Matthew Henry’s “Method For Prayer”
We must beg for the powerful assistance and influence of the blessed Spirit of grace in our prayers.
Lord, I do not know what to pray for as I ought, but let your Spirit help me in my weakness and intercede for me. Romans 8:26(ESV)
O pour upon me a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, Zechariah 12:10(ESV) the Spirit of adoption teaching me to cry, “Abba, Father”; Romans 8:15(ESV) that I may find in my heart to pray this prayer: Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me, let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling; to God, my exceeding joy. Psalm 43:3-4(ESV)
O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. Psalm 51:15(ESV)
We must make the glory of God our highest end in all our prayers.
This is what you, O LORD, have said: that you will be sanctified among those who are near you, and before all the people you will be glorified. Leviticus 10:3(ESV) I therefore worship before you, O Lord, that I may glorify your name; Psalm 86:9(ESV) and therefore I call upon you, that you may deliver me, and I may glorify you. Psalm 50:15(ESV)
For from you and through you and to you are all things. Romans 11:36(ESV)
John 11:25 In this week’s lessons we look at what it means for Jesus to be the resurrection and the life.
Theme
The Lord’s Delay
In yesterday’s study, we noted that Jesus returned to Bethany after a delay of two days. Upon arriving, He was told that Lazarus had been dead four days. This meant that Lazarus must have died before Jesus had even received the message that Lazarus was sick. And this means that Jesus knew of Lazarus’ death from the beginning and delayed His return for a specific purpose.
Let us number the days, one through four, and place the events within them. On the first day early in the morning the messenger sets out for the Jordan with news of Lazarus’ sickness. He would arrive sometime in the afternoon. Jesus delays for two more days which would have been days two and three. On the fourth day Jesus sets out with His disciples for Bethany, arriving in the afternoon, and is told that Lazarus had already been dead four days. Consequently, Lazarus died sometime in the middle of the first day and had been dead slightly over three days, into the fourth, by the time Jesus arrived.
If this is the case, we must ask again: Why then did Jesus delay a quick return to Bethany? The only possible answer is that Jesus delayed His return in order that there might be no doubt that Lazarus was really dead and that there might be no cause for doubting the miracle. Jesus permitted a continuation of the sorrow of Mary and Martha in order also to permit a greater revelation of God’s glory. Jesus permitted the sorrow. But He knew that in His own proper time He would end it and bring great rejoicing.
This truth leads to the second application of the story. For the principle involved is also true for us. No Christian who has lived any time at all with the Lord will say that life, even for a Christian, does not have sorrows. Christians lose loved ones. They endure sickness. They suffer rebuffs and persecutions. They are disappointed in the love of friends and family. But the new thing for the Christian is not that he does not have such sorrow, but that God knows about it, that He transforms it, and that He never permits it to come without a purpose.
Do you believe that? It is true for you, if you are a Christian. God is not capricious. He is not weak or inefficient. God is the sovereign God, and He always acts in wisdom. He does not let things happen for no reason at all. Therefore, if some of these things have happened to you, you may know that God has a purpose in them and that He will end them one day in a way that will honor Him.
I believe that every Christian has a right to ask what God’s purpose is in his suffering. You have a right to ask it. You can come to God in prayer and ask to see why some things have happened. You may not see the answer immediately. You may not see the answer in its entirety. In order to do that we would have to be like God. You may not even see it in its entirety in this life. But if you ask, God will certainly show you a glimpse of His purposes, partially in this life and more perfectly in the life to come. And you will be increasingly aware of His love. By this means God will strengthen your faith and make you a source of strength for others.
Study Questions
Application
Application: Is there a fellow believer you know who is struggling with sorrow or disappointment in some way? What can you do to comfort and encourage them?
Key Point: God is the sovereign God, and He always acts in wisdom. He does not let things happen for no reason at all.
For Further Study: Download for free and listen to James Boice’s message, “With Jesus Forever.” (Discount will be applied at checkout.)
https://www.thinkandactbiblically.org/wednesday-the-lords-delay/
YHWH, the Tetragrammaton traditionally transliterated as YAHWEH[1] and translated in Scripture as “LORD,” “GOD,” “JEHOVAH,” and “JAH”[2] is the most used name for God and especially sacred. It assumes a developing covenantal significance during redemptive history in Exodus 3:13-15; 6:1-8—there rendered “I AM.”
Robert Reymond summarizes its meaning as “self-existence” and “faithful presence.”[3] He writes, “ … God in his yahwistic character is the self-existent, self-determining, faithful God of the covenant.”[4] Herman Hoeksema agrees: “ … he is the eternal and unchangeable I AM … in Exodus 3:14, 15 the application of the name is such that it emphasizes God’s immutable truth and faithfulness to his people.”[5]
As completely independent, God’s covenant dependents will find Him continually dependable. YHWH confirms in Exodus 3 and 6 that, just as with the patriarchs, He will continue to take care of each generation of His people because He always can and has so covenanted in Himself. Responding to the worrying of Moses, God reveals this name to reassure him of Egyptian deliverance.
In Exodus 3:13-14, God says to tell the Israelites “I AM” sent Moses, which is based on the Hebrew verb “to be.” The LORD always was there for His church and so He always will be. This truth won’t change, for God never changes.
