians. Lives lived in regular accountability demonstrate the gospel’s reality to the world, particularly through the mutual love that Jesus identified as the mark of his followers. This is both biblical and strengthens evangelistic witness. Weaker and newer Christians gain feeding and accountability through membership, and mature and seasoned believers demonstrate authentic Christian living.

Hebrews calls believers to “consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works,” explicitly warning against forsaking assembly “as the manner of some is” (Heb. 10:24–25). This suggests participation isn’t optional but essential to spiritual health.

Church membership preserves biblical truth by establishing who bears responsibility for rooting out false teaching and protecting the gospel when leadership itself becomes compromised. Paul’s letter to the Galatians exemplifies this. I say this as a positional elder in my church — Paul appealed to the whole congregation rather than leadership alone to address doctrinal corruption. Think about it: how are you to “bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ” (Gal 6:2), which positions mutual care as a central Christian obligation, if you’re not actively in a membership role? Thessalonians similarly exhorts believers to “encourage one another and build one another up” (1 Thess 5:11), framing encouragement as a reciprocal responsibility that requires presence and investment.

Healthy membership equips believers to recognize heresy when taught or communicated and transforms them from passive consumers into active defenders of the faith.

Acts depicts the early church persevering in apostolic teaching, communion, and gathering daily, with believers holding possessions in common (Acts 2:42–47), a portrait of intensive communal engagement rather than individual isolated devotion or nominal affiliation.

Ultimately, practicing membership glorifies God as Christians gather to form his body, living under the life giving words of scripture, fellowshipping with one another sacrificially, and reflecting his character.

[John Piper @JohnPiper]

Sovereignty: He does all he pleases.

“Whatever the Lord pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.” Psalm 135:6

Providence: purposeful sovereignty.

“I am God, and there is no other. . . . My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose.” Isaiah 46:9–10

[Shahriq Khan @RealShahriqKhan]

When I was Muslim, this shook me: 
The story of Noah.

Because when I compared the Quran to the Torah, I found a difference that isn't small at all.

In Genesis, Noah brings his wife, his three sons, and their wives onto the ark. Shem, Ham and Japheth - All three survive. In fact, the entire post-flood world is traced back to those three sons.

That's the foundation of the biblical genealogy of nations.

Then I read Surah 11.
And suddenly one of Noah's sons refuses to board the ark, says he'll escape by climbing a mountain, and drowns in the flood.

And I remember thinking:

Wait. Which son? What happened to the genealogy? What happened to the nations that were supposed to come from him?
This isn't a minor detail. It's a completely different version of a foundational story.
And the more I studied, the more I noticed the pattern.

Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Mary.

The Quran repeatedly retells biblical accounts with significant changes.

That forced me to ask a question:

If God does not contradict Himself, why do these stories change? Because the Torah's account existed centuries before Islam.
The Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, and other ancient manuscript traditions all preserve the same core narrative.

Yet the Quran presents a different version.

At some point you have to decide:

Is this revelation?

Or is it revision?

Because if two accounts make contradictory historical claims, they cannot both be preserving the exact same story.

And that question was one of many that eventually led me to reexamine everything I believed.

[Shahriq Khan @RealShahriqKhan]

There’s a detail in the golden calf story that the Quran and the Bible flatly contradict — and it exposes which book protects its heroes.

Genesis… I mean Exodus 32. Who made the calf? AARON. The high priest. Moses’ own brother. He gathered the gold, shaped the idol, built an altar. Exodus 32:4-5. And gave the most pathetic excuse in Scripture: “I threw it in the fire, and out came this calf.” Exodus 32:24.

The Quran? Aaron is completely innocent. He tried to stop it. The blame falls on a mystery man, “al-Samiri” — the Samaritan. Surah 20:85-90.

Here’s the problem. The Samaritans didn’t exist in Moses’ day. Samaria wasn’t founded until King Omri built it — around 870 BC, some 500 years AFTER Moses. 1 Kings 16:24.

So the Quran clears the prophet’s brother and pins it on a people who wouldn’t exist for five centuries.

The Bible does the opposite. It nails its own high priest to the wall.

You know what that tells me? A book willing to expose Aaron isn’t protecting anyone’s reputation.

It’s telling the truth.

And that’s exactly the book I want telling me about my sin — and about the true High Priest, who “has no need to offer sacrifices for His own sins,” because He had none. Hebrews 7:26-27.

Aaron built the calf. Jesus bore the guilt for it.

Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ

[Shahriq Khan @RealShahriqKhan]

You know what shook me when I was Muslim?

The story of Hosea. God tells a prophet to marry a woman He knows will betray him.

She does. She runs to other men. She ends up enslaved, sold, used up, worthless to the world.

And God tells Hosea to go BUY HER BACK.

To pay money for his own wife who cheated on him, and love her again. Hosea 3.

I thought it was the most humiliating command in the Bible. Why would any man do that?

Then I realized I was the wife.

I gave my heart to everything but God. I chased other masters. I sold myself cheap. I made myself worthless.

And God looked at me, the betrayer, and didn’t say “you’re not worth it.”

He said, “Name the price. I’m buying her back.”

That’s the Gospel. God doesn’t wait for the unfaithful to come crawling back clean.

He pays to redeem them while they’re still dirty.

Islam told me to make myself worthy of God.

Hosea showed me a God who pays to redeem the unworthy.

The cross was Him naming the price.

Praise the Lord.