Reflections

The Bottom Line: Encouragement

2011-02-19T07:24:00.000-08:00

THE BOTTOM LINE

Mark LaCour

"But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." ". . . let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Heb. 3:13-14; 10:24-25).

en•kur•age•ment -- that grace from God through the words or deeds of another that strengthens believers in their faith. Fellowship emphasizes what we own together, and edification what we build together, but encouragement, what we galvanize together. It's a retardant against sin and an accelerant for good deeds. It's what causes a runner to run the distance and a fighter to stay on his feet. A few observations concerning its importance:

First, encouragement is a divine mandate. God commands us to encourage (1 Thess. 5:14) and be encouraged (Rom. 1:12). Those who forsake assembling together become skilled at excusing sin's deceitfulness. The result is a hard heart and a falling away from God (Heb. 3:12). As one writer put it: Either go to church or go to hell. There are no exceptions.

Second, encouragement is a daily essential. Its frequency underscores its necessity. Sin's lies never take a break. A hard heart is 24 hours away. If you wait till church for encouragement you're six days removed from the living God. Every fighter is only as good as his corner, and no corner is going to wait till the end of the round to encourage.

Lastly, encouragement is a driven dynamic. To give encouragement is to impart an energy, a perspective that the discouraged doesn't have but desperately needs. Maybe it's an affirmation of some truth, the praise of some task, a consolation that shoulders sorrow, an acceptance in spite of failure, even a loving kick in the pants. Regardless, it strengthens for the task ahead. Which is why if unbelief is the worst of the poisonous plants, discouragement is the greenhouse it grows in.

A race car driver is only as good as his pit crew. People are going to fall down -- it's natural. Your job, Barnabas (Acts 4:26), is to keep them from staying down. "Therefore, strengthen the hands that are weak and the knees that are feeble, and make straight paths for your feet, so that the limb which is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed." (Heb. 12:12-13).

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Earthly Fame

2011-02-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

If thou hast honor and fame, accept it; but let this prayer go up, “My God, bless thou me indeed,for what profit were it, if my name were in a thousand mouths, if thou shouldest spue it out of thy mouth? What matter, though my name were written on marble, if it were not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? These blessings are only apparently blessings, windy blessings, blessings that mock me. Give me thy blessing: then the honor which comes of thee will make me blessed indeed.” If you happen to have lived in obscurity, and have never entered the lists for honors among your fellow-men, be content to run well your own course and fulfill truly your own vocation. To lack fame is not the most grievous of ills; it is worse to have it like the snow, that whitens the ground in the morning, and disappears in the heat of the day. What matters it to a dead man that men are talking of him?

-C. H. Spurgeon

Worship and Prayer

2011-02-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Perhaps the highest and loftiest acts a Christian can have toward God are worship and prayer. These two acts are uniquely vertical--they are the only things a believer does that are directly toward God and that directly bring him or her into relationship and communion with God. The one exception is the reading of Scripture, but that is a means to bring us to worship and prayer. All other aspects of the Christian life are horizontal--they are outward toward others. Worship and prayer are uniquely God-centered. They deal with God alone and bring us to Him relationally.

Therefore, these ought to be viewed as the most primary acts and responsibilities of the Christian. Nothing is to take precedence over worship and prayer. If neglected, all other aspects of the Christian life will wither. Nothing about the Christian life can survive or thrive without them. Supremely important and the most vital of all is worship and prayer.

If this is true, is it not a wonderful grace that both of these acts--worship and prayer--are not dependent upon anything external? They don't require a group of people, money, education, or politics. You don't have to be especially smart, gifted, and outgoing to worship or pray. You don't have to know someone and get a committee to organize anything.

Prayer and worship can be done anytime, anywhere, and by any Christian, regardless of their abilities, financial status, education, or people skills. All that is needed is one thing--a heart for prayer and worship. The two greatest ministries there are can be done without a newsletter, a ministry staff or an office. They can be done quietly from an apartment or bedroom. Nothing to do except draw near and stay there. Get alone and get with God. He has promised the one who goes to the prayer closet that "He is in secret and sees in secret."

Why are so many people who are wanting to be involved in "ministry", only pursuing outward ministries? Young men want a ministry of preaching, evangelism, music, missions, and service, yet the ministry of private worship and prayer are greatly neglected. Not many at all feel "called" to that ministry. The reason is because worship and prayer are not before men--they are not done publicly, to be seen by men. They are not busy activities, but are done in stillness and in private. Yet these two acts in the Christian life take more discipline, more calling, and more grace than anything else that could be done.

It is much easier to preach, evangelize, take mission trips, and do other ministry than it is to pray. But the highest, loftiest, and most difficult ministry of all is private prayer. And it is probably the most needed today.

I have been a Christian almost 38 years. I have heard many people say, "I believe I am called to preach or pastor;" "I know God has called me to be a missionary;" "I am called to lead music in worship." But there are few who view prayer as a life's work and calling, and who give up time with people and public ministry to be away and alone in the secret place to pray.

The priority of private worship and prayer are greatly neglected today. People would rather be with people and be active than be still before God. But at the end of life, when we enter into old age, there will be many activities we cannot do any more and will have to give up--

write or use a computer when you always could before, go to church meetings when you always could before, preach and teach when you did it for forty years, travel and do missions when you were so active and healthy, write books or tracts when your mind was still clear, do outward acts of service when your body worked correctly.

In other words, when all ability to do outward activities have ceased and you must sit all day or lay on a bed with illness, there are only two activities you can do until you die-- prayer and worship.

So if these two are 1) the primary acts toward God; 2) the most needed and most neglected; 3) can be done without needing anything except a heart for them; 4) can be done until you die;

If this is true, why not do them more now? Who among us is called to make prayer their priority in 2011? Among all the young people and college students, who says, "I want a life of prayer--I will give up outward ministry positions, live at home and rent a cheap room, work part-time, and pray most of my time?"

Who feels called to a ministry of prayer before a calling to missions? Who will give up the spot light of public ministry to be hidden away with God?

When the Christian life begins, a new convert can worship and pray; when a couple doesn't have any "ministry", they can have a ministry of prayer; when you are financially broke, you can pray for others; when life is nearing its end, your body is broken, and all you can do is sit or lay on a bed, still you can pray and worship God.

When Leonard Ravenhill had to jump from a burning hotel in 1951 in Chicago, he had seven major breaks in his body--feet, legs, arms, and back; his preaching trip to many countries was cancelled, all outward activity was stopped, busyness was gone and everything ceased. For a year, he could do nothing but lay in bed in pain. Then one night, he read Luke's gospel about the woman who came to Jesus and never said a word--she just washed his feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. She worshipped. Ravenhill then realized he could do something in that bed--his heart could go up to Jesus in prayer and his heart could worship God when he had nothing else to do and no ability to do anything else.

These two things he did for a year from his bed. It changed him forever. Worship and prayer became his priority.

I wonder this coming year if it can become a priority for any of us? Time is passing, life is passing, and many of us may be wasting time on outward things that don't count for eternity--may we give ourselves now to two things we can do when we are ninety in a nursing home or on a sick bed--worship and prayer.

So here's a call to all younger people-- if you are desiring to serve God and don't know what He wants you to do, choose a ministry of prayer. You already know He has told you to pray and develop your prayer life. You are thinking about if God wants you in ministry full time and what ministry he want you to do--preaching, teaching, mission? Give yourself to prayer. Ask Christ, "Lord, teach me to pray." Just give yourself to a ministry of prayer. Don't tell others; don't talk about it, or write and blog about it, and don't have motives for others to know it. Just do it. Make prayer your priority and your ministry.

Secondly, here's an invitation. For any brother or couple who want to have a time of prayer together any day of the week, I invite you to pray with me. I will pray with you. It's easy to have a prayer meeting by phone or on Skype.

Worship and prayer shape everything we are and everything we do. 2011 is a good year for these to become more than they have ever been in our lives.

-- Mack Tomlinson

Calvinist vs Arminian Ultimate Fighting

2011-01-31T17:09:00.000-08:00

[Charles Simeon:] Sir, I understand that you are called an Arminian; and I have been sometimes called a Calvinist; and therefore I suppose we are to draw daggers. But before I consent to begin the combat, with your permission I will ask you a few questions. Pray, Sir, do you feel yourself a depraved creature, so depraved that you would never have thought of turning to God, if God had not first put it into your heart?

[John Wesley:] Yes, I do indeed.

[S:] And do you utterly despair of recommending yourself to God by anything you can do; and look for salvation solely through the blood and righteousness of Christ?

[W:] Yes, solely through Christ.

[S:] But, Sir, supposing you were at first saved by Christ, are you not somehow or other to save yourself afterwards by your own works?

[W:] No, I must be saved by Christ from first to last.

[S:] Allowing, then, that you were first turned by the grace of God, are you not in some way or other to keep yourself by your own power?

[W:] No.

[S:] What then, are you to be upheld every hour and every moment by God, as much as an infant in its mother’s arms?

[W:] Yes, altogether.

[S:] And is all your hope in the grace and mercy of God to preserve you unto His heavenly kingdom?

[W:] Yes, I have no hope but in Him.

[S:] Then, Sir, with your leave I will put up my dagger again; for this is all my Calvinism; this is my election, my justification by faith, my final perseverance: it is in substance all that I hold, and as I hold it; and therefore, if you please, instead of searching out terms and phrases to be a ground of contention between us, we will cordially unite in those things wherein we agree.

[Quoted in Memoirs of the Life of Charles Simeon, p 107]

Quotes by A.W. Tozer

2009-07-07T15:36:00.001-07:00

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"I say that a Christian congregation can survive and often appear to prosper in the community by the exercise of human talent and without any touch from the Holy Spirit! All that religious activity and the dear people will not know anything better until the great and terrible day when our self-employed talents are burned with fire and only that which was wrought by the Holy Ghost will stand forever!" -Tragedy in the Church: The Missing Gifts, page 30.

"We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do--flee it or die upon it." - The Root of the Righteous, page 63.

