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The Holy Spirit makes men penitents long before He makes them divines; and he who believes what he knows, shall soon know more clearly what he believes. C. H. Spurgeon 

Elegance, for the Christian, is simply a thousand actions washed in the blood and carrying the sweet savor of Jesus’ love. It is, above all, the seamless garment of worship and witness.  - Harold M. Best “Unceasing Worship” 

I recently heard this great quote while listening on-line to a sermon from Matt Chandler at the Village Church. He said something along these lines. “We don’t follow Jesus because he makes things better, We follow Jesus because He is Better” and “We don’t follow Jesus because he makes life better, We follow Jesus because he is better than life”. Here in a couple of sentences you have the heart of what all true lovers of Christ profess. It crosses all denominations and cultures and is the only sure sign of a redeemed soul. We can talk all day about how much we are thankful and desirous of God’s blessings, we can shout and dance till our voices and bodies give out in praise for what he has done for us, and we should!. But it must go much deeper than that. We must move beyond thankfulness for His gifts, into worship for who He is! Until we can say “Jesus is better than life” we have not yet seen him nor worshipped Him as God. we have seen Him only as a means to a treasure but not “The Treasure”. My desire for my life and for the church as a whole is that we so speak, think and act that it is crystal clear why we follow Jesus. “He is better than all His gifts and blessings. He is better than safety comfort and shelter, He is better than family, friends and Church, He is better than life.”

Faith is the evidence that we have been born of God. We do not make ourselves born again by deciding to believe. God makes us willing to believe by causing us to be born again. - John Piper “Future Grace”

It is when we believe in Jesus Christ that our values change. We no longer conform to the world’s values, but find instead that we are being transformed by our renewed mind which grasps and approves the will of God. And nothing weans us from worldliness more than the cross of Christ. - John Stott “The Cross of Christ”

Sadly, it is all to common for churches not to speak of Jesus, which is a tragedy akin to a wife rarely uttering the name of her own husband. In our day when there are innumerable contradictory beliefs about who God is, Christians must be clear that their God is Jesus Christ alone so as to communicate the same central truth that scripture does. No matter how many versus are used, the Bible has not been rightly understood or proclaimed unless Jesus is the central focus and hero. - Mark Driscoll from the book “Vintage Jesus”

There can be little if any expectation of triumphant Christian living apart from the grace that is mediated to us and diffused throughout our hearts and minds preeminently through the Scriptures. When the Word, by the power of the Spirit is heard, embraced, and enjoyed, we are strengthen to resist the flesh and savor the Son. - Sam Storms “The Hope of Glory”

While listening to Mark Driscoll on my Ipod this evening I was deeply moved by how he related predestination to a story about his daughter being almost hit by a car. The story went something like this, apologies to Mr. Driscoll in advance if don’t get it exactly right.

Marks daughter was about two years old and they lived by a very busy street and while they where outside getting into their car his daughter bolted in the direction of the busy street but was quickly caught by her mother and father who loving warned their young daughter that the street was full of fast moving cars and very dangerous. They told her that if she ran into the street again should would be hit by a car and die. Sometime later when Mark was outside with his young daughter she looked him square in the eyes and then turned and ran directly for the street! Mark pleaded with her to stop, but she just ran faster. What Marks daughter didn’t see and what Mark could see because of his adult scope of vision was that a large truck was barreling down the street at 45mph. At any moment the young child would be killed unless Mark intervened on her will and stopped her in her tracks. And he did! Just in time Mark pulled his daughter from the path of the truck with his strong arms. Mark didn’t ask if he could rescue her first and then wait for a positive response. He rescued her in spite of her rebellion!

I know that stories like this are imperfect when trying to describe things as great as the love of God, but bare with me just of moment. For anyone that has children this question will hit home the hardest. If you had a child who was in open rebellion and you knew for certain that if they persisted on their current path they would be killed. To what lengths would you go to stop them? Would you be willing, if it where in your power to change their desires so that they would, instead of running away from you, leading certain death, turn and run to you and thereby be saved? Would you give them a new heart so that they could obey and be saved, if it where in your power?

