The Only God

Belgic Confession (Article 1)

Article 1: The Only God

We all believe in our hearts and confess with our mouths that there is a single and simple spiritual being, whom we call God -- eternal, incomprehensible, invisible, unchangeable, infinite, almighty; completely wise, just, and good, and the overflowing source of all good.


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Loved Unto the End

For the LORD will not cast off for ever Lamentations 3:31

He may cast away for a season but not forever. A woman may leave off her ornaments for a few days, but she will not forget them or throw them upon the dunghill. It is not like the LORD to cast off those whom He loves, for "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end." Some talk of our being in grace and out of it, as if we were like rabbits that run in and out of their burrows; but, indeed, it is not so. The LORD's love is a far more serious and abiding matter than this.

He chose us from eternity, and He will love us throughout eternity. He loved us so as to die for us, and we may therefore be sure that His love will never die. His honor is so wrapped up in the salvation of the believer that He can no more cast him off than He can cast off His own robes of office as King of glory. No, no! The LORD Jesus, as a Head, never casts off His members; as a Husband, He never casts off His bride. Did you think you were cast off? Why did you think so evil of the LORD who has betrothed you to Himself? Cast off such thoughts, and never let them lodge in your soul again. "The LORD hath not cast away his people which he foreknew" (Romans 11:2). "He hateth putting away" (Malachi 2:16).

Sent from the Faith's Checkbook Devotional, by Charles Spurgeon. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at 43rdElement.com

Dealing with Sin

To offer a sinner the gift of salvation based upon the work of Christ, while at the same time allowing him to retain the idea that the gift carries with it no moral implications, is to do him untold injury where it hurts him most!

AW Tozer


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Ray Comfort

Join Ray and the Living Waters team
for today's premier episode of "On the Box!"

"On the Box" is a daily (Monday through Friday) live, 30-minute, web-based talk show hosted by Ray Comfort and the Living Waters team.

Ray and the team will talk about open-air preaching, apologetics, and a host of other evangelism-related topics; and will answer questions from you, the listening audience.

The show airs on UStream, today (January 5), at 11:30 AM (PST). You won't want to miss it!


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A Wonderful Guarantee

I will strengthen thee
Isaiah 41:10

When called to serve or to suffer, we take stock of our strength, and we find it to be less than we thought and less than we need. But let not our heart sink within us while we have such a word as this to fall back upon, for it guarantees us all that we can possibly need. God has strength omnipotent; that strength He can communicate to us; and His promise is that He will do so. He will be the food of our souls and the health of our hearts; and thus He will give us strength. There is no telling how much power God can put into a man. When divine strength comes, human weakness is no more a hindrance.

Do we not remember seasons of labor and trial in which we received such special strength that we wondered at ourselves? In the midst of danger we were calm, under bereavement we were resigned, in slander we were self-contained, and in sickness we were patient. The fact is that God gives unexpected strength when unusual trials come upon us, We rise out of our feeble selves. Cowards play the man, foolish ones have wisdom given them, and the silent receive in the selfsame hour what they shall speak, My own weakness makes me shrink, but God's promise makes me brave. LORD, strengthen me "according to thy word."

From CH Spurgeon
Faith's Checkbook
January 5, 2011


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How Does God Heal Today?

How Does God Heal Today? Pastor Steve answers this question on Pulpit Moments from Changed By Grace. To hear the full length message, click here.

Justification By Faith

What is justification? It is a legal declaration whereby God declares the believing sinner righteous. This is not based on anything the believing sinner has done but on the perfect atonement of Jesus Christ. When one put their trust in Jesus Christ, His righteousness is credited to them.

Welcome to Changed By Grace!

Changed By Grace is the Bible-teaching ministry of Dr. Steve Hereford which seeks to assist you in the understanding and the application of God's Word.

What Matters Most

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth,Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. Philippians 1:18

 

    The word “preached” in today’s verse means “to proclaim with authority.” Regardless of the personal cost, Paul was determined that Christ be proclaimed with authority.

Even when Paul’s detractors preached the true gospel, it had an impact. A selfishly motivated preacher can still be used of God because the truth is more powerful than the package it comes in.