"Christianity today is man-centered, not God-centered. God is made to wait patiently, even respectfully, on the whims of men. The image of God currently popular is that of a distracted Father, struggling in heartbroken desperation to get people to accept a Saviour of whom they feel no need and in whom they have very little interest. To persuade these self-sufficent souls to respond to His generous offers God will do almost anything, even using salesmanship methods and talking down to them in the chummiest way imaginable. This view of things is, of course, a kind of religious romanticism which, while it often uses flattering and sometimes embarrasing terms in praise of God, manages nevertheless to make man the star of the show." - Man: The Dwelling Place of God, page 27.

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One of God’s Great "Don’ts"

2009-07-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

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Cease from anger and forsake wrath, Do not fret-it only causes harm. Psalm 37:8

Fretting means getting ourselves "out of joint" mentally or spiritually. It is one thing to say, "Do not fret," but something very different to have such a nature that you find yourself unable to fret. It’s easy to say, "Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him" ( Psalm 37:7 ) until our own little world is turned upside down and we are forced to live in confusion and agony like so many other people. Is it possible to "rest in the Lord" then? If this "Do not" doesn’t work there, then it will not work anywhere. This "Do not" must work during our days of difficulty and uncertainty, as well as our peaceful days, or it will never work. And if it will not work in your particular case, it will not work for anyone else. Resting in the Lord is not dependent on your external circumstances at all, but on your relationship with God Himself.

Worrying always results in sin. We tend to think that a little anxiety and worry are simply an indication of how wise we really are, yet it is actually a much better indication of just how wicked we are. Fretting rises from our determination to have our own way. Our Lord never worried and was never anxious, because His purpose was never to accomplish His own plans but to fulfill God’s plans. Fretting is wickedness for a child of God.

Have you been propping up that foolish soul of yours with the idea that your circumstances are too much for God to handle? Set all your opinions and speculations aside and "abide under the shadow of the Almighty" ( Psalm 91:1 ). Deliberately tell God that you will not fret about whatever concerns you. All our fretting and worrying is caused by planning without God.

-Oswald Chambers

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The Strictest Discipline

2009-06-29T07:16:00.000-07:00

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If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell —Matthew 5:30

Jesus did not say that everyone must cut off his right hand, but that "if your right hand causes you to sin" in your walk with Him, then it is better to "cut it off." There are many things that are perfectly legitimate, but if you are going to concentrate on God you cannot do them. Your right hand is one of the best things you have, but Jesus says that if it hinders you in following His precepts, then "cut it off." The principle taught here is the strictest discipline or lesson that ever hit humankind.

When God changes you through regeneration, giving you new life through spiritual rebirth, your life initially has the characteristic of being maimed. There are a hundred and one things that you dare not do— things that would be sin for you, and would be recognized as sin by those who really know you. But the unspiritual people around you will say, "What’s so wrong with doing that? How absurd you are!"

There has never yet been a saint who has not lived a maimed life initially. Yet it is better to enter into life maimed but lovely in God’s sight than to appear lovely to man’s eyes but lame to God’s. At first, Jesus Christ through His Spirit has to restrain you from doing a great many things that may be perfectly right for everyone else but not right for you. Yet, see that you don’t use your restrictions to criticize someone else.

The Christian life is a maimed life initially, but inMatthew 5:48 Jesus gave us the picture of a perfectly well-rounded life— "You shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect."

-Oswald Chambers-"My Utmost For His Highest"

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Word of the day

2009-06-24T13:41:00.000-07:00

Regeneration

[ree-jehn’-uh-ray‘-shun]

(Latin regenerare, “to reproduce”)

The doctrine of spiritual renewal, otherwise known as being born-again. According to Titus 3:3-7, in his mercy God saves us by washing away our old nature through the power of the Holy Spirit, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life, as verse 7 states. There is some controversy as to when regeneration happens in the ordo salutis (order of salvation). Calvinists assert that regeneration happens before faith; Arminians believe it happens after faith evidences itself.

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Word of the day

2009-06-22T10:04:00.000-07:00

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Sanctification

[saynk’-tuh-fih-kay‘-shun]

(Latin sanctifare, “to consecrate” or “make holy,” from Greek hagiazo, “to purify”)

Refers to the state or process of being set apart for special use. In Christian theology, is in reference to the change brought about by God in the believer which began at the point of salvation (justification) and continues throughout the life of the believer until the final state of glorification. The word (hagiasmos=sanctifcation/holiness) occurs several times in the NT (e.g., Rom. 6:19,22; 1 Cor. 1:30; 1 Thess. 4:3,4,7; 2 Thess. 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2).

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Gold refined by fire

2009-06-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

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“There is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life.”

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.—Now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.—“In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Rev. 3:18; Mark 10:29, 30; 1 Pet. 4:12; 1 Pet. 1:6, 7; 1 Pet. 5:10; John 16:33

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Paul Washer - Are You a True Disciple?

2009-06-16T12:10:00.000-07:00

Expiation

2009-06-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

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[ek’-spee-ay‘-shun]

(Latin ex- as an intensive prefix + Latin piare, “to atone”)

Meaning “to atone, or make reparations for.” In Christian theology the term refers to the penal substitution of Christ on behalf of his people. Specifically it emphasizes the removal of guilt through the payment for the penalty of sin. This notion is coupled with the concept of propitiation, which refers to the appeasement or averting of God’s wrath and justice. Both concepts are seen together as two sides of the same coin.

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The Lord Is My Strength and My Song

2009-06-11T05:47:00.000-07:00

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Isaiah 12

12:1 You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.

2 “Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”

3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. 4 And you will say in that day:

“Give thanks to the Lord,
call upon his name,
make known his deeds among the peoples,
proclaim that his name is exalted.

5 “Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be made known in all the earth.
6 Shout, and sing for joy, O inhabitant of Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.”

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Does the bible teach that there are two peoples of God, Israel and the Church?

2009-06-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

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Not only does the bible not teach that there are two distinct peoples of God, Israel and the Church, but it is very explicitly opposed to this idea. For one thing, the Church existed in the Old Testament, long before the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost (see Acts 7:38); and furthermore, the clear teaching of the New Testament is that the modern day Church is really just the expansion of God's people Israel. According to Paul, being an Israelite has never been based merely on outward ethnicity (Rom. 2:28-29; 9:6-8); but those who have been called according to God's promise are Abraham's true seed (Rom. 9:8). Hence, all who have faith are Abraham's children, and the true Israel of God (Rom. 4:11-17; Galatians 3:6-9, 26-29; 4:21-31; 6:16; Phil. 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:9-10; Rev. 2:9).

When Paul deals extensively with the whole question of the place of Jews and Gentiles in the people of God, in Romans 11, he shows that there is just one people, symbolized by one good olive tree; unbelieving ethnic Jews may be broken off of that tree of true Israel and believing Gentiles may be grafted in; but there is still one tree, one body, one people of God. Thus, Paul teaches elsewhere that there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in Christ (Gal. 3:26-29; Col. 3:11), but that all believers are members of the same body, citizens of the one commonwealth of Israel, inheritors of all the promises made to Abraham (Eph. 2:11-22; 3:6; Gal. 4:26-31; Phil. 3:20; Heb. 12:22-23). In short, there is and always has been one people of God, and that people includes all those who are grafted in to God's “good olive tree” to become Abraham's children by faith, whether ethnic Jews or Gentiles.

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Does the bible teach that in the end times there will be a restored Jewish state and a restored temple?

2009-06-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

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In the Old Testament, the bible does indeed prophesy that Israel will be restored and a more glorious temple will be rebuilt (e.g. Amos 9:11-12; Ezekiel 40-48). The preliminary fulfillment of this prophecy came with the return from exile, and the rebuilding of the temple under Nehemiah and Ezra; however, this was just a taste, or down payment, of the ultimate fulfillment.

When Jesus came to this earth, his incarnation truly brought the presence of God to the world of men, as the tabernacle and temple had been designed to do; and hence, John says that he “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14). Thus, when he purged the temple, he prophesied that the temple would be destroyed and rebuilt after three days; but he was speaking of his own body, which is the true temple (John 2:13-22). After this ultimate temple-rebuilding, which occurred in the resurrection of Jesus, there was no longer a need for the typological temple of stone in Jerusalem, so Jesus prophesied its destruction, which happened in 70 AD (Matthew 24:1-2). Today, the prophecy of the restored temple and the restored Jewish people is being fulfilled, not in a temple of stone, for that has been destroyed in the presence of the body of Christ, which is the ultimate Temple of God, but in the spiritual body of Christ, the Church, which has become the “Israel of God” (see Gal. 6:16; and also Romans 2:28-29; 4:11-17; 9:6-8; Galatians 3:6-9, 26-29; 4:21-31; Ephesians 2:11-22; 3:6; Phil. 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:9-10; Rev. 2:9), and which God is now making into a holy Temple, built upon Christ the Cornerstone (see 1 Cor 6:19-20; Eph. 2:19-22; 1 Tim. 3:15; Rev. 3:12).

One of the clearest and most monumental Old Testament prophecies regarding the restoration of the tabernacle may be found in Amos 9:11-12; and in Acts 15:14-17, James clearly teaches that this passage is being fulfilled in the spreading of the gospel to the Gentiles; so in sum yes, the bible prophesies of a restored Jewish nation and temple, but then goes on to teach that this prophecy was fulfilled in Jesus' becoming the true and final Temple of God, and subsequently in his making his people a holy temple in the Lord, where God's presence might dwell among them, even today.

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Tozer on the Gifts of the Spirit

2009-06-05T20:12:00.000-07:00

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“For a generation certain evangelical teachers have told us that the gifts of the Spirit ceased at the death of the apostles or at the completion of the New Testament. This, of course, is a doctrine without a syllable of Biblical authority back of it. The result of this erroneous teaching is that spiritually gifted persons are ominously few among us. This frightening hour calls aloud for men with the gift of prophetic insight. Instead we have men who conduct surveys, polls and panel discussions. We need men with the gift of knowledge. In their place we have men with scholarship—nothing more. Thus, we may be preparing ourselves for the tragic hour when God may set us aside as so-called evangelicals and raise up another movement to keep New Testament Christianity alive in the earth.

