Love

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Avoiding Empty Philosophies – Tearing Down Strongholds

Bible Q & A With John MacArthur

2 Corinthians 10

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, (2 Corinthians 10:4–5)

To successfully fight the spiritual war requires weapons from the heavenly arsenal. Only those divinely powerful weapons are suited for the destruction of the enemies’ fortresses. That term would convey to the New Testament reader the thought of a formidable stronghold. Corinth, like most major cities in Greece, had an acropolis. Located on a mountain near the city, the acropolis was a fortified place into which the inhabitants could retreat when attacked. Ochuroma (fortresses) was also used in extrabiblical Greek to refer to a prison. People under siege in a fortress were imprisoned there by the attacking forces. The word was also used to refer to a tomb.

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Here’s a side to the Christmas story that isn’t often told

From – Truth for Today  ~  A Daily Touch of God’s Grace , by John MacArthur

~ 25 December ~ Devotional ~

Why was Jesus Born?

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve , and to give His life a ransom for many. Mark 10:45

Here’s a side to the Christmas story that isn’t often told: Those soft little hands, fashioned by the Holy Spirit in Mary’s womb, were made so that nails might be driven through them. Those baby feet, pink and unable to walk, would one day walk up a dusty hill to be nailed to a cross. That sweet infant’s head with sparkling eyes and eager mouth was formed so that someday men might force a crown of thorns onto it. That tender body, warm and soft, wrapped in swaddling clothes, would one day be ripped open by a spear.

Jesus was born to die.

Don’t think I’m trying to put a damper on your Christmas spirit. Far from it – for Jesus’ death , though devised and carried out by men with evil intentions, was in no sense a tragedy. In fact , it represents the greatest victory over evil anyone has ever accomplished.

~John MacArthur~

This Devotional book available here

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Should Christians have Christmas trees?

Christians and Christmas TreesJohn MacArthur

December 17, 2009

As the Christmas Season approaches, questions like this sometimes arise. Like everything in life, it is important to approach these issues with biblical discernment.

In this case, we see nothing wrong with the traditional Christmas tree. However, some have taught that it’s wrong for anyone to have a Christmas tree in their home. But are their reasons valid? We don’t think so. Let’s look at the two most common objections people make against having a Christmas tree.

First, some object on the basis that Christmas trees have pagan origins. It is believed that Boniface, English missionary to Germany in the eighth century, instituted the first Christmas tree. He supposedly replaced sacrifices to the god Odin’s sacred oak with a fir tree adorned in tribute to Christ. But certain other accounts claim that Martin Luther introduced the Christmas tree lighted with candles. Based on that information you could say the Christmas tree has a distinguished Christian pedigree.

However, even if a pagan background were clearly established, that wouldn’t necessarily mean we could not enjoy the use of a Christmas tree. Perhaps the following analogy will help.

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Christian Duty in a Pagan Culture

John MacArthur – Grace to You

In an increasingly secular and ungodly culture, many Christians wonder about their role and duty. Should we lobby for rights that have traditionally belonged to us? Should we make every effort to implement a Christian agenda? Should we completely reform the government? The Bible speaks clearly about our duty, and it’s all about governingour character.

Over a quarter of a century ago the late apologist and Christian thinker Francis Schaeffer asked the question, “How should we then live?” in his landmark book of the same title. The relevance of that question has not changed. If anything, it has only become more urgent for believers at the dawn of a new century and millennium.

Society has taken a nosedive into greater and greater evil, debauchery, violence, and corruption, and outside the church, the landscape seems filled with “modern barbarians.” The temptation is strong for believers to jump into the cultural fray as self-righteous social/political reformers and condescending moralizers. All the while those self-styled Christian activists forget or ignore their true mission in the world and completely miss the answer to Schaeffer’s question–an answer that God’s Word spells out quite clearly.

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The Christian’s Sufficiency In Christ

John Calvin

Institutes of the Christian Religion

We see that our whole salvation and all its parts are comprehended in Christ [Acts 4:12]. We should therefore take care not to derive the least portion of it from anywhere else. If we seek salvation, we are taught by the very name of Jesus that it is “of him” [1 Cor 1:30]. If we seek any other gifts of the Spirit, they will be found in his anointing. If we seek strength, it lies in his dominion; if purity, in his conception; if gentleness, it appears in his birth. For by his birth he was made like us in all respects [Heb. 2:17] that he might learn to feel our pain [cf. Heb. 5:2].

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Is Your Salvation Secure?

Grace to You – John MacArthur

Is Your Salvation Secure?
Scripture: Romans 8:28-30
Code: P07

For many years people have debated the issue of whether a Christian can lose his salvation. Some within Christendom believe you can lose your salvation; others say you can’t. That, perhaps more than any other single doctrine, has been a dividing issue in the church. How sad that is, because the Bible is clear about the matter. It is surprising that many Christians would deny or ignore the straightforward presentation of the doctrine of security in Romans chapter 8. There are other texts in the Bible that discuss the security of the believer, but none are as pointed as Romans 8:28-30.We find in those verses that everyone who has been redeemed by Jesus Christ, without exception, will be glorified.

