Marching Forth!

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...

Years ago I worked for a company that had a softball team I played on.  After a big win, we had dinner afterward and reflected on the twists and turns of the game.  One infielder voiced the opinion his defence had been particularly stellar, and as he did so we all looked at one another with amazement:  was this guy serious?  Indeed, his defence had been such a liability it was a factor why the game was close at all!  It turned out he seriously thought his play should have been highlighted on ESPN SportsCenter--so great were his delusions.  He overlooked all the errors he made on the field (as if they had not happened) and viewed his routine plays as requiring the utmost athleticism and skill. While some people may be overly critical of themselves for making errors, my teammate illustrated how self-delusion can blind us from seeing ourselves in truth.  Had my teammate kept his thoughts to himself, he would have remained comfortable in his very positive ...

As a kid, I thought there was medicine for every malady.  I didn't realise antibiotics were prescribed for bacterial infections like strep throat and not for viruses like the common cold.  I came to understand taking antibiotics for viral illnesses can lead bacteria to grow resistant against them and be rendered ineffective when needed.  Typical treatments for viruses involve management of symptoms with rest, hydration and pain relief.  In the case of a cold, the nagging cough, runny nose, chills and fever are merely symptoms of a sickness.  These symptoms are not the illness itself, and often it takes the skill of a doctor to identify and treat the root cause of our illness or pain. I remember years ago pointing out an obvious depression and cracked gyprock on a wall.  The response was, "Oh, that was a hole we fixed."  No doubt an attempt was made.  Since I have experience with patching holes in gyprock, however, a closer look revealed cracked gy...

One aspect of God's character I love is His ability to redeem what we consider avoidable and even unredeemable.  I read a poem in a book titled, "The Saints Should Never Be Dismayed."  While this is a  true statement, we could spend our time beating ourselves up for doing what we never should do--or we could thank God He uses our being dismayed to draw us to Himself.  In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the relationship between the father and son was enriched by the son leaving, losing his inheritance, and choosing to return to his father he trusted to treat him well.  Having always enjoyed the blessings of his father's house he didn't realise how good his father was until he found himself in want.  Sheep should not wander from the Good Shepherd, and sons should not show such disrespect to their fathers, yet God rejoices when the lost are found.  When we are dismayed, let us remember to turn to the LORD. Below is the aforementioned hymn written by Will...

Without faith it is impossible to please God, and those who have placed their faith in Jesus will often be challenged to trust God more than we ever imagined.  All who are born again Christians have trusted in Jesus for forgiveness and salvation, yet our tendency is to continue to rely on our own understanding, to operate within the realm of what seems possible.  One amazing aspect of our God is He is the God of the impossible, for when there is no human solution He can easily accomplish what we never thought to ask or entered our minds. In the book True Discipleship by William MacDonald, there is a great excerpt credited to C.H. Mackintosh that bears repeating: "Faith brings God into the scene, and therefore it knows absolutely nothing of difficulties--yea, it laughs at impossibilities.  In the judgment of faith, God is the grand answer to every question--the grand solution of every difficulty.  It refers all to Him; and hence it matters not in the least to faith w...

Yesterday I read a sermon of Spurgeon on the subject of Election, and he made a good point concerning the nature of man to complain and find fault with God--even when God allows man to have his own way.  People who hate God always try to pin the blame on God when He is only righteous, just and good.  We have observed this in politics:  when people despise and oppose a leader personally, he cannot do anything right in their eyes.  We observe the same in God's people miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt who murmured against God and Moses, complained about God's provision and refused to enter the land God promised to give them.  Praise the LORD even when people malign and misunderstand God completely, He continues to draw all people to Himself so they might know Him and be saved.  He does not prevent a single soul from entering into eternal glory (for Christ loves all and died for the sins of the world), but all must come His way by faith in Jesus Chri...

Yesterday I leafed through a book by C.S. Lewis titled The Pilgrim's Regress , and it is one of the more clever and thought-provoking allegorical tales he wrote.  Perhaps the most memorable moment for me is when young John is brought to meet the "Steward" (a minister) who spoke concerning the "Landlord" who represents God.  Lewis presents a scene which brilliantly conveys how confusion, hypocrisy and lack of integrity are blights that obscure the Gospel message and the love of God from people.  With supreme focus on behaviour rather than the heart, using fear to control rather than sharing God's love which liberates, it is a masterful presentation of legalistic religion without a relationship with Jesus.  All I can say is, enjoy--and take it to heart so we as Christians do not resemble the Steward to the young Johns in our lives. "... The Steward lived in a big dark house of stone on the side of the road.  The father and mother went in to talk to the St...

