Scripture Every Day -- John Piper.

 

Absolutely Essential

I have never met a mature, fruitful, strong, spiritually discerning Christian who is not full of Scripture, devoted to regular meditation on Scripture, and given to storing it in the heart through Bible memorization — and that’s not a coincidence. So, what I want to do is persuade our new believing friend that it is absolutely essential, after coming to faith in Christ, to be radically, deeply, experientially devoted — unshakably, unwaveringly persuaded — that reading and meditating on and understanding and memorizing and enjoying the Scriptures is absolutely essential for the Christian life, which would include being in the word every day with the aim that we will meet God there and, little by little, the glory of his truth will fill and transform our lives.

And that may seem obvious to them or to others, but it isn’t obvious, because I know fairly well-along Christians who don’t do this. They don’t do this, and they’ve been Christians for years, and they’re lackadaisical. They think it’s optional because they know so much already and they read so many other books. I don’t regard that as a very good habit at all. I think it’s dangerous.

Ten Reasons to Read Every Day

So, I have ten reasons that I believe this — ten reasons to make Bible reading, Bible understanding, Bible memory essential to the Christian life. Resist feelings of self-sufficiency that say, “I don’t need the Scripture every day.” Here are my ten reasons.

1. Scripture saves.

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:16)

“God saves us daily by Scripture.”

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Salvation has happened to God’s people, salvation is — at this moment — happening to God’s people, and salvation will happen completely at the resurrection of God’s people, and it is happening now by means. Paul says to hold fast to the teaching and thereby save yourself. God saves us daily by Scripture.

2. Scripture frees from Satan.

You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. (John 8:32)

And the context is that Jesus is showing the Jewish leaders that, though they think they are not slaves, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44). Satan is your enemy, young Christian. He is a thousand times stronger than you are. So, John writes to the young believers,

I write to you, young men,
    because you are strong,
    and the word of God abides in you,
    and you have overcome the evil one. (1 John 2:14)

This is our only hope for defeating a supernatural enemy. Every time Jesus was tempted by the devil (Matthew 4:1–11; Mark 1:12–13; Luke 4:1–13), he struck back with “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” (Ephesians 6:17), and he had it memorized, so he didn’t have to carry a book in the wilderness.

3. Scripture imparts grace and peace.

May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. (2 Peter 1:2)

Knowledge of God gained through Scripture is not identical with grace, but Peter says it is a means of grace. If we want to be made peaceful and powerful through divine grace, Peter says, it happens “in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” That knowledge is found in one place: Scripture.

4. Scripture sanctifies.

Jesus prayed,

Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)

“We’re all assigned in some measure to handle the word of God.”

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Sanctification is the process of becoming holy — that is, becoming more like Christ and like God, who is perfectly holy. This is not optional. Hebrews 12:14 says, “Strive . . . for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”

We don’t become perfect in this life, but we do become holy. God sanctifies his people. And Jesus prays to his Father, “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” It couldn’t be more plain, or more important.

5. Scripture gives joy.

You received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 1:6)

His delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Life without joy is unbearable. The Christian life is a life of many afflictions. But in them all, God sustains joy, and he does it by the Scriptures.

6. Scripture protects us from destructive error.

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God . . . so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine. (Ephesians 4:13–14)

How do young Christians stop being leaves blown around by cultural and theological winds and opinions? Answer: “the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God” — knowledge that they experience not as the opinion of man, but as the word of God. That’s found in one place: the Scriptures.

7. Scripture is the hope of heaven.

And what I mean by this is that full understanding, full enjoyment of the truth of Scripture, will be experienced only in heaven.

Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:12)

The knowledge of God — all the fullness that a created being can properly comprehend and enjoy — will not be withheld from us indefinitely. The frustrations of our present limitations of understanding and enjoyment will be removed. How fitting it is, then, that we be ever growing now in what will be our final joy in the age to come.

8. Scripture will be resisted by some.

The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. (2 Timothy 4:3)

In other words, we need to know the Scriptures so that we’re not taken off guard or knocked off balance or led away by false teachers. We need to receive the Scriptures regularly to be ready to meet those who refuse to receive the Scriptures.

