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01.26.2012 |


from
The Sons of God
(169) |
Can you say that your life, taken as a whole
-- your thought life, your feelings, your
actions, your will, your everything is under
the direction of the Spirit of God? I am not
asking whether you are perfect. I know you
are not perfect, any more than I am perfect.
But can you say this: 'With all my faults
and failures, and all that is true of me, I
can say that the directing force and
principle in my life is the Spirit of God'?
The Apostle Paul states that if you can say
that, you are a son of God. That, then, is
the question for you to face. Can you say
this, are you sure of this? Is the main
direction of your life being determined by
the Holy Spirit of God? Is it your greatest
desire that it should be? If it is, whatever
else may be true about you, whatever your
faults or failures, I say to you, on the
authority of God Himself, you are a 'son of
God'.
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01.26.2012 |
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Praying By The Book (18) |
01.25.12w |
MP3
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Answered Prayer |
Acts 4:31 |
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01.25.2012 |
You Have a
New Friend Request
It’s usually easier to see
the point of our trials in hindsight. The trick is
learning how to see our trials as blessings when we
are in the midst of them. Best I can tell the only
way to do that is to be prepared for them: to
understand what they are and what purpose they serve
in our lives. They are not easy, they are not
pleasant, and they are not often desired. But they
are not pointless either. The J.B. Phillips
paraphrase of James 1:2 says:
“When
all kinds of trials and temptations crowd into your
lives my brothers, don't resent them as intruders,
but welcome them as friends!”
An amazing thought, isn’t it?
To welcome trials as friends. (As
actual
friends, not the ubiquitous Facebook type.) This is
clearly the instruction of God’s Word, yet we so
rarely extend a welcome to trials. When we see them
coming up the sidewalk, we turn off the lights and
duck behind the couch, hoping they didn’t see us and
will soon move on to someone else’s house.
The point is not that we go
out looking for trials. We don’t have to do that;
they will find each of us soon enough. The point is
that when they do come, we must welcome them, seeing
them as what they are: God-ordained testing for the
purpose of producing steadfastness and joy within
us.
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01.24.2012 |
Pillow Talk
Fighting off sleep long enough to ask God’s
forgiveness for “all the sins I’ve committed today”
is not what the Bible means by confession. Sincere
confession requires a specific, intentional
declaration of each area of sin in our lives.
Doing so makes us acknowledge our sin for
what it is, admit that God is right to call it sin,
and agree that it has no place in the our lives.
This kind of work is seldom done well on a pillow.
And ignoring sin only allows it to take deeper root
in our lives. Confession is not just good
for the soul, it is necessary.
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01.24.2012 |
[24] For Christ has entered, not into holy
places made with hands, which are copies of the true
things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the
presence of God on our behalf. [25] Nor was it to
offer Himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters
the holy places every year with blood not his own,
[26] for then He would have had to suffer repeatedly
since the foundation of the world. But as it is, He
has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. [Hebrews
9:24-26]

from
How Long, O Lord?
by
D. A. Carson
(171) |
Some people see in the cross nothing more
than a fine example of sacrificial love.
They cannot find there anything of
atonement, of triumph over the powers of
darkness, of the satisfaction of God’s
justice, of bearing away the sins of others.
They see only an example of self-sacrificing
love, an example to be emulated.
John Denney gave one of the most trenchant
responses to that emphasis almost a century
ago. What would we think, he asks, or
someone who ran down the Brighton pier at
full tilt, loudly proclaiming his love for
the world, and who jumped off the end of the
pier and drowned? Surely we would not praise
his love; surely we would pity his dementia.
For one cannot meaningfully speak of
self-sacrificing love unless there is a
purpose to the self-sacrifice. This pathetic
person’s “self-sacrifice” is a tragic waste
to be pitied, not a noble example to be
emulated.
In exactly the same way, to speak grandly of
the example of Jesus’ love, or even of His
identification with human suffering, is
entirely meaningless unless there is some
end in view. We must never lose sight of the
fact that that end is our salvation—our
pardon, our reconciliation to God, our
restoration to a proper relationship with
both God and other human beings, and
ultimately our transformation when Jesus
comes again. That is what gives meaning to
Jesus’ self-sacrifice. His was not the death
of the demented, the deluded, or the
disillusioned; His was the death of the
ransom, a sacrifice voluntarily laid down at
His Father’s command in order that we might
be forgiven.
