 |
| F
|
05.17.2013 |

Ethan,
Hey, buddy! This Sunday you will
turn 5 years old, and I want to say "happy
birthday" to the biggest lemon-head and best
bunk-bed pirate I know!
Right after you
were born, a nurse handed you to me and I held
you in my arms. While I was looking at your
little face, you opened your eyes to look up at
me. That is one of the best moments of my life.
There was so much I didn't know then (and still
don't), but I knew that God had given you to
your mommy and I and we were going to do our
best to love you the way He wanted us to.
Since God says that every good gift comes
from above, and since you are a very good gift,
I know that you are from Him. Your mommy and I
love you and we love having you in our family.
It's exciting watching you grow up! But it's
kind of sad seeing you grow up, too, since we
know that someday you'll be all big and on your
own. But this is how God has made it to be, and
so we are grateful to have this time with you,
and we will enjoy each and every moment of it.
Ethan, as your daddy, I pray that I will
always be a good example to you of who Jesus is
and how He loves us. I pray that by watching me
you can learn how to one day be a good husband
and a good father, not because I have all the
answers but because I look to Christ. He has the
answers, the strength, and the love that we all
need. He's the very best gift that ever came
from the Father above. That's why, most
importantly, I pray that one day you will come
to know Jesus as your Savior and trust Him for
life.
You are an amazing boy and an
amazing privilege and every day I ask the Lord
to help me teach and train you into the man He
wants you to be. I am so thankful to be your
daddy, and I love you very much!
Happy birthday, Ethan!
Love, Daddy |
Also, I wanted to mention
that I'm taking a couple of weeks off from updating this
site, so this will be my last post until early June. If
you'll miss me, feel free to browse the
archive,
listen to old sermons,
check out some book
reviews, look through some flashback
pictures, or
read up on quotes...you
could even go on a
Lloyd-Jones
quote reading spree!
As always, thanks for
visiting this site. I hope it's encouraging to you.
Enjoy the rest of May!
TOP |
| F
|
05.17.2013 |

 |
Worship is neither
emotional ecstasy to be whipped up, nor a
zen state of mind to be gained through
relaxation. Instead, it's the response of
our heart, mind, soul, and strength to God,
to His glorious being and His mighty acts.
So we stir up worship not by focusing on
worship, but by filling the mind's eye with
a panoramic vision of the beauty and
holiness of God.
|
|
Bobby Jamieson / Sound Doctrine
/ 91 |
 |
Not all religious worship is right in the
sight of God. I think this is as clear as
the sun at noon-day to any honest reader of
the Bible. The Bible speaks of worship which
is 'in vain,' as well as worship which is
true.
To suppose, as some
thoughtless persons do, that it signifies
nothing where we go on Sundays, and matters
nothing how the thing is done, provided it
is done, it mere childish folly. Merchants
and tradesmen do not carry on their business
in this fashion. They look at the way their
work is done, and are not content with work
done anyhow. Let us not be deceived. God is
not mocked. The question, 'How do we
worship?' is a very serious one.
|
|
J. C. Ryle / Worship / 3 |
 |
Too often today when people speak of
acceptable worship they mean worship that is
acceptable to themselves or perhaps
acceptable especially to the unchurched.
While worship must communicate clearly to
the gathered congregation, the Bible insists
that worship must above all be acceptable to
God. |
|
Robert Godfrey / Pleasing God in Our
Worship / 22 |
 |
There is much in this world that we can get
away with not being sure on. But on this we
need to be crystal clear: you cannot honor
God if you do not worship Jesus. He is the
one God exults in. To ignore Him is to snub
God. You cannot have God while being
indifferent to God’s greatest delight.
Irrespective of how nice, well-regarded,
humble and spiritual you might otherwise
consider yourself to be, this is the
deal-breaker. If you deny Jesus worship, you
deny God. |
|
Sam Allberry / Lifted / 121 |
 |
A Christian’s real development in spiritual
life will always be revealed by how he or
she thinks about God—how much he thinks
about Him, and how highly he thinks about
Him. For worship is, essentially, the
reverse of sin.
|
|
Sinclair B. Ferguson /
A Heart for God
/ 155 |
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.16.2013 |