9. The right handling of Scripture is approved by God.

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. (2 Timothy 2:15)

It is a precious thing to be assigned to do a very important task, and then to find the master worker approving of what he’s asked you to do. We’re all assigned in some measure to handle the word of God. And what a wonderful opportunity to be pleasing to the Lord.

10. Scripture gives and sustains life.

Man shall not live by bread alone,
    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
    (Matthew 4:4)

Spiritual life — eternal life — just like physical life, must be fed, not by bread, but by the word of God. If you think that you have eternal life as a kind of vaccination against hell, which needs no nourishment, you don’t know what spiritual life is.

So, there are ten reasons for why young believers should resolve with all their might — all the might that God gives them — to make reading and meditating on and understanding and memorizing the Scriptures essential, nonnegotiable, in their Christian life.

Unless you are Heavenly Minded

 Unless you are heavenly minded, you cannot expect to be of much earthly good. When people forget the next world, things go terribly wrong for them in this one. Unless your mind is on Heaven, you will not know how to live on Earth. The only people who know how to live right on earth are Heavenly minded people.

Those who have their minds least on Heaven tend to make this world most like Hell. Look at the most hellish people, and you’ll see that their minds are furthest from Heaven. Look at yourself when you fall into sin, and you’ll notice your mind was not on Heavenly matters as it ought to have been.

Not only that, but the person who is not heavenly minded can never get through the troubles of this world in the manner the Christian can. The person who is not heavenly minded cannot say with Paul, “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18). You cannot count the pains of this world to be unworthy of being compared to the pleasures of the next world if the pleasures of the next world are not dear to you in your mind.

Our Lord Jesus Christ endured the Cross, and despised its shame for the glory that was set before Him. We must endure our burdens the same, for the same reason. We must conform to Christ as Christ is formed in us more and more. If you are born again, glory is waiting for you. It’s coming, it’s inevitable, and you must look to that never ending pleasure at God’s right hand as you walk through troubles in this world.

Stir yourself up as you anticipate your guaranteed glory. The Holy Spirit has been given to you as a first fruits of that infinite harvest. The first fruits are the proof that the rest will also be given to you in due time. -- Joshua Arnold

FINDING ME ON MY KNEES

Over the past forty years, the sun has never risen in China without finding me on my knees praying. Hudson Taylor

THE KING OF LOVE MY SHEPHERD IS

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his
And he is mine for ever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul he leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love he sought me,
And on his shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill
With thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
Thy unction, grace bestoweth:
And O what transport of delight
From thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
Within thy house for ever.

Henry Williams Baker 

Improve in our activity of Proclaim

 Note to self:  We should strive to improve in our activity of "teaching."  yet we should not strive to be "known as" a good teacher.  And again, we do not actually teach, we proclaim and declare, only God can teach.  We might be used to assist someone's "comprehension" of a passage, but not their "profession and faith" in that truth.

Broken People

 We are fallen people, and there is a lot of brokenness in us that the world can do nothing about and nothing with. There are things that are broken about each person that are of no advantage to a person in the world. The world will turn you away and shun you if certain things are off about you. You’ll become a throw-away in the world’s eyes, a misfit, an outcast, an example of what not to be like, all because they don’t know what to do with a brokenness like yours.

But God loves to receive broken people. He delights in taking a broken person and doing mighty things with them to His glory. He loves to take someone the world throws away, and He raises them up to glorious heights as He works mightily through them to accomplish spiritual things that the greatest natural men in the world can’t do. His power is more clearly seen in our weakness.

If you are broken according to the world’s standards, but you are in Christ, you are not at a disadvantage in this world. You have the advantage over the rich and very able men of the world who are without Christ. Your brokenness is no hindrance to doing God’s mighty will. Those things about you that the world disqualifies you for are the things that qualify you to come to God through Jesus Christ. Go to God with those things you want to hide from everyone else, present them to Him and find sympathy with Him.

Confess to Him that you are aware of your utter helplessness and weakness, and ask Him to do mighty things with your brokenness for His glory.-- Joshua Arnold.