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01.24.2012 |
Time Travel Tuesday #130
The countdown through the annual Xtreme Summer group
pictures continues with the summer of 2002. I can't
help but noticing how the picture quality decreases
each year we go back. This was taken on a disposable
film camera...remember those? FROM L to R:
Matt Rosencrans, Justin Chappell, Lesley Baize,
Justen Atwell, Chad Nanna, Jenna Montgomery, Nick McCullum,
Mark Powell, Sean Cape, Meghan Atwell, Amanda (Doss)
Atwell, Shannon Daley, Alyssa (Van
Hook) Stanfield, Matt Ray, Chad McCullum, Audrey
Baize, Kris Horn, Chris Shaw, Amanda (Nanna) Alvey,
Kaycee Horn, Jeremy Chappell, and Stacy Wilder
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01.23.2012 |
Me, Myself,
and Lie
We like ourselves too much.
Contrary to what the esteem-driven culture we live
in would have us believe, life is not mainly about
us or our immediate satisfaction. The Bible’s
testimony about us is that we are all sinners,
guilty of treason against the only true King of the
universe. What compounds our problem is a double
error: the pitiful belief that we can hide our sin
from an all-seeing God and the prideful assumption
that our sin isn’t worthy of His judgment.
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01.23.2012 |
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| Not One
Word Has Failed (21) |
01.22.12p |
MP3
| 31:49 |
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Part and Parcel (1) |
Joshua 12:1 - 14:5 |
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Fashionable Faith (15) |
01.22.12a |
MP3
| 35:07 |
The Nature of Elders (2):
Leading at Home |
Titus 1:6 |
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01.19.2012 |
This weekend, Aaron will celebrate turning 2! He
has become quite the reader (which means he brings
us books and makes us read them to him over and over
again) and has picked up the habit of climbing onto
everything he can reach--and trying for things he
can't. I am very thankful for Aaron and am blessed
to be his father.
Since I'm not planning to post anything else on
this site until next week, I've decided to be three
days early instead of one day late and go ahead and
post this collage wishing Aaron a happy second
birthday!
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01.19.2012 |
[17] For the desires of the flesh are against
the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are
against the flesh, for these are opposed to each
other, to keep you from doing the things you want to
do. [Galatians 5:17]

from
Morning & Evening
by
Charles H. Spurgeon
(June 2 AM) |
In every believer’s heart there is a constant
struggle between the old nature and the new.
The old nature is very active and loses no
opportunity of employing all the weapons in
its deadly arsenal against newborn grace;
while on the other hand, the new nature is
always on the lookout to resist and destroy
its enemy. Grace within us will employ
prayer and faith and hope and love to cast
out the evil; it takes to itself “the whole
armor of God” and wrestles vigorously. These
two opposing natures will never stop
struggling as long as we are in this world…
The enemy is so securely entrenched within us
that he can never be driven out while we are
in this body: But although we are closely
followed, and often in fierce conflict, we
have an Almighty helper, Jesus, the Captain
of our salvation, who is always with us and
who assures us that we shall eventually be
more than conquerors through Him. With such
assistance the newborn nature is more than a
match for its enemies.
Are you fighting with the adversary today? Are
Satan, the world, and the flesh all against
you? Do not be discouraged nor dismayed.
Fight on! For God Himself is with you.
Jehovah Nissi is your banner, and
Jehovah Rophi is the healer of your
wounds. Do not fear, you will overcome, for
who can defeat Omnipotence? Fight on,
“looking to Jesus”, and although the
conflict is long and tough, the victory will
be sweet, and the promised reward will be
glorious.
From strength to
strength go on;
Wrestle, and fight, and pray,
Tread all the powers
of darkness down,
And win the well-fought day.
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01.19.2012 |


from
The Cross
(159) |
God said: ‘Let there be light: and there was
light.’ God brought light into being by the
mere word of His power, His mere fiat. And
God created everything in the same way—a
word was enough, such is the power of God.
He speaks and it is done.
But when God comes to deal with the problem
of man, and man in sin and rebellion, a word
is not enough…God cannot forgive sin just by
saying: ‘I forgive.’ If He could, He would
have done so. Do you imagine that God would
ever have sent His only begotten Son to the
cross if He could have forgiven the sin of
men in any other way?...But there was not.
A word is enough to create but a word is not
enough to forgive. Before God can forgive
any sin to any man, His only begotten Son
had to leave the courts of heaven, and come
down on earth and take on human nature, and
live as a man and be ‘stricken, smitten of
God,’ upon that cross. And the cross thus
proclaims the holiness of God, the
heinousness of sin, the terrible problem of
sin, the terrible seriousness of man’s
rebellion against God.
