I encourage you to read and check out my latest article: the doctrines of grace.
Though Blessed Spirit, Author of all grace and comfort, Come, work repentance in my soul; Represent sin to me in its odious colours that I may hate it; Melt my heart by the majesty and mercy of God; Show me my ruined self and the help there is in Him; 
Great reminder from Bob Chisholm—"When one makes an Old Testament story the base text for a message, the theme of the message should derive from that text, not somewhere else. Though purporting to explain what an Old Testament story means, a preacher will sometimes ignore the point of the story in its original literary setting and instead impose an entirely different theme upon it. . . . To be truly biblical we need to be faithful to the text's literary context" (Robert B. Chisholm, From Exegesis to Exposition: A Practical Guide to Using Biblical Hebrew [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998], 222-23).
This is my last week of "break" before I start classes again but it's not really much of a break. I intend to accomplish the following tasks by the end of the week:And in conclusion . . .
The Bible does not depend on archaeology for its authority. It is authoritative because God is the author. But archaeology can help interpret, illuminate, and validate God’s Word. It’s encouraging to know archaeological discoveries support biblical facts.
A few weeks ago at our mid-week service at Church, I prayed that the LORD would grant to each believer an opportunity this Christmas season to share the gospel with someone.
It seems like it never ends — and for that I am grateful. I am appointed to preach three times this week. I could greatly use your prayers.
I appreciate this quote that has aided me in my study of the believer's armor:The church today is often guilty of supplying believers with the paper armor of good advice, programs, activities, techniques, and methods — when what they need is godly armor of holy living. No program, method, or technique can bring wholeness and happiness to the believer who in unwilling to confront and forsake his sin.I couldn't agree more.
A profound apprehension of God in His majesty, with the poignant realization which inevitably accompanies this apprehension, of the relation sustained to God by the creature as such, and particularly by the sinful creature. The Calvinist is the man who has seen God, and who, having seen God in His glory, is filled on the one hand with a sense of his own unworthiness to stand in God's sight as a creature, and much more as a sinner, and on the other hand, with adoring wonder that nevertheless this God is a God who receives sinners. He who believes in God without reserve and is determined that God shall be God to him in all his thinking, feeling and willing—in the entire compass of his life activities, intellectual, moral and spiritual—throughout all his individual social and religious relations, is, by force of that strictest of all logic which presides over the outworking of principles into thought and life, by the very necessity of the case, a Calvinist.Just fabulous! I praise the LORD for His receiving of me for salvation through Jesus Christ my Righteous One!
I am reminded of three necessities to be in place for a revival:
Good and convicting words from the Prince of Preachers:
This is so insightful! D.A. Carson writes:If I have learned anything in 35 or 40 years of teaching, it is that students don’t learn everything I teach them. What they learn is what I am excited about, the kinds of things I emphasize again and again and again and again. That had better be the gospel.
If the gospel—even when you are orthodox—becomes something which you primarily assume, but what you are excited about is what you are doing in some sort of social reconstruction, you will be teaching the people that you influence that the gospel really isn’t all that important. You won’t be saying that—you won’t even mean that—but that’s what you will be teaching. And then you are only half a generation away from losing the gospel.
Make sure that in your own practice and excitement, what you talk about, what you think about, what you pray over, what you exude confidence over, joy over, what you are enthusiastic about is Jesus, the gospel, the cross. And out of that framework, by all means, let the transformed life flow.
Good words from Lawson:
This is excellent."Through faith you are so closely united with Christ . . . that you can say with confidence: . . . Christ's righteousness, victory, life, etc., are mind; and Christ, in turn, says: I am this sinner, that is, his sins, death, etc., are Mine because he clings to Me and I to him; for through faith we have been joined together into one flesh and bone" (quoted in Demarest, The Cross and Salvation, 336).
a great date night with my amazing wife!
