A Month of Thanksgiving~And What Moved Him to All This?

"Oh! blessed be God that hath chosen me to be of the number of His peculiar people...and for me to be one of His peculiar people, a member of Christ's mystical body, oh! what a privilege is this! And then what moved Him to all this? Nothing but His own free grace. Therefore praise the Lord."
~Thomas Manton

What Happens in That Small Church Out in the Sticks?

"What happens when a small group of saints gathers in a clapboard community church somewhere out in the sticks? At their call to worship, they ascend to the City of God, to the heavenly Jerusalem. They walk into the midst of innumerable angels (Heb. 12:22). They come to general assembly of the universal Church and into the presence of God Himself (Heb. 12:23). Scripture says this understanding should rattle us--we should start working out our salvation together with fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12-13). When we understand what is actually happening in a worship service, our contemporary flippancy evaporates."
~Doug Wilson, A Primer on Worship and Reformation

A Preservative for the Mind and Spirit

Meekness preserves the mind from being ruffled and discomposed, and the spirit from being unhinged by the vanities and vexations of this lower world. It stills the noise of the sea, the noise of her waves, and the tumult of the soul; it permits not the passions to crowd out in a disorderly manner, like a confused, ungoverned rabble, but draws them out like the trained bands, rank and file, every one in his own order, ready to march, to charge, to fire, to retreat, as wisdom and grace give the word of command.
~Matthew Henry, The Quest for Meekness and Quietness of Spirit

When We Call God a Liar

I do not know why some people think that it is meritorious to express doubt in matters of religion. They think that it is somehow vain or impolite to be certain and that it is humble and therefore desirable to say, "I do not know...I hope so...I would like to believe...I think..." Nothing could be more faulty. The humble person is the one who bows before God's revelation and accepts it because of who God is. It is a proud man who thinks he knows enough about anything to doubt God. Besides, God says that doubt is the equivalent of calling Him a liar; it is as much as to say that His word is untrustworthy. (cf. 1 John 5:10).

James Montgomery Boice, The Christ of the Empty Tomb

Ditch the Paralysis and Divining Rods and Just Do This

Many Christians take a "passive trust" approach to seeking guidance and direction from the Lord. They think that knowing God's will comes as God reveals His secret plan to them; then they will know what to do. But guidance is really a matter of obedient, active trust. I examine the options before me using the principles, themes, and perspectives of Scripture. Then, to the best of my knowledge and ability, I apply biblical wisdom and make a decision. My decision is not based on reading God's mind, but on things He has clearly revealed in His Word. As I step forward, I entrust myself to the Lord, knowing that He rules over everything and will place me where He wants me. This is the biblical model of guidance. Too many people have their "Christian divining rods" out in hopes of discovering the secret will of God. Meanwhile, the Bible in their hands is unopened--the thing God has said will be a "lamp to their feet and a light to their path"!
~Paul Tripp

Good News vs. Nice News

It is a terrible indictment that the civil message of pluralism sounds to us “more loving and Christlike” than the once common warnings of perdition, judgment, and divine justice. It is a frightful thing that we are more at home with the pleasant, non-confrontational, least common denominator messages and methodologies of our culture than we are with the holy alarms of Scripture. It is a senseless tragedy that we have carelessly foisted the fierce injustice of our own recalcitrance upon a hellbound world.

~George Grant, The Micah Mandate, from his chapter, Good News vs. Nice News

Blessed Are the Meek

These passages are taken from Spurgeon's most excellent sermon on the third beatitude, found here.  Highly, highly recommended!

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"The meek in spirit are like a photographer’s sensitive plates—as the Word of God passes before them, they desire to have its image imprinted upon their hearts. Their hearts are the fleshy tablets on which the mind of God is recorded. God is the Writer and they become living Epistles, written not with ink, but with the finger of the living God! Thus are they meek towards God."

"When a man is converted, the first operation of the Grace of God within his soul is to give him true poverty of spirit, so the first Beatitude is, “Blessed are the poor in spirit.” The Lord first makes us know our emptiness and so humbles us. Then next He makes us mourn over the deficiencies that are so manifest in us. Then comes the second Beatitude, “Blessed are they that mourn.” First, then, is a true knowledge of ourselves and then a sacred grief arising out of that knowledge. Now, no man ever becomes truly meek, in the Christian sense of that word, until he first knows himself and then begins to mourn and lament that he is so far short of what he ought to be. Self-righteousness is never meek." 

"It is true that it has a relationship to God, but a man’s meekness is especially towards his fellow men. He is not simply meek within himself—his meekness is manifest in his dealings with others. You would not speak of a hermit who never saw a fellow creature as being meek. The only way in which you could prove whether he was meek would be to put him with those who would try his temper." 

"The meek-spirited man may be naturally very hot and fiery, but he has had Grace given to him to keep his temper in subjection. He does not say, “That is my constitution and I cannot help it,” as so many do. God will never excuse us because of our constitution—His Grace is given to us to cure our evil constitutions and to kill our corruptions!"

"If you take your brother by the throat because he owes you a hundred pence, can you think that God will forgive you the thousand talents which you owe Him? So the meek-spirited man forgives those who wrong him—he reckons that injuries are permitted to be done to him as trials of his Grace, to see whether he can forgive them—and he does so, and does so right heartily."

"The meek-spirited man is not ambitious. He is satisfied with what God provides for him. He does not say that his soul loathes the daily manna. And the water from the Rock never loses its sweetness to his taste. His motto, is, “God’s Providence is my inheritance.” 

"If we are meek, we shall the more readily see the excellences of other people."

