Mighty to Save

Isaiah 63:1 “…Mighty to save”

By the words “to save” we understand the whole of the great work of salvation, from the first holy desire onward to complete sanctification.  The words are maltum in parvo; indeed, here is all mercy in one word.  Christ is not only “mighty to save” those who repent, but He is able to make men repent.  He will carry those to heaven who believe; but He is, moreover, mighty to give men new hearts, and to work faith in them.  He is mighty to make the man who hates holiness love it, and to constrain the despiser of His name to bend the knee before him.  Nay, this is not all the meaning, for the divine power is equally seen in the afterwork.  The life of a believer is a series of miracles wrought by “the Mighty God.”  The bush burns, but is not consumed.  He is mighty to keep His people holy after He has made them so, and to preserve them in His fear and love until He consummates their spiritual existence in heaven.  Christ’s might doth not lie in making a believer and then leaving him to shift for himself, but He who begins the good work carries it on;  He who imparts the first germ of life in the dead soul, prolongs the divine existence, and strengthens it until it bursts asunder every bond of sin, and the soul leaps from earth, perfected in glory.  Believer, here is encouragement.  Art thou praying for some beloved one?  O give not up thy prayers, for Christ is “mighty to save.”  You are powerless to reclaim the rebel, but your Lord is Almighty.  Lay hold on that mighty arm, and rouse it to put forth its strength.  Does your own case trouble you?  Fear not, for His strength is sufficient for you.  Whether to begin with others, or to carry on the work in you, Jesus is “mighty to save;”  the best proof of which lies in the fact, that He has saved you.  What a thousand mercies that you have not found Him mighty to destroy!

Taken from Morning By Morning devotional for January 14 by C.H.Spurgeon

Spurgeon’s Standards for Conversion and Church Membership

The following is an excerpt from a new book by Tom Nettles Living for Revealed Truth: The Life and Pastoral Theology of Charles Haddon Spurgeon  as posted by Jeremy Walker at blogsite Reformation 21.

          “Spurgeon was adamant that the door to the church be well-guarded, and had a carefully-developed system whereby converts applying for membership were graciously but robustly assessed by elders, himself, and the whole congregation.”

          “At two separate points in the book, Nettles shows how - at times of particular evangelistic endeavour, as well as during the more regular procedures of church life - the saints were encouraged to make a thoughtful and scriptural assessment of a man's standing with God and prospective relationship with the local church.”

          “Perhaps, in our day, we are not always sure what we should be looking for in the heart and life of men and women who profess faith in the Lord Jesus. Far too many churches, perhaps feeling the pressure of numbers or some other force, are inclined to drop their standards or blur their distinctions, if they have them in the first place. In the face of that, these standards seem to me to be thoroughly biblical, genuinely gracious, and appropriately robust. They combine doctrinal understanding, experimental religion, and principled obedience - a religion of head, heart and hand, if you will. If more congregations embraced a righteous assessment of this sort with regard to professing converts and applicants for membership, I am persuaded that they would be spiritually healthier places than they too often are.”

 

Originally posted on January 9, 2014 by Jeremy Walker

Read the entire article at http://www.reformation21.org/blog/2014/01/spurgeons-standards-for-conver.php

The Soil of the Prosperity Gospel

While the prosperity gospel comes packaged in a number of different forms—Word of Faith, Positive Confession, and so on—the core product is consistent. At its heart is the conviction that human words and faith shape reality. We are empowered to speak life into being, but regrettably few of us are aware of this great privilege. The reason we do not have the financial security, health, and success we want is that we do not call it forth and draw it unto ourselves. Beneath this claim rests a high anthropology, which regards human beings as fundamentally good and ultimately powerful.

One need not look far to see that this message has resonated with a massive audience, both in the United States and abroad. Joel Osteen, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Benny Hinn—the list of celebrity prosperity preachers is seemingly endless, with many of them broadcasting on TBN. These preachers hawk their television ministries, books, podcasts, CDs, and retreats to hungry consumers eager to find out how they can maximize their potential to live a life of fullness and well-being, to “break out” of the desperation of broken dreams and dashed hopes (as Osteen’s latest book instructs).

It is a tempting and intoxicating brew, appealing to basic human inclinations and culturally conditioned desires, offering a quick high but a nasty hangover. And it’s extremely lucrative for its purveyors, since one of the principal ways to demonstrate faith is to sow financial seeds, which is to say, give gifts to prosperity preachers or purchase their products. The resulting fleets of luxury automobiles, massive homes, and Italian suits might strike critics as garish, but prosperity preachers retort with a smile that their lives and bank accounts merely verify the truth of their messages.

How did we get to a place where such a clearly debased form of Christianity holds sway with so many people?

Read the entire enlightening article HERE.

Article posted by Jonathan Baer on December 20, 2013.

Jonathan Baer is an associate professor of religion at Wabash College and a deacon at First Christian Church in Crawfordsville, Indiana.

http://www.9marks.org/blog/soil-prosperity-gospel

Pluck the I out of your iPhone

The advent of smart phones has introduced an unprecedented rate of interruption into our social interactions. Phones have made us selfish and inconsiderate in ways that used to be deemed boorish and uncultured.

Formerly, if someone walked up to you and began talking while you were already engaged in another conversation, that person would be considered rude.

But this decade has made us feel rude for not replying instantly to any interruption that hails from our phone.

You know how frustrating it is to be halted mid-sentence by a text chime tone, only to have the person you were talking with treat the “What’s up?” ping as if it were a life-and-death enquiry. I understand if Jack Bauer asked me to hold my thought while he checked the text message from the President. But very few people work for CTU or are on call to intercept a terrorist attack.

Most people answer their phones for one reason only: they heard it “Ping.” How Pavlovian can you get?

Consider just how inconsiderate and demeaning it is to peer intently into a screen, while the person in front of your face is still talking to you.

And even if the message is from an important source for a truly urgent reason, surely we owe it to whomever we are conversing with to let them finish their thought, or otherwise excuse ourselves with an explanation of why this intruder is legitimately more important than they are.

I believe this is becoming an area in which Christians can witness and set an example. Personally, I am going to resolve this new year to not allow my phone to make me behave inconsiderately to those I love.

By the way, I once rejected a phone call during a family dinner. Do you know what happened? Nothing. Go figure. Apparently my availability is not as critical to national security as Jack Bauer’s. 

Phillipians  2:3b  … in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Excerpted from “4 Godly Disciplines Unique to this Decade” posted on December 30, 2013 at “The Cripplegate” by Clint Archer.  For the complete article see http://thecripplegate.com/4-godly-disciplines-unique-to-this-decade