Yearly Archives: 2014
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This post is in reply to the blog of Thomas L. Horrocks. Follow the link to read his post. Yo Thomas, I am glad to see that you are applying some of that Greek knowledge…lol. Luke is not the easiest book to translate for sure. But I checked through your translation and I think it is pretty good. I like it. I do not have any real critiques of your work. Well done my friend!…haha. BTW you should have referenced your translation among the professional ones. 🙂 The “Annunciation,” as it has been commonly called in Christian history, is really an amazing part of the Gospel story. I thought about a few different things that I have not considered before as I read through it again recently. One thing that stuck out in my mind was that when the angel proclaimed to Mary that she will conceive a child in […]
“My observation of Christendom is that most of us tend to base our relationship with God on our performance instead of on His grace. If we performed well—whatever ‘well’ is in our opinion—then we expect God to bless us. If we haven’t done so well, our expectations are reduced accordingly. In this sense, we live by works, rather than by grace. We are saved by grace, but we are living by the ‘sweat’ of our own performance….Moreover, we are always challenging ourselves and one another to ‘try harder.’ We seem to believe success in the Christian life (however we define success) is basically up to us: our commitment, our discipline, and our zeal, with some help from God along the way. We give lip service to the attitude of the Apostle Paul, ‘but by the grace of God I am what I am (1 Cor. 15:10), but our unspoken motto […]
“Pseudo faith always arranges a way out to serve in case God fails it. Real faith knows only one way and gladly allows itself to be stripped of any second way or makeshift substitutes. For true faith, it is either God or total collapse. And not since Adam first stood up on the earth has God failed a single man or woman who trusted Him. The man of pseudo faith will fight for his verbal creed but refuse flatly to allow himself to get into a predicament where his future must depend upon that creed being true. He always provides himself with secondary ways of escape so he will have a way out if the roof caves in. What we need very badly these days is a company of Christians who are prepared to trust God as completely now as they know they must do at the last day. For […]
“We Christians are cut from the same bolt as the rest of mankind, and while we have been made partakers of a new nature we have not yet been entirely divested of the old. For this reason we are under constant temptation to lapse into the flesh and manifest the old nature rather than the new . . . Among the purest gifts we have received from God is truth. Another gift almost as precious and without which the first would be meaningless is our ability to grasp truth and appreciate it. For these priceless treasures we should be profoundly grateful . . . And because these and all other blessings flow to us by grace without merit or worth on our part we should be very humble and watch with care lest such undeserved favors, if unappreciated, be taken from us . . . The very truth that makes […]
This post is in reply to the blog of Thomas L. Horrocks. Follow the link to read his post. Hey Thomas, Great post brother! This is an incredibly important issue among nearly every Christian circle. I think that the “It’s cool to be cruel” mindset has its derivative in “I like to be right” attitude. How many people really see anything wrong with pointing the finger or exposing a wrong belief with a little derision on the side? I would figure that even if people would raise their hand and affirm that something is wrong with it, they are guilty of it in practice. I believe there is an undue, detrimental spirit of pride that accompanies inappropriate loyalty to a church, ministry, organization, group, or religion that fuels a separatist ethos which in turn is manifested as an elitist ideology. We see this disposition predominating in conversations where people enjoy […]
“As we move farther on in the Christian life we may expect to encounter increased hostility from the enemy of our souls. Although this is seldom presented to Christians as a fact of life it is a very solid fact indeed as every experienced Christian knows, and one we shall learn how to handle or stumble over to our own undoing. If Satan opposes the new convert he opposes still more bitterly the Christian who is pressing on toward a higher life in Christ. The Spirit-filled life is not, as many suppose, a life of peace and quiet pleasure. It is likely to be something quite the opposite. Satan hates the true Christian for several reasons. One is that God loves him, and whatever is loved by God is sure to be hated by the devil. Another is that the Christian, being a child of God, bears a family resemblance […]
“God being who He is must always be sought for Himself, never as a means toward something else. Whoever seeks other objects and not God is on his own; he may obtain those objects if he is able, but he will never have God. Whoever seeks God as a means toward desired ends will not find God. The mighty God, the Maker of heaven and earth, will not be one of many treasures, not even the chief of all treasures. He will be all in all or He will be nothing! His mercy and grace are infinite and His patient understanding is beyond measure, but He will not aid men in their selfish striving after personal gain. He will not help man to attain ends which, when attained, usurp the place He by every right should hold in their interest and affection. Yet popular Christianity has as one of its […]
“The Christian should always be aware that the devil’s master strategy against us is to destroy our power to wage spiritual warfare! And he has been succeeding, we must add. The average Christian these days is a harmless enough thing, God knows. He is a child wearing with considerable self-consciousness the harness of the warrior; he is a sick eaglet that can never mount up with wings; he is a spent pilgrim who has given up the journey and sits with a waxy smile trying to get what pleasure he can from sniffing the wilted flowers he has plucked by the way. Such as these have been reached! Satan has gotten to them early. By means of false teaching or inadequate teaching, or the huge discouragement that comes from the example of a decadent church, he has succeeded in weakening their resolution, neutralizing their convictions, and taming their original urge […]
“What is generally overlooked among humankind is that truth as set forth in the Christian Scriptures is a moral thing; it is not addressed to the intellect only, but to the will also. It addresses itself to the total man, and its obligations cannot be discharged by grasping it mentally. Truth engages the citadel of the human heart and is not satisfied until it has conquered everything there. The will must come forth and surrender its sword. It must stand at attention to receive orders, and those orders it must joyfully obey. Short of this any knowledge of Christian truth is inadequate and unavailing. Bible exposition without moral application raises no opposition. It is only when the hearer is made to understand that truth is in conflict with his heart that resistance sets in…Much that passes for New Testament Christianity is little more than objective truth sweetened with song and […]
“Too many people consider Jesus Christ a ‘convenience.’ We make Him a lifeboat to get us to shore, a guide to find us when we are lost. We reduce Him simply to a Big Friend to help us when we are in trouble. That is not biblical Christianity! Jesus Christ is Lord, and when a man is willing to do His will, he is repenting and the truth flashes in. For the first time in his life, he finds himself willing to say, ‘I will do the will of the Lord, even if I die for it!’ Illumination will begin in his heart. That is repentance—for he has been following his own will and now decides to do the will of God. Before the Word of God can mean anything inside of me there must be obedience to the Word. Truth will not give itself to a rebel. Truth will […]
