King Herod.. the Original Scrooge

Herod was king when Jesus was born... there were Herods before him and Herods after him. And for the most part. they were all alike. Corrupted by their own power and there thirst for more influence, they only looked out for themselves. When Jesus was born and the wise men told Herod that a new king had been born.. well... that was more than old Herod could take. He had all the male children under the age of two slaughtered. Jesus was taken to Egypt. That's what saved Christmas. Herod, the original Scrooge died and another Herod took his place. Before long the Herodian dynasty had all died out. But the boy Jesus grew to be a man. He perfectly obeyed God all of His life. He willingly gave His life for us, His enemies. He rose from the dead to proclaim the victory of God over sin. His dynasty will never die out! His is an eternal kingdom!  God's grace triumphs over man's failure. He is a living Savior... He offers us life - His life as a free gift. Jesus is the best Christmas gift I've ever received...  You can have Him too if you come with the empty hands of faith. - Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved (Acts 6:13)
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

"And suddenly..."

"And suddenly there with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased."
                                                                                                                 Luke 2: 13 -14 (ESV)
The word "host" in the Greek is "stratia". One of the meanings of the word is an assembled, strategic, army.... when God's army invaded earth on the first Christmas they declared peace. But only peace with whom He was pleased. Peace on earth is fine and dandy and we should pursue peace as much as it is possible. But the peace God is talking about isn't the absence of conflict among humans. It is a peace between God and man and with the ones with whom He is pleased. Ephesians 2:3 reminds us that we are by nature children of God's wrath. Romans 3 quotes the Psalms and reminds us that no one is good and no one seeks after God. It must be God who draws us near (John 6:44). It is God who brings us back to life and makes us at peace with Himself and makes us fit for His use in His kingdom. (Ephesians 2:1-10) ... This Christmas season, let's all remember that without the baby born in Bethlehem we would have no one to make peace between a holy, righteous God and ourselves. -- O Come Let us Adore Him..... Christ the Lord!

Being Happy in God

Often times Christians feel guilty if they are happy. The JOY part we know about. Christian Joy is something that is not controlled by circumstances. I read in an old "Daily Bread" devotional years ago that, "Happiness depends on happenings but joy depends on Jesus. This is quite true. We can and should be joyful even in unhappy circumstances. But again, if our happiness and joy are both found in the same place, or rather the same Person; we can always have both. True Christian happiness is the joy of knowing Jesus and being found in Him.
I've been reading "More Precious Than Gold" , 50  Daily Meditations on the Psalms; by Sam Storms. I love his definition; "Happiness is the whole soul resting in God and rejoicing that such a beautiful and glorious Being is ours."  ... Amen!

Spurgeon - Prince of Preachers

“If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot deny himself.”
                                                                                        2 Timothy 2:13
“I tell you, if he were to shut you out, dear soul, whoever you may be, if you go to him, he would deny himself. He never did deny himself yet. Whenever a sinner comes to him he becomes his Savior. Whenever he meets a sick soul he acts as his Physician. . . . If you go to him you will find him at home and on the look-out for you. He will be more glad to receive you than you will be to be received. . . . As Matthew sat at the receipt of custom, waiting for the people to pay their dues, so does Christ sit at the receipt of sinners, waiting for them to mention their wants. He is watching for you. I tell you again that he cannot reject you. That would be to alter his whole character and un-Christ himself. To spurn a coming sinner would un-Jesus him and make him to be somebody else and not himself any longer. ‘He cannot deny himself.’ Go and try him; go and try him.”
C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1950), III:862.

Another Gem from Ortlund

Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets. Luke 6:26
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account . . . for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. Matthew 5:11-12
The Bible warns us against “an unhealthy craving for controversy” (1 Timothy 6:4) and guides us toward “the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Timothy 6:3). That is clear, and wonderful. But a glad hyper-focus on Christ might not keep you out of controversy. It might take you there.
When Jesus said, “Woe to you, when all people speak well of you,” he didn’t mean it’s wrong to be popular. He did mean it’s wrong not to be prophetic. His “Woe” falls on those who turn their backs on the true demands of the gospel rather than turn their backs on the false demands of people.
I wish I could say that if you lift up Christ in a positive, biblical way, everyone will love you. But sadly, some will oppose you, because their hearts are captured by other passions. They may even be captured by good but secondary biblical themes. But if you maintain the primacy of Christ himself and submit all else to Christ, some people will not understand you, they will have “concerns” about you, they may even forsake you. They will point to your weaknesses, which are real, and you will learn from your critics. But your weaknesses are beside the point. The point is the lordship of Christ alone. He is the controversy. You are representing him.
When the Lord leads you into this difficulty, you will suffer. But remember, he is saving you from the “Woe” of Luke 6:26 and giving you the “Blessed” of Matthew 5:11-12. Whatever others may say, Jesus speaks well of you.

