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One of the most important truths we need to grasp in our life with Christ is that God ordains both the end and means of achieving that end. He determines the outcomes and how those outcomes are brought about. Unless we understand this truth we are likely to be unfruitful in our lives. For example, we are likely to fall into a sin of prayerlessness. Many of us do not take prayer seriously because deep down we do not realise that unless we pray, we won’t have that which we desire God to for us. We often do not have things, because we do not ask for them( James 4:2). God can give us things but not without prayer. He has promised us to call on him and He will answer us (Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 91:15).  Now,  in order for us to really believe this truth that God will not give us what we desire without prayer, we need to be convinced on why God has ordained prayer as a means of delivering outcomes. I think once we understand that it will help to take prayer seriously. I found this explanation g

All the powers of hell shall never overthrow the Church. It shall continue, and stand, in spite of every assault. It shall never be overcome. All other created things perish and pass away, but not the Church of Christ. The hand of outward violence, or the moth of inward decay, prevail over everything else, but not over the temple that Christ builds. Empires have risen and fallen in rapid succession. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece, Venice - where are all these now? They were all the creations of man's hand, and have passed away. But the Church of Christ lives on. The mightiest cities have become heaps of ruins. The broad walls of Babylon are sunk to the ground. The palaces of Nineveh are mounds of dust. The hundred gates of Thebes are only matters of history. Tyre is a place where fishermen hang their nets. Carthage is a desolation. Yet all this time the true Church stands. The gates of hell do not prevail against it….Has the true Church been oppressed

Christ is the way : men without Him are Cains, wanderers, vagabonds. He is the truth : men without Him are liars, like the devil of old. He is the life : men without Him are dead in trespasses and sins. He is the light : men without Him are in darkness, and they do not know where they go. He is the vine : men that are not in Him are withered branches prepared for the fire. He is the rock : men not built on Him are carried away with a flood. He is the Alpha and Omega , the first and the last, the author and the ender, the founder and finisher of our salvation. He that does not have Him has no beginning of good and will have no end to their  misery. Oh, blessed Jesus, how much better were it not to be than to be without You! Never to be born than not to die in You! A thousand hells come short of this, eternally to want Jesus Christ’ JOHN OWEN As quoted by J C Ryle in ‘Warnings to the Churches’. John Owen spoke these words in sermon to the House of Commons. We cannot exalt the Lord Jesus

The English reformer Hugh Latimer (1487-1555) was once called to preach before Henry VIII. He started his sermon like this this:  ‘Latimer! Latimer! Do you remember that you are speaking before the high and mighty King Henry VIII; before him who has power to command you to be sent to prison; before him who can have your head struck off, if he chooses to do so? Are you not going to take care not to say nothing that will offend royal ears?'  Then after a pause, he went on: ' Latimer! Latimer! Do you not remember  that you are speaking before the King of kings and Lord of lords; before Him, at whose court Henry VIII will stand; before Him, to whom one day you will have to give account for yourself? Latimer! Latimer! be faithful to your Master, and declare all God’s Word.  (Source: A Warning to the Churches, J C Ryle) This should be the attitude all preachers must have. We should not care whether people pleased or displeased, or whether people say we were eloquent or feeble. Our fo

We must take heed to our doctrine about the total corruption of human nature. The corruption of human nature is no slight thing. It is no partial, skin-deep disease, but a radical and universal corruption of man's will, intellect, affections, and conscience. We are not merely poor and pitiable sinners in God's sight: we are guilty sinners; we are blameworthy sinners: we deserve justly God's wrath and God's condemnation. I believe there are very few errors and false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of human nature. Wrong views of a disease will always bring with them wrong views of the remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand antidote and cure of that corruption. JOHN CHARLES RYLE (Source: Warnings to the Churches)

Ignorance of God, carnal and low conceptions of His nature and attributes, earthly and sensual notions of the service which is acceptable to Him, all characterise the religion of the natural man. There is a craving in his mind after something he can see, and feel, and touch in his Divinity. He would fain bring his God down to his own crawling level. He would make his religion a thing of sense and sight. He has no idea of the religion of heart, and faith, and spirit. In short, just as he is willing to live on God's earth, but, until renewed by grace, a fallen and degraded life, so he has no objection to worship after a fashion, but, until renewed by the Holy Ghost, it is always with a fallen worship. In one word, idolatry is a natural product of man's heart. It is a weed, which like the earth uncultivated, the heart is always ready to bring forth. And now does it surprise us, when we read of the constantly recurring idolatries of the Old Testament Church,- of Peor, and Baal, and

