Sunday, October 31, 2010

Exclusive, Constant, Exceedingly Great

God's Sovereignty is Exclusive...therefore...our faith must be....Exclusive, not in self.

God's Sovereignty is Constant...therefore...our faith must be (can be, should be)....Constant, not wavering.

God's Sovereignty is Exceedingly Great...therefore...our faith must be (can be, should be)....Exceedingly Great, not small.



God's Glory is Exclusive....therefore...our joy should be Exclusive in His Glory.

God's Glory is Constant....therefore...our joy should be Constant in His Glory.

God's Glory is Exceedingly Great....therefore...our joy should be Exceedingly Great.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

REST ASSURED

‎"If God has laid your sins upon the Son of His love, you may rest assured that He will never lay them a second time upon you; since, if Christ has borne them and atoned for them to Divine justice, they never again can be found."

- Octavius Winslow

HORTON QUOTE

The gospel transforms us in heart, mind, will, and actions precisely because it is not itself a message about our transformation. Nothing that I am or that I feel, choose, or do qualifies as Good News. On my best days, my experience of transformation is weak, but the gospel is an announcement of a certain state of affairs that exists because of something in God, not something in me; something that God has done, not something that I have done; the love in God’s heart which he has shown in his Son, not the love in my heart that I exhibit in my relationships. Precisely as the Good News of a completed, sufficient, and perfect work of God in Christ accomplished for me and outside of me in history, the gospel is ‘the power of God unto salvation’ not only at the beginning but throughout the Christian life.

– Michael Horton from The Gospel-Driven Life

Friday, October 29, 2010

SPEND TIME

‎"There are preachers, teachers, and bloggers beyond number, but the great need of the church is men and women who spend time alone with God" ~Paul Washer

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

IT IS CERTAIN

"Man's mind is like a store of idolatry and superstition; so much so that if a man believes his own mind it is certain that he will forsake God and forge some idol in his own brain." (John Calvin)

Thursday, October 21, 2010

‎"God is not obligated to save anybody, to make any special act of grace, to draw anyone to Himself. He could leave the whole world to perish, and such would be a righteous world to perish, and such would be a righteous judgment"

~ R.C Sproul

DEEPEST JOY

The exhibition of God’s glory and the deepest joy of the human soul are one thing.
– Jonathan Edwards

DESPISED

‎"No doctrine is more despised by the natural mind than the truth that God
is absolutely sovereign. Human pride loathes the suggestion that God
orders everything, controls everything, rules over everything. The
carnal mind, burning with enmity against God, abhors the biblical
...teaching that nothing comes to pass except according to His eternal
decrees." - John MacArthur

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

PRAYER

More things are wrought by prayer than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice Rise like a fountain for me night and day. For what are men better than sheep and goats that nourish a blind life within the brain, if, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer both for themselves and those who call them friend?~Tennyson

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

LOOK AT CHRIST

‎"Faith is sustained by looking at Christ, crucified and risen, not by turning
from Christ to analyze your faith… Paradoxically, if we would experience
the joy of faith, we must not focus much on it. We must focus on the
greatness of our Savior." - John Piper

Monday, October 11, 2010

NOT HOLY

The God of popular religion is not holy. - R.C. Sproul

Sunday, October 10, 2010

NOT THY HOLD

It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ. It is not even thy faith in Christ, though that be the instrument; it is Christ’s blood and merit.

- Spurgeon

Friday, October 8, 2010

ENEMIES OF

So these truths are published for the sake of the elect, that they may be humbled and brought down to nothing, and so saved. The rest of men resist this humiliation; indeed, they condemn the teaching of self-despair; they want a little something left that they can do for themselves … and therefore enemies of the grace of God.

– Martin Luther

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Saturday, October 2, 2010

JOY IN THE SOVEREIGN

Preach Christ Daily and Rejoice! God may purpose to draw them for His Glory; Rejoice! God may purpose to harden them for His Glory; Rejoice; either way God will use His word to accomplish His purpose, be it to draw, or be it harden; If your joy is based on the response of sinners, your joy is based on the sinner not the Sovereign;

If your joy is based on the response of sinners, your joy is based on the sinner not the Sovereign;

Evangelism is to be rooted in Joy for the Sovereign, not heartache for the rebel;

True, Philip. 3:18 says: ....I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ.

however, Pauls' tears where not the motivation of his Evangelism; This is indicated 3-4x in the preceding verses:



Philip. 3:8-14 (ESV)
Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ
[9] and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— [10] that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, [11] that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
[12] Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. [13] Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Rev. 18:20 Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!"

Rev. 19:1-3 After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying... out, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, [2] for his judgments are true and just;



for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants."
[3] Once more they cried out, "Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever."

See Exodus 15 in light of Exodus 14 and Deuteronomy 9.

My point is that Paul wept in Phil 3:18 for the enemies of the Cross of Christ; but 3x before that verse Paul makes it clear that his evangelism was not grounded on a "broken heart for the dogs/lost" but rather grounded on "the joy of the suprassing Glory of Christ, and knowing Christ."

Our evangelism is not grounded on "tears" for the sinner and his response; but our evangelism is grounded on joy for the Sovereign and his reign; I am not suggesting we become smug, arrogant, or hateful, I am pointing the basis of preaching solely on the glory of God and purpose of God; even if that glory be connected to Romans 9...preparing vessels of wrath for destruction;

There is a time to shake the dust of our feet, not sit outside the house and cry and cry and cry and sob; instead he says, "let your peace return unto you." Matt 10:13, and that is my point too;

Finally Paul practiced this, Acts 13:46 And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. Acts 13:51 But they shook off the dust from their feet against them and went to Iconium. 52 And the disciples were FILLED WITH JOY and with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:23-31 has that same rejoicing and boldness in light of being rejected, not "oh boo-hoo the message has been rejected by those who are breaking our heart." They quote Psalm 2, which in it's entirety talks about God laughing and speaking in wrath; not depressed because rebels ignore his message;

Deut. 7:16 And you shall consume all the peoples that the Lord your God will give over to you. Your eye shall not pity them, neither shall you serve their gods, for that would be a snare to you.

Do we kill? No.
Do we show mercy and compassion? YES.
Do we proclaim Jesus in Joy? Yes.
Is this Joy contingent on if God draws or Hardens? No.