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Fear That Sings and Dances
2 days ago
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Moments of Time
What is a moment of time? Scripture relates a moment to "the twinkling of an eye" (1 Corinthians 15:52). God told Israel that their many years of captivity were but "a small moment" in His eternal counsel (Isaiah 54:7). The apostle Paul knew that the trials of this life, when compared to a vast eternity, are just a "light affliction, which is but for a moment" (2 Corinthians 4:17).
A "moment" is definitely a relative and subjective measurement of time. A moment spent in pain is much longer than a moment spent in pleasure. The average human life--measured in seconds--consists of between 2 and 3 billion moments. That sounds like a large figure until you compare it with an atomic clock, which records more than 9 billion moments every second.
Counting the Moments
The Psalmist prayed, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). If we are to be wise, to "walk circumspectly, not as fools" (Ephesians 5:15), the first thing we must do is take stock of our time. How many moments do we have left? How will we spend them?
With today's busy schedules, it may rightly seem that once we have stretched ourselves to accomplish the day's tasks, all we have left over are some spare moments--odd fragments of time. Remember the feeding of the five thousand? After the Lord had stretched five barley loaves and two small fish to accomplish that miracle, He said to the disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost" (John 6:12). If we simply gather up the moments of left over time in our day, we may find we also have "twelve baskets"--a veritable feast--that can either be put to use or left to spoil.
Making the Moments Count
Once we "number our days," that is, begin to view our life and use of time in the context of eternity, we will be better equipped to obey the exhortation of Ephesians 5:16: "redeeming the time." It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated "time" in this verse (as well as in the similar verse in Colossians 4:5) is not chronos, which speaks of time as we primarily understand it today--a measured span of moments (see Acts 18:20,23), but rather kairos, also translated as "season" or "opportunity" (see Acts 24:25; Galatians 6:10).
As we begin to look at time from God's perspective, it will no longer be a taskmaster ruling our lives, but a resource--a season of opportunities for serving and glorifying our true Master! Jesus knew the value of redeeming, or buying up, the opportunities around Him: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).
The season for hunting souls and growing spiritual fruit will not last forever: "Behold, now is the accepted time [season]; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
--T. Don Johnson
A "moment" is definitely a relative and subjective measurement of time. A moment spent in pain is much longer than a moment spent in pleasure. The average human life--measured in seconds--consists of between 2 and 3 billion moments. That sounds like a large figure until you compare it with an atomic clock, which records more than 9 billion moments every second.
Counting the Moments
The Psalmist prayed, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom" (Psalm 90:12). If we are to be wise, to "walk circumspectly, not as fools" (Ephesians 5:15), the first thing we must do is take stock of our time. How many moments do we have left? How will we spend them?
With today's busy schedules, it may rightly seem that once we have stretched ourselves to accomplish the day's tasks, all we have left over are some spare moments--odd fragments of time. Remember the feeding of the five thousand? After the Lord had stretched five barley loaves and two small fish to accomplish that miracle, He said to the disciples, "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost" (John 6:12). If we simply gather up the moments of left over time in our day, we may find we also have "twelve baskets"--a veritable feast--that can either be put to use or left to spoil.Making the Moments Count
Once we "number our days," that is, begin to view our life and use of time in the context of eternity, we will be better equipped to obey the exhortation of Ephesians 5:16: "redeeming the time." It is interesting to note that the Greek word translated "time" in this verse (as well as in the similar verse in Colossians 4:5) is not chronos, which speaks of time as we primarily understand it today--a measured span of moments (see Acts 18:20,23), but rather kairos, also translated as "season" or "opportunity" (see Acts 24:25; Galatians 6:10).
As we begin to look at time from God's perspective, it will no longer be a taskmaster ruling our lives, but a resource--a season of opportunities for serving and glorifying our true Master! Jesus knew the value of redeeming, or buying up, the opportunities around Him: "I must work the works of Him that sent Me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work" (John 9:4).
The season for hunting souls and growing spiritual fruit will not last forever: "Behold, now is the accepted time [season]; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).
--T. Don Johnson
Thursday, February 10, 2011
One Glimpse of Hell
Excerpt from the message "Waiting For Glory" on Romans 8:19-25 by Pastor Ron Bridge of Rehoboth Baptist Church given on Jan 9, 2011
Download the mp3 or listen to the full message here.