Exodus 6:3 explains that, though God had already technically been known as YHWH, yet not so experientially until now in that the promise to the patriarchs was being more fully realized with God using Moses to make Pharaoh let His people go.[6]
Exodus 6 came before the 10 plagues, where the LORD then proved He is the only true God over all nations. Hoeksema explains that “Yahweh” distinguishes God from all other heathen deities as actually existing per His own self-existence.[7]
How awesome then that Isaiah 6:1-3 is applied to and identifies Jesus in John 12:41 as the Holy, Holy, Holy YAHWEH! For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself (John 5:26). Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and this is why verse five assures He will never leave nor forsake His sheep. In fact, besides His seven “I AM” sayings, Jesus declared, before Abraham was, I Am (John 8:58).[8]
Christian, the self-sufficient God can preserve you. Though things may often appear out of control, God is in control. You cannot trust in yourself, but You Can Trust God.[9]
The Westminster Shorter Catechism (WSC) Q&A 4 teaches that God is infinitely, eternally, and unchangeably His “being.” He is existence. Essentially, “essence” is God’s name—YHWH.
Herman Bavinck instructs that the use of YAHWEH ascribes viewing God
… as absolute reality, the sum-total of all essence, most pure and simple actuality[10] … absolute essence[11] … the real, the true essence, the fulness of essence, the sum-total of all reality and perfection, the totality of essence, to which all other essence owes its origin, an ocean of essence … who has the ground of his existence in himself[12] … Because he exists of and through and unto himself, he is fulness of essence.[13]
This is why the WSC 4 asks not, “who,” but “what” is God.
In Revelation 21:6; 22:1, we see the river of life flowing from the Trinity’s throne.[14] This is the essence of YHWH and often is called God’s “aseity,” which means from-self. The Lord our God is eternally of Himself and from Whom everything and everyone else comes into existence and has their being and sustenance maintained.[15]
Paul thus marvels in Romans 11:36, For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.
Louis Berkhof emphasizes, “He is not only independent in Himself, but also causes everything to depend on Him.” [16] All people know this truth, per Romans 1:19-20.[17]
Paul said to the superstitious Greeks on Mars Hill who ultimately kept a monument to YHWH, For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring (Acts 17:28).
Thus, how utterly ridiculous for anyone to question whether God exists, to deny His existence, or to assume His existence needs apology!
God is existence. We only exist because He is the great I AM. We should question our existence without acknowledging YHWH!
YAHWEH needs no proving—He bids proclaiming. HE proves we exist![18] For, God is Gloriously Himself.[19]
[1] For a more detailed analysis of this name, see learn.ligonier.org/devotionals/yahweh: “Ancient Hebrew does not have written vowels, even though the ancient words were pronounced with them whenever the text was read aloud. Vowels were not reflected in the texts themselves until the medieval period. In Hebrew, Yahweh appears as four letters (YHWH), also known as the tetragrammaton [from the Greek for “four letters”]. The English word Jehovah derives from a German transliteration that traces back to the 1500s ad. It is a combination of YHWH and the vowels from Adonai, the word for ‘Lord.’ … Yahweh is related to the verbal root ‘to be,’ as seen in the phrase ‘I Am Who I Am’ (Ex. 3:14). Yahweh thus means ‘I Am.’” It is interesting to consider a comment in this article that YAHWEH is better for contemporary use than “Jehovah” in juxtaposition to this one discouraging the same by Terry Johnson: reformation21.org/what-is-the-name.
[2] Or, YHVH. Psalm 83:18 closes its song with the call for all people to see how God has delivered His own from all nations over history with, That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth. And Psalm 68:4 proclaims, Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him … by his name JAH …
[3] Robert Reymond, A New Systematic Theology of the Christian Faith (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1998), 157. He counts YHWH 6000 times in the Old Testament.
[4] Ibid, 158.
[5] Herman Hoeksema, Reformed Dogmatics, vol. 1 (Grandville, MI: Reformed Free Publishing Association, 2004), 99, 101. So Herman Bavinck explains, “In Ex. 3:13-15 the meaning of the name Yahweh is clearly indicated … which signifies that he who now calls Moses and is about to deliver Israel is the same God who had appeared to the fathers.” Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1977), 105. Louis Berkof writes, “ … the name points to the unchangeableness of God. Yet it is not so much the unchangeableness of His essential Being that is in view, as the unchangeableness of His relation to His people. The name contains the assurance that God will be for the people of Moses’ day what He was for their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It stresses the covenant faithfulness of God …” Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: WM. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 49.
[6] Bavinck, 106-107: “Ex. 6:3 does not tell us that this name was never used before the time of Moses, but that the Lord was not known to the fathers by that name … Ex. 6:3 must mean that the Lord now for the first time made known to Moses the significance and import of this name … From now on the name Yhwh implies and guarantees that God is and remains the God of his people, immutable in his grace and faithfulness. Before the time of Moses this full import of the name could not have been given: a long period of time was necessary to prove God’s unchangeable faithfulness: a person’s faithfulness is not proved at once but in the long run, especially in seasons of distress … Now God comes and says: ‘I am that I am, Jehovah, the One who keepeth faithfulness forever, the God of the fathers, your God also now, and your God forever.’”
[7] Hoeksema, 97.
[8] Remember Christ’s seven “I AM” descriptions in John: the bread of life; the light of the world; the door to heaven; the Good Shepherd; the Resurrection and the life; the way the truth and the life; and the True Vine. Also profound is this insight: “[In addition to the seven I AM descriptions are two declarations.] The second instance of Jesus applying to Himself the name I AM [the first in John 8:58] comes in the Garden of Gethsemane. When the mob came to arrest Jesus, He asked them whom they sought. They said, ‘Jesus of Nazareth,’ and Jesus replied, ‘I am he’ [literally, “I am”: in Greek, Εγώ εἰμι] (John 18:4–5). Then something strange happened: ‘When Jesus said, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground’ (verse 6). Perhaps explaining the mob’s reaction is the fact that the word he has been provided by our English translators. Jesus simply said, ‘I am.’ Applying God’s covenant name to Himself, Jesus demonstrated His power over His foes and showed that His surrender to them was entirely voluntary (see John 10:17–18; 19:11).” Source: gotquestions.org/seven-I-AM-statements.html.