This is what God has done to you if you are a Christian. Jesus died to fulfill the new covenant with his blood so that we would have new hearts given us through the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus pursued us in our rebellion and grabbed us from the clutches of the destruction that we so greatly wanted. Some might call this a violation of our free will, I call it Mercy, I call it Grace, I call it The Sovereign Love of God.

Follow this link to hear Mark Driscoll’s sermon on Predestination. Probably one of the most powerful I have ever heard.

Let him, then, who would be indeed a Christian, watch over his ways and over his heart with unceasing circumspection. Let him endeavor to learn both from men and from books, particularly from the lives of eminent Christians, what methods have been actually found most effectual for the conquest of every particular vice, and for improvement in every branch of holiness. Thus studying his own character, and observing the most secret workings of his own mind, and of our common nature, the knowledge which he will acquire of the human heart in general and especially his own, will be of the highest utility in enabling him to avoid or guard against the occasions of evil, and it will also tend, above all things, to growth of humility, and to the maintenance of that sobriety of spirit and tenderness of conscience which are eminently characteristic of the true Christian. - William Wilberforce “A Practical view of Christianity”

A few more quotes from the book “A Practical View of Christianity” by William Wilberforce.

“The strength of every passion is to be estimated by its victory over passions of an opposite nature.”

“Let him then who would abound and grow in this Christian principal(Love), be much conversant with the great doctrines of the Gospel”

“If we really grow in grace, we shall grow also in humility”

Pleasure and Religion are contradictory terms with the bulk of nominal Christians. - William Wilberforce (A Practical View of Christianity page 110)

To delight in the good of all the universe, but not to delight in God, is like being glad that a candle is lit, but being indifferent to the rising sun. Apart from embracing God as our chief delight, we are (quite literally) infinitely parochial. - John Piper

This is . . . the difference between the joy of the hypocrite, and the joy of the true saint. The [hypocrite] rejoices in himself; self is the first foundation of his joy: the [true saint] rejoices in God. . . . True saints have their minds, in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the things of God. And this is the spring of all their delights, and the cream of all their pleasures. . . . But the dependence of the affections of hypocrites is in a contrary order: they first rejoice. . . that they are made so much of by God; and then on that ground, he seems in a sort, lovely to them.  - Jonathan Edwards

These quotes where taken from the following article at Desiring God. Very much worth the read.

Article Link

A wonderful gospel poem.

Run, John, run, the law commands
But gives us neither feet nor hands,
Far better news the gospel brings:
It bids us fly and gives us wings.

- John Bunyan

Thank you Jesus for giving us gospel wings.

The era of comfortable isolation for us American evangelicals is ending, because its justification is crumbling and because the misery and destitution of the world is coming too close now to ignore. And as it approaches, local churches in whom the Spirit of God dwells will feel themselves drawn to some fairly radical reorientations of lifestyle, reorientations calculated to maximize good deeds for all men and especially for those of the household of faith. - John Piper

For the full text this quote was taken from visit this link

Oh the power, the melting, conquering, transforming power of that dear cross of Christ!  My brethren, we have but to abide by the preaching of it, we have but constantly to tell abroad the matchless story, and we may expect to see the most remarkable spiritual results.  We need to despair of no man now that Jesus has died for sinners.  With such a hammer as the doctrine of the cross, the most flinty heart will be broken; and with such a fire as the sweet love of Christ, the most mighty iceberg will be melted.  We need never despair for the heathenish and supstitious races of men; if we can but find occasion  to bring the doctrine of Christ crucified into contact with their natures, it will change them, and Christ will be their king. Charles Spurgeon

One of my all time favorite quotes from Matthew Henry. I keep it by my desk at work as a reminder of the power of God’s grace and the efficacy of the Cross.

