Words for the New Year

“Part of saving faith is the assurance that you will have faith tomorrow. Trusting Christ today includes trusting him to give you tomorrow’s trust when tomorrow comes. Often we feel like our reservoir of strength is not going to last for another day. The fact is, it won’t. Today’s resources are for today, and part of those resources is the confidence that new resources will be given tomorrow.’

John Piper in A Godward Life

Christmas Eve

Looking forward to the 6th Annual Lessons & Carols Service tonight. “Welcome to earth, thou noble guest, through whom the sinful world is blest, Martin Luther, 1535.

For the Lord's Day

'It was not suddenly and unannounced that Jesus came into the world. He came into a world that had been prepared for him. The whole Old Testament is the story of a special preparation … Only when all was ready, only in the fullness of his time, did Jesus come." - - Phillips Brooks, (author, O Little Town of Bethlehem) The Consolations of God

Persecuted Christian

China Aid is reporting the continued imprisonment and torture of Christian human rights attorney Gao Zhisheng. Gao was last seen on February 4, 2009.

"ChinaAid recently received another report from inside sources in China that Gao Zhisheng has been severely beaten by authorities. The report stated his current living condition is worse than death and that Gao is crying daily in pain and desperation.

The Chinese government has responded to the increased worldwide pressure for Gao Zhisheng's release by cutting off communication with two of Gao's siblings living in China and placing them under police surveillance.

In a November 26th interview with Radio Free Asia, Gao's brother, Gao Zhiyi, stated, "For every question, there are three unknowns. No one knows anything. They won't talk to us and they won't meet with us... Even if Gao Zhisheng had committed a terrible crime, his family would still have the right to know what had happened to him!"

On Saturday, December 5th, Gao's older brother (Zhiyi) and sister lost all communication contact when their phone lines were disabled, following the release of the RFA interview."

For more information please go to Free Gao dot com.

For The Lord's Day

“Welcome to earth, thou noble guest, through whom the sinful world is blest! In my distress thou com’st to me; what thanks shall I return to thee?” -- Martin Luther, 1535

For the Lord's Day

"Our God can work through means or above them. He that puts the treasure into earthen vessels, often allows the vessels to be chipped and broken, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us."

- Robert Murray M’Cheyne

The Manhattan Declaration

I became aware of the Manhattan Declaration late Sunday afternoon. It is a 'line in the sand' to the culture and to the government from Orthodox, Catholic and Evangelical believers; that on the issues of right-to-life, marriage between a man and a woman, and freedom of religious speech we will never bow the knee to Caesar. I signed it as soon as I read it. Such a stand is necessary as Al Mohler describes on his blog. You may read the full text of the Manhattan Declaration here. I urge you to sign it as well.

For the Lord's Day

In his section in the Institutes (Book I, XVII, 6) Calvin writes concerning God's providence as solace to believers: "... the principal purpose of Biblical history is to teach that the Lord watches over the ways of the saints with such great diligence that they do not even stumble over a stone [cf. Ps. 91:12].

“O God, you have commanded us to walk in the Spirit and not to fulfill the lusts of the flesh; make us perfect, we pray, in love, that we may conquer our natural selfishness and give ourselves to others. Fill our hearts with your joy, and garrison them with your peace; make us longsuffering and gentle, and thus subdue our hasty and angry tempers; give us faithfulness, meekness and self-control; so that crucifying the flesh with its affections and lusts, we may bring forth fruit of the Spirit to your praise and glory…”

Henry Alford, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral, 1857-1891

Veterans Day 2009, Ft. Hood

Thanks to those who served, who died, and who continue to serve to keep us free. My prayers are for the families of those killed, the wounded and their families and the Ft. Hood community - all casualties of the massacre perpetrated by Muslim terrorist Nidal Malik Hasan.

For the Lord's Day

All creation joins in praising

Christ, the savior of our race,

Drawn from ev’ry tribe and nation,

People, language, time and place:

“Holy, holy, holy, holy

Is our God, the God of grace.”

