Soli Deo Gloria

Contrary to the popular teachings of prosperity preachers rampant on tv, radio and the bookshelves of most “christian” bookstores, here is John MacDuff (1818 – 1895) writing on true, Biblical prosperity from his sermon The Rainbow in the Clouds. May the Lord open our eyes to the true teachings of Holy Scripture and may we be granted discernment in what we allow to enter our minds, eyes and ears in most of so called “christian” teaching today…

“The Lord has pleasure in the prosperity of His servant.” Psalm 35:27
What is “prosperity?” Is it threads of life weaved into a bright outcome? a full cup? ample riches? worldly applause? an unbroken circle? No, these are often a snare; received without gratitude; dimming the soul to its nobler destinies. Often spiritually it rather means God taking us by the hand into the lowly Valleys of Humiliation; leading us as He did his servant Job of old; out of his sheep, oxen, camels, health, wealth, children; in order that we may be brought before Him in the dust, and say, “Blessed be His holy name!”
Yes! The very reverse of what is known in the world as Prosperity (generally) forms the background on which the Rainbow of Promise is seen. God smiles on us through these rainbows and teardrops of sorrows! He loves us too well. He has too great an interest in our spiritual welfare to permit us to live on in what is misnamed “Prosperity.” When He sees duties languidly performed, or coldly neglected; the heart deadened, and love to Himself congealed by the absorbing power of the present world, He puts a thorn in our nest to drive us to the wing, and prevent our being grovelers forever!

I may not be able now to understand the mystery of these dealings. I may be asking through the tears, “Why this unkind arrest on my earthly happiness? Why so premature a lopping of my boughs of promise? Such a speedy withering of my most cherished gourd?” The answer is plain. It is your soul’s prosperity He has in view. Believe it, your true Ebenezers will yet be raised close by your Zarephaths (the place of furnace).

His afflictions are no arbitrary appointments. There is righteous necessity in all He does. As He lays His chastening hand upon you, and leads you by ways you know not, and which you never would have chosen. He whispers the gentle accents in your ear, “Beloved I wish above all things that you would prosper, and be in health.”

Rest in the quiet consciousness that all is well. Murmur at nothing which brings you nearer His own loving Presence. Be thankful for your very cares, because you can confidently cast them all upon Him. He has your temporal and eternal “prosperity” too much at heart to appoint one superfluous pang, one needless stroke. Commit therefore, all that concerns you to His keeping, and leave it there.

Daily Walk, Devotional

“Be sure to get some Christian friend whom thou mayst trust about others to be thy faithful monitor. O that man hath a great help for maintaining the power of godliness, that has an open-hearted friend that dare speak his heart to him! A stander-by sees more sometimes, by a man, than the actor can do by himself, and is more fit to judge of his actions than he of his own. Sometimes self-love blinds us in our own cause, that we see not ourselves so bad as we are; and sometimes we are over-suspicious of the worst by ourselves, which makes us appear to ourselves worse than we are. Now that thou mayst not deprive thyself of so great help from thy friend, be sure to keep thy heart ready with meekness to receive, yea, with thankfulness, to embrace a reproof from his mouth. Those that cannot bear plain dealing hurt with themselves most; for by this they seldom hear the truth.”

- William Gurnall (The Christian in Complete Armour)

Daily Walk, The Church

Instead of being set apart to God, many so-called Christians have become too comfortable in our society. They’re willing to serve the Lord in their own way, but not if it costs them too much time or energy or if it conflicts with a favorite television program. They prefer to indulge in worldly pleasures to please themselves rather than give of themselves to please the Lord. Saint Augustine wrote, “Two cities have been formed by two loves; the earthy by the love of self, even to the contempt of God, the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in itself, the latter in the Lord.” Many, sad to say, reside in the earthly city of self-love.