“We must rest ourselves upon his power; we must be confident of this, that Christ can make us clean. No guilt is so great but that there is a sufficiency in his righteousness to atone for it; no corruption so strong, but there is a sufficiency in his grace to subdue it. - Matthew Henry

Some great John Piper quotes I came across while reading “Brothers, We Are Not Professionals“

“The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won’t enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won’t enlist you unless you are sick” - John Piper

“What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a help-wanted ad. It is a help-available ad. God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightily in and through them.” - John Piper

God is not a scout looking for the first draft choices to help His team win. He is an unstoppable fullback ready to take the ball and run touchdowns for anyone who trusts Him to win the game”. - John Piper

“The only right way to serve God is in a way that reserves for Him all the glory” - John Piper

Two powerful presentations of the Gospel message. The first, by John Piper can be found here. And the second, by Mark Driscoll can be found here. I pray I never grow tired of hearing the gospel message.

You never, never, never outgrow your need for it. Don’t ever think of the gospel as, “That’s the way you get saved, and then you get strong by leaving it and doing something else.”

No! We are strengthened by God through the gospel every day, till the day we drop.

You never outgrow the need to preach to yourself the gospel. - John Piper

The enjoyment of [God] is the only happiness with which our souls can be satisfied. To go to heaven, to fully 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 the enjoyment of God is the substance. These are but scattered beams, but God is the sun. These are but streams. But God is the fountain. These are but drops; but God is the ocean.- Jonathan Edwards

The Works of Jonathan Edwards (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1974 reprint) 2:244

Let’s face it, all Christians struggle with this at some time or another. No one can say that at all times they desire to do the “Ought To’s” that God requires. So my question today is what do you do about it? Do you just give up in frustration? Do you say, “What is the use!, I always fail, so why even try” Or do you screw up your will and force yourself to obey even though your heart is not in it? Are you a “white knuckle” type who uses his or her willpower to make the cut and earn your acceptance? My friends, this is not what the Gospel message has for us. We as God’s children have been given so much more.

The Gospel is “Good News” only if you understand it.

If we must use are own willpower and goodness to live a holy life before God, then the gospel is not good news at all, it is an impossible task. Jesus lived, died and rose again to not only set us free from the penalty of sin but the power of it. We need to know this, we need to remind ourselves of this daily. Without this knowledge we will live frustrated defeated lives, or maybe even worse, become smug prideful legalists.

The problem is worse than we think.

How many times have we been in church and heard “that sermon” preached. The sermon that convicts us of sin, our lust, our worldliness, our lack of zeal, our love of possessions. We hear the message and agree completely, We say to ourselves, “I’ve got to get it together, time for change, Lord I’m sorry”. But nothing ever really changes does it? Oh, we might make some resolutions to read our bible more, to pray more, to give more, but in no time at all we are repeating the cycle over and over again. How many of us live like this and think this is part of normal Christian living?

“To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”
(Romans 8:6-7 ESV)

We are in a very bad state without the transforming power of God actively working in our lives. We cannot obey, and if we externally obey out of our own strength we have not really obeyed. The only obedience God is satisfied with is God wrought, Spirit led obedience.

What do you feast on?

“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”
(John 6:35 ESV)

In order to break the cycle of sin, you must be satisfied with Christ. Jesus must satisfy our thirst and conquer our hunger, we where made for this, and nothing else will do. No willpower based system will work. All the admonishments in the world about the “ought to” won’t do any good without knowing and feeling the surpassing beauty of Jesus Christ. Until Jesus looks better than sin, we will always sin. Its not just about keeping the rules, its about changing what we delight in most, and we just can’t do it, and we where never meant to outside of God’s grace. It takes a supernatural power to become new people.

“For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
(Romans 8:13 ESV)

God does it.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again* he cannot see the kingdom of God.””
(John 3:3 ESV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
(1Peter 1:3 ESV)

Notice from 1 Peter that God does this, he causes this. It is the work of a Sovereign Creator. God not only causes us to be born into His kingdom he cause us to walk in holiness.

“And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”
(Ezekiel 36:26-27 ESV)

At the most profound and deepest level our walk of holiness is a work of God. He gives us a new heart, he puts His Spirit in us and causes us to walk in His statutes and to be careful to obey His rules. So what do we do? If God does it do we have a part?

