Thanks Givers - 2 Corinthians 9:1-15

Very thoughtful sermon on the issue money and tithing.

Grief is Permitted

I've been reading John Flavel's Facing Grief and have found it to be an excellent read. Its thrust is counsel to those have have lost their loved ones and is based on Luke 7:13. The counsel to the reader is insightful and can be applied to any kind of grief we encounter. Permit me to highlight chapter three, Sorrow Permitted to Christian Mourners:

1. The afflicted must be allowed an awakened and tender sense of the Lord's afflicting hand.
2. We must allow the mourning, afflicted soul a due and comely expression of his grief and sorrow in his complaints both to God and men.
3.The afflicted person may (ordinarily) accuse, judge, and condemn himself, for being the cause and procurer of his own troubles.
4. The afflicted Christian may, in a humble, submissive manner, plead with God, and be earnest for the removal of his affliction.

This is one of the best little books to come from Banner of Truth this year. If you're grieving, this may help.

More on this great little tome later...

Presbyterian and Reformed Family Trees

Great stuff from the guys at Christ the Center and D.G. Hart on Presbyterian and Reformed Family Trees. Certainly worth a listen. Hart refers to his book, Seeking a Better Country which you can find here.

MacArthur on Sovereignty and Sin

A Threefold Blessing

The last sermon in our series on Thessalonians. This sermon includes a simply outstanding explication of the peace of Christ

King James Who? - God

Ok, I'm bragging a bit - this billboard is my son-in law's work. But I do heartily applaud his church's efforts to advance the Gospel. Great work Neo Church.

The Gospel or Race?

The World Council of Churches will be meeting here in Cleveland next week. Sadly, it will not be to discuss the Gospel but rather race issues.  Race issues certainly are important but is not the Gospel more so? The issues of race will seemingly always be with us but our time is short to reach many with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What a collossal waste when so many are dying in their sins. It certainly demonstrates the course the WCC has taken and it's wrong-headed focus on issues. May we all look inwardly at our motives and goals and realign them to a Biblical standard of life and work. Our time is short.

How We Spend Our Time

How do we spend our time? Technology has invented incredible time-savers for us yet we have less time than we ever have had before. Carl Trueman correctly weighs in here on this issue. As for what we should be doing I particulary appreciated, ...drinking beer with friends is perhaps the most underestimated of all Reformation insights and essential to ongoing reform... Enjoy.

Working for Christ

Fantastic sermon on idleness and the necessity of work.



Idleness is a grevious sin.

Why? Four reasons:

1. It fails to fulfill the creation mandate
2. It deprives others of our productivity - it is theft
3. It exposes one to the Devil's temptations
4. It is contrary to the example of Jesus Christ

To be learned:
1. Don't take idleness lightly
2. Don't be idle in spiritual things
3. Work hard at whatever God has given you to do

On Being an Introvert

Adam McHugh's blog on introversion is always an enjoyable read as was his book. His post yesterday was especially thoughtful. In part he states, From a neurological point of view, introverts have more brain activity and brain blood flow than extroverts, and we have less tolerance for the dopamine that is released from social interactions and activity. So in many cases it actually may be more pleasurable - in terms of the good feelings released in the brain - for us to be alone or at home than it is for us to be at a party or a church activity. In other words, we are more motivated to be alone than to be in a crowd. It's not that we don't like people or are anti-social or standoffish, it's that it actually feels better for us to be alone sometimes. Reading a book on a Friday night may feel better than a night out with friends, especially when we have spent the week in a socially charged atmosphere at work. You see, it's not that we don't like people or that we're naval-gazers, we just don't get our energy from being around others. Rather, we recharge our internal batteries by being alone and pursuing whatever our sometimes overly active brains would have for us to cogitate upon. Read the rest of Adam's thoughtful post here and think about all of your introverted friends. His last paragraph is particularly discerning. Let me know what you think.

God is Faithful

Administrivia

I've been offline for the last five days thanks to a downed landline that took AT&T five days to repair. But, we're back up and running. New posts to come soon.