 |
from Seeking the Face of God
[89] |
Christian people were never meant to be
miserable or unhappy. And if you and I
are, as it were, half turning back to
the world, rather bemoaning the fact
that we cannot enjoy what the people of
the world are enjoying and that we
cannot still be with them, if we are
thinking that we are very wonderful in
denying ourselves and taking up this
cross and having this hard and difficult
life, then we are in a terrible state.
It means that we are proclaiming to the
world that God’s way of living is a
miserable one; that for true happiness
and joy you must go into the world and
that you cannot get it in the faith.
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.16.2013 |
 |
|
Threads (04) |
05.15.13w |
MP3
| 14:32 |
|
The Two Become One |
Genesis 2:18-24 |
|
TOP |
|
T | 05.14.2013 |
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Sound Doctrine
How a Church Grows in the Love and Holiness of God
Building Healthy Churches, Vol. 3 |
|
 |
|
TOP |
| T
| 05.14.2013 |
.jpg) |
 |
|
This Sunday, Ethan will be
5...it's hard to believe how
quickly the time has gone!
Here is a picture of Ethan
at the Parkwood Baptist
Church fall festival back in
2008. Love how he's rocking
the shades at a young age! |
|
|
TOP |
| M
|
05.13.2013 |
 |
|
The Book of Praises (06) |
05.12.13p |
MP3
| 44:52 |
|
From Tears to Triumph |
Psalm 6:1-10 |
|
 |
|
Fashionable Faith (52) |
05.12.13w |
MP3
| 34:49 |
|
Feed the Need |
Titus 3:12-13 |
|
TOP |
| F
|
05.10.2013 |

 |
One of the implications
of the resurrection of Jesus is His lordship
and hence divinity. Since before His death
He claimed to be God, we cannot consistently
believe He is risen without also concluding
we must worship and follow Him.
|
|
Adrian Warnock / Raised With Christ
/ 20 |
 |
Jesus of Nazareth saw Himself as the Son of
God. Whatever we do afterwards, we must
first of all decide what to do with this. If
He was correct, we must fall down and
worship Him. If He was not correct, we must
crucify Him. What we cannot do is conclude
that He was wrong and then add, 'But He was
a great and good man nevertheless, and we
love and revere Him!'
|
|
Donald Macleod / The Person of Christ / 118 |
 |
We need a human substitute, to be sure. But
we need a human whose payment for sin is of
infinite value. Therefore, the only one who
can save us from our sin is the sinless
God-man -- one who is fully man, as we are,
but one who is fully God, so that His
payment for our sin can satisfy the infinite
demands of God's justice against our sin. |
|
Bruce A. Ware / The Man Christ Jesus /
112 |
 |
Jesus and the Spirit are God. They are not
simply God-like. They are not simply God's
representatives. They are God Himself. "In
Christ," says Paul, "all the fullness of the
Deity lives in bodily form" (Colossians
2:9-10). Jesus does more than show us
something about God. He is God. |
|
Tim Chester / Delighting in the Trinity
/ 62 |
 |
When Jesus makes reference to “sitting on
His throne” and rendering final judgment He
is indirectly claiming deity, since these
prerogatives belong only to God according to
the Jewish Scriptures. In the Hebrew Bible,
no angel, prophet, king, priest or anyone
else sits on a “heavenly throne” or makes an
ultimate evaluation of people’s life after
their death. Only God does that. |
|
Douglas Groothuis /
Christian Apologetics / 489 |
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.09.2013 |

