"Not so Young" Restless and Reformed

"Self-esteem is in my opinion, the wrong paradigm. I don’t need to esteem myself. I’m a..."

Sun, 03 Jun 2012 07:14:00 -0700

“Self-esteem is in my opinion, the wrong paradigm. I don’t need to esteem myself. I’m a wretched son of hell apart from Jesus Christ. By grace alone, I rest in the righteousness imputed to me from him in the great exchange. I rest in my adoption as a son of the living God. I don’t need my own esteem, I seek His glory and find more love than I could ever give myself.”

- My response to the statement, ”All women have low self esteem, that’s why even models throw up!”

"The grace of God does not find men fit for salvation, but makes them so."

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:43:55 -0700

“The grace of God does not find men fit for salvation, but makes them so.”

- Augustine of Hippo

The 17 Most Misused Verses in the Bible

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 06:26:43 -0700

The 17 Most Misused Verses in the Bible:

Here’s a look at the “most misused verses” Eric writes about in his book:

“Judge Not” - Matthew 7:1
“Plans to prosper you and not to harm you” - Jeremiah 29:11-13
“Where two or three are gathered” - Matthew 18:20
“Ask for anything in My name” - John 14:13-14
“All things work together for good” - Romans 8:28
“If My people who are called by My name” - 2 Chronicles 7:14
“Jesus as the firstborn of all creation” - Colossians 1:15
“Money is the root of all evil” - 1 Timothy 6:10
“No more than you can handle” - 1 Corinthians 10:13
“Train up a child” - Proverbs 22:6
“I can do all things through Christ” - Philippians 4:13
“An eye for an eye” - Exodus 21:23-25
“Prayer offered in faith” - James 5:15
“Repent and be baptized” - Acts 2:38
“Guard your heart” - Proverbs 4:23
“Where there is no vision” - Proverbs 29:18
“Lifting up the name of Jesus” - John 12:32

BAHAHAHA!

Thu, 31 May 2012 07:58:56 -0700

BAHAHAHA!

"As long then as the former time endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being..."

Wed, 30 May 2012 20:06:27 -0700

“As long then as the former time endured, He permitted us to be borne along by unruly impulses, being drawn away by the desire of pleasure and various lusts. This was not that He at all delighted in our sins, but that He simply endured them; nor that He approved the time of working iniquity which then was, but that He sought to form a mind conscious of righteousness, so that being convinced in that time of our unworthiness of attaining life through our own works, it should now, through the kindness of God, be vouchsafed to us; and having made it manifest that in ourselves we were unable to enter into the kingdom of God, we might through the power of God be made able. But when our wickedness had reached its height, and it had been clearly shown that its reward, punishment and death, was impending over us; and when the time had come which God had before appointed for manifesting His own kindness and power, how the one love of God, through exceeding regard for men, did not regard us with hatred, nor thrust us away, nor remember our iniquity against us, but showed great long-suffering, and bore with us, He Himself took on Him the burden of our iniquities, He gave His own Son as a ransom for us, the holy One for transgressors, the blameless One for the wicked, the righteous One for the unrighteous, the incorruptible One for the corruptible, the immortal One for them that are mortal. For what other thing was capable of covering our sins than His righteousness? By what other one was it possible that we, the wicked and ungodly, could be justified, than by the only Son of God? O sweet exchange! O unsearchable operation! O benefits surpassing all expectation! that the wickedness of many should be hid in a single righteous One, and that the righteousness of One should justify many transgressors! Having therefore convinced us in the former time that our nature was unable to attain to life, and having now revealed the Saviour who is able to save even those things which it was [formerly] impossible to save, by both these facts He desired to lead us to trust in His kindness, to esteem Him our Nourisher, Father, Teacher, Counsellor, Healer, our Wisdom, Light, Honour, Glory, Power, and Life, so that we should not be anxious.”

- The Epistle of Mathetes to Diognetus, Chapter 9, approx 130 A.D. and an early evidence for belief among those taught directly by Apostles that it is by faith through grace while we were yet sinners that God chooses us for salvation.

"Joy is the serious business of heaven."

Wed, 30 May 2012 07:25:23 -0700

“Joy is the serious business of heaven.”

- C.S. Lewis

So, my oldest son just got promoted from his elementary school...

