Martin Wickens
Speaking the Truth in Love
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Book Review: Does God Desire All to Be Saved – #3
Part 1 – Introduction Part 2 – Piper’s Aim In the 2nd chapter of Piper’s booklet, he sets out to give examples of God’s two wills. His goal is to prove that God has one will that desires all to be saved, but a second will that acts to only save some. We must keep…
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Because of, Not in Order to
At times, the guilt and shame of acknowledged sin can leave us feeling crushed, speechless, and perhaps even wondering how we can recover. In these instances, I believe the Penitential Psalms can give voice to emotions and thoughts we cannot express on our own. The majority of the Bible cover God speaking to us. One…
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How to Pray for One Another – Thankfulness (1/4)
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you al toward each other aboundeth: 2 Thessalonians 1:3 Paul modeled the prayer life to which each Christian should aspire. As Paul writes to his friends and co-workers,…
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Book Review: Does God Desire All to Be Saved – #2
Part 1 – Introduction In the first chapter of this booklet John Piper explains his aim for the publication, “My aim in this short book is to show from Scripture that the simultaneous existence of God’s will for all people to be saved and his will to choose some people for salvation unconditionally before creation…
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Unsearchable Riches
Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; Ephesians 3:8 A few weeks ago a Bible reading plan I followed with others at Bedford Bible Church took us through Ephesians 3. Verse 8 hit a chord…
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Shining Lights
In verse 15 of Philippians 2 Paul reaches his conclusion for a series of admonitions and instructions he has given the believers. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world… Philippians 2:15…
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Past vs Present
Years ago I read the story of a man who preached and taught on the book of Ephesians in a way that struck one of his listeners. Later, when the chance arose, the preacher was asked how he knew the book so well. The preacher explained that he had read the short epistle over, and…
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When Donut Day Turns into Donut Weekend
On Friday, June 7th, we participated in a noble event, National Donut Day. We didn’t realize the day existed until the last minute, so we could only find some lesser quality donuts. The next morning, at the men’s prayer breakfast, they supplied some top quality cinnamon rolls, which continued the donut theme. On Sunday, a…
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Book Review: “Does God Desire All to be Saved?” #1
Recently, I wrote an extensive and somewhat meandering review of Roger Olson’s book, “against Calvinism”. In the interest of fairness, I am going to write a review of a booklet by John Piper titled, “Does God Desire all to be Saved”. While it is significantly shorter, it deals with a single subject and so has…
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Quiet Time Helps – How Can I Understand the Bible?
In a previous post I shared a few thoughts concerning our quiet time, or devotions. But once you’re regularly reading the Bible, it is important to make sure you really understand what you are reading. As with the previous article, this is just a primer and is designed as a starting place for children or…