The truth of the matter is that the Scriptures plainly imply the imperative of possessing the gifts of the Spirit. But I must also add a word of caution. The various spiritual gifts are not equally valuable, as Paul so carefully explains. Certain brethren have magnified one gift out of seventeen out of all proportion. Among these brethren there have been and are many godly souls, but the general moral results of this teaching have nevertheless not been good. In practice it has resulted in much shameless exhibitionism, a tendency to depend upon experiences instead of upon Christ and often a lack of ability to distinguish the works of the flesh from the operations of the Spirit. Those who deny that the gifts are for us today and those who insist upon making a hobby of one gift are both wrong, and we are all suffering the consequences of their error.”

-A.W. Tozer

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John Newton on Walking with Jesus

2009-06-05T06:11:00.000-07:00

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Walking with Jesus

(Letters of John Newton)

When I speak of walking with Jesus, my idea is helped by considering how it was with His first disciples--they lived in His presence! While He stayed in a place--they stayed; and when He moved--they went with Him. Having Him thus always near, always in view--the sight of Him undoubtedly gave a composure to their whole behavior; and was a check upon their eyes, their tongues, and their actions!

When they had hard questions upon their minds--they did not puzzle themselves with vain reasonings. When they were in need--they looked to Him for a supply. When they had difficulties and dangers--they little doubted of deliverance, knowing that He was with them.

Just so, I need a faith that shall have such an abiding, experimental conviction of His nearness and presence--as if I actually saw Him! "Lord, increase my faith!"

Surely, if He were now upon earth, and I expected a visit from Him this afternoon--my heart would bound at the thought! With what a mixture of joy and fear would I open the door to receive Him! How cautious would I be--not to do or say anything that might grieve Him, and shorten His stay with me! And how gladly, if He gave me permission to speak, would I catch the opportunity of telling Him all my concerns! Surely I would be unwilling to let Him go--until He had healed the wounds in my soul, and renewed my spiritual strength; until He had taught me better how to serve Him, and promised to support me in His service. And if I heard Him say, with an audible voice, "Though they fight against you--they shall not prevail, for I am always with you to deliver you!" I would bid adieu to fear!

But, alas, my unbelieving heart! Are not these things true, even at present? Is He not as near and as kind? Have I not the same reasons and the same encouragement to set Him always before me--and to tell Him . . .
all my needs,
all my fears, and
all my troubles--
as if I saw Him with my bodily eyes!

"Be sure of this: I am with you always--even to the end of the age!" Matthew 28:20

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“The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former. . . . And in this place I will give peace."

2009-06-04T08:29:00.000-07:00

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“The house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout all lands.”—The glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house.

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” . . . But he was speaking about the temple of his body.—Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it.—And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.—In these last days [God] has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”—Prince of Peace.—For he himself is our peace.—And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Hag. 2:9; 1 Chron. 22:5; 2 Chron. 7:2; John 2:19, 21; 2 Cor. 3:10; John 1:14; Heb. 1:2; Luke 2:14; Isa. 9:6; Eph. 2:14; Phi. 4:7

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John Newton on Greatness In the Kingdom of God

2009-06-02T07:22:00.001-07:00

"One man, like Mr. Whitefield, is raised up to preach the gospel with success through a considerable part of the earth. Another is called to the humbler service of sweeping the streets, or cleaning this great minister's shoes. Now, if the latter is thankful and content in his poor station,--if he can look without envy, yea, with much love on the man that is honoured,--if he can rejoice in the good that is done, or pray for the success of those whom the Lord sends,--I see not why he may not be as great a man in the sight of God as he who is followed and admired by thousands."

"Upon a supposition of degrees of glory, I should think it probable, the best Christian will have the highest place; and I am inclined to think that if you and I were to travel in search of the best Christian in the land, or were qualified to distinguish who deserved the title, it is more than two to one we should not find the person in a pulpit, or any public office of life. Perhaps some old woman at her wheel, or some bed-rid person, hid from the knowledge of the world, in a mud-walled cottage, would strike our attention more than any of the doctors or reverends with whom we are acquainted."

"Let us not measure men, much less ourselves, by gifts or services. One grain of grace is worth abundance of gifts. To be self-abased, to be filled with a spirit of love, and peace, and gentleness; to be dead to the world; to have the heart deeply affected with a sense of the glory and grace of Jesus, to have our will bowed to the will of God; these are the great things, more valuable, if compared in the balance of the sanctuary, than to be an instrument of converting a province or a nation."

-John Newton

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If then you have been raised with Christ

2009-06-01T11:23:00.001-07:00

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seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.

Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3 ESV)

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Justification

2009-05-29T10:13:00.000-07:00

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[jus’-tuh-fih-kay‘-shun]

(From the Greek word dikaioo, “to declare/make righteous”)

The act by which God declares a sinner to be just on the basis of the righteousness of Christ alone. According to Romans 1:18-3:28, justification is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ apart from works or merit.

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Not a Neutral World

2009-05-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

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Jesus did not come to a neutral world with the result that some people moved from neutrality to be anti-Jesus, and others moved from neutrality to be pro-Jesus. Nobody was neutral. And nobody is neutral. We have all sinned. We are all guilty. We are all perishing. Therefore, we are all under God’s righteous wrath. And we are already condemned.

Whether we stay that way depends on how we respond to Jesus. He came not to make neutral people into pro-Jesus people, but to make guilty people non-guilty, condemned people not condemned, and to make dead people eternally alive. God does not owe anybody acquittal or life. That Jesus came to offer it and that some accept it, is all undeserved grace.

- John Piper

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He Does as He Pleases

2009-05-28T06:49:00.000-07:00

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He Does As He Pleases

"For the Lord Almighty has purposed--and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out--and who can turn it back?" Isaiah 14:27

To say that God is sovereign, is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth, so that none can defeat His counsels, thwart His purpose, or resist His will.

Whatever takes place in time is but the outworking of that which He has decreed in eternity. The sovereignty of the God of Scripture is absolute, irresistible and infinite!

We insist that God does as He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases!

"But our God is in the heavens--He has done whatever He has pleased!" Psalm 115:3

"The Lord does whatever pleases Him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths!" Psalm 135:6

"All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as He pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back His hand or say to Him: What have you done?" Daniel 4:35

- A. W. Pink

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Philippians 4:11-14

2009-05-27T07:18:00.000-07:00

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I Have Learned The Secret!

11. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

14. Yet it was kind of you to share my trouble.

ESV

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The Differences Between Religion And The Gospel

2009-05-26T06:20:00.001-07:00

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RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.

THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.

RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.

THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.

RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.

THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.

RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good deserves a comfortable life.

THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.

RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that self-image must be destroyed at all costs.

THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can take criticism.

RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is control of the environment.

THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.

RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I feel like a failure.

THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”—simultaneously sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor sniveling.

RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.’

THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner need to win arguments.

RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc. I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning, happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe about God.

THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life—family, work, spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.

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Ps. 113:4-5 & Jonathan Edwards

2009-05-22T06:25:00.000-07:00

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I was reading this morning in Ps. 113, and came to verses 4 & 5:

⁴The LORD is high above all nations;
His glory is above the heavens.
⁵Who is like the LORD our God,
Who is enthroned on high

I was reminded of this quote from the life of Jonathan Edwards:

"Once, as I rode out into the woods for my health, in 1737, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine contemplation and prayer, I had a view, that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and his wonderful, great, full, pure and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescension. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, appeared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception -which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and annihilated; to lie in the dust; and to be full of Christ alone; to love him with a holy and pure love; to trust in him; to live upon him; to serve and follow him; and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure, with a divine and heavenly purity. I have several other times had views very much of the same nature, and which have had the same effects."

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No Mr. President!

2009-05-21T05:23:00.001-07:00

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Daniel 4:34-35

2009-05-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

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Nebuchadnezzar Restored

34. At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35. all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

So much for “God can’t move unless you let Him”!

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A New Creation

2009-05-19T06:37:00.000-07:00

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It is radical, revolutionary, lasting!

(Arthur Pink, "The Sovereignty of God")

"If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

In the new birth, God exerts a quickening influence or power upon His own elect. Regeneration is very, very much more than simply shedding a few tears because of some temporary remorse over sin. It is far more than changing our course of life, the leaving off of bad habits and the substituting of good ones. It is something different from the mere cherishing and practicing of noble ideals. It goes infinitely deeper than coming forward to take some popular evangelist by the hand, signing a pledge-card, or "joining the church." The new birth is no mere turning over a new leaf--but is the inception and reception of a new life! It is no mere reformation, but a radical transformation. In short, the new birth is a miracle--the result of the supernatural operation of God. It is radical, revolutionary, lasting!

In the new birth:

God lays hold of one who is spiritually dead--and quickens him into newness of life!

God takes up one who was shaped in iniquity and conceived in sin--and conforms him to the image of His Son!

God seizes a drudge of the Devil--and makes him a member of His holy family!

God picks up a destitute beggar--and makes him joint-heir with Christ!

God comes to one who is full of enmity against Him--and gives him a new heart that is full of love for Him!

God stoops to one who by nature is a rebel--and works in him both to will and to do of His good pleasure!

By His irresistible power, God transforms . . .
a sinner--into a saint;
an enemy--into His friend,
a drudge of the Devil--into His beloved child!

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“For as the Father has life in himself ...

2009-05-18T12:04:00.000-07:00

So he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.”

Our Savior Christ Jesus . . . abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.—“I am the resurrection and the life.”—“Because I live, you also will live.”—We share in Christ.—Those . . . who have shared in the Holy Spirit.—Partakers of the divine nature.—“The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. . . . Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.

