manonfirejer20.9

Gospel

2011-03-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

G.O.S.P.E.L. from Humble Beast Records on Vimeo.

Sir Issac Newton on Atheism

2010-08-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

"Atheism is so senseless. When I look at the solar system, I see the earth at the right distance from the sun to receive the proper amounts of heat and light. This did not happen by chance."

--Sir Issac Newton

Francis Crick on Design

2010-07-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

"Biologists must constantly keep in mind that what they see was not designed, but rather evolved. It might be thought, therefore, that evolutionary arguments would play a large part in guiding biological research, but this is far from the case. It is difficult enough to study what is happening now. To figure out exactly what happened in evolution is even more difficult. Thus evolutionary achievements can be used as hints to suggest possible lines of research, but it is highly dangerous to trust them too much. It is all too easy to make mistaken inferences unless the process involved is already very well understood."

Dr. Francis Crick, co-discoverer of DNA, in his book: "What Mad Pursuit: A Personal View of Scientific Discovery"

STEPHEN HAWKING ON THE LAWS OF PHYSICS:

2010-07-27T20:14:00.000-07:00

"The universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist: Either atoms would not be stable, or they wouldn't combine into molecules, or the stars wouldn't form heavier elements, or the universe would collapse before life could develop, and so on."

Stephen Hawking, quoted by Mark Cahill in "One Heartbeat Away" p. 24

What is love?

2010-07-22T20:49:00.001-07:00

What is Love? Is it loving for Christians to remain silent while damning their friends to hell, or speaking uncomfortable words of life?

"So, Faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." Romans 10:17

Missional Church: Simple.

2010-07-22T20:45:00.000-07:00

Repentance

2010-07-02T07:38:00.000-07:00

"Before we can begin to see the cross as something done for us, leading us to faith and worship, we have to see it as something done by us, leading us to repentance."

--C. J. Mahaney

Worldliness

2010-06-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

"Today, the greatest challenge facing American evangelicals is not persecution from the world, but seduction by the world." C. J. Mahaney, "Worldliness" P. 22

Why was Jesus death necessary?

2009-09-19T07:51:00.000-07:00

"Why was the death of Jesus necessary? Because all of humanity is corrupt and condemned, and we all have an acute tendency to deny the reality of our lost state before God."

--C. J. Mahaney
Humility true greatness
p.52

Humility

2009-09-19T05:23:00.000-07:00

"Where there's worry, where there's anxiousness, pride is at the root of it. When I am experiencing anxiety, the root issue is that I'm trying to be self-sufficient. I'm acting independent of God."

--C. J. Mahaney
Humility: true greatness p. 75

The Offense & Attraction of the Cross

2009-08-26T19:20:00.000-07:00

The curious paradox of the atoning death of a bloody Jesus rising above the plane of human history with a mocking crown of thorns is that he is offensive in an attractive way. It is the utter horror of the cross that cuts through the chatter, noise, and nonsense of our day to rivet our attention, shut our mouths, and compel us to listen to an impassioned dying man who is crying out for the forgiveness of our sins and to ask why he suffered. Tragically, if we lose the offense of the cross, we also lose the attraction of the cross so that no one is compelled to look at Jesus. Therefore, Jesus does not need a marketing firm or a makeover as much as a prophet to preach the horror of the cross unashamedly.

--Mark Driscoll
Listening to the Beliefs of Emerging Churches, page 33

The Invisible Hand

2009-08-26T18:15:00.000-07:00

When God wants to drill a man
And thrill a man
And skill a man,
When God wants to mold a man
To play the noblest part;
When He yearns with all His heart
To create so great and bold a man
That all the world shall be amazed,
Watch His methods, watch His ways!
How He ruthlessly perfects
Whom He royally elects!
How He hammers him and hurts him,
And with mighty blows converts him
Into trial shapes of clay which
Only God understands;
How He uses whom He chooses
And with every purpose fuses him;
By every act induces him
To try His splendor out--
God knows what He's about!

