Spurgeon Saturday

Psalm 51:10A backslider, if there be a spark of life left in him will groan after restoration. In this renewal the same exercise of grace is required as at our conversion. We needed repentance then; we certainly need it now. We wanted faith that we might come to Christ at first; only the like grace can bring us to Jesus now. We wanted a word...

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Waiting for Us

Philippians 3:20Always remember that we have renounced the world and are living here as guests and strangers in the meantime. Anticipate the day assigned to each of us for our homecoming. This day will snatch us up, set us free from the snares of the world, and return us to Paradise and the king­dom.Who, in foreign lands, wouldn't hurry to...

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Deep Riches: Augustine and Pelagius

Click on over to Deep Riches to learn who Augustine and Pelagius were and what in the world they have to do with today's theological debat...

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Augustine and Pelagius

As the true father of what is commonly referred to as Calvinism, Augustine properly emphasized the sovereign nature of God. While not tipping to the extreme position of certain over-zealous disciples of Calvin in accusing God of creating certain men solely for damnation, he did articulate an accurate framework concerning creation, the fall,...

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Extreme Warmth

Jeremiah 20:9Nadejda Sloboda could hardly contain her enthusiasm. She had just learned about Christ from a shortwave radio program broadcast from Europe. As the first Christian in her Russian village, she desperately wanted to tell all her friends about the God who had miraculously changed her heart. But she knew the local authorities strictly...

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Enduring Adversity

Psalm 39:5I do not know of any one temptation that in all ages has more solicited and perplexed the minds of good men, than that which springs from the prosperity of the wicked; a scandal that the best of men have been ever apt to take against the dispensations of God Himself.It has therefore pleased God, in compassion to the suffering, frequently...

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Spurgeon Saturday

Psalm 104:16Without sap the tree cannot flourish or even exist. Vitality is essential to a Christian. There must be life —a vital principle infused into us by God the Holy Ghost, or we cannot be trees of the Lord. The mere name of being a Christian is but a dead thing, we must be filled with the spirit of divine life. This life is mysterious....

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Devotional Christian

If you are in need of a one-stop site for all of your devotional reading, look no further than Devotional Christian. The site has been around for a while, but is now being re-launched. It is now cleaner and more managable with links to some the most popular daily devotionals. Check it o...

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Secret Sin

Proverbs 6:16-18Most people think idolatry is only burning incense, sacrificing a victim, committing to sacred ceremonies or priesthoods. Similarly, some find adultery only in kisses, embraces, and actual fleshly contact, or murder only in the shedding of blood and the actual taking of life. But the Lord looks at these crimes in much broader...

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Deep Riches: Spurgeon's Friends

Does man have free will or is God completely sovereign over all things? Find the answer on Deep Rich...

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Spurgeon's Friends

Theological discussions throughout history have often begun with the same question: Is man free or is God sovereign?My answer to that question is simply, yes. In a sermon in 1884, Charles Spurgeon recalled a time when someone asked him about a perceived dichotomy between predestination and free will. “I was once asked to reconcile these two...

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Extreme Mother

2 Timothy 1:5Susannah Wesley was born in 1668, in England, when the state church and government crushed any form of Christian worship or education not controlled by them. This determined Christian woman began programs of Christian education for adults in her kitchen and daily with her children.In 1662, six years before Susannah was born,...

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Room for Babes

Luke 10:21For all Christians, especially those that are most sensible of the weakness of their faith, there have been and are more dwarfs besides you. Perfection is a white that was never hit; the best archers prove a handful short. It is indeed the mark at which every one sets out to level his arrows, but all the souls of Christians, like...

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Spurgeon Saturday

1 Samuel 27:1The thought of David’s heart at this time was a false thought, because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God’s anointing him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty unmeaning act. On no one occasion had the Lord deserted his servant; he had been placed in perilous positions very often, but not one instance had...

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More than Master

Mark 10:17-18What youth don't believe, Christ helps them understand so that they can believe God's Son is not a good master, but the good God. For if who­ever glorifies the "One God" also fully glorifies the Son of God, how can the Only-begotten Son not have God's goodness when only God is good?So then, with divinely inspired comprehension...