“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” . . . who lives forever and ever.—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality.—To the King of ages, immortal, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

John 5:26; 2 Tim. 1:10; John 11:25; John 14:19; Heb. 3:14; Heb. 6:4; 2 Pet. 1:4; 1 Cor. 15:45, 51, 52; Rev. 4:8, 9; 1 Tim. 6:15, 16; 1 Tim. 1:17

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Throwing the Dice

2009-05-15T13:37:00.001-07:00

"We may throw the dice, but the Lord determines how they fall." Proverbs 16:33

If the fall of the dice is under the Lord's control, then whose is the arrangement of our whole life? If the simple casting of the dice is guided by Him, how much more the events of our entire life, especially when we are told by our blessed Savior, "The very hairs of your head are all numbered! Not a sparrow falls to the ground without your Father!" It would bring a holy calm over your mind, dear friend, if you were always to remember this. It would so relieve your mind from worry that you would be the better able to walk in patience, calmness, and cheerfulness, as a Christian should.

When a man is anxious, he cannot pray with faith or serve his Master. When you worry and fret about your lot and circumstances, you are meddling with Christ's business, and neglecting your own! You have been attempting "providing" work and forgetting that it is yours to "obey". Be wise and attend to the obeying, and let Christ manage the providing.

Come and survey your Father's storehouse, and ask whether He will let you starve while He has laid up so great an abundance in His garner! Look at His heart of mercy and ask if that heart can ever prove unkind! Look at His inscrutable wisdom and ask if that wisdom can ever be at fault. Above all, look to Jesus Christ your Intercessor, and ask yourself, while He pleads, can your Father deal ungraciously with you? If He remembers even sparrows, will He forget one of His poor children?

"Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will take care of you. He will not permit the godly to slip and fall." Psalm 55:22

- C. H. Spurgeon

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Living Sacrifice - A Biblical Truth

2009-05-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

As Christians, we're called to give ourselves to God as a "living sacrifice." The Apostle Paul helps us understand this truth in his letter to the believers in Rome:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Living Sacrifice - Dying to Self
So, how do we truly present ourselves to God as a living sacrifice? In a nutshell, we must die to our prior selves. This concept is wonderfully presented in this anonymous poem…

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;

That is dying to self.

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;

That is dying to self.

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;

That is dying to self.

When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;

That is dying to self.

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;

That is dying to self.

When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;

That is dying to self.

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;

That is dying to self.

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Sanctification - Biblical Meaning - Pt. 1 of 6

2009-05-13T08:08:00.002-07:00

Sanctification is a biblical doctrine that is emphasized a great deal in Christian teaching. Yet despite its importance, it is often perceived as a religious notion too complex to comprehend. Though sanctification may at first seem to be a foreign concept, it is one of the greatest things that has and is happening to every believer in Jesus Christ. Here we will explore the basic biblical doctrine of sanctification and discuss the key role it plays in a Christian's spiritual growth.

Sanctification comes from the verb sanctify. Sanctify originates from the Greek word hagiazo, which means to be "separate" or to be "set apart." In the Bible, sanctification generally relates to a sovereign act of God whereby He "sets apart" a person, place, or thing in order that His purposes may be accomplished. In the book of Exodus, God sanctifies a place of worship. "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory," says Exodus 29:43. Even a day can be sanctified as seen in Genesis 2:3 where the seventh day is "set apart" as a holy day of rest. "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made."

Similarly, when a person is sanctified he or she is being set apart by God for a specific divine purpose. The very moment we are saved in Christ we are also immediately sanctified and begin the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. As God's children we are "set apart" from that moment to carry out His divine purposes unto eternity. Hebrews 10:14 says, "For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified." Are you set apart for God?

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Sanctification - Different Than Salvation - Pt. 2 of 6

2009-05-13T08:08:00.001-07:00

It is important to differentiate between justification and sanctification. Justification is another word for salvation. Jesus gave his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sins. His blood washes away our sins and frees us from an eternity of suffering and condemnation. Believers are saved because of what Christ has already done. We can do nothing to earn salvation, it is the gift given to every child of God regardless of race, age, maturity, or merit. Sanctification occurs as a result of salvation. At the moment of conversion, the Holy Spirit enters our life. We are no longer held hostage by death, but are free to live the life God desires for us. We are thus sanctified simply because of our standing as lost souls saved by grace.

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Sanctification - A Continuing Process - Pt. 3 of 6

2009-05-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Sanctification does not stop with salvation, but rather it is a progressive process that continues in a Christian's life. Unlike the things and places that are sanctified by God in the Bible, people have the capacity to sin. Even though we have been "set apart" as God's children, we continue to behave in ways that are contrary. As Christians, we realize shortly after we have been saved that there is a new inner battle being waged within us - a battle between our old sin-lead nature and new Spirit-lead nature. Paul in Galatians best describes this inner struggle in Galatians 5:17: "For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish."

Like Paul, our heart's desire is to please and obey God, but our flesh is weak making sin difficult to resist. Yet, it is in our continual struggle with sin and obedience to God that sanctification does its work.

But what is the work of sanctification? What does it practically mean to be "set apart"? Sanctification can be described as an inward spiritual process whereby God brings about holiness and change in the life of a Christian by means of the Holy Spirit. The effects of living in a fallen world have harmed everybody differently. We all face different issues, struggle with sin, and past hurts of varying degrees, hindering our ability to live the life God desires for us. Once we accept Jesus Christ into our lives, the Holy Spirit enters our life to start a transformation process (progressive sanctification). He convicts us on areas that need to be changed, helping us to grow in holiness. We begin to view the world, people, and personal difficulties from a more biblical perspective. Our choices begin to be motivated by love and truth and not selfishness. For instance, we may have misplaced our confidence and security on beauty, wealth, and materialism, but God may ordain difficult circumstances to liberate us from these growth-hindering snares. The transformation process may be painful, but it is always motivated by God's love for us. Further, God promises in His Word to not give us more than we are able to handle (1 Corinthians 10:13).

This is the working process of sanctification is the life of every believer. Though the process is personal for each individual, the end goal is to prevent sin and produce spiritual growth. Note that sanctification has nothing to do with living in sinless perfection. We will never be sinless in this life. In fact, the Bible warns against such false teachings in 1 John 1:8: "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

Sanctification is not about trying to be sinless in order to earn the favor of God. Rather, sanctification is for our own benefit. God commands us to pursue sanctification so that through it we may be blessed.

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Sanctification - A Christian Responsibility - Pt. 4 of 6

2009-05-13T08:06:00.002-07:00

Sanctification is one of the most challenging aspects of the Christian walk. Our natural tendency is to embrace sin, yet God in His divine wisdom has chosen to give us the responsibility of working out our own sanctification. "Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good work," says 2 Timothy 2:21.

But how do we pursue sanctification? How are we personally responsible? Lovingly, God has sent His Holy Spirit and His written Word, the Bible, to guide us. Though every person's sanctification is unique and personal, there are common disciplines in the pursuit of sanctification that are unchanging.

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Sanctification - Practical Steps - Pt. 5 of 6

2009-05-13T08:06:00.001-07:00

Prayer is of utmost importance. When we are suffering or facing temptation, our mind and body are weak. Satan knows this and tries to take advantage of us. When we pray, we are in spiritual union with God. Not only will prayer comfort us in our hardship, but it will also give us the strength to overcome sin. Through prayer, we are also more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit.

God has also given us the written Word - the Bible. The Bible is not merely a history book, but its words have the power to sanctify us. When Satan tempted Jesus in Matthew 4, Jesus used the Word of God to overcome temptation. "But He answered and said, 'It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God'" (Matthew 4:4).

God's Word also has the power to transform our mind, convict, and bring to light the darkness that is within our hearts. It is the instrument which God uses to develop in us knowledge, faith, and personal holiness; all of which are essential elements of sanctification. "For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (Hebrews 4:12). Whether by studying or listening to teaching, the sanctifying work of God's Word is enormous to a believer who recognizes its truth and power.

Believers are also sanctified in worship. True fervent worship is what God desires from His people. When our worship is genuine, it transforms our hearts and brings us into close union with God. John 4:23 says, "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him."

Additionally, before Jesus ascended into heaven he tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for a gift God will send (Acts 1). This is the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our ultimate helper and sanctifier. When we yield to His leading, He has the power to help us resist sin and make positive change. "I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (Galatians 5:16).

When we sin and ignore the Holy Spirit's leading, we break fellowship with Him, thereby cutting off the life-changing power. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 commands us: "Do not quench the Spirit."

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Sanctification - Key to Spiritual Growth - Pt. 6 of 6

2009-05-13T08:03:00.001-07:00

Sanctification is both a matter of position and progression. We are sanctified because Jesus Christ has saved us and yet sanctification continues to work within to transform us unto the likeness of Christ. Sanctification is the responsibility of every believer in Christ. When we choose to pursue sanctification in our life, positive growth occurs. The pursuit of it involves the surrender of the body and the will to the leading of the Holy Spirit. It takes time and is a working progress that cannot be hurried. Like a newborn baby that gradually matures unto adulthood, so is the work of sanctification in the life of a new believer. The work of sanctification will ultimately be completed in every believer's life when Jesus Christ returns. This is the hope of every Christian.

Paul puts it best in his epistle to the Thessalonians: "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

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Reproaches have broken my heart

2009-05-12T07:02:00.000-07:00

“Is not this the carpenter's son?”—“Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”—“Are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon?”—“He casts out demons by the prince of demons.”—“We know that this man is a sinner.”—“He is leading the people astray.”—“This man is blaspheming.”— “Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!”

“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master.”—For this is a gracious thing, when, mindful of God, one endures sorrows while suffering unjustly. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly.—If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed.

Ps. 69:20; Matt. 13:55; John 1:46; John 8:48; Matt. 9:34; John 9:24; John 7:12; Matt. 9:3; Matt. 11:19; Matt. 10:25; 1 Pet. 2:19-23; 1 Pet. 4:14

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“My sheep hear my voice.”

2009-05-11T05:59:00.001-07:00

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”—I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one.” . . . I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer.

“Speak, for your servant hears.”—And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.—Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly.

