Thursday, February 15, 2007

Simply of Grace

Listen to what Paul writes to the believers in Ephesus:

Ephesians 4:30 - 5:1 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

Today I was convicted over some words that I had said. It is amazing how the Lord can immediately convict one and draw His child to almost immediate conviction. The Lord burdened me with this sin throughout the day.

Listen to v. 31 again, it spoke volumes to my heart.

31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.

Not only are we commanded (in the Aorist which signifies URGENCY! but it also is the imperative which could be translated, "Let these things urgently be taken up/away from you") to put these wicked traits away from us, but he spells them out - clearly. There is no mistaking what Paul notes.

All bitterness, which is the root of wrath and anger must be done away with. The Lord taught me today. But then I kept reading:

32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Paul says that I must be KIND to one another. Why? Because God forgave me. It reminds me of the parable that Jesus told a few months before he would be crucified (I will post the whole text, it is worthy of a SLOW and thoughtful read):


Matthew 18:21-35 21 Then Peter came and said to Him, "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?" 22 Jesus said to him, "I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. 23 "For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a certain king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. 24 "And when he had begun to settle them, there was brought to him one who owed him ten thousand talents. 25 "But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made. 26 "The slave therefore falling down, prostrated himself before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will repay you everything.' 27 "And the lord of that slave felt compassion and released him and forgave him the debt. 28 "But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, 'Pay back what you owe.' 29 "So his fellow slave fell down and began to entreat him, saying, 'Have patience with me and I will repay you.' 30 "He was unwilling however, but went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed. 31 "So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened. 32 "Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you entreated me. 33 'Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, even as I had mercy on you?' 34 "And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. 35 "So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

Do you hear that last verse? Read it again?

35 "So shall My heavenly Father also do to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart."

That terrifies the daylights out of me. If I don't forgive, love and treat others with kindness, then what on earth could ever make me think that I am a child of God? Thank God there is forgiveness. Thank God there is grace that covers all my sin.

Instead of being angry, we must: Ephesians 5:1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children;

Like the old Hymn says written almost a century ago:

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilled.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin.
Sin and despair, like the sea waves cold,
Threaten the soul with infinite loss;
Grace that is greater, yes, grace untold,
Points to the refuge, the mighty cross.

Dark is the stain that we cannot hide.
What can we do to wash it away?
Look! There is flowing a crimson tide,
Brighter than snow you may be today.

Thank God for Grace. If it were not for grace, I would have been among the first to have been cast into the pit of hell for all of eternity. Yet God saved me and washed me and is still washing me - simply, by grace.

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

The Israel of God


I believe that this book is wrong. Here is why:


How does one who holds to the view that the church is the new Israel (or what some have called, replacement theology) reconcile the verse in Romans 11:26 when Paul says:


Romans 11:26 26 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."


If, as some propose, that the church = the nation of Israel in the OT and NT, then how do they reconcile this verse. How could all the church be saved? This is a ludicrous statement. All the church is already saved.


I have read through Romans myself and I find that there are no occurrences of the term "Israel" that means anything other than literal, national, ethnic Israel.


Reread the context:


Romans 11:24-26 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more shall these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree? 25 For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in; 26 and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."


Furthermore, we are clearly talking about the Gentiles (and the "church age") in v.25, "until the fulness of the Gentiles has come in." Then, the tribulation will begin and God will deal again with national, ethnic Israel. The church will have been raptured before the inauguration of the Tribulation.


One more proof that Rom 11:26 is speaking of ethnic Israel is the last half of the verse:


"The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob."


This deliverer will come from Jerusalem and he will remove ungodliness from Jacob - clearly a term referring to the Jewish people.


My point - when Paul speaks of the church - interpret such verses as referring to the church. When Paul is speaking about Israel - let Israel be national, ethnic Israel. There is no replacement theology. Israel, as a nation, still exists. God is faithful!

