Great Quotes From Ages Past – #3

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This is a great quote taken from A Puritan Golden Treasury:

“Christ is to be answerable for all those that are given to Him, at the last day, and therefore we need not doubt but that He will certainly employ all the power of His Godhead to secure and save all those that He must be accountable for. Christ’s charge and care of these that are given to Him, extends even to the very day of their resurrection, that He may not so much as lose their dust, but gather it together again, and raise it up in glory to be a proof of His fidelity; for, saith He, “I shall lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day.”

Thomas Brooks

 

Great Quotes From Ages Past – #2

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Completely agree with this quotes:

“Sometimes we are inclined to think that a very great portion of modern revivalism has been more a curse than a blessing, because it has led thousands to a kind of peace before they have know their misery; restoring the prodigal to the Father’s house, and never making him say, “Father, I have sinned”

C.H. Spurgeon

Great Quotes from Ages Past – #1

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Each day this week I am going to feature a different quote that inspires me. I hope you will find these inspirational too.

TO SERVE THE PRESENT AGE,
MY CALLING TO FULFIL,
O MAY IT ALL MY POWERS ENGAGE,
TO DO MY MASTER’S WILL!”

MAYNARD G. JAMES
(1902-1988)

Grace

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Dale Ralph Davis has said, “It is not only by grace alone that we become God’s people but by grace alone we remain His people.” I don’t care if one is Calvinist or Arminean, we can both agree on this statement. We are saved by grace alone, Ephesians is very clear on that. We are also kept by the power of that same grace, given to us as a gift from God. We do nothing before salvation to merit it and we do nothing after salvation to merit keeping it. Has anyone lived perfectly, even after being born again? No? Then it is only by God’s grace we remain in fellowship with Him. The more one studies grace in Scripture, the more amazing it becomes.

As the Canons of Dort  expresses it, “God does not owe this grace to anyone. For what could God owe to one who has nothing to give that can be paid back? Indeed, what could God owe to one who has nothing of his own to give but sin and falsehood?” I leave you this morning with one other quote to ponder, this one from Alistair Begg: “As a result of grace, we have been saved from sin’s penalty. One day we will be saved from sin’s presence. In the meantime we are being saved from sin’s power.” Amen and praise God for His grace.

 

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge – Near and Far

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Here is a picture taken in front of Batu Caves, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At 272 steps, climbing it was a challenge!

At the bottom, one can see the images on top of the gateway. One proceeds up 272 steps into the cavern temple

Free Kindle Book – The Quest

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Today through Tuesday, we are excited to offer the resource: The Quest, Changing a Church’s Culture from Missions-minded to Missions-active free of charge. Simply go to the link below and get your copy for Kindle or PC

 

http://www.amazon.com/The-Quest-Missions-minded-Missions-active-ebook/dp/B0057H30JE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1347125198&sr=8-2&keywords=the+quest+herndon

Enjoy!

Top 5 People I Would Love To Spend a Day With

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I was reflecting on the top 5 people I would like to spend a day with (not counting Jesus, of course). Here is my list:

1) Adoniram Judson

2) Amy Carmichael

3) William Carey

4) Lottie Moon

5) Hudson Taylor

 

Those are my top 5, what are yours?

Confession and Repentance – pt 2

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As we saw yesterday, confession is taking our repentance and allowing the church to hold us accountable so we do not continue in the same pattern of sin. So often, we forget that we have been saved into the body of Christ. Our actions, both good and bad, reflect on Christ and on the church. What we do in our personal lives is everyone else’s business.

When a person confesses their shortcomings, burdens and sins – the church is then empowered to help them and share their burden as Scripture commands. People aren’t simply to acknowledge another’s confession and say, “I’ll pray for you.” They are to act. For example, if a person was to confess not reading and studying Scripture, another brother or sister should immediately offer to spend time with them weekly in studying the Scripture together. Or, if a person was to confess they had a drinking problem, another brother who has had victory over that sin would offer to counsel, support, hold them accountable. In this way we fulfill the law of Christ.

Confession leads the church into actually living the shared life. In a later post I will answer some common objections but I leave you with this today – does your church practice a healthy discipline of confession? Why not?

Confession and Repentance – pt 1

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One of the best definitions of confession I have run across was written by Dr. Richard Krejcir. He writes the following: “Repentance is before God; confession is before God, then having others hold us accountable to our faith. The distinction between confession and repentance is that confession is taking our repentance and telling someone besides God (of course you have to go to Him first and foremost!) to hold us accountable.”

This is an area of Christian discipline I find to be lacking in most people’s lives, and in the life of a church as well. Tomorrow I will continue to develop thoughts on the discipline of confession.