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01.18.2012 |
Fire in the
Holy
When the Bible says
that God is
holy, it
means He is absolutely pure from a moral sense, but
it also means that He is separate from the rest of
creation. He is inimitable and matchless. God’s
holiness serves at least two main functions: to
exalt Himself and reveal His identity as the One
true God and, secondly, to expose and condemn sin
when viewed in contrast to His holiness. The
holiness of God isn’t some quaint sentiment; it is a
“consuming fire.”
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01.17.2012 |
[7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love
is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God
and knows God. [8] Anyone who does not love does not
know God, because God is love. [9] In this the love
of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His
only Son into the world, so that we might live
through Him. [10] In this is love, not that we have
loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sins. [11] Beloved, if
God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
[12] No one has ever seen God; if we love one
another, God abides in us and his love is perfected
in us. [1 John 4:7-12]
_100.jpg)
from
Works (Vol. 2)
by
John Owen
(26-27) |
The mutual love of God and the saints agrees
in this -- that the way of communicating the
issues and fruits of these loves is only
in Christ. The Father communicates no
issue of His love unto us but through
Christ; and we make no return of love unto
Him but through Christ.
He is the treasury wherein the
Father disposes all the riches of His grace,
taken from the bottomless mine of His
eternal love; and He is the priest
into whose hand we put all the offerings
that we return to the Father.
Thence He is first, and by way of eminency,
said to love the Son; not only as His
eternal Son -- as He was the delight of His
soul before the foundation of the world
(Prov. 8:30) -- but also as our mediator,
and the means of conveying His love to us
(Matt 3:17, John 3:35, 5:20, 10:17, 15:9,
17:24). And we are said through Him to
believe in and to have access to God.
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01.17.2012 |
Time Travel Tuesday #129
The countdown through the annual Xtreme Summer group
pictures continues with the summer of 2003. FROM L to R:
Nick McCullum, Chris Shaw, Sean Cape, Matt
Rosencrans, Shannon Daley, Chasity Lanham, Steele
Logsdon, Tricia (Allen) Powell, Meghan Atwell,
Justin Chappell, Eric Deaton, Ashley (Allen)
McCullum, Amanda (Nanna) Alvey, Mark Powell, Chad
McCullum, Alyssa (Van
Hook) Stanfield, Jeremy Chappell, and Stacy Wilder
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01.16.2012 |
Ark My Words
[5] The
LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. [6] And the
LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth,
and it grieved Him to His heart. [7] So the LORD
said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from
the face of the land, man and animals and creeping
things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that
I have made them.”
[Genesis 6:5-7]
Noah and the ark is one of the most well-known of
all Bible stories. Ironically, the point of the
story is often lost amidst the boatload of animals.
Our focus isn’t to be on Noah (who actually doesn’t
say anything at all during the flood story), nor is
it to get sidetracked with discussions about where
elephants slept or who cleaned up after the elk. No,
the Flood serves as a reminder of God’s judgment.
To bring this point home, we
must consider how the rest of Scripture views the
Flood. Jesus says that His return and judgment will
be similar to the judgment that came from God in the
days of Noah. “For as were the days of Noah, so
will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in
those days before the flood they were eating and
drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the
day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware
until the flood came and swept them all away, so
will be the coming of the Son of Man.” [Matthew
24:37-39]
Peter also expresses a
connection between the previous judgment of God
through water and the coming judgment of God through
fire: “For they deliberately overlook this fact,
that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was
formed out of water and through water by the word of
God, and that by means of these the world that then
existed was deluged with water and perished. But by
the same word the heavens and earth that now exist
are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of
judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” [2
Peter 3:5-7]
What are we to do in the face
of such certain judgment? We cannot hope to avoid
judgment, but we can survive it—if we trust in God’s
way of salvation. Noah didn't survive the flood
because he was innocent; he survived because God
provided a means of salvation. Just as Noah was
saved only because of his position in the ark, only
those who are in Christ by faith will be saved
through Him. It was just the eight people found in
the ark that were kept from drowning in flood
waters, and only those found in Christ will enter
into eternal life. For us, Christ is the ark.
