This is an article written by Albert Mohler refuting some totally absurd claims about marriage that have been put forth by Hollywood and the news media. Well worth reading - click on link below!
http://www.albertmohler.com/2011/05/09/killing-off-marriage-dr-ablow-reports-you-decide/
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil;
Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness;
Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes,
And prudent in their own sight!
I pray for our nation and that we who believe would have God's strength to proclaim His truth in the face of increasing persecution!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
A Short Birthday Testimony
Today is my birthday. Forty six years ago in Rochester NY my mother gave birth to me - Mothers Day 1965. A gift, it might depend when you asked her? Thanks for all you did for me Mom!
That is my physical birth, what about my spiritual birth? I was strongly moved to respond to a Gospel invitation at a church lock-in my sister took me to when I was around eleven years old. I had some sense that I should live differently and even considered myself a Christian since I had responded to an invitation and believe something had happened that night. I also had very strong doubts about some Christian beliefs and if someone who lived as I did could possibly be saved.
It wasn't until about twenty years later when I had hit somewhat of a bottom in life that everything truly changed. Late January 1997 while simply walking through my house in a mental fog from a lifestyle that was completely out of control - everything changed. That day, in a moment, what had previously been at best mental assent to some facts of the gospel became real faith. I now wanted to follow the Jesus I had previously been unwilling and unable to truly comprehend.
What is my point, to comment on the value of church lock-ins, or invitations, or when salvation really occurred in my life? No, simply to say thank you Jesus for taking what you began through my earthly physical birth and giving it eternal value through my "rebirth" by your blood - according to Your will and for Your glory!
Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (NKJV)
Why save me? Why do it like this? Why keep me for salvation when I still sin? I can't say for sure, but clearly He will have all the glory.
Thank you Jesus!
That is my physical birth, what about my spiritual birth? I was strongly moved to respond to a Gospel invitation at a church lock-in my sister took me to when I was around eleven years old. I had some sense that I should live differently and even considered myself a Christian since I had responded to an invitation and believe something had happened that night. I also had very strong doubts about some Christian beliefs and if someone who lived as I did could possibly be saved.
It wasn't until about twenty years later when I had hit somewhat of a bottom in life that everything truly changed. Late January 1997 while simply walking through my house in a mental fog from a lifestyle that was completely out of control - everything changed. That day, in a moment, what had previously been at best mental assent to some facts of the gospel became real faith. I now wanted to follow the Jesus I had previously been unwilling and unable to truly comprehend.
What is my point, to comment on the value of church lock-ins, or invitations, or when salvation really occurred in my life? No, simply to say thank you Jesus for taking what you began through my earthly physical birth and giving it eternal value through my "rebirth" by your blood - according to Your will and for Your glory!
Col. 1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. (NKJV)
Why save me? Why do it like this? Why keep me for salvation when I still sin? I can't say for sure, but clearly He will have all the glory.
Thank you Jesus!
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
The National Day of Prayer - is it up to the courts?
Last year a federal judge in Wisconsin declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional. This year a higher court in Chicago overturned that ruling on the grounds that those who brought the case lacked proper legal standing. So, for this year at least, the U.S. government will recognize May 5 as The National Day of Prayer. Next year it may be found unconstitutional again if challenged with proper legal ducks in a row.
I was struck by the irony that we see the National Day of Prayer as a legal or political battle to be fought with the weapons of lawyers, political pressure and the votes of freedom loving Americans. All these are certainly reasonable and we must do all we can to defend our country from decline, including the harm caused by a forced secularism that goes way beyond the constitutional idea of separation of church and state. If these are some tools for overcoming our enemies and defending our country, are they the only or best tools at our disposal? What about prayer, can God, would God, intervene on our behalf in these issues? Is our country in the mess it is because we have spent too much time praying and not enough time engaging in politics?
The Psalms are praises to God for His past help and appeals to God for present and future help. Would we see our weakness and God's power as practical to our lives as the Psalmist did? Would we pray first and most (all year) and then do the things we can do?
Psalm 71
Let me never be put to shame.
2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
3 Be my strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
You are my trust from my youth.