November 22, 1963
It was a day you just don't forget. It was the day after my 5th birthday. I was playing with a toy car that I'd gotten as a birthday gift the previous day. I was racing it down the hallway of the house my family had just moved into not long before; just having a 5 year old day.... Then my mom told me to come and sit on the couch and she'd watch cartoons with me until my brother Jim got home from school.  But there were no cartoons.... only news reports. The late Frank Reynolds from ABC News was on. He was talking about the President being shot and probably dead... I remember my mother crying as she sat there watching. Overwhelming sadness.... then the sad announcement that President Kennedy was dead. If you were old enough to remember it, you remember where you were and what you were doing. Chances are real good that you will remember exactly what you were doing September 11, 2001. ... Memories of events like this just don't fade.
Something much more monumental and tragic and yet beautiful happened on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago, yet so often times we don't remember.. why is that? Because when we remember that it forces us to remember why the event took place to begin with... Our sin- Christ died on the cross for us. He took the sin that should have caused us to die on that cross and bore it himself . 1 Peter 2:24 tells us that Christ bore our sins in His body on the tree (cross)...
The death of a President is a monumental thing for sure - but how much more monumental that the King of the universe would die for His subjects? The tragedy of the asassination of a President or planes killing thousands of people are unspeakable. But the death of Christ is MORE unspeakable. As much as it is unpleasant to think about, the president killed and the people killed in those planes and towers, were sinful people. They were not innocent. However, they certainly didn't deserve dying at the hands of fellow sinful people. But they and we deserve to die at the hands of a Righteous God who instead of killing us, killed His son. He died in our place! Let's remember and yet rejoice!

Good Preaching Gives Good Songs Context

The following comes from a young pastor, Jared Wilson on the value of hymns. I used to scoff at hymns for the weak arguments he lists for abandoning hymns... I have rethought my position over the last several years and I completely agree. Most hymns contain rich theological truth (some do not). There are new hymn writers popping up who understand that songs should preach... not just make us respond emotionally. Read this important article by Jared: 

Good Preaching Gives Good Songs Context

"The argument goes like this: The hymns are outdated. Nobody talks like that any more, nobody knows what these archaic words refer to, nobody sings melodies like that any more; therefore, the solution is to ditch the hymns and sing only contemporary songs.
But I don't think the reason hymns fell out of favor is because they became old. I think it's because our preaching got new.
The great hymn writers could tell the gospel story with gospel words in very solid ways. But preaching over time became moralistic stories with pop psychology words in wispy ways. We stopped giving the hymns context. We would sing "Oh how marvelous, Oh how wonderful is my Savior's love for me!" but our preacher had long stopped marveling and wondering about the cross, so the song didn't make emotional sense. And then it stopped resonating with us on a Spiritual level.
All good hymns declare the gospel and assume gospel context. I suspect the main reason hymns don't resonate with people much any more is because we don't preach the gospel. "

My Substitute

"Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter..." (Isaiah 53:7)
Isaiah gives us a vivid picture of redemption some 600 years before it happened. The Suffering Servant in Isaiah 52 - 53 is given over to be slaughtered for sinful people who are at every turn disobedient to God's holy Law ... The innocent dies for the guilty.... And it's His Father's idea! ... "It was the will of the LORD to crush Him... He (the LORD) put Him to grief.. (53: 10) Out of the anguish of Jesus' soul, God saw it.... and was satisfied ...(53:11)
 If God is satisfied with Jesus' payment for our sin, why can't we be?

Morning Blues? ... Here's the cure!

Justin Taylor at the Gospel Coalition has a good morning reminder for those of us who are slow moving in the morning:

Got the Morning Blues?

I am not a morning person. I don’t like early mornings, and early mornings don’t like me.

But here are a few things that have encouraged my heart lately, and perhaps will do the same to you. Remember that a good part of the Christian life, as Lloyd-Jones said, is learning how to preach to yourself more than listen to yourself.

1. Salvation draws near. This morning I am one day closer to seeing the Lord face-to-face, and closer to the day when all that is wrong and broken and rebellious will be made right and submissive. (“For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed”—Rom. 13:11).

2. God gives me new mercy. Every day I need God’s mercy, and when I awoke today there was a fresh supply of such necessary grace awaiting me. (“[God's] mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning”—Lam. 3:22-23).

3. God gives us all kindness. God has already shown and modeled kindness this morning to his people and to his enemies by causing the sun to rise and shine. (“For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good”—Matt. 5:45).

4. My to-do list has only two things on it. My to-do list can feel overwhelming, but Jesus was able to summarize all 613 stipulations of the Sinai Covenant unto the size of a Post-It Note: “Love God with all that you are; love your neighbor as yourself.” Love fulfills the law (Rom. 13:8, 10; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8). As Augustine put it, “Love, and do what you will.”

5. Anxiety is meant to be cast not carried. Any anxiety I feel about today is useless (to me) and offensive (to God). God knows that I awake with anxieties, needs, and burdens. But instead of being anxious God wants me to tell him what I need (Phil. 4:6). Because God cares for me he wants me to cast all those anxieties—those burdens—on him (1 Pet. 5:7; Ps. 55:22). God is happy to “supply every need [I have] according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:19; Matt. 6:33). Anxiety, at the end of the day, is a pointless waste of time that costs me a lot and gains me nothing (Matt. 6:27).