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01.16.2012 |
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Sanctity of Human Life Sunday |
01.15.12p |
MP3
| 35:51 |
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Life |
Psalm 82:3-4 |
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Fashionable Faith (14) |
01.15.12a |
MP3
| 37:37 |
The Nature of Elders (1):
Being Above Reproach |
Titus 1:5-8 |
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01.13.2012 |
We're wrapping up the week with two more book
reviews, both of which I liked (but for different
reasons). Enjoy the weekend!
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01.12.2012 |


from
Courageous Christianity
(170-171) |
The next thing proved by the Resurrection is
that Christ is able to save us from all our
enemies. I proclaim to you that Jesus of
Nazareth is the Son of God and the Savior of
the world. Savior? What does He save us
from? He saves us from the world, the flesh,
the devil, and the law of God. Yes, the law
of God is against us, and the law in that
sense is our enemy. "By the law is the
knowledge of sin" (Rom. 3:20), and the law
condemns us; "By the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified" (Gal. 2:16). The law
of God accuses us, and we cannot escape it.
It stands over and against us.
World, flesh, devil, law. At the back of
them all is the most terrifying of them all
-- death, the last enemy, the enemy that the
modern world is trying to fight with all its
ingenuity and cleverness and science. We are
all struggling to keep ourselves young and
to fight off old age and death. You can
postpone it for a year or two, but you
cannot evade it. There he is with his
scythe, advancing nearer and nearer and
nearer, and the day -- we all know it --
must inevitably come when he will hammer at
your door and say to you, "Move on." You
will have to go. The last enemy. And he is
not only the last enemy chronologically, but
he is the last enemy in the sense that he is
the one who faces us with the judgment, the
law, the holiness of God, and possibly an
eternal destiny of misery and wretchedness
and unhappiness -- the last enemy.
Now our Lord claims to be the Savior, but if
He cannot save us from all our enemies, He
does not merit the designation of Savior.
Thank God, He can meet the challenge. He
dealt with the devil many times when He was
here in the flesh and conquered him with
ease. He lived untouched by the world,
separate from it. The sins of the flesh He
never knew. He was tempted externally in all
points like as we are, yet was without sin;
and He was never tempted from sin within. As
for the law of God, we have already seen how
He met its every demand. He never broke His
Father's law, and there on the cross He gave
a complete and perfect satisfaction for all
its demands.
Yes, but that obedience involved His death.
Has the last enemy got Him? It is one thing
to beat the world, the flesh, the devil, and
the law of God, but what about the last
enemy? Has it not conquered Him; has it not
succeeded? The world said, "Yes, it has!"
They were beginning to triumph, but their
triumph was short-lived, shattered by the
Resurrection. Christ conquered our last
enemy, enabling His people to look in the
face of death and say, "O death, where is
thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?"
(1 Cor. 15:55). Paul continued, "The sting
of death is sin; and the strength of sin is
the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ." (vv. 56-57). He has conquered the
last enemy. He is a complete, a perfect,
Savior. I would not be able to say that if
He had not risen literally in the body from
the tomb. But I can say it because the
Resurrection is a fact. "And with great
power gave the apostles witness of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 4:33).
This is what a man or woman does who is
filled with the Spirit as these people were.
The Resurrection is the fact on which
everything is based, and this is what the
world needs to know.
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01.12.2012 |
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Praying By The Book (17) |
01.11.12w |
MP3
| 17:31 |
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Through the Name of Jesus |
Acts 4:30 |
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01.11.2012 |
God is good. At least so the Bible claims. But isn't
that just God telling us about Himself? What if He
just decides that 'good' is whatever He wants it to
be on any given day? To help address that idea, here
is a quote from John Frame's excellent book, The
Doctrine of God:

from
The Doctrine of God
by
John M. Frame
(408-409) |
The biblical writers never say that God is
good because He says He is good, and that He
says He is good because He is good. That
would be narrow circularity. Rather, they
describe and praise God’s mighty acts of
deliverance, His kindness in providence, and
His grace in salvation. These are big, bold,
obvious evidences of goodness. They
overwhelm believing readers and call from us
almost involuntarily the confession that God
is good. At this stage of our thinking,
there may seem to be no circularity at all.
But as we think more deeply, we realize
that, of course, we learn of these evidences
from God Himself. We learn them from God’s
Word, and the biblical writers themselves
learn them from God’s inspiration. There is
also general revelation: God reveals His
goodness through His actions in the course
of nature and history, both in the
experience of the biblical writers and in
our own. So everything we know about God’s
goodness comes from Him. God’s revelation is
both our ultimate criterion of truth and our
sole source of knowledge about God’s
goodness. We believe that God is good, then,
because God tells us that He is good. So the
circularity is present. But it is a broad
circularity, not a narrow one. It is a
circularity loaded with content, full of
evidence, and richly persuasive. We are
literally surrounded by evidence of God’s
goodness.