--Author unknown

Quoted from SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP by J. Oswald Sanders
Chapter 20 "REPRODUCING LEADERS"

SOVEREIGNTY DEFINED

2009-08-25T08:24:00.000-07:00

The sovereignty of God. What do we mean by this expression? We mean the supremacy of God, the kingship of God, the godhood of God. To say that God is sovereign is to declare that God is God.

--A. W. Pink
The Sovereignty of God, chapter 1, "GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY DEFINED"

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

2009-08-22T20:55:00.000-07:00

"If your picture of a disciplined Christian is one of a grim, tight-lipped, joyless half-robot, then you've missed the point. Jesus was the most disciplined Man who ever lived and yet the most joyful and passionately alive. He is our Example of discipline. Let us follow Him to joy through the Spiritual Disciplines."

--Donald S. Whitney
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, page 24

Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life

2009-08-22T20:52:00.000-07:00

"Learning and following involve discipline, for those who only learn accidentally and follow incidentally are not true disciples."

--Donald S. Whitney
Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life
Page 20

Napoleon on Christ

2009-08-22T20:13:00.000-07:00

Quotable & Notable:

"The nature of Christ's existence is mysterious, I admit; but this mystery meets the wants of man.--Reject it and the world is an inexplicable riddle; believe it, and the history of our race is satisfactorily explained."

--Napoleon (quoted in The New Dictionary of Thoughts by Standard Book Co.)

Revolutionary Idea

2009-08-22T15:19:00.000-07:00

"Jesus was a revolutionary, not in the guerrilla warfare sense, but in His teaching on leadership. The term servant speaks everywhere of low presetige, low respect, low honor. Most people are not attracted to such a low-value role. When Jesus used the term, however, it was a synonym for greatness. And that was a revolutionary idea."

--J. Oswad Sanders
Spiritual Leadership chapter 3 "The Master's Master Principle"

Suffering and Freedom

2009-08-22T14:57:00.000-07:00

"Life lived with God is a journey of becoming free. It is a journey from selfishness to selflessness, from sin to righteousness, from facades to authenticity, from living by the expectations of others to that of pleasing an audience of one, from our sinful nature to a life in the Spirit. Every step toward freedom is a step in the right direction."

--T. J. Addington

From "Suffering and Freedom" posted 8/21/09 @ www.leadingfromthesandbox.blogspot.com

The Search for Leaders

2009-08-22T14:49:00.000-07:00

"If the world is to hear the church's voice today, leaders are needed who are authoritative, spiritual, and sacrificial. Authoritaitive, because people desire leaders who know where they are going and are confident of getting there. Spiritual, because without a strong relationship to God, even the most attractive and competent person cannot lead people to God. Sacrificial, because this follows the model of Jeusus, who gave himself for the whole world and calls us to follow in His steps."

--J. Oswald Sanders
Spiritual Leadership, chapter 2, The Search for Leaders

Man's Danger

2009-08-22T14:38:00.000-07:00

"Surely, there is far more danger of making too much of man and too little of God, than there is of making too much of God and too little of man."

--A. W. Pink
The Sovereignty of God, Preface to the second edition

An Honorable Ambition

2009-08-22T14:22:00.000-07:00

Quotable & Notable:

"The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the chracter of his mind and heart."

Samuel Brengle, Salvation Army Preacher, as quoted by J. Oswald Sanders in SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP, chapter 1, "An Honorable Ambition".

Luke 18.25 a poem by Karsten Piper

2008-02-19T10:01:00.000-08:00

Luke 18.25
by Karsten Piper

He spread his blanket on the sand,
kneeled and arranged his bowls and tools:
hook, mallet, clamp, chisel, rasp, razor.

His smile glinted in the rongeur's claws,
and upside down in the curette's spoon.
Light shone out of the needle's eye.