--Hymns for a Modern Reformation, James Montgomery Boice

Reformation Day Service

We have chosen to celebrate Reformation Sunday as close as possible to October 31. My text for Today's Reformation Day Service: Jeremiah 6:16 (English Standard Version) "Thus says the LORD:"Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' " Phil Ryken comments about this passage:" Novelty is the enemy of orthodoxy."

For the Lord's Day

People ought to come to corporate worship services to get. They ought to come starved for God. They ought to come saying, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God” (Psalm 42:1). God is profoundly honored when people know they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God. And it is my job as a preacher to spread a banquet before them. I must show them from Scripture what they are really starving for – God – and then feed them well until they say, “Ahhh.” That is worship.” - John Piper, The Dangerous Duty of Delight

For the Lord's Day

“To properly evaluate the place of good works in the Christian life, we must understand that grace maintains the value of God’s children apart from any merit of their own; but we must also understand that God uses our obedience to promote our good and his glory. By our accomplishments God works his holy purposes in our lives, provides us with many temporal blessings and, most of all, fulfills our Spirit-instilled longing to honor God with all our heart, soul, mind and might.” Bryan Chapell, President of Covenant Seminary, in Holiness by Grace

Sorry not to have posted for a while - vacation

For the Lord's Day

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means he does not understand Christianity very well at all. – J. I. Packer, Knowing God

For the Lord's Day

“I have no hesitation in asserting once again that one of the reasons why the Christian Church counts for so little in the modern world is that so many Christians are in this condition [of spiritual depression]. The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful Church… Unhappy Christians are, to say the least, a poor recommendation of the Christian Faith”

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones in Spiritual Depression (1954)

For the Lord's Day

The biblical motive for being a forgiving person may be deeper than being forgiven. It is true to say: The motive for being a forgiving person is that we have been forgiven by God when we did not deserve it (Ephesians 4:32). The bottom of this motive is not God’s forgiveness, but what God’s forgiveness gives. It gives us God. … God is the goal of forgiveness. He is also the ground and means of forgiveness. It comes from him; it was accomplished through his Son; and it leads people back to him with their sins cast into the deepest sea. Therefore the motive for being a forgiving person is the joy of being freely and joyfully at home with God. – Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper

The New Paganism and Politics

Dr. Peter Jones over at truthXchange (formerly Christian Witness to a Pagan Planet) has a wonderful new article about the marriage of politics and a new brand of religion; I cannot call it Christianity since Christ is absent from it. You may read it here . I would urge you to subscribe to the newsletter.

For the Lord's Day (early)

John Calvin: On Learning from God Yet nothing shall ever hinder me from openly avowing what I have learned from the Word of God; for nothing but what is useful is taught in the school of this master. It is my only guide, and to acquiesce in its plain doctrines shall be my constant rule of wisdom. (From History of the Christian Church, Vol. VIII: Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation)

Persecuted Church

Voice of the Martyrs reports that Christians in the Gojra section of Pakistan have been killed by radical Muslims. The Christians were alleged to have desecrates the Quran during a wedding. Eight Christians were killed, including women and children. More than 100 Christian homes were burned by a mob. The mob, which was estimated to be more than 20,000 people, also burned a church. Emergency personnel did not reach Gojra for more than five hours. Christians were forced to use vegetable carts to move their dead and wounded to the hospital. Responding to an international outcry, Pakistani government officials have now said no Quran was desecrated. The government promised to help rebuild the burned homes of Christian families. The incident took place August 1. Pray for the Persecuted Church.

For the Lord's Day

"I believe in the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should have never chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love.” -- Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Baptist minister

For the Lord's Day

– “When you go through a trial, the sovereignty of God is the pillow on which you lay your head.” -- Charles Spurgeon, 19th century Baptist pastor in London

For the Lord's Day

What can separate my soul from the God who made me whole,

Wrote my name in heaven’s scroll? Nothing, Hallelujah!

Trouble, hardship, danger, sword brought by those who hate my Lord?

Slander here? Or no reward? Nothing, Hallelujah! -- James Montgomery Boice