We must do something. We must give up.

First, we must pray to God for a change, and give up our futile attempts at a “will-power, I’m a Christian I can do this” self improvement program. The gospel is not a self improvement morality program, it is a supernatural event caused by an all-powerful, supernatural all-conquering King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Second, we must pray that God’s glory will be the primary motivation for our change. We must have a God centered goal in our transformation. The main goal of a Christian is to make Jesus look good, to make known to the world how valuable He is to us. Nice, moral, good people are not the main goal, the glory of God is. Third, pay very close attention to your own heart, know what draws you away from Christ and stay away from it. Know that you are a worshipper by nature and that you will worship something or someone. If Jesus isn’t your main delight something else will be, and whatever you delight in most, will be your god. We live in great danger if we do not guard our hearts closely. Fourthly, use every means of grace that God provides to help cultivate a new spiritual taste. This is where I begin to sound very old school. Spend time meditating and memorizing scripture, read your bible! Not just at church or Sunday school, but every chance you get, be in the Book. Spend time in prayer. Ask God for new desires, ask God for new delights in Him, ask God to take out the heart of stone and give you a new heart of flesh. Ask Him! (Matthew 7:7-11) Fifth, and lastly, wait on God. Don’t apply yourself for a few days and weeks and then give up at your first failure, trust God to make the change.

Is is through Christ and for His glory.

We can have the greatest hope that God will bring this to pass. God has purposed that He have a justified, sanctified and glorified people to the praise of His glory. To become a Christian takes a miracle, and to walk in holiness and obedience takes no less a miracle. The Gospel is good news because of what Jesus has done for us, and to us. God has not left His children to fend for themselves in the hope that they make the grade, but is working with all his omnipotent energy to ensure that they are given a new heart that loves and treasures Him above all else. In 1 Corinthians 15:10 the Apostle Paul sums up the Christian life very well. By grace we are His, and though we work with all are might, it is NOT finally up to us, but God and His amazing grace.

“But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”
(1Corinthians 15:10 ESV)

“The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
(1Corinthians 15:56-57 ESV)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us* for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.”
(Ephesians 1:3-6 ESV)

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good,* for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.”
(Romans 8:28-30 ESV)

““Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”
(Matthew 7:7-11 ESV)

An excellent article on the same subject by John Piper can be found here.

I came across this quote while reading this afternoon. A stunning, joy producing picture drawn by John Piper. To see God like this is why we where created. To delight in the the glory of God is the highest delight possible. All other delights compared to the glory of God are like a burning match compared to the blazing glory of 10 billion stars.

From all eternity the ever-existing, never-becoming, always-perfect God has know himself and loved what he knows. He has eternally seen his beauty and savored what he sees. His understanding of his own reality is flawless, and his exuberance in enjoying it is infinite. He has no needs, for he has no imperfections. He has no inclinations to evil because he has no deficiencies that could tempt him to do wrong. He is therefore the holiest and happiest being that is or that can be conceived. We cannot conceive of a happiness greater than the happiness of infinite power delighting infinitely in infinite beauty in the personal fellowship of the Trinity.  - John Piper from the book “Preaching the Cross”

Quotes from the book. “Overcoming Sin and Temptation Three Classic Works by John Owen”

“He that would be little in temptation, let him be much in prayer”

“Let them take heed of self-confidence who have any mind to take heed of sin”

“Let him that would not enter into temptations labor to know his own heart, to be acquainted with his own spirit, his natural frame and temper, his lusts and corruptions, his natural, sinful, or spiritual weaknesses, that, finding where his weakness lies, he may be careful to keep at a distance from all occasions of sin”

God is enough. Amen.

True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy. - John Piper

For the full text this quote was taken from visit this link. The Goal of God’s Love May Not Be What You Think It Is.

God is a God of truth before he speaks to man. It’s important that we think about this. Otherwise we tend to think of God only in relation to us as if his attributes have no meaning or significance apart from us. This makes far too much of us. And it runs the risk of demeaning God’s self-sufficiency - that he is gloriously and absolutely God and true apart from us, and without us. - John Piper

The full text this quote was taken from can be found here.