" No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon ." Luke 16:13 "Mammon" is a word I have never heard in everyday conversation, and this is a likely factor why it is not understood.  The most common alternative in Bible translations for mammon is "money" (capitalised in the NIV), but the meaning is greater than dollars and cents.  In his book The Call , Os Guinness goes beyond a definition to provide a useful description that helps us better understand Christ's meaning: " Jesus' use of Mammon (Aramaic for wealth) is unique--he gave it a strength and precision that the word never had before.  He did not usually personify things, let alone deify them.  And neither the Jews nor the nearby pagans knew a god by this name.  But what Jesus says in speaking of Mammon is that money is a power--and not in a vague sense, as i...

In the C.S. Lewis book God In the Dock , he was asked if there are any "unmistakable outward signs in a person surrendered to God, and if that person could be cantankerous?  "Cantankerous" is defined as, "bad tempered, tending to argue or complain."  C.S. Lewis made good points in his answer: " Take the case of a sour old maid, who is a Christian, but cantankerous.  On the other hand, take some pleasant and popular fellow, but who has never been to Church.  Who knows how much more cantankerous the old maid might be if she were not a Christian, and how much more likeable the nice fellow might be if he were a Christian?  You can't judge Christianity simply by comparing the product in those two people:  you would need to know what kind of raw material Christ was working on in both cases. As an illustration, let us take a case of industrialism.  Let us take two factories:      - Factory A with poor and inadequate plant, and     - ...

Paul wrote to Christian believers in  1 Corinthians 11:1 , " Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ ."  Like Jesus, Paul's exercise of liberty was love of God and others--and they would do well to follow in Christ's footsteps as Paul did.  It is said, "Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery," but this is not what is meant by the imitation Paul spoke of:  flattery has nothing to do with it.  We follow Christ and imitate Him from a heart of love, admiration and worship.  Jesus no longer physically walked the earth when Paul wrote his epistles to the Corinthian church, and as Paul submitted to the life of Jesus lived out through him, following Paul's example by the empowerment of the Holy Spirit was the real thing. In his book The Call , Os Guinness had valuable insights to share concerning the importance of imitation in the Christian walk: " Paul's use of the word imitators is important.  Modeling--observing and copying--is vital to di...

In The Call written by Os Guinness, he provides insight of the contrast between love that is of the world and the love of God.  God's love is truly foreign to this world, and it is revealed by Jesus coming to us sinners for our good though we are unworthy.  We look upon what we love with favour that is fickle and can quickly dissipate when our needs, desires or expectations are unmet, yet God is love.  He has demonstrated His love for us by sending His only begotten Son to die for us while we were sinners.  Consider the contrast between eros and agape explained in The Call : " One view of love is the way of eros.  It sees the search as "the great ascent" of humans toward their desired goal.  For the Greeks in particular and the ancient world generally, eros was love as desire, yearning, or appetite aroused by the attractive qualities of the object of its desire--whether honor, recognition, truth, justice, beauty, love, or God.  To seek is therefore t...

The saving faith of a Christian is according to knowledge revealed in God's word, for "... faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God ." ( Romans 10:17 )  In a sermon titled "Faith," C.H. Spurgeon made an excellent point, that faith is more than believing something is true but requires  assent with it.  This perspective and attitude towards God's word is well illustrated by his quote:  " I love it all; I give my full, free, and hearty assent to every word of it, whether it be the threatening, or the promise, the proverb, the precept, or the blessing.  I believe that, since it is all the Word of God, it is all most assuredly true ." (Spurgeon, Charles H. Spurgeon’s Sermons . Baker Books, 1996. pages 369-370)  Here is an illustration involving the Niagara Falls Spurgeon used to show how faith in Christ supplies an indispensable union with God: Some years ago, two men, a bargeman and a collier, were in a boat, and found themselves unable ...

It struck me today during a morning walk that cults remain as popular as ever, and this reveals their tactics can be powerful and effective.  The Merriam-Webster  dictionary explains the history of the word "cult" like this:  " Cult, which shares an origin with culture and cultivate, comes from the Latin cultus, a noun with meanings ranging from "tilling, cultivation" to "training or education" to "adoration."...The earliest known uses of the word, recorded in the 17th century, broadly denoted "worship." From here cult came to refer to a specific branch of a religion or the rites and practices of that branch, as in "the cult of Dionysus."... Finally, by the 19th century, the word came to be used of "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious ."  Though cults can be diverse, they employ many of the same tactics because they are effective to help manipulate people and retain control. One thing I have generally ...