John 10:27; Rev. 3:20; Song 5:2, 6; 1 Sam. 3:10; Luke 19:5, 6; Ps. 85:8

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Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

2009-05-09T08:23:00.001-07:00

If in this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.—When you . . . believed in him, [you] were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it.

Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”—Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

We walk by faith, not by sight.—Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward.

Heb. 11:1; 1 Cor. 15:19; 1 Cor. 2:9, 10; Eph. 1:13, 14; John 20:29; 1 Pet. 1:8, 9; 2 Cor. 5:7; Heb. 10:35

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Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save, or his ear dull, that it cannot hear.

2009-05-05T06:16:00.000-07:00

On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.—While I was speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the first, came to me in swift flight at the time of the evening sacrifice.—Hide not your face from me. Turn not your servant away in anger, O you who have been my help. Cast me not off; forsake me not, O God of my salvation!—But you, O Lord, do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!

“Ah, Lord God! It is you who has made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”—He delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will deliver us again.—“And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily.”

Isa. 59:1; Ps. 138:2; Dan. 9:21; Ps. 27:9; Ps. 22:19; Jer. 32:17; 2 Cor. 1:10; Luke 18:7, 8

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Little Did She Know: The Perfection of God's Providence

2009-05-04T07:39:00.000-07:00

"Ruth left and entered the field to gather grain behind the harvesters. She happened to be in the portion of land belonging to Boaz, who was from Elimelech's family." Ruth 2:3

"She happened." Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but how divinely was it overruled! Ruth had gone forth with her mother-in-law's blessing, under the care of her God, to do humble and honorable toil, and the providence of God was guiding her every step! Little did she know that amid the sheaves she would find a husband, and that he would make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she, a destitute foreigner, would become an ancestor of the great Messiah!

God is very good to those who trust in Him, and often surprises them with unlooked-for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us in the future; but this sweet fact should cheer us, that nothing which is really good for us shall be withheld from us!

The word "chance" is banished from the Christian's vocabulary, for we see the hand of God in everything. The seemingly trivial events of today or tomorrow, may involve consequences of the highest importance. Take comfort--our Lord deals as graciously with all His servants as He did with Ruth!

- C. H. Spurgeon
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But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . peace.

2009-05-01T08:40:00.001-07:00

To set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.

God has called you to peace.—“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you.”—May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me.—You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.—“Whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”

Great peace have those who love your law.

Gal. 5:22; Rom. 8:6; 1 Cor. 7:15; John 14:27; Rom. 15:13; 2 Tim. 1:12; Isa. 26:3; Isa. 32:17, 18; Prov. 1:33; Ps. 119:165

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Whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected.

2009-04-30T05:46:00.000-07:00

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.—“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.”— No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.—By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.

1 John 2:5; Heb. 13:20, 21; 1 John 2:3; John 14:23; 1 John 3:6, 7; 1 John 4:17

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“Consider what great things he has done for you.”

2009-04-29T08:02:00.001-07:00

“And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.”

I know, O Lord, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me. . . . It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. . . . Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.—The Lord has disciplined me severely, but he has not given me over to death.—He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him. For he knows our frame; he remembers that we are dust.

1 Sam. 12:24; Deut. 8:2, 5; Ps. 119:75, 71, 67; Ps. 118:18; Ps. 103:10, 11, 14

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“Behold, the Lamb of God”

2009-04-28T08:17:00.001-07:00

For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God.’”—He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.

You were ransomed . . . not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was . . . made manifest in the last times for your sake, . . . so that your faith and hope are in God.

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!”

John 1:29; Heb. 10:4-7; Isa. 53:7; 1 Pet. 1:18-21; Rev. 5:12
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Be Strong, Be Courageous, Endure Hardness

2009-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

"Woe is me--that I dwell among these scoundrels of Meshech! It pains me to live with these people from Kedar!" Psalm 120:5

As a Christian, you have to live in the midst of an ungodly world, and it is of little use for you to cry, "Woe is me!"

Jesus did not pray, "O that you should be taken out of the world!" And what He did not pray for--you need not desire! Better far in the Lord's strength to meet the difficulty and glorify Him in it.

The enemy is ever on the watch to detect inconsistency in your conduct; be therefore very holy. Remember that the eyes of all are upon you and that more is expected from you than from others! Strive to give no occasion for blame. Like Daniel, let your godliness be the only fault which they can discover in you.

Seek to be useful as well as consistent. Perhaps you think, "If I were in a more favorable position, I might be able to serve the Lord's cause. But I cannot do any good where I am!" But the worse the people are among whom you live, the more need they have of your exertions! If they are crooked, the more necessity that you should set them straight! If they are perverse, the more need have you to turn their proud hearts to the truth. Where should the physician be but where there are many sick? Where is honor to be won by the soldier but in the hottest fire of the battle?

When weary of the strife and sin which meets you on every hand, consider that all the saints have endured the same trial! They were not carried to heaven on beds of ease and you must not expect to travel more easily than they! They had to hazard their lives unto the death, in the midst of the battlefield and you will not be crowned until you also have endured hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Therefore, "Be courageous! Be strong!" 1 Corinthians 16:13

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The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.

2009-04-24T07:18:00.001-07:00

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.—David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.—“God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”—“‘I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them.’ This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years.”—Not one word of all the good promises that the Lord had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.

He who promised is faithful.—Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?—“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”—The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

Gen. 21:1; Ps. 62:8; 1 Sam. 30:6; Gen. 50:24; Acts 7:34, 36; Josh. 21:45; Heb. 10:23; Num. 23:19; Matt. 24:35; Isa. 40:8

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Porn and paper pastors

2009-04-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Beneath this nicely-alliterated title is an excellent article from Dan Phillips. “This post is not about pornography, men, women, nor marriage. It is about people with paper pastors.” It’s not what you may think, neither is this an article ripping on pastors… Check it out!

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The Book of Revelation

2009-04-22T06:03:00.000-07:00

Why was the book of Revelation written? It was not written primarily, let me assure you, in order that people might be able to work out the date of the end of the world! That is a very grievous misunderstanding of the book.

The book of Revelation was written in order that God's people, who were passing through terrible persecutions and terrible adversity, might still be able to go on rejoicing. It is a book that showed them the ultimate victory of the Lord over Satan and all the other forces. They were to rejoice. It was written for men and women who had been in trouble, and was meant to primarily help them, not primarily for people who were to live two thousand years later.

And so it has been a help to Christian people in every age and in every generation. If your understanding of Revelation does not help you rejoice, then you are misunderstanding it.

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Corrective Tract for the Prosperity Gospel

2009-04-19T18:29:00.000-07:00

Mark 8:34-36:

If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Is this preached anymore today? I am so sick to tears of preachers and TV’s so called evangelists teaching on how I can be “Blessed” (acquiring wealth) How I can build “My kingdom” here “What’s in it for me” and “HOW CAN I KEEP MY WALLET FULL”! This Self Centered Americanized Gospel sickens me to no end!

“Teach us smooth things” and “Tickle my ears” tell me that I can have this world and the next one too!

But I guess if they preached to deny yourself, take up your cross, losing your life for His and in gaining the world you would lose your soul, wouldn’t fill the pews now would it?

Oh how many faithful have been damaged after being told that “God has a wonderful plan for you” right before being fed to the lions.

You may not become rich, you may never drive a BMW, and guess what, you may even remain poor. Who cares!!! God saved a wretch like me when I didn’t deserve it, GOD is GOOD!

Now… can we start teaching the whole Gospel?

Consider the costs!

-Chad

Gratitude!

2009-04-18T06:39:00.000-07:00

Oh, how he must have loved, to have descended from heaven to earth, and from earth to the grave! How he must have loved to have chosen us, when we were hating him - when we were enemies, he hath reconciled us unto God by his own death. Dead in trespasses and sins, corrupt. Wrapped up in the cerements of evil habits, hateful and hating one another, full of sin and every abomination, yet he loved us so as to yield up his soul unto death for us. We are dealing with great things here indeed, and we must not forget the greatness of the influence which such an atonement, the result of such love, must have upon the Christian’s heart. Oh, the greatness of the peace which passeth all understanding, which flows from this great atonement! Oh, the greatness of the gratitude which must blaze forth from such a sacred fire as this!

-C.H. Spurgeon

It Is God Who Justifies - Octavius Winslow

2009-04-17T06:32:00.000-07:00

“‘It is God who justifies.’
(Romans 8:33)

Behold the eternal security of the weakest believer in Jesus. The act of justification, once passed under the great seal of the resurrection of Christ, God can never revoke without denying Himself. Here is our safety. Here is the ground of our dauntless challenge, ‘Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies.’ What can I need more? What more can I ask?

If God, the God of spotless purity, the God of inflexible righteousness, justifies me, ‘who is he that condemns?’ Sin may condemn, but it is God that justifies! The law may alarm, but it is God that justifies! Satan may accuse, but it is God that justifies! Death may terrify, but it is God that justifies! ‘If GOD is for us, who can be against us?’ Who will dare condemn the soul whom He justifies?

How gloriously will this truth shine forth in the great day of judgment! Every accuser will then be dumb. Every tongue will then be silent. Nothing shall be laid to the charge of God’s elect. GOD Himself shall pronounce them fully, and forever justified: ‘And those He justifies, He also glorifies.’”

—Octavius Winslow, Morning Thoughts (February 1)

HT: Of First Importance

Paul Washer street preaching the Gospel in Lima

2009-04-16T12:07:00.001-07:00

fleecing of the flock

2009-04-16T07:10:00.000-07:00

JOHN HAGEE AGREES WITH WORD FAITH PROSPERITY PREACHER JOHN AVANZINI

Below Jerry Jackson, from his piece John Hagee—Preacher of Truth or Apostle of Error?, gives us some more about details concerning Hagee’s preaching the Prosperity Gospel of the Word Faith movement:

John Hagee believes that it is God’s will for God’s people to be healthy and prosperous, as long as they obey God’s ordinances. On April 16, 1993 John Hagee appeared on the Praise-A-Thon broadcast of the Trinity Broadcasting Network. During this appearance he said that “poverty is caused by sin and disobeying the Word of God.” In another Praise-A-Thon broadcast on November 4, 1992 he said, “poverty is a curse.”