So when someone says that for God to be His
own standard allows Him to be an arbitrary
despot, declaring what is good today to be
evil tomorrow, the critic is not dealing
with the reality of God’s revelation. The
God who reveals Himself in all creation is
simply not that kind of person. We do not
know Him as an arbitrary despot. We have
heard of arbitrary despots, but our God is
not like them.
God has made us to hear His voice, as
obedient children listen to a loving father.
We know Him because He knows us and
addresses us. He declares His goodness, and
He demonstrates it richly. We don’t merely
know the bare fact that God is good; we know
Him. We learn to trust someone by observing his or her behavior.
With God, there is far more evidence than
that, for all creation presents to us His
actions and His love.
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01.11.2012 |
Sight Beyond
Sight
(Part 2 of 2)
[19] For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For His
invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever
since the creation of the world, in the things that
have been made. So they are without excuse. [Romans 1:19-20]
Although God reveals things about Himself in
nature, we need to understand something beyond what
has already been made plain. This is why we have a
Bible, and this is why God took on flesh in the
person of Christ.
Christ Himself showed how the Scriptures were used
to foretell and explain His messianic mission (cf.
Matthew 26:54, Mark 8:31, and Luke 24:13-47). While
Christ certainly made use of the created order in
His parables and teachings, when it came to
revealing His nature and passion, He appealed to
Scripture.
The book of Hebrews gives us more insight in this
matter when the author says
“For if we go
on sinning deliberately after receiving the
knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a
sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of
judgment…” [Hebrews 10:26] There is a knowledge
of truth that must be received which, as the
previous nine chapters of Hebrews detailed, can only
be known through the Person and work of Jesus
Christ.
What is
of particular importance to us here is that the author of Hebrews does not appeal to creation to
reveal these truths, but to Christ Himself, who is
superior to anyone or anything else. Notice also
from this verse that the truth necessary for
salvation from God’s judgment requires a sacrifice
for sins. Even granting that a person might somehow
receive knowledge of God’s salvation plan through
general revelation, this passage indicates that it
is not merely the knowledge of this truth
that saves a person, but faith in the atoning
sacrifice of Christ on their behalf.
In his letter to Rome, Paul states:
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for
salvation to everyone who believes…for in it the
righteousness of God is revealed…” [Romans
1:16-17] The righteousness of God is revealed in the
gospel. Lest we think that ‘gospel’ can refer to the
general revelation, Paul makes it plain that we are
“justified by
His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is
in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a
propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.”
[Romans 3:24-25] It is faith
in Christ
and in the propitiation His blood brings that leads
to salvific faith, not tacit awareness (or even full
acknowledgement of) God’s power and nature.
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01.10.2012 |
Sight Beyond
Sight
(Part 1 of 2)
[19] For what can be known about God is plain to
them, because God has shown it to them. [20] For His
invisible attributes, namely, His eternal power and
divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever
since the creation of the world, in the things that
have been made. So they are without excuse. [Romans 1:19-20]
God has given a sense of Himself—His
“eternal power and divine nature” [Romans 1:20]—to all people. The
created order does speak clearly about the God of
the Bible. To subdue that truth requires active
suppression on the part of those who wish to reject
it. This is evident, even in those who rail against
it. As Lloyd-Jones once noted, even the man who does
not believe it God has got a sense of Him; that’s
why he has to argue against it. Ignoring God is hard
work.
And yet He is, indeed, the God of
the Bible. His Word has been given with a specific function and
purpose: to interpret the revelation of God through
His Son, Jesus Christ. The Old Testament prophets
came speaking a message from the Lord, a message
that by its very existence implied the communication
of something that God’s people could not have
ascertained merely from creation. Although they had
already been given a great deal about God, there is
more to discover than what they can infer from the
world around them.
When Isaiah says:
“Do you not
know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from
the beginning? Have you not understood from the
foundations of the earth?” [Isaiah 40:21] he
seems to be implying that people should know all
they need to from the general revelation of God
through what He has done. But these words are being
written
precisely because the people do
not
understand and have turned to idols. Though there is
no one we can liken to God, the prophet says, people
keep trying to do so. They are suppressing the
truth.