Paul lived to see the gospel proclaimed—he didn’t care who received the credit. That’s to be the attitude of every pastor, teacher, elder, deacon, leader, and layperson in the church. In all that he suffered, Paul didn’t quit, lash out, break down, or lose his joy. That’s because the cause of Christ was being furthered and His name proclaimed. It was all Paul cared about. That’s an attitude the grace of Christ instills in all who would be godly.

MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace (370). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.

IMPLICIT FAITH IN GOD

God is glorified when we trust Him unquestioningly. Faith is perhaps the basic form of worship. Romans 4:20 says, “[Abraham] did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God.”

Every Christian will say that he believes God keeps His Word, but so few Christians live lives of total trust that the world isn’t always sure of the trustworthiness of our God. The slightest doubt about God or His goodness or His Word implies that He is not all He says He is. First John 5:10 says, “The one who does not believe God has made Him a liar.” In other words, when you doubt God, you make Him appear to be unfaithful.

God’s clear promise is, “No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide a way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.” If we say that we cannot bear our temptations and the trials of life, we call God a liar.

For some reason, we think of doubt and worry as “small” sins. But when a Christian displays unbelief, care, or an inability to cope with life, he is saying to the world, “My God cannot really be trusted,” and that kind of disrespect makes one guilty of a fundamental error, the heinous sin of dishonoring God. That is no small sin.

A good example of unwavering faith is the account of the three young men in the fiery furnace. Daniel 3 tells us that before Nebuchadnezzar cast them into the white–hot furnace he gave them a chance to recant their faith in God and worship a golden image of the king instead. Verse 17 is their answer to Him: “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king.” Then they added, “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up” (v. 18, emphasis added).

They were in an extremely difficult position. No child of God on record had ever experienced the threat of a fiery furnace, and there were no convenient ready–reference Bible verses they could look to for a promise that they would survive. If they had succumbed to the circumstances, God would not have been glorified. Instead, they took a confident stand of faith in the goodness and justice of God. Their faith was vindicated, and God was glorified in the eyes of an entire nation.


John MacArthur, The Ultimate Priority : John MacArthur, Jr. on Worship, electronic ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1998). 139–140.

Black Friday

Still thankful? The day after Thanksgiving certainly challenges that. I have decided to not be a part of that regardless of the sale. I am not interested in the day of greed. I remember one year when my father ventured out one early Friday morning to only have the items in his cart removed by some greedy shopper. What's the point? Whatever you do today, remember yesterday. But most importantly remember that "Thanksgiving" is not a day but an attitude. Be thankful!

The Real Story of Thanksgiving

The story of the Pilgrims begins in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Church of England under King James I was persecuting anyone and everyone who did not recognize its absolute civil and spiritual authority. Those who challenged ecclesiastical authority and those who believed strongly in freedom of worship were hunted down, imprisoned, and sometimes executed for their beliefs.

A group of separatists first fled to Holland and established a community. After eleven years, about forty of them agreed to make a perilous journey to the New World, where they would certainly face hardships, but could live and worship God according to the dictates of their own consciences.

On August 1, 1620, the Mayflower set sail. It carried a total of 102 passengers, including forty Pilgrims led by William Bradford. On the journey, Bradford set up an agreement, a contract, that established just and equal laws for all members of the new community, irrespective of their religious beliefs. Where did the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact come from? From the Bible.

The Pilgrims were a people completely steeped in the lessons of the Old and New Testaments. They looked to the ancient Israelites for their example. And, because of the biblical precedents set forth in Scripture, they never doubted that their experiment would work.

But this was no pleasure cruise, friends. The journey to the New World was a long and arduous one. And when the Pilgrims landed in New England in November, they found, according to Bradford's detailed journal, a cold, barren, desolate wilderness. There were no friends to greet them, he wrote. There were no houses to shelter them. There were no inns where they could refresh themselves.

And the sacrifice they had made for freedom was just beginning. During the first winter, half the Pilgrims – including Bradford's own wife – died of either starvation, sickness or exposure. When spring finally came, Indians taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish for cod and skin beavers for coats. Life improved for the Pilgrims, but they did not yet prosper!