Friday, February 9, 2007

The lost exercise of reading the Word of God

This morning, after my devotions, I wanted to sit back and read more of the Scriptures. So I opened up to the book of 1 Timothy. It is my ambition, as of late, to study the Pastorals (1, 2 Timothy and Titus) and really - I mean really - understand what the Apostle Paul is saying in these books. So, I sat back, opened up my NAS Bible and read through 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus.

It only took me about 30 minutes. That's it. As I read the entirety of these books, I noticed things, emphases, words, significant concepts that I have completely missed before in my studies of these books.

My point? Oftentimes it can be beneficial for us to read Scripture in bulk. Not to have the credential to say that "I read a lot of Scripture today." But on the other hand, to understand how a particular text (or pericope) fits into the larger context of the book as a whole. For me, reading these three books was truly a blessing.

The many many times that Paul encourages both young Timothy and Titus to preach and to teach and to exhort and to study is staggering. It is convicting. It is challenging. It is heart-wrenching. I want to "take pains with these things" (1 Tim 4:15).

I encourage you to not only read the Word of God, but to study it, to know it, to love it, to immerse yourself in it, and to read it in bulk. Understand that this is how the letters were meant to be read and understood. They are not a mere collection of 3 or 4 or 6 random chapters compiled together. They are complete units of thought from the Apostle Paul to both Titus and Timothy. So read it that way! Have that understanding.

Find joy in reading the Word of God! Don't let it be an academic exercise. Read it to let the word of Christ dwell richly in you.

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

The Hopelessness of Hell

I can't take credit for this blog. I copied this post from a good friend of mine, Gunner's blog. It really disturbed and sobered me. I pray that it disturbs and sobers you too. He said:

The other day I heard that a friend’s relative was dying and would likely die soon. Later that morning I heard the news that he had died. He did not believe in Jesus.

As hard as it is to know that someone is suffering physical misery in this life and as much as we may end up desiring that the Lord allow them to die so that they can be relieved of it in the here and now, there is no comparison between the temporal pain experienced here on earth and the eternal horrors of those who are rightfully punished for rejecting the God who made them. “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

Not only are the tortures of hell horrific, but the future of its inhabitants is hopeless. There is no light at the end of the tunnel, no bright sunrise following the night, no happy tomorrows that can erase today’s agonies. Hell has no pleasant surprises. It is predictable, guaranteed, and inescapable. Hell is a hopeless place.

Hope gives us strength. It enables us to persevere in the face of massive and mounting odds. It gives us a sense of purpose when life seems aimless, a sense of joy when we’re called to labor, and a sense of resignation in our sufferings. Even in the darkest, blackest night, the candle of Christian hope cannot be fully extinguished. It will flicker and grow dim, but it will never go out. But there is none of this in hell.

The ten thousand tomorrows of hell will be as miserable as its ten thousand yesterdays. Take a Hubble telescope and look as far into hell’s future as you can see. You will not find a ray of hope.
Look at hell. Think about it. Close your eyes and imagine it. Smell it. It will expose the emptiness of your gratitude, the thrill of free redemption, and the urgency of making disciples. I am never more sobered than when I consider hell, and never more awakened than when someone goes there. It’s hard to think about for long, but it just might be that the less you think about it, the more people will end up there.

Your neighbor is going there. Your brother is going there. Your father is going there. Your co-workers and your friends and your relatives are going there. Most of us have at least dozens and at most thousands of people in our lives that will be separated from God forever, dying but never dying in what the Bible calls a lake of fire. They will be hopeless.

This is not the only reason to share Christ, but it is the starkest and the most bleak. There are many things in life that don’t matter, and a few things that do. This is one that matters.

Say something.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

Watch Out For Bad Lyrics

Look out! You make your own choices. God gives you the freewill to choose "yes" or "no." And, of course, God doesn't know what you will choose.

REALLY?


Listen to this song and to the bad lyrics. This is why we must pay attention to lyrics in songs that we sing.

Listen HERE.

Have You Forgotten the Holiness of God?



The pastor's conference is now going on at Bethlehem Baptist Church. RC Sproul preached a sermon on the "Holiness of God" from Isaiah 6.

