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A Time For Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent, and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 8 Oh Lord gives us the wisdom to know which is which.
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 | God of Powerful and Preserving Providence |
 And God blessed them, saying, '. . . fill the waters in the seas, and
let birds multiply on the earth.' (Genesis 1:22)
On the fifth day of creation Elohim created swarms that swarm in the sea
and flying birds that fly in the sky. In his commentary on Genesis, John
Currid says that the Hebrew makes use of two polyptotons — verbs with
their cognate nouns, used for the sake of great emphasis — swarms
swarming and flying birds flying. We are also told that God made the
tannin, the sea monsters of the deep. This word is sometimes
translated serpent, dragon, or Leviathan. It is used in Exodus 7 where
Aaron’s rod became a tannin that swallowed up the tanninim
of Pharaoh. Later the word is used in Psalm 74:13-14 and Isaiah 27:1 in
referring to Yahweh who destroys tannin or Leviathan with his
great and mighty sword. The allusion here is to powerful nations at
enmity with Yahweh but he overcomes them. Then we are told that God
called the fish and birds good, that he blessed them, and called them to
be fruitful and multiply. We find here a clear reference to God’s
powerful and preserving providence, that he directs and disposes all
things for his glory and the good of his creation.
I wonder — do you see God at work in the details of your life? Are you
resisting him in those details? People have always resisted the doctrine
of God’s sovereignty and the corresponding teaching on his providence.
We like to think we are in control, that we can 'fix it.' This manifests
itself today in neo-deism and neo-spirituality. Deism — the religion of
preference in the mid to late eighteenth century in Colonial America,
best known by Benjamin Franklin and his adage, 'God helps those who help
themselves' — taught that while God did in fact create the world, he is
no longer engaged in the affairs of this world. We must make things
happen ourselves. This fits well with today’s psyche of rugged
individualism, of pulling one’s self up by one’s boot straps. You are a
neo-deist, even if you claim to be a Christian, if you fail to realise
that God is in the details of your life, even the hard things happening
to you right now. And neo-spirituality is seen today in the religiously
intolerant, those who call themselves religious or spiritual, who claim
to be open and affirming of all religions, yet despise the 'narrowness'
and exclusivity in the claims of Christ. The neo-spiritual person is
syncretistic – so called ‘Zen Christians’ or ‘Presbyterian Buddhists.’
The problem with neo-deism and neo-spirituality is that these weak,
powerless forms of religion tend to inoculate people against vibrant,
Biblical faith. These give people the false impression that a little
religion is all one needs.
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Posted by admin on Saturday, June 20 @ 12:20:12 CDT (24 reads)
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| Church and Tradition in a Changing World |
At the annual assembly of the Association of Evangelical Churches in
Wales, Ian Parry, pastor of the Bay Church in Cardiff, delivered a paper
on the above subject and then led a seminar in a discussion of it. The
following is a summary of what he said.
1) We need to UNDERSTAND our traditions. Where do they come from?
We may claim to be controlled by the authority of the Bible alone. And the
Bible has certain commandments which are non-negotiable. Yet there is an
inevitability about building traditions. Our traditions are the ways we
seek to obey the Scriptures, and they’ll shape the feel & ethos of a
church.
2) As well as understanding them we need to VALUE them. We have
them however new or old our churches are. The church universal has a
history. In the UK reformed tradition we have a certain history which
shapes what we do. So there are some good traditions in the past
associated with the Reformation. We are privileged heirs of a tradition.
You only need to go to the mission field to appreciate this. And this
gives us a certain perspective on things. We are heirs & custodians of
the past. The Church is bigger than our own day & our own context. It
gives Colour: If you strip away the past it leaves you with a
characterless thing with no associations. It gives Power: Our
generation has cut its ties with the past and is finding it hard to live
with the results. As other religions enter the country people are saying
'What exactly am I? What is my identity in?' So we should value them.
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Posted by admin on Thursday, June 11 @ 09:57:57 CDT (35 reads)
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| Billy Graham’s Daughter Tells how her father is ’Growing (old) in God’s Grace’ |
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-- Evangelist Billy Graham has been the confidante and spiritual advisor to American presidents and men and women of fame, financial and political power.
He became a household word, not only in Christian circles, but in the homes of most of the people across the globe.
