Archive for April, 2009

Spurgeon Morning and Evening April 26th AM

Posted in Worldly Pursuits on April 26, 2009 by Harry

DO THIS IN REMEMBRANCE OF ME. – 1 CORINTHIANS 11:24

It appears that Christians may forget Christ! There would be no need for this loving exhortation if there were not a fearful possibility that our memories might prove treacherous. Nor is this an empty notion: It is, sadly too well confirmed in our experience, not as a possibility, but as a lamentable fact. It appears almost impossible that those who have been redeemed by the blood of the dying Lamb and loved with an everlasting love by the eternal Son of God could forget that gracious Savior; but if startling to the ear, sadly it is too apparent to the eye to allow us to deny the crime. Forget Him who never forgot us! Forget Him who poured His blood out for our sins! Forget Him who loved us even to death! Can it be possible? Yes, it is not only possible, but conscience confesses that it is too sadly a fault with all of us that we treat Him as a stranger, like an overnight guest. Instead of Him being a permanent resident in our memories, we treat Him as a visitor. The cross where one would expect that memory would linger and disinterest would be an unknown intruder is desecrated by the feet of forgetfulness. Doesn’t your conscience say that this is true? Don’t you find yourselves forgetful of Jesus? Some other love steals away your heart, and you are unmindful of Him upon whom your affection ought to be set. Some earthly business engrosses your attention when you ought to be fixed steadily upon the cross. It is the incessant turmoil of the world, the constant attraction of earthly things, that takes the soul away from Christ. While memory works to preserve a poisonous weed, it allows the rose of Sharon (Christ) to wither. Let us charge ourselves to tie a heavenly forget-me-not around our hearts for Jesus our Beloved, and whatever else we let slip, let us hold tight to Him.

Ravi Zacharias on prayer

Posted in * Favorites, Prayer on April 25, 2009 by Harry
  • when we come to God in prayer we acknowledge that we are not completely sovereign in this world
    • prayer is an admission that we are dependent on God
  • prayer is a process to God seeking his will
  • in prayer our lives are molded to God’s will
  • prayer changes from asking to becoming

Sticky: Biggest threat to Christianity in America?

Posted in * Favorites, Bible, Theology on April 25, 2009 by Harry
  • John MacArthur answers the question posited during a Ligonier National Conference Q & A session
  • Excellent answer highlighting the importance of Scripture, expository preaching, doctrine and theology

R.C. Sproul on the Holiness of God

Posted in * Favorites, Holiness of God on April 25, 2009 by Harry
  • From a Ligonier Ministries question and answer forum
  • R.C. Sproul provides an excellent discussion on the perils of not recognizing and upholding the holiness of God

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Baptism 101

Posted in Old Testament, OT Messianic Prophecies with tags , on April 25, 2009 by Harry

R.C. Sproul’s Baptism series lecture 1/8 “The Baptism of John”

  • OT covenant goes from the beginning to the last supper
  • The life of John the Baptist is lived under the old covenant
  • Jesus lived under the old covenant
    • Jesus’ life is lived under the terms of the covenant made with Israel
    • this is why Jesus is scrupulous to obey every part of the OT law
  • the new covenant was not instituted until the upper room

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Spurgeon Morning and Evening – April 25th a.m.

Posted in * Favorites, Grace on April 25, 2009 by Harry

My Lord, I want desperately to come away, but I am held among the thorns and cannot escape from them as I wish. I would, if it were possible, close my eyes and ears and heart to sin. You call me to Yourself by saying, “Come away,” and this is indeed a melodious call. To come to You is to come home from exile, to reach the shore out of the raging storm, to finally rest after hard labor, to reach the goal of my desires and the summit of my wishes. But, Lord, how can a stone rise; how can a lump of clay come away from the horrible pit? Please raise me; draw me by Your grace. Send Your Holy Spirit to kindle sacred flames of love in my heart, and I will continue to rise until one day I will leave life and time behind me and come away indeed.

Alistair Begg on Jealousy, Envy, and Selfish-Ambition

Posted in Envy with tags on April 24, 2009 by Harry
  • From Truth for Life “Such Wisdom”
  • Envy- to resent the advantages enjoyed by others
  • Jealousy – 1. intolerance of rivalry  2. afraid of someone becoming equal or superior to us
  • Selfish-Ambition – the inclination to use divisive means, unworthy means for promoting ourselves

Alistair Begg on Facing Temptation

Posted in Temptation on April 24, 2009 by Harry
  • From Truth for Life “Such Wisdom”
  • James 4:7 – “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.”
  • also see John Piper post on memorizing scripture

Alistair Begg on Communion

Posted in * Favorites, Communion on April 24, 2009 by Harry

From Truth for Life “The Nature and Meaning of the Lord’s Supper”

James Chapter 2

Posted in Faith, James, Works on April 24, 2009 by Harry

From Truth for Life “Faith, True or False”