It is an exceptional sermon. I invite you to click here and listen to an excellent treatment of the Holiness of God.

Listen HERE.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Preaching To An Illiterate People

In the days of Luther and Calvin, people knew their Bibles. Even if they didn't believe the Bible, they still knew it and knew what was in it. Unfortunately, that could not be farther from the reality of what is found today in the average church pew. Frankly, people don't know their Bible.

We have people who sit in our pews who don't know where the Book of Ephesians may be - and these people grew up in the church. We have people that don't know where the book of Psalms is - and they have been to church all their lives. What does this show?

Our culture is completely biblically illiterate. So what is the difference between the preaching of modern heralders of the Word and Luther and Calvin? Simply that they operated in a world of extreme biblical knowledge. You and I operate in biblical illiteracy. It was a different world then.

Understand this, at that time - during the Reformation and Enlightenment era, these people heard 17,000 hours of preaching in their lifetime. They heard three sermons and one lecture per week. That, simply, is not the case today.

If we are fortunate, people hear just one sermon per week. Much less, 3 sermons and then 1 lecture on top of that.

So what does that mean for us preachers? Always explain your terms. Preach the Gospel. Preach the Glory of Christ. Expect little or nothing from our hearers. We must preach the deep truths of the Word of God, yet at the same time, we must preach in a way that defines our terms, explains our thoughts, and "puts the cookies on the lower shelf." In other words, don't open up your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 8 and immediately think that everyone in the congregation knows the exact setting, context, characters, author, date, etc. of that portion of Scripture.

"Preach as though the most learned scholar still has to grapple with the biblical text, yet at the same time, preach as though a young third grader may still understand the simplicity and the glory of the Gospel."

Help with English...

Those beaches work hard at cleaning themsleves...


Is it always "adjective" forbidden? or "absolutely" forbidden? :=)



Though I know Jewish people love their children, I don't know if golden is always a synonym for "children" :=)

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Short Bio of John Bunyan


This is brief, but gives a concise background of the life, conversion and ministry of this hero of the faith.

John Bunyan was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel. He also, of course, wrote The Pilgrim’s progress. Bunyan was born in 1628 – in Elstow, England (a few miles from Bedford) . His father was a tinker (that is, an itinerant mender of pots and pans and repairer and manufacturer). It eventually became Bunyan’s occupation.

What you may not know is that Bunyan had no more than a grammar school education. Then he joined army after mother died. He left home at 16 ½ to be part of the army (for 2 years). He then got married – both were unsaved and both were completely physically pure - by the grace of God - in his own words.

When they were married, they were so poor that her only diary was 2 books from her father. God’s Word's spoken through the Apostle Paul which say: “my grace is sufficient for Thee” was his verse (2 Cor 12:9).

Once Bunyan got saved at a local church, he then set about to be the most upright and godly man in the town – because of reading the books with his wife that her father gave to them as her dowry when they got married.

Thus, after receiving Christ in church he grew and set about to preach, though he had no formal training to preach.

The library of John Bunyan consisted of a massive two volumes– Fox’s Book of Martyrs and the Bible (2 books) . He read them with great difficulty because of his poor education. Yet still, He learned them and became part of fuel for his soul.

He had meetings in farmhouses, village schools and wherever people would gather to listen to him preach, he would gladly preach as long as they would listen. He sure had a message to preach now.

However, in 17th c. England, there was political difficulty – the church of England attempted to control an dominate all religious service. He was preaching and political officials came to arrest him- but Bunyan did not run or flee. He did not want to preach that "persecutions must come upon believers" and then flee when "persecution came upon him." So when the magistrates came, Bunyan asked for time to finish preaching – and then magistrate agreed and listened.
Bunyan's sermon was on the topic: "Dost thou tremble to fear God" – and the magistrate trembled during Bunyan's very sermon – and became the illustration to Bunyan’s dark-hearted people. He said to his people, "Why don't you tremble like this very magistrate who came to persecute me but now he is being saved because of the conviction of the Holy Spirit."

