January 2011
1 post
“You must indeed, O believer, grapple with death, and shall get the first fall –...”
– Thomas Boston
November 2010
3 posts
The Bible Speaks
20 applications from Ephesians 1:3-4
1. “Blessed”
You have reasons for worshiping God no matter what is happening in your life.
2. “Be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”
There is a complexity to God that is important you work on understanding and appreciating if you are going to worship Him enthusiastically and biblically.
3. “Who has blessed”
It is sinful for you...
Believer: I look at myself and wonder how can God have good in store for me in my future?
Paul: In Him we have obtained an inheritance.
Believer: I look all that is going on in the world and wonder can God really bring this great plan He has to pass?
Paul: In Him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined by Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
Believer: I look at the difficulties I am experiencing and wondering is God really working all this for my good?
Paul: When you believe in Christ, God identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom He promised long ago. The Spirit is God's guarantee that He will give us the inheritance He promised.
Believer: But I look at the church and wonder why would God be so committed to our eternal good?
Paul: God's did all this to the praise of His glory.
“Christian worship is the response of God’s redeemed people to His...”
– Bob Kauflin
August 2010
2 posts
“In every age, the man who has seen the risen Christ is the man with a mission;...”
– James S. Stewart
July 2010
6 posts
Paul: I have an ambition.
Believer: What do you mean by that?
Paul: I mean that I am driven.
Believer: To do what?
Paul: To please God in every single area of my life every single day of my life.
Believer: Why are you so serious about doing that?
Paul: Because we all are going to appear before Jesus as judge one day and He is going to evaluate the way in we used the life He gave us.
Thinking Hard about God
“To be spiritually minded … is to have our minds really exercised with delight about heavenly things … especially Christ himself as at the right hand of God.
Spiritual mindedness is developed, exercised and reinforced by meditation. By … . meditation, I intend the thought of some subject spiritual and divine, with the fixing, forcing, and ordering of our thoughts about...
Small Groups
We will be meeting in small groups this Sunday morning before our service in the afternoon. These small groups are scattered throughout Pretoria. As our church grows, we hope these small groups will become more and more an important part of each church member’s lives. Here are some reasons why:
1. Small groups provide an opportunity to get to know other believers in your local church...
“One of the sweetest statements from the lips of Jesus … is this: ‘Come,...”
– R. C. Sproul, The Truth of the Cross (Orlando, FL; Reformation Trust Pub., 2007), 152-153.
HT: Of First Importance
Jesus is coming back
We don’t know when Jesus is coming back, but we know for sure He is.
1. The trustworthiness of the Bible demands it.
In the Scripture God promises hundreds of times that Jesus will return and God always tells the truth.
2. The justice of God requires it.
God hates sin and will not leave it unpunished. He is sending His Son to judge it.
3. The love Jesus has for His people...
June 2010
12 posts
Psalm 37
Believer: I am overwhelmed by the amount of evil there is in this world and am beginning to fear because of the evil men that surround me, in fact, sometimes I find myself wishing I had what they had. It all seems to come so easy for them.
Psalmist: Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong.
Believer: But why?
Psalmist: For like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will die away.
Believer: What should I do then? How should I respond?
Psalmist: Trust in the Lord and do good. Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust in Him and He will do this.
Believer: Do what? What will God do?
Psalmist: He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.
Believer: Can you give me an idea of what that kind of attitude will look like and how I can develop that attitude in the midst of the craziness of my everyday life?
Psalmist: Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when evil men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath, do not fret - it only leads to evil.
Believer: Tell me why again?
Psalmist: For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land. A litte while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found. But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy great peace.
“To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker.”
– Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
Clean
I want you to imagine something.
We sometimes have difficulty looking ourselves in the mirror because of the shame we feel because of the bad things we have done.
Imagine being brought before someone who knows everything about you. And when I say knows everything about you, He knows absolutely every thought and desire you have ever had. Not in some sort of faded memory kind of way. He has...
“What binds us together is not common education, common race, common income...”
