God's Grace is Sufficient

Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace." ~ Jerry Bridges

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong." ~ 2 Cor 12:9-10

Scripture and Plain Reason

When Martin Luther was summoned to the Diet of Worms in 1521 and asked to recant his teaching, he replied, “Unless I am convinced by Scripture and plain reason, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything, for to go against conscience would be neither right nor safe. God help me. Here I stand, I can do no other.” Luther’s well-known formulation, “Scripture and plain reason,” is the only basis on which we can properly ground true spiritual discernment.

Scripture isn’t antithetical to sound, rational wisdom, though many today imagine otherwise. Reason is no substitute for Scripture, of course, but when good reason and sound logic are kept subject to the authority of Scripture, they are in no way a threat to the truth. On the contrary, the application of sound, logical thinking to the truth of Scripture is a key aspect of the formula for discernment.

Contrary to what a lot of people these days assume, discernment is not a mystical or intuitive ability to know the truth as if by magic. It is the skill of understanding, interpreting, and applying truth accurately. Discernment is a cognitive act. Therefore no one who spurns right doctrine or sound reason can be truly discerning.

Authentic spiritual discernment must begin with Scripture-revealed truth. Without a firm grounding in divine revelation, human reason always degenerates into skepticism (a denial that anything can be known for certain), rationalism (the theory that reason is a source of truth), secularism (an approach to life that purposely excludes God), or any number of other anti-Christian philosophies.

When Scripture condemns human wisdom (1 Cor. 3:19), it is not denouncing logic and reason per se, but humanistic ideology divorced from the divinely-revealed truth of God’s Word. In other words, reason apart from the Word of God leads inevitably to unsound ideas, but reason subjected to the Word of God is at the heart of wise spiritual discernment.

~ John MacArthur

Our behavior reveals what we believe!

"You cannot separate what a man believes from what he is.

For this reason doctrine is vitally important."

~ D. Martin Lloyd Jones

This is how it works

"God's work done God's way will never lack God's supply." ~ Hudson Taylor

How big is your God?

"Expect great things from God;

attempt great things for God."

~ William Carey, 1792

The Lord wants to be your strength - trust Him

Only he who can say,

"The Lord is the strength of my life"

can say,

"Of whom shall I be afraid."

~ Alexander MacLaren

Justification (how does man become right with God) by Faith

"But to him that worketh not (does not trust in their works to be right with God), but believeth on him (God, and specifically His Son who died on the cross and rose again for sinners) that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." ~ Rom 4:5

"For he (God the Father) hath made him (The Lord Jesus Christ) to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (the righteousness of Christ is put to our account)." ~ 2 Cor 5:21

"That if thou shalt confess (agree) with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (that Jesus is Lord), and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved (freed from the penalty of your sin, and clean from the filth of sin). For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation (declared righteous and at peace with God)." ~ Rom 10:9-10

Father, General, & Medal of Honor Recipient - Douglas MacArthur

"By profession I am a soldier and take great pride in that fact. But I am prouder - infinitely prouder - to be a father."

Luke 9:23 ~ Who are you following?

Decisional Regeneration?

Advice from Augustine

"A Christian should be an alleluia from head to foot"

What does it mean to "pray without ceasing?" (1 Thess 5:17)

John Wesley explains:

His heart is ever lifted up to God at all times and in all places. In this he is never hindered, much less interrupted, by any person or thing. In retirement or company, in leisure, business, or conversation, his heart is ever with the Lord. Whether he lie down or rise up, God is in all his thoughts; he walks with God continually, having the loving eye of his mind still fixed upon Him, and everywhere "seeing Him that is invisible."

What is Justification by Faith?

Are you trusting in your morality?

"Morality may keep you out of jail,

but it takes the blood of Jesus to keep you out of hell."

~ Charles Spurgeon

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:

Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood,

to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past,

through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness:

that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

Where is boasting then? It is excluded.

By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.

Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith

without the deeds of the law. ~ Rom 3:23-28

Mike Huckabee's view on evolution

O God, We Praise Thee

O God, we praise Thee;

and confess that Thou the only Lord

and everlasting Father art,

by all the earth adored.

To Thee all angels cry aloud;

to Thee the pow'rs on high,

both cherubim and seraphim,

continually do cry.

O holy, holy, holy Lord,

whom heav'nly hosts obey,

the world is with the glory filled

of Thy majestic ray.

Thy apostles glorious company

and prophets crowned with light,

with all the martyrs' noble host,

Thy constant praise recite.

The holy church throughout the world,

O Lord, confess Thee,

that Thou Eternal Father art,

of boundless majesty.

Thine honored, true, and only Son;

and Holy Ghost, the Spring

of never-ceasing joy: O Christ,

of glory Thou art King.

~ unknown author, 4th century

What are you holding on to?

"Nothing is too great

and nothing is too small

to commit into the hands of God."

~ A. W. Pink

"If I Die Before You Wake"

Thank You to the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

James 1:21-25

"Apply yourself wholly to the text,

and apply the text wholly to yourself."

~ Johann Bengel, 1742

Thoughts on Prayer from John Bunyan

Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to the Word of God, for the good of the church, with submission in faith to the will of God.