God is the author of our humility, not we. He takes the first step. The context for the biblical command to "humble yourself" is never bright, sunny, carefree days. It's always conflict, discomfort, suffering, pain, chaos. First, God's humbling hand descends. He takes the initiative. Then the question comes: Now, will you humble yourself? Will you welcome and receive his uncomfortable, even painful, work or try to explain it away or even kick back against it? Humbling ourselves is not something we decide to do in our spare time or for self-improvement in a few simple steps. Humility is a work of God. His hand does the humbling. Then he gives us the dignity of acknowledging and welcoming his work, and humbling ourselves. DAVID MATHIS ( Source : Workers For Your Joy) 

The puritan John Miles (1621-1683)   founded the first Baptist Church in Wales. He then emigrated to America shortly after the Act of Uniformity (1662) when 2,000 ministers were ejected from the Established Church. With a large proportion of his church, Miles settled at a new Swansea, about ten miles from Providence in Rhode Island. The church grew in face of persistent opposition.   Once, when Miles was brought before the  magistrates on some charge, he asked for a Bible. He then quoted Job 19:28 - Ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me ? (KJV). He stopped there and sat down. The court was so convicted by the content and context of the passage that their cruelty gave way to kindness. ( Source : An Introduction to the Baptists, Erroll Hulse)  

The first service that one owes to others in the fellowship consists in listening to them. Just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for other followers of Jesus  is learning to listen to them. It is God's love for us that He not only gives us His Word but also lends us His ear. So it is His work that we do for our brother when we learn to listen to him. Christians, especially ministers, so often think they must always contribute something when they are in the company of others, that this is the one service they have to render. They forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking. Many people are looking for an ear that will listen. They do not find it among Christians, because these Christians are talking where they should be listening. But he who can no longer listen to his brother will soon be no longer listening to God either; he will be doing nothing but prattle in the presence of God too. This is the beginning of the death of

Whenever and wherever the doctrines of free grace and justification by faith have prevailed in the Christian Church; and according to the degree of clearness with which they have been enforced, the practical duties of Christianity have flourished in the same proportion. Wherever they have declined, or been tempered with the reasonings and expedients of men, either from a well meant, though mistaken fear, lest they should be abused, or from a desire to accommodate the Gospel, and render it more palatable to the depraved taste of the world, the consequence has always  been, an equal declension in practice. So long as the Gospel of Christ is maintained without adulteration, it is found sufficient for every valuable purpose; but when the wisdom of man is permitted to add to the perfect work of God, a wide door is opened for innumerable mischiefs. JOHN NEWTON ( Source : A Review of Ecclesiastical History)

The institution of the family, which preceded the Fall of man and remained after the Fall, for the well-being  of the human race, is the institution most protected by God's law and is the very pattern by which we understand both our relationship to God as Father, and the creational model by which the Church is governed. We further see this centrality by the fact that in scripture, four of the Ten Commandments immediately concern the family (not the church or state) because the family controls welfare, property, education, inheritance, children, and cares for the aged. It is viewed as the basic government and consequently, when it is eroded or weakened, the social fabric of any society moves swiftly to decay regardless of what the State tries to do to  replace it…Without healthy and godly Christian families, all of society moves toward ruin. There is no social substitute for the family, in either Church or State, so the Church today must labour to train, protect and equip the family

A man was walking then he came across a house,  where he saw the owner of the house, Barney, breaking a large hole in the wall of an old cellar. So he asked him, ‘what are you doing’? The answer of Barney was prompt, ‘Sir, I'm letting out the dark’.  We spend much time and energy  in the same foolish idea. We attack the dark, instead of putting all our powers into the glorious work of letting in the light. Whether the darkness is uncivilised ignorance, or infidel prejudice, let us shine in the light of the glorious Gospel, and the darkness will fly. WILLIAM LUFF 

Sometimes a builder has to  pull down a house and take it apart in pieces. His job is not to pull down houses, but to build them up. But he does that which is not his job  that he may do his main job. He cannot build on a rotten foundation. In the same way, God will not  build on a rotten foundation. He will not build upon carnal confidence, carnal trust, pride and covetousness. He must first  demolish our rotten foundation with afflictions and sufferings. He uses  these things to take away any happiness we have in our trust of sin. God uses suffering and pain     to force us away from our sins. He demolishes the rotten foundation, to build up a more excellent building that shall endure to eternity….He does that work which is not his main job, to do his main     blessed good work. He afflicts us to drive us out of ourselves, so that we can trust in him, in whom is all our true happiness and good. RICHARD SIBBES  (Paraphrased from ‘The Works of Richard Sibbes’, Volume III )