This is important to understand because this is where modern American history lessons often end. Thanksgiving is actually explained in some textbooks as a holiday for which the Pilgrims gave thanks to the Indians for saving their lives, rather than as a devout expression of gratitude grounded in the tradition of both the Old and New Testaments.

Here is the part that has been omitted: The original contract the Pilgrims had entered into with their merchant-sponsors in London called for everything they produced to go into a common store, and each member of the community was entitled to one common share. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belong to the community as well.

They were going to distribute it equally. All of the land they cleared and the houses they built belonged to the community as well. Nobody owned anything. They just had a share in it.

Bradford, who had become the new governor of the colony, recognized that this form of collectivism was as costly and destructive to the Pilgrims as that first harsh winter, which had taken so many lives. He decided to take bold action. Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family to work and manage, thus turning loose the power of the marketplace.

That's right. Long before Karl Marx was even born, the Pilgrims had discovered and experimented with what could only be described as socialism. And what happened? It didn't work! Surprise, surprise, huh? What Bradford and his community found was that the most creative and industrious people had no incentive to work any harder than anyone else, unless they could utilize the power of personal motivation!

But while most of the rest of the world has been experimenting with socialism for well over a hundred years – trying to refine it, perfect it, and re-invent it – the Pilgrims decided early on to scrap it permanently. What Bradford wrote about this social experiment should be in every schoolchild's history lesson If it were, we might prevent much needless suffering in the future.

"The experience that we had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years...that by taking away property, and bringing community into a common wealth, would make them happy and flourishing – as if they were wiser than God," Bradford wrote. "For this community [so far as it was] was found to breed much confusion and discontent, and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For young men that were most able and fit for labor and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense...that was thought injustice."

Why should you work for other people when you can't work for yourself? What's the point?

Do you hear what he was saying, ladies and gentlemen? The Pilgrims found that people could not be expected to do their best work without incentive. So what did Bradford's community try next? They unharnessed the power of good old free enterprise by invoking the undergirding capitalistic principle of private property. Every family was assigned its own plot of land to work and permitted to market its own crops and products. And what was the result?

"This had very good success," wrote Bradford, "for it made all hands industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been." In no time, the Pilgrims found they had more food than they could eat themselves.

Now, this is where it gets really good, folks, if you're laboring under the misconception that I was, as I was taught in school.

So they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. And the success and prosperity of the Plymouth settlement attracted more Europeans and began what came to be known as the "Great Puritan Migration."

Thanksgiving, in other words, is not thanks to the Indians, and it's not thanks to William Bradford. It's not thanks to the merchants of London. Thanksgiving is thanks to God, pure and simple.


The REAL Story of Thanksgiving...
Dead White Guys - Or - What Your History Books Never Told You
November 23, 2005
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/stacks/trsofg.member.html
                                   

Give Thanks to the Lord

Psalm 136

1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Give thanks to the God of gods, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
3 Give thanks to the Lord of lords, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
4 To Him who alone does great wonders, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
5 To Him who made the heavens with skill, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
6 To Him who spread out the earth above the waters, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
7 To Him who made the great lights, For His lovingkindness is everlasting:
8 The sun to rule by day, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
9 The moon and stars to rule by night, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

10 To Him who smote the Egyptians in their firstborn, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
11 And brought Israel out from their midst, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
12 With a strong hand and an outstretched arm, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
13 To Him who divided the Red Sea asunder, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
14 And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
15 But He overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
16 To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
17 To Him who smote great kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
18 And slew mighty kings, For His lovingkindness is everlasting:
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
20 And Og, king of Bashan, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
21 And gave their land as a heritage, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
22 Even a heritage to Israel His servant, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

23 Who remembered us in our low estate, For His lovingkindness is everlasting,
24 And has rescued us from our adversaries, For His lovingkindness is everlasting;
25 Who gives food to all flesh, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
26 Give thanks to the God of heaven, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

 

