The Christian’s life should put his minister’s sermon in print.
HT: @ligonduncan
Tag Archives: Christianity
We Come to Easter Morning with Joy and Gladness!
We come to Easter morning with joy and gladness, and with a great sense of triumph filling our hearts…. This morning in our hearts there is the assurance that winter is over and gone, and the time of the singing of birds is come. The storm has spent itself, the great Master Mariner is triumphant, and the Ark rides upon the waves of a sunlit sea. Egypt is behind, the exodus is accomplished. Death is abolished, life and incorporation are brought to light.
Delight Yourself in Your God!
Do not think first of the desires of your heart, but think first of delighting yourself in your God! If you have accepted Him as your Lord, He is yours, so delight in Him and then He will give you the desires of your heart.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834 – 1892)
HT: Reformed Quotes
Just Two Choices on the Shelf; Pleasing God or Pleasing Self
Man will glory either in himself or in God. Man will live either to serve and please himself, or he will seek to serve and please the Lord. None can serve two masters.
HT: Reformed Quotes
Faith Is Lived Consistently
Christian faith isn’t so much what you say you believe but how you behave in a consistent manner.
HT: @TozerAW
Going Backward in Order to Go Forward Better
Christ’s work, both in the Church and in the hearts of Christians, often goes backward so that it may go forward better. As seed rots in the ground in the winter time, but after comes up better, and the harder the winter the more flourishing the spring, so we learn to stand by falls, and get strength by weakness discovered…. We take deeper root by shaking. And, as torches flame brighter by moving, thus it pleases Christ, out of His freedom, in this manner to maintain His government in us. Let us herein labour to exercise our faith, so that it may answer Christ’s way of dealing with us. When we are foiled, let us believe we shall overcome when we have fallen, let us believe we shall rise again.
Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2011), 95.
Blessing Is Conditioned on Christ’s Perfect Obedience
To live by grace means we understand that God’s blessing on our lives is not conditioned by our obedience or disobedience but by the perfect obedience of Christ. It means that out of a grateful response to the grace of God, we seek to understand His will and to obey Him, not to be blessed, but because we have been blessed.
Jerry Bridges, Transforming Grace (Colorado Springs: NavPress, 1991), 99-100.
Who Really Gets the Glory?
If God be glorified, does it really matter where we are? What becomes of us is of small consequence compared with bringing glory to his great name.
What Is Truth Faith?
We must understand what true faith is. It is not mere belief; it is belief plus a total commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ…. Salvation is not a cheap insurance policy to keep you from the flames of hell; salvation is a new creation. This means new life, new love, new desires, a new direction of will, a new center for living, recognizing the sovereignty of God in even the littlest events in life. Faith is the total commitment of the life to the Lord Jesus.
Donald Grey Barnhouse, Mark: The Servant Gospel (Wheaton: Victor Books, 1988), 59-60.
Behavior Reflects Belief
Our behavior is often a reflection of our beliefs about who we are. It is usually consistent with what we think to be true about ourselves (Prov. 23.7). If we base our worth solidly on the truths of God’s Word, then our behavior will often reflect His love, grace, and power. But if we base our worth on our abilities or the fickle approval of others, then our behavior will reflect the insecurity, fear, and anger that comes from such instability.
Robert S. McGee, The Search for Significance (Houston: Rapha Publishing, 1990), 25.
Life Is Worship 