James Montgomery Boice on Evangelical History and the Five Solas

Come to the Waters

Come to the waters, whoever is thirsty; drink from the Fountain that never runs dry. Jesus, the Living One, offers you mercy, life more abundant in boundless supply. 

Come to the River that flows through the city, forth from the throne of the Father and Son. Jesus the Savior says, "Come and drink deeply." Drink from the pure, inexhaustible One. 

Come to the Fountain without any money; buy what is given without any cost. Jesus, the gracious One, welcomes the weary; Jesus, the selfless One, died for the lost. 

Come to the Well of unmerited favor; stretch out your hand; fill your cup to the brim. Jesus is such a compassionate Savior. Draw from the grace that flows freely from Him. 

Come to the Savior, the God of salvation. God has provided an end to sin's strife. Why will you suffer the Law's condemnation? Take the free gift of the water of life. 

Adapted from Seven Churches, Four Horsemen, One Lord: Lessons from the Apocalypse by James Montgomery Boice

Book Review: The Parables of Jesus by James Montgomery Boice

Jesus taught in mostly parables which is, simply put, a story with a heavenly meaning. Jesus' purpose for parables was to teach what the Kingdom of God was like and how the people of God ought to live. Only three of the four gospels contain these parables, which has studied, preached, and written about for the last 2,000 years.

James Montgomery Boice, the famous preacher from Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, preaches on the parables of Jesus back in 1980-1981 and put them together in a book, appropriately titled, The Parables of Jesus. Boice never intended for his sermon series to become a book, but saw how his series on the parables of Jesus were such a blessing to others.

This book has a similar format to John MacArthur's book, where the parables are divided into categories based on what Jesus taught. We have parables of the kingdom, salvation, wisdom & folly, the Christian life, and judgment. I love that he reserved the parable of Lazarus and the Rich Man as the last parable so the reader can think about where they will spend eternity.

This book gives a simplistic teaching to the parables of Jesus without making it feel like it is an exhaustive commentary. This book will be a perfect companion as one reads the parables of Jesus.

Thanks Moody Publishers for letting me review this book.

The Bible is a Dead Book Without The Spirit

The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Without the Holy Spirit the Bible is a dead book. That is why a person "without the Spirit" cannot understand it. In order to understand the Word, hear the voice of Christ in it, and begin to follow Him in obedience, the individual must be born again. In addition, he must wait on God and pray for the Holy Spirit's guidance. On the other hand, without the written Word of God as an objective guide, claims to a special leading of the Spirit quickly deteriorate into the kind of foolishness heard on the "Have You Had a Spiritual Experience?" program.

James Montgomery Boice, Christ's Call To Discipleship