[9] To access a sermon by the author on this text and title on which this article is partially based, visit sermonaudio.com/sermons/1231853161877. For his entire “Names of God” sermon series from which this came, visit sermonaudio.com/series/71132.
[10] Bavinck, 123.
[11] Ibid, 125.
[12] Ibid, 126.
[13] Ibid, 127.
[14] Gregory Beale intriguingly points to Revelation 22:1 as an illustration of the doctrine of Filioque (that the Holy Spirit is sent both by the Father and the Son, per Western theology and the Westminster Standards). See his voluminous Revelation commentary on this text.
[15] Psalm 104.
[16] Berkof, 58.
[17] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
[18] The author is indicating presuppostional apologetics as Scripturally correct—and confessional, per Westminster Confession of Faith 1:4, 5; 2:2; 4:2; 5:7.
[19] To access a sermon by the author on this text and title on which this article is partially based, visit sermonaudio.com/sermons/3242420252211; see also this playlist of video shorts from that sermon: youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTHByEgU0Ni3f7qoipS2U8HCrsc85JlY8. For his entire “God’s Attributes” sermon series based on the Westminster Shorter Catechism Q&A #4 from which this sermon on Yahweh came, visit sermonaudio.com/series/188821.
| Wednesday, February 04 | John 19 On the Go? Listen Now! |
| Renowned artist Leonardo da Vinci was known for procrastinating! His most famous incomplete work was the “Adoration of the Magi,” which he was commissioned to complete in 30 months. But progress on his 7-foot-tall masterpiece stopped when Leonardo moved to Milan to pursue another offer. It remains unfinished to this day.From our study of Scripture, we know that God always finishes His plans (Phil. 1:6). And as we come to the end of Jesus’ ministry on earth, we need to appreciate these final movements in the grand plan God set in motion before the foundation of the world. God decided He would redeem this fallen world through the death of Christ. What we witness at the crucifixion is the moment where this plan comes together.After being betrayed and enduring hash treatment at the hands of the Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers, Jesus was crucified. This too was a part of God’s plan. The prophet Isaiah and others foretold that Israel would know a servant who would suffer on their behalf. He would bear their transgressions and iniquities (Isa. 53:5). Jesus did the will of the Father throughout His ministry, obedient to the point of death. “I have bought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4).While on the cross Jesus was aware that the end was near. He gave up His life according to the will of God. His final words, “It is finished” (19:30), were a statement not of defeat but of victory. His work was complete. Sin was defeated. All that remained was victory. Three days later, the Father would raise Him from the dead, the first fruits of those who would believe in Him. |
| Go Deeper Take a moment to reflect on the sacrifice of Jesus who willingly went to the cross, taking the penalty for our sins. If you don’t know Him as Savior, let this be the start of your story! Learn More. Extended Reading: John 18–20 |
| Pray with Us Father, thank You for the sacrifice of Your Son, the eternal Word, who gave us freedom from sin and showed us a new way to live. Teach us to live according to Your perfect law of love. |
40:31 wait for the LORD. Savoring God’s promise by faith until the time of fulfillment. renew. Find endless supplies of fresh strength.
Crossway Bibles. (2008). The ESV Study Bible (p. 1312). Crossway Bibles.
40:31 wait for the LORD. See 8:17; 49:23. There is a general principle here that patient, praying believers are blessed by God with strength in their trials (cf. 2Co 12:8–10). The Lord also expected His people to be patient and await His coming in glory at the end to fulfill the promises of national deliverance, when believing Israel would become stronger than they had ever been.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (Is 40:31). Thomas Nelson Publishers.
40:31 To wait entails confident expectation and active hope in the Lord—never passive resignation (Ps. 40:1). Mount up … run … walk depicts the spiritual transformation that faith brings to a person. The Lord gives power to those who trust in Him. eagles: The eagle depicts the strength that comes from the Lord. The Lord describes His deliverance of the Israelites in Ex. 19:4 as similar to being lifted up on an eagle’s strong wings. In Ps. 103:5 the strength of people who are nourished by God is compared to the strength of the eagle.
Radmacher, E. D., Allen, R. B., & House, H. W. (1999). Nelson’s new illustrated Bible commentary (p. 847). T. Nelson Publishers.
And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man. (John 1:51)
Yes, to our faith this sight is plain even at this day. We do see heaven opened. Jesus Himself has opened that kingdom to all believers. We gaze into the place of mystery and glory, for He has revealed it to us. We shall enter it soon, for He is the way.
Now we see the explanation of Jacob’s ladder. Between earth and heaven there is a holy commerce; prayer ascends, and answers come down by the way of Jesus, the Mediator. We see this ladder when we see our Lord. In Him a stairway of light now furnishes a clear passage to the throne of the Most High. Let us use it and send up by it the messengers of our prayers. We shall live the angelic life ourselves if we run up to heaven in intercession, lay hold upon the blessings of the covenant, and then descend again to scatter those gifts among the sons of men.
This choice sight which Jacob only saw in a dream will turn into a bright reality. This very day we will be up and down the ladder each hour: climbing in communion and coming down in labor to save our fellowmen. This is Thy promise, O Lord Jesus; let us joyfully see it fulfilled.
https://www.vcy.org/charles-spurgeon/2026/02/04/a-staircase-to-heaven/
This episode looks at why humility is the one trait that can quietly destroy our obsession with celebrity, platform, and approval—and why it may be the key to saving your soul in a culture built on self-promotion. Drawing from cold-case investigations, Scripture, and decades in ministry, J. Warner Wallace shows how the pursuit of fame, followers, and influence so often leads to moral compromise, spiritual shipwreck, and deep dissatisfaction, even when it “works” on the outside.
