Albert Mohler Quote

“I fear that there are many evangelicals today who believe that God spoke but doubt whether He speaks.  They know and talk about the fact that God spoke in the Old Testament but think that now that He no longer does so and that they must therefore invent new ways to convince people to love Him.  But if you call yourself a preacher of God’s Word, and you think that all of God’s speaking was in the past, then resign.  I say that with deadly seriousness.  If you do not believe that God now speaks from His Word-the Bible-then what are you doing every Sunday morning?  If you are not confident that God speaks as you rightly read and explain the Word of God, then you should quit.

But if you do believe that- if you truly believe that God speaks through His Word- then why would you substitute anything else in the place of the expository preaching of the Bible?” – Albert Mohler, “He is Not Silent” pg. 57-58

“We look to the professor leader with his big library and quick answers, and we think he’s the definition of biblical conviction.  In reality, he’s a distortion.  Our Christian solutionism is dangerous, because, like the Silicon Valley version, it’s permeated with misplaced eschatological hope.  The buzz about the latest conference, book, and blog is that they’ll help us “reach up to the heavens.”  But that’s not the message of the Bible.  It’s the message of Babel (cf. Gen. 11:4-7).  We somehow believe that having the right information will bring salvation.  But, while solutionism may work in principle, it fails in practice.  Ministry doesn’t function as simply as we hoped, so we just get angry, frustrated, and overwhelmed.  Like the Pharisees, we think that life is about mastering the Bible.  Convictional leaders haven’t master the Bible.  The Bible has mastered them.” – Daniel Montgomery.  “Leadership Mosaic” pg. 47-48 

God's Gracious Restraint, Removal, and Renewal (Reflection on Hosea 2)

Source of cool graphic

The book of Hosea is a movie-like depiction of God's pursuit of His rebellious people. God, through Hosea, pleads for His idolatrous, unfaithful people to return to Him. Like any good movie, the characters, purpose, and plot are introduced in chapter 1. Chapter 2 opens with God, through Hosea, pleading for His rebellious bride to return to Him. Verse 5 describes God’s people as going after other lovers who will, in the end, not satisfy. God promises to respond in three ways to the idolatry of His people.

First, He says He will block her way.  God restrains.  He describes hedging “up her way with thorns,” building “a wall against her.” He does this so that we may not find the idols we seek, so we may turn back and see that He all along was the one who satisfied us along the way (2:5-8).

Second, He says He will take back what is His. God removes.  His people may begin to worship the gifts instead of the Giver- so for their good He may withdraw His gifts. God is one who gave these blessings, and they to be enjoyed rightly- giving honor to their Giver. But, when we let the gift become a substitute the Giver or give glory to a false giver, we cease to enjoy His gifts rightly. It is for our joy that He takes these gifts away (2:9-13).

Third, He draws us to Himself. Through this, God brings renewal.  Taking the language of a husband and wife, He promises to allure His people, to speak tenderly to them, to bring transformation and renewal to the relationship- the covenant which His people broke. Verse 15 describes this in two ways. The Valley of Achor was once a dark spot in the history of Israel, will instead be a place of hope. Their relationship will be like the days of Israel’s youth, when He brought them through the Red Sea.

God brings further transformation by taking the idols away and by transforming the hearts of His people. If God has taken something away from you, or kept you from something, He may have been taking an idol out of your life. Check your heart. In the end God is after the glory of His own name, which is the greatest joy of His people. Our joy in God may be dependent upon something being taken away or something being kept from us. God's restraint and removal of idols is for our good- and one day will be full and final.

He abolishes the bow, the sword, and war. He will bring His people back to Himself and in “righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy” God will dwell with His people. This is obvious New Covenant language. Through Christ God allures His wayward bride, transforms their sinful desires and recreates them for His glory. In Christ he shows Mercy to those whose name is “No Mercy” and creates a people out of those whose name is “Not My People.” Relationship with God forever restored. One day soon all things will be recreated and God will remove and recreate anything which stands to allure His people away from Him or stand in their way. All things will be set right; His people will dwell with Him forever.