Give Thanks With A Grateful Heart

What is Needed When Going Through Trials

All of us experience trouble. From the terms that James uses in chapter one, verses 2-3, the trouble that we experience cannot be determined beforehand, avoided, or determined to their degree. But we can be sure of this, they are “tests!” Specifically, the “testing of your faith” (v.3). The fact that we are sinful beings, living in a sinful world gives indication that we will experience trouble on a regular basis. Even when we succeed in getting our own little worlds under control, something inevitably messes them up. We do everything we can to attain peace and comfort by protecting ourselves from trouble, but trouble arises nonetheless. Take marriage for an example, it was designed by God as a source of fulfillment and happiness, yet 1 Corinthians 7:28 says those who are married “shall have trouble in the flesh.” There is going to be trouble even in the best of what God gives us because of the sin principle that is active in the world. Jesus Himself experienced trouble and warned His disciples to expect tribulation in the world (John 16:33). John 11:33; 12:27, and 13:21 record Jesus’ troubled responses to the devastating effects of sin.  In all three cases it says He was “troubled.” Troubled at sin – its cause and its effects. Paul said the same thing when he stated he was “troubled on every side” (2 Cor.4:8). It is reasonable to expect trouble in our lives as well and not be surprised or overwhelmed by them when they come. Trouble is a way of life, so don’t think you’re alone if you’re experiencing it right now. What we need to learn is what Paul said in Philippians 4:12, “I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.” In other words, as we said last time, we need to have a joyful heart, an understanding mind, and a submissive will. Because we are commanded to rejoice, we are not to let our troubles rob us of our joy. True biblical joy does not find its basis in the positive circumstances in our lives, it is based on the command of Scripture. We are to rejoice in the Lord regardless of the pains and difficulties in our lives because we know that trials test the strength and validity of our faith; they reveal what we really love; they enable us to help others; and they produce endurance and strength. Notice in verses 5 what James says you need so that you can have a joyful heart, an understanding mind, and a submissive will: Divine “wisdom.” He says, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Notice the need we have for wisdom. He says, “But if any of you lacks wisdom.”

Everyone needs wisdom. James is not making this statement as if you have arrived and don’t need wisdom in your trials. He is stating it as a recognized fact. The verse could read this way: “If any of you lacks wisdom, and he does....”

Ralph Martin says, “The conditional clause does not imply doubt or suggest a contingency. Rather it presupposes "a standing fact" (Hiebert, 79). The readers are facing some real problems arising from persecution, and it is the gift and application of wisdom to see these trials in their proper light and respond accordingly” (Word Biblical Commentary, Vol.48).

You do not need philosophical speculation or worldly wisdom, you need wisdom “that is from above” (Jas.3:17). The first step in gaining such wisdom is the consciousness of our need of it. “If any of you” indicates that this consciousness of a wisdom shortage must come as an individual recognition. Proverbs 3:7 says, “Do not be wise in your own eyes.” Romans 12:16 says, “Do not be wise in your own opinions.” Ephesians 5:17 says, “Therefore do not be unwise.” All of these passages reveal the need that we have for divine wisdom.

D. Edmond Hiebert says, “The believer needs ‘wisdom’ to see his trials in a true light and to profit spiritually from them. James knew from Psalm 73 and the book of Job that the trials that often overwhelm the godly do create struggles and call for God-given wisdom to resolve them. For James, wisdom is more than wide knowledge...As a Jew, James viewed wisdom as related to the practice of righteousness in daily life. It is that moral discernment that enables the believer to meet life and its trials with decisions and actions consistent with God’s will” (James, 79-80).

As you go through a trial, realize the need you have for divine wisdom so that you can respond with a joyful attitude, an understanding mind, and a submissive will.

Preventing Desire

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. 2 Corinthians 10:4–5

So many things in our evil society attempt to capture our attention: movies, television, books, music, clothing, advertisements, and now the Internet—all designed to capture the emotions. For example, advertising executives know that buying is ultimately an emotional decision. Few people know or even care about the mechanics of the car being advertised, yet they are impressed if it looks like a race car, or if a pretty girl is behind the wheel, or if other kinds of emotional bait are included in the ad.

We need to guard our minds, emotions, and wills. We need to seek God’s will by meditating on His Word and letting His will become ours. An unprotected, uncontrolled, and unyielded mind is going to be filled with evil desires that will result in evil deeds. We must control how our emotions and minds respond to the tempting bait they encounter.

