Posted in Uncategorized on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
It has been a weird week in more ways than one.
The weather in Erie, PA has included a day where temps surged into the sixties, an ice storm, a calm day, and a two day long blizzard!
The Pope is thinking about saying that Martin Luther wasn’t really a heretic.
A relative obscure case that was largely under the radar has now led a California court to declare homeschooling unconstitutional.
Mohler comments here also.
Posted in Uncategorized on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A new and improved website for all you who love the Puritans. Can you believe all this stuff is free? From Owen to Baxter to Bunyan to Sibbes!
Posted in Uncategorized on March 8, 2008 | 3 Comments »
Steve Camp has this excellent post. Here it is in its entirety! Satan takes pleasure and Gd is outraged. . .
1. When men of God abandon the preaching of the gospel to become “social engineers and would be politicians” consumed with the temporary affairs of society
2. When the preaching of God’s Word is substituted with relational anecdotal experience, personal happiness programs, health and wealth gospel, and human potentiality makeovers
3. When pastors no longer shepherd God’s people and the pulpits become playgrounds
4. When psychology replaces biblical discipleship
5. When men of God are flattered to become “late night talk show guests” on cultural and spiritual issues, but never once open up the Bible to develop their answers; or call the nation, other guests, or the talk show host to repentance by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation; they’ve simply become culturally acceptable biblical motivational speakers thinking that access to mainstream media means they are making an impact
6. When the vicar of Rome is acknowledged as the vicar of Christ
7. When sin is called sickness; when disobedience is called disease; and when adultery is called addiction
8. When money becomes a prerequisite for ministry by charging people for the gospel, worship, discipleship, counseling, evangelism, etc.
9. When we are liked by all people; when the world is not offended by the message we represent and flatters us for being “relevant and nice”
10. When church becomes something we only do one hour a week on one day a week
11. When prayer becomes the seldom thing we do
12. When brothers and sisters hold ought against each other in bitterness and unforgiveness
13. When church discipline of sin ceases
14. When irreconcilable differences becomes an acceptable reason to break the covenant of marriage
15. When the goal of faith is no longer holiness, but happiness
16. When the object of faith is no longer Christ, but self
17. When the foundation of faith is no longer the Scriptures, but my personal experience
18. When error is tolerated and accepted as truth
19. When Christians partner with nonbelievers in the work of the ministry
20. When ministries are enticed to give up their autonomy and become owned by the world for just a little more money and a little more personal promotion
21. When the worship and glory of God is treated as entertainment
22. When the church bows the knee to the seminaries and surrenders her God-given duty of primary authority to train men for pastoral ministry (2 Tim. 2:1-2). Academic schools of religious learning make students – but not men of God.
23. When men personally profit from the sale of God’s Word
24. When repentance from sin, justification by faith, the law, the active and passive obedience of Christ, penal substitutionary atonement, are no longer considered part of the gospel
25. When salvation is no longer proclaimed as being by grace alone, through faith alone, because of Christ alone, on the Word alone, to the glory of God alone
26. When partnering with Romanism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses, Church of Christ (Bostonian), Seventh Day Adventists, Islamic moralists, Atheists, Agnostics, etc., by divorcing the centrality of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ from their burden for social change, and therefore, indirectly legitimize them as being “morally sound and culturally chaste” by naive evangelical leaders who have forgotten their heritage, sold their spiritual birthright, and have abandoned sound doctrine for the sole purpose of establishing politically-correct alliances in order to try and turn back the tide of moral decay through cultural co-belligerence.
27. When the offense of the cross is removed for cultural acceptance, media accessibility and endorsement
28. When the gospel is contextualized rather than being contended for, proclaimed and heralded
29. When the sacred desk is no longer used for biblical exposition, but for comedic stand up by ribald raconteurs who delight in smutty humor, foul language, graphic sensuality, and using the Lord’s name as a punchline for their jokes
30. When the Word of God is not clearly taught, explained, exegeted, exposited, or preached from the pulpits of every true gospel church around the world
Posted in Uncategorized on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
A new and welcome blog. Bookmark it and enjoy.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged church on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
John MacArthur pointed out in his opening address at the Shepherds Conference that there five churches of the tares which the Lord rejects (see Revelation 2-3):
Let him who has ears–let him hear!