Child of God

 If you are a Christian, then you are a child of God, you are a co-heir with Jesus Christ, you have an eternal inheritance, you have the almighty powerful Holy Spirit dwelling in you, and God is for you. You have died with Christ, you were buried with Christ, you have risen with Christ, you ascended with Christ, and you are now seated with Christ in Heaven, and the only way to reverse it is if Christ descends, and goes back into the grave and stays there.

This is what God has done for us, this truth must be what keeps our heads up and sustains us through difficulties, this must be what we rejoice in, regardless of our fleeting feelings that will leave us on a whim. You cannot make yourself feel happy on command, but you can rejoice in God on command. And by rejoicing in God, you can stir your affections up for Christ and His people, and eventually you may discover that you feel quite happy, regardless of your situation.

We must never forget that Christianity is not a feeling, although feelings are most certainly involved. Feelings alone will not sustain our Christian walk. Learning and understanding Christian doctrines by the power of the Holy Spirit, and being able to reason those doctrines out during difficult times is what will sustain us through troubles.

It does not matter how you feel as much as it matters what you are. Our pleasant feelings will abandon us, but our Savior won’t. Our faith and strength is in Christ, not in our feelings. One drop of faith while in an ocean of troubles is better than being in an ocean of pleasant feelings without having one drop of faith. Faith the size of a mustard seed may be small, but it is of infinite value because it brings us to the infinitely valuable Savior. It brings us to the God who has pleasures forevermore at His right hand.

Seek pleasure above God, and you’ll eventually end up with neither. Seek God through Christ before pleasure, and you’ll eventually end up with both forever.-- Joshua Arnold

I am His, and Christ is Mine

 The man who has everything except Christ in this world will have nothing at all in the next world. Every worldly treasure and comfort he has will abandon and disown him one day when death comes to arrest his soul, and strip him from his flesh. That man will be nothing but a naked soul without any possessions or merit as he stands before God. All that he will be able to claim are his own multitude of sins.

The only thing a soul can have in this world that will triumph through death is Christ alone. Apart from Christ, death is undefeated and undefeatable. No one without Christ comes to battle with death and ends up the victor. Death ambushes, strikes down and swallows up the Christless soul forever. If Christ isn’t your shield against death’s blow, then you will end up as death’s victim and eternal possession.

But to the soul that can say by the power of the Holy Spirit, “I am Christ’s, and Christ is mine”, they have everything. The Lord Jesus Christ is truly their everything. He is the food and drink of their soul. He is their Physician and Counselor. He is their strength and wisdom. He is the great lover of their soul, and the forgiveness of their sins. He is their shield and exceeding great reward (Genesis 15:1). He is their life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, Heaven, glory, and pleasure forever more.

So what is death to a soul that belongs to Christ? Death is the servant of Christ, and therefore also the servant of the Christian. When death comes to the Christian, it comes as a servant of God to fetch the King’s son or daughter and bring them to Him so that He may smile upon them face to face, embrace them in His arms, wipe away their tears and bless them forever in His love, to His glory. Amen.-- Joshua Arnold

Correct but not Cold, Correct with Compassion.

 Christianity is more than being right. It’s more than having correct doctrine. In addition to having correct doctrine, there should be a warmth that radiates from the heart of the Christian. And that warmth that radiates from the Christian is something that can be felt and experienced by the people that interact with them.

Christians should strive to be correct, but should never be a people that are as cold, contentious, and calloused as they are correct. They should never be merely bright lights of knowledge that somehow radiate very little heat. They should never be a people that simply know a lot of facts about God, but have such a coldness towards other professing Christians that it makes people wonder if they genuinely know the Lord Jesus Christ personally and intimately at all.

Jesus Christ is Love dressed in flesh, the perfect embodiment of Love. He is God, the second Person of the blessed Trinity, and God is Love (1 John 4:18). Christianity is to know Jesus Christ in an intimate way. It is to know Him personally, and to strive to enjoy Him maximally. It is to have Him not only visit our soul, but to have Him dwell in us.