Download the mp3 or listen to the full message here.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Easy Like Friday Afternoon: A Manifesto on Hard-Believism
"I am a hard-believist. I am a hard-believist because I take Jesus at his word when he says easy is the way to destruction and hard (or narrow, if you prefer) is the way to life. I am a hard-believist because I take him at his word when he says that with man, being saved is impossible. I am a hard-believist because I believe salvation isn't easy: it requires the death of Christ. It requires new birth. (Anybody know what a baby has to do to be born?) It requires nothing short of Spiritual intervention. It requires quickening, resurrection, cured blindness and healed deafness, a softened heart -- none of which we can do for ourselves. We need radical intervention. We need the command of God, "Let there be light!" We are helpless to be saved. We simply can't do it." --Jared Wilson
Read the full post here.
Read the full post here.
What Must I Do to go to Hell?
(The answer is--NOTHING!)
What Must I Do to be Saved?
REALIZE
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.... For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.... It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Hebrews 9:27
REPENT
Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.... Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Luke 13:3; Acts 3:19
RECEIVE
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.... If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. John 1:12; Romans 10:9
MWTB
What Must I Do to be Saved?
REALIZE
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.... For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.... It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Isaiah 53:6; Romans 3:23; Hebrews 9:27
REPENTExcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.... Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. Luke 13:3; Acts 3:19
RECEIVE
But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name.... If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. John 1:12; Romans 10:9
MWTB
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Why should I believe in Jesus Christ?
John Piper answers the question "Why should I believe in Jesus Christ?" —
. . . The reason Jesus is essential to believe in is because there is a holy God who is infinitely just and infinitely loving. And in his justice he is angry at us because we have sinned against him. We have rejected him, we haven’t trusted him, we haven’t loved him as we ought, we have broken his commandments. All we have to do is list out, “Thou shall not steal, thou shall not lie, thou shall not lust or covet and shall love him only above all things, and we’ve broken those and so wrath rests upon us. Jesus is the son of God sent into the world as the atonement, the sacrifice that bears our sins and that provides our righteousness. So that if there were no Christ we would only have guilt and judgment and condemnation and Hell from God.
But because Christ came and God sent him, in his love we can look away from ourselves. This is what faith means: we look away from ourselves, we cast ourselves on Christ for his mercy and we trust his death to be our punishment.
And we trust his righteousness to be imputed to us so that now in Christ, that is in relation to Christ, by faith, God looks upon us as having fulfilled his whole law, as having all of our sins forgiven, and being acceptable in the beloved Jesus Christ. So that now we have eternal joy, eternal glory.
So the practical answer, “Why believe in Jesus” is because it’s the only way to escape Hell, to know God, to have everlasting joy in the presence of God. And we believe it because it’s true.
Source: http://www.desiringgod.org
. . . The reason Jesus is essential to believe in is because there is a holy God who is infinitely just and infinitely loving. And in his justice he is angry at us because we have sinned against him. We have rejected him, we haven’t trusted him, we haven’t loved him as we ought, we have broken his commandments. All we have to do is list out, “Thou shall not steal, thou shall not lie, thou shall not lust or covet and shall love him only above all things, and we’ve broken those and so wrath rests upon us. Jesus is the son of God sent into the world as the atonement, the sacrifice that bears our sins and that provides our righteousness. So that if there were no Christ we would only have guilt and judgment and condemnation and Hell from God.But because Christ came and God sent him, in his love we can look away from ourselves. This is what faith means: we look away from ourselves, we cast ourselves on Christ for his mercy and we trust his death to be our punishment.
And we trust his righteousness to be imputed to us so that now in Christ, that is in relation to Christ, by faith, God looks upon us as having fulfilled his whole law, as having all of our sins forgiven, and being acceptable in the beloved Jesus Christ. So that now we have eternal joy, eternal glory.
So the practical answer, “Why believe in Jesus” is because it’s the only way to escape Hell, to know God, to have everlasting joy in the presence of God. And we believe it because it’s true.