6. Rejoicing in weakness. If I feel too weak today, that’s a very good place to be. That way the joy of the Lord can be my strength (Neh. 8:10). That way I can “serve by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ” (1 Pet. 4:11). “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Cor. 2:16). God’s grace is sufficient for me, since his power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses . . . For when I am weak, then I am strong ” (2 Cor. 12:9-10).

Ready for another day.

Michael Horton writes;

"Scripture is of no use to us if we read it merely as a handbook for daily living without recognizing that its principle purpose is to reveal Jesus Christ and his gospel for the salvation of sinners. All Scripture coalesces in Christ, anticipated in the OT and appearing in the flesh in the NT. In Scripture, God issues commands and threatens judgment for transgressors as well as direction for the lives of his people. Yet the greatest treasure buried in the Scriptures is the good news of the promised Messiah. Everything in the Bible that tells us what to do is “law”, and everything in the Bible that tells us what God has done in Christ to save us is “gospel.” Much like medieval piety, the emphasis in much Christian teaching today is on what we are to do without adequate grounding in the good news of what God has done for us in Christ. “What would Jesus do?” becomes more important than “What has Jesus done?” The gospel, however, is not just something we needed at conversion so we can spend the rest of our Christian life obsessed with performance; it is something we need every day–the only source of our sanctification as well as our justification. The law guides, but only the gospel gives. We are declared righteous–justified–not by anything that happens within us or done by us, but solely by God’s act of crediting us with Christ’s perfect righteousness through faith alone."  

VOTE TODAY

Uncle Sam needs you today!... It is our duty as American citizens to vote today - get familiar with the candidates and issues and vote - Today is the day! Romans 13: 1 - 7

Tony Reinke reproduces a moving section from a Charles Spurgeon sermon (November 2, 1884):

The best preaching is, “We preach Christ crucified.”
The best living is, “We are crucified with Christ.”
The best man is a crucified man.
The more we live beholding our Lord’s unutterable griefs, and understanding how he has fully put away our sin, the more holiness shall we produce.
The more we dwell where the cries of Calvary can be heard, where we can view heaven, and earth, and hell, all moved by his wondrous passion—the more noble will our lives become.
Nothing puts life into men like a dying Savior.
Get close to Christ, and carry the remembrance of him about you from day to day, and you will do right royal deeds.
Come, let us slay sin, for Christ was slain.
Come, let us bury all our pride, for Christ was buried.
Come, let us rise to newness of life, for Christ has risen.
Let us be united with our crucified Lord in his one great object—let us live and die with him, and then every action of our lives will be very beautiful.
O that Christians today—that I—would truly get this: Living in union with Christ is the key to holiness.

Reformation Sunday

This Sunday is Halloween. But more importantly, it’s Reformation Day—when the church celebrates and commemorates October 31, 1517. It was on this day (a Saturday) that a 33-year-old theology professor at Wittenberg University walked over to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and nailed a paper of 95 theses to the door, hoping to spark an academic discussion about their contents. In God’s providence and unbeknownst to anyone else that day, it would become a key event in igniting the Reformation. It was an important event that God used to recover the Gospel (the Good News of God's salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone). The gospel is Christ dying for our sins in our place. That truth had been distorted with Christ's death AND good works. Luther had been struck by the truth of Paul's letter to the Romans that salvation (being declared just) was God's work on our behalf through Christ. Luther's theses was the spark that led to a flame that spread throughout the world!
In his letter to the Christians of Colossae, the apostle Paul portrays the gospel as the instrument of all continued growth and spiritual progress, even after a believer’s conversion.
“All over the world,” he writes, “this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth” (Col. 1:6). He means that the gospel is not only growing wider in the world but it’s also growing deeper in Christians.
After meditating on Paul’s words, a friend told me that all our problems in life stem from our failure to apply the gospel. This means I can’t really move forward unless I learn more thoroughly the gospel’s content and how to apply it to all of life. Real change does not and cannot come independently of the gospel. God intends his Good News in Christ to mold and shape us at every point and in every way. It increasingly defines the way we think, feel, and live.
Martin Luther often employed the phrase simul justus et peccator—”simultaneously justified and sinful.” He understood that while he’d already been saved from sin’s penalty, he was in daily need of salvation from sin’s power. And since the gospel is the “power of God for salvation,” he knew that even for the most saintly of saints, the gospel is wholly relevant and vitally necessary. This means heralded preachers need the gospel just as much as hardened pagans.