Self-centredness  is the curse of the human race since men fell. What most of us need above everything else is to get away from ourselves, to forget ourselves. But we revolve around ourselves. We are  the centre of our universe.  We are always looking at ourselves. We judge and evaluate everything in terms of us. What it means to me and what it does to me.  All our rivalries,  bitterness and jealousies come out of that. It is true of individuals and  nations alike.  In addition to this is our  selfishness.  The wanting  everything for the self. The self-centred man or woman is always selfish. Feeding this self, pandering to it, wanting it to obtain things, and wanting others not to have it. We do everything to  build up and to satisfy this horrid, terrible self, which governs us and which controls us.  All that leads, of course, to being  sensitive. We   see  insults where they are not meant, and where  indeed they very often do not exist. We are hyper   sensitive.  Always afraid someb

The prayer of the morning will determine the day. Wasted time, which we are ashamed of, temptations that beset us, weakness and listlessness in our work, disorder and indiscipline in our thinking and our relations with other people very frequently have their cause in neglect of the morning prayer. The organisation and distribution of our time will be better for having been rooted in prayer. The temptations which the working day brings with it will be overcome by this breakthrough to God. Decisions which our work demands will be simpler and easier when they are made, not in the fear of men, but solely in the presence of God. "Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men" (Col. 3:23). Even routine mechanical work will be performed more patiently when it is done with the knowledge of God and His command. Our strength and energy for work increase when we have prayed to God to give us the strength we need for our daily work. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER ( Source : Lif

God exercises wisdom in permitting afflictions  and in removing afflictions. He is wise to suit his medicine to the condition of our disease. He cannot mistake the nature of our disease, or the  virtue of his remedy. Like a skilful Doctor, God sometimes prescribes bitter potions , and sometimes cheering cordials, according to the strength of the malady,  and necessity of the patient, to bring him to health. Everything that comes  from God  is for our good. He does not do anything in a rash and reckless way. His wisdom is as infinite as his goodness, and as exact in managing as his goodness is plentiful in streaming out to us. God understands our griefs, weighs our necessities, and no remedies are beyond the reach of his skilful planning. When our feeble intelligences are bewildered in a maze, and at the end of their line for a rescue, the remedies unknown to us are not unknown to God. When we do not know how to prevent a danger, the wise God has a thousand blocks to lay in the way. Whe

Why do people who claim that they feel they are born in the wrong body insist that the answer to their feeling is to change that body to conform to their feelings? I have never really understood their argument. Is it because they feel their feelings are immutable ?  In other words they believe what they feel is who they really are.  Now if that is their rationale it follows that their underlying assumption is that the true authentic part of us is that which is unchanging.  The problem is human beings by nature  are mutable. There is nothing immutable about us.  Only God is immutable.  We are always changing. We grow and decay. Indeed that is the order of the universe according to Big Bang cosmology and evolutionary theory that these people old dear.   So one cannot ground their identity in a some immutable characteristic they possess  because such a characteristic does not exist. The logic that being true to self is confirming one’s feeling, as a ground of authenticity, is frankly

The central argument of John Fresko’s  The Christian  and Technology  is that technology is a double-edged sword that requires cautious and intentional use. Continuous uncritical use of technology erodes hunger for the Word of God, makes us self-centred and turns our useful devices into idols. The book intends to promote proper use of technology by encouraging us to dig into our hearts to see whether Christ so fills us that nothing can drag us away from him. Fresko believes there is no need for us to flee from technology or become Luddites because technology is value neutral. It is not in of itself good or bad. Instead, we must focus on carefully evaluating how we think about and use technology. This necessarily requires us  not only to understand the relevant technology, but also understand ourselves. A key part of this is recognising that we struggle with technology because we lack contentment in Christ. The book explores explores six different technologies. I think the most fascina

The film  Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) is set in the 28th Century. The International Space Station (ISS) has grown into a space travelling city called Alpha where species from different planets live together exchanging their knowledge and culture. Peace is guaranteed by a special police force, that employs Major Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Sergeant Laureline (Cara Delevingne).  In one of the key scenes in the film, Valerian and Laureline are at Alpha. An alien race, called the Pearls, have abducted Commander Arun Filitt in order to retrieve a valuable instrument they call “the converter”. As they face off with the Pearls we discover that the Pearls are a victim of genocife inflicted by the human federation.  The Pearls' leader, Emperor Haban Limaï, explains that they lived peacefully on Mül until a battle occurred between the Federation and another faction. Commander Filitt attacked the enemy mothership knowing that it would crash on Mül and  annihilate life o