What is worth holding onto in light of this reality? What is worth fighting with God for in light of this glorious destiny? The closing words of John’s first epistle show us both God’s tenderly care, and His passionate warning in Hosea, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” Let God restrain, let God remove, let God renew- cause He does it for our ultimate good, and His ultimate glory.

Matthew 25:31-46 and Justification

Source

The gospel is too important to get wrong. I have had many conversations about the gospel where the text Matthew 25:31-46 has come into discussion. Usually the person bringing up the text will protest, "See! We are not saved by faith alone, but faith *and* our own service of the poor." In this post we will look at Matthew 25:31-46, a glorious passage in the Scripture, and see how it does not go against the biblical and historical doctrine of justification by faith alone.

The words from Jesus in Matthew 25 provide a sobering picture of the Final Judgement. Verses 31-33 depict Jesus as standing in judgement- on the throne of His glory, with His mighty angels surrounding Him, and the nations before Him- separating the sheep (believers) from the goats (unbelievers). The sheep he puts to His right (a place of prominence in Scripture, such as Psalm 110:1-2) and the nonbelievers to His left. He begins to speak to the believers first as recorded in verse 34-36 saying,

"Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."

What Child "Sacrifice" Teaches you about Faith

Via: http://tinyurl.com/pbkkyw9

“And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets…

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” -Hebrews 11:32, 39-40

We all have heroes.  The author of Hebrews dedicated a whole chapter of his letter to address heroes of the faith.  Before he can tell us what it means to be a “hero of the faith,” he begins his chapter by defining what faith is.  He writes, “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1

Within his discussion he gives us the importance of faith.  He writes, “ And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him” – Hebrews 11:6.  Faith is belief in God, and that belief in God brings some sort of reward.  Faith is not just belief, but true faith sees faith as something to be valued.  This faith was found in all of the writers heroes of faith.

He walks through the Old Testament recounting classic stories of the faith!  Anyone who has been to church or a VBS has probably heard a few of these stories.  Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Moses, Samson, Gideon…..Jephthah? Some of you might be asking, “Who?  Jephthah?  Who is that?”  While others of you might be asking, “Jephthah?  The guy from Judges who sacrificed his daughter?  How was he a hero of the faith?”  The answer may just surprise you…

5 Reasons Christians Should Sing and Sing Often

This is a photo from my church choir at Christmas.
http://yellowcreekbaptist.com/worship/

I’m sure we’ve all met those people who “just don’t sing” at church.  Whether due to their lack of vocal ability, shy personality, or (supposed) unfamiliarity with the songs; I have heard tons of excuses for why people do not want to sing in church.  While, certainly singing is not a requirement for being a Christian (faith in Christ alone is!) we find that singing is right at the heart of our faith.

1) Jesus was a “singing person.”  Jesus was all about singing!  One example of this is found in the Last Supper He shared with His disciples.  “After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”- Matthew 26:30.  Jesus does this during a crucial moment in His ministry.  He is sharing what would be His last supper with His disciples before the cross, but He also is instituting an ordinance for His church!  This was a moment to be cherished and remembered and what does Jesus do?  SING!  This raises so many questions I wish we could know!  What vocal range was Jesus?  What song did He sing?  Was this spontaneous or planned?  What we can know is that singing was used as a part of the celebration and was a part of the Son of God’s preparation to suffer.  This bring us to number 2….

2) Singing helps us endure suffering  We can also draw the conclusion that Jesus was a singer because of how much He seemed to cherished God’s inspired song book: the Psalms.  We find that 14 times in the Gospel of Matthew that Jesus quotes the Psalms (ESV Study Bible, pg.2609-2610).  One of the most profound moment we find is when Jesus is on the cross, and of all He could declare, He quotes lyrics to Psalm 22 (Matthew 26:45-46).  In Jesus darkest hour He found comfort in songs overflowing with Holy Spirit inspiration.  As Jesus Christ was bearing out sin, He had a song in His head.  Should not songs of truth be a bedrock for us in the midst of suffering?

