Message by Kevin DeYoung given at the Next Conference May 2011
Download or listen to the full message here.
http://www.thisisnext.org
Monday, June 27, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
I Cry to You and You Do Not Answer Me
by Jon Bloom
Thank you, God, for these words! Thank you that the Bible is so guileless. It says it like it is, and sometimes just what it feels like. Most of its heroes are unvarnished and clay-footed. Sometimes they wonder if you’re cruel. That’s a mercy to all of us shortsighted, weak, doubting, clay-footed stumblers. There’s hope for us.
Can you identify with Job? You cry out to God in your affliction and you see nothing change. It seems like he’s just standing there watching you writhe. It feels cruel.
But this is not, in fact, true. What is true is that God is doing far more in our affliction than we know.
For Job, he did not know that he was putting Satan to shame by trusting in God despite his desolate confusion. He did not know that his experience would encourage millions for millennia. And like Job, we do not know what mind-blowing designs God has in store for what may feel unbearable and appear cruel today.
But we do know this: God was answering Job when it seemed he wasn’t. And God was remembering David when David cried, “Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). And when Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), God had turned his face away from our sin, only to raise his Son from the dead to undying, unsurpassed, and eternal glory.
Your suffering may be inscrutable today. But in reality it is preparing for you “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Take heart and hold on.
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me (Job 30:20-21).These words came out of the mouth of the man God considered the most blameless and upright on earth at the time (Job 1:8).
Thank you, God, for these words! Thank you that the Bible is so guileless. It says it like it is, and sometimes just what it feels like. Most of its heroes are unvarnished and clay-footed. Sometimes they wonder if you’re cruel. That’s a mercy to all of us shortsighted, weak, doubting, clay-footed stumblers. There’s hope for us.
Can you identify with Job? You cry out to God in your affliction and you see nothing change. It seems like he’s just standing there watching you writhe. It feels cruel.
But this is not, in fact, true. What is true is that God is doing far more in our affliction than we know.
For Job, he did not know that he was putting Satan to shame by trusting in God despite his desolate confusion. He did not know that his experience would encourage millions for millennia. And like Job, we do not know what mind-blowing designs God has in store for what may feel unbearable and appear cruel today.
But we do know this: God was answering Job when it seemed he wasn’t. And God was remembering David when David cried, “Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1). And when Jesus cried, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46), God had turned his face away from our sin, only to raise his Son from the dead to undying, unsurpassed, and eternal glory.
Your suffering may be inscrutable today. But in reality it is preparing for you “an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17). Take heart and hold on.
And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you (1 Peter 5:10).Source: desiringGod
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Depth of the Gospel (Paul Washer)
Paul Washer delivered this message at the Master's College chapel on November 11, 2010.
Watch the full message at the links below.
The Depth of the Gospel (part 1)
The Depth of the Gospel (part 2)
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Life Is Hard
Joni Eareckson Tada:
"Dear friend, we are destined for trials. In other words, life is supposed to be difficult, God wired it that way. Looking back, I don't think that's something the visitor to our Family Retreat believed. But he's not alone -- it's amazing how many people believe that life should be easy. They groan, feeling as though their difficulties are a unique kind of affliction that should not be. They focus so much on the problems and so little on the Lord, that they feel that affliction has somehow been especially visited upon them. But here's the thing...
Life is a series of problems to be solved. And, yes, solving problems is a painful process, but it is this whole process that gives our life meaning. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Those things that hurt, instruct." Isn't that the truth! And the psalmist said long before Benjamin Franklin in Psalm 119 that, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." So today, friend, if you're thinking that your life is just one battle after the next, take the advice of an apostle: be strengthened, be encouraged in your faith. Don't be unsettled by your trials, because you know quite well you are destined for them and for good reason. Trials are not for our pleasure; they are for our profit. Once you and I can embrace this truth, we transcend it. Once we know that life is to be truly difficult then life is difficult no longer. God has not redeemed you and me to make us happy, or healthy, or free of trouble. God has redeemed you and me to become more like Jesus Christ... and this is why He destined trials for you, my friend."
Read (or listen) to the entire article here.
HT: Truth Matters
"Dear friend, we are destined for trials. In other words, life is supposed to be difficult, God wired it that way. Looking back, I don't think that's something the visitor to our Family Retreat believed. But he's not alone -- it's amazing how many people believe that life should be easy. They groan, feeling as though their difficulties are a unique kind of affliction that should not be. They focus so much on the problems and so little on the Lord, that they feel that affliction has somehow been especially visited upon them. But here's the thing...