- John MacArthur from Standing Strong pg. 85

Daily Walk, The Church, The Gospel

Economic crisis, death, television and radio news that is permeated with tragedy, a misguided and deadly confidence in man – all of these and more surround us in a world that is clinging to self, idolatry and government. I remember the days that I walked in darkness before the Lord graciously saved me – the chief of sinners – and how I would look out over the landscape in fear and put my hope and trust in the things of the world and in the misty promises and claims of man and government. Oh that the Lord will open our eyes to His sovereignty. May our eyes be opened to the glorious truths of His living word:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines, though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food, though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls, yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord GOD is my  strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, and makes me walk on my high places.” - Habakkuk 3:17-19

Habakkuk wrote this as part of his prayer after hearing from God that He would be sending the Babylonians to dole out His wrath. This and many other events in Scripture point to the greater world-wide reality that God has appointed a day in which He will judge the entire world in righteousness through Jesus Christ. (Acts 17:31) Like Habakkuk, we may look out over the landscape and wonder if God is not seeing the horrors and the sins of fallen man. Yet may we learn from God’s answer to Habakkuk that God is planning and has set a day of judgment – a day of righteous judgment on all those who have turned from the living One True God. May we learn from the evils of the world that sin and Satan are a reality and that we should marvel at the glorious redemption from the penalty of that sin through the One who has taken on our sin so that we may have the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21) God’s timing is not our timing, but one thing is for sure – He cannot lie and He will return to judge the world. Let us be reminded that:

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but  is patient toward you,  not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:9

Hallelujah to the Lamb who was worthy to be slain. For all honor, glory and praise belong to Him!

Soli Deo Gloria!

Daily Walk, Scripture

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,” Romans 8:5-6

In the greek, the verb for “set their minds” in this verse means “to think, to give careful consideration to, careful thought, to think about someone”.

What are you obsessed with? That which permeates the mind and the thought life is our obsession. With all this talk in the world of sex, Obama, healthcare, the news, football games, television shows, movies, facebook, twitter, the internet, cars, food, etc. let me give you a stark and sobering thought to ponder today. If you spend more time thinking about these things than God it is a dangerous warning sign that may signal your not being a true Christian. You may fool yourself in thinking you are but remember that it is impossible to serve both God and mammon. There is no middle ground. What (or who) are you truly in love with? Either we are completely sold out to God or not – and as Scripture clearly teaches that one way to know is evidenced by our thought life. (Rom. 8:5-6)

Inventory your thought life just since you got up this morning. Have you thought more about something other than God? What is your thought life consumed with? Is it consumed with your job, your spouse, your children or maybe even your ministry? You see, even if your mind if consumed with good or harmless things if the absolute focus and majority of your thought life is not God in Christ then you need to examine yourself! Having high thoughts of God surely does not save us but a change in our thinking is a direct result of salvation.

Do you make time in your mind for Christ only on the Lord’s Day and then the other six days consume your thoughts on things of the earth and not things in heaven? (Col. 3:2) Do you live your life as a practical atheist claiming to know God but living your life as if He did not exist? What do you think of most? It is a humbling and sobering thing to survey our thought life – which amounts to that which we love – and see where the Creator of all things stacks up?

I believe that this is exactly what the church in Ephesus dealt with in Revelation. You see, this church talked the talk and in a sense walked a walk in their deep, orthodox theology but they had lost their first love. They had lost their love and zeal for Christ. (Rev. 2:4) They thought much on heresies, debates and even their ministries but there was no room left in their thought life and in their minds for Christ. They had quite frankly let Christ get out of their minds. Christ warned them to repent and if they did not repent it would be evidence that they had permanently taken Christ out of their minds because He truly was never there to begin with! (Rev. 2:5)

I write these things not to try and scare the reader but to bring attention to what the full counsel of God’s word tells us. True salvation results not only in the penalty for our sins being paid for but also the regeneration of the dead soul to one that is spiritual alive and one that will yearn for Christ. The regenerated person is one who hates what he once loved and now loves what he once hated. It is a sad reminder of the state of the church today when the majority of professing believers talk and think more about worldly things than they do Christ. Not long ago Christian fellowship was getting together to talk about Christ and the things of Christ, but sadly today Christian fellowship amounts to getting together to watch a football game or go whitewater rafting. Don’t get me wrong – there is nothing wrong with coming together for fun but true, biblical fellowship is coming together to rejoice in and talk about the greatest thing on our mind – Christ! Who (or what) are you in love with? Our minds and thought life are the barometer for knowing for sure! Let us remember that Christ should be in our minds constantly and every thought made captive to Christ. (2 Cor. 10:5) Recall too that Scripture tells us to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds.” (Romans 12:2) It is a call to remember that as a believer our minds have been renewed through regeneration and we are to tend to it by guarding our thought life and implanting the word of God in the mind. This is truly a “magnificent obsession”!