And if love dwells in us, then love should radiate from us. Other people should want to draw near to us in order to warm their souls up. Different people will certainly struggle in different ways because of sin that remains in our mortal bodies, but our overall course of life should be one that should become more and more loving, degree by degree, as Christ becomes more and more formed in us, and treasured by us. Amen.-- Joshua Arnold.

Doctrine

 No Christian should ever consider doctrines as something secondary in the Christian walk. No Christian should ever think or say, “I don’t care too much about all that doctrine stuff. I don’t get caught up in all that knowledge of doctrines stuff that can puff people up, and cause division. I simply just want to love Jesus Christ, His people, and the lost.”

This is a very wrong way of thinking as a Christian. The entire Christian faith is concerned with doctrines. The entire Bible itself is a book of doctrines, and illustrations of those doctrines. Our entire conversion began with our “obeying that form of doctrine that was delivered to us” (Romans 6:17).

Doctrine comes in and captivates the mind by the power and illumination of the Holy Spirit. Then the mind that has been captivated by those doctrines moves the heart, and then the moved heart alters the will of the person and fashions it for loving obedience to God. And so the mind kindles or stirs up the heart. Our hearts are moved by our understanding. Our hearts are not moved by things our minds don’t know of. It is impossible.

A person cannot be moved in their heart for God apart from understanding doctrines, and so if it is true that all you want to do is love Jesus Christ, His people, and the lost correctly, you must learn doctrines.-- Joshua Arnold

Depression

 Depression is still something a Christian may sink into and suffer from. We are not freed from the possibility of it, as our souls are still wrapped in this corrupted flesh, and so we must be equipped to deal with it if we happen to ever find ourselves suffering in this way.

Since we may have this idea that Christians aren’t supposed to get depressed, it only adds to our burden and grief when we do find ourselves suffering from any degree of depression. We may start to think we must not be Christians because of it. We may think “This is totally and entirely opposite to what any reasonable person would expect God to have me go through if I were His child. I can’t see God’s hand in any of this. How can this possibly work for my good?! I’m hurting here! This seems so cruel! He knows I am suffering, how can He let this go on when He could remove it all in an instant?! I thought He was a loving and caring God. Therefore there is no way I’m a child of God. If God really cared for me like a Father, He wouldn’t let me suffer with this for so long, especially since I have been begging Him everyday to deliver me!”

And when we start thinking hard thoughts of God like this, we insult His love, goodness and wisdom, and Satan rejoices. The Enemy loves to tempt us with thinking hard thoughts of our infinitely good and gracious God. We need to realize that we are wrong for thinking these lies about God.
There are many things that could be suggested and advised for someone suffering in this way, and one of those things is this:

Understand that God’s thoughts and ways are infinitely higher than our own (Isaiah 55:9). He tends to work in opposites when He is working with mankind. And when everything seems contrary to a child of God, they may know God is certainly working in it all for their good (Romans 8:28). His heart is for us, not against us.

He makes us walk through a wilderness before entering the promised land.
He has us sow in tears before we reap in joy.
Before He fills a man with pleasure in Him, He empties them of their pleasures of the world.
Before He raises a man up, He brings them low.
Before He consoles, He convicts.
Before He justifies a man in Christ, He condemns them by His Law.
Before He gives eternal life in Christ, He has us die to ourselves.
Before He comforts, He afflicts.
Before He binds up the heart, He breaks it.
Before He makes a man wise, He makes them become fools (1 Corinthians 3:18).
Before He will be a man’s strength, He will have them be weak. (2 Corinthians 12:9).
God saves the best wine for last, and gives us our worst life temporarily before our best life forever after.
He has made it so that in order to be first, a man must be last, and in order to be the greatest with the highest honor, a man must be the lowest servant.

And so, as you can see for yourself, God does not work like mankind does. His ways aren’t anything like our ways.

If you find yourself in such a miserable condition, it is so important to understand that something serious is going on here, and you have every reason to keep cleaving to Him. Don’t sink. Hold on to God’s promises that are all Yes and Amen in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 1:20). Cleave to them with all your might. You must pray with whatever strength you have, even if it hurts you. Read and listen to the word and get with Christian friends.