Jesus makes a similar statement to the Pharisees:
“Why do you
not understand what I say? It is because you cannot
bear to hear my word.” [John 8:43] It wasn’t
because the Pharisees were ignorant of general
truths about God but because they renounced God’s
revelation through Christ that they could not
understand. They needed to understand something
beyond what was already made plain to them; but they
could not understand it apart from Christ.
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01.10.2012 |
We're going to play a game! Ready? Look at the
titles of the three books reviewed today and try to
guess what I just finished writing the next Men's
Discipleship study on. Got it?
As far as the books themselves, I really enjoyed
Lawson's take though it might be daunting at 500+
pages. Getz's effort was passable, but smacked too
much of introspection throughout. A great compromise
was Meyer's work: accessible and admirably centered
on Christ.
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01.10.2012 |
Time Travel Tuesday #128
The countdown through the annual Xtreme Summer group
pictures continues with the summer of 2004. FROM L to R:
Shannon Daley, Mark Powell, Stacy Wilder, Chris
Shaw, Ashleigh Puckett, Justin Chappell, Alyssa (Van
Hook) Stanfield, Eric Deaton, Sara Florence, Sean
Cape, Nick McCullum, Chad Nanna, Ashley (Allen)
McCullum, Matt Rosencrans, Carrie Williams, Tricia
(Allen) Powell, and Chad McCullum
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01.09.2012 |
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Not One Word Has Failed (20) |
01.08.12p |
MP3
| 35:08 |
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Hard of Heart |
Joshua 11:1-23 |
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Fashionable Faith (13) |
01.08.12a |
MP3
| 31:23 |
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Put What Remained Into Order |
Titus 1:5 |
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01.06.2012 |
If you follow me on Twitter (@se7enty6ix)
or just keep up with the Twitter feed on this page,
then you've probably noticed that I've been tweeting
through the Gospel of Luke. Clearly
I am not covering every verse, or even every idea
within a verse, but it's good practice for me to try
and distill the essence of a passage to 140
characters or less. (I mean, the introduction to
this post is already five lines long!) Here are all
the tweets for Luke chapter 3:
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John the Baptist went proclaiming
“repentance for the forgiveness of sins.” (Lk
3:3) He went and he told; neither is
sufficient alone.
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“Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” (Lk
3:8) Genuine faith in Christ shows itself.
Always. Without exception.
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“He is able from these stones to raise up
children for Abraham.” (Lk 3:8) Be humbled
that God chose defiant sinners over
guiltless rocks.
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A warning made sober by its truthfulness:
“Every tree therefore that does not bear
good fruit is cut down and thrown into the
fire.” (Lk 3:9)
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“Be content with your wages.” (Lk 3:14)
Lord, empower us to live this command. Help
us to fear extravagance as much as we fear
poverty.
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“He who is mightier than I is coming.” (Lk
3:16) John the Baptist knew that it was all
about Christ. Every breath, every act, all
for Him.
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Like John, we are not worthy even to untie
the sandals of Christ (Lk 3:16); yet the One
who deserves our service instead came to
serve us.
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Jesus divides us into wheat and chaff; wheat
goes in His barn, chaff is burned. (Lk 3:17)
It’s one or the other; there is no middle
ground.
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“With many other exhortations he preached
good news to the people.” (Lk 3:18) Do you
speak gospel? Can your words be called good
news?
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God’s testimony about Jesus: “You are my
beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk
3:22) May our lives also speak only truth of
Christ.
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Jesus is “the son
of…David…Judah…Jacob…Isaac…Abraham…Adam…God.”
(Lk 3:23-28) Since we are adopted by God,
these are our fathers, and Father.
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01.05.2012 |
"When we set out to read important books, we can
expect opposition from our hearts. Reading is a
discipline, and all disciplines require
self-discipline, and self-discipline is the one
thing our sinful flesh will resist." [Tony
Reinke, Lit!, 131]
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I struggled with
reviewing this one. Swindoll has moments of
strength but he often overemphasizes things
like 'leadership principles' and 'positive
thinking.' Those are fine but they are not
the main ideas we're supposed to take from
the Joseph story.
Joseph: A Man of Integrity and Forgiveness
Charles R. Swindoll
THEOLOGY |
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Parrish may have
found his niche in the wide-open young adult
genre, which allows for a creative merging
of fantasy, sci-fi, angst, romance, and just
about every other imaginable style. I wish
this had been a bit longer and more fleshed
out, but the length might be about right for
a younger audience.
