One Thousand Thoughts About Church…#937

“The metaphor of the church as an organism – at least two distinctive uses of ‘body,’ for instance, not to mention pictures of the church as a unit being the bride of Christ – makes one wonder if one is doing full justice to the word ‘church’ if it can be said to refer to two or three Christians who happen to meet at a bus stop and happily exchange a biblical verse or two. No doubt Christ is with them, but does this small collective of Christians function the way the church does in the New Testament?” – D.A. Carson

 

One Thousand Thoughts About Church…#938

“As a church, we must explain the main point of the Bible; it is the only way to engender real interest in it, and it is the only way to be honest. True, the main point of Christianity may be offensive to some, but Paul warns us about this in his first letter to the church of Corinth: ‘For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to those who are being saved, it is the power of God’” – Jay Lemke

 

One Thousand Thoughts About Church…#939

“Worship assemblies for Christians are to be characterized by good order, not confusion (1 Cor. 14:26, 33, 40). Thus New Testament congregational worship is led and governed by the overseers (elders who “take care of the Church of God,” 1 Tim. 3:-45). That this is the rule for New Testament worship is illustrated by the fact that Paul wrote to deliver instructions for the life of the church, including its corporate worship services, to pastors like Timothy (e.g. 1 Tim. 2:1, 8,11; 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2).” – Greg Bahnsen

 

Why Flowing Faith?

Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Anniston, Alabama is hosting a Bible Conference from September 11, 2011 to September 14, 2011. We are calling it the Flowing Faith Conference and at the Flowing Faith Conference blog, I have posted an article that will explain how we came about our theme. Below is an excerpt.

ITS PROVIDENTIAL BIRTH. The Flowing Faith Conference was born of God’s providence. It was not something that was calculated or prayed for as something that would manifest through our careful planning or arise from our concerted petitions. Having asked Don Currin to speak on the Tuesday at the Sovereign Grace Baptist Fellowship annual meeting, and also on the Monday preceding it, Brother Currin offered to speak on Sunday through Wednesday.… Read More

via Flowing Faith Conference

 

The Lord is My Strength

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.” —Psalms 28:7

My dear friend, if you can say, “The Lord is my strength,” you can bear anything and everything. You could bear a martyr’s death if the Lord should be your strength. He could make a stalk of wheat to bear up the whole world if he strengthened it; and the faintest and most trembling child of his that ever whispered a prayer, he can make to bear the greatest griefs and the heaviest trials without the slightest repining, for his Spirit can infuse unconquerable patience into the believing heart.

-Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892)
MTP  Vol. 24, Sermon No. 1423

 

Self-Righteous Vindication Condemned by the Cross of Christ

“But again, God judgeth such, for those that condemn him of foolishness— ‘The preaching of the cross,’ that is, Christ crucified, ‘is to them that perish foolishness’ (1 Cor 1:18, 23). What, saith the merit-monger, will you look for life by the obedience of another man? Will you trust to the blood that was shed upon the cross, that run down to the ground, and perished in the dust? Thus deridingly they scoff at, stumble upon, and are taken in the gin that attends the gospel; not to salvation, but to their condemnation, because they have condemned the Just, that they might justify their own filthy righteousness (Isa 8:14).”

—John Bunyan
Justification by an Imputed Righteousness

 

Encore: Love’s Expectancy

Originally posted a year ago, August 21, 2010, this encore presentation of Love’s Expectancy coincides with today’s reading from Robert Murray McCheyne’s Bible Reading Plan, “Daily Bread.”

“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” —Romans 13:11

Having paraphrased the scriptures from the passages, Romans 13:11-14

Sung to a meter not typically found in hymnals, 6.8.6.8.10.11.11.

Love’s Expectancy
(Love, the Expectant Return of Christ)

by Jon Cardwell

11  And that, knowing the time,
It’s high time to wake out of sleep;
For now, our salvation
is nearer than when we believ’d
12  The time is far spent;
The day is at hand.
In Christ’s precious armor
By His grace we stand.
Cast off works
Of darkness, by His grace we can.

13  Let us walk honestly
As though in the glorious day;
And not in rioting,
Nor drunkenness; that’s not God’s way.
Not in chambering,
Nor wantonness too;
For envy and strife, they
Do not become you.
14  Put on Christ.
Look to Him, by His love we do.

Put on Jesus our Lord,
Be cloth’d now in His righteousness.
And make no provision
To fulfill the lusts of the flesh.
Jesus is coming,
We must be prepar’d;
Let’s go to prayer
And stay in His Word.
Put on Christ.
He’s coming, as He has declar’d!