I have always enjoyed reading the writings of Paul David Tripp (PDT). What I like most about the way he writes is that he focuses on the good news of Christ. He wants us to know how amazing God is and what He has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ. So when I saw that PDT has written a new book on key doctrines of the Bible,  I was quite eager to read it, even though it is over 400 pages.   Do You Believe?   is exactly what it says on the tin. PDT looks at twelve key bible doctrines over twenty-four chapters. He spends two chapters on each doctrine. The first chapter describes the broad thrust of the doctrine, underpinned by PDT’s paraphrase of the relevant section of the  Westminster Confession of Faith . The second chapter focuses on specific applications to our lives.  There are important doctrines which are missed from the list. Most notably on the person and saving of Christ (Christology). However, PDT is clear from the beginning that his intention is “not to give us an exhaustiv

Who does not see, when he reads the history of the Church of Christ, repeated proofs that the best of men can err? The early fathers were zealous according to their knowledge, and ready to die for Christ. But many of them countenanced monasticism, and nearly all sowed the seeds of  many superstitions. The Reformers were honoured instruments in the hand of God for reviving the cause of truth on earth. Yet hardly one of them can be named who did not make some great mistake. Martin Luther held pertinaciously the doctrine of consubstantiation. Melancthon was often timid and undecided. Calvin permitted Servetus to be burned. Cranmer recanted and fell away for a time from his first faith. Jewell subscribed to Popish doctrines  for fear of death. Hooper disturbed the Church of England by over scrupulosity about vestments. The Puritans, in after times, denounced toleration as Abaddon and Apollyon. Wesley and Toplady, last century, abused each other in the most shameful language. Irving, in our

Satan was conquered by that nature he had cast headlong into ruin. A woman, by his subtlety, was the occasion of our death; and a woman, by the conduct of the only wise God, brings forth the author of our life and the conqueror of our enemies. The humanity of the old Adam had infected us, and the humanity of the new Adam cures us (1 Cor. 15:21, ‘By man came death; by man also came the resurrection from the dead’). We are killed by the old Adam, and raised by the new Adam; as among the Israelites, a fiery serpent gave the wound, and a brazen serpent administers the cure. The nature that was deceived bruises the deceiver, and destroys the foundations of his kingdom. Satan is defeated by the decisions he took to secure his possession, and loses the victory by the same means he thought he would preserve it.  His tempting the Jews to the sin of crucifying the Son of God, had a contrary success to his tempting Adam to eat of the tree. The first death he brought upon Adam ruined us, and the d

The wisdom of God is seen in suiting his laws to the consciences, as well as the interest of all mankind. ‘ The Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do what the law requires’ (Romans 2:14), so great an affinity there is between the wise law and the reason of man. There is a natural beauty emerging from them, and darting upon the reasons and consciences of men, which dictates to them that this law is worthy to be observed in itself.  The two main principles of the law, the love and worship of God, and doing as we would be done by, have an indelible impression in the consciences of all men in regard of the principle, though they are not suitably expressed in the practice.  Were there no law outwardly published, yet every man’s conscience would dictate to him that God was to be acknowledged, worshipped, loved, as naturally as his reason would acquaint him that there was such a being as God.  This suitableness of them to the consciences of men is manifest, in that the laws of the b

God’s laws are not an act of mere authority respecting his own glory, but of wisdom and goodness respecting man’s benefit. They are perfective of man’s nature, conferring a wisdom upon him, ‘rejoicing his heart, enlightening his eyes,’ (Psalm 19:7-8), affording him both a knowledge of God and of himself. To be without a law, is for man to be as beasts, without justice and without religion. Other things are for the good of the body, but the laws of God for the good of the soul; the more perfect the law, the greater the benefit.  The laws given to the Jews were the honour and excellency of that nation. ‘ What great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?’ (Deuteronomy 4:8).  They were made statesmen in the judicial law, ecclesiastics in the ceremonial, honest men in the second table, and divine in the first. All his laws are suited to the true satisfaction of man, and the good of human society…Everything that is disturbing to

God sometimes picks out people according to their natural tempers, and employs them in his work. Jehu, a man of a furious temper, and ambitious spirit, is called out for the destruction of Ahab’s house. Moses, a man furnished with all Egyptian wisdom, fitted by a generous education, prepared also by the affliction he met with in his flight, and one who had had the benefit of conversation with Jethro, a man of more than ordinary wisdom and goodness, as appears by his prudent and religious counsel, he is called out to be the head and captain of an oppressed people, and to rescue them from their bondage, and settle the first national church in the world. So Elijah, a high-spirited man, of a hot and angry temper, one that slighted the frowns and undervalued the favour of princes, is set up to stem the torrent of the Israelitish idolatry.  So Luther, a man of the same temper, is drawn out by the same wisdom to encounter the corruptions in the church, against such opposition, which a milder