You’ll hear how both secular and religious “doing worldviews” tend to fuel pride by making everything transactional and comparative: do more, get more, be more than the next person. In contrast, the Christian worldview begins not with achievement but with repentance and grace, received through an act of humility before God. By walking through biblical teaching—from the words of Jesus about the last being first, to the letters of Paul and Peter on humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand—this episode highlights why only a cross-shaped, humility-driven faith can free us from the tyranny of image, success, and celebrity.
Here is the audio podcast (the Cold-Case Christianity Weekly Podcast is located on iTunes or our RSS Feed):
For more information about how to flourish based on secular research and the ancient wisdom of the bible, please read The Truth in True Crime; What Investigating Death Teaches Us About the Meaning of Life. This book teaches readers 15 rues for life, recognized in murder investigations. It also makes a case for the reliability of the Bible from Biblical anthropology. The book is accompanied by a sixteen-session Truth in True Crime Video Series (and Participant’s Guide) to help individuals or small groups examine the evidence and make the case.
The post The One Trait That Destroys Celebrity Culture – And Could Save Your Soul (Podcast) appeared first on Cold Case Christianity.
Study Reformed theology with a free resource bundle from Ligonier Ministries: https://grow.ligonier.org/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=description&utm_campaign=get-started
This message is from Semper Reformanda, our 2025 Escondido Conference: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30acyfm60fUxiRYKGPg6sAQrEiBryDWG
Source: Derek Thomas: Reforming Worship
One of the devastating results of sin is that it reduces all of us to fools. A fool looks at truth and sees falsehood.
A fool looks at bad and sees good. A fool ignores God and inserts himself into God’s position. A fool rebels against God’s wise and loving law, and writes his own rules. A fool thinks he can live on his own, not needing anyone’s help.
But here is what is deadly about all of this: A fool doesn’t know he is a fool. If a fool isn’t given eyes to see his foolishness, then he will continue to think he is wise.
So God, in his grace, did not turn his back on our foolishness and walk away. God looked on foolish humanity with a heart of compassion. He not only sent his Son to rescue fools from themselves but also gave us the wonderful gift of his word. In this way, fools could recognize their foolishness and have a tool by which they could grow in wisdom.
How do you start the search for wisdom? The first steps are not in university classrooms, on the pages of research papers, on popular podcasts, or in the books on the New York Times bestseller list. Wisdom begins in the pages of God’s word.
You can be highly trained and still be a fool. You can be a well-educated and gifted communicator and still be a fool. You can be successful and famous and still be a fool. You can have social media dominance and still be a fool. You can be a person whom people look to for guidance and still be a fool. But no one is hopelessly trapped in foolishness. Why? Because God, who is the source of all true wisdom, is a God of tender, forgiving, and rescuing grace (1 Cor. 1:18–31).
To all who confess their foolishness and run to him for wisdom, he offers mercy and grace in their time of need.
I would not know how to live without the wisdom of God’s word. I would not know how to be a responsible man without the wisdom of God’s word.
I would not know how to be a husband, a father, a neighbor, a friend, a member of the body of Christ, a citizen, or a worker without the Bible. Without Scripture, I would not know right from wrong.
Without the truths of the word, I would not know how to understand and respond to suffering. Without Scripture, I would be confused about who I am and my purpose in life. Without my Bible, I would not know about sin or understand true righteousness. Without God’s word, I would not know how to handle money, success, power, or fame. Without Scripture, I would have no understanding of origins and no concept of eternity.
Without God’s word, I would have no idea of my need for rescue, reconciliation, and restoration. Without my Bible, I would have no understanding of what it means to love or what I should hate.
I not only need the content of God’s word, but I also need the help of the Holy Spirit.
Apart from God’s word, I would have no wise and holy law to follow. I’d have no amazing grace to give me hope. If it were not for Scripture, I would have no wisdom of any worth to share.
But here’s what I have experienced: My Bible is my lifelong friend and companion. My Bible is my wisest and most faithful teacher. My Bible is my mentor and my guide. My Bible confronts me when I am wrong and comforts me when I am struggling.
My Bible is my most treasured physical possession. I know that as long as sin still lives in me, I need divine wisdom. So I approach my Bible every day as a needy and thankful man.
Not only do we have the gift of God’s word, but we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit. He’s the one who guides us, teaching us through his word. As a result, we can know, understand, confess, and repent.
I not only need the content of God’s word, but I also need the help of the Holy Spirit. He enables me to understand it. He assists me to apply it, empowers me to live it, and equips me to take its message to others. God rescues me from my foolishness not just by handing me a book but also by giving me himself—and he opens the wisdom of that book to me.
As an author of books, I don’t do this. I write a book and move on. Then it’s up to the reader to make sense of what I have written. I don’t travel to reader after reader, sitting with them as long as it takes, shining light on the things I have written, making sure they understand, and helping them to apply the content of the book to their everyday lives.
But that is exactly what God does. He goes everywhere his word goes. He patiently sits with readers every time they open his book. He teaches them out of his word. God is not only the author of his word, he’s also its primary teacher.
When you get the word of God, you also get the God of the word, and that is a beautiful thing.
Why are there so many warnings in Scripture? They are there because God loves us.
You see, a warning isn’t judgment. If all God intended to do was to judge you, he wouldn’t first warn you. Think about how parents constantly warn their children. They first warn them not to touch the hot stove, the lit candle, or the electrical outlet. Later they warn them what is safe to eat and what is dangerous, and down the road they warn them about the dangers of the internet and social media. Every one of these warnings is motivated by tenderhearted parental love.