3) Singing is a means of fighting temptation.  Once again, in the ministry of Jesus we find another example of Jesus singing.   Jesus, when faced with temptation found power in Holy Spirit inspired Torah and Psaltery.  In Matthew 4 Satan actually tempts Jesus through misquoting Psalm 91, but, He knew Psalm 91 and counteracted with a quote from Deuteronomy.  A song was a means by which Jesus overcame temptation, how much more for us?  Yes, we have the Psalms, but the truth of Scriptures can be communicated via the songs we sing corporately.  Gospel saturated songs have sin conquering power.  In the midst of heavy temptation I often find myself singing, “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.”  If Jesus fought temptation through singing God’s truth, how much more should we?

4) We will sing in Heaven

Corporate worship is an earthly shadow of a Heavenly reality (Hebrews 9-10), so when we sing we are mimicking (and joining in with) the choir off Heaven!  Revelation 5 pulls back the veil and we hear that the Gospel truth is declared even by glorified saints, “And they sang a new song, saying ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.’” (Rev. 5:9)  Heaven will be far to glorious to want to hold back due to being “shy.”  Worship will not be cold or dead in Heaven.  In fact, many may think we are Charismatic (this coming from a non-Charismatic!).

Certainly we are going more than sing for all eternity, the next verse says we will be reigning as well, but this passage and many others make clear that much of the joy of Heavenly is going to be found in expressing our salvation in song.  Song is not sinful, but in fact even in the garden was expressed by God’s image bearers to express delight (Gen. 2:23).  Singing is at the core of what it means to be human.  Even God Himself expressed his delight in song, which is why we need not fear singing to Him…

5) Because God’s singing over us will always be louder than our singing to Him

“The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.” – Zech. 3:17 (ESV)

The glorious news is that God does not accept us because we sing well, or because we sing loud, but God sings over us because of His great love for us in Christ.  Christ died that God might sing.  Sing over sinners.  Delight over you.  You.  In the gospel, God sings a song over you.  Even on our “best” worship days, the singing of God over His people will always be louder than a congregation in chorus together.  That, my friends, is good news.  News good enough to sing about.

Hebrews 13 is a reminder that "acceptable worship" has nothing to do with which instruments we play or the clothes we wear, but the lives we live.

Greek Words, Dan Brown and Why the New Testament is Not like the iPhone

Preface:  This is a paper I wrote for my English 102 class on the validity of the New Testament and why it should be studied.  It was meant to be a 15 page argument paper, but we were able to talk the teacher down to 9 pages.  The following paper is 11 pages (with the worked cited) in Times New Roman 12 point font, double spaced.  So grab a beverage and a comfy place; my hope is this will edify you.  This is why I have stacked my life, both finite and eternal, on the words found in a book.

Great Illustration from Francis Chan. What are we living for?

Q&A: The case against women in combat

Very interesting article from Baptist Press by Michael Foust and interview with Owen Strachan. 
How do you think Christians should feel about this issue?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP) -- Even before U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the military was lifting its ban on women in combat, professor and theologian Owen Strachan was speaking out against such a possibility, saying it not only went against Scripture but also defied common sense.

The new executive director of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, Strachan penned a column for Christianity Today late last year outlining the biblical case against placing women on the front lines of combat.

Following the Pentagon's announcement, Baptist Press conducted an email interview with Strachan, who also serves as assistant professor of theology and church history at Boyce College in Louisville, Ky. What follows is the transcript:

Read more...

"Yes, Jesus Did Claim To Be God"

from OnTheBox

"One of the many "cut & paste" objections unbelievers levy against God and His Word is this: "Jesus never claimed to be God."

Truth: The Bible does not record Jesus saying these words in a single sentence: "I am God."

Truth: Jesus repeatedly asserted He was and is God, and that is why the Jewish religious leaders sought to murder Him (Mark 14:60-64; Luke 22:66-71; John 8:48-59; John 9:35-41;John 10:30-33).