I ran across this quote from John Piper at the DG blog today.

Many people speak of receiving Christ in a way that does not require a new birth. They do not receive him as a display of the all-satisfying God. They receive him as sin-forgiver (because they don’t want guilt), rescuer from hell (because they don’t want to go there), healer (because they don’t want to be sick), protector (because they value safety), prosperity-giver (because they love wealth), creator (because they prefer a personal God), even Lord of history (because they value order), but not supremely and infinitely valuable as who he is – the most wonderful, satisfying, all-glorious Person who ever was or will be. - John Piper

What shall we say to this? How many people think they have been converted because they love what Christ has to offer, but prefer as their supreme treasure something or someone else more?

What is the pre-eminent passion in God’s heart? What is God’s greatest pleasure? In what does God take supreme delight? I want to suggest that the pre-eminent passion in God’s heart is his own glory. God is at the center of his own affections. The supreme love of God’s life is God. God is pre-eminently committed to the fame of his name. God is himself the end for which God created the world. Better, still, God’s immediate goal in all he does is his own glory. God relentlessly and unceasingly creates, rules, orders, directs, speaks, judges, saves, destroys and delivers in order to make known who He is and to secure from the whole of the universe the praise, honor and glory of which He and He alone is ultimately and infinitely worthy. - Sam Storms

You can find the full text this quote was taken from here.

There is no death of sin without the death of Christ. - John Owen

I’ve recently began reading the book “Overcoming Sin and Temptation - Three Classic Works by John Owen“. After only about 70 pages I would have to say this is a great book, one of the best I have ever read. Amazing insight. Somewhat difficult to read but well worth it. Some quotes to give you a flavor for what treasure lies inside.

Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, might it have its own course, it would go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could; every covetous desire would be oppression, every thought of unbelief would be atheism, might it grow to its head. - John Owen

A sin is not mortified when it is only diverted. - John Owen

He that changes pride for worldliness, sensuality for Pharisaism, vanity in himself to the contempt of others , let him not think that he has mortified the sin that he seems to have left. He has changed his master, but is a servant still - John Owen

Just remember, my friend, who Jesus is. He is God. When you fully trust Him you have all that God is and all that God has. You cannot be otherwise than satisfied with the perfect fullness of Christ. Because he is God, He is all you need and more. There is no corner of your life He cannot fill, no problem He cannot solve and no need He cannot supply. . . .Yes, my friend, in Christ we are saved, safe, and satisfied. He is a perfect, a complete, Savior. And I must add, He is the ONLY Savior. Trusting Christ spells JOY. Failure to trust him spells judgment. Now is the time to accept him. “Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart. (A Good Time and How to Have It, pp. 48-49) - Bill Piper

John Piper has posted an article on “Prosperity Preaching” and it’s deadly effects. A couple of excerpts from the article and then the link to the full text.

“What will make the world taste (the salt) and see (the light) of Christ in us is not that we love wealth the same way they do. Rather, it will be the willingness and the ability of Christians to love others through suffering, all the while rejoicing because their reward is in heaven with Jesus. This is inexplicable on human terms. This is supernatural. But to attract people with promises of prosperity is simply natural. It is not the message of Jesus. It is not what he died to achieve.” - John Piper

“There is no reason why a person who makes $200,000 should live any differently from the way a person who makes $80,000 lives. Find a wartime lifestyle; cap your expenditures; then give the rest away.” - John Piper

“Prosperity Preaching: Deceitful and Deadly”

One of the things that draws me time and again to the preaching of John Piper is his relentless pursuit of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. His total lack of concern for pursuing the American Dream of wealth and comfort is so refreshing. I once heard him say something to the effect of “There is nothing wrong with Christians making lots of money, only with Christians making lots of money and keeping it.” Can you believe this statement? I pray that more and more I will become this type of person.

The prosperity Gospel is not Gospel. It is an assault on the glory of God, and kills the people who try to be saved by it.