God is our heavenly Father. And like our parents, he’s committed to warning us about the dangers of life in this fallen world. In each warning, he is loving us. Each warning exhibits his patience, faithfulness, wisdom, and grace. Each warning reminds us of his care. Each warning teaches us again that he is ready and willing to forgive and restore. Each warning is a call to trust him and to follow him by faith. Each warning reminds us that our Father is infinitely smarter than us. He really does know better. So we should listen and obey. You don’t want to be like the toddler who refuses to listen to Mommy’s warnings and burns his finger on the oven door.
You don’t want to be like the teenager who blows off her dad’s warnings and makes decisions that mess up the rest of her life. God loves us, so he has dotted his word with warnings. With fatherly care he says, “Don’t look there, don’t say that, don’t desire this, don’t do that, don’t choose that, don’t love that, watch out for this.”
Don’t think you are smarter than God. Don’t believe the lie that there will be no cost for ignoring his wise and loving warnings. Every sin, and every mess that follows, is a result of a failure to humbly heed God’s warnings. And remember, he not only warns you but also gives you the grace you need to live inside of his warnings.
This article is adapted from 12 Truths Every Teen Can Trust: Core Beliefs of the Christian Faith That Will Change Your Life by Paul David Tripp.
Paul David Tripp (DMin, Westminster Theological Seminary) is a pastor, an award-winning author, and an international conference speaker. He has written numerous books, including Lead; Parenting; and the bestselling devotional New Morning Mercies. His not-for-profit ministry exists to connect the transforming power of Jesus Christ to everyday life. Tripp lives in Philadelphia with his wife, Luella, and they have four grown children.
We develop wisdom by knowing the Bible and by relying on the Holy Spirit to help us correctly live it out.
Jesus once said that it is very difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Why?
When every moment of our iWorld existence conditions us to celebrate the self, the church boldly celebrates something bigger, grander, and more compelling.
The local church feels uncomfortable because it’s countercultural on so many fronts. It goes against the spirit of our age.
Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. (16:13–14)
The greater part of 1 Corinthians is in the form of rebuke and correction. The first fourteen chapters deal primarily with errant behavior, and chapter 15 deals with errant theology. Even chapter 13, the beautiful treatise on love, was given to correct the lovelessness that so characterized the Corinthian church. But the rebuke and correction were themselves given out of deep love. Paul was steeped in the love of God, and his rebuke, like the Lord’s own rebuke of His children, was always given in love. “Those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives” (Heb. 12:6).
In 1 Corinthians 16:13–14 Paul gives five final imperatives, five last commands, to the Corinthians. They are to be alert, firm, mature, strong, and loving. These commands are, in many ways, the positive side of what in earlier chapters the apostle had told the Corinthians not to be. Each command can serve as a point of departure for reviewing the epistle.
BE ALERT
Paul’s first command to the Corinthians was be on the alert, which comes from one word, grēgoreō, which can mean “to watch,” “be awake,” “be vigilant,” and, figuratively, “be alive” (as in 1 Thess. 5:10, where “awake or asleep” refers to being alive or dead). The term is used some 22 times in the New Testament, often in reference to Christians’ being spiritually awake and alert, as opposed to being spiritually indifferent and listless.
The Corinthians seemed normally to be in a spiritual and moral stupor, and sometimes even were in a physical stupor—as when they became drunk at the Lord’s Table (1 Cor. 11:21). They were not alert in any worthwhile way. They allowed their previous pagan ideas and habits to come back into their lives and destroy their faithfulness to the Lord and their fellowship with each other. They substituted human wisdom for God’s Word (1:18–2:16); they were factious (1:10–17; 3:9; etc.), immoral (5:1–13), litigious (6:1–8); they had confused and perverted ideas about marriage, divorce, and celibacy (7:1–40); they were self-indulgent (10:1–13) and indifferent to the welfare of others (10:23–33); they misunderstood and misused their spiritual gifts (12–14); and, above all, they were unloving, exemplifying all the things that love is not (13:1–6).
In the New Testament we are told of at least six important things we are to watch out for, to be on the alert for. First, we are to be on the alert against Satan. “Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in your faith” (1 Pet. 5:8–9). We should learn Satan’s strategies, which though subtle are basically identifiable in three areas: “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life” (1 John 2:16).
Second, we must be on the alert for temptation. “Keep watching and praying,” Jesus said, “that you may not come into temptation” (Mark 14:38). If we are not watching and seeking the Lord’s help in prayer, we often will not even notice temptation when it comes. When our spiritual eyes are shut or sleepy, we can fall more easily into sin.
Third, we must watch for apathy and indifference. The very nature of those sins makes them hard to notice. By definition, a person who is apathetic and indifferent is insensitive and therefore cannot be alert. The church at Sardis assumed that it had spiritual life because it had “a name that [it was] alive,” but it was so indifferent to the Lord’s will that it did not realize it was “dead.” “Wake up, and strengthen the things that remain, which were about to die,” the Lord told them, “for I have not found your deeds completed in the sight of My God. Remember therefore what you have received and heard; and keep it, and repent. If therefore you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you” (Rev. 3:1–3).
Christians cannot disregard the Lord’s Word with impunity. To neglect Scripture is to disregard it and treat it as if it means nothing. Before long we cannot remember what we have received and heard, and the Lord’s way becomes more and more vague and indefinite. When His Word is indefinite to us we become indifferent to it, and we need to begin to “keep it, and repent.” If we do not, God will chasten us in love—at a time, and perhaps in a way, that we do not expect.
Fourth, Christians should be alert for false teachers, about whom the New Testament gives many warnings. “There will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1). Many people, even in the church, actually will invite false teachers into their midst. “They will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires,” because they become dissatisfied with “the truth, and will turn aside to myths.” We are therefore to “be sober in all things,” Paul warns, being on the alert for any teaching that does not square with Scripture (2 Tim. 4:3–5).