Trueman on Reading Thomas

His constructive theological work (particularly Summa Theologiae Part One) lays the groundwork for much of what is later incorporated into Reformed understandings of God. Did you know that about Thomas Aquinas? Sure we disagree with him in many areas but there is much to be admired. Read more here from Carl Trueman.

Jesus Christ: The Way to Real Relationship with God

Ryle on Prayer

Recently I was thinking about prayer and how often I neglect the privilege when I came across this quote from J.C. Ryle:

...Sermons and books and tracts, and committee meetings and the company of good men, are all good in their way, but they will never make up for the neglect of private prayer. Mark well the places and society and companions that unhinge your hearts for communion with God and make your prayers drive heavily. There be on your guard. Observe narrowly what friends and what employments leave your soul in the most spiritual frame, and most ready to speak with God. To these cleave and stick fast. If you will take care of your prayers, nothing shall go very wrong with your soul. (From A Call to Prayer by J.C. Ryle.)

What a remarkable statement. In some ways it is most obvious. But, let's face it, it is what we all do. We let the busyness of life get in the way of communion with the Life-Giver. Prayer is too often neglected. It is time to remove those things that so easily unhinge our hearts for communion with God.

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson Four: Peace

Altan - Slow Air & Dance

One of my favorite groups...

The Implication of a Christian Worldview for Christian Education - Dr.Nelson Kloosterman

Dr. Nelson Kloosterman, Professor of Ethics and New Testament Studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary, spoke at a local conference on the subject of The Implication of a Christian Worldview for Christian Education. It was insightful and enjoyable for all. Below are the audio links. Be blessed.

The Man Who Looked Like An Angel - Acts 6

Great sermon from our visiting minister, the Rev. Earl Fair.

True Christian Love

...The true nature of Christian love is a righteous principle which seeks the highest good of others. It is a powerful desire to promote their welfare. The exercise of love is to be in strict conformity to the revealed will of God. We must love in the truth. Love among the brethren is far more than an agreeable society where views are the same. It is loving them for what we see of Christ in them, loving them for Christ's sake.

The Lord Jesus Himself is our example. He was not only thoughtful, gentle, self-sacrificing and patient, but He also corrected His mother, used a whip in the Temple, Severely scolded His doubting disciples, and denounced hypocrites. True spiritual love is above all faithful to God and uncompromising towards all that is evil. We cannot declare, ‘Peace and Safety’ when in reality there is spiritual decay and ruin!

True spiritual love is very difficult to exercise because it is not our natural love. By nature we would rather love sentimentally and engender good feelings. Also many times true spiritual love is not received in love, but is hated as the Pharisees hated it. We must pray that God will fill us with His love and enable us to exercise it without dissimulation toward all. - A.W. Pink

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson Three

Outstanding lesson on love. What is real love and how do we relate to others in light of the definition of Biblical love.

Andrew Murray on the Holy Spirit

It was the Holy Ghost Who was given to the church at Pentecost; and it is the Holy Ghost Who gives Pentecostal blessings now. It is this power, given to bless men, that wrought such wonderful life, and love, and self-sacrifice in the early church; and it is this that makes us look back to those days as the most beautiful part of the Church’s history. And it is the same Spirit of power that must dwell in the hearts of all believers in our day to give the Church its true position. Let us ask God then, that every minister and Christian worker may be endued with the power of the Holy Ghost; that He may search us and try us, and enable us sincerely to answer the question, “Have I known the indwelling and the filling of the Holy Spirit that God wants me to have? Let each one of us ask himself: “Is it my great study to know the Holy Ghost dwelling in me, so that I may help others to yield to the same indwelling of the Holy Spirit; and that He may reveal Christ fully in His divine saving and keeping power?” Will not every one have to confess: “Lord, I have all too little understood this; I have all too little manifested this in my work and preaching”? - (From the Deeper Christian Life by Andrew Murray.)

A man is what his heart is

The man is what his heart is. If this be dead to God, then nothing in him is alive. If this be right with God, all will be right. As the mainspring of a watch sets all its wheels and parts in motion, so as a man “thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov. 23:7). If the heart be right, the actions will be. As a man's heart is, such is his state now and will be hereafter: if it be regenerated and sanctified there will be a life of faith and holiness in this world, and everlasting life will be enjoyed in the world to come. Therefore, “Rather look to the cleansing of thine heart, than to the cleansing of thy well; rather look to the feeding of thine heart, than to the feeding of thy flock; rather look to the defending of thine heart, than to the defending of thine house; rather look to the keeping of thine heart, than to the keeping of thy money” (Peter Moffat, 1570).

“Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life” (Prov. 4:23). The “heart” is here put for our whole inner being, the “hidden man of the heart” (1 Peter 3:4). It is that which controls and gives character to all that we do. To “keep”—garrison or guard—the heart or soul is the great work which God has assigned us: the enablement is His, but the duty is ours. - A.W. Pink

The Golden Chain

The Implication of a Christian Worldview for Christian Education - Dr. Nelson Kloosterman

Below is the conference audio of Dr. Nelson Kloosterman teaching on The Implication of a Christian Worldview for Christian Education from last May. Dr. Kloosterman is Professor of Ethics and New Testament Studies at Mid-America Reformed Seminary. Enjoy.

Why Go I Mourning?

“Why go I mourning?”- Psalm 42:9

Canst thou answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy anticipations? Who told thee that the night would never end in day? Who told thee that the sea of circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left but long leagues of the mud of horrible poverty? Who told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed from frost to frost, from snow, and ice, and hail, to deeper snow, and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that day follows night, that flood comes after ebb, that spring and summer succeed winter? Hope thou then! Hope thou ever! For God fails thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness hidden, are as real as in day, and God’s love is as true to thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always: thy Lord hates the rod as much as thou dost; he only cares to use it for that reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely, that it works thy lasting good. Thou shalt yet climb Jacob’s ladder with the angels, and behold him who sits at the top of it-thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet, amidst the splendours of eternity, forget the trials of time, or only remember them to bless the God who led thee through them, and wrought thy lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom like the rose! Cause the desert to ring with thine exulting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be over, and then “for ever with the Lord,” thy bliss shall never wane. -C.H. Spurgeon

“Faint not nor fear, his arms are near,

He changeth not, and thou art dear;

Only believe and thou shalt see,

That Christ is all in all to thee.”

Fruit of the Spirit Lesson Two

And we continue...

A Review of "In the care of the Good Shepherd: Meditations on Psalm 23"

To find good, Reformed devotional literature is difficult to do. So when I came across the Reflections series from publisher Day One I was delighted. One book in the series by Iain D. Campbell, In the care of the Good Shepherd: Meditations on Psalm 23, is certainly worth a read.

Don’t be deterred; this is not another boring exposition on Psalm 23. Campbell takes each verse as a chapter and draws out the truth of Scripture while revealing the solace found in the passage. It’s encouraging, comforting and inspirational; a thoroughly enjoyable read. Whether you’re looking for something new for your own devotions or something for group or family devotions this book is worth consideration. It gets a well deserved two thumbs up!

A.W. Pink on Foreknowledge

Often misinterpreted, God's foreknowledge is critical to a right understanding to the Gospel. Without a correct understanding of it the Sovereign gift God mutates into works righteousness. A.W. Pink clarifies for us:

Let us pause and define our terms. What is meant by “foreknowledge”? “To know beforehand,” is the ready reply of many. But we must not jump to conclusions, nor must we turn to Webster’s dictionary as the final court of appeal, for it is not a matter of the etymology of the term employed. What is needed is to find out how the word is used in Scripture. The Holy Spirit’s usage of an expression always defines its meaning and scope. It is failure to apply this simple rule which is responsible for so much confusion and error.

...Now the word “foreknowledge” as it is used in the New Testament is less ambiguous than in its simple form “to know.” If every passage in which it occurs is carefully studied, it will be discovered that it is a moot point whether it ever has reference to the mere perception of events which are yet to take place. The fact is that “foreknowledge” is never used in Scripture in connection with events or actions; instead, it always has reference to persons. It is persons God is said to “foreknow,” not the actions of those persons.

...The first occurrence is in Acts 2:23. There we read, “Him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.” If careful attention is paid to the wording of this verse, it will be seen that the Apostle was not there speaking of God’s foreknowledge of the act of the crucifixion, but of the Person crucified: “Him (Christ) being delivered by,” etc.

