Thursday: The Shining Face of God

By James Boice

Theme: Desire and Responsibility

This week’s lessons teach us of God’s gracious intention to call a people for himself from every nation, and of our great privilege and responsibility to make the gospel of Christ known to them.

Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

One of the older commentators whom Charles Haddon Spurgeon quotes in his Treasury of David is William Binnie, who speaks of a balance here between the desire that others might be saved and our responsibility to tell them how. Binnie wrote:

One of the older commentators whom Charles Haddon Spurgeon quotes in his Treasury of David is William Binnie, who speaks of a balance here between the desire that others might be saved and our responsibility to tell them how.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: The Shining Face of God

By James Boice

Theme: How Gentiles Come to Know God

This week’s lessons teach us of God’s gracious intention to call a people for himself from every nation, and of our great privilege and responsibility to make the gospel of Christ known to them.

Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

How are the nations of the world to get to know God? How is this great blessing to be known throughout the earth? These questions are raised inescapably by stanza two (vv. 3-5), which is a prayer for God's blessing on the nations parallel to the prayer for his blessing on Israel in stanza one. This is the longest stanza, as noted earlier; hence it is the one that should receive the most emphasis. It is also set apart in that it opens and closes with an identical verse, which is the second inclusio.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

The Hard Apprenticeship of Sorrow

Posted on Tuesday, July 17, 2018 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

Some thoughts on depression and anxiety

 

“Beloved the objects we look at are distant, and we are near-sighted.”
Charles Spurgeon

 

I am a melancholic; a depressive. I am typically rather sad and in some cases deeply sorrowing.
 

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Mortification of Spin is a casual conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Mortification of Spin and the mission of the Alliance.

Unsung Heroes of the Church

by Nick Batzig • July 17, 2018

Ruling elders are among the greatest unsung heroes of the church...These men are often passed over on pastoral appreciation day, are often not as highly esteemed as the teaching elders in the church and are sometimes viewed with an envious eye by others in the congregation who wish to have a place of prominence. However, a local church will almost never rise higher in spiritual maturity and diligence than the level set by its ruling elders.

Every week, important church related matters come streaming into the inbox of my email account. Many of those matters also make their way into the inboxes of our elders. On many occasions, one of our ruling elders (i.e. a lay elder who was elected by the congregation to volunteer his time in the service of the church) offers thoughtful analysis, objective input or a willingness to take the lead in a response to whatever need has surfaced.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Christward Collective is a conversation of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Christward Collective and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: The Shining Face of God

By James Boice

Theme: God’s Shining Countenance upon Us

This week’s lessons teach us of God’s gracious intention to call a people for himself from every nation, and of our great privilege and responsibility to make the gospel of Christ known to them.

Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

When a section of a psalm begins and ends with a similar verse, phrase or emphasis, scholars call it an inclusio. This is a literary device that sets the included subject matter apart and gives it emphasis. We have two such "inclusions" in this psalm, one within another. The second, middle, stanza is set apart in this way and is the clearest example because it begins and ends with the same verse: "May the peoples praise you, O God; may all the peoples praise you" (vv. 3, 5). The less apparent example is the psalm itself which begins and ends with the prayer that God might bless Israel and that the God of Israel might be known and feared among the Gentiles (vv. 1, 7).

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Monday: The Shining Face of God

By James Boice

Theme: A Missionary Psalm

This week’s lessons teach us of God’s gracious intention to call a people for himself from every nation, and of our great privilege and responsibility to make the gospel of Christ known to them.

Scripture: Psalm 67:1-7

Some of the Bible's psalms are popular, so popular that whenever psalms are mentioned they come immediately to mind, like Psalm 23: "The LORD is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing" (v. 1), or Psalm 14: "The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God’ (v. 1). Psalm 67 is not one of them. It is not a well-known psalm. Most of the commentators seem to share this opinion since they deal with it in such brief compass, a page or two perhaps, usually not more.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Friday: A Praise Psalm of Thanksgiving

By James Boice

Theme: The Individual before God

From this week’s lessons we see that Psalm 66 tells us to praise the Lord and gives us an example of one who is doing just that.

Scripture: Psalm 66:1-20

In the final two stanzas of the psalm (vv. 13-15 and 16-20) the joyful tumultuous praise of the nations, including the praise of Israel, fades away and the individual psalmist himself remains standing on the stage. Then he speaks two times, first to God, then a second time to anyone who may be listening.

In the final two stanzas of the psalm (vv. 13-15 and 16-20) the joyful tumultuous praise of the nations, including the praise of Israel, fades away and the individual psalmist himself remains standing on the stage. Then he speaks two times, first to God, then a second time to anyone who may be listening.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Thursday: A Praise Psalm of Thanksgiving

By James Boice

Theme: Reasons to Praise God

From this week’s lessons we see that Psalm 66 tells us to praise the Lord and gives us an example of one who is doing just that.

Scripture: Psalm 66:1-20

This brings us to the second major section of the psalm in which the specific nation of Israel is invited to praise God (vv. 8-12). The world should "shout with joy to God” and "sing to the glory of his name." But it usually does not, simply because it is not aware of the many great blessings for which it should be thankful. Even an official Thanksgiving holiday does not make it thankful. It is different for the people of God, since they have come to know God and are aware of the way he has kept them and blessed them even in the most difficult times.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Wednesday: A Praise Psalm of Thanksgiving

By James Boice

Theme: Singing and Praise

From this week’s lessons we see that Psalm 66 tells us to praise the Lord and gives us an example of one who is doing just that.

Scripture: Psalm 66:1-20

Pursuing an entirely different line of thought at this point, it is also worth reflecting on what the opening verses of this psalm say about singing, praise and thanksgiving, and about their relationships.

Pursuing an entirely different line of thought at this point, it is also worth reflecting on what the opening verses of this psalm say about singing, praise and thanksgiving, and about their relationships.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

Tuesday: A Praise Psalm of Thanksgiving

By James Boice

Theme: The Right Kind of Universalism

From this week’s lessons we see that Psalm 66 tells us to praise the Lord and gives us an example of one who is doing just that.

Scripture: Psalm 66:1-20

Most Bible students know that later in its history, after the Babylonian captivity, the nation of Israel became religiously exclusive. The masses of Jews looked down on Gentiles, who were thought of as being excluded from any relationship to the true God, and deservedly so. It is somewhat surprising therefore to find many times a considerably broader and inclusive view in the psalms.

Think and Act Biblically from James Boice is a devotional of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. It is supported only by its readers and gracious Christians like you. Please prayerfully consider supporting Think and Act Biblically and the mission of the Alliance.

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