The first four alerts are negative, indicating things we are continually to watch for in order to avoid, because they will harm us. But the New Testament also gives us some positive things to watch for, some things that will strengthen and help us. As already mentioned above, Jesus tells us to watch and pray in order to escape temptation (Mark 14:38). Prayer strengthens us in God’s way just as it protects us against Satan’s way. Prayer is not simply a random ritual in which faithful Christians are to participate dutifully. It is the heartbeat of spiritual life. “With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance” (Eph. 6:18).
Christians should also be watching for the Lord’s return. The two great motives we have for living faithfully for Christ are remembering what He did for us on the cross and looking forward to His coming again. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming” (Matt. 24:42; cf. 25:13). “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief,” Peter says; therefore “what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet. 3:10–12).
BE FIRM
Another principle for powerful living is standing firm in the faith. As the great theologian Charles Hodge reminded us, we should not consider every point of doctrine an open question. The Corinthians, like many of the Ephesians, were being “carried about by every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14). They would not take a firm stand on many things. Little was certain and absolute; much was relative and tentative.
The faith of which Paul speaks here is not the faith of trusting but the faith of truth, the content of the gospel. It is “the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints” (Jude 3), “the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand” (1 Cor. 15:1). It is the faith in which we are to “fight the good fight” (1 Tim. 6:12). Paul told the Philippians that he expected to hear that they were “standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Phil. 1:27). Doctrine is in view here.
Satan cannot take saving faith away from us, but he can, and often does, obscure the content of our faith, the sound doctrines of God’s Word. If we do not hold fast to right interpretations of Scripture, we are certain to slip into wrong thinking, wrong belief, and wrong behavior. Many of the Corinthians apparently had come to look on the truth of God itself as foolishness, being corrupted by the influence of their unbelieving friends and neighbors (1 Cor. 1:18–21). Human philosophy and wisdom had all but obliterated their view of God’s Word. By trying to combine human wisdom and God’s wisdom they had undermined the uniqueness and the authority of God’s revealed truth. Paul warned them, “Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God” (1 Cor. 3:18–19). Like many professed Christians today, they considered Scripture to be but a human commentary on views of God that existed at the time of writing. If God’s truth can be known at all, they believed, it is only through the filter of man’s knowledge and wisdom.
The Corinthians not only were not standing firm in their view of Scripture but also had slipped terribly in their view of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paganism had so strongly reentered their thinking that some of them, claiming to speak “by the Spirit of God,” were calling Jesus “accursed” (12:3). Because they had not stood firm in God’s Word, they were corrupted and perverted to the extent of attacking the gospel at its heart, by renouncing Christ and calling Him accursed. They were “denying the Master who bought them” (2 Pet. 2:1).
The apostle therefore commands that they must stand firm in the faith. They must, as he commanded the Thessalonians, “stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught” (2 Thess. 2:15). If we are to be firm in the faith, we must be well taught in the Word, looking at everything and judging everything by God’s truth and standards. We should pray for ourselves and for the church today as Epaphras prayed for the Colossians, that we “may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12).
BE MATURE
A third principle for powerful Christian living is being mature, which Paul expresses here as act like men. The basic idea is that of mature courage. The mature person has a sense of control, confidence, and courage that the immature or childish person does not have. Again we see that Paul’s command is for the Corinthians to be the opposite of what they normally were. They were characterized by anything but maturity.
Paul already had pleaded with them, “Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature” (14:20). The Corinthians needed to grow up. Even when he pastored among them the apostle was not able to talk to them “as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it.” Since he had left Corinth they still had not matured. “Indeed, even now,” he continues, “you are not yet able” (1 Cor. 3:1–2). He has to threaten them with discipline, just as a parent must do with a stubborn child. “What do you desire? Shall I come to you with a rod …?” (4:21).
Maturity is one of the marks of love (1 Cor. 13:11), a virtue in which the Corinthians were especially deficient. Love strives for maturity in all good things—in doctrine, in spiritual insight, in emotional stability and control, in personal relationships, in moral purity, and in all the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22–23). Above all we should “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 3:18), “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ.… But speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ” (Eph. 4:13, 15).
How does a believer grow and mature? By longing “for the pure milk of the word, that by it [we] grow in respect to salvation” (1 Pet. 2:2). The Bible provides spiritual and moral nourishment. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16–17).
BE STRONG
Be strong is Paul’s fourth imperative for Christian living. As here, the Greek term (krataioō) is frequently used in the New Testament to denote inner, spiritual growth. The verb is in the passive voice, and literally means “be strengthened.” We cannot strengthen ourselves; that is the Lord’s work. Our part is to submit ourselves to Him in order that He can strengthen us. We can only “be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of His might” (Eph. 6:10), and “be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 2:1).
Only a strong spirit can successfully battle and overcome the flesh. Again, that is where the Corinthians were weak. “For you are still fleshly,” Paul told them. “For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (1 Cor. 3:3). Yet they had deceived themselves into thinking they were wise and strong. “If any man among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish that he may become wise” (3:18). The apostle says of them sarcastically, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong” (4:10). Because of their spiritual weakness they even despised and profaned the most sacred of things, including the Lord’s Supper—for which desecration many of them became “weak and sick, and a number sleep,” that is, had died (11:30).
The person who thinks he is strong in himself is in the greatest danger of falling (10:12). At one time in his ministry Paul faced that very danger. He had been “caught up into Paradise, and heard inexpressible words, which a man is not permitted to speak.… And because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me—to keep me from exalting myself!” The lesson the apostle learned directly from the Lord was, “ ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may dwell in me” (2 Cor. 12:4, 7, 9).
We can no more be spiritually strong than we can be physically strong without self-discipline. “Everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Cor. 9:25). Spiritual strength comes from self-sacrifice, self-denial, and self-discipline.