Life is a series of problems to be solved. And, yes, solving problems is a painful process, but it is this whole process that gives our life meaning. I think it was Benjamin Franklin who said, "Those things that hurt, instruct." Isn't that the truth! And the psalmist said long before Benjamin Franklin in Psalm 119 that, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees." So today, friend, if you're thinking that your life is just one battle after the next, take the advice of an apostle: be strengthened, be encouraged in your faith. Don't be unsettled by your trials, because you know quite well you are destined for them and for good reason. Trials are not for our pleasure; they are for our profit. Once you and I can embrace this truth, we transcend it. Once we know that life is to be truly difficult then life is difficult no longer. God has not redeemed you and me to make us happy, or healthy, or free of trouble. God has redeemed you and me to become more like Jesus Christ... and this is why He destined trials for you, my friend."
Read (or listen) to the entire article here.
HT: Truth Matters
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Friday, June 17, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Hallowed Be Your Name
John Piper speaking on being a God-centered pastor from Matthew 6:9-15. See details about the message at: http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/hallowed-be-your-name
Sunday, June 12, 2011
The True Gospel by David Ravenhill
David Ravenhill, son of famous British evanglist Leonard Ravenhill, uses the story of the woman that Jesus spoke about in Matthew 26:13 to exemplify the gospel.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
The 5 Marks of Repentance
Repentance is a thorough change of person’s natural heart, upon the subject of sin.
We are all born in sin. We naturally love sin. We take to sin, as soon as we can act and think—just as the bird takes to flying, and the fish takes to swimming. There never was a child that required schooling or education in order to learn deceitfulness, selfishness, passion, self-will, gluttony, pride and foolishness. These things are not picked up from bad companions, or gradually learned by a long course of tedious instruction. They spring up of themselves, even when boys and girls are brought up alone. The seeds of them are evidently the natural product of the heart. The aptitude of all children to these evil things is an unanswerable proof of the corruption and fall of man. Now when this heart of ours is changed by the Holy Spirit, when this natural love of sin is cast out, then takes place that change which the Word of God calls “repentance.” The person in whom the change is created is said to “repent.” They may be called, in one word, a repentant person.
But I dare not leave the subject here. It deserves a closer and more searching investigation. It is not safe to deal in general statements, when doctrines of this kind are handled. I will try to take repentance to pieces, and dissect and analyze it before your eyes. I will show you the parts and portions of which repentance is made up. I will endeavor to set before you something of the experience of every truly repentant person.
~ J.C. Ryle
Continue reading about the 5 marks below at J.C. RYLE QUOTES.
True Repentance Begins with a Knowledge of Sin
True Repentance Produces Sorrow For Sin
True Repentance Produces Confession of Sin
True Repentance Produces a Breaking Off From Sin
True Repentance Produces a Deep Hatred of Sin
We are all born in sin. We naturally love sin. We take to sin, as soon as we can act and think—just as the bird takes to flying, and the fish takes to swimming. There never was a child that required schooling or education in order to learn deceitfulness, selfishness, passion, self-will, gluttony, pride and foolishness. These things are not picked up from bad companions, or gradually learned by a long course of tedious instruction. They spring up of themselves, even when boys and girls are brought up alone. The seeds of them are evidently the natural product of the heart. The aptitude of all children to these evil things is an unanswerable proof of the corruption and fall of man. Now when this heart of ours is changed by the Holy Spirit, when this natural love of sin is cast out, then takes place that change which the Word of God calls “repentance.” The person in whom the change is created is said to “repent.” They may be called, in one word, a repentant person.But I dare not leave the subject here. It deserves a closer and more searching investigation. It is not safe to deal in general statements, when doctrines of this kind are handled. I will try to take repentance to pieces, and dissect and analyze it before your eyes. I will show you the parts and portions of which repentance is made up. I will endeavor to set before you something of the experience of every truly repentant person.
~ J.C. Ryle
Continue reading about the 5 marks below at J.C. RYLE QUOTES.
True Repentance Begins with a Knowledge of Sin
True Repentance Produces Sorrow For Sin
True Repentance Produces Confession of Sin
True Repentance Produces a Breaking Off From Sin
True Repentance Produces a Deep Hatred of Sin
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
The Making of an Apostate
Don Currin explains in this video excerpt how a professing Christian becomes an apostate.
MP3 & PDF: http://illbehonest.com/How-to-Become-an-Apostate-Don-Currin
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Christ Commands to Make Disciples, Not Returning Customers
"Jesus Christ failed miserably in evangelism." At least that is what you will get if you ask the pragmatic "seeker sensitive" movement. This clip by Charles Spurgeon and Mark Kielar shows exactly why the methods used by the modern "church" are contradictory to what Jesus set forth as the right way to evangelize the lost.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
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