The second occurrence is in Rom. 8:29, 30. “For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He did predestinate, them He also called,” etc. Weigh well the pronoun that is used here. It is not what He did foreknow, but whom He did. It is not the surrendering of their wills nor the believing of their hearts, but the persons themselves that are here in view.

...The last mention is in 1 Peter 1:2: “Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Who are “elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father”? The previous verse tells us: the reference is to the “strangers scattered” i. e. the Diaspora, the Dispersion, the believing Jews. Thus, here too the reference is to persons, and not to their foreseen acts.

Now in view of these passages (and there are no more) what scriptural ground is there for anyone saying God “foreknew” the acts of certain ones, viz., their “repenting and believing,” and that because of those acts He elected them unto salvation? The answer is, None whatever. Scripture never speaks of repentance and faith as being foreseen or foreknown by God. Truly, He did know from all eternity that certain ones would repent and believe, yet this is not what Scripture refers to as the object of God’s “foreknowledge.” The word uniformly refers to God’s foreknowing persons; then let us “hold fast the form of sound words” (2 Tim. 1:18).

...It thus appears that it is highly important for us to have clear and scriptural views of the “foreknowledge” of God. The popular idea of Divine foreknowledge is not only inadequate and erroeneous, but slanders the reality of God’s attributes, bringing Him disgrace rather than the glory which is His due. God not only knew the end from the beginning, but He planned, fixed, predestinated everything from the beginning. And, as cause stands to effect, so God’s purpose is the ground of His prescience. If then the reader be a real Christian, he is so because God chose him in Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4), and chose not because He foresaw you would believe, but chose simply because it pleased Him to choose; chose you notwithstanding your natural unbelief. This being so, all the glory and praise belongs alone to Him. You have no ground for taking any credit to yourself. You have “believed through grace” (Acts 18:27), and that, because your very election was “of grace” (Rom. 11:5). (From the Attributes of God by A.W. Pink.)

Christopher Ness on Foreknowledge

The foreknowledge of God is so often misinterpreted and/or misunderstood that a Biblical understanding of it must by obtained. Christopher Ness (1621-1705) has written:

That which is the fruit and effect of the Divine decree cannot be the cause of it; and faith, perseverance, etc., are but the fruits and effects of electing love.

Such as are given to Christ in the decree of election, do come to, or believe in Christ; others do not come, do not believe; and the cause assigned is, because they are not of His sheep, because they are not given to Him. “All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me” (John 6:37). Coming to Christ is believing on Him. “Ye believe not, because ye are not of My sheep” (John 10:26). “As many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (Ac 13:48). We may not (according to the Arminian notion) read it, “as many as believed were ordained unto life;” for this would be setting the cart before the horse, as if the means were ordained before the end. We are predestinated that we should be holy, not because we are holy (Eph 1:4). We are foreordained to walk in good works, not because we do so (Eph 2:10). We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, not because we are so (Ro 8:29). It is the election that obtains faith, and not faith that obtains election (Ro 11:7). And the Apostle, in 2 Timothy 1:9, excludes all works (both foreseen and existing), showing that God's gracious purpose is the original of all. Yea, Paul himself was chosen that he might know the will of God, not that he was foreseen to do so (Ac 22:14); and he tells the Thessalonians, that “God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth” (2 Thess 2:13). We may not make that an antecedent to election which is but the consequent of it. “I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit” (John 15:16).

...God is the cause of causes, and the first cause of all things. There can be no being but from Him, there can be nothing before Him. “Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things” (Ro 11:36). “In Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Ac 17:28). O Lord, “Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created” (Rev 4:11). God is the chief efficient cause, and the ultimate end of all beings; but if any being be antecedent to the determinations of God's will, this would take away the dignity of the supreme cause, and make an act of man superior to that of God. (From An Antidote Against Arminianism by Christopher Ness.)

So we can see from these two brief passages from Hess' brilliant work on Arminianism that is not of ourselves that we believe. To embrace such a belief is to aceppt that man is the controlling factor in his own salvation. If that be the case, who should desire to worship a god who man can manipulate with such ease?