“Hoosh,” he said and began plucking hairs,
paring calluses, shearing wool, shaving
to the follicles, cutting to the quick.

He sorted these, trimming skin with skin,
hair with hair, into rows of clay bowls,
and set a large basin to catch each sour drip

as he sliced the hide and used both fists
to yank back the whole stubbled, gray pelt,
as wet and red on its underside as afterbirth.

He piled this heavily away, draping it
in clean linen, and turned to the meat and bone
heaving under sheer, tight membrane.

Sawteeth chewed into femur, rib and shoulder.
Pliers twisted and wrenched away tendons
until everything softened, canted, and collapsed—

yet not one sliver dies. Each ribbon and shard
bawls for the horror and hurt of their missing,
wishing for the old braying wholeness.

Pain bloodies evening and morning,
stabbing day after day from even the first cuts,
like the slow light of far stars.

Eyeballs and heart float alone in the last bowl,
dark and defenseless, quavering when he leans down
and they recognize in his eyes how little is left.

“Easy now, Camel,” he says and lifts me
in his fingertips, one quivering strand at a time,
through the eye of the needle.

C. S. Lewis Quotes:

2008-02-18T09:28:00.000-08:00

"Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are halfhearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

"To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully around with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable."

Jim Elliot Quotes

2008-02-18T09:19:00.000-08:00

“Most laws condemn the soul and pronounce sentence. The result of the law of my God is perfect. It condemns but forgives. It restores - more than abundantly - what it takes away.”

“Father, make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.”

“Rest in this - it is His business to lead, command, impel, send, call or whatever you want to call it. It is your business to obey, follow, move, respond, or what have you.”

“I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.”

"I have had to make a cross of two logs, and lie down on it, to show the Indians what it means to crucify a man."

"Oh, the fullness, pleasure, sheer excitement of knowing God on earth!”

Martin Luther, Sermon excerpt from Matthew 11:

2008-02-18T09:13:00.000-08:00

“From what has just been said it is easily understood that among the works of Christ none is greater than preaching the Gospel to the poor. This means nothing else than that to the poor the divine promise of grace and consolation in and through Christ is preached, offered and presented, so that to him who believes all his sins are forgiven, the law is fulfilled, conscience is appeased and at last life eternal is bestowed upon him. What more joyful tidings could a poor sorrowful heart and a troubled conscience hear than this? How could the heart become more bold and courageous than by such consoling, blissful words of promise? Sin, death, hell, the world and the devil and every evil are scorned, when a poor heart receives and believes this consolation of the divine promise. To give sight to the blind and to raise up the dead are but insignificant deeds, compared with preaching the Gospel to the poor... Surely these poor are not the beggars and the bodily poor, but the spiritually poor, namely, those who do not covet and love earthly goods; yes, rather those poor, broken-hearted ones who in the agony of their conscience seek and desire help and consolation so ardently that they covet neither riches nor honor. Nothing will be of help to them, unless they have a merciful God. Here is true spiritual weakness... Whosoever would receive it must first become poor, as Christ says, that he came not to call the righteous but only sinners, although he called all the world. Hence you see who are the greatest enemies of the Gospel, namely, the work-righteous saints, who are self-conceited, as has been said before. For the Gospel has not the least in common with them. They want to be rich in works, but the Gospel wills that they are to become poor. They will not yield, neither can the Gospel yield, as it is the unchangeable word of God. Thus they and the Gospel clash, one with another…”

GODISINCONTROL

2008-02-18T08:34:00.000-08:00

I've been pondering the sovereignty of God lately. The Bible says God draws us to Himself and without His Spirit "calling us" and without faith to receive His grace (and faith is a "gift of God"), we are unable to come to Him (John 6:44; 6:65; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Ephesians 2:8).