Anne Graham Lotz with her father Dr. Billy Graham
Personally, in his lifetime, he has preached to over 215 million people and, estimates say, seen 2 ½ million come forward in his meetings to receive Jesus Christ as Savior. His radio and TV audiences have reached over 2 billion viewers and listeners.
Today the once busy minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is still active, but not as much as before.
His daughter Anne Graham Lotz, the second of the Graham’s five children and the wife of a dentist, operates a ministry called AnGeL Ministries which, following in her father’s footsteps, reaches out internationally.
In a new do*****entary, Graham Lotz spoke about her father’s new pace of ministry. She stated in the recent interview: "My father didn’t really retire until his body sort of quit on him. He has always said that, for a minister of the Gospel, there is no retirement, but his body decided differently."
It was 17 years ago that Billy Graham was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease. "He has a difficult time hearing, a difficult time seeing, a difficult time walking. His heart is still strong. His mind is clear," said Graham Lotz
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Posted by admin on Friday, June 05 @ 23:21:22 CDT (50 reads)
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| Preachers becoming Diplomatists and Strategists |
 The fundamental
problem with evangelical diplomacy and strategy is
this: the living God has not called his servants to
put consequences before truth, but truth before
consequences. Certainly we are never (and I mean
never) to preach God's truth arrogantly and
pompously, far less coldly and clinically. But we
are always to preach it faithfully, always allowing
God's holy Word to lead us into God's holy ways. Ah,
you may by now be thinking, but this is a counsel of
suffering! Our churches will hang us out to dry,
cast us out into a harsh world. How will we then
live? How will we provide for our families and care
for Christ's vulnerable flock? The answer to that
not unimportant question was given by our Lord Jesus
himself: 'If anyone would come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow
me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it,
but whoever loses his life for me will save it' (Luke
9:23). Beware of becoming diplomatists and
strategists and not heralds. The God who calls us to
serve in the fellowship of his Son, is the God who
is able to set a table in the wilderness (even an
ecclesiastical wilderness) for his servants.
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Posted by admin on Thursday, June 04 @ 08:24:35 CDT (52 reads)
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| The Ulster Awakening of 1859 |
One hundred and fifty years ago the Irish province of Ulster came under the powerful influences of the Spirit of God. The spiritual life of churches was revived and their witness to the gospel strengthened. The unconverted were deeply affected by the truth of the gospel. Great numbers flocked to the churches for spiritual relief from an unrelenting conviction of the guilt of sin.
The movement began in Co. Antrim in a particularly inauspicious manner. A small group of believers met for prayer. News of a spiritual awakening in America, begun the previous year 1858, had reached Ulster and stirred up a desire for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the moribund churches in Ireland. It was not long before prayer was answered. One by one, and then in unimagined multitudes
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:50:14 CDT (40 reads)
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| The Return of Christ |
On recent Sundays I’ve been preaching on the return of Christ. I grew up with some very mixed-up ideas about the Second Coming, but understanding the doctrine in our heads surely isn’t enough. As I’ve preached these sermons, I’ve found myself asking again and again, 'how much do I look forward to the return of Christ? How much do I want him to come again?'
The New Testament takes it for granted that believers will long for the return of Christ. The Christians in Thessalonica had only been believers a short time when Paul wrote his first letter to them. But already people throughout Greece were commenting on what had happened to them. 'They report . . . how you turned from idols to serve the living and true God and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who saves us from the wrath to come . . . '. Godless people were talking about these Christians, their strange behaviour, their strange beliefs. And one of the things that struck them most forcibly was that these Christians were all waiting for God’s Son from heaven. I wonder whether our unbelieving friends would say that about us.
When he wrote to the Philippian believers Paul could say, 'our citizenship is in heaven and from there, we wait for a Saviour . . .' (Phil. 3:20). When he wrote to Timothy he could simply describe Christians as 'all those who have loved his appearing' (2 Tim. 4:8). In his letter to Titus, he pictures believers 'waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ' (Titus 2:13). As he came to the end of his first letter to the Corinthians, he used a one word Aramaic prayer: 'Maranatha!' - 'Our Lord, come!' The Corinthian church was in Greece, but Paul knew that all his readers would understand that Aramaic word. Why? Because it was a prayer they used constantly. New Testament believers prayed for the coming of Christ.