I love John Calvin... if he had his own cologne line, it would look like this I'm sure! Calvin was a true champion of the gospel and a hero of the Reformation.... without men and women who were brave in the face of diversity we would not have a Bible other than in Latin.
Here is one of my favorite Calvin quotes:

"For all these things which were to be the weapons of the devil in his battle against us, and the sting of death to pierce us, are turned for us into exercises which we can turn to our profit. If we are able to boast with the apostle, saying, O hell, where is thy victory? O death, where is thy sting? it is because by the Spirit of Christ promised to the elect, we live no longer, but Christ lives in us; and we are by the same Spirit seated among those who are in heaven, so that for us the world is no more, even while our conversation is in it; but we are content in all things, whether country, place, condition, clothing, meat, and all such things.And we are comforted in tribulation, joyful in sorrow, glorying under vituperation, abounding in poverty, warmed in our nakedness, patient amongst evils, living in death. This is what we should in short seek in the whole of Scripture: truly to know Jesus Christ, and the infinite riches that are comprised in him and are offered to us by him from God the Father."

From Dane Ortlund:

What is a Christian?
Not what do Christians believe, or how do they behave­—What is a Christian?
According to Jesus’ late-night talk with Nicodemus, a Christian is someone who has been born a second time—what theologians call regeneration. “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). “You must be born again” (John 3:7).

Created a second time

Jonathan Edwards explains what happens in the new birth:
"The believer has such a sight and such a knowledge of things that, ever since, he is quite another man than he was before. It has exceedingly altered his internal tempers and disposition. The knowledge that he has is so substantial, so inward, and so affecting, that it has quite transformed the soul and put a new nature into the man, has quite changed his very innermost principles, and has made things otherwise, even from the very foundation, so that all things have become new to them. Yes, he is a new creature, he is just as if he was not the same, but born again, created over a second time."

Niceness does not equal regeneration

It is fantastically easy to smooth over a rotten heart with niceness. The world is filled with nice people who have not been born again—nice, evil people. Niceness and wickedness are not mutually exclusive. They can even be mutually reinforcing (2 Tim 3:1-5).
A converted Christian, according to Edwards, is not the same person who is now really, really nice. They are not an improved version of the same person but a new person fundamentally re-wired. The new birth does not give us a new way to satisfy our old desires. It gives us new desires.
A believer does not differ from an unbeliever like an NFL linebacker differs from an All-American college linebacker—the same innate ability, only ratcheted up to the next level. A believer differs from an unbeliever as any football player differs from a corpse (Eph 2:1, 5). A true Christian has been granted resurrection, not refinement (Eph 2:6; Col 3:1).

A new direction, not perfection

Of course, all football players stumble on the field from time to time. Likewise, the regenerate stumble from time to time. Regeneration does not produce perfection; it inaugurates a new direction. While the effects of this radical change are worked out over a lifetime, the initial change itself is instantaneous, decisive, and permanent.
“The new birth does not give us a new way to satisfy our old desires. It gives us new desires.”
Christianity is not addition, but creation (2 Cor 4:6; 5:17). We can exhort a caterpillar to fly till we’re blue in the face but it will do no good until it is transformed into a new creature. And we can exhort a fallen human being to treasure Christ, love others, and shed niceness for real truth-in-love, but it does no good until that person is transformed and becomes a new creature.

I’m regenerated – so now what?

1. Spend time in hopeful prayer for others. God can bring life out of death in the heart of your next-door neighbor, just as he did for you.
2. Practice sober humility. Those born again did not invite God to bring them to life any more than Lazarus invited Jesus to bring him to life (John 11:43). Our faith and repentance are themselves gifts of grace.
3. Rejoice in calm assurance. Regeneration is irreversible. He started a good work in you, and he’ll see it through (Phil 1:6).

Adapted from A New Inner Relish: Christian Motivation in the Thought of Jonathan Edwards

The Lord is My Shepherd

“He will tend his flock like a shepherd.”  Isaiah 40:11
“Jesus, the good shepherd, will not travel at such a rate as to overdrive the lambs.  He has tender consideration for the poor and needy.  Kings usually look to the interests of the great and the rich, but in the kingdom of our Great Shepherd he cares most for the poor. . . . The weaklings and the sickly of the flock are the special objects of the Savior’s care. . . . You think, dear heart, that you are forgotten, because of your nothingness and weakness and poverty.  This is the very reason you are remembered.”
C. H. Spurgeon, Treasury of the Old Testament (London, n.d.), III:575-576.

I Heart Combovers

The best, most awesome, time tested, hairdo of all time! The combover is the most forgiving of all hairstyles! Makes me wish I had one....

I've already sung the praises of mullets earlier... next I'm going to discuss combovers.... so comb on over to the blog in the next few days and I'll dedicate some posts to the world's most awesome hairdos!