Yet we have freedom to follow or not to follow (John 6:36; 6:66-67). Interesting how those who "no longer walked with him" is verse 6:66. If we didn't have freedom we'd be robots. Sin wouldn't be sin, faith wouldn't be faith, grace wouldn't be grace, love wouldn't be love, and evil wouldn't be evil. How could there be a difference between love and evil if love wasn't a choice? Why would we need to repent and turn from sin to be free from its bondage if we didn't have a choice?

Yet these things, grace and man's will, are under God's sovereinty. He ordained them. The Bible tells us He IS in control and anyone who looks at God through His revelation of Scripture has to admit the Bible teaches this, yet we are unable to comprehend it. How these two things fit together, God's sovereignty and man's will and responsibility remains a mystery as we cannot fully comprehend it (Deuteronomy 29:29; Isaiah 55:8-9; 1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

Sometimes we live as though we don't believe in God. Would meditating on God's attributes as presented in His devine revelation change our lives?

Has God called you? Do you have faith? Do you believe what you say is real is really real?

Do you want to be challenged? Meditate on these three attributes of God and how these Truths impact your daily life:

Omnipresent

Holy

Just

Excerpt from "Religious Affections" by Jonathan Edwards

2008-02-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

"A person who has a knowledge of doctrine and theology only—without religious affection—has never engaged in true religion. Nothing is more apparent than this: our religion takes root within us only as deep as our affections attract it. There are thousands who hear the Word of God, who hear great and exceedingly important truths about themselves and about their lives, and yet all they hear has no effect upon them, makes no change in the way they live.

The reason is this: they are not affected with what they hear. There are many who hear about the power, the holiness, and the wisdom of God; about Christ and the great things he has done for them and his gracious invitation to them; and yet they remain exactly as they are in life and practice.

I am bold in saying this, but I believe that no one is ever changed, either by doctrine, by hearing the Word, or by the preaching or teaching of another, unless the affections are moved by these things. No one ever seeks salvation, wrestles with God, no one ever kneels in prayer or flees from sin, with a heart that remains unaffected. In a word, there is never any great achievement by the things of religion without a heart deeply affected by those things.

The Holy Scriptures clearly see religion as a result of affections, namely the affections of fear, hope love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion and zeal.

The Scriptures see religion as the result of holy fear. Truly religious persons tremble at the Word of God…

…Finally, zeal is spoken of as a very essential part of true religion. It is spoken of as something which Christ had in mind for us when he paid for our redemption: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). It was also the essential thing missing from the lukewarm Laodiceans (Rev. 3:15-16).

I have mentioned only a few texts out of an innumerable multitude to show that throughout the Bible, true religion is placed in the affections. The only way to deny this claim is to use some rule other than the Bible by which to measure the nature of true religion."

Relevant Magazine, Dallas Willard Subversive Interview Link

2008-02-12T18:48:00.001-08:00

http://www.dwillard.org/articles/artview.asp?artID=100

Excerpt from "The Spirit of the Disciplines" by Dallas Willard

2008-02-12T15:59:00.000-08:00

Excerpt From appendix to the book: The Spirit of the Disciplines

By: Dallas Willard

Discipleship for Super-Christians Only?

"The word "disciple" occurs 269 times in the New Testament. "Christian" is found only three times and was first introduced to refer precisely to the disciples…The New Testament is a book about disciples, by disciples, and for disciples of Jesus Christ.

But the point is not merely verbal. What is more important is that the kind of life we see in the earliest church is that of a special type of person. All of the assurances and the benefits offered to humankind in the gospel evidently presuppose such a life and do not make realistic sense apart from it. The disciple of Jesus is not the deluxe or heavy-duty model of the Christian—especially padded, textured, streamlined, and empowered for the fast lane on the straight and narrow way. He stands on the pages of the New Testament as the first level of basic transportation in the Kingdom of God.