"With a gentle temper and a quiet spirit, and Grace to keep you so, you will be inheriting the earth under any circumstances. If trouble should come, you will bow to it as the willow bows to the wind and so escapes the injury that falls upon sturdier trees. If there should come little vexations, you will not allow yourself to be vexed by them, but will say, “With a little patience, they will all pass away.”

"But this must be the work of Grace. We must be born-again, or else our proud spirits will never be meek."

"Put those five qualities together and you have the truly meek man—humble, gentle, patient, forgiving and contented—the very opposite of the man who is proud, harsh, angry, revengeful and ambitious. It is only the Grace of God, as it works in us by the Holy Spirit, that can make us thus meek."

"There are some people who are very gentle and meek as long as nobody tries them. We are, all of us, remarkably good-tempered while we have our own way. But the true meekness which is a work of Grace will stand the fire of persecution and will endure the test of enmity, cruelty and wrong—even as the meekness of Christ did upon the Cross of Calvary.

"The meek-spirited man is glad to know that other people are happy—and their happiness is his happiness! He will have a great number of heavens, for everybody else’s Heaven will be a Heaven to him! It will be a Heaven to him to know that so many other people are in Heaven, and for each one whom he sees there, he will praise the Lord. Meekness gives us the enjoyment of what is other people’s, yet they have none the less because of our enjoyment of it!"

'Tis Not That I Did Choose Thee

'Tis not that I did choose thee,
For, Lord, that could not be;
This heart would still refuse thee,
Hadst thou not chosen me.
Thou from the sin that stained me
Hast cleansed and set me free;
Of old thou hast ordained me,
That I should live to thee.

'Twas sovereign mercy called me
And taught my op'ning mind;
The world had else enthralled me,
To heavenly glories blind.
My heart owns none before thee,
For thy rich grace I thirst;
This knowing, if I love thee,
Thou must have loved me first.

~Josiah Conder, 1843

When The Frog is Boiling, and the Frog is Us

J. C. Ryle once said that there is a hatred that is downright charity, and that is the hatred of erroneous doctrine. Erroneous doctrine, heretical doctrine is what Mormons believe, and to say anything else is to deny our Christian faith.

I'm shocked by Franklin Graham's being "shocked" that his website labeled Mormonism a "cult." I'm shocked by his reticence to call Mormons what they are...false teachers who preach a different gospel, who are leading many straight to hell, black suits, bicycles, and all.

Why should I care? Why should my blood pressure rise when I read stuff like this? Why should this Mom of 9 take precious time to make my objections known? I mean, there's laundry to do, meals to cook, boo-boos to kiss, and bills to pay.

But there are also souls to disciple and train up for His glory. That's why this matters.

When you teach your children that 2+2=4, and they start hearing the whispers that 2+2 can really equal 3 or 5 or 9 or that we shouldn't declare without apology that 2+2=4, will they abandon the truth or believe they've just misunderstood 2+2 all these years? Perhaps they've defined 2+2 so narrowly, and love and time now reveal to the more enlightened ones that 2+2 can be whatever it needs to be to whomever.

This isn't just about Franklin Graham and his Dad denying the power and truth of THE gospel. They're not the only ones who have compromised.

This is about the slippery slope into heresy, the frog in the pot of boiling water that doesn't even know it's dying. This is about sugar-coated apostasy, weak-willed calls for accountability, and Christians who are so Scripturally ignorant that we buy in to it all.

We are the frogs, Christians, and we're boiling in a pot of lies and heresy and compromise and relativism.

I'm not a pastor or a master theologian. I haven't been to seminary or studied theology for years, but I do know what the gospel is and what it isn't. And frankly, I'm weary of some pastors and master theologians trying to convince me that the gospel really isn't what I thought it was. Or that so-and-so really isn't denying the gospel or truly hasn't left the faith. 

Or that I must tiptoe around the truth, because that's what grace would do.

Don't say Mr. Graham is misunderstood.

Don't say the Mormons are misunderstood.

Don't say it's not loving to speak the truth.

Don't say the gospel is not offensive.

Don't say Graham should not be held to a higher standard and that his politically correct dance around truth and words won't cause some to stumble.

Do say, "God help us."

God help us train us bold souls for His glory, souls that stand fast on His Word and are not carried away by every wind of doctrine, by every man with "strong moral convictions", by every mega church or sharp-dressed preacher with a silver tongue and snow-white teeth who fears man more than he fears the God he professes to love.

God help us not put stumbling blocks before our children by catering to relativistic distortions of the gospel that deny the very Savior who was spat on and beaten and scorned and mocked and who suffered the wrath of God for our sakes.

God help us remember, as Morley said, that the enemies of truth are awfully nice.

We must teach our children, and teach them well. Teach them faithfully. Teach them firmly. Teach them and be willing to be persecuted for what we teach them. Teach them that the truth of His Word is more important than popularity or friends or blog stats. Teach them that it is LOVE to speak the truth, that showing grace doesn't mean compromise, that the gospel is offensive. 

Teach them that we can recite perfectly the truth of the gospel, while boldly living out its antithesis.

With love,

Trisha

Lord, Thy Will Be Done...But Here Are My Suggestions

You pray that the will of God may be done on earth as it is in heaven, and yet when it seems contrary to your will or interest you struggle or fret against it. You profess to have committed your souls to His keeping, and to leave your eternal concerns in His hands, and yet cannot commit things infinitely less valuable unto Him. How contradictory are these things!

You profess to be led by the Spirit, but this practice shows you follow the perverse counsels of your own spirits. O, then, regret no more, dispute no more, but lie down meekly at your Father's feet, and say in all cases and at all times, "The will of the Lord be done."
~John Flavel
The Mystery of Providence, p. 218