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:47:07 CDT (45 reads)
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| An appreciation of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones |
An appreciation of Dr. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones
EALING, LONDON, UK
(ANS) -- Dr. Martyn
Lloyd-Jones was possibly the greatest
British preacher of the twentieth
century. His ministry at Westminster
Chapel, close to Buckingham Palace, and
his writings earned him respect and
affection throughout the world. He had a
decisive influence on many individuals
and on evangelicalism as a whole. He was
born in Cardiff, South Wales, on
December 20, 1899 and then lived for a
time in small villages in Mid-Wales.
After attending a London grammar school
between 1914 and 1916, he then went on
to train at St Bartholomew's Hospital as
a medical student. In 1921 he started
work as an assistant to the Royal
Physician, Sir Thomas Horder.
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:29:15 CDT (61 reads)
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| This is Your Life: Homeless Shelter CEO Unplugged |
News Release from Joy Junction
Call Dr. Jeremy Reynalds at (505) 400-7145
or e-mail jeremyreynalds@comcast.net
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (ANS) -- Capacity crowds
have plunged Joy Junction, New Mexico's largest emergency homeless shelter,
into a food crisis.
Joy Junction Founder and CEO Dr. Jeremy Reynalds said the shelter is in
urgent need of fruit, red meat, both breakfast and luncheon meat, sugar,
butter, milk and eggs.
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:24:17 CDT (57 reads)
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| Sadness is a Normal Part of Life |
Times of sadness are a normal part of the Christian life. To see the world
rejecting the Saviour and accepting other gospels that are no gospels is
grievous. The prophet Jeremiah lamented the state of the people of God and the
destruction of Jerusalem. Our Lord wept over Jerusalem sinners. He wept also at
the tomb of Lazarus as did the early church when Stephen was murdered. To bear
the burden of ‘the cares of the churches’ is at times to feel one is going to
crack under the strain. Sometime a congregation must encourage its pastor to
weep, and sometimes he must sympathize with their tears.
If Christians weep, how much more sadness must there be in the world because of
the weight of unforgiven sin, lack of purpose in life, and the muddles that
people without the Bible fall into? On January 15 2009 in the Daily Express,
Dr Theodore Dalrymple wrote this piece on the theme that 'no one is unhappy
these days; everyone is depressed'. It makes salutary reading. It is only by the
gospel of Jesus Christ that a sinner can fulfil the exhortation to rejoice in
the Lord always. Without that good news they are condemned to a life of
melancholy.
Geoff Thomas
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:19:32 CDT (51 reads)
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| Why the Christian Life is Hard |
RESTING IN THE REDEEMERDo you think that the Christian life is hard? If so, what
makes it hard, and if not, why does it seem so hard for so many professing
Christians?
We can begin to consider this matter in terms of the context of the question and
in terms of our defining what we mean by the word hard. Regarding
context, the Bible alerts us to the fact that it is through many tribulations
that we must enter the kingdom of God. The sufferings of the apostles in the
Book of Acts illustrate some of the sufferings of the faithful. Yet, do we
always suffer? Is our calling in Christ always to be under the yoke of stress,
straining, persecution, affliction, and sacrifice? And are these things the only
elements that compose the Christian life? The true context in which we face the
challenges and difficulties inherent in our pilgrimage of faith is one composed
of trials and triumphs, sorrows and joys, pains and holy pleasures. Therefore,
when we understand that the Christian life contains such mixed elements, we
cannot and should not think or characterize the life of faith as being hard in
the sense of it being unalloyed pain and suffering.
While the Bible is clear that the tribulations of the saints can be many,
varied, and at times exquisitely painful and profoundly perplexing, the Word of
God is emphatic in stating that all of our pains serve useful and sanctifying
purposes in our lives. The thorns we cry to our God to remove from our flesh
serve as prods to direct us to the abundantly sufficient grace of our Lord. The
afflictions we endure come upon us by no accident or negligence on God's part,
but are ordained by him for the production in us of an eternal weight of glory.
It is when we appropriate the divine grace that we begin to rejoice and boast in
our afflictions and weaknesses, seeing the connection between them and God's
glory and our good. It is when we feed upon the sure hope of that glory in view
of which all of our sufferings should be considered as momentary, light, and, in
fact, beneficial producers of glorious gain, that we begin to count ourselves
blessed when we suffer for Christ's sake.
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Posted by admin on Friday, May 29 @ 02:10:49 CDT (57 reads)
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