"The spiritual life which I have is not my own. I did not induce it, and I cannot maintain it. It is only and solely the work of Christ. It is not I who live, but Christ lives in me. My whole life is His alone."
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New Theme!
It's the same blog but with a new theme and now definitely a work in progress! There are some things I really like about this theme- such as color! since my last one was mostly white - and some others that I'm not sure are going to work out. I'm all for Wordpress adding more themes! -Dani
4 Truths About the Coming Resurrection - By Matt Perman at Desiring God When Christ returns, he will raise the dead... http://ow.ly/15Ve2B1 month ago
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Milton Vincent
“The deeper I go into the gospel, the more I comprehend and confess aloud the depth of my sinfulness. A gruesome death like the one that Christ endured for me would only be required for one who is exceedingly sinful and unable to appease a holy God. Consequently, whenever I consider the necessity and manner of His death, along with the love and selflessness behind it, I am laid bare and utterly exposed for the sinner I am.
Such an awareness of my sinfulness does not drag me down, but actually serves to lift me up by magnifying my appreciation of God’s forgiving grace in my life. And the more I appreciate the magnitude of God’s forgiveness of my sins, the more I love Him and delight to show Him love through heart-felt expressions of worship.”
The great implication of holiness in the personal life is sin-consciousness, and where there is little sin-consciousness there is little conception of the holiness of God. The holiness of God becomes significant to us only when it reveals our own sinfulness in relation to God.
Sin is a wilful act of trespass on a holy God, and penitence results in self-loathing before God and a desire, not to escape from the holiness of God, but to accept it, to open up the life to its scrutiny, and receive its just judgment. Thus comes the repentance that leads, not to despair and death, but to hope and life.
If God is holy, there is still hope that the sinner may be holy; if a holy God is dealing with our sin we shall be holy.
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Jonathan Edwards
The enjoyment of God is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, fully to enjoy God, is infinitely better than the most pleasant accommodations here. Fathers and mothers, husbands, wives, or children, or the company of earthly friends, are but shadows; but God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the ocean. Therefore it becomes us to spend this life only as a journey toward heaven, as it becomes us to make the seeking of our highest end and proper good, the whole work of our lives; to which we should subordinate all other concerns of life. Why should we labor for, or set our hearts on, anything else, but that which is our proper end, and true happiness?
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J.I. Packer
"Genuine godliness is always marked by delight in God's truth. Psalm 119 makes this abundantly plain. The Psalmist loves God's law, rejoices to know God's mind, and holds fast, at whatever cost to himself, the truths that God has taught him. His delight in God is, among other things, a delight in God's Word."
(Greek pneuma, “spirit,” “breath,” or “wind” + Greek -logia, “speaking”)
The study of the doctrine of the person and work of the Holy Spirit. Pneumatology deals with the work of the Spirit in the lives of people, both believers and unbelievers. Included within this study is the regeneration, baptism of the Spirit, fruits of the Spirit, gifts of the Spirit, and, often, sanctification.).
Jon Bloom| Did you wake up not feeling like reading your Bible and praying? How many times today have you had to battle not feeling like doing things you know would be good for you? While it’s true that this is our indwelling sin that we must repent of and fight against, there’s more going on.
Think about this strange pattern that occurs over and over in just about every area of life:
Good food requires discipline to prepare and eat while junk food tends to be the most tasty, addictive, and convenient.
Keeping the body healthy and strong requires frequent deliberate discomfort while it only takes constant comfort to go to pot.
You have to make yourself pick up that nourishing theological book while watching a movie can feel so inviting.
You frequently have to force yourself to get to devotions and prayer while sleeping, reading the sports, and checking Facebook seems effortless.
To play beautiful music requires thousands of hours of tedious practice.
To excel in sports requires monotonous drills ad nauseum.
It takes years and years of schooling just to make certain opportunities possible.
This goes on and on.
The pattern is this: the greater joys are obtained through struggle and pain, while brief, unsatisfying, and often destructive joys are right at our fingertips. Why is this? Because, in great mercy, God is showing us everywhere, in things that are just shadows of heavenly things, that there is a great reward for those who struggle through (Hebrews 10:32-35). He is reminding us repeatedly each day to walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).
Each struggle is an invitation by God to follow in the footsteps of his Son, “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). Those who are spiritually blind only see futility in these things. But for those who have eyes to see, God has woven hope (faith in future grace) right into the futility of creation (Romans 8:20-21). Each struggle is a pointer saying, “Look! Look to the real Joy set before you!”
So when you don’t feel like doing what you know is best for you, take heart and don’t give in. Your Father is pointing you to the reward he has planned for all who endure to the end (Matthew 24:13).
For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (1 Corinthians 4:17-18)
And everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became captain over them. 1 Samuel 22:2
David attracted desperate men, men who were passionate for change, men who longed for a better future. The empowered and the privileged did not gather to him. They had too much to lose. But the distressed, the debtors and the fed-up rallied to him. And under his leadership, this rabble launched a new era in the history of God’s people.
If your heart is at rest with the state of the world, the state of the church, you have little incentive for all-out commitment to Jesus. You will probably just get in the way. But if you are in distress, if you are in debt, if you are bitter in soul, there is a mighty Captain who is not ashamed to have you in his army. He turns no one away, no one who is desperate for change on his terms. -Ray Ortlund at The Resurgence
Judah Groveman and Zelos lead over 2500 worshipers in his song “By This We Know Love”. Recorded at the Next 2009 conference in Baltimore, Maryland, May 30-June 2, 2009. From the album “Next 2009 Live”, available at sovereigngracemusic.org.
Abraham Piper | Whether you can come to our conference that starts today or not, you may be interested in the site we set up for it.
Visit TheaterofGod.com to keep up with our live blogging and everyone’s tweets about the conference, as well as get the conference media when it becomes available.
Are you prosperous in the world? Have death, sickness, disappointment, poverty, and family troubles passed over your door up to this time and not come in? Are you secretly saying to yourself, ‘Nothing can hurt me much. I shall die quietly in my bed and see no sorrow.’ Take care.
You are not yet in harbor. A sudden storm of unexpected trouble may make you change your note. Set not your affection on things below. Hold them with a very loose hand and be ready to surrender them at a moment’s notice. Use your prosperity well while you have it; but lean not all your weight on it, lest it break suddenly and pierce your hand.
-J.C. Ryle
John Piper, Collin Hansen, and Carolyn James discussed “the New Calvinists” on September 11 at the Religious Newswriters Association’s annual convention. The panel was hosted by Julia Duin of the Washington Times.
We now have footage of that panel in 4 parts: 3 sets of introductory remarks (one from each panelist) and the Q&A time with reporters that followed.
Award-winning Christian songwriter and singer Brian Doerksen is working on a new musical that will retell the story of the prodigal son. It’s called “Prodigal God: The Musical Tale of Two Brothers and One Wastefully Extravagant Father.” The site takes a while to load, but you can listen to samples of the songs and download a free EP. Looks like they are currently doing auditions and raising funds. The project has been seven years in the making, and doesn’t have anything official to do with Tim Keller’s book, The Prodigal God.