Undisciplined Disciples

For at least several decades the churches of the Western world have not made discipleship a condition of being a Christian. One is not required to be, or intended to be, a disciple in order to become a Christian, and one may remain a Christian without any signs of progress toward or in discipleship. Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership—either of entering or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or a local church. Any exception to this claim only serves to highlight its general validity and make the general rule more glaring. So far as the visible Christian institutions of our day are concerned, discipleship is clearly optional…Churches are filled with "undiscipled disciples," as Jess Moody has called them. Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ.

Little good results from insisting that Christ is also supposed to be Lord: to present his lordship as an option leaves it squarely in the category of white-wall tires and stereo equipment for the new car. You can do without it. And it is—alas!—far from clear what you would do with it. Obedience and training in obedience form no intelligible doctrinal or practical unity with the salvation presented in recent versions of the gospel.

Great Omissions from the Great Commission

A different model was instituted in the Great Commission Jesus left the church. The first goal he set forth for the early church was to use his all-encompassing power and authority to make disciples… Having made disciples, these alone were to be baptized into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. With this twofold preparation they were to be taught to treasure and keep "all things whatsoever I have commanded you." The Christian church of the first century resulted from following this plan for church growth—a result hard to improve upon.
But in place of Christ’s plan, historical drift has substituted: "Make converts (to a particular faith and practice) and baptize them into church membership." This causes two great omissions from the Great Commission to stand out. Most important, we start by omitting the making of disciples or enrolling people as Christ’s students, when we should let all else wait for that. We also omit the step of taking our converts through training that will bring them ever increasingly to do what Jesus directed.

The two great omissions are connected. Not having made converts disciples, it is impossible to teach them how to live as Christ lived and taught. That was not part of the package, not what they converted to. When confronted with the example and teachings of Christ, the response today is less one of rebellion or rejection than one of puzzlement: How do we relate to these? What have they to do with us?"

Spirituality in an Age of Change Excerpt

2008-02-12T15:31:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from: Spirituality in an Age of Change, Rediscovering the Spirit of the Reformers

By Alister E. McGrath

Chapter One: The Crisis of Spirituality Within American Evangelicalism p.9

"Evangelicalism, particularly American evangelicalism, is failing the modern church. Evangelicals have done a superb job of evangelizing people, brining them to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, but they are failing to provide believers with approaches to living that keep them going and growing in spiritual relationship with him. And where they have attempted to do so, they have merely exploited spiritual riches of other traditions while failint to make their own distinctive contributions to spirituality.

This was brought home to me while I was lecturing in the United States a few years ago. I commented on what I perceived to be the dynamic character of American evangelicalism to one of my hosts. ‘Huh! American evangelicalism may be three thousand miles wide, but it’s only six inches deep,’ was his caustic reply. In his view, the forms of evangelicalism that have gained influence in the United States lack depth and staying power.

This criticism against American evangelicalism has been made by even some of its most sympathetic commentators. The broad features of this analysis can be summarized as follows. American evangelicalism has lost sight of its spiritual and theological foundations. It has allowed itself to become dependent on highly effective religious marketing, adept political maneuvering (especially evident in the rise of the religious right), and a shrewd investment in and use of the media, supremely television. In all these respects, it has shown itself to be far more responsive to the shifting outlook and aspirations of American society, constantly wrong-footing its opponents, especially within the mainstream Protestant churches, which are in decline partly as a result of this lack of vision."

GRACE

2008-02-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

G -- God's Sovereign Grace

R -- Radical Depravity

A -- Accomplished Redemption

C -- Called Effectually

E -- Endurance of the Saints

Excerpt from Piper's "A Hunger for God" p. 14 & 15

2008-02-08T02:03:00.000-08:00

A Hunger for God, Desiring God through Fasting and Prayer
By: John Piper
Quote From p. 14 & 15 in the Introduction:

God’s Greatest Adversaries Are His Gifts
"The greatest enemy of hunger for God is not poison but apple pie. It is not the banquet of the wicked that dulls our appetite for heaven, but endless nibbling at the table of the world. It is not the X-rated video, but the prime-time dribble of triviality we drink in every night. For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable.

