Author: Elmarie

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The Last Word on Relationships

Titus 3:9-15

John MacArthur

Grace to You

Open your Bible to Titus chapter 3. We come now to the final message in our study of this wonderful power-packed condensed epistle of Paul to his young son in the faith ministering on the island of Crete. And we’re going to be looking at the final verses, verses 9 through 15, just some closing remarks by the Apostle Paul, having already given the full argument of the book itself. He has some final things to say. And listen as he speaks beginning in verse 9.

“But shun foolish controversies and genealogies and strifes and disputes about the law for they are unprofitable and worthless. Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning being self-condemned. When I send Artemas or Tychicus to you, make every effort to come to me at Nicopolis for I have decided to spend the winter there. And diligently help Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their way so that nothing is lacking for them. And let our people also learn to engage in good deeds to make pressing needs that they may not be unfruitful. All who are with me greet you. Greet those who love us in the faith. Grace be with you all.”

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Know Thy Enemy

Grace to You

Know Thy Enemy

Wednesday, February 09, 2011

Are you ready to kill?

That’s a stark question, and it demands qualification, but killing is a regular part of the Christian life. There’s an aspect of being a Christian that’s downright violent.

You see, God commands us to hunt down and kill all remaining sin—to terminate it with extreme prejudice. Want proof? Here’s what Paul said in Romans 8:

So then, brethren, we are under obligation. Not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh—for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God (vv. 12-14)

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How can we know when it is best to forgive or confront?

Matthew 18

John MacArthur

Grace to You

That’s a good question because most people seem to err on one side or the other. Some people think it is best to overlook every offense and take pride in their tolerance. However, Paul confronted the Corinthians for tolerating sin in the church and rebuked them for failing to deal with a man living in sin (1 Cor. 5).

On the other side of the issue are people who confront over any slight infraction and make themselves intolerable. Are there any biblical principles to help us make the right choice? Yes! Here are six guidelines to help you know whether to forgive or confront.

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How To Become Fishers of Men

by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)

“And Jesus saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”—Matthew 4:19.

When Christ calls us by his grace we ought not only to remember what we are, but we ought also to think of what he can make us. It is, “Follow me, and I will make you.” We should repent of what we have been, but rejoice in what we may be. It is not “Follow me, because of what you are already.” It is not “Follow me, because you may make something of yourselves;” but, “Follow me, because of what I will make you.” Verily, I might say of each one of us as soon as we are converted, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” It did not seem a likely thing that lowly fishermen would develop into apostles; that men so handy with the net would be quite as much at home in preaching sermons and in instructing converts. One would have said, “How can these things be? You cannot make founders of churches out of peasants of Galilee.” That is exactly what Christ did; and when we are brought low in the sight of God by a sense of our own unworthiness, we may feel encouraged to follow Jesus because of what he can make us. What said the woman of a sorrowful spirit when she lifted up her song? “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes.” We cannot tell what God may make of us in the new creation, since it would have been quite impossible to have foretold what he made of chaos in the old creation. Who could have imagined all the beautiful things that came forth from darkness and disorder by that one fiat, “Let there be light?” And who can tell what lovely displays of everything that is divinely fair I lay yet appear in a man’s formerly dark life, when God’s grace has said to him, “Let there be light?” O you who see in yourselves at present nothing that is desirable, come you and follow Christ for the sake of what he can make out of you. Do you not hear his sweet voice calling to you, and saying, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men?”

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God Doesn’t Change

“Thou art the same,
and Thy years will not come to an end.”
– Psalm 102:27

God never changes, so He can be trusted to do what He says.

God alone is unchanging (or as the theologians say, immutable). The psalmist says, “Even [the heavens and earth] will perish, but Thou dost endure. . . . Thou art the same, and Thy years will not come to an end” (Ps. 102:26-27). Though Israel deserved destruction for its sin, God was faithful to His covenant with Abraham, saying, “I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). James calls God “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow” (1:17).

What about those verses that say God changed His mind (e.g., Amos 7:3, 6; Jonah 3:10)? Let’s look at an example. Jonah warned the wicked city of Nineveh of impending judgment. The city immediately repented, and “when God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it” (3:10). Who changed? The people of Nineveh! God’s nature to punish evil and reward good remained the same, but the object changed.

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Answering the Hard Questions About Forgiveness

Answering the Hard Questions About Forgiveness

Selected Scriptures

John MacArthur

For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, and abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You. –Ps. 86:5

I know a young man (we’ll call him Jim) who believes he was mistreated by afellow Christian several yearsago. There was a dispute about who was wrong in the incident. Jim brought the matter to the elders of his church for resolution. The elders attempted to investigate the matter but ultimately concluded there was insufficient evidence to determine who was at fault. It was one person’s word against the other’s, with no other witnesses. The elders finally advised both Jim and the other party to forgive one another and put the dispute behind them.