Wed, 30 May 2012 04:58:23 -0700

So, my oldest son just got promoted from his elementary school (completed 5th grade) to the local middle school. I’m often critical of public education because I believe it is the indoctrination system of secular humanism and progressivism. However, in Texas, things are usually a bit more moderate. But that hasn’t stopped the march of political correctness. On the pictured wall of college degrees with accompanying suggested careers, aside from the numerous “social worker degree” and other statist options, I noticed that there was an Islamic Studies degree and a Jewish Studies degree. But there was no Biblical Studies or Christian Theology or Church History degree. Note that Islam is a faith, not a race, so you can’t say it was avoided on those grounds. You see, the establishment clause is fine to use against Christians, but everyone else’s viewpoint can be thrust into your kids heads along with the idea that they are all equally viable.

Bruce & Alfred

Mon, 28 May 2012 19:20:04 -0700

Bruce & Alfred

Wretched: Preaching to Goats. Ecclesiology: Is church for sheep...

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:10:43 -0700

Wretched: Preaching to Goats.

Ecclesiology: Is church for sheep or the goats?

“Gay Christianity” Refuted by Dr. James White, a...

Wed, 23 May 2012 18:03:38 -0700

“Gay Christianity” Refuted by Dr. James White, a response to Matthew Vines.

"Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and..."

Tue, 22 May 2012 05:06:45 -0700

“Master those books you have. Read them thoroughly. Bathe in them until they saturate you. Read and reread them, masticate and digest them. Let them go into your very self. Peruse a good book several times and make notes and analyses of it. A student will find that his mental constitution is more affected by one book thoroughly mastered than by twenty books he has merely skimmed. Little learning and much pride comes from hasty reading. Some men are disabled from thinking by their putting meditation away for the sake of much reading. In reading let your motto be “much not many.””

- C. H. Spurgeon

Joyce Meyers v. The Bible

Tue, 22 May 2012 04:57:15 -0700

Joyce Meyers v. The Bible

"You asked what happens to people who live far away from the gospel and have never heard about Jesus..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 14:19:00 -0700

“

You asked what happens to people who live far away from the gospel and have never heard about Jesus and die without faith in him.

Here is what I think the Bible teaches.

God always punishes people because of what they know and fail to believe. In other words, no one will be condemned for not believing in Jesus who has never heard of Jesus.

Does that mean that people will be saved and go to heaven if they have never heard of Jesus? No, that is not what God tells us in the Bible.

The main passage in the Bible that talks about this is Romans 1:18–23.

Notice several things:

1. All people “know God,” even if they have never heard the Bible. “What can be known about God is plain to them” (verse 19). “Although they knew God…” (verse 21).

2. The way they know God is by the way God has made the world and their own consciences (verses 19–20).

3. Even though they know God, no one who knows God anywhere in the world “honors God as God or gives him thanks” (verse 21). Instead, they “suppress the truth” (verse 18). That is, they resist the truth deep in their hearts and “exchange it” for other things that they would rather have (verse 23).

4. Therefore, they are “without excuse” (verse 20). That is, they are guilty and deserved to be punished.

So I don’t think the Bible teaches that people can be saved without hearing the gospel. Look at what Paul says in Romans 10:13–17. You need to hear the gospel to be saved.

For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

So let’s pray for missionaries and ask God if maybe we should be one. The world really needs more people to tell all the lost people in the world about Jesus and the amazing good news that he died for sinners so that whoever believes will be saved.

”

- John Piper, Letter to a 12-Year-Old Girl About the Eternal Destiny of Those Who Have Not Heard the Gospel

thebeeble: John 2:1-12

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:13:18 -0700

thebeeble:

John 2:1-12

For Today - Fearless (music video)

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:12:53 -0700

For Today - Fearless (music video):

weak-but-not-destroyed:

New album Immortal out 5-29!!

I heart this.

"In a 1958 letter published by Ebony magazine, [Martin Luther] King responded to a question from a..."

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:12:35 -0700

“In a 1958 letter published by Ebony magazine, [Martin Luther] King responded to a question from a boy who was struggling with homosexual feelings. King called the boy’s feelings toward the same gender a “problem.” He went on to tell the boy, “You are already on the right road toward a solution, since you honestly recognize the problem and have a desire to solve it.” The civil rights leader knew the difference between skin color and sexual desires.”