Jesus said some people hear the word of God, and a desire for God is awakened in their hearts. But then, "as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life"(Luke 8:14). In another place he said, "The desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful" (Mark 4:19). "The pleasures of this life" and "the desires for other things"—these are not evil in themselves. These are not vices. These are gifts from God. They are your basic meat and potatoes and coffee and gardening and reading and decorating and traveling and investing and TV-watching and Internet-surfing and shopping and exercising and collecting and talking. And all of them can be deadly substitutes for God."

John Piper's "When I Don't Desire God" excerpt from p. 34 & 35

2008-02-08T02:01:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from John Piper’s When I Don’t Desire God p. 34 & 35:

"Yes, I am assuming that loving Jesus includes the taste of joy in his personhood. I reject the notion that love for Christ is identical to mental or physical acts done in obedience to his Word. When Jesus said, ‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments’ (John 14:15), he was describing the effect of love, not the essence of love. First there is love, then there is the effect—obedience. The obedience is not identical with love.

Jesus once described his coming like this: ‘The light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil’ (John 3:19). Here the issue of salvation is loving or hating the light. Love darkness, or love light. That’s the crisis of the soul…"

Bonhoeffer on The Cost of Discipleship..Excerpt from Chapter 1

2008-02-06T20:25:00.000-08:00

"CHEAP GRACE is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting to-day for costly grace.

Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheapjacks' wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices. Grace is represented as the Church's inexhaustible treasury, from which she showers blessings with generous hands, without asking questions or fixing limits. Grace without price; grace without cost! The essence of grace we suppose, is that the account has been paid in advance; and, because it has been paid, everything can be had for nothing. Since the cost was infinite, the possibilities of using and spending it are infinite. What would grace be if it were not cheap?

Cheap grace means grace as a doctrine, a principle, a system. It means the forgiveness of sins proclaimed as a general truth, the love of God taught as the Christian "conception" of God. An intellectual assent to that idea is held to be of itself sufficient to secure remission of sins. The church which holds the correct doctrine of grace has, it is supposed, ipso facto a part in that grace. In such a church the world finds a cheap covering for its sins; no contrition is required, still less any real desire to be delivered from sin. Cheap grace therefore amounts to a denial of the living Word of God, in fact, a denial of the Incarnation of the Word of God.

Cheap grace means justification of sin without the justification of the sinner. Grace alone does everything, they say, and so everything can remain as before...

...Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.

Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will gladly go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out an eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.

Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: "ye were bought with a price," and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God."

Excerpt from: Real Christianity, Discerning True and False Faith by William Wilberforce

2008-02-06T20:19:00.000-08:00

"It is proper at this time to point out the very inadequate conception which professing Christians entertain of the importance, nature, and superior excellence of Christianity. If we listen to their conversation, virtue is praised, and vice is censured. Piety is perhaps applauded and profanity condemned.

So far all is well. But let anyone who is not deceived by these barren generalities examine these Christains’ profession a little closer. He will find they do not pay homage to Christianity in particular. At best they pay homage to religion in general—perhaps to mere morality.
With Christianity, professing Christians are little acquainted. Their views of Christianity have been so cursory and superficial that they have little more than perceived those exterior circumstances, which distinguish it from other forms of religion. The circumstances are some few facts, and perhaps some leading doctrines and principles, of which they cannot be wholly ignorant. But of the consequences, relations, and practical uses of the principles, they have few ideas—or none at all.

Does the language seem too strong in speaking of professing Christians? View their plan of life and their ordinary conduct. Wherein can we discern the points of difference between them and the acknowledged unbelievers? In an age in which infidelity abounds, do we observe them carefully instructing their children in the principles of faith which they profess? Or do they furnish their children with arguments for the defense of that faith?