The key phrase in this trilogy of verses is at the end of verse 28: “called according to His [God’s] purpose.” We are forever secure because that was God’s purpose. The Son of God and the Holy Spirit intercede for us so that the plan of God might come to pass. So our security is guaranteed not only by the purpose of God, but also by the outworking of that purpose through the intercessory ministries of the Son and the Spirit.

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There’s Only 2 Religions

The Way to Heaven

Grace to You – John MacArthur

July 09, 1995

As we look together to the Word of God in this very special session together in the gospel of Matthew, our attention falls on two very important verses that are the high point of the great Sermon on the Mount. The Sermon on the Mount is recorded in chapter 5, 6 and 7 and the high point comes in chapter 7 verses 13 and 14. And these are the words with which our Lord brings that sermon to its climax. “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it, for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it.”

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The Modern Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit

John MacArthur – Grace to You

October 23, 2011

Selected Scriptures

Well now that I don’t have to preach on anything but what I want to preach on since I finished the New Testament, I find myself all over the place trying to decide what to preach on in sequence…a new kind of experience for me and I’m working on some kind of sequence that makes sense over the future. But I am sort of at the liberty point of my life where whatever is on my heart is where I can go, and this is a wonderful opportunity for me. And there is a subject that has concerned me for a long time and I have wanted to address this subject but it hasn’t been a part of preaching through the gospels in the way that it can be now and that is the subject of the Holy Spirit…the Holy Spirit.

After all the emphasis of so many years, 25 years of preaching through the four gospels, and much emphasis, of course, on the person of Christ as it should be, much emphasis on the character of God, and the nature of God as manifest in Christ and is seen elsewhere in Scripture, it is time now to give honor to the third member of the Trinity, namely the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the most forgotten, the most misrepresented, the most dishonored, the most grieved, the most abused and I might even say the most blasphemed of the members of the Trinity. That’s a sad thing.

When our Lord cleansed the temple in John 2, He said that He was, in a sense, fulfilling the attitude of David from Psalm 69, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up, the reproaches that fall on you are fallen on Me.” And what our Lord was saying was when God is dishonored, I feel the pain. “You have taken My Father’s house, which is to be a house of prayer, and turned it into a den of robbers. You’ve corrupted My Father’s house. You’ve blasphemed My Father’s name. You’ve dishonored My Father.”

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Spurgeon – Devotional

Charles Haddon Spurgeon – Devotionals

Morning

“I have chosen you out of the world.”
– Joh_15:19

Here is distinguishing grace and discriminating regard; for some are made the special objects of divine affection. Do not be afraid to dwell upon this high doctrine of election. When your mind is most heavy and depressed, you will find it to be a bottle of richest cordial.

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Bible Verses About Friendship: 20 Good Scripture Quotes

Pro 18:24  A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

What does the Bible say about Friendship? How are we to choose our friends? How should friends treat one another? All of these are good questions and the Bible has some good Scriptures to study to answer them. I am sure you came to this article looking for some great Bible Verses so I will leave you to them and let them do the speaking on the important subject of friendship.

Check out Alan Jackson singing the classic Christian song ” What a friend we have in Jesus” to the right or check it out directly on You Tube.

Jesus on Friendship

John 15:12-15 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

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8 Symptoms of False Doctrine

By ~ J.C. Ryle

Warnings to the Churches

Many things combine to make the present inroad of false doctrine peculiarly dangerous.

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In His Hands

In His Hands


‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt
Our feelings come and go;
Our best estate is tossed about
In ceaseless ebb and flow.
No mood of feeling, form of thought

Is constant for a day;
But thou, 0 Lord, thou changest not:
The same thou art alway.

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What is the Meaning of Anathema? Can a Church Pronounce an Anathema Upon Me?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Our series on the subject of how Christians should deal with false teaching in the church generated some followup questions from readers. We take up the first today: “What is the meaning of anathema? Can a church pronounce an anathema upon a person or group?”

Several Related Questions

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Is Your Church a Spiritual Titanic?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part 12 of a series. Read part 11

In our current series we’ve been addressing these questions: “My church is no longer true to the Word of God on essential Christian truths. What should I do? Should I leave? Should I stay and try to fight error? Will I be guilty of schism if I do either one?”

Presently we’re dealing with some of the un-Biblical responses that are common today. In this installment we focus on the untenable position of those who say that there is safety in remaining in a larger church or denomination despite its errors, rather than becoming part of the remnant that comes out and separates from apostasy. Today many Evangelical and Reformed church-goers believe it is safer to remain on a large but apostate sinking ship, rather than trust their lives to the safety of a small but sound Gospel lifeboat.1

The Safety of a Large But Sinking Ship?

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Is It Wrong to Leave a Church Because It Hasn’t Officially Endorsed the Heresy Within It?

By Dr Paul M Elliott

Part 11 of a series. Read part 10.

Our current series addresses these questions: “My church is no longer true to the Word of God on essential Christian truths. What should I do? Should I leave? Should I stay and try to fight error? Will I be guilty of schism if I do either one?”

Presently we’re dealing with some of the un-Biblical responses that are common today. In this installment we focus on the untenable position of those who say that a church doesn’t become a heretical body unless it officially endorses heresy.1

Another Fallacious Argument

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