6 By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
7 I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,
11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let them be confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
Who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.
19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
22 Also with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt. (NKJV)
Who has the power? Seek, pray, praise, trust and know victory is in Him!
I was struck by the irony that we see the National Day of Prayer as a legal or political battle to be fought with the weapons of lawyers, political pressure and the votes of freedom loving Americans. All these are certainly reasonable and we must do all we can to defend our country from decline, including the harm caused by a forced secularism that goes way beyond the constitutional idea of separation of church and state. If these are some tools for overcoming our enemies and defending our country, are they the only or best tools at our disposal? What about prayer, can God, would God, intervene on our behalf in these issues? Is our country in the mess it is because we have spent too much time praying and not enough time engaging in politics?
The Psalms are praises to God for His past help and appeals to God for present and future help. Would we see our weakness and God's power as practical to our lives as the Psalmist did? Would we pray first and most (all year) and then do the things we can do?
Psalm 71
God the Rock of Salvation
1 In You, O LORD, I put my trust;Let me never be put to shame.
2 Deliver me in Your righteousness, and cause me to escape;
Incline Your ear to me, and save me.
3 Be my strong refuge,
To which I may resort continually;
You have given the commandment to save me,
For You are my rock and my fortress.
4 Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
5 For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
You are my trust from my youth.
6 By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You.
7 I have become as a wonder to many,
But You are my strong refuge.
8 Let my mouth be filled with Your praise
And with Your glory all the day.
9 Do not cast me off in the time of old age;
Do not forsake me when my strength fails.
10 For my enemies speak against me;
And those who lie in wait for my life take counsel together,
11 Saying, “God has forsaken him;
Pursue and take him, for there is none to deliver him.”
12 O God, do not be far from me;
O my God, make haste to help me!
13 Let them be confounded and consumed
Who are adversaries of my life;
Let them be covered with reproach and dishonor
Who seek my hurt.
14 But I will hope continually,
And will praise You yet more and more.
15 My mouth shall tell of Your righteousness
And Your salvation all the day,
For I do not know their limits.
16 I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD;
I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only.
17 O God, You have taught me from my youth;
And to this day I declare Your wondrous works.
18 Now also when I am old and grayheaded,
O God, do not forsake me,
Until I declare Your strength to this generation,
Your power to everyone who is to come.
19 Also Your righteousness, O God, is very high,
You who have done great things;
O God, who is like You?
20 You, who have shown me great and severe troubles,
Shall revive me again,
And bring me up again from the depths of the earth.
21 You shall increase my greatness,
And comfort me on every side.
22 Also with the lute I will praise You—
And Your faithfulness, O my God!
To You I will sing with the harp,
O Holy One of Israel.
23 My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing to You,
And my soul, which You have redeemed.
24 My tongue also shall talk of Your righteousness all the day long;
For they are confounded,
For they are brought to shame
Who seek my hurt. (NKJV)
Who has the power? Seek, pray, praise, trust and know victory is in Him!
Monday, May 2, 2011
How should we live in relationship to the world?
There is not a place to which the Christian can withdraw from the world, whether it be outwardly or in the sphere of the inner life. Any attempt to escape from the world must sooner or later be paid for with a sinful surrender to the world. Ethics, Dietrich Bonhoeffer
1 Peter 3:13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (NKJV)
Interesting that the discomfort we feel at the hands of unbelievers, the same discomfort we seek to avoid by retreating into our Christian sub-culture, is actually meant to be the vehicle by which the gospel is shared with the lost, we are drawn closer to our Lord and the blessings of God are experienced by us - His children!
1 Peter 3:13 And who is he who will harm you if you become followers of what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you are blessed. “And do not be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.” 15 But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear; 16 having a good conscience, that when they defame you as evildoers, those who revile your good conduct in Christ may be ashamed. 17 For it is better, if it is the will of God, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. (NKJV)
Interesting that the discomfort we feel at the hands of unbelievers, the same discomfort we seek to avoid by retreating into our Christian sub-culture, is actually meant to be the vehicle by which the gospel is shared with the lost, we are drawn closer to our Lord and the blessings of God are experienced by us - His children!
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