Great post by Ray Ortlund

Found a wonderful post this morning from Ray Ortlund. The Gospel is (or should be) the driving force of all we do as Christians:

Gospel doctrine creates a gospel culture. The doctrines of grace create a culture of grace, healing, revival, because Jesus himself touches us through his truths. Without the doctrines, the culture alone is fragile. Without the culture, the doctrines alone appear pointless.
The doctrine of regeneration creates a culture of humility (Ephesians 2:1-9).
The doctrine of justification creates a culture of inclusion (Galatians 2:11-16).
The doctrine of reconciliation creates a culture of peace (Ephesians 2:14-16).
The doctrine of sanctification creates a culture of life (Romans 6:20-23).
The doctrine of glorification creates a culture of hope (Romans 5:2).
If we want this culture to thrive, we can’t take doctrinal short cuts. If we want this doctrine to be credible, we can’t disregard the culture. But churches where the doctrine and culture converge bear living witness to the power of Jesus.

Great quote!

“Now suppose both death and hell were utterly defeated.  Suppose the fight was fixed.  Suppose God took you on a crystal ball trip into your future and you saw with indubitable certainty that despite everything — your sin, your smallness, your stupidity — you could have free for the asking your whole crazy heart’s deepest desire: heaven, eternal joy.  Would you not return fearless and singing?  What can earth do to you if you are guaranteed heaven?  To fear the worst earthly loss would be like a millionaire fearing the loss of a penny — less, a scratch on a penny.”
Peter Kreeft, Heaven (San Francisco, 1989), page 183.

Christ crucified

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom.  For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling,  and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,  that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.    1 Cor 2:1-5 (ESV)
I love Paul! His desire? - Christ... Christ crucified.  Simple message. Simple language. Paul didn't worry about how he sounded. He didn't spend a lot of time being cute and subversive. He let the Word of God speak. The results? INCREDIBLE!

“Would you like to be rid of this spiritual depression?  The first thing you have to do is to say farewell now once and forever to your past.  Realize that it has been covered and blotted out in Christ.  Never look back at your sins again.  Say: ‘It is finished, it is covered by the blood of Christ.’  That is your first step.  Take that and finish with yourself and all this talk about goodness, and look to the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is only then that true happiness and joy are possible for you.”
Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression

“But wasn’t the Bible written by drunk monks?”

“But wasn’t the Bible written by drunk monks?”

The Only Clean Hands and Pure Heart the World Has Ever Known

 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place?  He who has clean hands and a pure heart,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully.  He will receive blessing
from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of  those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.  Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the
King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle
Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.  Who is this
King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!     Selah    Psalms 24:3-10 (ESV)

Who shall (is able) to ascend the LORD'S hill? - Paul's answer: Romans 10:6-7 . Christ has ascended. The teaching of this Psalm and every Psalm is this: JESUS... He is the ONLY one with clean hands and a pure heart. He is the ONLY one qualified to ascend the LORD'S hill... That's why the gates are told to lift their heads and the ancient doors to the Holy City are to fling wide open... The LORD, strong and mighty, is entering in. He has ascended. When we trust in Christ, we are IN Christ... this means that we have clean hands and a pure heart. This means that we ascend the LORD'S hill. And this means that in Christ, we enter the Holy City.  How is this possible? It's too good to be true;
Again, Paul answers beautifully :  And you were dead in the trespasses and sins  in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—  among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.  But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved—  and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  He has made my hands clean and my heart pure.... I am in Christ!

Eph 2:1-7 (ESV)

“I came not to call the righteous”

“I came not to call the righteous”

Tony Curtis- movie legend

As you probably have already heard, movie legend Tony Curtis has died at age 85. Great actor. I have a friend I grew up with and played football with named Tim who from Junior High on said I looked like Tony Curtis. You be the judge:

Tony -

                                                                                                       Me -
                                  I guess Tim was right!

The Flintsones turn 50!

Amazing! The Flintsones are almost as old as me. Growing up, Fred, Wilma, Barney, Betty, Pebbles, Bam Bam, and Dino were like old friends. They still are in my memories. I'm going to sound like a grumpy old man here, but honestly- Children now have nothing to watch in comparison to Hanna Barbera shows like the Flintstones. And let's not forget Bugs Bunny and the gang at Looney Tunes... nothing like it. I feel sorry that my kids got robbed when it came to quality. Among the many things I thank God for are DVD's... at least that way, shows like these can be preserved for future generations. . .     HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLD FRIENDS!

Isaiah: An amazing read...

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,.." Isaiah 11: 1- 2a
This Old Testament prophecy of Jesus is one of many in the book of Isaiah. God spoke through this prophet with specific pictures of a coming Redeemer who would conquer the enemies of God by dying for His people. (Isaiah 7,9,11,25,26,28,32,40,42,43,50,52,53,60,61 all point to Christ in types and shadows). The prophet still speaks!

Two Kinds of People ...

There's only two kinds of people in the world.....

Those who like Neil Diamond - And those who don't...

Grace... Everywhere you turn

Sorry about the length of this post, but it is incredible reading. It comes from a young professor named Dane Ortlund. He's making the case that "grace" is a theme that runs through every book of the Bible. I hope you'll give it a read and give it to someone who needs a quick easy to read to explain what the main theme of each book is- this is very helpful!

