Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Quotes and Musings 7.27.16
“If we emphasize only the legal aspect of salvation, then we leave people with only one thing. Rather, we should say that because of the legal, there’s all these other benefits. You need to know that you aren’t poor before God, that you have Christ’s merit. You’re not disgusting and filthy, but you are robed in the righteousness of Christ and that you’re not outside of the family of God...
“There’s three big images for shame in the Bible and they match up with the things we’re talking about, naked, defiled and outside the camp. And it’s a joy to tell people, Jesus was all three of those. He was made naked and he was defiled and he was crucified outside the camp so you are robed, you are clean and you are now adopted, the beauty of adoption and J.I. Packer said, justification is the blessing on which adoption is founded. It’s the crown blessing to which justification clears the way.” Justin Holcombhttps://goo.gl/uD3aYD
What is the gospel? The Great Exchange: "There are three imputations in Scripture: Adam's sin to us, our sin to Christ, and Christ's righteousness to us. And if any one of them goes, the gospel goes with it..." ~ Kim Riddlebarger https://goo.gl/uD3aYD
"We sometimes imagine that God is just like us, only bigger, smarter, and more powerful. God, however, is not just more than we are. He is in a class all by himself." - CCC Discover
Monday, July 25, 2016
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Quotes and Musings
"No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good." C.S. Lewis
"When we ignore the beauty of our cultural distinctions within the body of Christ, we insult the Christ who is the head of the body." - Philip Nation
"When you think spiritual maturity = knowledge, you wind up with people who can win a game of bible trivia but who don't look much like Jesus. "-- Trevin Wax
"You may find hundreds of faultfinders among professed Christians; but their criticisms will not lead one solitary soul to Christ." -- DL Moody
"We are to be nonconformists to the world, distinguished from the rest of mankind by our likeness to our Master." -CH Spurgeon
Monday, July 18, 2016
Thursday, July 14, 2016
Quotes and musings 7.14.15
Some good quotes from "How People Change" by Timothy S. Lane & Paul David Tripp.
Christian joy is not about avoiding life while dreaming about heaven. It is about taking an utterly honest look at all earthly life through heaven’s lens. There we find hope.
Christian friendships do not simply help us bask in the sunshine of God’s grace; they also help us to roll up our sleeves and strive after holiness.
Christianity’s change process does not revolve around a system of redemption but around a person who redeems.
Living in community pushes us to die to ourselves.
Trial can come in the difficulty of blessing. Riches can be as much a trial as poverty!
Trials do not cause us to be what we have not been; rather, they reveal what we have been all along. The harvest the trial produces is the result of the roots already in our hearts.
The Christian life is a state of thankful discontent or joyful dissatisfaction. That is, I live every day thankful for the grace that has changed my life, but I am not satisfied… It is a fight for me to want nothing less than all that is mine in Christ.
To define grace as acceptance without acknowledging irresistible change is to deny the dna of grace. #lovewinssouls - Buck Burch
Monday, July 11, 2016
Thursday, July 7, 2016
Quotes and Musings 7.7.16
"The final problem is not to prove men wrong but to win them back to Christ. Therefore, the only ultimately successful apologetic is, first, a clear, intellectual statement of what is wrong with the false doctrine, plus a clear, intellectual return to the proper Scriptural emphasis, in all its vitality and in its relation to the total Christian Faith, plus a demonstration in the life that this correct and vital Scriptural emphasis meets the genuine needs and aspirations of men in a way that Satan’s counterfeit does not." ~ Francis Schaeffer
Here's Baptist theologian E. Y. Mullins - 92 years ago, in 1924, on the crossroads Christians were facing. We're still there!
"On the one hand, man is held to be in bondage to sin and in need of a divine redemptive power working within to emancipate him. On the other, it is held that no such bondage exists. All man needs is education.
With one group, something new is needed by sinful men; with the other, merely a recognition of one’s likeness to God is sufficient.
With one group a power from without, with the other an unfolding from within is required.
With one group, man accepts a saving grace to which by reason of sin he can make no just claim. With the other, he merely claims what is already his own.
With one group, Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God, and our Lord and Savior. With the other, he is the son of Joseph and Mary and an inspiring example of filial devotion to God.
With one group, conversion as the result of evangelistic preaching is one of the permanent aims of Christianity. With the other, education and training, or ethical culture, are the only needs.
With one group is a great missionary passion based on the conviction that the world needs a saving Christ. With the other, altruism in the form of schools, hospitals and social reorganization is the chief need.
With the evangelical group, there is no denial of the ethical and social needs and results. Indeed they are held to be implicit in the whole Christian movement. The causes carry the effects in themselves at every stage. But the effects are impossible without the causes. The radical group insist much upon the ethical and social effects, but sever them from the causes, as those are conceived by the evangelical group."
God Answers Prayers
1st Thessalonians 5: 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
The New King James Version. (1982). (1 Th 5:16–18). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
I had 3 prayers answered in the last week. One was a month long issue related to finances. Another was 6 month issue related to relationships. Finally, there was one that was almost 2 years related to strategic planning.
Now I'm certain I had many more answered, but the timing of the three caused me to ponder the power of answered prayer. God's timing is not ours. To be honest, too often you and I are really impatient. I read of Abraham's prayer and faith and recognize that God took 25 years to answer one and I am prone to give up way too soon. But God is gracious and He does answer prayers. I needed t be reminded of this. God answered in a single day 3 different prayers of three different time spans. I was blown away and blessed amazingly and reminded once again to keep depending on God, keep leaning into him and to praying until He answers.
So be encouraged, the same God who answered my prayers, will answer yours. Rejoice, pray, endure, give thanks.
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