Family Freedom
“But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33Archive for Salvation
Isn’t That Enough?
There is no other name by which men can be saved. When was the last time you wept over your sin?
(HT: Slice of Laodicea)
How about just ONE thing?
We were at a community barbecue over the weekend, and had an interesting conversation with a boy who was there for the same reason we were (free hamburgers). At any rate, we asked if he went to a church in the area. He informed us that he gets on the bus every Sunday is bused to one of the local megachurches, to go to “Kids’ Church”.
He informed us that “Kids’ Church” at this megachurch was VERY FUN!
“That’s really neat,” said Mrs. Bob Mallory. “Can you tell us one thing you’ve learned about God there?” Read the rest of this entry »
Scientists Concur: Some Rats Are Adulterous
If you feel like taking a few moments to lose some brain cells, Swedish and U.S. “researchers” have discovered that a certain type of rat is monogamous, and they’re looking for a common gene that can determine why some humans (like some rats) are promiscuous. Read the rest of this entry »
How To Fix Your ________
Remember madlibs? I got a kick out of madlibs for several weeks when I was about 9 years old. You fill in several blanks on a page: a noun here, a verb there, and voila! Turn the page and read your hilarious story! It seems that everything in the evangilical Disneyland that we call America now has a fill-in-the-blank answer for every problem.
Kids hate you? There’s a “Christian” book for that! Is your cat feeling particularly melancholy? There’s a “Christian” book for that! Do your co-workers think you’re incompetent? You can learn to fake your way through the work day with another “Christian” book! How convenient! It seems as if there’s a book for every single problem an evangelical could encounter, and there’s more coming off the presses every day. Read the rest of this entry »
Back to School
Our family watched the forum that Saddleback motivational speaker Rick Warren hosted with the presidential candidates last weekend. Warren said something that caught my interest at one point, as he was asking his questions:
“We’re 19th in the world in education, and yet we’re 1st in incarcerations.”
That statement reminded me, public school is about to start up again in our area. We don’t have any crops to harvest here in the middle of Anchorage, so we don’t take summers off from homeschooling. We go with a ten-weeks-on, two-weeks-off schedule year-round. That seems to offer us a lot more flexibility, and provides more learning time for our children. Read the rest of this entry »
Matthew Henry on Romans 7:22 & 7:25
”I delight in the law of God after the inward man, Rom_7:22. His [Paul's] conscience bore witness to a complacency in the law. He delighted not only in the promises of the word, but in the precepts and prohibitions of the word; sunēdomai expresses a becoming delight. He did herein concur in affection with all the saints. All that are savingly regenerate or born again do truly delight in the law of God, delight to know it, to do it – cheerfully submit to the authority of it, and take a complacency in that submission, never better pleased than when heart and life are in the strictest conformity to the law and will of God. After the inward man; that is, First, The mind or rational faculties, in opposition to the sensitive appetites and wills of the flesh. The soul is the inward man, and that is the seat of gracious delights, which are therefore sincere and serious, but secret; it is the renewing of the inward man, 2Co_4:16. Secondly, The new nature. The new man is called the inner man (Eph_3:16), the hidden man of the heart, 1Pe_3:4. Paul, as far as he was sanctified, had a delight in the law of God. [3.] With the mind I myself serve the law of God, Rom_7:25. It is not enough to consent to the law, and to delight in the law, but we must serve the law; our souls must be entirely delivered up into the obedience of it. Thus it was with Paul’s mind; thus it is with every sanctified renewed mind; this is the ordinary course and way; thitherward goes the bent of the soul. I myself – autos egō, plainly intimating that he speaks in his own person, and not in the person of another.” Matthew Henry
Excerpt from Matthew Henry Commentaries- Romans
No Trespassing
Here’s a parable we’re all familiar with. Jesus gives instruction about forgiveness:
Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. And when he had begun to settle accounts, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents. But as he was not able to pay, his master commanded that he be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and that payment be made. The servant therefore fell down before him, saying, ‘Master, have patience with me, and I will pay you all.’ Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt. Read the rest of this entry »
Crown Misses Another Opportunity to Preach the Gospel
Have you ever heard the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ preached on Money Matters? I have not. I’ve heard them thank listeners for hanging out with them. However, I have never heard Howard Dayton or Steve Moore tell their listeners that we have all fallen short of the glory of God, that there is none good, no not one, that our hearts are deceitful and above all desperately wicked, or that our good works are like filthy rags to a Holy God who must punish our sins with death. I haven’t heard them urge listeners to repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation, or explain that without faith it is impossible to please God, and that we must look unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith.
So when a caller on 12/3/07 asked how he might forgive a business partner who refuses to repay a loan even after a court judgment…my hears perked up. I got excited. Here was an amazing opportunity to share the Gospel. It was handed to them on a platter with a cherry on top. What was Dayton’s response? “Let it go, it would honor the Lord.”
Spurgeon on Puffed Up Professing Christians
“There is another class of persons, happily fewer than they once were, but there are some among us still,—opinionists, who think they can do without holiness. These, too, it has sometimes been my misfortune to know. They have learned a sound creed, or perhaps an unsound one, for there are as many Arminians as Calvinists in this line,—they think they have got hold of the truth, that they are the men, and that, when they die, the faithful will fail from among men. They understand theology very accurately. They are wiser than their teachers. They can—
“A hair divide
Betwixt the west and north-west side.” Read the rest of this entry »
Whose Slave are You?
Whether you’re rich or poor, you can be enslaved to money. If you’re in debt, you already are:
“The borrower is servant to the lender.” (Proverbs 22:7)
Christians are called to be enslaved to no one (or thing) other than God:
“But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.” (Romans 6:22)
“No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”(Luke 16:13)
I recently heard an excellent sermon by Paul Washer called “God’s Will for Slaves.” I encourage you to humbly listen to and hear the Word of God in this broadcast. Prayerfully, examine your hearts and answer the question…whose slave are you?