None of this is in vain, that’s a promise (Romans 8:28). You are the perfect candidate for God’s grace and glory to be magnified, and you are closer to being lifted up and comforted than you have ever been.
The soul that is lowest is the soul that is closest to being raised up. If He has kept you low for long, it may very well be to work patience in us, and to make the deliverance from this bitter condition all the more sweeter.
We can absolutely count on this: Our soul will rejoice and praise the LORD again (Psalms 43:5). Amen.--Joshua Arnold

Jesus is the Teacher

 There is no teacher like the great Teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ.

A man can give the truth, but only Christ can give the love of truth. A man may be able to teach what to believe, but only Jesus Christ can teach how to believe. A man may be able to open up the Scriptures as he expounds them, but only Christ can open up the heart to understand and adore them. Your Christian brothers and sisters may be able to inform your mind, but only Jesus can incline your will.

Dead people are not fit to learn anything, and so it is no wonder that the natural man who is dead in sin does not understand anything spiritually. It’s impossible. But praise God that the Lord Jesus Christ can make anyone whom He pleases to come to life, to be born again, and receive truths that only a soul with the life of God in it can receive.

Jesus not only teaches how to live, but also gives the life to live. Christ is the Teacher, and the teaching. He Himself is what is being taught. As He reveals Himself to you by the power of theHoly Spirit, He is teaching you. Spiritual knowledge is in the Lord Jesus Christ like milk is in the breast of a mother, and everyone born again cries for this pure spiritual milk (1 Peter 2:2). They all cry out for Him, and reach for Him to cleave to Him.

The world has some of the greatest earthly minds to teach them, but the least educated Christian has God Himself as their Teacher. The truth of God is spiritual in character, and requires His Spirit to understand it. Everyone born from above has the Spirit of God, and so even the slowest and most ignorant Christian mind grasps things that are too deep for the most brilliant unbelieving mind. No matter how bright an unbeliever’s mind shines, it is still in pitch blackness when it comes to spiritual matters.

What a wonderful and glorious privilege we have by the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ. We should strive to know Him, and make Him known. Amen. --- Joshua Arnold.

Sin less not sinless

 The Christian is not sinless, but they most certainly sin less. Anyone who expects to have sin removed from them in this life expects something that God has not promised for this world. It is excellent to desire to be without sin, but to actually expect to be sinless in this life will eventually make your Christian walk a very miserable one. It is a burden you cannot bear, and it will leave you in a downcast situation after you realize over and over again that you still fall.

God will not remove sin out of our mortal bodies in this life. God has not promised glory in this life, He has promised Grace that is sufficient. God has not removed sin out of our mortal bodies now, because He intends to show the power of His grace even in the weakest of all believers. The grace God gives us now is in order to stir us up and have us long for Glory.

God’s mighty grace has purifying effects while we are in this world, but it does not perfect us while we are in this world. Grace does not make sin disappear, it makes it so sin doesn’t reign. Grace helps repel sin, not expel sin. The most mature Christian on Earth right now still battles the sin that remains in their mortal body, and they will do so until the day their soul departs from their body.

Sin is left in us in order to make us watchful of our intentions. We must be watchful at all times, because sin is still in us like a most miserable grouch, and the slightest thing that pokes at it or wakes it up sends it into a rage. It doesn’t take much for it to rage in us. Sin is like the mud at the bottom of a clear puddle. The drop of a small rock in it will stir up and scatter all of the muck from the bottom, and cloud the whole puddle. Sin is in our bodies like a bed of hot coals, and anything put on the bed of coals that sin can burn will ignite it into a flame with the slightest gust of a wind of temptation.