There is always a danger of squeezing the Bible into a mold we bring to it rather than letting the Bible mold us. And, there could hardly be more diversity within the Protestant canon--diverse genres, historical settings, authors, literary levels, ages of history.
But while the Bible is not uniform, it is unified. The many books of the one Bible are not like the many pennies in the one jar. The pennies in the jar look the same, yet are disconnected; the books of the Bible (like the organs of a body) look different, yet are interconnected. As the past two generations' recovery of biblical theology has shown time and again, certain motifs course through the Scripture from start to end, tying the whole thing together into a coherent tapestry--kingdom, temple, people of God, creation/new creation, and so on.
Yet underneath and undergirding all of these, it seems to me, is the motif of God's grace, his favor and love to the undeserving. Don't we see the grace of God in every book of the Bible? (NT books include the single verse that best crystallizes the point.)
Genesis shows God’s grace to a universally wicked world as he enters into relationship with a sinful family line (Abraham) and promises to bless the world through him.
Exodus shows God’s grace to his enslaved people in bringing them out of Egyptian bondage.
Leviticus shows God’s grace in providing his people with a sacrificial system to atone for their sins.
Numbers shows God’s grace in patiently sustaining his grumbling people in the wilderness and bringing them to the border of the promised land not because of them but in spite of them.
Deuteronomy shows God’s grace in giving the people the new land 'not because of your righteousness' (ch. 9).
Joshua shows God’s grace in giving Israel victory after victory in their conquest of the land with neither superior numbers nor superior obedience on Israel’s part.
Judges shows God’s grace in taking sinful, weak Israelites as leaders and using them to purge the land, time and again, of foreign incursion and idolatry.
Ruth shows God’s grace in incorporating a poverty-stricken, desolate, foreign woman into the line of Christ.
1 and 2 Samuel show God’s grace in establishing the throne (forever—2 Sam 7) of an adulterous murderer.
1 and 2 Kings show God’s grace in repeatedly prolonging the exacting of justice and judgment for kingly sin 'for the sake of' David. The king represented the people; the people were in their king; as the king went, so went they.
1 and 2 Chronicles show God’s grace by continually reassuring the returning exiles of God’s self-initiated promises to David and his sons.
Ezra shows God’s grace to Israel in working through the most powerful pagan ruler of the time (Cyrus) to bring his people back home to a rebuilt temple.
Nehemiah shows God’s grace in providing for the rebuilding of the walls of the city that represented the heart of God’s promises to his people.
Esther shows God’s grace in protecting his people from a Persian plot to eradicate
them through a string of 'fortuitous' events.
Job shows God’s grace in vindicating the sufferer’s cry that his redeemer lives (19:25), who will put all things right in this world or the next.
Psalms shows God’s grace by reminding us of, and leading us in expressing, the hesed (relentless covenant love) God has for his people and the refuge that he is for them.
Proverbs shows us God’s grace by opening up to us a world of wisdom in leading a life of happy godliness.
Ecclesiastes shows God’s grace in its earthy reminder that the good things of life can never be pursued as the ultimate things of life and that it is God who in his mercy satisfies sinners (note 7:20; 8:11).
Song of Songs shows God’s grace and love for his bride by giving us a faint echo of it in the pleasures of faithful human sexuality.
Isaiah shows God’s grace by reassuring us of his presence with and restoration of contrite sinners.
Jeremiah shows God’s grace in promising a new and better covenant, one in which knowledge of God will be universally internalized.
Lamentations shows God’s grace in his unfailing faithfulness in the midst of sadness.
Ezekiel shows God’s grace in the divine heart surgery that cleansingly replaces stony hearts with fleshy ones.
Daniel shows God’s grace in its repeated miraculous preservation of his servants.
Hosea shows God’s grace in a real-live depiction of God’s unstoppable love toward his whoring wife.
Joel shows God’s grace in the promise to pour out his Spirit on all flesh.
Amos shows God’s grace in the Lord's climactic promise of restoration in spite of rampant corruption.
Obadiah shows God’s grace by promising judgment on Edom, Israel’s oppressor, and restoration of Israel to the land in spite of current Babylonian captivity.
Jonah shows God’s grace toward both immoral Nineveh and moral Jonah, irreligious pagans and a religious prophet, both of whom need and both of whom receive the grace of God.
Micah shows God’s grace in the prophecy’s repeated wonder at God’s strange insistence on 'pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression' (7:18).
Nahum shows God’s grace in assuring Israel of good news' and 'peace,' promising that the Assyrians have tormented them for the last time.
Habakkuk shows God’s grace that requires nothing but trusting faith amid insurmountable opposition, freeing us to rejoice in God even in desolation.
Zephaniah shows God’s grace in the Lord's exultant singing over his recalcitrant yet beloved people.
Haggai shows God’s grace in promising a wayward people that the latter glory of God’s (temple-ing) presence with them will far surpass its former glory.
Zechariah shows God’s grace in the divine pledge to open up a fountain for God’s people to 'cleanse them from sin and uncleanness' (13:1).
Malachi shows God’s grace by declaring the Lord’s no-strings-attached love for his people.
Matthew shows God’s grace in fulfilling the Old Testament promises of a coming king. (5:17)
Mark shows God’s grace as this coming king suffers the fate of a common criminal to buy back sinners. (10:45)
Luke shows that God’s grace extends to all the people one would not expect: hookers, the poor, tax collectors, sinners, Gentiles ('younger sons'). (19:10)
John shows God’s grace in becoming one of us, flesh and blood (1:14), and dying and rising again so that by believing we might have life in his name. (20:31)
Acts shows God’s grace flooding out to all the world--starting in Jerusalem, ending in Rome; starting with Peter, apostle to the Jews, ending with Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. (1:8)
Romans shows God’s grace in Christ to the ungodly (4:5) while they were still sinners (5:8) that washes over both Jew and Gentile.
1 Corinthians shows God’s grace in favoring what is lowly and foolish in the world. (1:27)
2 Corinthians shows God’s grace in channeling his power through weakness rather than strength. (12:9)
Galatians shows God’s grace in justifying both Jew and Gentile by Christ-directed faith rather than self-directed performance. (2:16)
Ephesians shows God’s grace in the divine resolution to unite us to his Son before time began. (1:4)
Philippians shows God’s grace in Christ’s humiliating death on an instrument of torture—for us. (2:8)
Colossians shows God’s grace in nailing to the cross the record of debt that stood against us. (2:14)
1 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in providing the hope-igniting guarantee that Christ will return again. (4:13)
2 Thessalonians shows God’s grace in choosing us before time, that we might withstand Christ’s greatest enemy. (2:13)
1 Timothy shows God’s grace in the radical mercy shown to 'the chief of sinners.' (1:15)
2 Timothy shows God’s grace to be that which began (1:9) and that which fuels (2:1) the Christian life.
Titus shows God’s grace in saving us by his own cleansing mercy when we were most mired in sinful passions. (3:5)
Philemon shows God’s grace in transcending socially hierarchical structures with the deeper bond of Christ-won Christian brotherhood. (v. 16)
Hebrews shows God’s grace in giving his Son to be both our sacrifice to atone for us once and for all as well as our high priest to intercede for us forever. (9:12)
James shows us God’s grace by giving to those who have been born again 'of his own will' (1:18) 'wisdom from above' for meaningful godly living. (3:17)
1 Peter shows God’s grace in securing for us an unfading, imperishable inheritance no matter what we suffer in this life. (1:4)
2 Peter shows God’s grace in guaranteeing the inevitability that one day all will be put right as the evil that has masqueraded as good will be unmasked at the coming Day of the Lord. (3:10)
1 John shows God’s grace in adopting us as his children. (3:1)
2 and 3 John show God’s grace in reminding specific individuals of 'the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever.' (2 Jn 2)
Jude shows God’s grace in the Christ who presents us blameless before God in a world rife with moral chaos. (v. 24)
Revelation shows God’s grace in preserving his people through cataclysmic suffering, a preservation founded on the shed blood of the lamb. (12:11)