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For the Love of the Truth

For the Love of the Truth

John MacArthur

Grace to You

Selected Scriptures

To acknowledge that the church often needs to fight for truth is not to suggest that the gospel–our one message to a lost world–is somehow a declaration of war. It most certainly is not; it is a manifesto of peace and a plea for reconciliation with God (2 Corinthains 5:18-20). Conversely, those who are not reconciled to God are at war with Him all the time, and the gospel is a message about the only way to end that war. So ironically, the war to uphold the truth is the only hope of peace for the enemies of God.

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Meadow verses in the Bible

Psalm 65:13
The meadows are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered with grain; they shout for joy and sing together.

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Psalm 65

O God of Our Salvation

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song.

65:1 Praise is due to you, [1] O God, in Zion,
and to you shall vows be performed.
2 O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.
3 When iniquities prevail against me,
you atone for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!

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The Greatness of Being a Slave

The Greatness of Being a Slave

John MacArthur

Mark 10:35-45

The most profound reality for every believer is a relationship with Jesus Christ. He is our Savior, our teacher, and our friend. But the Bible teaches that at the most basic level Jesus is our Lord, our Master, which means we are His slaves.

Peruse most Bible translations and it’s easy to miss that crucial reality. That’s because many find the notion of slavery to be a cruel and embarrassing concept. John MacArthur’s new book, Slave, uncovers the conspiracy, bringing the doctrine of our slavery to Christ to its proper place in our thinking.

Embrace for yourself what the Bible really teaches about slavery—your relationship with Jesus Christ will never be the same.

http://www.gty.org/Shop/Books/451170_Slave-The-Hidden-Truth-About-Your-Identity-in-Christ-Hardcover

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A Mighty Fortress in the Storm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Mighty Fortress in the Storm – Psalm 46 God is our refuge and strength

1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.

Psalm 46 is a very well-known and comforting Psalm. It is well-known that Martin Luther would sing it when he felt discouraged or sore-tried in his fight against Rome. We read that there were moments when Luther would feel something akin to despair, and he would ask with the Psalmist: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?” In such hours, he would say to Melanchthon, “Come, Philip, let us sing the 46th Psalm” and the two friends would sing it together using Luther’s famous paraphrase of it.

But this Psalm is not only a comfort in times of ecclesiastical or political conflict. It is of great comfort whenever we are facing an uncertain tomorrow or anticipate a severe trial.

Every Christian may sing this Psalm, for this Psalm is given by our Lord, that we may sing with Him. He speaks of Himself apart from us, but once in verse 10 where He says, “I am God.” But everywhere else, He puts Himself as one amongst us that we may sing with Him as ‘we’ and ‘us’.

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STUDY GUIDE:”BEWARE THE PRETENDERS”

Part 1 of 6 Jude 1-2

THE ETERNAL SECURITY OF THE CHRISTIAN
by John F. MacArthur

A. The Analysis of the Epistle

The book of Jude is probably one of the most neglected books in the Bible. In spite of its short length, it is extremely important. The beginning of the Church Age is described in the Acts of the Apostles; its end is dealt with in the Epistle of Jude (which somebody has titled, “The Acts of the Apostates”). The book of Acts describes the deeds and teachings of men of God who began to build the church, and Jude, the last New Testament epistle, relates the deeds and teachings of evil men who will be living when the Church Age comes to an end. In fact, it is the only book in the Bible that is devoted to discussing the great apostasy (departure from the faith) that is to come before the return of Jesus Christ.

In the gospels, our Lord predicted that people under the name of Christianity would turn their backs on the truth. Paul, Peter, and John, along with Jude and James explicitly state or imply the reality of that apostasy. The Epistle of Jude plays a very important part in developing a complete understanding of that event. It details God’s attitude toward those who depart from the faith.

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Christian Love


Quote by D L Moody

Galations 5

IT speaks in Galatians about love, the fruit of the Spirit being love, joy, peace, gentleness, long suffering,meekness and temperance. The way this writer has put it — and I think it is very beautiful — is that joy is love exultant, peace is love in repose, and long suffering is love enduring. It is all love, you see, a gentleness is love in society, and goodness is love in action, and faith is love on the battle-field, and meekness is love at school, and temperance is love in training.

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It is Well with My Soul

hymn=it-is-well-with-my-soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul. Continue reading →

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Believer Encouragements

Taken from CH Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, 5 February, Morning

“The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.” – 1 John 4:14

It is a sweet thought that Jesus Christ did not come forth without his Father’s permission, authority, consent, and assistance. He was sent of the Father, that he might be the Saviour of men. We are too apt to forget that, while there are distinctions as to the persons in the Trinity, there are no distinctions of honour. We too frequently ascribe the honour of our salvation, or at least the depths of its benevolence, more to Jesus Christ than we do the Father. This is a very great mistake. What if Jesus came? Did not his Father send him? If

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