- Gay Marriage and Martin Luther King’s Dream by Dan Delzell @ CP

Christ is Risen by Joe Day. I love this song.

Fri, 18 May 2012 03:28:00 -0700

Christ is Risen by Joe Day. I love this song.

nickbogardus: I’m thankful for a culture at our church that is...

Fri, 18 May 2012 03:10:50 -0700

nickbogardus:

I’m thankful for a culture at our church that is passionate about Jesus, the Gospel, and taking timeless truths and explaining them in new ways. Most people are familiar with the preaching, but almost as important as the preaching is the music that accompanies it. I love that we have musicians that will take timeless truths in hymns hundreds of years old and update it like this one.

"A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the..."

Fri, 18 May 2012 03:03:00 -0700

“A God without wrath brought men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the ministrations of a Christ without a cross.”

- Richard Niebuhr on theological liberalism.

I saw this on Facebook with the accompanying comment,...

Sun, 13 May 2012 07:01:00 -0700

I saw this on Facebook with the accompanying comment, “Best pro same sex marriage poster ive seen yet. Read the top of the sign then read the passage…lol”

While mocking the bible is nothing new, neither is misunderstanding the application of the law in the new covenant era brought about by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Note that this is a truncated paraphrase of a much longer passage. It actually says nowhere that a marriage is only “valid” if the wife is a virgin, in fact it is clear that there are cases where non-virgins are to be married to provision their care in light of having been violated against their will. This is a society without a welfare system outside of the one provided by the religious law and considering the likelihood of facing starvation or worse, this was an act of mercy not so easily understood in the relative wealth of 21st century America.

So we have an argument that apparently says, “because there was a law that would see a married woman found not to be a virgin on her wedding night (after being given the opportunity to prove the contrary with stiff penalties for false accusations) that would lead to her death, we should redefine marriage as given in Genesis 2 and again by Jesus in Matthew 19 as something other than one man and one woman.”

When it comes right down to it, here is why the apparent argument presented by the poster is just flat out wrong:

Firstly, there are several types of law codified in the Mosaic covenant period. Some of the laws are simply for the health benefits of God’s people or were ceremonial and would include laws that prohibit eating of certain foods or wearing clothing that would associate God’s people with pagan practices. These laws are addressed directly in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 8:4-13) explaining why they are no longer of concern to the New Covenant faithful.

Some are universal moral principals that don’t change. The ten commandments are a classic example. Prohibition of homosexuality, bestiality and incest also fall under this and the prohibition against homosexuality is reinforced strongly in Romans 1:18-24, 1 Corinthians 6: 9-10 and 1 Timothy 1:9-10.

Lastly, there are laws that have a moral universal as their establishing premise but whose application in light of the New Covenant changes how we handle them. This would be where we find the passage in question, Deuteronomy 22:13-21.

The passage here stems directly from the decalogue, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Biblically speaking, all sex occurring outside of a heterosexual marriage is adulterous. But why is it handled differently under the New Covenant? And why isn’t homosexuality similarly handled differently?

The New Covenant is a covenant of grace. A Christian has received grace upon grace - that is unmerited favor - of God. In response to undeserved mercy, the Christian strives to live a life that is increasingly obedient to God by the power of the Holy Spirit. This power is itself an element of the grace given to those who repent and believe.

So, the universal of not committing adultery applies, but there is forgiveness for those who repent and believe. Repentance is turning away from your sin and back to God, seeking His help to keep you away from the things of the flesh that drag you into sin. The life of a Christian is one of continual repentance.

But what of homosexuality? Besides being affirmed as prohibited universally in the New Testament, Jesus himself re-affirms the original and clear heterosexual nature of the institution of marriage in Matthew 19. So, institutionalizing a serious sin (which is itself rooted in idolatry, see Romans 1:18-24) by blessing it and calling it marriage (an oxymoron since marriage is by definition between one man and one woman) is completely contrary and absurd.

The wonderful thing about all of this is that the same grace afforded to the adulterer by fornication is the same grace extended to the homosexual who repents and believes. There is no condemnation for those who love God and turn away from their sin by the power of his grace and mercy. Victory over sin was bought at the highest price ever paid by the man who deserved it least. That is the love of God for those who repent and believe.