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Deep Riches: Persecution in Today's Church

It's hard to think about persecution as we sit in our comfortable churches with our "take-it-or-leave-it" attitude. But persecution is a daily fact in most countries around the world. See more over on Deep Rich...

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Persecution in Today's Church

Within the past several days, believers have been martyred all over the world, from North Korea, to the Middle East, to Indonesia, to parts of Africa. Practically everywhere there is persecution, Tertullian’s quote rings prophetic.It has been said that when Chinese house church leaders discovered American Christians praying for the end of...

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Extreme Encouragement

Romans 1:11-12When Communists took over Vietnam, Pastor Nguyen Lap Ma refused to relinquish the Christian Missionary Alliance Church in Can Tho. For this “crime,” he and his entire family were placed under house arrest in a tiny, rural village with no travel and with no mail for the first twelve years.Finally, when authorities loosened the...

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The Saint’s Pastime

Psalm 77:12Meditation is a saint's pastime. It recreates and perfumes the tired spirits. It is a ladder by which the soul climbs to heaven. It is a duty ever at hand (Prov. 6:22), when you are alone, nay, in the dark, when traveling, and so on. On all occasions you may let out your soul in meditation, when other duties cannot be performed....

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Spurgeon Saturday

Jude 24Revolve in your mind that wondrous word, “faultless!” We are far off from it now; but as our Lord never stops short of perfection in his work of love, we shall reach it one day. The Saviour who will keep his people to the end, will also present them at last to himself, as “a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such...

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Coming Storms

Proverbs 2:8Those who navigate a ship must watch all the more carefully the farther they move from shore. Then they can see signs of coming storms. When small storms come, the ship can ride over them in a straight path. If storms swell up violently, navi¬gators must avoid them by steering sideways. They often watch alone when everyone else...

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Ex Libris: The God I Don’t Understand, by Christopher, J. H. Wright

The God I Don't Understand: Reflections on Tough Questions of Faith, by Christopher J. H. Wright is a very popular and highly recommended book. Do I agree with the majority of reviewers and endorsers?See what I have to say over on Ex Libris....

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Deep Riches: Developments from Persecution

Can anything good come from persecution? See if it has in the past over on Deep Rich...

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Development Resulting from Persecution

For the most part, persecution had a purifying effect on Christianity. It has been said that a person will die for something they know to be true. If the second and third century Christians knew they were going to die, they had to know what they were dying for was absolutely true. This pressure brought about the need to canonize Scripture....

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Extreme Prayer

James 5:16“O most merciful Christ,” John Huss wrote while awaiting his execution, “give us a courageous spirit, so that it may be ready. And if the flesh is weak, may your grace go before it, for without you we can do nothing, and above all, without you we cannot face a cruel death. Give us a bold courage and upright faith, a firm hope, and...

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Table Blessings

Psalm 116:12Forget not to pray unto God for a blessing on the things you are to partake. For as the apostle says, "Every creature of God is good, being sanctified by the Word of God, and prayer" (1 Tim. 4:4-5). By the Word, as it does show, and warrant our right thereunto; and by prayer, as it is a means appointed by God for obtaining His...

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Spurgeon Saturday

Hebrews 1:14Angels are the unseen attendants of the saints of God; they bear us up in their hands, lest we dash our foot against a stone. Loyalty to their Lord leads them to take a deep interest in the children of his love; they rejoice over the return of the prodigal to his father’s house below, and they welcome the advent of the believer...

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Every Deed

Revelation 20:12Every good deed we do to our neighbors is entered in the Gospel, which is written on heavenly tablets and read by all who are worthy of the knowledge of the whole of things. But on the other hand, there is a part of the Gospel which condemns those who do the same evil deeds done to Jesus.The Gospel includes the treachery of...

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Ex Libris: The Baptism and Gifts of the Holy Spirit, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Why would I recommend a book that I theologically disagree with? See the answer to that question as I review The Baptism and Gifts of the Spirit, by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones.Click over to Ex Libris to see what I had to say....

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