For Your Consideration.

John Piper on the Prosperity Gospel




Paul Washer on the Humanistic Gospel




John Piper on Retirement

A Matthew Henry Moment

"And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put a man whom he had formed." Genesis II, 8

Observe the place appointed for Adam's residence was a garden; not an ivory house nor a palace overlaid with gold, but a garden, furnished and adorned by nature, not by art. What little reason have men to be proud of stately and magnificent buildings, when it was the happiness of man in innocency that he needed none! As clothes came in with sin, so did houses. The heaven was the roof of Adams house, and never was any roof so curiously ceiled and painted. The earth was his floor, and never was any floor so richly inlaid. The shadow of the trees was his retirement; under them were his dining rooms, his lodging rooms, and never were any rooms so finely hung as these: Solomon's, in all their glory, were not arrayed like them. The better we can accommodate ourselves to plain things, and the less we indulge ourselves with those artificial delights which have been invented to gratify men's pride and luxury, the nearer we approach to a state of innocency. Nature is content with a little and that which is most natural, grace with less, and lust with nothing.

An Earlier-in-the-Day Meditation, Confirmed!

I was meditating on these very thoughts earlier today, just a few hours before I came across this quote by Calvin in Cornelius Van Til's, "A Defense for Christianity." It's always nice to see thoughts you've had confirmed by doctrinal giants. Assuring.

"All controversies about the nature of man, his sin and his salvation, must be settled by exegesis of Scripture. For although the Lord represents both himself and his everlasting Kingdom in the mirror of his works with very great clarity, such is our stupidity that we grow increasingly dull toward so manifest testimonies, and they flow away without profiting us. For with regard to the most beautiful structure and order of the universe, how many of us are there who, when we lift up our eyes to heaven or cast them about through the various regions of earth, recall our minds to a remembrance of the Creator, and do not rather, disregarding their Author, sit idly in contemplation of his works? In fact, with regard to those events which daily take place outside the ordinary course of nature, how many of us do not reckon that men are whirled and twisted about by blindly indiscriminate fortune, rather than governed by God’s providence? Sometimes we are driven by the leading and direction of these things to contemplate God; this of necessity happens to all men. Yet after we rashly grasp a conception of some sort of divinity, straightway we fall back into the ravings or evil imaginings of our flesh, and corrupt by our vanity the pure truth of God. In one respect we are indeed unalike, because each one of us privately forges his own particular error; yet we are very much alike in that, one and all, we forsake the one true God for prodigious trifles. Not only the common folk and dull-witted men, but also the most excellent and those otherwise endowed with keen discernment are infested with this disease." Calvin, Institutes, Book I, 5,9


It sickens me how sometimes I prop up beautiful and glorious creations of God as idols, instead of things to worship God through. A violation of the first commandment, no matter how small the object is or how little adoration I give the thing.

Lord, help me to see the seriousness of my idolatry, and help me not to let things, even good things that come from Your hand, get in the way of me giving You all the glory I can. Amen.

#2 Paris Reidhead - 10 Shekels and a Shirt

(A series of 48 sermons that have angered, broken, impacted, molded, and changed me.)


#2 “Ten Shekels and a Shirt” – Paris Reidhead

I remember vividly the first time I heard this sermon - straining my ears to listen to the meager sounds produced by my Apple speakers. As the speaker’s voice rose around the thirty minute mark, a crescendo began in me as well. Not a mere crescendo of emotion, but one of irreversible and inescapable truth as I began to see (with horror) the humanistic motives of my own heart enveloping all my actions and words. The pounding of his fist on the podium echoed the pounding God was doing in my heart - breaking away the ice around my jaded conscience to be able to see the radiant truths spoken.

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A sermon that will impact all areas of your theology and one that has impacted many great preachers and theologians since it was preached in 1965. It’s even been called by some the “Sermon of the Century.”

(click below to listen)

#2 - Paris Reidhead - 10 Shekels and a Shirt



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#1 Paul Washer - Youth Message 2002

(A series of 48 sermons that have angered, broken, hurt, impacted, molded, and changed me.)

#1 “Youth Message 2002” – Paul Washer

If anything I have every heard in my life could be defined by the old Latin meaning of the word “ataraxic”, this sermon would be it. A disturbing shock into a state of tranquility. This message sent me into a state of doubt and self examination, and then into a confession and repentance that hasn’t left since I heard it eight months ago. It was also my first introduction to Paul Washer, who God has used immensely in my life. I’ve listened to over 500 of his sermons and I see no end in sight!

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This sermon was preached to 5,000 youth attending a conference in 2002. He was never asked to preach there again.

(click below to listen.)

#1 - Paul Washer - Shocking Youth Message 2002


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Paul Washer's Secret

Please Lord, break me and make me.

Some Newer Work

I recently shot some photos for a local Dubuque band called "Ineloquent". It was a frigid February day, but they braved the cold and I think we got some great images thanks to their effort.