Corridor
Robin Parrish
FICTION |
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For what they intend
to be--brief introductions to key components
of the gospel--this series of booklets (now
up to 14 total) from The Gospel
Coalition, at about $4 each, is about
as good a bang-for-your-buck investment as
there is. Even though this entry isn't one
of their stronger efforts, the series is
solid.
The Kingdom of God
Stephen Um
THEOLOGY |
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01.05.2012 |
Although last year was the 30th anniversary of
Lloyd-Jones' death (and thus the reason for weekly
quotes from his works), I have decided to continue a
weekly dose from the doctor in 2012. I hope it will
be encouraging to you, and if last year was any
indication, I know it will be encouraging to me.
Without further ado, here's our first (rather
apropos) quote of
the year:

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There is a possibility of a new start, a new
beginning, and for all, even for the most
desperate. No case can be worse than that of
the prodigal son. Yet even he can start
again. He has touched bottom, he has sunk to
the very dregs, he has gone down so low that
he could not possibly descend any further.
Never has a more hopeless picture been drawn
than that of this boy in the far country
amidst the husks and the swine, penniless
and friendless, utterly hopeless and
forlorn, utterly desolate and dejected.
But even he gets a fresh start, even he is
called to make a new beginning. There is a
turning-point which leads on to fortune and
to happiness even for him. What a blessed
gospel, and especially in a world like this!
What a difference the coming of Jesus Christ
has made! What new hope for mankind appeared
in Him!
[Evangelistic Sermons, 228]
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01.05.2012 |
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Praying By The Book (16) |
01.04.12w |
MP3
| 15:55 |
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Grant Boldness to Your Servants |
Acts 4:29 |
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01.03.2012 |
Fleshing It Out
[3] He presented Himself alive to them after His suffering by many
proofs, appearing to them during forty days and
speaking about the kingdom of God. [Acts 1:3]
Since Christ has risen and His words are true, those
who trust in Him will one day be risen also. What is
true for Him is true for His people. In that
resurrection day, those who are His will receive a
body that will be free from disease, free from
death, free from heartache and misery. Then we will
enjoy an eternal life free from suffering and pain
and tragedy and confusion and despair.
This matters—deeply—because in this life we
do have
disease, death, heartache, misery, suffering, pain,
tragedy, confusion, and despair. These things
surround us. They are either chipping away small
pieces or striking with a furious onslaught but they
are always there. Our lives often seem to be defined
by the effects of sin and the curse of death. What
Jesus’ resurrection tells us is that, while this
pain is real, it is also temporary. Things are bad,
and will perhaps get worse, but they won’t last one
moment past our final breaths.
Bluntly put: if my life gets worse every day, if
every new morning is darker and more tragic than the
one before, and if I live for another 60 years with
daily increasing pain and suffering, what is that
compared to eternity? My troubles will always be
with me in this life, but then they will be with me
no longer. One day they will end, and when they do,
they will end
forever. My suffering may be intense and long
and difficult here—just as Christ’s was—but when it
ends, it ends.
If we neglect the bodily resurrection of Christ we
will be tempted to let our circumstances influence
us too greatly. Don’t misunderstand: trusting in the
resurrection doesn’t mean ignoring your pain or
pretending like you don’t suffer. False optimism
helps no one. What trusting Christ’s resurrection
means is that although your pain is real and your
suffering hurts—sometimes very profoundly—it won’t
have the final word. Pain won’t win. Suffering won’t
destroy those who belong to Christ.
The things that are seen and felt in this life can
be painful. They can afflict us and perplex us, and
strike us down. But they are temporary, because
Christ is alive. There is eternal glory waiting for
us. I can endure whatever this day brings, not
because of my strength, but because of what Christ
has done. He is risen and, if I share in His death,
I will certainly share in His life. Troubles may
come now, but they will end, and when they do, they
will end forever.
Christ is alive! Let that sink deep into your hearts
this day, and let it take root. The truth of the
bodily resurrection of Christ is the only thing that
will be able to sustain you when troubles come, so
don’t be quick to get away from it. Think on it,
dwell on it, pray on it, and ask God to use it to
strengthen your heart for the trials ahead.
