And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was departing, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them; and they also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9–11)
God
God’s High Call for Women
John MacArtur – Grace to You
Although women have traditionally fulfilled supportive roles in serving the church and gained their greatest joy and sense of accomplishment from being wives and mothers, the feminist movement has successfully influenced many women to abandon these divinely ordained roles.
The Pretribulation Rapture
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Not Easily Offended
By D.L. Moody
In the 119th Psalm and the 165th verse, we find “Great peace have they who love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” The study of God’s Word will secure peace. You take Christians who are rooted and grounded in the Word of God, and you find they have great peace; but it is these who don’t study their Bible, and don’t know their Bible, who are easily offended when some little trouble comes, or some little persecution, and their peace is all disturbed; just a little breath of opposition, and their peace is all gone.
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The Believer’s Armor: God’s Provision for Your Protection
John MacArthur
Ephesians 6:10-17; Luke 4:2; Luke 22:44
Introduction
The Christian life is a battle. It is warfare on a grand scale.
Jesus’ ministry began with a battle against Satan that lasted forty days (Luke 4:2). As Jesus’ ministry drew to an end, Satan besieged Him again in the Garden of Gethsemane. He hit Him with such force that our Lord sweat great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). Those two accounts alone teach us that the battle may not become easier as we grow in obedience to God. If anything, Satan will intensify his efforts against those who continue effectively serving the Lord. But God has not left us defenseless.
The Distinguishing Mark of Christianity
John MacArthur from Grace to You
Freedom or slavery—what’s the distinguishing mark of Christianity? In a generation fixated on freedom, fulfillment, and autonomy, the vote has been cast early and often for freedom. But the Bible is abundantly clear—slavery is the heart of what it means to be a true Christian. It’s time to reassert this unpopular notion: true Christians are slaves of Christ.
How to Lose Your Joy
An Unremarkable Faith
This article originally appeared here at Grace to You.
Meet Larry, a thirty-six year old Science teacher. Larry married Cathy 12 years ago. They love each other and enjoy raising their two sons. Larry’s life wouldn’t hold out much interest to the average citizen. His Facebook account doesn’t draw many friends and nobody ever leaves a comment on his blog. In fact, most people would summarize Larry’s life with one word—boring. But not Larry. Teaching osmosis to junior high students, playing Uno with his kids, and working in the yard with Cathy is paradise to him. But the real love of his life is Jesus. Larry’s a Christian. He’s been walking with the Lord for more than 20 years.
The Saint Must Walk Alone
MOST OF THE WORLD’S GREAT SOULS have been lonely. Loneliness seems to be one price the saint must pay for his saintliness.
In the morning of the world (or should we say, in that strange darkness that came soon after the dawn of man’s creation) that pious soul, Enoch, walked with God and was not, for God took him; and while it is not stated in so many words, a fair inference is that Enoch walked a path quite apart from his contemporaries.
Another lonely man was Noah who, of all the antediluvians, found grace in the sight of God; and every shred of evidence points to the aloneness of his life even while surrounded by his people.
Holiness and Prayer
Joseph Caryl, 1647
“But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf” Job 8:5-6
He does as He pleases!
He does as He pleases!
(Arthur Pink, “The Sovereignty of God“)
“For the Lord Almighty has purposed—and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out—and who can turn it back?” Isaiah 14:27
To say that God is sovereign, is to declare that He is the Almighty, the Possessor of all power in heaven and earth—so that none can . . .
defeat His counsels,
thwart His purpose,
or resist His will.
A Humble Man
From a letter by William Romaine (1714-1795).
A humble man can come to no harm; he will be ever trusting in the Lord, because he finds nothing in himself to trust in, while he gives great glory to God by trusting much in Him. God gives him great grace, and this is to keep alive an abiding sense of what he is in himself: to show him his ignorance and helplessness, to open to him daily more of the mystery of iniquity, to reveal to him the stirrings of corruption, which others feel not, and make him sensible of these, even in duties and ordinances, that he may loath himself and his very best works. These are the fruits of true grace, and he who is under the teachings of the Holy Spirit will abound in them. The more God does in the heart, the more He humbles it. The great design of His grace—is to bring the proud sinner low, and then to keep him low.
Is the Doctrine of Election Biblical
John MacArthur
Among the most hotly contested and persistent debates in the history of the confessing church, the doctrine of election is perhaps the greatest of all. The question goes like this: Does God choose sinners to be saved and then provide for their salvation? Or, Does God provide the way of salvation that sinners must choose for themselves?
Where’s the evidence?
Comforter
Believer Encouragements
Taken from CH Spurgeon’s Morning and Evening, 12 February, Evening
“He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever.” – John 14:16
The Actions of One Who Forgives
Philemon 8-18
John MacArthur at Grace to You
This morning in our study of God’s Word together we return to the letter of Paul to Philemon, the epistle to Philemon. This brief epistle of 25 short verses, one chapter, is a living lesson on forgiveness. And this is our third out of four looks at this little epistle and we again this morning will sit at the feet of Paul and learn how to forgive. You remember the first three verses gave us the introduction. Then verses 4-7 showed us the characteristics of someone who forgives. And now in verses 8 through 18 we come to the action of forgiveness itself. We’re going to be looking at the very issue of forgiveness.
For the Love of His Truth 