Source: http://www.desiringgod.org
Saturday, February 5, 2011
The Holy Spirit And Prayer
Message on Romans 8:26,27 by Pastor Ron Bridge of Rehoboth Baptist Church given on Jan 23, 2011
Download the mp3 or listen to the full sermon here.
Download the mp3 or listen to the full sermon here.
His Very Essence
What is the nature and character of the Supreme? “Is he harsh or loving?” saith one. The Scripture answers the question, not by telling us that God is loving, but by assuring us that God is love. God himself is love; it is his very essence. It is not that love is in God, but that God himself is love. Can there be a more concise and more positive way of saying that the love of God is infinite?
You cannot measure God himself; your conceptions cannot grasp the grandeur of his attributes, neither can you tell the dimensions of his love, nor conceive the fullness of it. Only this know, that high as the heavens are above the earth, so are his ways higher than your ways, and his thoughts than your thoughts. His mercy endureth for ever. He pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive: and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” “Thy mercy is great above the heavens.” “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Number One Thousand; Or, 'Bread Enough And To Spare'" delivered July 16, 1871.
From: The Daily Spurgeon
You cannot measure God himself; your conceptions cannot grasp the grandeur of his attributes, neither can you tell the dimensions of his love, nor conceive the fullness of it. Only this know, that high as the heavens are above the earth, so are his ways higher than your ways, and his thoughts than your thoughts. His mercy endureth for ever. He pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage. He retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. “Thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive: and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” “Thy mercy is great above the heavens.” “The Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Number One Thousand; Or, 'Bread Enough And To Spare'" delivered July 16, 1871.
From: The Daily Spurgeon
Friday, February 4, 2011
This Present Evil System
I feel it a duty to bear my solemn testimony against the spirit of the day we live in, to warn men against its infection. It is not Atheism I fear so much, in the present times, as Pantheism. It is not the system which says nothing is true, so much as the system which says everything is true. It is not the system which says there is no Savior, so much as the system which says there are many saviors, and many ways to peace! It is the system which is so liberal, that it dares not say anything is false. It is the system which is so charitable, that it will allow everything to be true. It is the system which seems ready to honor others as well as our Lord Jesus Christ, to class them all together, and to think well of all. It is the system which is so careful about the feelings of others, that we are never to say they are wrong. It is the system which is so liberal that it calls a man a bigot, if he dares to say, “I know my views are right.” This is the system, this is the tone of feeling which I fear in this day, and this is the system which I desire emphatically to testify against and denounce. From the liberality which says everybody is right, from the charity which forbids us to say anybody is wrong, from the peace which is bought at the expense of truth – may the good Lord deliver us!- J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
HT: http://defendingcontending.com
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Slaves for Christ - John MacArthur
Throughout the Bible, followers of Jesus are commanded to submit to Him as their King. They are told to obey and follow, faithfully and without hesitation. Every time Christians utter the word Lord, they make a subtle yet profound declaration—that God is their Master and that they belong to Him. In fact, the Bible describes believers as His slaves. They have been bought with a price and now live for Christ as a people for His own possession.
But go into most churches today, even flip through most Bible translations, and you won't see or hear the word slave anywhere. That's because it has been lost in translation.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
The Big Question
"Have you been born again?" The question is not "Have you joined a church?" or "Are you trying to do your best?" or "Do you have religion?" but "Are you twice-born?" "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
We enter the physical world by birth. Spiritual life likewise is entered with a birth. We become members of a human family by birth; we become members of the family of God by birth, by being "born again." There is no other way to get into the human family except by birth, and there is no other way to get into God's family except by the new birth. Neither education, nor cultivation, nor reformation, nor "turning over a new leaf," will accomplish this. What is needed is not a new "leaf" but a new "life"! "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).
A New Nature Needed
By physical birth we become partakers of the human nature; by being born again we become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). A Christian is the product of a divine "begetting" (James 1:18). The second birth is not an improvement of the old nature; it is the imparting of an entirely new nature. The old nature is hopelessly corrupt and incapable of ever being made fit for His presence (Romans 3:9-20; 8:7). The new birth requires a creative act of the Holy Spirit. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10).