Posted in quotes on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“Apply yourself wholly to the text and apply the text wholly to you!”-Tom Pennington
“God desires to be the point of our lives, not just a part of our lives.”–Rick Holland
“Ministry shouldn’t be developed on the basis of your instincts, intuition, or innovation, but on the inspired instructions of God [see Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10].”–Rick Holland
“God’s holiness is utterly dangerous.”–Rick Holland
“God is not ‘cool’; He is holy!”–Rick Holland
“Salvation is for God’s benefit ultimately, not for man’s benefit. Don’t make salvation just another consumer commodity. Sanctification isn’t for man’s benefit ultimately either. It is for God’s benefit ultimately! Eternal life isn’t for man’s benefit ultimately. It is for God’s benefit as He gives us eternal life that we may worship Him forever!”–Matt Tatlock
“The pastor of the first church of the tares is only concerned with how many tares he can get into a building.”–John MacArthur
Posted in quotes, tagged faith, meditation, psalms, quotes on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
“I am convinced that the best men in the best churches aren’t praying with their families and spending ten minutes a day instructing them from the Bible.”–Don Whitney
“Faith is not our saviour. It was not faith that was born at Bethlehem and died on Golgotha for us. It was not faith that loved us, and gave itself for us; that bore our sins in its own body on the tree; that died and rose again for our sins. Faith is one thing, the Saviour is another. Faith is one thing, and the cross is another. Let us not confound them, nor ascribe to a poor, imperfect act of man, that which belongs exclusively to the Son of the Living God.
Our security is this, that it matters not how poor or weak our faith maybe: if it touches the perfect One, all is well. God has asked and provided a perfect righteousness; He nowhere asks nor expects a perfect faith. So a feeble, very feeble faith, will connect us with the righteousness of the Son of God; the faith, perhaps, that can only cry, ‘Lord, I believe; help mine unbelief.’”–Horatius Bonar
“There is a psalm for every sigh in the soul.”–Unknown
“I have read other books, but this book has read me.” –Steve Lawson
“Hearing God’s Word is not a matter of success–it is a matter of survival! Life and death hang in the balance of how we hear God’s Word.”–Al Mohler
“If you aren’t meditating on the Word of God, you aren’t delighting in it (Psalm 1:2)”–Tom Pennington
“The last thing Jesus would do would be to find common ground with false teachers who are deadly and dangerous.”–John MacArthur
Posted in Christian life, tagged temptation on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have preaching on Christ’s temptation by the devil in Matthew 4. One major difference between His temptation and that of ours is that the Lord was directly tempted by the devil himself. Since the devil is not omnipresent it is very likely that you and I have never nor may ever be tempted directly by Satan himself. It is true that the devil has an enormous number of angels–perhaps hundreds of thousands. Yet neither are they omnipresent and with over 6 billion people now in the world, they still are not able to be directly involved in the temptation of all people all the time.
However there are many similarities between Christ’s temptation and ours. First we face the same battle as Christ did. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” (Ephesians 6:12, ESV). Although we may not face Satan directl, we still face a fierce battle so we had better put on the full armor of God every day all day! “Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (Ephesians 6:14-17, ESV).
Secondly, we have the same choice. We have the same choice Christ did of either sticking to the right path and worshiping God or distrusting God and trying to win the victories our own way. We have to answer the same question that Joshua posed to his generation: ”And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”” (Joshua 24:15, ESV). Our choice is this: whom will we serve: the devil, the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life OR Christ?
Thirdly, we can have the same victory! ”No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” (1 Corinthians 10:13, ESV). We can have the same victory because we have the same offensive weapon that Christ wielded in this battle and we have the same Spirit within us. So let us “take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God,” (Ephesians 6:17, ESV).
We must know this Word, word for word. If Jesus knew it and used it, how much more must we.
Are you using the sword of the Spirit in your battle against temptation? I have seen many swords in my life and you probably have as well? But do we want to know how many of those swords I have actually used? None! Most of them are collections that other people own. Some were hanging on walls, others in museums. But here you have the sword of the Spirit! This sword, to do me any good, must belong to me and must be used by me.
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” (Hebrews 4:12-13, ESV).
Let’s use this sword of the Spirit in our temptations just like Christ did in his. They speak to the every need of the human heart and mind. So use them generously!
Posted in hymns on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Jesus, how sweet your virgin birth,
Deep, lovely mystery:
Out from the unsewn womb sprang forth
God of eternity!
I kneel before your bed so rough,
My Savior in a feeding trough,
Divine before the world began,
And now in time become a man.
Jesus, how sweet your life on earth,
Your public ministry,
Your miracles of saving worth
O’er sin and misery;
I hear in reverential awe
Your thund’rous utt’rance of the Law,
And offer in my own defense
Your life of pure obedience.
Jesus, how sweet your saving death,
The atoning sacrifice!
My plea rose up on your last breath
Like incense to the skies;
I weep before that blessed tree
Where priceless blood was spilled for me,
Where all the wrath of God was poured
On the Beloved of the Lord.
Jesus, how sweet your rising up
Victorious from the dead
To fill my upheld mercy cup,
To crush the Tempter’s head!
I come by grace before your throne
And there in trembling joy bow down,
Before my King who now must reign
Till he make all things new again.
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged Shepherds Conference on March 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I have been watching the Shepherds Conference live stream for the last few days and thus the drop in blog postings. Between “attending” this conference and my other pastoral and family responsibilities, blogging has been “on hold.” I hope to post several updates though Friday night and Saturday so stay tuned. If you want to see summaries of the Shepherd Conf. sessions, go to Pulpit Magazine. Great stuff!
