Dr. John Calvin on God's Kindness

"The acknowledgment of God’s kindness is a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor; yea, it is a more acceptable service than all sacrifices. God is continually heaping innumerable benefits upon men. Their ingratitude, therefore, is intolerable, if they fail to exercise themselves in celebrating those benefits." Commentray on Genesis 24:52

Advice from the Puritan William Bates for Scriptural Meditation

Use these rules for Meditating on the truth's of God's Word:
1. Labor to have your heart cleansed from the guilt of sin.
2. Labor for a pure heart. The former rule respected the guilt of sin, this the defilement.
3. Treasure up in your souls a stock of spiritual truths.
4. Sobriety in the use of all worldly things.
5. Labor for fervent love for spiritual things.
Works of Bates ,Volume 3

Take The Preached Word Seriously

What is that makes one sermon different from another? What is that seems to grab your attention in such a way that you cannot walk away from a sermon without saying, "God has truly spoken to me through His preached and proclaimed Word today?" Do the following words of Calvin from his Commentary on 2 Timothy 3:1-2 ring true for the preaching you are sitting under?
"Here, as in a very weighty matter, Paul adds a solemn charge, exhibiting to Timothy, God as the avenger, and Christ as the judge, if he shall cease to discharge his office of teaching. And, indeed, in like manner as God showed by an inestimable pledge, when he spared not his only-begotten Son, how great is the care which he has for the Church, so he will not suffer to remain unpunished the negligence of pastors, through whom souls, which he hath redeemed at so costly a price, perish or are exposed as a prey."
I should say to Rev. David Murray, Rev. Ray Lanning, Rev. Roy Blackwood, and Seminarian Nathan Eshelman (along with the many other faithful ministers of the Word and Sacraments) thank you for taking this verse seriously in your lifetime and calling. We serve a truly awesome God.

Richard Alleine's Advice on Why we Ought to Ponder Our Path

There are four reasons why we ought to ponder our path:
1. God ponders them. Isaiah 26:7
2. The devil ponders them. Luke 22:31
3. Wicked men, our enemies ponder them. Psalm 64
4. Our way may be right in our own eyes for lack of consideration, when yet upon consideration, it may appear to be the way of death. Proverbs 14:12

Dr. John Calvin on the Word of God

"Here, then, is the sovereign power with which pastors of the church , by whatever name they be called, ought to be endowed. That is that they may dare boldly do all things by God's Word; may compel worldly power, glory, wisdom, and exaltation to yield to and obey his majesty; supported by His power, may command all from the highest even to the last; may build up Christ's household and cast down Satan's , may feed the sheep and drive away the wolves; may instruct and support the teachable; may accuse, rebuke, and subdue the rebellious and stubborn: may bind and loose, finally, if need be, may launch thunderbolts and lightnings; but do all things in God's Word" Institutes of the Christian Religion 4.8.9

Love to Christ

"The life of Christianity consists very much in our love to Christ" Puritan Thomas Vincent

John 17:20-26

Ephesians 5:1-7

Colossians 3

Wisdom from the Puritan Thomas Brooks

"A holy reliance, a holy resting, a holy staying of thy soul upon the promises , makes the promises thy own; yea, it makes all the good, and all the sweet, and all the happiness and blessedness that is wrapped up in the promises thine" Works, Volume 3, page 255.