Phil. 4:8  ”Finally, brethren,  whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is  lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise,  dwell on these things.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

Bible Studies, Daily Walk, Scripture, The Gospel

“Take heed of secret sins. They will undo thee if loved and maintained: one moth may spoil the garment; one leak drown the ship; a penknife stab and kill a man as well as a sword; so one sin may damn the soul; nay, there is more danger of a secret sin causing the miscarrying of the soul than open profaneness, because not so obvious to the reproofs of the world; therefore take heed that secret sinnings eat not out good beginnings.”

- Jeremiah Burroughs (1599-1646)

Daily Walk

I believe that the Christian walk in the battle over sin is sorely misguided by an almost legalistic teaching within the American church today. We constantly hear that we should abstain from sin but never told the true remedy over sin’s power. Many Christians walk thinking the battle over sin is all up to them – and this leads only to failure. It’s not by fighting with our strength but by always looking to Christ. (Colossians 3:2) Yes, we are told to make war with sin (Matthew 5:29-30) but we must also take the full counsel of Scripture anytime we are given a command to act. Scripture is clear that we are unable to act alone but only by looking to Christ – for only in Him can we be victorious. Remember, our Lord tells us that “apart from Him we can do nothing” (John 15:5) and that must be our fighting motto. The directives and commands in Holy Scripture cannot be separated from this glorious truth! Oh how we all need to understand this and look upward and see Him there – our perfect spotless righteousness! The great unchangeable I AM.

This gem of a Puritan prayer sums up the pure, Biblical teaching on how a Christian truly fights sin. Let this amazing prayer written by the Puritans sink in….

MY FATHER,
When Thou art angry towards me for my wrongs I try to pacify Thee by abstaining from future sin; but teach me that I cannot satisfy Thy law, that this effort is a resting in my righteousness, that only Christ’s righteousness, ready made, already finished, is fit for that purpose; that Thy chastising me for my sin is not that I should try to reform, but only that I may be more humbled, afflicted, and made righteous in Christ by faith; that a sense of my sufficiency and ability in Him is one means of my being immovable; that I can never be so by resting on my own faith, but by trusting in Thee as my only support, by faith; that if I cast away my faith I cast away Thee, for by faith I apprehend Thee, and as Thou art very precious, so is my faith very precious to me; that I fall short of the purity Thou requires, because in thinking I am holy I do not seek holiness, or, by believing I am impotent, I do no more.

Humble me for not being as holy as I should be, or as holy as I might be through Christ, for Thou art all, and to possess Thee is to possess all. But to make the creature something is to make it stand between Thee and me, so that I do not walk humbly and holily. Lord, forgive me for this.

From Valley of Vision – a Collection of Puritan Prayers

Daily Walk, Devotional, The Gospel

I’ve been meditating much lately on the life of Christ – specifically how settled and perfect the gospel narratives of Christ’s life are. From the moment our Savior was born incarnate every moment of His life was sure. Nothing was in question – there was never a moment in reading any of the narratives that there might be an inkling of a moment of even the hint of failure. As I think about the life of Christ time and time again the leaders wanted to trap Him in a saying and to kill Him and time and time again with absolute surety the gospels tell us that He slipped out of their reach “because His time had not yet come”. There was no touching the King of kings.

It was not until Christ willingly gave up His life into the hands of wicked men that we see His time coming and even then they are able to do nothing more to Him than was was predetermined by God before time began. There was also absolutely nothing coming in the way of His atoning, sacrificial death. What God promised before the foundation of the world and what He promised to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Moses and all the great prophets came to absolute perfection without even a hint of something possibly causing the plan to fail.