Preaching tonight a most magnificent Psalm — Psalm 83. The first verse reads as follows:
From Spurgeon:
Last night I preached on Revelation 2:8-11 — The Church of Smyrna: the Suffering, yet Faithful, Church. As I preached it affected me as much as, I trust, it affected my hearers. The Word is so clear, so powerful, so convicting, and so contrary to many prosperity preachers nowadays that are so prevalent.
Thanksgiving 2010 at the Kirkland's
Friday's Man-Date with My Accountability Guys
Last night I rejoiced to preach again on Ephesians 5:25-33 (& 1 Pet 3:7). I showed the young men in our church what the biblical profile is of a godly husband and what kind of men they ought to strive to be now while they prepare for marriage then. I also exhorted the young women to look for these kinds of men. Feel free to listen and download if you so choose.
Here are some lessons I learned from Paul as he spoke at the seminary and at our church last week.
I believe in the doctrines of grace and I wholeheartedly embrace the doctrine of radical corruption of the entire human race. I don't believe that people "seek God." The Scriptures declare:
From James Boice:"One study we conducted examined Americans' engagement in some type of sexually inappropriate behavior, including looking at on-line pornography, viewing sexually explicit magazines or movies, or having an intimate sexual encounter outside of marriage. In all, we found that 30 percent of born-again Christians admitted to at least one of these activities in the past thirty days, compared with 35 percent of other Americans. In statistical and practical terms, this means the two groups are essentially no different from each other."Let us heed the warning in Hebrews 12:14: without holiness no one will see the Lord.
Hey folks, Anyone living in LA (or the surrounding area) is most welcome to join us at Christ Community Church for a special mid-week service with Paul Washer, founder and director of HeartCry Missionary Society from 7-8:30pm. Directions here and the pdf flyer is here.
Come join us!
"When reformed theology hears Scripture teaching both divine sovereignty and human responsibility, divine election and the universal offer of the gospel, it affirms both even though it confesses that it does not know quite how God coordinates them behind the scenes" (Introducing Covenant Theology [Baker, 2006], 19).
Phew. I finished my Hebrews 10:37-38 use of the Isaiah 26:20 and Habakkuk 2:3-4 paper. God is good. I thoroughly enjoyed my research and found it to be incredibly applicable to the current world in which we live.The believers to whom the author of Hebrews wrote struggled to endure, but if they will endure they shall receive the promise of God (10:35–36). Therefore, to reinforce this point in a hortatory challenge, the author combines two texts from the OT to prove his case as he sets their situation against the backdrop of the Parousia of Jesus Christ (10:37–38). Just as the people in both Isaiah and Habakkuk’s day were to endure hardship and persecution knowing that God would bring deliverance in the future, so also the readers of the epistle of Hebrews are called to endure hardship and persecution knowing that God will come (ὁ ἐρχόμενος) and bring deliverance. But until that time comes they must live by faith (ἐκ πίστεως). Thus, the writer states that the righteous one lives by faith but yet the one who shrinks back and refuses to endure finds no pleasure with God.
Sometimes we preachers get so fired up about preaching the gospel (as we should) but let us dare not forget that preaching is not the central focal point of the church. The gospel is. Now, for the gospel to comprise that central point in the church preaching is necessary. Preaching is the means to an end. We are to preach the Word which is inextricably linked with preaching the gospel.
I am reminded yet again that we cannot overestimate sanctification. Yes, there is progressive sanctification but this must not lower our standards for holiness. Remember that God hates sin and he tolerates no sin at all. In our day and age, we must have a high view of sanctification. Thus, fight for sanctification. Hate your sin. Mortify your sin.
Paul stated:
Tonight concludes our seven-part series on heaven. I have thoroughly enjoyed the study and I have learned much as my heart is energized to heed the words of Paul:If there be so certain and glorious a rest for the saints, why is there no more industrious seeking after it? One would think, if a man did but once hear of such unspeakable glory to be obtained, and believed what he heard to be true, he should be transported with the vehemency of his desire after it, and should almost forget to eat and drink, and should care for nothing else, and speak of and inquire after nothing else, but how to get this treasure. And yet people who hear of it daily, and profess to believe it as a fundamental article of their faith, do as little mind it, or labor for it, as if they had never heard of any such thing, or did not believe one word they hear."May these words from Mr. Baxter challenge our hearts to not only think about heaven more but earnestly yearn for that true heavenly home that awaits true believers!