They would blush on their child’s birth to think him inadequate in any branch of knowledge or any skill pertaining to his station in life. He cultivates these skills with becoming diligence. But he is left to collect his religion as he may. The study of Christianity has formed no part of his education. His attachment to it---where any attachment to it exists at all—is too often not the preference of sober reason and conviction. Instead his attachment to Christianity is merely the result of early and groundless prepossession. He was born in a Christian country, so of course he is a Christian. His father was a member of the Church of England, so that is why he is, too.
When religion is handed down among us in hereditary succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up. And it is not surprising to see them abandon a position, which they are unable to defend. Knowing Christianity chiefly by its difficulties and the impossibilities falsely imputed to it, they fall perhaps into the company of unbelievers."

Grasped by Grace? Quote from Alistair Begg

2008-02-06T20:16:00.000-08:00

Alistair Begg from his sermon "Man Overboard" has been weighing on me since I heard it earlier this year:

"Have you been grasped by God’s grace? I use that phrase purposefully because it gives all the initiative to God, you will notice that. The question is not, "have you ever invited Jesus into your heart?" It’s a good question. It’s never a New Testament question. You’ll never find anywhere in the New Testament that anybody is invited to ask Jesus into their heart. It’s a question that is common in circles such as ours.

There is a far more Biblical question and it is "have you ever been grasped by God’s grace?" Have you ever moved from a position where frankly the Bible was a closed and a dead book to you where suddenly the Bible became alive to you? Where the possibilities of attending worship were regarded as frankly a bad idea and you endured it as best you could whenever you came. Some of you may be still there this morning. And what happened was that the Bible suddenly opened up to you. The singing of God’s praise suddenly moved your heart and stirred you.
That the issue of a dying Christ suddenly became the most pressing matter to you in relation to the fact that you realized that you were dead in your trespasses and in your sins and you couldn’t really explain what was going on.

I heard a lady not so long ago give her testimony and she talked about how she had gone and heard someone preaching. And she had been so moved and stirred in her heart that she had gone home into her room as a university student and she had begun to read her Bible and she prayed out to God and she frankly didn’t know what to read and didn’t know what to pray. And some weeks later attending the events at the university she had begun. Somebody laid out the gospel and the plan of salvation. And when they laid out the nature of what it means to know God and to trust him and repent and embrace him, she said "Oh! That’s what happened to me! That’s what’s happened to me!"

The reason I ask the question in this way is simply this: Phariseeism is alive and well, sadly, in churches like this. Individuals who have not been grasped by grace, but who, in some short-circuited endeavor for a relationship with God simply exchange one set of external circumstances for another set. They’ve dumped the non-Christian list and gone for the Christian list. And simultaneously, they find in their hearts not a sense of empathy and compassion for those who are disfigured and who are spoiled and who are broken and know themselves to be broken. Instead of compassion being there, there is resentment there…I put it to you that is not the response of someone who has been grasped by grace. Because the individual who has been grasped by grace says "That was me. In fact, absent your grace Lord Jesus, that is me." Going there, doing that, thinking this, embracing that. Look at all these people with a word view so alien to our Christian worldview."

Religious Affections by Jonathan Edwards Excerpt:

2008-02-06T20:08:00.000-08:00

"A person who has a knowledge of doctrine and theology only—without religious affection—has never engaged in true religion. Nothing is more apparent than this: our religion takes root within us only as deep as our affections attract it. There are thousands who hear the Word of God, who hear great and exceedingly important truths about themselves and about their lives, and yet all they hear has no effect upon them, makes no change in the way they live.
The reason is this: they are not affected with what they hear. There are many who hear about the power, the holiness, and the wisdom of God; about Christ and the great things he has done for them and his gracious invitation to them; and yet they remain exactly as they are in life and practice.