According to Hagee, Christians achieve prosperity through giving. In the same November 4, 1992 broadcast he said, “When you give to God, He controls your income. There is no such thing as a fixed income in the kingdom of God. Your income is controlled by your giving”…

In the same November 4, 1992 Praise-A-Thon broadcast, John Hagee said, “There is a relationship between your soul and physical and financial prosperity. ‘This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth.’ That’s the spoken Word of God. ‘And then shalt thou prosper and have good success.’ When? After you speak and act upon the Word of God. And you’ve been hearing that tonight out of the mouth of John Avanzini (well known Faith teacher).” (Online source)

So according to John Hagee, “There is a relationship between your soul and physical and financial prosperity… After you speak and act upon the Word of God. And you’ve been hearing that tonight out of the mouth of John Avanzini.” Well, following are some classic Word Faith prosperity teachings from “the mouth” of Dr. John Avanzini:

Jesus was handling big money because that treasurer He had was a thief. Now you can’t tell me that a ministry with a treasurer that’s a thief can operate on a few pennies. It took big money to operate that ministry because Judas was stealing out of that bag.”
(Praise the Lord, TBN 09/15/88)

Jesus had a nice house, a big house–big enough to have company stay the night with Him at the house. Let me show you His house. Go over to John the first chapter and I’ll show you His house. . . Now, child of God, that’s a house big enough to have company stay the night in. There’s His house…

John 19 tells us that Jesus wore designer clothes. Well, what else you gonna call it? Designer clothes–that’s blasphemy. No, that’s what we call them today. I mean, you didn’t get the stuff He wore off the rack. It wasn’t a one-size-fits-all deal. No, this was custom stuff. It was the kind of a garment that kings and rich merchants wore. Kings and rich merchants wore that garment…

You don’t think these Apostles didn’t walk around with money? I mean, they had money. I just thank God that I saw this and gave up the denominational line and got on God’s line before I starved me and all my family to death. Go to Acts 24. 1 mean. you don’t think there wasn’t money in this Paul’s life! … Paul had the kind of money that people, that government officials, would, would block up justice to try to get a bribe out of old Paul.”
(Believer’s Voice of Victory,TBN 01/20/91)

And in her excellent article John Avanzini and His Talking Stones Ingrid Schlueter recaps her experience at the 2008 Inspiring Excellence conference when she heard Azanzini speak:

Avanzini had a whole new doctrinal revelation to tell us about: the doctrine of reverse entrapment. If you’ve never heard of that before, that’s because God just showed it to him right there. Reverse entrapment is when you put a gift to Avanzini on a credit card and outsmart the lenders who are trying to get rich off your debt. When you put a gift on a credit card, I quote, “something happens in the spirit world.”

Here he tells everyone how to have a credit card breakthrough. Turns out Avanzini has a way for you to get rid of your mortgage debt. All you have to do is to give him a gift the size of your house payment and God will see that your mortgage gets paid off right away. If you don’t have a house, $500 will do nicely for future debt. Avanzini assured us that it worked for him. (Online source)

It should be noted that I have personally seen this message and after Avanzini teaches that foolishness, which he does attribute to God, he turns to his close friend pastor Robb Thompson–who puts on the Inspiring Excellence conference–and asks, “Pastor, am I out of bounds with that?” Thompson emphatically encourages Avanzini and he continues right on with his fleecing of the flock.

ARE CHRISTIANS DRIVING CHURCH NUMBERS DOWN?

2009-04-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

By Paul Proctor
April 4, 2009
NewsWithViews.com

The reports are everywhere now about the declining numbers of church members and baptisms – especially among Southern Baptists; so much so that church leaders address it at almost every opportunity as if attempting to somehow spark a zeal in remaining members like a coach might do in the locker room of a losing team at halftime.

Everyone is trying to figure out what’s wrong.

This might come as a shock to many, but I would suggest that the answer here might just be nothing is wrong – that those declining numbers that are troubling the pulpits of American churches right now may well be God’s will being carried out by His own being called out of a growing apostasy flourishing within them.

In no way am I condemning all established churches and religious institutions – so don’t misquote me or suggest to anyone that that is what I am doing here. It is not. I am only pointing to another exodus obviously underway and the largely overlooked reasons for it.

Being the recipient of untold numbers of emails over the years from heartbroken readers who have left or been thrown out of their churches for taking a biblical stand on important issues has given me a perspective that many pulpiteers and pew warmers are not privy to. It is, unfortunately, the view of the majority that those who don’t run with the majority are backsliders.

I don’t agree.

You see, the majority functions on a false, yet implied premise, that God must operate within an established and recognized religious institution or it is not God. But, I would challenge that notion by simply pointing to the early church that was largely spurned and hated by the religious establishment of the day.

Were not the temple numbers also down because of The Way? Did it not trouble the religious leaders back then as well? Why do you think Saul was terrorizing Christians prior to his Damascus road encounter with the Lord – because the numbers were up?

If God is in control, as so many of today’s church members are fond of saying – then He must also be in control of the declining numbers.

Does this mass exodus serve the will of men or the will of God?

This is the question that must now be asked.

Consider the declining economy. Is it not our increasing debt that is causing it to falter and fail? If it is the unrestrained borrowing of money that has caused it, how then can borrowing more money in even greater quantities, solve it?

It can’t – in spite of what the experts in charge now claim.

It’s not a “stimulus package” – it’s a suicide pact.

Now, consider the declining church numbers.

Is it not biblical compromise and carnal indulgence that has ultimately caused it – pleasure palaces built with borrowed money to produce sensory circuses that can better compete with the world for your patronage and mine with watered-down gospel messages, coffee shop ministries, rock and roll worship and people-pleasing programs? If it is, then how can more biblical compromise and carnal indulgence solve it?

That’s right – it can’t.

So, while pastors feverishly try to save their ministries (careers) and members try to save their churches (attendance), the exodus is steadily taking it all away – away from the wishful thinking and wayward agendas of misguided men to the promised land of God’s provision where the rot and stench of spiritual death and decay is left behind for the Living Waters of truth, repentance and faith in Christ.

I find nothing in the bible about the importance of saving religious organizations or Christian ministries – only lost souls. And feeding the flesh more of what it craves will simply not accomplish that.

"Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." – Matthew 3:2

© 2009 Paul Proctor - All Rights Reserve

Thus says the Lord?

2009-04-14T12:33:00.000-07:00

With so many self proclaimed prophets in the world today supposedly speaking predictions from God, how are we to know which ones are truly speaking under the authority of the Lord?

“But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ 21 And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— 22 when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him”. Deuteronomy 18: 20-22

The Tenderness of Jesus

2009-04-13T06:51:00.001-07:00

"He will carry the lambs in His bosom, holding them close to His heart." Isaiah 40:11

Who is He of whom such gracious words are spoken? He is the Good Shepherd. Why does He carry the lambs in His bosom? Because He has a tender heart, and any weakness at once melts His heart. The sighs, the ignorance, the feebleness of the little ones of His flock draw forth His compassion. He purchased them with blood, they are His property; He must and will care for that which cost Him so dear.

"He will carry the lambs in His bosom, holding them close to His heart."

Here is boundless affection. Would He put them in His bosom if He did not love them much?

Here is tender nearness--so near are they that they could not possibly be nearer.

Here is hallowed familiarity--there are precious love communications between Christ and His weak ones.

Here is perfect safety--in His bosom, who can hurt them? They must hurt the Shepherd first.

Here is perfect rest and sweetest comfort.

Surely we are not sufficiently sensible of the infinite tenderness of Jesus!

He is risen!

2009-04-12T05:22:00.000-07:00

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered?—“By him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”

Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect.

Rom. 8:3; Heb. 10:1, 2; Acts 13:38, 39; Heb. 2:14-17

Teach me your way, O Lord.

2009-04-11T14:44:00.001-07:00

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.—Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in the way. He leads the humble in what is right, and teaches the humble his way.

“I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”— Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith.

“Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.”—All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

Ps. 27:11; Ps. 32:8; Ps. 25:8, 9; John 10:9; John 14:6; Heb. 10:19-22; Hos. 6:3; Ps. 25:10

The Plan of Salvation

2009-04-09T07:47:00.000-07:00

There is a wretched tendency among men to leave Christ himself out of the gospel. They might as well leave flour out of bread. Men hear the way of salvation explained, and consent to it as being Scriptural, but they forget that a plan is of no service unless it is carried out; and that in the matter of salvation their own personal faith in the Lord Jesus is essential. A road to York will not take me there, I must travel along it for myself. All the sound doctrine that ever was believed will never save a man unless he puts his trust in the Lord Jesus for himself.

I heard of a friend who deeply desired to be the means of the conversion of a young man, and one said to him, "You may go to him, and talk to him, but you will get him no further; for he is exceedingly well acquainted with the plan of salvation." It was eminently so; and therefore, when our friend began to speak with the young man, he received for an answer, "I am much obliged to you, but I do not know that you can tell me much, for I have long known and admired the plan of salvation by the sacrifice of Christ." Alas! he was resting in the plan, but he had not believed in the Person. The plan of salvation is most blessed, but it can avail us nothing unless we personally believe in the Lord Jesus Christ himself. What is the comfort of a plan of a house if you do not enter the house itself?

It is not the plan of salvation which can save, it is the carrying out of that plan by the Lord Jesus in his death on our behalf, and our acceptance of the same. Under the Jewish law, the offerer brought a bullock, and laid his hands upon it: it was no dream, or theory, or plan. In the victim for sacrifice he found something substantial, which he could handle and touch: even so do we lean upon the real and true work of Jesus, the most substantial thing under heaven. We come to the Lord Jesus by faith, and say, "God has provided an atonement here, and I accept it. I believe in the fact accomplished on the cross; I am confident that sin was put away by Christ, and I rest on him." If you would be saved, you must get beyond the acceptance of plans and doctrines to a resting in the divine person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Dear reader, will you have Christ now?