  • The discussion in James chapter 2 is NOT faith vs. works but true faith vs. false faith
  • The presence of deeds cannot be used to argue the presence of faith, but the absence of these deeds can be used to argue the absence of faith
  • There is and educational dimension in coming to saving faith
    • There are propositions laid out in the bible for us which are to be believed (ie, Jesus is the Son of God, the Trinity, etc.) but the believing of these propositions is not to be equated with genuine saving faith, because it is possible to believe propositions intellectually without consenting to the impact of the propositions on our lives

Ravi Zacharias on Ministry

Posted in Ministry, Video on April 24, 2009 by Harry
  • “I have found more people objecting to the Christian than they really do to Jesus Christ.”
  • Exalt Jesus

He Giveth More Grace

Posted in Grace on April 24, 2009 by Harry

He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength when the labors increase;
To added affliction He addeth His mercy;
To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources,
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limit; His grace has no measure.
His pow’r has no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus,
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again!

Annie Johnson Flint

Ravi Zacharias on “where does evil come from?”

Posted in Evil, Video on April 24, 2009 by Harry

Matthew 15:19 – “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.”


Ravi Zacharias answers the question “How can their be a God with so much evil in the world?”

Posted in Evil, Video on April 24, 2009 by Harry

Alistair Begg – Measure for Measure, Part One B

Posted in * Favorites, Pride with tags , on April 24, 2009 by Harry
  • From Truth for Life “Measure for Measure, Part One B”
  • Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven;”
  • We must strive to be loving and non-critical
  • censorious – harshly critical
  • “If all that we say in a single day, with never a word left out, were painted each night in clear black and white, it would prove queer reading no doubt. He continues,  “And then just suppose, ere our eyes we would close, we must read the whole record through. Then wouldn’t we sigh, and wouldn’t we try, a great deal less talking to do?  And I more than half think that many a kink, would be smoother in life’s tangled thread, if half that we say in a single day, were left forever unsaid.”
  • Before we talk let us ask:
  1. is it kind? (Proverbs 18:8)
  2. is it true? (10 commandments)
  3. is it necessary? (Proverbs 11:13)

Forgiveness

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on April 24, 2009 by Harry
  • From Truth for Life “Measure For Measure, Part One, B”
  • Luke 6:37 “. . . forgive, and you will be forgiven;”

Alistair Begg on Legalism vs. Grace vs. Obedience

Posted in * Favorites, Grace, Law with tags , , on April 23, 2009 by Harry
  • From: Favoritism, Part Three, A
  • The abiding rule of God’s law is whereby we find the basis for what we are doing and that is not legalism
  • Legalism is an application of the law whereby we use it to put ourselves in right standing with God – we know we cannot do that
  • It needs to be recognized that God requires us to honor His law and to be lawful is not the same as being legalistic

Luke 14:26

Posted in Bible, Luke on April 23, 2009 by Harry

“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.”


Ravi Zacharias – Why the Bible?

Posted in * Favorites, Bible, Video on April 23, 2009 by Harry
  • Ravi Zacharias answers questions from a student-packed auditorium at University of Illinois.

Is The New Testament Reliable? part 1

Posted in Apologetics, Bible, Canon with tags on April 23, 2009 by Harry

Is The New Testament Reliable?
What Can We Really Know About Jesus Christ From History?
__________________________________________________________________

by Shane Rosenthal, Exective Producer of The White Horse Inn (M.A. Historical Theology, Westminster Seminary California). © 2007 White Horse Inn

Some have attempted to argue that almost nothing can be known about Jesus of Nazareth outside of the Bible. As this paper will demonstrate, this is historically inaccurate on many counts. And in addition, this type of argument rests on the faulty assumption that the Bible, or the New Testament more precisely, is a single book which can and should be treated as inadmissable evidence. While it is true that Christians claim the New Testament to be inspired and infallible, at the same time the texts it contains are also real ancient historical documents that have to be explained on historical grounds. In fact, The New Testament is a collection of 27 separate texts written by 8 or 9 different authors (depending on who wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews). So, it’s a legitimate question to ask whether each of these documents was written early or late, appears to be fictitious or real, etc. And it’s important to ask questions about these various ancient texts purely for purposes of historical investigation. While the type of person who says “The Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it!,” may himself be a lifelong believer, his faith will probably be of little value to those who wish to ground their belief in the established facts of the real world. Interestingly enough, grounding faith in the real world is in fact what one finds in the New Testament accounts. For example, Luke, in his attempt to give Theophilus “certainty” about the events in the life of Christ does not encourage an experiential “leap of faith,” but rather says that his report can be safely relied upon because he went directly to the eyewitnesses in order to obtain a trustworthy account (Luke 1:1-4). So if this way of reasoning was not irreligious for Luke, it will not be irreligious for us. Thus, in order to establish the claim that Jesus Christ actually lived, performed miracles, died, and rose again from the dead, this paper will interact with the most important available data, including the individual texts that make up the New Testament as well as outside historical information. For the simple fact remains that each of these writings are a part of the world in which we live, and therefore some account must be given of their origin, whether one believes in the inspiration of the Bible or not.

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