The Bible is replete with the words of Jesus and the words about Jesus, which clearly show (to those who are not spiritually blind), that God the Father and Jesus (God the Son) are one in essence and character while, at the same time unique in their personage. God the Father and God the Son, along with God the Holy Spirit, comprise the Trinity of God. God is one God in three Persons.

What follows was compiled by Mark Spence and published as part of Lesson 49 of The School of Biblical Evangelism. Feel free to copy and paste this into a Word document and size it to fit inside your Bible. The next time someone foolishly challenges the deity of Jesus, you will be all-the-more equipped to give the reason for the hope that is in you."

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A Response to Bill Nye "The Science Guy"

Very eloquent response to this video, from Bill Nye "the Science Guy". As someone who loved his videos as a child, I am shocked to hear him come out this strong against Creationism.

Pray the Lord will open His heart.

A Conversation With Philippa

Here is a Gospel conversation I had on some down time through Omegle. She was from England. I think it went well and I know that the Lord ALONE has the power to save. Pray for her and her salvation.

*Also, please excuse her foul language.

”And they cried out in a loud voice “Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.” ~Rev. 7:10

Armor Of God: The Sword Of The Spirit

"...and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."  ~Eph. 6:17

After several posts about the "defense" in our armor of God, now we shall look at our main source of offense, The Word of God.

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." ~Hebrews 4:12

This being the last post in this series, I feel this one is important as we get to back to school time.  This is a time, especially for Christian in the education system where there is a massive increase in pressure, trials, and temptations

Wielding the Sword

So the question is worth asking, how do we use the Word?

The best way to illustrate this was during the temptation of Jesus in the desert,

"The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”

⁴ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’” ~Luke 4:3-4

We see Jesus trusted in the promises of the Word of God.  He showed and remembered how God promised to provide, so the temptation is not worth giving into.  Satan tried to tempt the patience of Jesus, and we see His trust in the Fathers provision.

Then we see Jesus acted on the commands of the Word:

The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶ And he said to him, “I will give you all their authority and splendor; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷ If you worship me, it will all be yours.”

⁸ Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God and serve him only.’”

Just simply obeying His command, even though the offer of sin is greater, is great growth for a Christian.  Once again, Satan tempts Jesus' patience to be glorified at the right hand of the Father, and once again, we see how Jesus uses the Word to spur up affection for the Father.  "He is greater then anything this temptation has to offer."  Through the Word, the Spirit gives perspective.

The Armor Of God

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. ~Ephesains 6:12-13

Paul comtinues in Ephesians to explain the "why" behind the armor of God.

He explains that "our struggle (refering to our temptations, seens in 'schemes of the devil' in verse 11) is not against flesh and blood" but against something far greater.

We battle against the authorities of the evils realm, the rules and against the powers. Now, think, who are you?

This reminds me of the account in Acts 19, where several people tryed to take on these powers alone.

Some Jews who went around driving out evil spirits tried to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. They would say, “In the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches, I command you to come out.” Seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. One day the evil spirit answered them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding. ~Acts 19:13-16

I think sometimes when we try to overpower these forces on our own they begin to ask the same question, "Who are YOU?" Who are too beat these forces on our own? We need He who overcomes, Jesus Christ. We need to as, Ephesains 6:13 says, "put on the armor of God" and why? So we "may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."

Not only so we can stand our ground in battle, but stand even we've doen everything we can do. This is essential in our battle against the kingdom of darkness, and in our struggle for holiness.

Next post we will begin to look at each piece of the "armor of God". God Bless!

The Armor Of God.

As Paul is composing the end of his letter to the Ephesians, he begins to write about the unity in the body of the Christ (4:1-16), living a holy, Christ-imitating life (4:17-5:21) then goes on to apply the Truths of the Gospel to marriage (5:22-33), parenting, (6:1-4), and servitude (6:5-6:9) and finally he writes about those facing temptations from Satan. God has really used this passage in my life recently in regards to my fight with sin, so I thought we’d walk through what Paul has to say about the “Armor of God”. Let us begin today with verses 10 & 11.

”Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.  Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. “

When we see a word like “finally” in the Bible (much like therefore and many other phrases) we need to consider the context. We see the importance of the words to following because of how general the statement is. In the passages before he refers to wives (5:22), husbands (5:25), children (6:1), fathers, (6:4), slaves (6:5) and masters (5:9), but this “finally seems to have a unifying effect as he gives the command “be strong in the Lord and his mighty power.”

He is making statement about the power of those receiving his letter. It doesn’t say, “be mighty in your power!” or “You can do it guys! I believe in you!” This seems to carry a much different effect. He is saying, “Guys, you can’t do this on your own, don’t even try.” Much like Jesus statements through out the Gospel, but especially in John 15 where He says, “Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”

Then Paul gives the command, “Put on the full armor of God,so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. “

Paul seems to carry with him two reasons why this command is given.

1) So they can be “strong in the Lord”

2) So they can “take there stand against the devil’s schemes.”

How much more is this important for the Christian of today? Don’t realize that Satan seeks to destroy you (John 10:10, 1 Peter 5:8)? We need to be on alert.

The only question left too ask is, “Are you ready for Battle?”

Most of the Church is too caught up in the world to worry about the war, which is just where the enemy wants them, in a comfortable Christianity that makes no advance in the kingdom of God and makes no assault on the kingdom of Darkness.

Over several posts, we will look at what Paul supscribes in the Armor of God to help us fight Satan, our temptations, and to kill personal sin in our lives.

A Message From D.L. Moody to the Lost:

“I have no doubt that those who would not pray when the ark was being built, prayed when the Flood came; but their prayer was not answered. I have no doubt that when Lot went out of Sodom, Sodom cried to God; but it was too late, and God’s judgment swept them from the earth. My friend, it is not too late now, but it may be at twelve o’clock tonight. I cannot find any place in the Bible where it says you may call tomorrow. I am not justified in saying that. ‘Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.’”

When Homosexuality Becomes A Man

From "Desiring God"

Joe Hallett didn't waste his AIDS, he didn't waste his new life in Christ.

What will you do with yours?

Inspiring story. Pray it blesses you!

Restoring A Broken Faith...In The Church

I have this friend who the Lord used to lead me to Christ. Though, once totally on fire for the Lord, now, it is hard to separate him from the rest of the "lukewarm Christians" that seem to fill the pews in America.

I can only imagine that this how John felt coming the sermon he wrote to the church at Ephesus (This sermon is recorded in the book of 1 John). Three main themes are addressed in this book: True Doctrine, True Obedience, and True Devotion. The latter of these themes are the answer to the other two, and this is found within the Local Church.

Romans Testimony- "I am an ex-gay."

Written by Roman Marquez

The last part of May 2011 is when I began my change from sinner to Forgiven. My life is somewhat a modern day prodigal son story. I led a life quite like anyone else, at least those who haven’t seen the mercy of God, lost and self-perpetuating. Many events have helped shape who I am but none near as amazing as Christ’s death on the cross. I hope my testimony enlightens, uplifts, and more importantly brings glory to God.

I was raised in a Christian home my father and mother both wanted to raise all 5 of us boys in this faith. I went to church with my father most times. I enjoyed all that church had to offer and I believed in Christ with my whole heart. I had a lot of faith and practiced it as often as I could but changes ensued and disrupted my walk and redirected my heading. What changed this? Well many things altered my life but there are two transforming factors that were most prevalent. A conversion of religion, rather a misguided burrowing into falsehoods, was the second turning point. My sexuality happened to be the deepest factor that superseded my faith in turn leading into the burrowing. My thoughts all in all seemed much wiser than anything anyone ever said.

I abandoned Christianity in defiance of God and my family. I misconstrued my parent’s love and care for ugliness. I decided that Christianity was antiquated and no longer relevant for this day and age as many lost individuals claim. I threw myself into studying many religions. Wicca and paganism were more palatable for me to study, practice, and both spoke to my desires in that I could will anything I craved. I practiced witchcraft I communed with spirits(demons). All these religions and all others are just demonic distractions from the truth. I studied these in hopes of finding the “truth” or at least one that let me be “me”. In all my searching none of these proved true or even worthy of my attention.