MacArthur, J. (2001). Truth for today : A daily touch of God's grace (326). Nashville, Tenn.: J. Countryman.

Serving God Our Leftovers

Our small group that meets twice a month has been going through the book "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. He begins chapter 5 "Of all the chapters in this book, this one was the hardest to write. I do not wish for my words to come across as controversial or difficult to swallow. But I had to write this chapter, because I believe what I'm about to talk about is important. And true.

In the last chapter we discussed various inappropriate responses to God's love.

Now we are going to look at Scriptural examples of poor responses to God's gift of love" (p.83).

Chapter 5 begins with a...

WARNING AGAINST LUKEWARM CHRISTIANITY

If You're Lukewarm You're Not A Christian

"A lukewarm Christian is an oxymoron; there's no such thing. To put it plainly, churchgoers who are ‘lukewarm' are not Christians. We will not see them in heaven" (p.84).

Revelation 3:15-18 (NASB) 'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 'So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. 17 'Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, 18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.

To "spit" or "vomit" connotes "gagging, hurling, retching."

A.T. Robertson says it means "to reject with extreme disgust."

John Piper says, "Jesus' threat to the lukewarm church is that He will spew them out of His mouth. If you wanted to shock a lukewarm Christian, you could hardly think of a more gross and startling image: Jesus Christ putting the cup to His lips in the hope of tasting a pleasing drink, and then spitting it out on the ground. I find it very hard to make this mean that such people will, after all, be saved and enjoy the blessings and fellowship of Christ for all eternity. Surely the image of spitting people out of His mouth means that He has found them to be unacceptable and rejects them. The faith that saves is not lukewarm, half-hearted faith. And so He warns Laodicea, and every other church, if you do not repent (as verse 19 says) and become zealous, or hot, then the mechanical, cool, superficiality of your faith will be your destruction."

"When you read this passage, do you naturally conclude that to be ‘spit' our of Jesus' mouth means you're a part of His kingdom? When you read the words ‘wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,' do you think He is describing saints?' When He counsels them to ‘buy white clothes to wear' in order to cover their ‘shameful nakedness,' does it sound like advice for those already saved?" (p.85).

There is No Such Thing As A No-Fruit Bearing Christian

All Christians bear fruit - only non-Christians do not bear fruit.

John 15:1-6 (NASB) "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. 3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. 5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. 6 "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.

Matthew 13:18-23 (NASB) "Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 "When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. 20 "The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he falls away. 22 "And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. 23 "And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty."

"Is this idea of a non-fruit bearing Christian something that we have concocted in order to make Christianity ‘easier'?"

Some people claim that we can be Christians without necessarily becoming disciples.

Matthew 16:24-25 (NASB) Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

"Jesus' call to commitment is clear: He wants all or nothing. The thought of a person calling himself a ‘Christian' without being a devoted follower of Christ is absurd" (p.85).

"Can I go to heaven without faithfully loving Jesus?"

Each of us has lukewarm elements and practices in our life.

The Scripture demonstrates clearly that there is room for our failure and sin in our pursuit of God.

Lamentations 3:23 (NASB) They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

2 Corinthians 12:9 (NASB) And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

To call someone a Christian simply because he does Christian-y things is giving a false comfort to the unsaved. But to declare anyone who sins ‘unsaved' is to deny the reality and truth of God's grace.

From Colossians 2:1; 4:13, 15-16, the church at Laodicea appears to have been a healthy and legitimate church. But something happened. By the time Revelation was writer, about twenty-five years after the letter to the Colossians, the Laodicean's hearts apparently didn't belong to God-despite the fact that they were still active as a church. Their church was prospering, and they didn't seem to be experiencing any persecution. They were comfortable and proud. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?" (pp.87-88).

OFFERING GOD OUR BEST

God "wants our best, deserves our best, and demands our best. From the beginning of time, He has been clear that some offerings are acceptable to Him and others not. Just as Cain, upon whose offering God ‘did not look with favor' (Gen.4:5)" (pp.90-91).

We Give God Our Leftovers And He Doesn't Accept It

Genesis 4:5 (NASB) but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell.