“We love to look at glory. We were made to enjoy seeing it. This is why Jesus came into the world. He came to reveal the glory of God more fully than nature ever had(John 1:14) and to die in our place so that we could be saved from God’s wrath in order to enjoy forever the glory of God’s grace(John 3:14-15,36;17-24) and to awaken in us a desire for that glory so that we do not perish in our blind love affair with the glory of sin(John 3:19) - John Piper from “What Jesus Demands from the World” page 352.

I just finished reading “What Jesus Demands from the World” by John Piper. I spent two months pondering the commands of Jesus with Dr. Piper as my guide and it was well worth the time and effort. While the book is somewhat long, some 375 pages. The 50 chapters are short, and can be read in nice bite size chunks. I found that reading 1-2 chapters at a setting worked well for me and gave me an ample amount of things to absorb. Please consider picking a copy up and spending some time soaking in the commands of Jesus.

The challenge before us then is not merely to do what God says because He is God, but to desire what God says because he is good. The challenge is not merely to pursue righteousness, but to prefer righteousness. The challenge is to get up in the morning and prayerfully meditate on the Scriptures until we experience joy and peace in believing “the precious and very great promises” of God (Rom. 15:13; 2 Peter 1:4). With this joy set before us the commandments of God will not be burdensome (1 John 5:3) and the compensation of sin will appear too brief and too shallow to lure us. - John Piper

For the full text this quote was taken from please visit this link. I highly recommend the article.

I recently discovered the song “In Christ Alone” by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty. I post the lyrics here for those who have not heard them.

In Christ alone my hope is found
He is my light, my strength, my song
This Cornerstone, this solid ground
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm
What heights of love, what depths of peace
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease
My Comforter, my All in All
Here in the love of Christ I stand

In Christ alone, who took on flesh
Fullness of God in helpless babe
This gift of love and righteousness
Scorned by the ones He came to save
‘Til on that cross as Jesus died
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid
Here in the death of Christ I live

There in the ground His body lay
Light of the world by darkness slain
Then bursting forth in glorious Day
Up from the grave He rose again
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me
For I am His and He is mine
Bought with the precious blood of Christ

No guilt in life, no fear in death
This is the power of Christ in me
From life’s first cry to final breath
Jesus commands my destiny
No power of hell, no scheme of man
Can ever pluck me from His hand
‘til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand

This song does a wonderful job of presenting the “Gospel” message. If you get the message this song brings you get the “Good News”.

A short parable by John Newton the author of Amazing Grace that describes how we as forgiven sinners should be merciful to those who have yet to believe.

A company of travellers fall into a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out: instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should shew them pity. . . . A man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, then Bartimeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met. - John Newton

“With this sweet hope of ultimate acceptance with God, I have always enjoyed much cheerfulness before men; but I have at the same time laboured incessantly to cultivate the deepest humiliation before God. I have never thought that the circumstance of God’s having forgiven me was any reason why I should forgive myself; on the contrary, I have always judged it better to loathe myself the more, in proportion as I was assured that God was pacified towards me (Ezekiel 16:63) . . . There are but two objects that I have ever desired for these forty years to behold; the one is my own vileness; and the other is, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ: and I have always thought that they should be viewed together; just as Aaron confessed all the sins of all Israel whilst he put them on the head of the scapegoat. The disease did not keep him from applying to the remedy, nor did the remedy keep him from feeling the disease. By this I seek to be, not only humbled and thankful, but humbled in thankfulness, before my God and Saviour continually.” - Charles Simeon

“When a person is born anew and experiences repentance, his attitude about Jesus changes. Jesus himself becomes the central focus and supreme value of life. Before the new birth happens and repentance occurs, a hundred other things seem more important and more attractive: health, family,  job,  friends,  sports, music, food, sex, hobbies, retirement. But when God gives the radical change of the new birth and repentance, Jesus himself becomes our supreme treasure.” - John Piper from the book titled “What Jesus demands of the world” Page 44

We are all naturally averse from thee, O God; do thou bid us to follow thee; draw us by thy powerful word, and we shall run after thee. Speak by the word of the Spirit to our hearts, the world cannot hold us down, Satan cannot stop our way, we shall arise and follow thee. - Matthew Henry

A sermon by John Piper on the “The Supremacy of Christ” Please take the time to view this. It might just change your life. To God be the Glory!