-C.H. Spurgeon

They will see his face!

2009-04-08T13:10:00.000-07:00

“Please show me your glory.” . . . “But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”—No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known.

Every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.—“I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near.”

“For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”—I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.—We shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.—For the Lord himself will descend from heaven. . . . And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Rev. 22:4; Ex. 33:18, 20; John 1:18; Rev. 1:7; Num. 24:17; Job 19:25, 26; Ps. 17:15; 1 John 3:2; 1 Thess. 4:16, 17

Come Away

2009-04-07T18:26:00.000-07:00

Rise Up and Come Away
"My Beloved spoke and said to me, Rise up, my love, my beautiful one and come away!" -- Song of Solomon 2:10

Lo, I hear the voice of my Beloved! He speaks to me! He bids me "Rise up!" and well He may, for I have long enough been lying among the pots of worldliness. Why should I cleave to the dust? From lower loves, desires, pursuits, and aspirations, I would rise towards Him.

He calls me by the sweet title of "My love" and regards me as beautiful! This is a good encouragement for my rising. If He has thus exalted me, and thinks me thus lovely, how can I linger in the dark tents of Kedar and find congenial associates among the world?

He bids me "Come away!" Come away further and further from everything selfish, groveling, worldly, and sinful! He calls me from the outwardly religious world which knows Him not, and has no sympathy with the mystery of the godly and holy life.

"Come away" has no harsh sound to my ear, for what is there to hold me in this wilderness of vanity and sin? O my Lord, would that I could come away; but I am stuck among the thorns and cannot escape from them as I would! I would, if it were possible, have neither eyes, nor ears, nor heart for sin!

You call me to Yourself by saying "Come away!" and this is a melodious call indeed. To come to You is to come home from exile; to come to land out of the raging storm; to come to rest after long labor; to come to the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes! But Lord, how can a stone rise, how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? O raise me, draw me--and I will run after You! Your grace alone can do it. Send forth Your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart and I will continue to rise until I leave life and time behind me, and indeed come away!

- C. H. Spurgeon

Jesus Died

2009-04-06T07:43:00.001-07:00

Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.

2009-04-03T20:55:00.001-07:00

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

When my spirit faints within me, you know my way!—“But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold.”—Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.—For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.

And who is a rock, except our God?—“They will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”—Uphold me according to your promise, that I may live, and let me not be put to shame in my hope!—We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.

Ps. 61:2; Phil. 4:6, 7; Ps. 142:3; Job 23:10; Ps. 90:1; Isa. 25:4; Ps. 18:31; John 10:28; Ps. 119:116; Heb. 6:19

How Does Your Church Measure Success?

2009-04-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

But the fruit of the Spirit is . . . joy!

2009-04-01T06:26:00.000-07:00

Joy in the Holy Spirit. Joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.

As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy. We rejoice in our sufferings.

Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith . . . for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame.—“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”—For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too.—Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.—“The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.—“For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Gal. 5:22; Rom. 14:17; 1 Pet. 1:8; 2 Cor. 6:10; 7:4; Rom. 5:3; Heb. 12:2; John 15:11; 2 Cor. 1:5; Phil. 4:4; Neh. 8:10; Ps. 16:11; Rev. 7:17

Charismatic Character Clash

2009-03-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

After ducking scrutiny that followed the Lakeland Revival's abrupt end in August 2008, Todd Bentley resurfaced this month. The Canadian Pentecostal disappeared from the public eye in August after filing for separation from his wife. Issuing a statement through the pastor overseeing his restoration process, Bentley said he was "sorry for the hurt and confusion that my decisions have caused the body of Christ." He indicated that he was pursuing a return to ministry in order to "fulfill God's call on my life."

Bentley fell even faster than he had climbed to prominence in 2008. He became a viral sensation during a healing revival that ran 100 consecutive nights and attracted 30,000 visitors per week. His renown spread with reports of his unusual healing tactics and claims that he had raised 25 people from the dead, all over the phone. But the Florida-based event could not survive Bentley's divorce and mounting criticism. One critic, Charisma editor J. Lee Grady, faulted Bentley for sending the charismatic movement into a "tailspin." He quoted an anonymous Pentecostal evangelist who said, "I'm now convinced that a large segment of the charismatic church will follow the Antichrist when he shows up because they have no discernment."
Grady said he groaned when he learned from the March 9 statement what Bentley had done since August. After divorcing his wife, Shonnah, he married Jessa Hasbrook, a former intern. The statement provided no update on Bentley's ex-wife. Grady also found fault with how Bentley's ministry was characterized by Rick Joyner, who once counseled Jim Bakker and has taken Bentley under his wing.

From Grady's perspective, gifts trumped his character in Joyner's decision to aid Bentley's return to ministry. The ends seemed to justify the means. "From the time I first met him nearly ten years ago," Joyner said of Bentley, "I knew that he had an extraordinary purpose and a gift of faith for the miraculous that would be desperately needed in these times." He closed the statement with an appeal for funds to launch Fresh Fire USA, Bentley's new ministry, now headquartered at Joyner's church in South Carolina.

"As we have been constantly reminded, the Lord had great patience with sinners, but He had none for the self-righteous," Joyner said, anticipating the inevitable criticism for his work with Bentley. "We're all here because He had mercy on us, and we know we still need it. However, we also know that true repentance and restoration can only come if we refuse to compromise the clear biblical standards for morality and integrity."

Joyner's argument hardly placated Grady. "What is most deplorable about this latest installment in the Bentley scandal is the lack of true remorse," Grady responded. He wondered how Bentley could accept responsibility for his share of the divorce and not repent of his decision to pursue the relationship with Hasbrook and marry her soon thereafter. And he asked why Bentley had not sought reconciliation with his first wife. Then Grady's argument escalated.

"Many Christians today have rejected biblical discipline and adopted a sweet, spineless love that cannot correct," Grady said. "Our grace is greasy. No matter what an offending brother does, we stroke him and pet him and nurse his wounds while we ignore the people he wounded. No matter how heinous his sin, we offer comforting platitudes because, after all, who are we to judge?"

Joyner and Grady's exchange raises a host of questions about the nature of forgiveness and qualifications for ministry. Their public debate was intensely personal. Admitting he had no time for tact, Joyner took issue with Grady's qualifications for judging. In so doing, he seemed to confirm Grady's cause for concern about ends justifying means. "If you are such [a] judge of this what gives you the credentials?" Joyner asked Grady on March 12. "What moves of God have you led? What have you built?" He went so far as to allege that Grady's judgment matched Bentley's infidelity in the economy of sin.

Joyner's indignation reflects a common misconception about judgment. Elsewhere he faults Grady for violating Matthew 18 and airing his concern publicly before going to Bentley personally. But this pattern for church discipline, taught by Jesus himself, presupposes that local church leaders will need to hold one another accountable to God's standards. Similarly, Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 5:12, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge?" Christians must judge one another in this way to preserve the church's moral witness and warn one another against sin.
But if church leaders will judge the body of Christ in order to protect it, they must be marked by godly character. And that's exactly the standard for leadership that Paul lays out in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. As they represent God in positions of authority, overseers must demonstrate God's communicable attributes, including love, patience, and fidelity. In a Christian of godly character, gifting such as knowledge, prophecy, or teaching brings glory to God alone. It does not exalt the gifted but the Gift Giver.

As Joyner suggests, King David's example shows us that God can still do mighty things with great sinners. But does God want us to learn from David's story that infidelity should be no impediment to ministry? God deposed other leaders, including Saul, when they had sinned against him. He spared David this fate because of the covenant he initiated to preserve the David kingdom forever (2 Sam. 7:14-16), culminating in Jesus. The outcome of David's life warns us against learning the wrong lessons. David's sin undermined his leadership permanently. His son Absalom rebelled and chased the king from the city of David (2 Sam. 15).
To be sure, God's Word commands Christians to forgive, because God has forgiven them (Col. 3:13). But this forgiveness does not trump judgment as properly exercised in church discipline. And it cannot erase the temporal consequences of sin. Character, not gifting, is a leader's most important asset. This is the means God has ordained to accomplish his ends.

-Collin Hansen of Christianity Today

Our Daily Portion

2009-03-30T06:32:00.001-07:00

"Jehoiachin changed his prison clothes--and he dined regularly in the presence of the king of Babylon for the rest of his life. As for his allowance, a regular allowance was given to him by the king, a portion for each day, for the rest of his life." 2 Kings 25:29-30

Jehoiachin was not sent away from the king's palace with a 'supply' to last him for months, but his provision was given him as a daily pension. Herein he well pictures the happy position of all the Lord's people. A daily portion is all that a man really needs. We do not need tomorrow's portion; for that day has not yet dawned, and its needs are as yet unborn. The thirst which we may suffer in the month of June does not need to be quenched in February, for we do not feel it yet. If we have enough for each day as the days arrive, we shall never know want. Sufficient for the day is all that we can enjoy.

We cannot eat or wear more than the day's supply of food and clothing. Any surplus gives us the care of storing it, and the anxiety of watching against a thief. One staff aids a traveler, but a bundle of staffs is a heavy burden. Enough is not only as good as a feast, but is all that the greatest glutton can truly enjoy. Enough is all that we should expect; a craving for more than this is ungrateful. When our Father does not give us more, we should be content with His daily allowance.

Jehoiachin's case is ours--we have . . .

a sure portion;
a portion given to us by the King;
a gracious portion;
and a perpetual portion.

Here is sure ground for thankfulness.

Beloved Christian, in matters of grace, you need a daily supply. You have no store of grace. Day by day must you seek help from above. It is a very sweet assurance that a daily portion is provided for you. In the Word, by meditation, in prayer, and waiting upon God, you shall receive renewed grace and strength. In Jesus, all needful things are laid up for you. Never go hungry while the daily bread of grace is on the table of mercy! Enjoy your continual allowance!