Hosea 13:6 (NASB) As they had their pasture, they became satisfied, And being satisfied, their heart became proud; Therefore they forgot Me.

Malachi 1:8 (NASB) "But when you present the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? And when you present the lame and sick, is it not evil? Why not offer it to your governor? Would he be pleased with you? Or would he receive you kindly?" says the Lord of hosts.

"They assumed God was pleased because they had sacrificed something. God described their practice as evil" (p.91).

Leftovers Are Not Merely Inadequate, They're Evil

"Let's stop calling it ‘a busy schedule' or ‘bills' or ‘forgetfulness.' It's called evil.

God is holy. In heaven exists a Being who decides whether or not I take another breath. This holy God deserves our excellence, the very best I have" (p.92).

Malachi 1:10 (NASB) "Oh that there were one among you who would shut the gates, that you might not uselessly kindle fire on My altar! I am not pleased with you," says the Lord of hosts, "nor will I accept an offering from you.

"God wanted the temple gate shut. The weak sacrifices of the laid-back priests were an insult to Him. He was saying that no worship is better than apathetic worship" (p.92).

"Jesus' instruction to the people of the church at Laodicea was to buy from Him the things that really matter, the things they didn't even realize they needed. They were wealthy, but Jesus asks them to exchange their wealth for His gold that is refined through fire; they had clothing, but Jesus counsels them to buy clothes that were truly white and would cover their nakedness; they did not desire anything, but Jesus say they needed salve for their eyes that would cure their blindness. He asks them to give up what they thought was so necessary and valuable, in exchange for what really matters" (p.92).

God Measures Our Lives By How We Love

1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (ESV) Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:13 (ESV) So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

"According to God, we are here to love. Not much else really matters" (p.94).

Personal Challenge:

Take the phrase "Love is patient" and substitute your name for the love love" (e.g, "Steve is patient). Do it for every phrase.

1 Corinthians 13:4-6 (ESV) Steve is patient and kind; Steve does not envy or boast; Steve is not arrogant 5 or rude. Steve does not insist on its own way; Steve is not irritable or resentful; 6 Steve does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.

"By the end, don't you feel like a liar? If I am meant to represent what love is, then I often fail to love people well" (p.94).

"Following Christ isn't something that can be done halfheartedly or on the side. It is not a label we can display when it is useful. It must be central to everything we do and are.

Are you willing to say to God that He can have whatever He wants?

Do you believe the wholehearted commitment to Him is more important than any other thing or person in your life?

Do you know that nothing you do in this life will ever matter, unless it is about loving God and loving the people He has made?

If the answer to those questions is yes, then let your bet match your talk.

Truth faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity" (p.97).

So which are you? Lukewarm, cold, hot?

Are you truly saved?

Are you offering God your leftovers?

Remember "Truth faith means holding nothing back; it bets everything on the hope of eternity."

The Definition of Pride

When someone is proud they are focused on self. This is a form of self-worship. A person is prideful who believe that they, in and of themselves, are or should be the source of what is good, right and worthy of praise. They, also believe that they, by themselves, are (or should be) the accomplisher of anything that is worthwhile to accomplish, and that they should certainly be the benefactor of all things. In essence, they are believing that all things should be from them, through them, and to them or for them. Pride is competitive toward others, and especially toward God. Pride wants to be on top. Thomas Watson is quoted to have said, ‘Pride seeks to ungod God.’ That phrase certainly describes the arrogant.

(Stuart Scott, The Exemplary Husband)

Who Are You Following?

Isn't it amazing who some people will follow? No matter how they were treated by that person. Some follow others purely for selfish reasons, others simply out of amazement. But when is it is right not to follow someone? Let me be more specific. For the Christian what kind of people should he/she follow? First, the obvious, you must follow the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus said in Luke 9:23, "And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me" (emphasis added).