"I am bold in saying this, but I believe that no one is ever changed, either by doctrine, by hearing the Word, or by the preaching or teaching of another, unless the affections are moved by these things. No one ever seeks salvation, wrestles with God, no one ever kneels in prayer or flees from sin, with a heart that remains unaffected. In a word, there is never any great achievement by the things of religion without a heart deeply affected by those things.
The Holy Scriptures clearly see religion as a result of affections, namely the affections of fear, hope love, hatred, desire, joy, sorrow, gratitude, compassion and zeal.
The Scriptures see religion as the result of holy fear. Truly religious persons tremble at the Word of God…

"…Finally, zeal is spoken of as a very essential part of true religion. It is spoken of as something which Christ had in mind for us when he paid for our redemption: "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). It was also the essential thing missing from the lukewarm Laodiceans (Rev. 3:15-16).

"I have mentioned only a few texts out of an innumerable multitude to show that throughout the Bible, true religion is placed in the affections. The only way to deny this claim is to use some rule other than the Bible by which to measure the nature of true religion."

Personal Reflection on "Religious Affections" excerpt:

Is our religion taking root? Is it going deep within us as the body of Christ? Is God the source of our greatest affection? What are we passionate about? Do we long to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified? Is this practical in the 21st century? How can we discern this?

Ravi Zacharias: Apologetic Struggle

2008-02-06T20:03:00.000-08:00

Ravi Zacharias stopped me in my tracks when I heard him say this on his May 22, 2007 radio broadcast of "Just Thinking":

"I urge you to hear me carefully. If there is one difficult apologetic question I live with, I have never stated this in public, but I’ve often talked about it behind closed doors to my wife, to dear close colleagues. If there is one apologetic struggle I live with, it is this question: Why is it so many people who talk of a supernatural transformation show so little of the transformed life?
I want you to think about that. Why when we talk so much about the work of the Holy Spirit of regeneration within a life is it not obvious to the unbeliever anymore, who does not see the change but only hears our language?

Somehow, we must come to grips seriously in the academy that we possibly no longer need to convince the average student of the aimlessness with which the majority of people live, but somewhere that student maybe desperately needs to see a life that is consistently lived in its proclamation and deed."

The Cost of Discipleship

2008-02-06T03:30:00.000-08:00

December 27, 2007 episode of Renewing Your Mind

Title: The Cost of Discipleship

Quote by R. C. Sproul:

"...I'm afraid part of the absence of more vicious persecution is because of our lukewarm commitment to the truth of Christ. It's when Christians are vibrant and bold in their faith that persecution becomes more severe."

"...Our devotion to Christ, if it is consistent, and if it is public, and if it is open will bring His people to persecution."

"...We ought not be surprised, because our Lord Himself promised us that if we identify with Him, we will in that identification identify with His humiliation, with His affliction and with His persecution."

GODISINCONTROL

2007-07-25T09:10:00.000-07:00

I've been pondering the sovereignty of God lately...The Bible says He draws us to Himself and how without His Spirit "calling us" and without faith to receive His grace (and faith is a "gift of God"), we are unable to come to Him (John 6:44; 6:65; 1 Corinthians 1:24; Ephesians 2:8).

Yet we have freedom to follow or not to follow (John 6: 36; 66-67). If it weren't so, we'd be robots. Sin wouldn't be sin, faith wouldn't be faith, grace wouldn't be grace, love wouldn't be love, and evil wouldn't be evil. How could there be a difference between love and evil if love wasn't a choice?

Yet these things, grace and man's will are under God's sovereinty. He ordained them. The Bible tells us He IS in control and anyone who looks at God through His revelation of Scripture has to admit the Bible teaches this, yet we are unable to comprehend it. How these two things fit together, God's sovereignty and man's will and responsibility is a total mystery as we cannot comprehend it (Deuteronomy 29:29).

2007-02-24T06:39:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Day 2006 at Great Grandma's in Speedway, IN.

2007-02-24T06:37:00.000-08:00

Me & the boys, Graham & Gavin.