Upon being arrested, Bunyan spent 6 years in prison for the gospel’s sake – he could be released if he would agree to sign a paper promising that he would stop preaching except under official approval of the church of England (the paper was laid outside his cell every day for 6 years)

Bunyan even preached in prison – he was not silent – he won many to Christ in prison. After released, he was re-arrested for 6 more years. Thus, 12 years of his 60 in life were spent in prison for the Gospel. Once again, he was released again.

Then, for a third time, he was re-arrested for 6 months – these final months in prison became the occasion for the allegorical story of the Pilgrim’s Progress.

The point: God uses willing and humble people as instruments for his work. May we be such instruments willing to be used for God and for His glory just like John Bunyan was. To God be the glory!

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A morning psalm

A morning Psalm...

Psalm 31:1-24 NAS For the choir director. A Psalm of David.
1 In Thee, O LORD, I have taken refuge; Let me never be ashamed; In Thy righteousness deliver me.
2 Incline Thine ear to me, rescue me quickly; Be Thou to me a rock of strength, A stronghold to save me.
3 For Thou art my rock and my fortress; For Thy name's sake Thou wilt lead me and guide me. 4 Thou wilt pull me out of the net which they have secretly laid for me; For Thou art my strength.
5 Into Thy hand I commit my spirit; Thou hast ransomed me, O LORD, God of truth.
6 I hate those who regard vain idols; But I trust in the LORD.
7 I will rejoice and be glad in Thy lovingkindness, Because Thou hast seen my affliction; Thou hast known the troubles of my soul,
8 And Thou hast not given me over into the hand of the enemy; Thou hast set my feet in a large place.
9 Be gracious to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and my body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow, And my years with sighing; My strength has failed because of my iniquity, And my body has wasted away.
11 Because of all my adversaries, I have become a reproach, Especially to my neighbors, And an object of dread to my acquaintances; Those who see me in the street flee from me.
12 I am forgotten as a dead man, out of mind, I am like a broken vessel.
13 For I have heard the slander of many, Terror is on every side; While they took counsel together against me, They schemed to take away my life.
14 But as for me, I trust in Thee, O LORD, I say, "Thou art my God."
15 My times are in Thy hand; Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.
16 Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; Save me in Thy lovingkindness.
17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I call upon Thee; Let the wicked be put to shame, let them be silent in Sheol.
18 Let the lying lips be dumb, Which speak arrogantly against the righteous With pride and contempt.
19 How great is Thy goodness, Which Thou hast stored up for those who fear Thee, Which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in Thee, Before the sons of men!
20 Thou dost hide them in the secret place of Thy presence from the conspiracies of man; Thou dost keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues.
21 Blessed be the LORD, For He has made marvelous His lovingkindness to me in a besieged city.
22 As for me, I said in my alarm, "I am cut off from before Thine eyes"; Nevertheless Thou didst hear the voice of my supplications When I cried to Thee.
23 O love the LORD, all you His godly ones! The LORD preserves the faithful, And fully recompenses the proud doer.
24 Be strong, and let your heart take courage, All you who hope in the LORD.

I hope this is as much of an encouragement to your soul as it was to my soul this morning.

Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Monday, January 29, 2007

The humanity of Jesus Christ diminished?

Something I have observed in recent years of being in churches, classes, conversations, conferences and other venues is that the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ is emphasized, and RIGHTLY SO. However, I wonder if while we are emphasizing this right (and absolutely necessary) doctrine of the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have neglected the important and just as necessary doctrine of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

For example, this morning in my quite time, I read Mark 1. A few verses from this chapter read:

Mark 1:12-13 12 And immediately the Spirit impelled Him to go out into the wilderness. 13 And He was in the wilderness forty days being tempted by Satan; and He was with the wild beasts, and the angels were ministering to Him.