– D.A. Carson
Faith is not ignoring reality →
The Stand to Reason blog has an fascinating insight into the prosperity gospel…
The post begins:
In his 2009 book The Survivors Club: The Secrets and Science that Could Save Your Life, Ben Sherwood describes an intriguing phenomenon known as the Stockdale Paradox (after Admiral James Stockdale, the highest-ranking P.O.W. of the Vietnam War), which suggests a counterintuitive link between...
Believer: How's ministry going Paul?
Paul: We are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake.
Believer: Wow. That sounds dangerous. A little risky. How you handling that?
Paul: We are keeping on, keeping on. We are not becoming discouraged.
Believer: You are not? How can that be? It sounds pretty tough. Look at the difficulties you are experiencing.
Paul: It is true, our bodies are having a rough time of it. You look at us from the outside and it's going to look like things are getting worse and worse, actually. But if you could see us from the inside out, you would see our inner man is getting stronger day by day.
Believer: That's great Paul. I am glad that you are growing, but I am just wondering how you are able to handle the amount of suffering you are experiencing without giving up?
Paul: Well, really the suffering I am experience is a small thing.
Believer: Small thing. No, no, no, Paul. How can you say that? Beaten, shipwrecked, stoned, thrown in prison, doesn't sound small to me.
Paul: You have to look at in perspective. For one thing, look at what it is producing for us. The suffering I am experiencing right now is doing something. It is producing an eternal weight of glory that is far beyond all comparison. But let me try to compare it for a second. My suffering is momentary the glory I will receive eternal. The suffering I am enduring is light when you try to compare it to the glory I am going to experience. Looking at my suffering in comparison to my future glory, it is momentary and light and not a reason for losing heart.
Believer: Wow. I wish I could be like that. How do you live that out though? I know about that glory but it doesn't always give me the kind of courage it is giving you.
Paul: You need to take some action. Look, we are making a practice of not looking at the things which are seen, but we are taking our eyes and focusing them on the things that are not seen because the things that we see are just for a little while and the thing that are not seen are forever.
“When you think about heaven, you’re identifying the place where your...”
– John MacArthur
I know a man who:
Was rich but became poor so that the poor people he served might become rich. Was powerful but chose to become a servant so that those who didn’t even deserve to be his servants might become his sons. Was healthy but spent his entire life working with the sick that the sick might become healthy. Was worthy of honor but put himself in a position where he was continually shamed so...
Courageous Missionary Murdered →
May 2010
27 posts
“If Christ came into this world and died to save such as you, will it not be a...”
– Robert Murray McCheyne
Here are four things you can do when someone says something negative about you that you don’t think is accurate:
1. Slow down and think carefully about what they are saying. If you are like me, you have heard a whole lot of rationalization in your time, and you know you are not all that different than other people, so you are probably pretty good at rationalizing yourself - even though...
Believer: My life is hard.
James: Think of that as a reason for pure joy.
Believer: But I haven't told you what I am struggling with.
James: You need to think of it as a reason for pure joy when you encounter all sorts of different trials. It doesn't matter the nature of the trial itself.
Believer: Do you mean I am supposed to feel joyful when I am suffering?
James: No, I said you need to think of it as a reason for joy.
Believer: Why?
James: Because of what you know. You know that the difficulty you are going through right now is testing how sure you are that God is for you.
Believer: O.k. but why is that such a good thing?
James: Because it is going to produce strength. As you go through this difficulty trusting God you are going to become a stronger person, and as you become stronger and stronger and stronger you are going to become more spiritually mature, I'll even say perfect, complete and lacking in nothing.
“There is a remedy revealed for man’s need, as wide and broad and deep as...”
– J.C. Ryle
How we overcome « Of First Importance →
Are you greedy?
Greed is a blinding sin, which means the greedy person often doesn’t even know he is greedy. Richard Baxter gives a number of tests to help evaluate whether or not you are greedy. I’ll paraphrase:
1. You do not desire God more than you do prosperity. You think more about getting ahead financially than you do getting ahead spiritually. (Rom. 13:14; Matt. 6:19; 1 Tim. 3:8; Phil 3:19; Ezek....