We grow in strength as we use our strength. As we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God,” we thereby become “strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might” (Col. 1:10–11).
The supreme source of all spiritual strength, of course, is Christ Himself. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me,” Paul declared (Phil. 4:13). “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service” (1 Tim. 1:12). I can imagine that Paul often remembered Psalm 27:14—“Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; yes, wait for the Lord.”
As we wait for the Lord, yielding our spirits to His Spirit, we become “strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man” (Eph. 3:16).
BE LOVING
The fifth principle for powerful living is the most comprehensive, and without it the others could make us crusty, militant, and hard. So Paul says, Let all that you do be done in love. Love complements and balances everything else. It is the beautiful, softening principle. It keeps our firmness from becoming hardness and our strength from becoming domineering. It keeps our maturity gentle and considerate. It keeps our right doctrine from becoming obstinate dogmatism and our right living from becoming smug self-righteousness.
Love is what the Corinthians needed most, and is what believers of all ages have needed most. “Above all,” Peter says, “keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Pet. 4:8). Love, like spiritual strength, comes from the Lord. “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and every one who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). We are able to love one another “because He first loved us” (v. 19).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1984). 1 Corinthians (pp. 471–476). Moody Press.
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”
“We are either a United people, or we are not. If the former, let us, in all matters of general concern act as a nation, which have national objects to promote, and a national character to support. If we are not, let us no longer act a farce by pretending to it.” —George Washington (1785)
The Editors
The Executive News Summary is compiled daily by Jordan Candler, Thomas Gallatin, Sterling Henry, and Sophie Starkova. For the archive, click here.
Nate Jackson
It increasingly seems like there are two NFLs: one for the players and one for those in charge. No, I don’t mean the economic divide that left-wingers perpetually gripe about. I mean the divide between the faithful and those who care much more about other cultural things.
We’ll consider several strands of pre-Super Bowl news. My Kansas City Chiefs didn’t even make the playoffs this year, so I don’t really care who wins this Sunday. Having been a fairly regular NFL fan since the 1980s, though, I’m intrigued by the sport and its tangential controversies.
Let’s start with the faith angle. “Faith takes center stage ahead of Super Bowl 60,” reports NewsNation in an article about the increasing number of players sharing their faith with interviewers. It’s not new to see players point to heaven when scoring a touchdown, or to hear them thank God after a victory (or even a loss). However, it seems an increasing number of leading quarterbacks and other prominent players are becoming more vocal about their personal faith.
“I thank the good Lord” for the opportunity, said New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye after winning the AFC Championship last week. Maye regularly speaks of his faith, and his social media bio includes the name of Jesus. It’s refreshing when someone uses that name reverently instead of — like most of Hollywood — as a curse word.
Similarly, after winning the NFC Championship, Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba said, “I just want to give all glory to God. … Win or lose, I wouldn’t be here without him.” His social media bio says he’s a “follower of Christ.”
A number of other NFL quarterbacks are outspoken about their Christianity — Bo Nix, Josh Allen, Brock Purdy, C.J. Stroud, Lamar Jackson, Trevor Lawrence, and (my personal favorite) Patrick Mahomes are among them. Plenty of other key players are faithful, too. It’s pretty normal to see players gather for prayer before and after games. Perhaps there’s something about the somewhat war-like nature of football that reminds players of their frail humanity.
It’s very good news when so many people embrace The Good News.
What’s remarkable to me is the utter disconnect between the men on the field putting on a great show and the men in control behind the scenes. The players are the ones earning the league and the owners tons of money, generating fans. No one goes to see a game because Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones or even NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell might be lurking in the suite above. (Taylor Swift, maybe, but that’s another discussion.)
But speaking of Goodell, what does he care about most in the lead-up to Super Bowl LX? It might be Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion among NFL coaches.
“We still have more work to do,” Goodell lamented after none of the 10 teams looking for a new coach hired a black one. Maybe Goodell is unaware that roughly 70% of NFL players are minorities.
The NFL’s Rooney Rule includes these requirements: “Clubs must conduct an in-person interview with at least two external diverse — minority and/or female — candidates for any GM or head coaching interview. Clubs must interview at least two minorities and/or women for all coordinator positions.”
Seriously? A female?
With all due respect, given that women don’t generally play football, it’s going to be challenging to find many who are interested in coaching it. Not unheard of, but challenging. That’s to say nothing of the challenge of her earning the respect of players.
As for color, no one goes to or skips a game because of the color of one guy’s skin on the sidelines. Fans attend because, as Martin Luther King Jr. extolled, we care about the “content of their character” — i.e., how well they play.
What else does Roger Goodell want to make sure everyone knows? That Super Bowl halftime performer Bad Bunny “understands” that “this platform is used to unite people and to be able to bring people together.”
Who is Bad Bunny? His real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, and he’s the Puerto Rican, Trump-deranged, pro-illegal-immigration homosexual activist who represents the NFL’s big middle finger to the rest of us. He raps in Spanish.
Accepting the Album of the Year Award at Sunday’s Grammy Awards, Bad Bunny declared, “ICE out” — a reference to his objection to enforcing immigration law. Goodell thinks that “unites people”?
All the unity must be why Turning Point USA felt compelled to put on an alternative halftime show for normal Americans, featuring Kid Rock of shoot-the-Bud-Light fame. The TPUSA show — put on by the organization founded by the late Charlie Kirk, a strong Christian — aims to celebrate “American faith, family, and freedom.” That’s much more in line with the trend of leading players on the field. You can find it on TPUSA’s YouTube channel beginning at 8 p.m. Sunday.
“We’re approaching this show like David and Goliath. Competing with the pro football machine and a global pop superstar is almost impossible … or is it?” Kid Rock said in a statement issued through Turning Point. “He’s said he’s having a dance party, wearing a dress, and singing in Spanish? Cool. We plan to play great songs for folks who love America.”
