Faith

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Standing for Truth

A.W. Tozer

We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant. We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow. Little by little we have been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless

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Christian Love

D.L. Moody

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.

Now there are a great many that have got love and they hold the truth. I should have said they have got truth, but they don’t hold it in love, and they are very unsuccessful in working for God. They are very harsh, and God cannot use them. Now let us hold the truth, but let us hold it in love. People will stand almost any kind of plain talk if you only do it in love. If you do it in harshness it bounds back and they won’t receive it. So what we want is to have the truth and at the same time hold it in love.

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Why We Believe While Others Reject

1 Corinthians 1:18-2:16

John MacArthur – Grace to You

It was about 25 years ago in my life that I was asked to write a little book and the original title of that little book was Focus on Fact, you’ve probably never seen it, it didn’t last very long. It came out in another edition with another title a couple of years later and that title was Why I Trust The Bible, it was 1983. And as I was preparing to write that book about why I trust the Bible, which is really what the first one was about as well, I had to answer the question why did I trust the Bible. What was it about the truth of Scripture that made it believable to me? Was I smarter than everybody else? Had I been presented a more powerful set of evidences about Scripture? And certainly such can be presented. Why did I have such immense confidence in the Bible?

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Rethinking Milk Buying

Grant Swart

As Christians we have often heard it said that we serve an awesome God, a great God, or a faithful God. I am sure that at times throughout each Christian’s walk with the Lord in this life, whether the walk has been but a short hop or whether it has been around the world innumerable times, a little niggling doubt arises in the mind of the believer as to the authenticity of their faith. The Apostle Paul expected us to be troubled by doubt at times as he told us in 2 Corinthians 13:5 ” Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith..” A little doubt might just stand us in good stead.

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The Importance of Sound Doctrine

A W Tozer

IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE to overemphasize the importance of sound doctrine in the life of a Christian. Right thinking about all spiritual matters is imperative if we would have right living. As men do not gather grapes of thorns nor figs of thistles, sound character does not grow out of unsound teaching.

The word doctrine means simply religious beliefs held and taught. It is the sacred task of all Christians, first as believers and then as teachers of religious beliefs, to be certain that these beliefs correspond exactly to truth. A precise agreement between belief and fact constitutes soundness in doctrine. We cannot afford to have less.

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Some Things Are Not Negotiable

A W Tozer

WILL ROGERS ONCE OPINED that a sure way to prevent war would be to abolish peace conferences.

Of course Will, as usual, had his tongue in his cheek; he meant only to poke fun at the weak habit of substituting talk for action. Still there is more than a little uncomfortable truth in his remark.

This above all others is the age of much talk. Hardly a day passes that the newspapers do not carry one or another of the headlines “Talks to Begin” or “Talks to Continue” or “Talks to Resume.” The notion back of this endless official chatter is that all differences between men result from their failure to understand each other; if each can discover exactly what the other thinks they will find to their delight that they are really in full agreement after all. Then they have only to smile, shake hands, go home and live happily ever after.

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God’s Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men

Jonathan Edwards

ROMANS 9:18.
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and
whom he will he hardeneth.

THE apostle, in the beginning of this chapter, expresses his great concern and sorrow of heart for the nation of the Jews, who were rejected of God. This leads him to observe the difference which God made by election between some of the Jews and others, and between the bulk of that people and the christian Gentiles. In speaking of this he enters into a more minute discussion of the sovereignty of God in electing some to eternal life, and rejecting others, than is found in any other part of the Bible; in the course of which he quotes several passages from the Old Testament, confirming and illustrating this doctrine. In the ninth verse he refers us to what God said to Abraham, showing his election of Isaac before Ishmael – “For this is the word of promise; At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a son:” then to what God had said to Rebecca, showing his election of Jacob before Esau; “The elder shall serve the younger:” in the thirteenth verse, to a passage from Malachi,

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Seeking a Closeness to God

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“Draw near to God.”
– James 4:8

The sincerely humble will want a closer relationship with God.
The expression “draw near” was originally associated with the priesthood in Israel. Under the regulations of the Old Covenant, the priests represented the people before God. Prior to coming near God’s presence, the priest had to be washed physically and be ceremonially clean. That meant he had to bathe, wear the proper garments, and offer sacrifices that made his own heart right with God. Then he could draw near to God on the people’s behalf.

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How should a Christian handle demonic attack?


Q & A with John MacArthur from Grace to you LISTEN

THEN READ THIS SERMON.

