Thanks, Celeste, for the good suggestion: I'll make it easier for those who might want to watch or listen to this sermon.

Just click on this link :

Then scroll down to sermon #20 and choose if you want video, audio, etc.

Bryan

Must reading on the subject of this post. Check out this good article by Jeremy Walker over at Reformation21. http://bit.ly/oe7pNQ

Thanks for admitting your need, Grant. I will be praying for you! Keep in mind that when you say, "I need more faith," you are also admitting your need for GRACE! Don't think of faith as a quality that you possess in your own sinful self. Faith is believing, and our believing in Jesus is a gift that God gives us by grace. Apart from God's grace we are blind in our sinful unbelief, but by his grace he gives us "spiritual sight"--i.e. faith.

Look at the cross of Jesus. Praise him for dying as your substitute and paying for all your sins. Ask God for the faith to truly believe that your debt is paid and you are acceptable to God because of Jesus.

Bryan Jay

And as John Piper is fond of reminding us... God's glory, and our profound joy are not mutually exclusive goals. Each leads to the other.

Thanks for pointing this out, Bryan (nice name by the way). This is an excellent point, and I may add another blog post including this information. There is just so much more to be said about this issue, so I'm not sure how much longer I will keep treating it in the blog.

Marie, I should have mentioned that the interpretation you are offering is one that Augustine held. Actually, he had taught that the Rock was Peter, but later in life he changed his position and taught that the Rock (in this passage) was indeed Christ.