Strengthened by Grace

For those who want to have a heart for God

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:25:09 +0000

Read Sinclair Ferguson’s “A Catechism on the Heart” in this month’s TableTalk.

This is NT Tongues?

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:00:57 +0000

D. A. Carson is one of my favorite authors and without dispute one of the most distinguished NT scholars of our day. I have profited greatly from both his writing and speaking ministry. I praise God for the spiritual encouragement and help I have received from his ministry.

However, he is also a continuationist, which means he believes there is biblical support for the ongoing NT gift of tongues. On this point I disagree with him.

Jesse Johnson has a really, really good article that shows how Carson argues for tongues—notably what kind of tongues he believers are being spoken today. It’s really an easy article to read and it shows how untenable the position of the NT tongue advocates really is and to what length they must go to explain their position.

Read DCRSN’s Defense of Continuationism here.

One simple prayer

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 19:00:50 +0000

Click to enlarge. HT: Eddie

Have you checked God’s Facebook today?

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:00:41 +0000

Paul wonders what would happen if every Christian checked God’s facebook as often as they checked their facebook account?

What is the ultimate facebook? Have you checked God’s facebook today?

Excellent exhortation here.

God can fill the hungry soul

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 15:00:53 +0000

“God can fill the hungry soul. He is called a fountain. ‘With thee is the fountain of life’ (Psalm 36:9). The cistern may be empty and cannot fill us. Creatures are often ‘broken cisterns’ (Jeremiah 2:13). But the fountain is filling. God is a fountain. If we bring the vessels of our desires to this fountain, he is able to fill them. The fullness in God is an infinite fullness. Though he fill us and the angels which have larger capacities to receive, yet he has never the less himself. As the sun, though it shines, has never the less light.

~ Thomas Watson

What frees us from fear

strengthenedbygrace — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 13:25:28 +0000

“The gospel is what frees us from fear. In Christ, God accepts me. He is my father, I am his son. There are no conditions on his love, no earning that I must do. I don’t need more acceptance. I have enough in Christ. If others think poorly of me, who cares? If I fail, then I’ll fail knowing that God still delights in me. I am free to step out and risk my reputation, because my identity isn’t found in my reputation, it’s found in Christ.”–Stephen Altrogge

I want a Bible saturated mind

strengthenedbygrace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:30 +0000

How do live out in faithful obedience the commands and instructions in God’s Word to mediate on God’s Word (Joshua 1:8, Psalm 1:3, Philippians 4:8)?

How do you prepare to meditate in this distraction-crazy world? How do we start? What does it look like? What would be passages we should meditate on?

The Crossway blog features some brief thoughts from Kent and Carey Hughes. Kent Hughes has helped me in this area over the years as I have returned to his book Disciplines of a Godly Man many times. So read this post and be sure to click on the link to Joe Thorn’s brief exhortation regarding meditation in the post.

Feel free to post a comment on what you have learned best aids biblical meditation in your life.

Is my faith too weak?

strengthenedbygrace — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:00:59 +0000

Jared Wilson, whose blog now appears in The Gospel Coalition neighborhood provides a triple dose of quotes plus one more that encourages those who view their faith as too weak to please God.

“I find not salvation put upon the strength of faith, but the truth of faith; not upon the brightest degree, but upon any degree of faith. It is not said, If you have such a degree of faith you shall be justified and saved; but simply believing is required. The lowest degree of true faith wilt do it . . .”

– William Greenhill, An Exposition on the Prophet Ezekiel

“A weak faith is true. The bruised reed is but weak, yet it is such as Christ will not break. Though thy faith be but weak, yet be not discouraged. A weak faith may receive a strong Christ: a weak hand can tie the knot in marriage as well as a strong; a weak eye might have seen the brazen serpent. The promise is not made to strong faith, but to true. The promise doth not say, Whosoever hath a giant faith that can remove mountains, that can stop the mouth of lions, shall be saved; but whosoever believes, be his faith never so small.”

– Thomas Watson, A Body of Divinity

“Weak faith will as surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith, for it is impossible the least dram of true grace should perish…”

– William Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour

And the one shot more powerful than these three:

“For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.”– Matthew 17:20

Do you think there is enough teaching in the church?

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:08 +0000

Kevin DeYoung wonders aloud if he might be going crazy or thought crazy with asking the question, “Is there enough preaching and teaching going on in the church?” He think both pastors and members/attenders might take him to task for even asking the question. But he asks us to appeal to Scripture first and foremost and then he throws in some other thoughts and examples that touch on the question before he concludes with what it might look like church life if there was more teaching in the church.

Read and think through Kevin’s observations here.

Eight ways to read your Bible

strengthenedbygrace — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:00:59 +0000

From J. C. Ryle:

Begin reading your Bible this very day.
Read the Bible with an earnest desire to understand it.
Read the Bible with child-like faith and humility.
Read the Bible in a spirit of obedience and self-application.
Read the Bible daily.
Read all of the Bible — and read it in an orderly way.
Read the Bible fairly and honestly.
Read the Bible with Christ continually in view.

For more on these eight ways read the full post.