Second, you must follow only after those who follow Jesus. Yes, everyone is claiming they follow Jesus but there are some distinguishing characteristics that accompany those who truly follow Jesus. Notice the examples from the apostle John's first letter. He says:

• Children of God have true “fellowship...with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1:3)
• Children of God “walk in the light as He is in the light” (1:7)
• Children of God have been cleansed “from all sin” (1:7, 9)
• Children of God “confess” sin (1:9)
• Children of God have “an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous” (2:1)
• Children of God “keep His commandments” (2:3-5)
• Children of God love their brothers (2:9-10)
• Children of God abide in the light (2:10)
• Children of God know the Father (2:13)
• Children of God “have overcome the wicked one” (2:13)
• Children of God hate the world (2:15-17)
• Children of God do not abandon the faith (2:19)
• Children of God have “an anointing from the Holy One” (2:20, 27)
• Children of God know the truth (2:21)
• Children of God confess the Son (2:22-25)
• Children of God “practices righteousness” (2:29)
• Children of God “lay down [their] lives for the brethren” (3:16-19)
• Children of God “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (4:1-3)
• Children of God overcome “the world” (5:4-5)

If the people you follow after are not marked by these characteristics, you should not be following them. Paul said to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ" (emphasis added). Make sure who you follow is truly a child of God who is an imitator of Christ, otherwise turn away from them. Romans 16:18 says, "For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Jesus Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting."

Compel Them to Come In

Compel them to come in."--Luke 14:23.

I feel in such a haste to go out and obey this commandment this morning, by compelling those to come in who are now tarrying in the highways and hedges, that I cannot wait for an introduction, but must at once set about my business.

Hear then, O ye that are strangers to the truth as it is in Jesus--hear then the message that I have to bring you. Ye have fallen, fallen in your father Adam; ye have fallen also in yourselves, by your daily sin and your constant iniquity; you have provoked the anger of the Most High; and as assuredly as you have sinned, so certainly must God punish you if you persevere in your iniquity, for the Lord is a God of justice, and will by no means spare the guilty. But have you not heard, hath it not long been spoken in your ears, that God, in his infinite mercy, has devised a way whereby, without any infringement upon his honour, he can have mercy upon you, the guilty and the undeserving? To you I speak; and my voice is unto you, O sons of men; Jesus Christ, very God of very God, hath descended from heaven, and was made in the likeness of sinful flesh. begotten of the Holy Ghost, he was born of the Virgin Mary; he lived in this world a life of exemplary holiness, and of the deepest suffering, till at last he gave himself up to die for our sins, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." And now the plan of salvation is simply declared unto you--"Whosoever believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved." For you who have violated all the precepts of God, and have disdained his mercy and dared his vengeance, there is yet mercy proclaimed, for "whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." "For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief;" "whosoever cometh unto him he will in no wise cast out, for he is able also to save unto the uttermost them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us."

Now all that God asks of you--and this he gives you--is that you will simply look at his bleeding dying son, and trust your souls in the hands of him whose name alone can save from death and hell. Is it not a marvelous thing, that the proclamation of this gospel does not receive the unanimous consent of men? One would think that as soon as ever this was preached, "That whosoever believeth shall have eternal life," every one of you, "casting away every man his sins and his iniquities," would lay hold on Jesus Christ, and look alone to his cross. But alas! such is the desperate evil of our nature, such the pernicious depravity of our character, that this message is despised, the invitation to the gospel feast is rejected, and there are many of you who are this day enemies of God by wicked works, enemies to the God who preaches Christ to you today, enemies to him who sent his Son to give his life a ransom for many. Strange I say it is that it should be so, yet nevertheless it is the fact, and hence the necessity for the command of the text,--"Compel them to come in."

Children of God, ye who have believed, I shall have little or nothing to say to you this morning; I am going straight to my business--I am going after those that will not come--those that are in the byways and hedges, and God going with me, it is my duty now to fulfil this command, "Compel them to come in."

Compel Them to Come In
December 5, 1858 by C. H. SPURGEON 1834-1892

Bad Day

The Roman historian Tacitus said, ‘Besides being put to death, [Christians] were made to serve as objects of amusement; they were clad in the hides of beasts and torn to death by dogs; others were crucified, others set on fire to serve to illuminate the night when daylight failed’ (Annales 15.44 quoted in the Life Application Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Peter and Jude, introduction).

And you say you had a bad day?