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.

UNSATISFYING

How poor and unsatisfying are all things here below--even the best and the loveliest! Is it not strange that we can lose sight of Heaven and eternal glory--and grovel in the dust to gather pebbles, for the pleasure of throwing them away afterwards?

Oh, to walk more intimately with Him, to live above the world, and hold the creature with a looser hand, taking God's Word as our guiding light and our unfailing spring of comfort. God has eternally provided such a magnificent and holy Heaven for us above, that He is jealous lest we should set our hearts too fondly and closely upon the fleeting attractions of earth. Therefore it is that He withers our gourds and breaks our cisterns--only to dislodge us from this poor world, and lead us to seek those things which are above, where Christ our treasure is.

Let us keep our eye and our hearts upon our blessed eternal home. Earth is but a stage erected as our passage to the place Jesus has gone to prepare for us. What a place must that be--which infinite power and love has engaged to provide! Oh, let us not lose sight of Heaven for a moment.

How prone are we to allow our minds and hearts (our treacherous hearts!) to become entangled with the baubles of a dying world. No wonder Christ exhorted us to watch and pray. Heaven is our home--our glorious home. We are but strangers and pilgrims here on earth. Try and realize it. Let us keep ourselves ready to enter with Him to the marriage supper of the Lamb. In a little while, and we shall see Him, not as the 'Man of sorrows,' but the 'King in His beauty!' Then let us fight against the world and all its vain attractions, for it is passing away.

The world and its 'nothings' are often a sad snare to God's saints. Oh that by faith we may overcome it all, and keep close to Jesus! We are not of the world--let us try and not attend to its gewgaws!

Keep a more steadfast, unwavering eye upon Christ. He has gone a little before us, and stands beckoning us to follow!

Live for eternity! Let go of your hold upon the world!

Receive this exhortation from an aged pilgrim, who, as she nears the solemn scenes of eternity, and more realizes the inexpressible joys that await us there, is anxious that all believers who are traveling the same road might have their hearts and minds more disentangled from worthless earthly things, and themselves unreservedly given to Christ. Let us aim in all things to follow Him who, despising this world's show, left us an example how we should walk. Have your lamp trimmed and brightly burning, for every day and every hour brings us nearer and nearer to your home!

"Dearest Jesus! help Your pilgrims to live more like pilgrims--above a poor dying world, and more in full view of the glory that awaits us when we shall see You face to face!"

Mary Winslow

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. When Christ, who is your life, appears--then you also will appear with Him in glory!" Colossians 3:1-4

"Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus!" Hebrews 3:1