A few things to note quickly here:
1. The wilderness is not a fun place to be - especially for 40 days without food, drink or company. It is barren, it is hot, flies are everywhere - this is not a nice, warm, fuzzy 40 days of easy-going-life for Jesus.
2. Furthermore, he is being tempted by Satan. He is tempted by the Tempter himself. Jesus is we know from Matt 4 - being tempted by Satan. Satan brings all of the goods out of his bag to try and deceive Jesus (even with Scripture!), yet without success.

Here's the point:

Hebrews 4:15 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.

This text is so significant. Auctor (the beloved title for the writer of Hebrews who is NOT Paul, by the way) writes and says that Jesus Christ was tempted in all things as we are. Notice this: for a person to constantly, and fervently resist temptation without sinning is harder to resist temptation and then to give in. In other words, the longer Jesus was tempted and yet did NOT give in to temptation, the harder and more severe the temptations were confronting him.

Jesus Christ is NO more, and NO less a human being than you and I are. He was simply put, HUMAN - a man. All of the limitations that you and I face every day, - I believe - that Jesus Christ had the same limitations. Though still being very God of gods and very Lord of lords, he chose to empty himself of his divine attributes when he took on the form of human flesh (read Phil 2:5-11).

So a question I have to my readers: Are we prone to down-play the significance of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as a human being when we all too often get caught up in the Deity of Christ?

Sunday, January 28, 2007

Date Night Baby! :=)


Last night my most beautiful fiance and I went to our favorite restaurant for a dress-up "date night." We had a blast.






Then we drove in the rain to the Cheesecake factory. We had a great time eating a fabulous pasta dish and then we got our favorite cheesecake, white chocolate peanut butter truffle. It was awesome! She's beautiful eh?

Saturday, January 27, 2007

Don't Dwell On Your Past

We're all sinful. We all have a wicked past before we came to Christ. Everyone who has ever lived is a wretched sinner deserving the wrath of an angry God for all of eternity. Yet there are some whom God has graciously chosen to call to Himself. Yet the lives that we lived before we came to that saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ was one filled with sin, anger, rebellion, hatred to God and hostility to God.

Edwards gives this piece of advice to new converts and it is needed to be heard by many today:

"Do not dwell on the past, think of Christ"

Edwards is saying here. Don't dwell on your past. Whatever that may have entailed. Whether you were just a loving peasant boy or the worst of prostitutes; whether you were a bellboy at a nearby hotel or whether you were a drug addict and a drunk; whether you had a nice, homely well-to-do marriage or whether you were physically beating your family up and cheating on your wife with the neighbor next door, Edwards says - do NOT dwell on this past.

In fact, there is much Scriptural proof to support this:

Psalm 103:1-4 Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name. 2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; 3 Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; 4 Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion;

Jeremiah 31:34 34 "And they shall not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD,' for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them," declares the LORD, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more."


2 Corinthians 5:16-19 16 Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. 18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

This is no way justifies the old, sinful and hideous life that we all once lived before we were irresistibly called by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but what it does do is enable us to recognize that all of our past sin is totally and forever forgiven through the blood of Christ.

This is what the phrase means when Jesus uttered on the cross:

John 19:30 30 When Jesus therefore had received the sour wine, He said, "It is finished!" And He bowed His head, and gave up His spirit.

It was a commercial term used in the Greco/Roman marketplaces meaning that the debt has been completely paid IN FULL. There is nothing left that still has to be forgiven. No, it is all paid for In Full!

Thus, don't dwell on your past. Rather, Edwards would say, dwell on the future. Think on cross. Let the beauty, glory, majesty and sovereignty of our Lord Jesus Christ enthrall your hearts this day and every day as long as he gives you breath.

Colossians 3:1-4 If then you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.

What could be better to dwell on than the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ and our being raised with Him in glory one day in the near future?

Friday, January 26, 2007

Humility...Where Has It Gone?