It is frequently my fear lest I should fall into the habit of preaching about the gospel than directly preaching the gospel, and hence I labor to return to the first principle of our faith, and often take a text upon which it would not be possible to say anything new but which will compel me to recapitulate in your hearing those things which are vital, essential, and fundamental to the life of our souls. With such a text as this before me [1 Peter 1:19], if I do not preach the gospel, I shall do violence both to the sacred word and to my own conscience.”
C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1950), IV:366. Italics original.

"When the devil throws our sins up to us and declares that we deserve death and hell, we ought to speak thus: 'I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? Does this mean that I shall be sentenced to eternal damnation? By no means. For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction in my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Where he is, there I shall be also."  Martin Luther, Letter to Jerome Weller, 1530

A little shot o ' humor

                                                      So... I guess it DID freeze over....

                                                  
                                                           Another Mighty Mullet!
Like the young man pictured above, we all have things from our past we'd like to forget.  We struggle with God's forgiveness because we correctly assume we haven't earned it. Our sin is an offense to God; it violates His character, twists His words, stiffles His Spirit, and mocks His Law. We are by nature and by choice sinners- enemies of God...
The Apostle Paul writes in Romans chapter 5 that "while we were weak (read ; powerless to address our problem - sin), Christ died for the ungodly."  Ungodly... that's a terrible word, but it describes exactly what we were before Christ saved us. Paul continues, "but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Jesus didn't wait for me to turn over a new leaf or straighten up my act.... while I was STILL a sinner Christ died for me... That's grace! That's mercy!
The idea of grace is both appealing and appalling. We are drawn to its appeal because by believing Someone paid for my sin in my place is a revolutionary thought. Psalm 103:10 tells us that "He has not dealt with us according to our sins; i.e., He's not treated us as our sins deserve. Grace can also be appalling. Some people refuse God's grace because they don't think they need it. They pay their own way. In accepting grace, we must admit that we need it.... this can be and should be very humbling. To say that we aren't good enough is a tough pill to swallow, but it is the medicine we MUST take in order to have grace. When we think we are good enough or that we measure up or that we are better than most people we know, we are in essence, deciding to be our own god. Accepting God's grace is the belief that your sins were placed on Christ at the cross (Isaiah 53:4-6). He was punished in your place! Believe it and be saved!!
Back to the picture- and your past; Isaiah 43:25 tells us that God, for HIS OWN SAKE (not our goodness) blots out our past record and remembers our sin no more..
God deliberately choses NOT to remember!
"My  sin, O the bliss of this glorious thought;
My sin, not in part, but the whole;
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more;
Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! O my soul!"  - Horatio Spafford, 1873 