Understanding the Seducing Spirit

1 Timothy 4:1-3

Let’s open our Bibles this morning to 1 Timothy chapter 4. As you know, we are studying this great epistle of Paul to Timothy and we are coming back to it after a little bit of a break. Looking at chapter 4…I want to read to you the first five verses so you’ll have in mind the theme of our message today. Paul writes:

“But the Spirit speaks explicitly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons, speaking lies and hypocrisy having their conscience burned with a hot iron, forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from foods which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving by them who believe and know the truth, for every creature of God is good and nothing is to be refused if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the Word of God and prayer.”

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Standing Against the Devil

John MacArthur – Grace to You

“Resist the devil and he will flee from you.”
– James 4:7b

Anyone who possesses scriptural humility will take an uncompromising stand against Satan.
The successful diplomat or politician is quite adept at the art of compromise and finding the middle ground on various issues. But such skill is a hindrance when it comes to determining your position before God. If you humbly, by faith and repentance, submit yourself to God’s authority, you will immediately find yourself the enemy of Satan. You are either in God’s kingdom and under His lordship, or you are in Satan’s kingdom and under his lordship. It is impossible to have one foot in each kingdom and to be serving both kingdoms’ rulers.

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Unforgiveness imprisons people in the past

John MacArthur – Grace to You

Ephesians 6:3

The Key to Maintaining Family Unit

Now I said this morning that I was going to continue in our discussion about the fulfilled family and talk about the most important virtue in any relationship, the most important ingredient in holding a marriage together or keeping a family united, something that is absolutely crucial to the success of a marriage and a family.  I know that some of you were guessing this afternoon, some of my family were making suggestions about what they thought the subject was going to be.

What is it most importantly that causes relationships to be sustained over the long haul?  In a word, it is forgiveness…it is forgiveness.  Why do I say that?  Well first of all, no matter who you’re married to, they’re going to fail you, they’re going to offend you, they’re going to misunderstand you, they’re going to misinterpret what you mean by what you do.  You are going to offend them, you are going to sin against them, you are going to disappoint them.  This is true in any kind of relationship because we are sinful creatures, we are fallen creatures.  And what essentially keeps that from destroying relationships is forgiveness…forgiveness.

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Your Best Life: Now or Later?


John MacArthur – Grace to You

1 Peter 1:3-5

Lately I’ve had the occasion to fly a lot around the country, preaching here and there. Even though I’m here on Sundays, it seems like my weeks have been spent in airports, sometimes for a long time, as I’ve had mechanical delays and things like that. And I’ve become very much aware of a book that I knew was out there but I see literally all over all the airports that I’ve been in, in the last month or so, it has been labeled, at least, the best selling religious book of the time. The title of it is Your Best Life Now. I have seen stacks and stacks and stacks of those books everywhere I’ve gone.

Out of curiosity, I want to know what’s in the book and so I found this on page 5, “God wants this to be the best time of your life.” On another page it says, “Happy, successful, fulfilled individuals have learned how to live their best life now. On another page it says, “As you put the principles found in these pages to work today, you will begin living your best life now.” And that is absolutely true if you’re not a Christian. This is it, you better get the book because your next life is going to be infinitely worse than this one.

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As all the rivers run into the sea

Taken from CH Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, 1 March, Evening

“He is precious.” – 1Peter 2:7

As all the rivers run into the sea, so all delights centre in our Beloved. The glances of his eyes outshine the sun: the beauties of his face are fairer than the choicest flowers: no fragrance is like the breath of his mouth. Gems of the mine, and pearls from the sea, are worthless things when measured by his preciousness.

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Psalm 73

Psalm 73 (King James Version)

1Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.

2But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped.

3For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm.

5They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men.

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The Crown which is Life

John MacArthur – Grace to You

How to Endure Trials, Part 1

James 1:2-12

s I mentioned to you this morning, I am often asked about coping with the troubles of life. We all have them. They come in waves, it seems, none of us really escapes them. And as you know, in my own life through the years the Lord has done His work of refining by trials. As a young boy I went through an automobile accident in which I was injured and wound up three months in bed. From the physical standpoint, other illnesses that come and go in our lives cause us to be tested as to our trust and confidence in God. I’ve gone through a number of those, even recently when I came very near death with blood clots in my lungs. Our son, Mark, when he was a college student at the Master’s college was discovered had a brain tumor, the Lord took us through that, took him through it as well. And it was six years ago last summer that Patricia they said should have taken her life when she broke her neck. And not long ago my sister died and a week ago my mother died.

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