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Willingness and Persuasion

In a sermon on Hosea 8 , C.H. Spurgeon made an excellent point he saw no need for him to resort to worldly arguments in an attempt to "prove" to skeptics God wrote the Bible--though he could supply many persuasive reasons from the Scripture to demonstrate this.  He said, " I am a Christian minister, and you are Christians, or profess to be so; and there is never any necessity for Christian ministers to make a point of bringing forward infidel arguments in order to answer them. It is the greatest folly in the world. Infidels, poor creatures, do not know their own arguments till we tell them, and then they glean their blunted shafts to shoot them at the shield of truth again ."  Since faith in God and submission to Him is a matter of reason and the will, facts alone will not persuade a stubborn soul.  They will often choose to cling to a blunted arguments than surrender their lives to Jesus Christ as LORD.  Praise the LORD what is impossible for mankind is possible w...
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Do What God Says

Last night at Bible study we briefly discussed the interaction between Eve and Satan in the Garden of Eden.  As the devil questioned and denied the truth of God's word, they conversed without interruption.  One might think Adam was caught up in work elsewhere in the garden, and Satan decided to seize the opportunity to tempt Eve because her husband was away.   Genesis 3:6 shows this was not the case:  " So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate ."  It seems Adam was standing there with Eve and let her do all the talking--when he should have boldly spoken and affirmed the truth of all God said. Because Adam was unwilling to take a stand in the fear of God and obedience to Him, without a word he went along with Eve and ate from the single tree God forbade him to eat.  Looking back to th...
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Cleansed and Curse Free

In Jeremiah 51 , God called idols falsehoods because they had no breath in them.  Craftsmen carved the appearance of a mouth on images people worshipped that could not speak, had ears that could not hear and feet that could not walk anywhere.   Psalm 115:8 reads, " Those who make them are like them; s o is everyone who trusts in them ."  Those who make idols are as powerless and spiritually lifeless as their images, and so is everyone who trusts in them.  As idols are unable to prevent being looted or destroyed, those who bow before idols will find themselves powerless to protect or save themselves. While Moses was on Mt. Sinai and received the 10 Commandments written by the finger of God, a very different scene played out in the camp.  The high priest Aaron was compelled by restless people to make a graven image he set up as the god who brought them out of the land of Egypt--and violated the 1st and 2nd commandments.  They were to have no God but t...
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Democracy and God

" Without counsel, plans go awry, b ut in the multitude of counselors they are established ." Proverbs 15:22 King Solomon was a wise man who realised the benefits of good counsel.  He wrote in  Proverbs 24:5-6 , " A wise man is strong, y es, a man of knowledge increases strength;  6 for by wise counsel you will wage your own war, a nd in a multitude of counselors there is safety ."  The Hebrew word for "safety" here is also translated, " help, deliverance, salvation and victory ."  Safety is more than being protected from harm but to be successful in whatever you plan and set your mind to do.  If we consider our own experiences, it is likely we would have been helped by running our ideas or plans past others, waiting to seek expert opinion, before we launched into projects that ended up wasting time and money--or perhaps never came to fruition. Democratic rule relies upon this principle, that the views of the majority will best serve the major...
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A Real Person

Jesus said the Holy Spirit would guide His disciples into all truth and explained concerning the Holy Spirit in  John 16:14 :  " He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you ."  I am reading through a book by R.A. Torrey titled  The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit  where he establishes by Scripture the Holy Spirit is indeed a person and divine, the third person of the Triune God.  Mentions of the Holy Spirit abound in both the Old and New Testament, yet even some Christians use the word "it" (as if the Holy Spirit is a impersonal force or power to be obtained and used) rather than "Him" in referring to the Holy Spirit who fills and uses us.  After expaining how critical it was to decide whether the Holy Spirit is a divine person, Torrey wrote: " It is also of the highest importance from the practical standpoint that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is merely some mysterious and wonderful power, which we in our weakne...
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Idolatry and Insanity

The prophet Jeremiah made an interesting statement concerning God's judgments against Babylon for their idolatry in  Jeremiah 50:38 :  " A drought is against her waters, and they will be dried up. For it is the land of carved images,  a nd they are insane with their idols ."  The Babylonians were well-known for their prognosticators, astrologers and diviners.  Idolatry led to beliefs and practices which God described as insanity.  Webster defined "insane" as: " unsound in mind or intellect; mad; deranged in mind ."  While their ideas and behaviour were unsound and deranged from a biblical perspective, there was a set of beliefs--an ideology--that guided their actions. The Babylonians used divination and sought omens for guidance as it is written in  Ezekiel 21:21 :  " For the king of Babylon stands at the parting of the road, at the fork of the two roads, to use divination: he shakes the arrows, he consults the images, he looks at the liv...
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Prioritising Our Pursuits

Years ago I enjoyed fishing for largemouth bass at Loveland Reservoir in Alpine, California.  It was one of the only lakes in San Diego county that was free to fish as long as you held a valid fishing license--but fishing did come at a cost.  From memory it was about a 20 minute hike to access the water, and when your return to your vehicle it was all uphill and tiring!  While the fishing at the reservoir could be excellent, I had a series of many consecutive trips over the span of a year that did not result in a single bite.  Based on my repeated experiences of catching nothing, I felt like I might as well practice casting into a backyard pool.  Fishing and catching are two different things, and I prefer catching.  If there is no catching involved, why go fishing? After Jesus rose from the dead, one night Peter and other disciples decided to go fishing.  The Sea of Galilee was literally at Peter's doorstep, and he had a boat, tackle and experience....
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