Changes and Quotes

I have recently added a couple features to the blog. There is now a Facebook page dedicated to the blog, so it is now ‘likeable!’ I’ve also added a feature in the right hand column that allows for people to sign up and receive posts via email.

Seeing as this would be a very very short post otherwise, here are some great quotes which I might refer back to in future posts:

“Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the judgement that something else is more important than fear.” – Ambrose Redmoon

“Dwell on the past and you’ll lose an eye, but forget the past and you’ll lose both eyes.” – Alexander Solzhenitsyn

“I have no fear of drowning, it’s the breathing that’s taking all this work.” – Jars of Clay

Psalm 19

The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.  Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge.  They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them.  Yet their voice goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.  It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.  It rises at one end of the heavens and makes its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth.  The law of the LORD is perfect, refreshing the soul. The statutes of the LORD are trustworthy, making wise the simple.  The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever. The decrees of the LORD are firm, and all of them are righteous.  They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.  By them your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward.  But who can discern their own errors? Forgive my hidden faults.  Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

The Comforter Has Come

O spread the tidings ’round, wherever man is found,
Wherever human hearts and human woes abound;
Let ev’ry Christian tongue proclaim the joyful sound:
The Comforter has come!

The Comforter has come, the Comforter has come!
The Holy Ghost from Heav’n, the Father’s promise giv’n;
O spread the tidings ’round, wherever man is found—
The Comforter has come!

The long, long night is past, the morning breaks at last,
And hushed the dreadful wail and fury of the blast,
As o’er the golden hills the day advances fast!
The Comforter has come!

Lo, the great King of kings, with healing in His wings,
To ev’ry captive soul a full deliverance brings;
And through the vacant cells the song of triumph rings;
The Comforter has come!

O boundless love divine! How shall this tongue of mine
To wond’ring mortals tell the matchless grace divine—
That I, a child of hell, should in His image shine!
The Comforter has come!

- Jars of Clay

Osama is Dead. Fear God.

Not even 24 hours has passed since the death of Osama Bin Laden and already many mixed feelings have arisen, especially amongst Christians. How should a Christian respond Biblically to this event? Some say we should be mourning. Others say we should be rejoicing. So who is right?

In my opinion there are a few ways we as Christians should respond to this event:

1. Fear for the Almighty, Just God.

God has sovereignly brought Osama to justice by bringing him to a wretched end after thousands of murders and 10 years of hiding. This is an indication of how seriously God takes sin. Sin is no joke as Osama is most certainly realizing as he burns in hell.

Psalm 52:5-7 – Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin: He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living. The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying, “Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!

2. A fearful realization that we too are capable of committing the same sins as Osama.

Jeremiah 17:9 – The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it? 

This is truly a fearful thought. Our sinful hearts are wicked. If it were not for the grace of God we would be in Osama’s position. We would be burning in hell. So:

3. Joy at our salvation in Christ.

What amazing grace that Christ would suffer and die for sinners like us… His love is incomprehensible. This must lead us to worship out of sheer gratitude for Christ’s work.

Hebrews 2:11 - Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.

What an awesome truth…

4. Hatred of our Sin.

Because Christ has saved us from our sin and calls us brothers and sisters surely we should hate our sin. Did we not hate Osama because of his sin? Then we should hate our own sin all the more.

Colossians 3:5 – Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

5. Rejoice because of God’s justice.

The demise of the wicked is something to celebrate. It is cause for joy. Scripture can speak for itself:

Psalm 58:10 – The righteous will be glad when they are avenged, when they bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

In summary this event is a joyous occasion because God has served justice to a wicked man. However, that must lead us to fear God because just as Osama did not deserve God’s grace neither do we and yet we have it. May this lead us to praise God and put our sin to death.

Abort97

You’ve probably heard about the pro-life website “Abort73.” Well now there is a new pro-life movement starting up in South Africa: Abort97. Check out the website and join the group on facebook!

http://abort97.co.za/

http://www.facebook.com/Abort97

Awe-Inspiring Truth

Before the throne of God above
I have a strong, a perfect plea:
A great High Priest, whose name is Love,
Who ever lives and pleads for me.

My name is graven on his hands,
My name is written on his heart;
I know that while in heaven he stands
No tongue can bid me thence depart
No tongue can bid me thence depart.

When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.

Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me
To look on Him and pardon me

Behold him there, the risen Lamb
My perfect, spotless righteousness,
The great unchangeable I am,
The King of glory and of grace!

One in himself, I cannot die
My soul is purchased by his blood
My life is hid with Christ on high,
With Christ, my Savior and my God
With Christ, my Savior and my God

Christ’s Humility

A few weeks ago I heard a sermon on Matthew 26:36-46 entitled No Sorrow Like His Sorrow where Jesus and His disciples were in the garden of Gethsemane. During the sermon I was struck by the humility of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. In the garden the Son suffered greatly and humbly accepted the will of the Father:

v39 “Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground…”

v42 “He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.””

Luke 22:44 tells us that Christ cried tears of blood.

One thing I realized was that the Father and Holy Spirit must have been grieved to see the Son going through such torture. Why would the almighty God of the universe choose and plan from all eternity to go through such grief and suffering? Why would Christ, the God-Man, choose to die a physically and emotionally painful death on a humiliating cross for wicked people who deserve nothing less than damnation in hell? These are questions that I don’t believe can be fully answered or understood, but what this does show is God’s amazing love and humility. I stand in awe of God’s grace, for indeed there is no sorrow as was His sorrow and He went through it for me.

“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: ‘Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’” – Philippians 2:5-11.

Chastity

“We may, indeed, be sure that perfect chastity – like perfect charity – will not be attained by any merely human efforts. You must ask for God’s help. Even when you have done so, it may seem to you for a long time that no help, or less help than you need, is being given. Never mind. After each failure, ask forgiveness, pick yourself up, and try again. Very often what God first helps us towards is not the virtue itself but just this power of always trying again. For however important chastity (or courage, or truthfulness or any other virtue) may be, this process trains us in habits of the soul which are more important still. It cures our illusions about ourselves and teaches us to depend on God. We learn, on the one hand, that we cannot trust ourselves even in our best moments, and, on the other, that we need not despair even in our worst, for our failures are forgiven. The only fatal thing is to sit down content with anything less than perfection.” - C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

New Blog

I’ve just started a second blog dedicated to the topic of abortion. Have a look!

http://waronabortion.wordpress.com/

Proof for Evolution