We return, once again, to the wonderful advice from our beloved mentor and hero of the past, Jonathan Edwards. He gave advice to new converts. Another piece of advice from him to these new believers in Jesus Christ is:

"Come to the things of religion in great humility"

Edwards is profound in this statement, yet very basic. Let me take just one passage of Scripture, break it down and show you what I mean:


1 Peter 5:1-4 Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, 2 shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; 3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. 4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

In this text, Peter gives fellow elders and shepherds in Asia Minor four pieces of advice for shepherding the flock of God:

1. The context for shepherding the flock of God (v.1)
2. The command for shepherding the flock of God (v.2a)
3. The contrasts for shepherding the flock of God (v.2b-3)
4. The crown for shepherding the flock of God (v.4)

But then Peter continues by giving a fifth point - and this is what Edwards is saying:

5. The clothes necessary for shepherding the flock of God (v.5)

1 Peter 5:5 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

Edwards is simply saying that we (all New Testament believers) must come to the things of religion with all humility.

What are "the things of religion?" These simply are the truths of Christianity. Orthodox doctrine. An accurate understanding of the clear biblical message.

There is only one thing required: HUMILITY - do you have it? There is no room for pride in the Christian life. If there is pride, there is no humility. If there is pride, then one is not living like the model Himself, Jesus Christ - who was humble.

Notice again what Peter says:

1 Peter 5:5 5 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

He gives three groups here: 1) young men; 2) elders; and 3) "all of you" (everyone). There is no one excluded from this imperative. Everyone is to be clothed with HUMILITY. Come to the things of religion with humility. Christianity is NOT a prideful religion. There is nothing to be prideful about. If one is prideful, then he surely has not understood the sacrifice of the Savior and the cost at which that sacrifice came to redeem sinful men. Are you prideful in your knowledge? In your learnings? In your degrees? In your studies? In your 'reading-of-many-books'?

May God give us grace to be humble and come to the things of religion with absolute and utter humility.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The Most Fabulous Fiance In The Whole World


and I've got her :=)


Elizabeth, I am wild about you. I am so excited to marry you and spend our lives together serving the Lord, honoring him, doing ministry together and growing together in Christlikeness.



I love you babe! May 12 is just too far away. You are the best complement for me. The Lord is good!

Tuesday, January 23, 2007

The Plea for Expository Preaching

THE MANDATE OF EXPOSITORY PREACHING

The Gospels, Acts, the Epistles, and Revelation provide many examples and exhortations to preach the truth in fulfillment of God’s will. As a reminder of the apostolic legacy and reaffirmation of the scriptural authority for Bible-based preaching, five significant mandates are representative of the larger number of passages.

Matt. 28:19-20--”Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

1 Tim. 4:13--”Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”

2 Tim. 2:2--”And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”

2 Tim. 4:2--”Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Titus 2:1--”But as for you, speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine.”

May God help us raise up men to preach the Word of God like this. I pray that I may be a man who fulfills the calling to "Preach the word!" (2 Tim 4:2). God help me.

Monday, January 22, 2007

What Do You Do With Your Leisure Time?

Again, in Ryken's book, Worldly Saints, he says this profound statement:

"One of the best tests of whether a person is generously educated is what he or she does with leisure time" (p.170).

I read this and had to set the book down and ponder. What do I do with my spare time? Do I really have spare time? Though it may see oftentimes that I don't have spare time because I am so busy, I really do have a lot of spare time.

Everyone in the world has the same amount of time in a day - 24 hours. No one has one minute more, or one minute less - but only 24 hours; that's it. What do you do with it?

If you sleep 8 hours a night, that leaves you with 16 hours in a day.
If you eat for a total of two hours a day, that takes you to 14 hours in a day.
If you then exercise for one hour every morning, that takes you to 13 hours in a day.
If you read your Bible and pray for one hour a day that then leaves 12 hours in a day.

So what do you do with the rest?

What do you do in your spare time? Read the Bible? Pray? Read books? Sit and contemplate? Memorize? Play video games? Surf the web?

The puritans are on to an important lesson here: if you want to judge yourself and your education, it's not really a matter of finishing a certain number of credit hours and completing a certain number of core classes. It really boils down to this: what do you do in your spare time?
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