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01.03.2012 |
Time Travel Tuesday #127
The countdown through the annual Xtreme Summer group
pictures continues with the summer of 2005. FROM L to R:
(Back Row) Chad McCullum, Justin Chappell, Shannon
Daley, Mark Powell, Chris Shaw; (Front Row) Ashleigh
Puckett, Breanna Albright, and Sara Florence
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01.02.2012 |
Most of you know that my wife, Tricia, is running a
photography business called
Amazing Grace Photography.
What you may not know is that she has just unveiled
a new logo and a new
website!
One of the best features of the new website is that
you can see galleries of her photos and order prints
directly from those galleries with just a few
clicks. That makes it really easy for friends and
families to get copies of pictures they like.
Tricia has plenty more info and features on the
site, so make sure you swing by and spend some time
checking it out today!
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01.02.2012 |
Happy new year! You can get caught up on sermons
from the past few weeks in the post below, and here are the
first three book reviews for 2012!
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This has the
distinction of being the first "official"
Sherlock Holmes novel authorized by the
Arthur Conan Doyle estate in 125 years. It
doesn't match Doyle's originals (what
could?) and expectations were probably set
too high, but it's enjoyable--though
honestly more for the familiar characters
than the mystery.
Although I will concede that those who are
devoted Holmes purists will find much to
criticize. I enjoy Holmes in various
incarnations (even the Downey, Jr. version), but
I am not hardcore about it. For me, Basil Rathbone will always be Holmes. He was
the first I saw as a child (on WGN on many
Sunday afternoons while eating lunch after
church) and even when I read this book, it
was his voice I heard speaking the dialogue.
Bottom line: if you can enjoy Holmes without
overanalyzing how he compares to Doyle's
ideal, then you'll find this enjoyable. If,
on the other hand, you think Holmes died
when Doyle did, then why even bother reading
what you have already decided to hate?
The House of Silk
Anthony Horowitz
FICTION |
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Phillips not only
explains what the Lord's Supper is, he also
explains why faithful participation in it is
even more necessary than some might think.
The Basics of the Reformed Faith
series continues to be a solid introduction
to key Christian beliefs.
What is the Lord's Supper?
Richard D. Phillips
THEOLOGY |
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If you like stories
wrapped up nicely with all questions
answered clearly, then stay away from this
one. But if you're open for some uncertainty
and thought-provoking scenarios, Mullen has
quickly proven to be a good place to start.
His latest is no exception.
The Revisionists
Thomas Mullen
FICTION |
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01.02.2012 |
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Not One Word Has Failed (19) |
01.01.12p |
MP3
| 32:52 |
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Go South Young Man |
Joshua 10:29-43 |
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01.01.12a |
MP3
| 35:30 |
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...and a Happy New Year! |
Romans 6:1-14 |
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Praying By The Book (15) |
12.28.11w |
MP3
| 19:59 |
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To Do Whatever Your Hand and Your Plan Had
Predestined |
Acts 4:25-28 |
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12.25.11a |
MP3
| 31:55 |
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Merry Christmas... |
Hebrews 2:1-18 |
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JAN 2012 |
click each title below for review
click here for
review index |
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The Power of
Words and the Wonder of God
John Piper &
Justin Taylor (eds)
THEOLOGY |
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Portraits of Faith
Joel Beeke
THEOLOGY |
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God's Indwelling Presence
James Hamilton
THEOLOGY |
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Locked On
Tom Clancy
FICTION |
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A Heart for God
Sinclair B. Ferguson
THEOLOGY |
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Wordsmithy
Douglas Wilson
NON-FICTION |
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Reclaiming Adoption
Dan Cruver (editor)
THEOLOGY |
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Joseph
F. B. Meyer
THEOLOGY |
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The History
of
Joseph
George Lawson
THEOLOGY |
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Joseph
Gene A. Getz
THEOLOGY |
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Joseph
Charles R. Swindoll
THEOLOGY |
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Corridor
Robin Parrish
FICTION |
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The Kingdom of God
Stephen Um
THEOLOGY |
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The House of Silk
Anthony Horowitz
FICTION |
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What is the
Lord's Supper?
Richard D. Phillips
THEOLOGY |
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The Revisionists
Thomas Mullen
FICTION |
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My name is Mark and I am a follower
of Jesus Christ. I was born in 1976. I am
married to my beautiful wife and best friend, Tricia. We
have two sons: Ethan and Aaron.
Tricia
also has a
blog
that is worth checking out, and she takes great pictures as
Amazing
Grace Photography
I serve as Pastor of
Central Baptist in Maysville, KY.
all
content is (c) 2003-2012 se7enty6ix.com |
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