But thanks be to our God and Savior Jesus Christ, our Good Shepherd. He has purchased grace for us, and He will see to it that His people will be prepared for Glory. He will lead us through this wilderness to Glory, and what He does not subdue on the way there, He will pardon.- Joshua Arnold

STUDY IS MY WORK

 Studying is my work. This work God wants me to do, and if it pleases Him, He will bless it...(1) I would like to see the horseman who could sit still with me all day and look into a book---even if he had nothing else to care for, write, think about, or read. Ask a... preacher... whether writing and speaking is work... The pen is light, that is true... But in writing, the best part of the body (which is the head), and the noblest of the members (which is the tongue) and the highest faculty (which is speech) must lay hold and work as never before. In other occupations it is only the fist or the foot or the back or some other member that has to work; and while they are at it they can sing and jest, which the writer cannot do. They say of writing that "it only takes three fingers to do it"; but the whole body and soul work at it too.(2)

Martin Luther- (1) Martin Luthers Werke, Vol. 10, I (Weimar: Hermann Bohlaaus Nachfolger, 1883), 373, as cited in What Luther Says, 928. (2) Luther's Works, Vol. 46, ed. Robert C. Schultz (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967), 249

FAITH AGAINST BOTH LIES

Sin has power by making --threats of pain in the path of obedience, and --promises of pleasure in the path of disobedience. Faith in the superior promises of God severs sin's power both ways. Hence there is an inheritance for those "sanctified by faith" (Acts 26:18) -- JOHN PIPER.

BE FORGOTTEN

A prayer for today: O Lord, we confess our pride. We want to stand out. We want to be recognized. We want to be important. We also confess our envy. We resent those who stand out, who take the place we think we should have had. We resent those who get more recognition than we do. We resent the fact that we are not that important in the large scheme of things. Most of us, apart from family, friends, and a few co-workers, will not be remembered after our death. Help us to recognize that those things are not important. Help us to learn that many who are first will be last, and the last first. Teach us that the only judgment that really counts is yours. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen. (Matthew 19:30)

--Benjamin Shaw 

WHOLE PRICE WHOLE PRAISE

Let Christ have the whole glory of your recovery ascribed to him. It is highly reasonable that he that laid down the whole price, should have the whole praise. —John Flavel

If we read the Word and do not pray, we may become puffed up with knowledge, without the love that buildeth up. If we pray without reading the Word, we shall be ignorant of the mind and will of God, and become mystical and fanatical and blown about by every wind of doctrine. -- D.L. Moody.

GREATEST ENEMIES ARE OFTEN NOT OUTSIDE

"The church's greatest enemies are often not outside of it, but inside of it." – Mark Dever

WHEN WE LOOK BACK

"When we look back on our life from the perspective of eternity, we are going to see that the power of Satan was so great, that the weakness of our flesh was so feeble, and that the hostility of the world was so strong, that every day of our lives --- if God has no intervened-- we would have never made it through the day." -- GOOD QUOTE.

DOING IN FAITH

Kevin DeYoung: Unless you are doing what you’re doing in faith, it cannot be pleasing to God. Unless your aim is for the glory of God, it is not ultimately a good work.

The Last Adam

The first Adam

• Born of dirt

• Tempted and failed

• Brought a curse

• Blamed his bride

• Died and buried

The last Adam

• Eternal Son of God

• Tempted and victorious

• Became a curse

• Took the blame for His bride

• Died and risen

--Dustin Benge.

WHAT WE CANNOT AVOID

“What we cannot avoid—may we cheerfully submit to, and not indulge a vain thought that we could choose a better situation for ourselves (all things considered) than he has chosen for us!” 

 ~JOHN NEWTON

God's Unfailing Love

God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures. It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love, nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love.

Jerry Bridges

WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN ON RISING

If because we have the 'first installment' we cry 'Abba, Father', what will happen when on rising, we see Him face to face? —Irenaeus

ETERNITY SHOULD BE HIS SCOPE

A man's greatest care should be for that place where he lives longest; therefore eternity should be his scope. THOMAS MANTON

TO THE ADVANTAGE OF THE CHRISTIAN

Every atom in the universe is managed by Christ so as to be most to the advantage of the Christian. Jonathan Edwards

IT IS VERY GOOD

When God made the world, he saw all that he had made and smiled, for it was all very good; (and likewise) so God delights in us when we are a new creation in Christ. God says, 'It is all very good.' God loves his own workmanship in the soul. Robert Murray M'Cheyne