"...But you are a chosen race , a royal priesthood , a holy nation , a people for His own possession , that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light . (1 Peter 2:9)
I get shivers up my spine when I read this verse... EVERY TIME. The way the Church is described- chosen race (God actually wanted us!) - a royal priesthood (We represent Jesus to the world PLUS we will reign with Him in the Kingdom to come!) a holy nation (It is HE who makes us different from any other nation or kingdom!) a people for His own possession (God created us, and owns us!... we belong to HIM!) - and here's the kicker... this is why we are here... that we may proclaim (declare) His excellencies - That's our job... to declare to a watching and dying world that our God lives! and there is life and hope in Him - Let's get busy!!

It is the hardest thing in all the world, but the most liberating thing, for a sinful man to look square at the facts of his sin and defy the shame of it all by asserting the cross of Christ for those very sins. This is the work of the gospel. This is self-ministry. Everyman must learn how to apply the gospel of grace to his conscience when he has sinned. You cannot get free of your sins on your own; the only way to get free is to see them, in all their damnable inexcusability, covered and pardoned and forgiven and forever removed by the blood of Christ.
From Ray Ortlund 

The following comes from
Ray Ortlund:

                             NO... I can't do it! ... He must do it for me! (Philippians 1:6)

                          WOOOOHOOO!! The Ricky Bobby Bible!! (It was just a matter of time...)
                              No offense to my friends who are NASCAR fans, but this is too much!

In Praise of Mullets

You just don't see many THIS GLORIOUS!!

“Now I should like to know whether your soul, tired of its own righteousness, is learning to be revived by and to trust in the righteousness of Christ. . . . My dear brother, learn Christ and him crucified. Learn to pray to him and, despairing of yourself, say, ‘You, Lord Jesus, are my righteousness, but I am your sin. You have taken upon yourself what is mine and have given to me what is yours. You have taken upon yourself what you were not and have given to me what I was not.’ Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner, or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account he descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his and you will see his sweet consolation.”
Martin Luther, writing to George Spenlein, quoted in Theodore G. Tappert, editor, Luther: Letters of Spiritual Counsel (Philadelphia, 1955), page 110. Language updated.

Helpful Post by Kevin DeYoung

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” (Revelation 12:10-11).Rom. 8:1-2).Rom. 8:8-9).Rom. 8:13).Rom. 8:18).Rom. 8:22).Rom. 8:28).Rom. 8:37-39).Satan is an accuser and a deceiver. In both cases his weapons are words, which is why we must overcome him with the word of our testimony.
In other words, it is through our belief in the gospel and our confidence in the power of Jesus Christ that we can stand secure in the face of Satan’s lies and accusations. And it is by the truth of the word of God–believed on and hoped in even unto death–that we can expose and destroy the deceptions of the Deceiver. This is how we do battle, with the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God.
So when Satan whispers, “Can God really forgive you? Can your sins be washed away?” you can answer confidently: “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.” (Rom.8:1-2)
When the Devil says your situation is hopeless, when he calls you an addict and says you can’t change, you can reply: “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” (Romans 8:8-9)
And when Satan suggests that it must not matter then how we live, that grace and freedom are an excuse for license, we must answer: “For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13)
And when our Enemy points to our suffering and says, “Look, God cannot be trusted. Surely, there is no use in serving this Master” we will inform him that we “consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18)
And if Satan should tempt us to believe that God is singling us out for pain, we will remind him that “the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now” (Romans 8:22)
If he spreads the lie that our trials will be the end of us, that God can no longer help us, we will declare, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good”
(Romans 8:28)
And when he shows us our weakness, when he points to the failures of the church, when he accuses us of having let God down and makes us doubt the power of the gospel and the ultimate triumph of the saints, when he comes at us with words and all the weapons of the world, we will stand our ground with a defiant shout: “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:37-39)
Satan is hell bent on destroying the church. He breathes fiery accusations like a dragon and hisses deception like a serpent. He is in pursuit of the woman and her children. But the salvation and the power and the kingdom belong to God and to Christ our King. And we shall overcome the devil, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of our testimony.
Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices

Help! I don't know what I'm doing!

I know nothing about blogging, so be patient with me. And to those who blog -
"please help!"
I am happy you stopped by, and as I can I will add to the blog. Thanks again for your patience and God bless you!