 |
from The Gospel in Genesis
[22] |
Your misery, all your problems, all your
needs, arise from the fact of sin. They
arise because you are in this terrible
position face-to-face with God. That is
the cause of all ill. And there is but
one solution to the problem, the
solution that God himself has provided
in the person of his only begotten Son.
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.09.2013 |
 |
|
Threads (03) |
05.08.13w |
MP3
| 14:59 |
|
In His Image |
Genesis 1:26-27 |
|
TOP |
|
T | 05.07.2013 |
 |
| D. A. Carson (editor) |
THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| Graeme Goldsworthy |
THEOLOGY |
|
TOP |
| T
| 05.07.2013 |
.jpg) |
 |
|
Nothing like leading a youth
trip to work up an appetite.
I can't tell whether Sara is
impressed or concerned... |
|
|
TOP |
| M
|
05.06.2013 |
 |
|
The Book of Praises (05) |
05.05.13p |
MP3
| 42:44 |
|
The Fate of the Wicked |
Psalm 5:1-12 |
|
 |
|
Fashionable Faith (51) |
05.05.13w |
MP3
| 36:07 |
|
Actions Against Factions |
Titus 3:10-11 |
|
TOP |
| F
|
05.03.2013 |

 |
Sanctification, no less
than justification, must come by grace
alone, through faith alone—we grow more like
Christ only by growing more consistent in
trusting Christ alone, thinking, feeling,
acting "in line with the truth of the
Gospel" (Galatians 2:14). From this grace
alone can flow true sanctification,
motivated by gratitude and empowered by the
Spirit. We need to repent not only of
our sins but also of our righteousness—our
efforts at self-atonement in lieu of
surrender to the all-sufficient grace of
Christ.
|
|
Dennis Johnson / Him We Proclaim
/ 56 |
 |
Delighting in sin hardens the heart. In true
repentance there must be a grieving for sin,
but how can one grieve for that which he
loves? He who delights in sin can hardly
pray against it.
|
|
Thomas Watson / The Doctrine of
Repentance / 102 |
 |
Repentance is a lifelong, continuous
activity of turning back to God from
God-dethroning desires. And repentance is
not just turning from sinful behavior, but
turning from the idols and desires that
cause sinful behavior. |
|
Tim Chester / You Can Change /
107 |
 |
The word repent implies the continuation of
it. True repentance inclines a man’s heart
to perform God’s statutes always, even unto
the end. A true penitent must go on from
faith to faith, from strength to strength;
he must never stand still nor turn back.
Repentance is a grace, and must have its
daily operation as well as other graces.
True repentance is a continued spring, where
the waters of godly sorrow are always
flowing. |
|
Thomas Brooks / Repent and Believe /
18 |
 |
When we first repent and believe ‘today’, we
do not then leave repentance and believing
behind tomorrow. We do not file it away, put
the response card in the top drawer. No, we
enter a lifetime of daily repenting and
believing.
|
|
Christopher Ash /
The Priority of Preaching / 60 |
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.02.2013 |

 |
from Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
[31] |
A man who sins suffers remorse; he has
agony of mind, and the one thing he
wants is to get rid of that agony. But
what he really needs is much more than
immediate comfort. Anything that merely
gives us relief from the unpleasant
symptoms of our disease or from our
agony of mind is not enough. In fact, it
is doing us a very grave disservice, for
what we should always be interested in,
in every realm, is health. That is the
things to aim at—not merely an absence
of trouble but the positive condition of
health.
|
TOP |
| R
|
05.02.2013 |
 |
|
Threads (02) |
05.01.13w |
MP3
| 15:07 |
|
The Maker of All Things |
Genesis 1:28-31 |
|
TOP |
|
|
|
 |
|
MAY 2013 |
click images below for reviews
click here for
review index |
 |
| God In Our Midst |
| Daniel R. Hyde |
| THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| The Holy Spirit |
| Geoffrey Thomas |
| THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| Sound Doctrine |
| Bobby Jamieson |
| THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| Is Jesus in the Old Testament? |
| Iain M. Duguid |
| THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| The Scriptures Testify About Me |
| D. A. Carson (editor) |
| THEOLOGY |
|
 |
| Gospel and Kingdom |
| Graeme Goldsworthy |
| THEOLOGY |
|
|
|
|
TOP
|
|
 |
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, and are expecting our
third son later this year.
Tricia also captures
wonderful images as
Amazing
Grace Photography and has a blog about our life
here.
I serve as Pastor of
Central Baptist in Maysville, KY.
all
content is (c) 2003-2013 se7enty6ix.com |
|
| |
|
|
|