I am blessed and encouraged by Christians who are intelligent, gracious apologists who take an unapologetic stand on the truth of God's word.  Exploring perspectives and beliefs personally can be beneficial, and God can use these interactions to draw people to Himself.  As we are led by the Holy Spirit, we are Christ's ambassadors to bring the message of reconciliation of sinners to God through the Gospel.  It is important we emphasise the Gospel is not our opinion or view in a sea of options, but Jesus Christ is the exclusive way to eternal life, the Truth in a world of error.  Spurgeon made this point very well in a sermon titled "Gospel Missions," that the divine revelation aspect of our Christian faith can be neglected: "... I conceive that a great mistake has been made in not affirming the divinity of our mission, and standing fast by the truth, as being a revelation, not to be proved by men, but to be believed; always holding out this:  "He that beli...

I am blessed there are countless people in this world that are more intelligent and learned than I am.  My life and perspective has been greatly enriched by their contributions--even when I was not in agreement with those with different biblical interpretations and conclusions.  This has goaded me to dive into the Scripture to ensure I am convinced in my own mind concerning doctrines as well as I can and worked to sharpen my own views with greater precision.  Like a sharp blade requires maintenance to operate at peak performance, so a biblical worldview is improved by sound doctrine put into practice.  Carbon steel knives rust simply by exposure to the air, and unless we are grounded in God's word inhabiting this sin-steeped world tends to dull us. Recently I read an abridged letter sent by Galileo Galilei (yes, THE Galileo) to the Grand Duchess Christina to defend his position from those who criticised his scientific discoveries as incorrect and heretical when ...

Jesus had a man run up to Him and ask, " Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life ?"  Jesus responded with a question in  Mark 10:18 :  " So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God ."  Jesus did not deny He was good, but if He truly was good (as the man suggested but did not yet believe) He was indeed God.  It is no surprise the Jewish man thought he needed to do something to inherit eternal life, for he had been raised keeping the Law of Moses that gave no certainty of eternal life whatsoever.  Surely something needed to be done, for though he was a son of Abraham the enthusiastic man had no assurance of salvation.  This sounds a bit like the testimony of C.H. Spurgeon who was raised to read the Bible and taught of God, yet needed to wrestle awhile until he submitted his will to God by faith in Christ Jesus.  Spurgeon wrote: " I can remember the time when my sins first stared me in the face....

Blessed be the LORD God who has provided the remedy for our sin by atoning for it with the blood of Jesus.  In a sermon preached concerning the sting of sin and how the strength of it is the law (1 Corinthians 15:56-57 ), C.H. Spurgeon did well in building a strong case that every person has a deadly problem with sin we cannot shake by anything we do.  Sin goes deeper than our words and actions but our very thoughts teem with sin we have been steeped in from birth.  Justice can do nothing to help us, because the Law makes no allowance for mercy in judgment.  Spurgeon wrote: " Before thou canst destroy sin thou must in some way satisfy the law.  Sin cannot be removed by thy tears or by thy deeds, for the law is its strength; and until thou has satisfied the vengeance of the law, until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing of its demands, my sting cannot be taken away, for the very strength of sin is in the law."  Now, I must try and explain this doctrine tha...

After being born again by faith in Jesus, Paul desired to know Jesus, the power of Christ's resurrection, and the fellowship of Christ's sufferings by being conformed to His death.  This was God's will for Paul and all believers, and Paul also acknowledged this sanctifying pursuit remained a work in progress in his life as he wrote in  Philippians 3:12 :  " Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me ."  As Paul pursued Christ by faith and obedience, the finish line remained ahead of him.  Paul did not speak as someone who had crossed the line and now had advice for fellow disciples:  he continued to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus by grace. As a Pharisee, Paul had arrived:  he had achieved in obtaining a rare position of honour and influence among the most respected elders in Jewish society. ...

There is no book like the Bible, a book read, studied and discussed more than any other.  The profound revelations of God's word provokes deep thoughts, careful consideration and personal introspection.  Over the storied history of thousands of years, I can hardly appreciate the immeasurable, positive impact the Scriptures have had on the lives of people and nations.  Because God's thoughts are not our thoughts nor His ways our ways, there are difficult passages which are hard to understand.  By faith in God who has revealed Himself, when faced with verses beyond our understanding, our thirst for knowledge is satiated by returning to what we can know about God beyond doubt. In Yancey's What's So Amazing about Grace?,  he mentioned a persistent question many people have had over the years and ways people tried to answer it:  how God decided which foods were clean and unclean under Mosaic Law. "God's brief explanation allows much room for interpretation, and ...

I leafed through an old book yesterday titled Arrows and Anecdotes , a compilation of stories and sayings from the life and ministry of D.L. Moody.  I came upon one anecdote I especially liked titled "Faith and Feelings," and hopefully it will be useful for all who read it. " One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me, as if she were drinking in every word.  It is precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor.  I got interested in her, and after I had done talking I went and spoke to her.  "Are you a Christian?"  "No; I wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years."  I said, "There must be some mistake."  She looked strangely at me, and said, "Don't you believe me?"  "Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don't take an anxious sinner three years to meet a ...