"Give us each day our daily bread." Luke 11:3

"As your days, so shall your strength be." Deuteronomy 33:25

- C. H. Spurgeon

Acts 26:18

2009-03-27T07:06:00.000-07:00

16. But rise and stand upon your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen of me and to those in which I will appear to you, 17. Delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you.

18. To open their eyes, (Faith) so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, (Repentance) that they may receive forgiveness of sins (Forgiven) and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me. (Faith or Conviction ”lived out” produces Fruit, which is Character) see - James 2:14-26 along with Galatians 5:16-25

If ever there was a "Formula" to salvation in scripture, if you can even say that there is such a thing as a "Formula" at all, it would be found in Acts 26:18.

Every day the question is asked “What must I do to be saved?” And out of the Christian community comes an answer that is usually “believe in Jesus” or “have faith in Jesus” or “Just repeat after me this prayer”. In short, they are in a sense correct, yet self-standing they are… well… incomplete. (Aside from the last one - for I have yet to find that method left for us as an example in all of scripture). So to take a topic such as “Faith”, have it stand alone and not talk about “being set apart” or likewise, to teach “Forgiveness through Faith” and not address “Godly Repentance” a picture is created that falls short... Very short, if not even an inaccurate representation of the true Gospel message!

The Bible is the inspired word of God, and we should all take note to its entire context as though God Himself was speaking to us face to face. But here... in this verse... Paul is testifying to what the Lord Himself has told him outright. More importantly, how Jews and Gentiles alike would come to a saving knowledge of Him.

The verse in Acts 26:18 (I believe) is showing us how all these elements are to come together in working order. In essence, it’s a roadmap as to what MUST take place in each one of our lives in order to be truly saved.

To be saved, we MUST:

• -Believe, or have Faith in Jesus and His work that was done on the cross, understand it, and pour over it.

• -In light of that Faith we Must see our depravity apart from God, our need for Him, and Repent or turn away from our sins and our old life, this is the correct response to true belief.

• -In order to receive Forgiveness, We Must have Jesus so working Faith in our lives that we are led to repentance, hating the very way of life from which we came out from.

Side note: (Faith in Jesus that leads to Repentance is the doorway to Forgiveness. Not just a confession of Faith alone, we must never forget this! Rarely do I ever hear this being preached in the modern mainstream church today).

• -Lastly, In order to have the fruit of our salvation appearing in our lives, sanctifying and assuring us of our place in Heaven, WE Must have first come to the place where biblical Faith, Repentance and Forgiveness have not only been birthed in our lives, but is growing (At times stumbling, at times falling down, but over all growing) and still remains today!

You see, we cannot have the one without the others. There is NO forgiveness without repentance. In the same way, there is no place reserved in Heaven for those who are living a sanctified lifestyle without the root cause of their conviction coming from faith in Jesus... All are necessary components to present a true and full Biblical Gospel.

And yet there is so much more to be said, about the doctrines of Grace, the Godhead, Regeneration, Beatitudes, Baptisms, order in the church, Love for the brethren, ex. but every one of them fits perfectly into one of these four sections of this foundational verse. It could be one of the most over-looked verses in our Bible, yet it is the center to which each one of these teachings from the Bible will gravitate and must fit into!

-Chad

The Eye of Faith

2009-03-26T12:16:00.000-07:00

"We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal!" 2 Corinthians 4:18

In our Christian pilgrimage it is well, for the most part, to be looking forward. Forward lies the crown and onward is the goal. Whether it is for hope, for joy, for consolation, or for the inspiring of our love, the future must, after all, be the grand object of the eye of faith!

Looking into the future, the Christian sees sin cast out, the body of sin and death destroyed, the soul made perfect, and fit to be a partaker of eternal glory. Looking further yet, the believer's enlightened eye can see death's river passed. He sees himself enter within the pearly gates, hailed as more than conqueror, crowned by the hand of Christ, embraced in the arms of Jesus, glorified with Him, and
made to sit together with Him on His throne!

Contemplation of my glorious future may well relieve the darkness of the past and the gloom of the present! The joys of heaven will surely compensate for the sorrows of earth!

Hush, hush, my fears! Death is but a narrow stream and you shall soon have forded it! Death--how brief! Immortality--how endless! Time--how short! Eternity--how long! The road is so, so short! I shall soon be there!

"In the future, there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on that day; and not only to me, but to all those who have loved His appearing!"
2 Timothy 4:8

- C. H. Spurgeon

Life of a Christian

2009-03-24T06:36:00.000-07:00

O soul, consider this deeply: it is the life of a Christian that carries more conviction and persuasion than his words. Even if you, like an angel, talk of Christ, of the gospel, of the doctrines of grace, and of heaven, yet if you indulge devilish tempers, and live under the power of any sinful lusts and passions, you will hereby harden others against the things of God and prevent their setting out in the ways of God. Study and pray to be a consistent walker in the ways of holiness; otherwise, all is but windy profession and airy talk. O, how much harm is done to Christ's cause by the unholy walk of many professors!

- John Bunyan

Is This Your Teen Leader?

2009-03-23T16:21:00.000-07:00

Ignatius from travis hawkins on Vimeo.

Love?

2009-03-23T10:57:00.000-07:00

Few words have been used more inaccurately and loosely in recent years than has "love." With a great many people, it is but a synonym for moral laxity, weakness of character, a taking the line of least resistance, a quiet tolerating of what is felt to be wrong.

Multitudes of parents have supposed they were treating their children "lovingly" when they overlooked their folly, made excuses for their wildness, and refused to discipline them for disobedience. They have prided themselves on being "kinder" toward their children than the "stern measures" which were meted out to themselves in their own youth. But it is laxity--not love--which allows a child to have its own way. "He who spares his rod hates his son; but he who loves him, chastens him early" (Proverbs 13:14). Let those of our readers who have young children ponder Proverbs 19:18; 22:15; 23:13, 14; 29:15, 17, and remember, that those are the words of Him who is Love!

This same evil has held sway in the churches. Leniency and weakness have overridden righteousness and faithfulness. Instead of maintaining and enforcing the discipline which God's Word enjoins, the great majority of the churches have winked at even glaring sins, refusing to deal with those who walk disorderly. This laxity is misnamed love. A mushy sentimentality which shrank from "hurting the feelings" of others has ousted all concern for the glory of Christ and the honor of His house.

This is one of the inevitable effects of the lopsided preaching of the pulpit, where the 'love' and 'grace' of God were constantly proclaimed, while His 'justice' and 'wrath' were studiously ignored. God is 'light' (1 John 1:5) as well as 'love' (1 John 4:8); 'holy' as well as 'merciful'; 'severe' as well as 'good' (Romans 11:22). Unless the balance is preserved between those two sides of the Divine character, not only will He be grievously misrepresented, but the most serious results will follow!

- A. W. Pink

Acts 17

2009-03-17T10:57:00.000-07:00

24. The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man 25. nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.

Chief Dangers

2009-03-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

"I consider that the chief dangers which confront the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, Forgiveness without Repentance, Salvation without Regeneration, politics without God, and Heaven without Hell."--

William Booth

Christ's Coming

2009-03-09T19:41:00.000-07:00

His [Christ’s] first coming was long looked for; yet the day not precisely known. He promised to send the Holy Ghost; yet his Apostles knew not the day when; but were commanded to abide at Jerusalem, till they were endued with power from on high; they must tarry the good hour.

Much less is the term of His last coming notified to any son of man. Let all our care be to find Christ in our hearts, before we seek Him in the clouds!

Thomas Adams, 1633
Amen!

You Are Loved

2009-02-25T18:00:00.000-08:00

Rescue Me Video

2008-10-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

Rescue Me

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood!

2008-10-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. . . . Love is strong as death.—“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”

He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.—In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace.

You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.—You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.—I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Rev. 1:5; Song 8:7, 6; John 15:13; 1 Pet. 2:24; Eph. 1:7; 1 Cor. 6:11; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rom. 12:1

Psalm 127, 1 - 2

2008-08-21T10:25:00.000-07:00

1. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. 2. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; For so He gives His beloved sleep.

My Daughters First Birthday!

2008-08-12T05:59:00.000-07:00

My daughters 1st birthday, aint she cute! Must take after her mom.

Proverbs 27: 1-2

2008-06-26T18:47:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

Just reading in Proverbs today and came across this verse.. Ouch! Good, but ouch!

Proverbs 27
1. Do not boast about tomorrow, for you dont know what a day may bring forth.
2. Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; A stranger and not your own lips.

Keep on keeping on!

Psalm 37

2008-06-06T14:30:00.000-07:00

Hey Guys,

Have been diving into the Psalms lately an thought I would share something I was reading today. The whole chapter of Psalm 37 seems to address this whole topic about the evil doer and the man or woman of God. Why do the wicked seem to prosper in this life and the righteous seem to be taken advantage of. Granted its not always like this, in fact right now I could name a few people off the top of my head who have been very successful in this life who are followers of the truth and conduct their business/life in a manor that in grounded in the principles of Christ. But I think on a whole it is not so. And so the question is asked, does God not see the wicked/what he or she so seemingly gets away with? does he not care? It appears that this question and its answer is told over and over, in just this chapter alone...

The truth is of course he does see, he does care. But most the time the problem is that our "LIFE" is not focused on Gods "REALITY". A day IS coming when all will be made right! The Bible says we are just sojourners in a land that is not ours. We are just passing through and with out that reality being entwined in our daily being we beguine to lose focus, we beguine to envy the wicked, instead of living in tents (Spiritually speaking) we build fortresses that are made to last forever here on earth. What I'm saying is that we end up building our treasures here and not in Heaven, which right where God promised our true treasure awaits all that trust in Him.

How liberating it is when we can come to that conclusion. When we can truly be settled in our soul and believe that no matter what, God has my back! It sets you free from the cares of this life, my circumstances do not define Gods love for me!!

Check out Psalms 37 when you get a chance!

Blessings,
Chad

Crazy Kids

2008-06-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure they take after their mother!