LEARN TO CALL

“You must learn to call on the Lord. Don’t sit all alone or lie on the couch, shaking your head and letting your thoughts torture you. Don’t worry about how to get out of your situation or brood about your terrible life, how miserable you feel, and what a bad person you are. Instead, say, “Get a grip on yourself, you lazy bum! Fall on your knees, and raise your hands and eyes toward heaven. Read a psalm. Say the Lord’s Prayer, and tearfully tell God what you need.” Martin Luther, Faith Alone: A Daily Devotional

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Rareness

Through the inward conflicts, secret workings, mysterious changes, and ever-varying exercises of his soul, the true Christian becomes established in a deep experience of his own folly and God's wisdom, his own weakness and Christ's strength, his own sinfulness and the Lord's goodness, his own backslidings and the Spirit's recoveries, his own base ingratitude and Jehovah's patience, the aboundings of sin and the super-aboundings of grace. He thus becomes daily more and more confirmed in the vanity of the creature, the utter helplessness of man, the deceitfulness and hypocrisy of the human heart, the sovereignty of distinguishing grace, the fewness of heaven-taught ministers, the scanty number of living souls, and the great rareness of true religion. -- J.C. Philpot

Legalism, License, Utilitarianism, Love

I want to briefly layout 4 approaches to Bible Reading and Prayer though each approach can be discussed for several pages.

a.) Legalism. One is having daily Bible reading and prayer because "Moses" said so, and if you don't you are 'in trouble' and disappointing to God. You might as well hide like Adam in the Garden, knowing your shame and guilt for failing to meet with God.

b.) License. Since the person is confident in "grace" then the commitment to read the Bible and pray is extremely sporadic at best. Our standing with God is based upon the gift of Jesus, so we will rest in that truth, and deduce commitment to commune with God is expressed by "faith in Christ" not by "reading His word."

c.) Utilitarianism. This is like Legalism, but it is viewing Bible reading and prayer as a means to and end, and not the goal itself. 1.) If I read the Bible, then my sanctification will improve, if it is not improving, then I need to read my Bible even more. 2.) If I read the Bible, then my disciplining of other Christians will improve, if it is not improving, then I just got to become smarter through more Bible reading. 3.) If I read the Bible, then my apologetics and evangelism to the lost will improve (i.e. more results, more persons convinced of what I present); If it is not improving then I just need to be smarter and read the Bible more.

d.) Love. Yes we are commanded to seek God; Yes God uses means, and our morning devotions can be a means to an end. However, they should never be pursued "as" or "because" a means to an end; Rather, we should enjoy daily communion with God in Scripture and Prayer because a.) He first loved us, namely in Jesus Christ, and b.) we love him.

When you go to a restaurant you may talk to the waitress, the cashier, and even gab with strangers to be friendly, but 95% of the people you do not address because you are a stranger to them and they are a stranger to you; they would find it odd and even un-welcomed for you to join their table over supper. However, if you walked into a restaurant and were surprised to see your spouse, brother, son, uncle, or relative, then you would go eat with them and fellowship with them without question or without hesitation. You wouldn't do so our of "law" and you wouldn't express some "freedom" to sit elsewhere, and hopefully you wouldn't go sit with them based on ulterior selfish motives to get something out of/ from them.

You would sit with them because they love you and you love them. And aiming to be brief, though many more pages could elaborate...this should be our approach to daily time reading the Bible and praying --- to enjoy and acknowledge His love and communicate our love returned to Him; to enjoy and acknowledge the wisdom of His instruction, guidance, goodness, and precepts, and eagerly express our faith and praise to Him.

What will it take from God to make you praise Him and rejoice in Him, that He has not already done. (and by the way, our praise and rejoicing should be first in WHO HE IS, and moreover what he has done); 

faulty barriers follow:
Before you rejoice and praise God, It will take that God, either:
1. Save a sinner. (see external fruit in evangelism).
2. Mature the sheep. (see external fruit in discipleship).
3. Purge the goats. (see external fruit in discipline.)
4. Help you financially or occupationally? 
5. Enlarge your congregation. (repeat #1).