You cannot be a loving person and not want your life to count for reaching unreached people. Its pure hypocrisy to say “I love human beings.” and do nothing in your life and have no increment of an ambition to see that the gospel reach people who don’t know the Name. - John Piper

It is experience and history, it’s feeling and fact, it’s spirit and truth, or it’s not Christianity.- John Piper

For the full sermon text visit this link.

Nobody by nature delights so much in the character of God that he hungers after the true God. We are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3). As David said in Psalm 51:5, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” We come into the world bent on being independent from God and loving the things of the world. Something has to happen to us if we are to be saved from the wrath of God (1 Thessalonians 1:10). We must be profoundly changed. - John Piper

For the full text this quote was take from please visit this link. A very good explanation of the Holy Spirits work in conversion.

I heard this today while listening to John Piper’s podcast.

“When the world looks at the church do they see a love that can only be explained by the supernatural work of God?”

A very good question. What do the people around us see? Are our lives only explainable in this way?

From all eternity the ever-existing, never-becoming, always-perfect God has known himself and loved what he knows. He has eternally seen his beauty and savored what he sees. His understanding of his own reality is flawless and his exuberance in enjoying it is infinite. He has no needs, for he has no imperfections. He has no inclinations to evil because he has no deficiencies that could tempt him to do wrong. He is therefore the holiest and happiest being that is or that can be conceived. We cannot conceive of a happiness greater than the happiness of infinite power delighting infinitely in infinite beauty in the personal fellowship of the Trinity.- John Piper

For the full sermon text this quote was taken from visit this link.

http://www.desiringgod.org/library/sermons/06/042706.html 

Great quotes from Matthew Henry:

Men destitute of inward piety, often lay great stress on the outward performances of religion.

Sin is folly, and the greatest sinners are the greatest fools.

Our disposition to obey or disobey God, will often be proved by our behaviour in things which appear small. 

Piper Quote of the Day

"…God designed a way to vindicate the worth of his glory and at the same time to give hope to sinners who have scorned that glory. What he designed was the death of his Son."
(The Supremacy of God in Preaching, pg. 31-32) - John Piper

I came across this while reading an article by John Piper today.

"What happened in the fall of man at Adam and Eve's sin was that they believed the lie that they would be wiser and better off if they did what they felt like instead of what God said. Since then, our hearts and our minds have been not just prone to make bad decisions but are deeply depraved. Sin is a condition of our hearts that produces all kinds of preferences that are contrary to God. Sin is like Satan offering you a beautiful ebony broach that you put around your neck. Conversion is God making the light go on and you see it's a roach. The devil had put a thread through an ugly, dirty, black, horrible roach and it's hanging around your neck and now you grab it and say, "Aah! Get that out of here!" As God awakens our spiritual taste buds, then we find sin to be distasteful and righteousness to be our delight. " - John Piper

To read the article that this quote was taken from visit this link. I highly recommend the article.

http://www.billygraham.org/DMag_article.asp?ArticleID=676

Piper Quote of the Day

“The pursuit of joy in God is not optional. It is not an ‘extra’ that a person might grow into after he comes to faith. Until your heart has hit upon this pursuit, your ‘faith’ cannot please God. It is not saving faith.” (Desiring God, pg. 69) - John Piper

If one has to choose between reading the new books and reading the old, one must choose the old: not because they are necessarily  better but because they contain precisely those truths of which our own age is neglectful.  - C.S. Lewis

Piper Quote of the Day

“Jesus gives us the assurance that if we will follow him to Golgotha during all the Good Fridays of this life, we will also rise with him on the last Easter day of the resurrection.”
(Let the Nations Be Glad!, pg. 75)