Not "Trying" But "Trusting"
"Trying to follow Christ" is not Christianity. "Christianity is not imitation of Christ," it is the indwelling of Christ. Christianity is not trying to do anything. It is trusting Christ who has done it all! He has "finished the work" and there is nothing left to do but simply to receive and trust Him. He shed His precious blood on the cross and the work is all done once and forever! Cease trying and begin trusting!
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Simply "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 16:31). "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12,13).
You are born again, you become a Christian by trusting a Person--receiving a Person. The very moment you do this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and life begins!
What Is Meant By "Believe"?
To "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" means more than simply believing the historic facts concerning Him. Intellectual belief about Christ is not sufficient. The belief which brings salvation must be "with the heart," that is, with the whole being (Romans 10:10). This belief also includes repentance: "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). "God ... now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).
The faith which saves, then, includes the necessity to repent, and to receive Christ as Saviour and Lord, to rest upon Him alone for salvation. It means to trust Him so utterly and completely that, if He should fail, there would be no hope at all!
May I Know That I Am Born Again?
This is an important question. We know that we are born again by the testimony of God's Word. God says, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as explained by God's Word? If so, then you are saved, you are "born again," you have "passed from death unto life." God says so! Take God at His Word, and go on your way rejoicing!
One Final Word
You may "belong to a church," you may be "trying to do the best you can," you may be "striving to live right." Your outward life may be the model of moral correctness, and you may be looked up to, honored, revered and respected. Yet, if you have not been "born again" you are just as lost as if you had never heard of Christ. Yes, you may teach in the Sunday school, read the Bible, sing, shout, "feel happy," and all the rest--but if you have never been "born again" you are still in your sins and a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ! (Matthew 7:21-23).
Scripture verses quoted from the King James Version (KJV).
From MWTB
We enter the physical world by birth. Spiritual life likewise is entered with a birth. We become members of a human family by birth; we become members of the family of God by birth, by being "born again." There is no other way to get into the human family except by birth, and there is no other way to get into God's family except by the new birth. Neither education, nor cultivation, nor reformation, nor "turning over a new leaf," will accomplish this. What is needed is not a new "leaf" but a new "life"! "Ye must be born again" (John 3:7).A New Nature Needed
By physical birth we become partakers of the human nature; by being born again we become "partakers of the divine nature" (2 Peter 1:4). A Christian is the product of a divine "begetting" (James 1:18). The second birth is not an improvement of the old nature; it is the imparting of an entirely new nature. The old nature is hopelessly corrupt and incapable of ever being made fit for His presence (Romans 3:9-20; 8:7). The new birth requires a creative act of the Holy Spirit. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature" (2 Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 2:10).
Not "Trying" But "Trusting"
"Trying to follow Christ" is not Christianity. "Christianity is not imitation of Christ," it is the indwelling of Christ. Christianity is not trying to do anything. It is trusting Christ who has done it all! He has "finished the work" and there is nothing left to do but simply to receive and trust Him. He shed His precious blood on the cross and the work is all done once and forever! Cease trying and begin trusting!
What Must I Do To Be Saved?
Simply "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 16:31). "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (John 1:12,13).
You are born again, you become a Christian by trusting a Person--receiving a Person. The very moment you do this, the Lord Jesus Christ comes in and life begins!
What Is Meant By "Believe"?
To "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" means more than simply believing the historic facts concerning Him. Intellectual belief about Christ is not sufficient. The belief which brings salvation must be "with the heart," that is, with the whole being (Romans 10:10). This belief also includes repentance: "Repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). "God ... now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).
The faith which saves, then, includes the necessity to repent, and to receive Christ as Saviour and Lord, to rest upon Him alone for salvation. It means to trust Him so utterly and completely that, if He should fail, there would be no hope at all!
May I Know That I Am Born Again?
This is an important question. We know that we are born again by the testimony of God's Word. God says, "He that heareth My Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24). Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ as explained by God's Word? If so, then you are saved, you are "born again," you have "passed from death unto life." God says so! Take God at His Word, and go on your way rejoicing!
One Final Word
You may "belong to a church," you may be "trying to do the best you can," you may be "striving to live right." Your outward life may be the model of moral correctness, and you may be looked up to, honored, revered and respected. Yet, if you have not been "born again" you are just as lost as if you had never heard of Christ. Yes, you may teach in the Sunday school, read the Bible, sing, shout, "feel happy," and all the rest--but if you have never been "born again" you are still in your sins and a stranger to the Lord Jesus Christ! (Matthew 7:21-23).