Believer: What is my life about?
Paul: Have you been raised with Christ?
Believer: Yes.
Paul: Then your life needs to be about the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.
Believer: But what does that mean exactly? How do I do that? Where do I start?
Paul: Set your mind on the things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.
Believer: That sounds like a lot. Why should I do that?
Paul: For you died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. In other words, Christ is your life and when He returns you are going to appear with Him in glory.
Believer: But Paul, can you give me some specific, practical instruction on what I need to do if I am going to set my mind on things above today?
Paul: Yes. If you are going to set your mind on things above you need to do whatever it takes to turn from worldly desires that are warring against your soul. I am talking about things like sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and covetousness because that is idolatry.
5 Characteristics of the Story the Bible tells
1. It begins with God.
2. It sees man’s biggest problem as rebellion against God.
3. It finds the solution to man’s problems in God’s work not ours.
4. It centers its attention on Jesus.
5. Its greatest hope goes way beyond this life to the next.
“As a rule we understand our own work before it is done, but God’s work we...”
– Martin Luther
Starting May 30th...
We found a place!
Or I should say God graced us with a place to meet on Sundays. No more singing along with the woodchoppers and police sirens.
It’s in town, on a great street, within walking distance of Sunnyside at a Lutheran Seminary. We’ll have to meet in the afternoons, but hopefully that will give us the opportunity to do some neat things with our mornings, like home groups and reaching...
How dependent are you on the Holy Spirit?
Take a look back on some of what the Spirit did in and at your salvation:
1. Showed you the glory of Jesus Christ and drew you to Him.
2. Caused you to hate your sin and turn from it.
3. Gave you the ability to believe and be confident that the promises of mercy you heard in the gospel were for you.
4. Comes to dwell in you.
5. Makes you one with other believers.
6. Reveals to you that you...
“..we will never have enough confidence in God unless we become deeply...”
– John Calvin
6 ways to pursue humility
1. Seek a deeper knowledge of God.
2. Meditate on death, judgment and eternity.
3. View each day as an opportunity to forget self and serve others.
4. Read the biographies of great saints.
5. Remember daily the dangers of pride.
6. Pray daily for humility.
Joel Beeke
During the second panel discussion at T4G2010, Mark Dever asked John MacArthur about his take on what is known as the “prosperity gospel.” Here’s an excerpt of the exchange:
Mark Dever: I think I heard you say recently in a conversation that you are more concerned about the prosperity “gospel” than you have ever been before, that you see it as an increasing problem. Do you want to talk about that...
“Why should I be a member of a local church? I’m a part of the body of Christ....”
– Thabiti Anyabwile
“It is better to lack anything than it is to lack humility.”
– Thomas Watson
Believer: I am so worried. My life is so difficult. I don't know what is going to happen next but it is probably going to be something bad.
Paul: If God is for us, who can be against us?
Believer: (Absolute silence.)
3 questions when you sin… →
1. What is it that makes you saddest about sin? What other people think of you as a result or the fact that it is against God? 2. What brings you the most comfort when you sin? The fact that Jesus died for you or that you have done a lot of other good? 3. Once you have been comforted, what do you want most to happen next? That other people would see how good you really are or that God would...
Learning to Wait… →
John Bunyan tells a story that illustrates the believer’s attitude towards life in this world.
He writes, “I next saw in my dream that Christian was taken to a small room where two children sat, each one in his own chair. The name of the older one was Passion, and the younger Patience. Passion seemed to be quite discontent, but Patience was very quiet. Then Christian asked, ‘Why is Passion so...
And not or… →
If you knew someone who was caring for orphans and working with the poor during the day but spending his evenings getting drunk and going to clubs; I am guessing (hoping) you would quickly recognize there is a serious problem.
But I wonder if you knew someone who would never enter a club or get drunk or anything like that, but spent his life basically ignoring the needs of the vulnerable around...