"It is a strange thing that when men talk about the love of GOd, they show by every word that they utter that they have no conception at all of the depths of God's love. If you want to find an instance of true gratitude for the infinite grace of God, do not go to those who think of God's love as something that cost nothing, but go rather to those who in agony of soul have faced the awful fact of the guilt of sin, and then have come to know with a trembling wonder that the miracle of all miracles has been accomplished, and that the eternal Son has died in their stead" (Carson, "The Wrath of God," in Engaging the Doctrine of God, ed. by Bruce L. McCormack, 62).
Wonderful words:"When we believe that we should be satisfied rather than God glorified in our worship, then we put God below ourselves as though He had been made fo rus rather than that we had been made for Him."
I had the wonderful privilege of preaching a two-part series on the roles of the husband and the wife in the marriage covenant.
I am thankful for Martin Luther and his bold stand for the unadulterated gospel of salvation:
I love how Asaph puts it into words:
FoxNews resported the following clip: China rolled out its fastest train yet on Tuesday, one of the engineering triumphs that signal the nation's growing ambitions as its economy booms. The successes demonstrate how, after decades of acquiring technology from the west, Beijing has begun to push the limits of its new capabilities, setting the bar higher on mega-projects as it seeks to promote the image of a powerful, modern China. But many of these initiatives have come at great human and environmental cost, and some have questioned whether the country fosters a sufficiently innovative spirit to compete on the next level.
Still in the works: it is a $32.5 billion, 820-mile (1,300-kilometer) Beijing-to-Shanghai high-speed railway that is scheduled to open in 2012.
"We are now much faster," Railway Ministry spokesman Wang Yongping said at Tuesday's inauguration of the super-fast line from Shanghai's western suburb of Hongqiao to the resort city of Hangzhou. "Now other countries are hoping to cooperate with us."
The train will cruise at a top speed of 220 mph (350 kph), making the 125-mile (200-kilometer) trip in 45 minutes.
China already has the world's longest high-speed rail network and aims to more than double its length to 10,000 miles (16,000 kilometers) by 2020.
Psalm 78:35-37 35 And they remembered that God was their rock, And the Most High God their Redeemer. 36 But they deceived Him with their mouth And lied to Him with their tongue. 37 For their heart was not steadfast toward Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant. “There is joy in receiving things in this life, but the fullness is in God’s own presence. Oh, Christians! You will then know the difference between the creature and the Creator, and the content that each of them affords. We shall then have light without a candle, and a perpetual day without the sun. We shall then have rest without sleep, for God will be our rest. We shall then have enlightened understandings without a written law: for the Lord will perfect His law in our hearts, and we shall be all perfectly taught of God.
His own will shall be our Law, and His own face shall be our light forever. Then shall we have joy, which we drew not from the promises, nor was fetched us home by faith and hope. Beholding and possessing will exclude most of these. We shall then have communion without sacraments, when Christ shall drink with us of the fruit of the vine new; that is, refresh us with the comforting wine of immediate fruition, in the kingdom of His Father. When we shall live in our Father’s house and presence and God shall be all in all, then we are indeed at home in rest.”
“The conditional sentences of this epistle are worthy of special attention. Nowhere in the NT more than here do we find such repeated insistence on the fact that continuance in the Christian life is the test of reality. The doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints has as its corollary the salutary teaching that the saints are the people who persevere to the end.”
DeYoung, Duncan, Mohler: What's New About the New Calvinism from The Gospel Coalition on Vimeo.
Note some deliverance passages and how it is God who solves the problem:
