Advice to Teachers

The following is an excerpt from "The Soul Winner" by Charles Spurgeon.

"Let every teacher weigh these words of Paul, "But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: so, being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us." The genuine soul-winner knows what this means. For my own part, when the Lord helps me to preach, after I have delivered all my matter, and have fired off my shot so fast that my gun has grown hot, I have often rammed my soul into the gun, and fired my heart at the congregation, and this discharge has, under God, won the victory. God will bless by His Spirit our hearty sympathy with His own truth, and make it do that which the truth alone, coldly spoken, would not accomplish. Here, then, is the secret. You must, dear teacher, impart to the young your own soul; you must feel as if the ruin of that child would be your own ruin. You must feel that, if the child remains under the wrath of God, it is to you as true a grief as if you were under that wrath yourself. You must confess the child's sins before God as if they were your own, and stand as a priest before the Lord pleading on its behalf."

My Boys are Living Up to Their Names

Kelli and I often joke about how our boys are living up to the names we gave them. After the boys and Kelli went to bed tonight, I began to think about how true that is. Allow me to illustrate.

Nathaniel Jacob is our oldest. It took us a little while to decide on his name, but when we came up with it, we knew it was the one. Nathaniel means "gift of God". Nathaniel has no doubt been a gift from God. Kelli and I got married in June of 1996. That December we found out she was pregnant. I think we had tried for only a month or so before we found out she was pregnant. We were ecstatic to put it mildly. Nathaniel has been a blessing in countless ways. From the beginning he has been a Momma's boy. To this day, he fiercely takes up for his Mom (whether she is right or wrong! lol). He loves his dear old Dad, but Mom will always hold a special place in his heart. I was working very long hours on night shift when he was little, so Kelli spent a lot of one on one time with him. Jacob means "supplanter or deceiver". Nathaniel really takes after his namesake in this category. Jacob was a good guy in Scripture, but he sure could be sneaky when he needed to be! That's my Nathaniel. I could tell story after story about the sneaky things he has done. He has definitely given us our share of laughs.

Next came Benjamin Isaac. Remember how I said that Nathaniel was a major Momma's boy? Well, Benjamin went to the other extreme. When he was a baby, it would break Kelli's heart because he didn't want her to get him to sleep. He only wanted his Dad! She could try to get him to sleep for 2 hours. I could snuggle him and 5 minutes later he was sound asleep. It's no wonder that Benjamin means "son of my right hand". Benjamin and I still cut up about how he is the son of my right hand since he is such a Daddy's boy. Nathaniel might take up for Kelli, but Benjamin always takes up for me (even whey I'm wrong). Isaac means "he will laugh". Wouldn't you know that Benjamin would be our little comedian. We knew from the beginning that he would be the class clown. He loves to make people laugh. And when he laughs, he brightens up a whole room. He is always trying to find a funny joke to tell or come up with some kind of practical joke. There is never a dull moment with Benjamin.

And last but not least, Samuel Joseph. I had always dreamed of having 3 boys. After we had 2 we decided that was enough, though. God had another plan for us! Samuel was our little surprise. I'm glad that God does what He thinks is best for us instead of what we think is best. Nathaniel is the Momma's boy. Benjamin is the Daddy's boy. And Samuel is right in the middle. He tries his best to be equal to both of us. Samuel means "His name is God". In the Bible, Hannah named Samuel that because God was the one who answered her prayer for a child. You have to put both of his names together to get the full effect of how he is living up to his name. Joseph means "He will enlarge". In the Bible, Rachel named Joseph that because God had enlarged her family (and would continue to enlarge it). So you've got "His name is God" and "He will enlarge". We thought we were done with children, but God reminded us that we are not God. He is God and He decided to enlarge our family by giving us Samuel. I sure am glad He did. Samuel is one of a kind to put it mildly.

Oh, here is one more interesting thing about the names in our family. Mark means "warrior" and Kelli means "warrior woman". Yet another example of how we are made for each other.

Until next time, blessings and peace to you...

The Path to Insanity???

We are several weeks into a new Bible study with our youth group. In this study, we are looking at the "The Path to True Happiness". We have been looking at our tendencies to seek stuff to make us happy instead of seeking God. We love to elevate gifts over Giver. We seek pleasure from everything under the sun except for the only One who gives lasting joy. In this particular blog, I just want to give you a few things to chew on that God has been convicting me (and hopefully our youth group) about lately.

First, I want us to look at the story of a guy in Scripture who literally tried everything under the sun he could think of to bring himself happiness. Let's see what Solomon said about his relentless pursuit of happiness.

Ecclesiastes 2:1-11 says, "I said in my heart, "Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself." But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, "It is mad," and of pleasure, "What use is it?" I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the children of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. The I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun."

Now here was a guy who tried to find happiness in every way imaginable. Let's summarize some different things he tried to find happiness in, according to this passage. He tried all kinds of pleasure, enjoyment, laughter, drinking, partying, goofing off, work, career, houses, countless possessions, servants, unlimited money, entertainment, relationships, as much sex as he wanted, and everything his heart desired. This was astounding!!! But even more astounding than all of the things he tried is his assessment of his life after experiencing all of this pleasure. He said that all of it was vanity. It was all pointless. It was all useless. It might have brought temporary pleasure, but it never brought lasting happiness.

If his approach to life doesn't resemble the American dream, then I don't know what does. If you want it, do it. If it makes you happy, go for it. Just follow your heart and you will find happiness. Yet Scripture teaches and life confirms that stuff and relationships, as much temporary pleasure as they might bring, cannot give us lasting joy. It's no surprise that even though America is the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, depression is at an all-time high.

If only I had that job, I would be happy. If only I had that car, I would be happy. If only I had that house, I would be happy. If only I had that spouse, I would be happy. If only I had a different spouse, I would be happy. If only I had kids, I would be happy. Do you see the endless cycle? We are seeking lasting joy from temporary experiences. Meanwhile, we are ignoring the only Source of true and lasting joy. We are treasuring gifts instead of treasuring Giver. And as long as we do that, we will never experience true happiness.

I want to close out this blog by looking at Jesus' teaching on the path to true happiness. It is a familiar passage, but I'm afraid we usually just skim over it instead of really considering the implications of what is said.

Matthew 5:3-12 says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven... Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted..... Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth..... Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied..... Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy..... Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God..... Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. .... Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven..... Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account... ..Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

In this passage, blessed literally means "happy, fortunate, or blissful". Is it just me, or does this seem like complete insanity at first glance? Happy are the poor in spirit. Happy are those who mourn. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Happy are those who are persecuted for the sake of Christ. This sounds like lunacy! How can those things bring happiness? How can all of the desirable things we seek be unable to bring happiness, while this crazy list is a guarantee to bring lasting happiness?

I hope you will be considering how this passage relates to the way you are living your life. We are going to consider some implications of this passage next week. Until next time, blessings and peace.

What's the Big Deal With Repentance???

Repentance..... Now there is a word that we don't hear very much any more. It seems the most common teachings that are going around these days are: God wants you healthy, wealthy, and happy. Just come to Christ and all of your problems will go away. Do you want a new car, job, or a problem free life? Just name it and claim it! We don't hear words like sin, hell, and repentance. It reminds me of 2 Timothy 4:3-4. It says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." If that is not an accurate description of the modern church, I don't know what is. This ear tickling has also seaped into teachings on salvation. Just repeat this prayer, come to the altar and pray, and raise your hand are a few that come to mind. How does this line up with what Scripture teaches about salvation? Is that all we have to do? Do we just repeat a prayer or raise our hand during an invitation? In the words of the Philippian jailer, "What must I do to be saved?". I want us to take a look at the role of faith and repentance in salvation.

Is repentance really that important? Is it necessary for salvation? We are going to see that repentance and faith are different sides of the same coin. They are inseparable when it comes to salvation. Throughout all of the New Testament, repentance is taught as being essential for salvation. Don't believe me? John the Baptist taught it. Matthew 3:2 says, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Jesus taught it. Luke 13:3 says, "I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." The disciples taught it. Mark 6:12 says, "They went out and preached that men should repent." Peter preached it at Pentecost (Acts 2:38) and Paul taught it as well (Acts 17:30-31). It sounds like repentance is vital to the Gospel. That is why Jesus told His disciples in Luke 24:47 that we are supposed to preach repentance to all the nations. Jesus said if you don't repent you will perish. If repentance is that important, I think we need to understand exactly what it is.

2 Corinthians 7:10 says, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." What exactly do we feel sorrow for? What is this sorrow that leads to repentance? We feel sorrow because of our sin. We come to understand our condition. We realize that we have sinned (Romans 3:23). We realize that the best we have to offer is filthy in God's sight (Isaiah 64:6). We realize that we have no hope of pleasing God on our own. We are sinners (Rom. 5:8), enemies (Rom. 5:10), helpless (Rom. 5:6), alienated (Col. 1:21), blind (2 Cor. 4:4), fools (Rom. 1:22) depraved (Rom. 1:28), children of wrath (Eph. 2:3), and dead in trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1). Because of our sin, we are worthy of death (Romans 6:23) and eternal punishment (2 Thess. 1:9). When we really understand our condition, it should produce a disgust for our sin. It should produce a desire to get rid of the filth in our life. It should produce a terror that we have offended a holy God. Notice I said it SHOULD. Before we come to Christ, we are spiritually dead, though (Eph. 2:1). Left to our own, nobody would ever seek God's forgiveness. Romans 3:11 tells us that nobody seeks after God. God seeks us (Luke 19:10). God Himself must convict us and open our eyes to our true condition. Romans 2:4 tells us that, "the kindness of God leads us to repentance." 2 Timothy 2:25-26 tell us that God is the One who grants repentance. So, repentance is loathing our sin. You go from loving and being okay with your sin to being disgusted by it. We can't stand our sin and we want to be rid of it. That is the part repentance plays in salvation. Repentance strips away all of our pride and self-righteousness. Then it creates a hunger for the true righteousness that can only come from God. Where does faith come into all of this, though. If you were to stop with repentance, you would have an incomplete Gospel. Let's see how faith plays it's part in salvation.

Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast." We simply cannot earn our salvation. We have nothing to offer. It is only by God's grace (undeserved favor) that we can be saved. It is a gift. You don't earn a gift. It is freely given. Romans 5:8 says, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Christ paid the price for our sin when He died on the cross. Romans 3:25 says, "He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because our justification." He died for our sins and arose three days later so we can be declared innocent. 2 Corinthians 5:21 tells us, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." When we believe in Christ, He takes our sin and gives us His righteousness. It must be repentant faith, though. Simply believing Christ exists, or even that he died for our sins is not enough. James 2:19 says that even the demons believe and they tremble. Remember the people in Matthew 7? Verses 21-23 say, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophecy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Those people believed Christ was real and even did great works in His name. Their faith was in their works, though. It wasn't a repentant faith. Many, many people are in that same situation today. They believe Christ is real, but they aren't trusting in Him as their only hope of salvation. They believe in Christ, but trust in their own works. Somebody who has truly repented knows that they have nothing to offer. They are spiritually bankrupt and have no hope of paying the debt themselves. Repentance takes all of the confidence out of yourself and faith puts it in Christ. That is why I said that they were two sides of the same coin.

Leaving repentance out of our teaching on salvation has had disastrous results. It is no wonder that most people who claim to be Christians show no evidence of it. They have repeated a prayer, walked an isle, or raised their hand, but they have never repented. Repentant faith produces a change. That is why John the Baptist said in Matthew 3:8, "Therefore bear fruit, in keeping with repentance." James 2:14,17-18 says, "What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? Even so faith, if it has now works, is dead, being by itself. But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works": show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works." Works do not save us, but they are the product of true faith. Matthew 7:20 says you will know a tree by it's fruit. In the words of Paul in Romans 6:2, "How shall we who died to sin still live in it?" True believers can't live the same way they used to. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." If we will start teaching repentance and faith, we will see transformed lives; lives that are transformed by the power of the Gospel. My prayer is that you have repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that God will grant you repentance to make you loathe your sin and to strip you of all confidence in yourself. Then I pray you will trust Christ as your only hope of salvation. Until next time.......

Great is Thy Faithfulness

GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS


Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

Pity the Fools

Pity the Fool(s)

John MacArthur



Compassion

God’s love to all humanity is a love of compassion. To say it another way, it is a love of pity. It is a broken-hearted love. He is “good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon [Him]” (Ps. 86:5). “To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him” (Dan. 9:9). He is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth” (Exod. 34:6).

Again, we must understand that there is nothing in any sinner that compels God’s love. He does not love us because we are lovable. He is not merciful to us because we in any way deserve His mercy. We are despicable, vile sinners who if we are not saved by the grace of God will be thrown on the trash heap of eternity, which is hell. We have no intrinsic value, no intrinsic worth—there’s nothing in us to love.

I recently overheard a radio talk-show psychologist attempting to give a caller an ego-boost: “God loves you for what you are. You must see yourself as someone special. After all, you are special to God.”

But that misses the point entirely. God does not love us “for what we are.” He loves us in spite of what we are. He does not love us because we are special. Rather, it is only His love and grace that give our lives any significance at all. That may seem like a doleful perspective to those raised in a culture where self-esteem is elevated to the supreme virtue. But it is, after all, precisely what Scripture teaches: “We have sinned like our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly” (Ps. 106:6). “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment; and all of us wither like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away” (Isa. 64:6).

Pity the Fool(s)God loves because He is love; love is essential to who He is. Rather than viewing His love as proof of something worthy in us, we ought to be humbled by it.

God’s love for the reprobate is not the love of value; it is the love of pity for that which could have had value and has none. It is a love of compassion. It is a love of sorrow. It is a love of pathos. It is the same deep sense of compassion and pity we have when we see a scab-ridden derelict lying in the gutter. It is not a love that is incompatible with revulsion, but it is a genuine, well-meant, compassionate, sympathetic love nonetheless.

Frequently the Old Testament prophets describe the tears of God for the lost:

Therefore my heart intones like a harp for Moab, and my inward feelings for Kir-hareseth. So it will come about when Moab presents himself, when he wearies himself upon his high place, and comes to his sanctuary to pray, that he will not prevail. This is the word which the Lord spoke earlier concerning Moab (Isa. 16:11–13).

“And I shall make an end of Moab,” declares the Lord, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods. Therefore My heart wails for Moab like flutes; My heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres. Therefore they have lost the abundance it produced. For every head is bald and every beard cut short; there are gashes on all the hands and sackcloth on the loins” (Jer. 48:35–37).

Similarly, the New Testament gives us the picture of Christ, weeping over the city of Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling” (Matt. 23:37). Luke 19:41–44 gives an even more detailed picture of Christ’s sorrow over the city:

And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days shall come upon you when your enemies will throw up a bank before you, and surround you, and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”

Those are words of doom, yet they’re spoken in great sorrow. It is genuine sorrow, borne out of the heart of a divine Savior who “wanted to gather [them] together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,” but they were “unwilling.”

Those who deny God’s love for the reprobate usually suggest that what we see here is the human side of Jesus, not His divinity. They say that if this were an expression of sincere desire from an omnipotent God, He would surely intervene in their behalf and save them. Unfulfilled desire such as Jesus expresses here is simply incompatible with a sovereign God, they say.

But consider the problems with that view. Is Christ in His humanity more loving or more compassionate than God? Is tenderness perfected in the humanity of Christ, yet somehow lacking in His deity? When Christ speaks of gathering the people of Jerusalem as a hen gathers her chicks, is this not deity speaking, rather than humanity? Do not these pronouncements of doom necessarily proceed from His deity as well? And if the words are the words of deity, how can anyone assert that the accompanying sorrow is the product of Christ’s human nature only, and not the divine? Do not our hearts tell us that if God is love—if His tender mercies are over all His works—then what we hear in Jesus’ words must be an echo of the divine?

To the Praise of His Glory

Ephesians 1:3-14- Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us. In all wisdom and insight He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory. In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Apathy

Everywhere there is apathy. Nobody cares whether that which is preached is true or false. A sermon is a sermon whatever the subject; only, the shorter it is the better. - Charles Haddon Spurgeon

For Men Only

Just a little advice for you men. lol

Divided by Truth

Today's blog is going to be the shortest I've ever done. My mind has been swirling with different things that I could blog about, but one thing in particular has stuck out. Have you ever read a quote that you couldn't get out of your mind? Well, I read one this week.

I better give a little background first. A pastor had been preaching through the book of Romans. He was about to preach on one of the most controversial passages in that book, possibly in the whole Bible. The chairman of the deacon board, one of the most powerful men in town, warned him not to continue. The chairman said the sermon would divide the church.

Curious what the response was? It is the quote that won't get out of my head. So, without further ado, here is the quote along with who said it.

"Better to be divided by truth than united in error." Steve Lawson

Until next time, blessings and peace.

Bonhoeffer??? Gesundheit!!!

The following is an excerpt from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book entitled "The Cost of Discipleship". In this excerpt, he is explaining that true faith produces works. In other words, "faith without works is dead" (James 2:26).

When he was challenged by Jesus to accept a life of voluntary poverty, the rich young man knew he was faced with the simple alternative of obedience or disobedience. When Levi was called from the receipt of custom and Peter from his nets, there was no doubt that Jesus meant business. Both of them were to leave everything and follow. Again, when Peter was called to walk on the rolling sea, he had to get up and risk his life. Only one thing was required in each case- to rely on Christ's word, and cling to it as offering greater security than all the securities in the world. The forces which tried to interpose themselves between the word of Jesus and the response of obedience were as formidable then as they are today. Reason and conscience, responsibility and piety all stood in the way, and even the law and "scriptural authority" itself were obstacles which pretended to defend them from going to the extremes of antinomianism and "enthusiasms." But the call of Jesus made short work of all these barriers, and created obedience. That call was the Word of God himself, and all that it required was single-minded obedience.

If, as we read our Bibles, we heard Jesus speaking to us in this way today we should probably try to argue ourselves out of it like this: "It is true that the demand of Jesus is definite enough, but I have to remember that he never expects us to take his commands legalistically. What he really wants me to have is faith. But my faith is not necessarily tied up with riches or poverty or anything of the kind. We may be both poor and rich in the spirit. It is not important that I should have no possessions, but if I do I must keep them as though I had them not, in other words, I must cultivate a spirit of inward detachment, so that my heart is not in my possessions."

Jesus may have said, "Sell thy goods," but he meant: "Do not let it be a matter of consequence to you that you have outward prosperity; rather keep your goods quietly, having them as if you had them not. Let not your heart be in your goods," We are excusing ourselves from single-minded obedience to the word of Jesus on the pretext of legalism and a supposed preference for an obedience "in faith." The difference between ourselves and the rich young man is that he was not allowed to solace his regrets by saying: "Never mind what Jesus says, I can still hold on to my riches, but in a spirit of inner detachment. Despite my inadequacy I can take comfort in the thought that God has forgiven me of my sins and can have fellowship with Christ in faith."

But no, he went away sorrowful. Because he would not obey, he could not believe. In this the young man was quite honest. He went away from Jesus and indeed this honesty had more promise than any apparent communion with Jesus based on disobedience. As Jesus realized, the trouble with the young man was that he was not capable of such an inward detachment from riches. As an earnest seeker for perfection he had probably tried it a thousand times before and failed, as he showed by refusing to obey the word of Jesus when the moment of decision came. It is just here that the young man was entirely honest. But we in our sophistry differ altogether from the hearers of Jesus' word of whom the Bible speaks.

If Jesus said to someone: "Leave all else behind and follow me; resign your profession, quit your family, your people, and the home of your fathers," then he knew that to this call there was only one answer- the answer of single-minded obedience, and that it is only to this obedience that the promise of fellowship with Jesus is given. But we should probably argue thus: "Of course we are meant to take the call of Jesus with 'absolute seriousness,' but after all the true way of obedience would be to continue all the more in our present occupations, to stay with our families, and serve him there in a spirit of true inward detachment." If Jesus challenged us with the command: "Get out of it," we should take him to mean: "Stay where you are but cultivate that inward detachment." Again, if he were to say to us: "Be not anxious," we should take him to mean: "Of course it is not wrong for us to be anxious: we must work and provide for ourselves and our dependents. If we did not we should be shirking our responsibilities. But all the time we ought to be inwardly free from all anxiety." Perhaps Jesus would say to us: "Whosoever smiteth thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also." We should then suppose him to mean: "The way really to love your enemy is to fight him hard and hit him back." Jesus might say: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," and we should interpret it thus: "Of course we should have to seek all sorts of other things first; how could we otherwise exist? What he really means is the final preparedness to stake all on the kingdom of God." All along the line we are trying to evade the obligation of single-minded, literal obedience.

How is such absurdity possible? What has happened that the word of Jesus can be thus degraded by this trifling, and thus left open to the mockery of the world. When orders are issued in other spheres of life there is no doubt whatever of their meaning. Are we to treat the commandment Jesus differently from other orders and exchange single-minded obedience for downright disobedience? How could that be possible?

Terrific Hymn Tuesday: Very Cool Video

Before the Throne of God Above is my all-time favorite hymn. The lyrics are unbelievable. When I found this version, I fell in love with it.





Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea.
A great high Priest whose Name is Love
Who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on His hands,
My name is written on His heart.
I know that while in heaven He stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look and see Him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because the sinless Savior died
My sinful soul is counted free.
For God the just is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me.

Behold Him there the risen Lamb,
My perfect spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I AM,
King of glory and of grace,
One in Himself I cannot die.
My soul is purchased by His blood,
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ my Savior and my God!


Until next time, blessings and peace...

Monday With MacArthur: Is Your Faith Real???

How can we know if our faith is real?

The Bible provides a clear understanding of genuine saving faith-true faith produces good fruit. In His parable of the soils and the seed, the Lord Jesus taught that, while unbelievers are unfruitful, those who are saved would bear fruit. In this parable, three of four soils produced fruitless plants, vivid pictures of receptions of God's Word that never resulted in salvation.

In contrast, fruit-bearing plants thrive in the good soil that pictures a redeemed heart. Jesus said, "But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty" (Matthew 13:23). All believers are fruitful, even though not equally fruitful.

The Bible also describes what good fruit looks like. The following chart lists the characteristics of genuine saving faith. In essence, it serves as a guide for spiritual fruit inspection (2 Corinthians 13:5). If you are unsure about the reality of your faith, please take the time to study this chart, taking care to read each of the accompanying Scripture passages.

The Character of Genuine Saving Faith

I. Evidences That Neither Prove Nor Disprove One's Faith

* Visible Morality: Matthew 19:16-21; 23:27.
* Intellectual Knowledge: Romans 1:21; 2:17ff.
* Religious Involvement: Matthew 25:1-10
* Active Ministry: Matthew 7:21-24
* Conviction of Sin: Acts 24:25
* Assurance: Matthew 23
* Time of Decision: Luke 8:13, 14

II. The Fruit/Proofs of Authentic/True Christianity:

* Love for God: Psalm 42:1ff; 73:25; Luke 10:27; Romans 8:7
* Repentance from Sin: Psalm 32:5; Proverbs 28:13; Romans 7:14ff; 2 Corinthians 7:10; 1 John 1:8-10
* Genuine Humility: Psalm 51:17; Matthew 5:1-12; James 4:6, 9ff.
* Devotion to God's Glory: Psalm 105:3; 115:1; Isaiah 43:7, 48:10ff.; Jeremiah 9:23, 24; 1 Corinthians 10:31
* Continual Prayer: Luke 18:1; Ephesians 6:18ff.; Philippians 4:6ff.; 1 Timothy 2:1-4; James 5:16-18
* Selfless Love: 1 John 2:9ff, 3:14; 4:7ff.
* Separation from the World: 1 Corinthians 2:12; James 4:4ff.; 1 John 2:15-17, 5:5
* Spiritual Growth: Luke 8:15; John 15:1-6; Ephesians 4:12-16
* Obedient Living: Matthew 7:21; John 15:14ff.; Romans 16:26; 1 Peter 1:2, 22; 1 John 2:3-5

If List I is true of a person and List II is false, there is cause to question the validity of one's profession of faith. Yet if List II is true, then the top list will be also.

III. The Conduct of the Gospel:

* Proclaim it: Matthew 4:23
* Defend it: Jude 3
* Demonstrate it: Philippians 1:27
* Share it: Philippians 1:5
* Suffer for it: 2 Timothy 1:8
* Don't hinder it: 1 Corinthians 9:16
* Be not ashamed: Romans 1:16
* Preach it: 1 Corinthians 9:16
* Be empowered: 1 Thessalonians 1:5
* Guard it: Galatians 1:6-8

Adapted from John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible, p. 2190.

Scripture for Sunday: Hard Words From Jesus

Luke 14:25-35- Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish. Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

Saturday With Spurgeon: Roots or Fruits???

Now, it is impossible for you to love God without the strong conclusive evidence that God loves you. I once knew a good woman who was the subject of many doubts, and when I got to the bottom of her doubt, it was this: she knew she loved Christ, but she was afraid he did not love her. "Oh!" I said, "that is a doubt that will never trouble me; never, by any possibility, because I am sure of this, that the heart is so corrupt, naturally, that love to God never did get there without God's putting it there." You may rest quite certain, that if you love God, it is a fruit, and not a root. It is the fruit of God's love to you, and did not get there by the force of any goodness in you. You may conclude, with absolute certainty, that God loves you if you love God. There never was any difficulty on his part. It always was on your part, and now that the difficulty is gone from you, none whatever remains. O let our hearts rejoice and be filled with great delight, because the Savior has loved us and given himself for us.

Charles Spurgeon

Family Friday: God's Take on a Healthy Family

Ephesians 5:21-6:4- And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ. Wives, be subject to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body. But as the church is subject to Christ, so also the wives ought to be to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, thatHe might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spotor wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless,each individual among you also is to love his own wife even as himself,and the wife must see to it that she respects her husband. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER (which is the first commandment with a promise), SO THAT IT MAY BE WELL WITH YOU, AND THAT YOU MAY LIVE LONG ON THE EARTH. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Thursday’s Thoughts from Mark G.- Do You Need a Heart Transplant???

Matthew 5:8- Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

That is an absolutely shocking verse to me. The pure in heart will see God. Can you imagine being able to see the God of the universe? Can you imagine being able to look at His face? Revelation gives us a glimpse ahead of what it will be like. Revelation 22:3-4 says, "There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." This is a completely and utterly shocking picture. There is no greater gift than the gift of God Himself. And Scripture tells us that the pure in heart will get to see God. We would do well to consider some implications of this. This is the same God who said to Moses, "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Exodus 33:20) What is going on here? Is this some kind of contradiction? How can one verse tell us that nobody can see God and live, yet another tells us that the pure in heart will see God?

That brings us to the heart of the problem (pun intended). Jeremiah 17:9 says, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" The pure in heart will see God. That is wonderful news. The awful news is that nobody has a pure heart. We all by nature have a deceitful and wicked heart. It's not just deceitful and wicked, but it is deceitful and wicked ABOVE ALL THINGS. Maybe Jeremiah 17:9 is just talking about the hearts of a few people, though. Surely everybody's heart is not so bad, right? Wrong… Romans 3:10 says, "As it is written, THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE." What is going on here? Was Jesus just playing word games in Matthew 5? Is that an empty promise? Is there no hope?

Let's use a little logic for a moment, shall we? The pure in heart will see God. We have wicked hearts, though. It sounds to me like what we need is a heart transplant. We need to get rid of our filthy hearts and get a new and pure one. Is that even possible, though? Ezekiel 36:25-27 says, "Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances."

Now this is wonderful news! God says that He is able to cleanse us from the filthiness of our sins. Not only that, but He will take out our sin-hardened heart of stone and will replace it with a pure heart of flesh. This is an astounding miracle! Not only can He give us a new heart, but He can also give us His Holy Spirit to live inside of us. And with the Holy Spirit inside of us, He will cause us to obey His commandments. Philippians 2:13 says, "For it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure." With a brand new heart and His Spirit inside of us, He will be at work in us to cause us to will and work for His good pleasure. Our hearts can be pure. Our sins can be cleansed. And He can help us to obey.

This begs a question. How do we get this heart transplant? Let's go to the words of our Lord Jesus Himself. Mark 1:15 says, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel." We must repent and believe in the gospel. Repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. What does it mean to repent? We must be sickened and disgusted by our sins. When we truly see how bad our sin is, it causes us to want to turn from it. We want to be free from it, yet we realize that we are powerless to save ourselves. That causes us to turn to the only One who can save us, Jesus Christ. We turn from our love of sin and self and place all of our hope and trust in Christ to save us. What does it mean to believe? We believe that it is only through the worth of His sinless life, substitutionary death, and glorious resurrection that we can be saved. We trust in Christ as our only hope of salvation. So repentance strips us of our love of sin and confidence in our ability to save ourselves. Then it turns us to believe in the only One that can save us. Repentance causes us to believe in Christ. When we do those things, by the grace of God, we can have that pure heart that we desperately need. And because of that, we will be able to see God. And it just doesn't get any better than that! Praise His Name for that wonderful grace!!!

Until next time, blessings to you…

Whatever Mark G. Wants Wednesday: One Life to Live

Ephesians 5:15-17- Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Make the most of your time... Don't be foolish... Understand what the will of the Lord is... I've been thinking a lot about making the most of my time lately. We don't know how long we have on this earth. Some people live to a ripe old age. Others die before there lives really seem to get started. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that we live to be 80 years old.

80 years
960 months
4,160 weeks
29,120 days (okay, I didn't count leap years)
700,800 hours
42,048,000 minutes
2,522,880,000 seconds

You know, when you think about it like that, it puts a whole new perspective on your time. And nothing says that we will get 80 years. So what does this have to do with anything? I'm glad you asked. If our time is so limited, shouldn't we use it wisely? If we've only got one life, shouldn't we make the most out of it?

I've got a few guarantees for you. When you and I take our last breathe, we won't be worried about a lot of the things that we are now. We won't care who won the BCS title game. We won't care if we got to see that movie. We won't care if we got to take that nap. We won't care if we beat that video game. We won't care how much money we have in our checking accounts. We won't care about our clothes or our house. Earthly things won't matter then.

We will be wondering how we have prepared for eternity. Matthew 6:19-21 says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

That brings up a question. Where is your treasure? Where is my treasure? Now Ephesians 5 is starting to make sense. Now the command to make the most of my time takes on a whole new meaning. Now I see why I don't need to be foolish. Now I see why I need to understand what the will of the Lord is. We need to be like Jonathan Edwards. He made the following resolution.

"Resolved, never to lose one moment of time: but improve it the most profitable way I possible can."

Let's let go of the earthly things that won't matter in eternity. Why would we spend so much time and energy on things that moths and rust will destroy? Let's make sure our treasure will last. Let's put our time, energy, and resources on Christ and His kingdom. That is the only thing that will matter in eternity anyway. Let's make the most of our time and give Christ our everything.

Just something for us to think about. Until next time, blessings and peace...

Terrific Hymn Tuesday: Amazing Video

"Be Thou My Vision" has been one of my favorite hymns for a while. This rendition of it blew me away, though. Thanks to Berean Wife for posting.




Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tower:
Raise Thou me heavenward, O Power of my power.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heaven’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

I pray that you have a blessed day in the service of our Lord!

Monday With Macarthur: Sin is No Big Deal???

The following is an excerpt from John MacArthur's book, "The Vanishing Conscience".

We live in a culture that has elevated pride to the status of a virtue. Self-esteem, positive feelings, and personal dignity are what our society encourages people to seek. At the same time, moral responsibility is being replaced by victimism, which teaches people to blame someone else for their personal failures and iniquities. Frankly, the biblical teachings about human depravity, sin, guilt, repentance, and humility are not compatible with any of those ideas.

The church has been far too willing to embrace the fads of worldly opinion- particularly in the area of psychology and self-esteem. Christians often merely echo worldly thinking on the psychology of guilt and the importance of feeling good about oneself. The adverse effect on the life of the church can hardly be underestimated.

Nowhere has the damage registered more than the way professing Christians deal with their own sin. In speaking to Christians around the country, I have seen a disheartening trend developing for at least two decades. The church as a whole is growing less concerned with sin, and more obsessed with self-exoneration and self-esteem. Christians are rapidly losing sight of sin as the root of all human woes. And many Christians are explicitly denying that their own sin can be the cause of their personal anguish. More and more are attempting to explain the human dilemma in wholly unbiblical terms: temperament, addiction, dysfunctional families, the child within, codependency, and a host of other irresponsible escape mechanisms promoted by secular psychology.

The potential impact of such a drift is frightening. Remove the reality of sin, and you take away the possibility of repentance. Abolish the doctrine of human depravity and you void the divine plan of salvation. Erase the notion of personal guilt and you eliminate the need for a Savior. Obliterate the human conscience, and you will raise an amoral and unredeemable generation. The church cannot join hands with the world in such a grossly satanic enterprise. To do so is to overthrow the very gospel we are called to proclaim.


All I can say is, Amen. Until next time, blessings and peace to you...

Scripture for Sunday: Jesus Prays for His Own

John 17:1-26- 1When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 "I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.

20"I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them."

Saturday with Spurgeon- Being Drawn by the Father

Here is one of my favorite excerpts from Charles Spurgeon. The following is taken from a sermon entitled "Human Inability".

Our second point is THE FATHER'S DRAWINGS. "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him." How then does the Father draw men? Arminian divines generally say that God draws men by the preaching of the gospel. Very true; the preaching of the gospel is the instrument of drawing men, but there must be some thing more than this. Let me ask to whom did Christ address these words? Why, to the people of Capernaum, where he had often preached, where he had uttered mournfully and plaintively the woes of the law and the invitations of the gospel. In that city he had done many mighty works and worked many miracles. In fact, such teaching and such miraculous attestation had he given to them, that he declared that Tyre and Sidon would have repented long ago in sack-cloth and ashes, if they had been blessed with such privileges. Now, if the preaching of Christ himself did not avail to the enabling these men to come to Christ, it cannot be possible that all that was intended by the drawing of the Father was simply preaching. No, brethren, you must note again, he does not say no man can come except the minister draw him, but except the Father draw him. Now there is such a thing as being drawn by the gospel, and drawn by the minister, without being drawn by God. Clearly, it is a divine drawing that is meant, a drawing by the Most High God—the First Person of the most glorious Trinity sending out the Third Person, the Holy Spirit, to induce men to come to Christ. Another person turns round and says with a sneer, "Then do you think that Christ drags men to himself, seeing that they are unwilling!" I remember meeting once with a man who said to me, "Sir, you preach that Christ takes people by the hair of their heads and drags them to himself." I asked him whether he could refer to the date of the sermon wherein I preached that extraordinary doctrine, for if he could, I should be very much obliged. However, he could not. But said I, while Christ does not drag people to himself by the hair of their heads, I believe that, he draws them by the heart quite as powerfully as your caricature would suggest. Mark that in the Father's drawing there is no compulsion whatever; Christ never compelled any man to come to him against his will. If a man be unwilling to be saved, Christ does not save him against his will. How, then, does the Holy Spirit draw him? Why, by making him willing. It is true he does not use "moral suasion;" he knows a nearer method of reaching the heart. He goes to the secret fountain of the heart, and he knows how, by some mysterious operation, to turn the will in an opposite direction, so that, as Ralph Erskine paradoxically puts it, the man is saved "with full consent against his will;" that is, against his old will he is saved. But he is saved with full consent, for he is made willing in the day of God's power. Do not imagine that any man will go to heaven kicking and struggling all the way against the hand that draws him. Do not conceive that any man will be plunged in the bath of a Saviour's blood while he is striving to run away from the Saviour. Oh, no. It is quite true that first of all man is unwilling to be saved. When the Holy Spirit hath put his influence into the heart, the text is fulfilled—"draw me and I will run after thee." We follow on while he draws us, glad to obey the voice which once we had despised. But the gist of the matter lies in the turning of the will. How that is done no flesh knoweth; it is one of those mysteries that is clearly perceived as a fact, but the cause of which no tongue can tell, and no heart can guess. The apparent way, however, in which the Holy Spirit operates, we can tell you. The first thing the Holy Spirit does when he comes into a man's heart is this: he finds him with a very good opinion of himself: and there is nothing which prevents a man coming to Christ like a good opinion of himself. Why, says man, "I don't want to come to Christ. I have as good a righteousness as anybody can desire. I feel I can walk into heaven on my own rights." The Holy Spirit lays bare his heart, lets him see the loathsome cancer that is there eating away his life, uncovers to him all the blackness and defilement of that sink of hell, the human heart, and then the man stands aghast. "I never thought I was like this. Oh! those sins I thought were little, have swelled out to an immense stature. What I thought was a mole-hill has grown into a mountain; it was but the hyssop on the wall before, but now it has become a cedar of Lebanon. Oh," saith the man within himself, "I will try and reform; I will do good deeds enough to wash these black deeds out." Then comes the Holy Spirit and shows him that he cannot do this, takes away all his fancied power and strength, so that the man falls down on his knees in agony, and cries, "Oh! once I thought I could save myself by my good works, but now I find that

"Could my tears for ever flow,
Could my zeal no respite know,
All for sin could not atone,
Thou must save and thou alone.'"