How foolish am I to murmur against God or impose on God some task of my own petty mind; Nay, dear self, God is already worthy of your fullest praise and rejoicing because of who he his and because of that Scripture testifies to His work, grace, and glory.

WILLIAM TIPTAFT

Choice pithy sayings of William Tiptaft (1803-1864)

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Many who died last year are in Hell, who never committed half the sins some of you have!

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It is of God's grace, if we differ from the mirthful and foolish multitude around us.

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The world, in its various shapes--is Christ's great enemy!

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"God knows best!" and "May Your will be done!" are hard lessons to learn!

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If you were to go about telling people that you had an inheritance worth a million worlds, and yet were out of temper for a trifle--they would not believe you.

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We come into the world crying,
we go through it complaining,
and we go out of it groaning!

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O Lord, deliver us from everything that may entangle our affections and harden our hearts.
Grant that we may hold the world with a loose hand.

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If I love money more than Christ--then woe is me!

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Pride and covetousness cling very close to us--they influence us more than we can imagine.

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If rich men only knew when they died, how . . .
  their relatives would scramble for their money,
  the worms would scramble for their bodies, and
  the devil would scramble for their souls,
they would not be so anxious to save money!

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It is a bad sign when a minister has the smiles of worldly professors.

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O Lord, keep our hearts, keep our eyes, keep our feet, and keep our tongues.

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Lord, teach us more what we are by nature--and what we are by grace.

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If the way to Heaven is so narrow, and so few find it--then what will become of those who never seek it?

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Are you ready to shake hands with death?

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Have you ever esteemed it a mercy--that you are out of Hell?

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Let worldly minds the world pursue,
It has no charms for me;
Once I admired its trifles too,
But grace has set me free!

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I have no stone to cast at the vilest of the vile.
It is all of grace that I am made to differ!

The Kingdom of Heaven is Like a Net

Matt 13:47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. (48) When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. (49) So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous (50) and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Commentary: The preaching of the Gospel, is the means of gathering souls to Christ, and into his churches; and those that are gathered into a visible Gospel church state, are of every kind, of all nations in the world; Jews and Gentiles: of all ranks and degrees of men, high and low, rich and poor, bond and free; of all sorts of sinners, and of men good and bad; some who have the truth of grace in them, and others that are only hypocrites: profess in words, and deny in works; have nothing more than a form of godliness, and name to live, and are dead. - John Gill.

RECOGNIZING MY SINFULNESS

“If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way less detestable than the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Whole Church, Whole Gospel, Whole World

Core Values

#1 We value Jesus above all else - We are His church.
#2 We value life change - Your past is not your future.
#3 We value active faith - We are contributors, not consumers.
#4 We value authenticity - Real relationships require real people.
#5 We value global impact – We live everyday on mission.

We embrace the responsibility to show and share Jesus to our neighbors and to the nations. (2 Corinthians 5:20; Acts 1:8)

The Whole Church with the power of the Whole Gospel for the Whole World - - that is Global Impact! That is our core value! 

-- Sean Simonton (a friend and classmate from Seminary).

EVEN YOUR DYSFUNCTION

At some point you begin to realize that everything you've been through in your life, the loss, pain and sickness, the failures and successes, the love and abuse, even your dysfunction. All of it is according to God's plan and his will for your life. I'm astounded that God uses me as I am. Why would he use someone like me?

For his glory alone.
For his glory alone.
For his glory alone.

Soli Deo Gloria

Obedience versus Moralism

Many people seem to confuse a call to obedience with moralism.

Moralism is a heresy which trusts in obedience or morality, at least partly, for salvation. But the regenerate Christian, when he hears God's law knows he can't lift a finger to obey of his own power, so it drives him to Christ from whence the power to obey flows. In other words obedience flows from the cross and does not contribute to it. We obey, not in order to be saved, but because we are. And when we dont the Spirit causes us to mourn over it, driving to the cross both for forgiveness and for the power to overcome sin.