Now we come to the promise of Christ’s second advent. We come to scenes of comfort even in martyrdom knowing that the souls of those in Christ who die are safe and secure in Him. And yes, a promise just as secure as the very promise of His atoning death and resurrection. We also see later on in Revelation how the world led by Satan tried with all its might to destroy the very Prince of Peace – the very King of kings and in one small verse we read that Christ slaughters the very world that is trying so desperately to kill the Lamb and His bride. (Rev. 17:14)

There is no shifting sand in Christ. He truly is the Rock that does not move, nor sleep nor shake. The world is constantly in flux – turning here and there in desperate attempts to satisfy the flesh and the lusts of the mind and heart. The soul happy in Christ is satisfied with His very presence. He is everything. Just like the feeding of the multitudes who were satisfied the very Bread from heaven is our true sustenance and food that fully satisfies and causes us to see the world as it is – a passing vanity fair able to give nothing but pain, disappointment and death.

I am amazed at the absolute perfection and surety of God in Christ. May we cling to these promises setting our minds on things above and not on things of the earth. May we rejoice in knowing that our God does not change (Malachi 3:6) and that He is faithful and true and everything He says will take place in His perfect timing. This allows us to truly understand the importance of being anxious for nothing does it not? (Philippians 4:6) What a joy to have our eyes opened to these glorious truths and to give all glory to God for shining in our hearts the knowledge of His glory in the face of His precious Son by the power of the Holy Spirit of truth and grace. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Soli Deo Gloria

Bible Studies, Daily Walk, The Gospel

The words to this hymn by Charles Wesley are just so beautiful. I decided to throw together an arrangement with guitar, oboe and piano so sing along by clicking the play button below or feel free to download the track and enjoy and give away for others to enjoy. Blessed be our Great God to give us the wonderful gift of music and song to bring Him glory!

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And can it be that I should gain An interest in the Savior’s blood? Died He for me, who caused His pain— For me, who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Amazing love! How can it be, That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

’Tis mystery all: th’Immortal dies: Who can explore His strange design? In vain the firstborn seraph tries To sound the depths of love divine. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore, Let angel minds inquire no more. ’Tis mercy all! Let earth adore; Let angel minds inquire no more.

He left His Father’s throne above So free, so infinite His grace— Humbled Himself of all but love, And bled for Adam’s helpless race: ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me! ’Tis mercy all, immense and free, For O my God, it found out me!

Long my imprisoned spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature’s night; Thine eye diffused a quickening ray— I woke, the dungeon flamed with light; My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.

Still the small inward voice I hear, That whispers all my sins forgiven; Still the atoning blood is near, That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven. I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel the Savior in my heart. I feel the life His wounds impart; I feel the Savior in my heart.

No condemnation now I dread; Jesus, and all in Him, is mine; Alive in Him, my living Head, And clothed in righteousness divine, Bold I approach th’eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own. Bold I approach th’eternal throne, And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

Soli Deo Gloria indeed!

Daily Walk, The Gospel

There is no doubt that one of the most misunderstood things in the Christian life is prayer. What is it? How is it done? Do we actually hear from God when we pray? Does prayer itself have power? Are demons afraid of prayer? The list goes on. Dan Phillips over at Team Pyro has thrown together a very straight forward article on prayer. It’s sure to make some angry and others to slap your forehead and say, “now I understand!”

So check it out and head back and let me know what you think of his view on prayer! And while you’re at it, take the poll question on prayer over to your right.

Daily Walk, Scripture

“I am quite aware that when a man expresses such opinions as those I have just brought forward there are many ready to say, “He is no Churchman.” I hear such accusations unmoved. The day of judgment will show who were the true friends of the Church of England and who were not. I have learned in the last thirty-two years that if a clergyman leads a quiet life, lets alone the unconverted part of the world, and preaches so as to offend none and edify none, he will be called by many “a good Churchman.”

And I have also learned that if a man studies the Articles and Homilies, labors continually for the conversion of souls, adheres closely to the great principles of the Reformation, bears a faithful testimony against popery, and preaches as Jewell and Latimer used to preach, he will probably be thought a firebrand and “troubler of Israel,” and called no Churchman at all! But I can see plainly that they are not the best Churchmen who talk most loudly about Churchmanship.”

- J.C. Ryle from The Fallibility of Ministers

Daily Walk, Preaching, The Church

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” – Mark 8:34-36

HT: Contemporary Calvinist

Daily Walk, Rants