Scripture verses quoted from the King James Version (KJV).
From MWTB
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Communion With God
"Whereas to the Puritans communion with God was a great thing, to evangelicals today it is a comparatively small thing. The Puritans were concerned about communion with God in a way that we are not. The measure of our unconcern is the little that we say about it.
When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily experience of God.
Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct, techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of fellowship with God. Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour.
We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.
Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us.
But how different were the Puritans! The whole aim of their ‘practical and experimental’ preaching and writing was to explore the reaches of the doctrine and practice of man’s communion with God."
J. I. Packer - A Quest for Godliness (Crossway, 1994), p. 215 (chapter 12).
HT: Truth Matters
When Christians meet, they talk to each other about their Christian work and Christian interests, their Christian acquaintances, the state of the churches, and the problems of theology—but rarely of their daily experience of God.
Modern Christian books and magazines contain much about Christian doctrine, Christian standards, problems of Christian conduct, techniques of Christian service—but little about the inner realities of fellowship with God. Our sermons contain much sound doctrine—but little relating to the converse between the soul and the Saviour.
We do not spend much time, alone or together, in dwelling on the wonder of the fact that God and sinners have communion at all; no, we just take that for granted, and give our minds to other matters.
Thus we make it plain that communion with God is a small thing to us.
But how different were the Puritans! The whole aim of their ‘practical and experimental’ preaching and writing was to explore the reaches of the doctrine and practice of man’s communion with God."
J. I. Packer - A Quest for Godliness (Crossway, 1994), p. 215 (chapter 12).
HT: Truth Matters
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Spiritual Muscle Development
by Paul Tripp
So, what happens inside of you when you are asked to wait? Is waiting, for you, a time of stengthening or weakening? Have you ever stopped to consider why God asks you to wait? Let me point you to one of his purposes.
Waiting Is Giving You Time
When God asks you to wait, what happens to your spiritual muscles? While you wait, do your spiritual muscles grow bigger and stronger or do they grow flaccid and atrophied? Waiting for the Lord isn’t about God forgetting you, forsaking you, or being unfaithful to his promises. It’s actually God giving you time to consider his glory and to grow stronger in faith. Remember, waiting isn’t just about what you are hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you will become as you wait.
Waiting always presents me with a spiritual choice-point. Will I allow myself to question God’s goodness and progressively grow weaker in faith, or will I embrace the opportunity of faith that God is giving me and build my spiritual muscles? (see Psalm 27:4)
It’s so easy to question your belief system when you are not sure what God is doing. It’s so easy to give way to doubt when you are being called to wait. It’s so easy to forsake good habits and to take up habits of unfaith that weaken the muscles of the heart. Let me suggest some habits of unfaith that cause waiting to be a time of increasing weakness rather than of building strength. These are bad habits that all of us are tempted to give way to.
Continue reading here.
So, what happens inside of you when you are asked to wait? Is waiting, for you, a time of stengthening or weakening? Have you ever stopped to consider why God asks you to wait? Let me point you to one of his purposes.
Waiting Is Giving You Time
When God asks you to wait, what happens to your spiritual muscles? While you wait, do your spiritual muscles grow bigger and stronger or do they grow flaccid and atrophied? Waiting for the Lord isn’t about God forgetting you, forsaking you, or being unfaithful to his promises. It’s actually God giving you time to consider his glory and to grow stronger in faith. Remember, waiting isn’t just about what you are hoping for at the end of the wait, but also about what you will become as you wait.
Waiting always presents me with a spiritual choice-point. Will I allow myself to question God’s goodness and progressively grow weaker in faith, or will I embrace the opportunity of faith that God is giving me and build my spiritual muscles? (see Psalm 27:4)
It’s so easy to question your belief system when you are not sure what God is doing. It’s so easy to give way to doubt when you are being called to wait. It’s so easy to forsake good habits and to take up habits of unfaith that weaken the muscles of the heart. Let me suggest some habits of unfaith that cause waiting to be a time of increasing weakness rather than of building strength. These are bad habits that all of us are tempted to give way to.
Continue reading here.
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