Then the heart sinks, and the man is ready to despair. And saith he, "I never can be saved. Nothing can save me." Then, comes the Holy Spirit and shows the sinner the cross of Christ, gives him eyes anointed with heavenly eye-salve, and says, "Look to yonder cross. that Man died to save sinners; you feel that you are a sinner; he died to save you." And he enables the heart to believe, and to come to Christ. And when it comes to Christ, by this sweet drawing of the Spirit, it finds "a peace with God which passeth all understanding, which keeps his heart and mind through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, you will plainly perceive that all this may be done without any compulsion. Man is as much drawn willingly, as if he were not drawn at all; and he comes to Christ with full consent, with as full a consent as if no secret influence had ever been exercised in his heart. But that influence must be exercised, or else there never has been and there never will be, any man who either can or will come to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is the link if you want to read the sermon in its entirety:

http://www.spurgeon.org/sermons/0182.htm

Until next time, blessings and peace...

Family Friday: Teaching Your Children

Deuteronomy 6:5-7- You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.

God has really been dealing with me about the importance of teaching my children His Word. This may sound strange to some, but one of my biggest fears is that my children would learn more about God at church than at home. Throughout Scripture, God makes it plain that it is the parents primary role to teach their children God's Word.

Overall, I think we have been heading in the right direction. A day doesn't go by that we are not talking about God and His Word in our home. We talk about God in the car. We pray together at meals and other times. That is not something we have to think about doing, that is just what we talk about. Sometimes, we may not be talking directly to the boys about God, but we are talking in front of them about Him. There is always room for improvement, but for the most part I am pleased with the path we are on in that area. By the grace of God, my boys' knowledge and understanding of Scripture is far ahead of many other children their age that we are around. They are definitely ahead of where their dear old Dad was at their ages. Sometimes I am blown away by what they remember and how they express their thoughts about God.

Another bonus we have had this year is our boys being homeschooled. Each day begins with Bible study and catechism (a series of questions and answers that are memorized to teach Biblical truths) lessons. Kelli does a great job with that. When I am off, that is something that I get to help with. Once again, I think we are moving in the right direction in that area as well.

There are a couple of things that I have been convicted about lately, though. Did you notice the verses above? It begins the instructions to teach your children with the command to love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and might. That hits me like a lightning bolt. Do my boys see that kind of love for God in my life? How can I teach them to love and obey God when they don't see me loving and treasuring Christ supremely?

Here is the other thing: "You shall teach them diligently to your sons." That is the area that I think I have been failing on. I think we have been doing well with this part: "You shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up." We do that without even thinking about it. I haven't been sitting down with them on a daily basis and teaching them God's Word, though.

And here is the kicker: The thought has occurred to me that I spend more time teaching and preparing to teach the youth at church than I do my own children. God has convicted me of that in a big way. God has entrusted me with three precious boys. How can I not make the most of the time He has given me with them? How can I have the nerve to neglect teaching them while I teach others? So, the last week we have been having Bible study together each day. We read Scripture, talk about it, and I pray for them. We've been doing that together and we've been doing it daily. And we intend to keep doing it. We've got a long way to go, but at least we finally got on the right track.

Pray for me that I would grow in faithfulness as a father and husband. Pray that God would use this time in His Word in my boys' lives in a big way. And finally, pray that God would convict you of any changes you need to make in your own family.

Until next time, blessings and peace...

New Year’s Blog Resolution

Well, 2008 has come and gone. As 2008 was winding down, I began to examine my life and consider areas where I am in need of improvement. There are several things that I intend to improve on and I am in the process of getting some battle plans together. One of the areas that I think I have been lagging behind in is my focus. I am too easily sidetracked. I work a swing-shift in which I only work 14 out of 28 days. During the past year, it has gotten to the point where I waste a lot of my off time doing unproductive things. Not "bad" things, just meaningless things. I work, I spend time with the family, and I prepare lessons for church. All of those are good things, but what about the rest of the time? Before you know it, it's time to go back to work and I feel that I haven't accomplished anything of value. In short, I have become complacent. I'm not running the race. I'm stuck on a treadmill.
There are several things that I have in mind to combat this tendency. One of the things I have come up with has to do with blogging. The past year I have slacked off on my blogging time. I might go a couple of weeks or a month without posting anything. There is nothing terribly wrong with this. I can't find the command anywhere in Scripture that I am supposed to blog on a regular basis.
I have discovered something about blogging, though. Blogging is a great way to organize your thoughts on different topics. It is helpful to try to express your thoughts in a coherent way. Not only that, but it is also good because it helps me to chew on different Scriptural truths. In other words, it is another way to keep Scripture on my mind. It keeps my mind on Scripture so I can better communicate those truths that I hold dear.
In light of that, I have come up with a blogging schedule. Whether anybody reads them or not, it will be very helpful for me to focus and mull over the Scriptures more. Most of them will be very short and to the point, but I think it will help me immensely to think on the Truth more often. So, here' s the schedule.

Scripture Sunday- I just post a passage of Scripture and let the Word speak for itself.

Monday with MacArthur- A quote or an excerpt from my favorite modern day preacher.

Terrific Hymn Tuesday- The lyrics (and sometimes a video) to one of my favorite hymns.

Whatever Mark G. Feels Like Wednesday- The title says it all.

Thursday's Thoughts from Mark G.- This day is my day to blog my own thoughts.

Family Friday- This could be one of several things. It could be an update on how God is working in my family. Or it might be a passage of Scripture that deals with family. There is a lot of leeway on this one.

Saturday with Spurgeon- A quote or an excerpt from my favorite preacher of all time, Charles Spurgeon

So, there is the game plan. If you ever have time, stop by and check one out. For the most part, they will be very short, concise, and to the point. Until next time, blessings and peace to you...