The NFL has “more work to do,” alright. Just not the work that preoccupies a wokie like Roger Goodell.
Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.
For more of today’s columns, visit Right Opinion.
The BIG Lies
“Donald Trump is in the Epstein files thousands and thousands of times. In those files, there’s highly disturbing allegations of Donald Trump raping children, of Donald Trump threatening to kill children.” —Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA)
“The SAVE Act is an abomination. It’s Jim Crow 2.0 across the country.” —Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Non Compos Mentis
“What is really the major problem in this country today is the fascism in our streets. The attacks on American citizens by masked hoodlums. If you were attacked by a masked person, you might think you were being kidnapped. You’d be justified in shooting the person to protect yourself.” —Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY)
Huh?
“You bring a gun in the district, you mark my words, you’re going to jail. I don’t care if you have a license in another district, and I don’t care if you’re a law-abiding gun owner somewhere else. You bring a gun into this district, count on going to jail, and hope you get the gun back.” —U.S. Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro
Reality Check
“Look, I got all this polling on the screen going back since 2018. You’ll notice on all of it, it’s all north of 75% … and then 83% in the last year of Americans agree with Nicki Minaj. They favor photo ID to be able to vote. … We’re talking about seven in 10 Democrats agreeing with Nicki Minaj that you in fact should show a voter photo ID to vote.” —CNN’s Harry Enten
Observations
“To sum up public opinion, the proverbial people want all criminal illegal aliens deported as soon as possible, and they may even support the deportations of all 10-12 million illegal aliens who came en masse, unaudited, and with the de facto blessing of the Biden administration. But that said, they want the act of deportation of the non-criminal to be out of sight, out of mind — as if magically they can simply disappear and thus either self-deport or assemble at ICE stations eager to be sent at no cost home.” —Victor Davis Hanson
“If celebrity clown Billie Eilish believes ‘no one is illegal on stolen land,’ then she should return her $3 million home to the Gabrieleno Tongva tribe on whose ancestral land it sits.” —Mark Alexander
Re: The Left
“The new governor of Virginia, the ‘moderate’ Democrat Abigail Spanberger, has proposed a tax hike on services such as dog walking and grooming. … There is no economic reason for raising taxes in Virginia. When his single term expired last month, Republican Governor Glenn Youngkin left behind numerous successes, including a large budget surplus of $572 million, above the projected forecast.” —Cal Thomas
“The Democrats circa 2026 have almost become tax-and-spend parodies of themselves. They used to pretend that raising taxes was a last resort. Now, the leftwing base regards raising taxes as a badge of honor. … When will Democrats in blue states learn you can’t tax millionaires and billionaires if they live in Palm Beach or Dallas?” —Stephen Moore
Political Futures
“The GOP isn’t just lazy, it’s scared. Keeping social and economic conservatives together in a single coalition is hard enough; why complicate it by trying to squeeze in populists as well? Trump, of course, has answered that: because it’s what’s necessary to win nationwide.” —Daniel McCarthy
For more of today’s memes, visit the Memesters Union.
| ON THIS DAY in 1789, as the newly ratified Constitution shaped the federal government, the Electoral College chose George Washington to serve as the nation’s first president. |
“From The Patriot Post (patriotpost.us)”
The word “liberal” has lots of meanings, but it derives from the Latin word for freedom. In political theory, “liberalism” refers not just to progressivism but to a political order based on freedom, rights, and democracy. That is, the political ideology embodied in the American constitutional order.
Though conservatives align themselves against liberalism in the sense of progressivism, American conservatism has traditionally been “liberal” in this more technical sense. But today those foundational American principles of democracy, rights, and freedom are being questioned. And many conservatives are embracing “post-liberalism.” What that political ideology means in practice is not clear, but Christians playing around with some form of theocracy (Calvinist dominionists, Catholic integralists, and the Pentecostal Seven Mountain Mandate) are post-liberals, as are overt authoritarians, such as Nick Fuentes.
Source: Two Critiques of Liberal Democracy, plus a Way Forward
‘Liberalism is the ideology of Western suicide,’ wrote James Burnham more than half a century ago. This ideology is hard at work.
Source: Anti-ICE Activism Represents The Suicide Of Western Civilization
Jesse Watters, Sean Hannity and Greg Gutfeld bring Fox News viewers their fresh takes on the top news of the day. #fox #media #breakingnews #us #usa #new #news #breaking #foxnews #hannity #seanhannity #hannityshow #politics #political #politicalnews #government #democrats #democraticparty #democrat #republicans #immigration #border #illegalimmigration #election #conservatives #liberalism #jessewattersprimetime #ice #trump #donaldtrump #jessewatters #watters #hollywood #culture
Our boy Tom Homan gave another update today, so we have the privilege of basking in the bulldog’s bravado.
Source: Tom Homan has a major update on how Minneapolis is cooperating since he got to town
Bad Bunny’s upcoming Super Bowl halftime show performance sparked debate on Tuesday’s “The Right Squad” over celebrity activism and the NFL’s political stance.
Source: Bad Bunny gearing up for politically charged Super Bowl show | The Right Squad
Canada Free Press
Join RSBN LIVE for full coverage of this event and all events at The Trump White House Tune in at 12:00 pm ET on February 4, 2026
Source: LIVE: First Lady Melania Trump Meets with Freed American-Israeli Hostage Keith Siegel – 02/04/26
In case you haven’t noticed, we have a communist revolution on our hands. It began in earnest in 1962 when our Supreme Court decided that Judeo-Christian values were to be excluded from our public schools. It initiated a profound shift in American education that opened the door to insidious indoctrination that has permeated our society.
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