Stand Firm!

C.H. Spurgeon“‘Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today’ (Exodus 14:13). This verse contains God’s command to me as a believer for those times when I am confronted with dire circumstances and extraordinary difficulties. What am I to do when I cannot retreat or go forward and my way is blocked to the right into the left? The Master’s word to me is, ‘Stand firm.’ And the best thing I can do at these times is to listen only to my Master’s word, for others will come to me with their suggestions and evil advice.

Despair will come, whispering, ‘Give up—lie down and die.’ …

Cowardice will come and say, ‘You must retreat to the world’s way of acting. It is too difficult for you to continue living the part of a Christian. Abandon your principles.’ …

Impatience will come, crying, ‘Get up and do something! To “stand firm” and wait is sheer idleness.’ …

Arrogance will come, boasting, ‘If the sea is blocking your way, march right into it and expect a miracle.’ …

“‘Stand firm.’ I must maintain the posture of one who stands ready for action, expecting further orders, and cheerfully and patiently awaiting the Director’s voice. It will not be long until God will say to me, as distinctly as He told Moses to tell the children of Israel, ‘Move on’ (Exodus 14:15).” —Charles Spurgeon

Christians As Priests

Priesthood of ChristiansThere are some extraordinary pictures in the Old Testament that take on new life when viewed through the lens of Jesus Christ. One picture is how God chose the Jewish people out of all the people on earth, how He then chose the tribe of Levi to serve as His priests, and then how He chose Aaron from the Levites to be the high priest.

The Jewish people, the Levites, and then Aaron became God’s special possession because He chose them; it’s not that He chose them because they were special. God did this to give us a picture of what He wants to do with all of us.

Although the Levites were chosen as priests, God tells all of Israel—

You will be for Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. (Exodus 19:6)

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. That the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. (Deuteronomy 7:6)

When the Apostle Peter is speaking to New Testament Christians, he uses the same type of language. He calls all Christians:

Christians are ‘a kingdom of priests and a holy nation’ that are to carry out their priestly roles while on Earth. 

Peter also talks about where Christian priests are to minister. In the Old Testament, the priests had a set location where ministry was done. But Peter says we are living stones built on the Living Stone (2:4). That means that the place of worship today is not brick and mortar, but flesh and blood.

Christian priesthood is mobile, adaptable, empathetic, and responsive to the the needs of the people.

If you are a Christian, here are some good questions to ask yourself:

We will be continuing our series about how citizens of Heaven should live on Earth this Sunday. If you don’t have a home church in the Cedar Springs area, please come join us. If you’ve missed any messages in this series, you may find the complete list by clicking here.

Throw Down!

In the spiritual battle Christians face, the enemy lies and slanders. Here is wise counsel from Charles Spurgeon on how to throw down against his onslaught!

C.H. Spurgeon“What multitudes of foes has our faith had to meet with; but how it has swallowed them all up. There were our old sins. The devil threw them down before us, and they turned to serpents. What multitudes! How they hiss in the air! How horrible are their deadly poison-fangs, the gaping jaws, their forked tongues! But the Cross of Jesus, like Aaron’s rod, destroys them all. Faith in Christ makes short work of all our sins, for it is written, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.’

“Then the devil stirs up another generation of vipers, and shows us our inbred corruptions, our neglects of duty, our slackness in prayer, our unbeliefs, our backslidings, our wanderings of heart; and sometimes you and I get so tormented by these reptiles, that we grow alarmed, and are half inclined to flee. Do not run, brother, but throw down Aaron’s rod, and it will swallow up all these serpents, even though they were poisonous as the cobra, or fierce as the rattlesnake. You shall overcome through the blood of the Lamb. Jesus is able ‘to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him.’ The battle is the Lord’s, and He will deliver them into your hands.

“The old enemy will throw down another host of serpents in the form of worldly trials, diabolical suggestions, temptations to blasphemy, ill thoughts of God, hard thoughts of His providence, rash thoughts of His promises, and such like, till you will be almost distracted. You will wonder how you can meet such a host as this. Remember to stand fast, and throw down Aaron’s rod—your simple trust and faith in Jesus Christ—and it must and shall swallow up all these rods.” —Charles Spurgeon, commenting on Exodus 7:12 (emphasis added)

Links & Quotes

link quote

Here are the links to some interesting reading I found today.

“A poll of hundred college students about their Facebook habits revealed that those who posted numerous status updates each day actually experienced positive mood swings that a control group did not experience. Those who posted more frequently felt less lonely and more connected to friends. The reason? While sitting behind a computer screen may seem isolating, updating your status keeps friends on the brain when you can’t see them in person. Researchers actually call it ‘social snacking.’” Read more of Tim Elmore’s post How Facebook Affects Your Mental Health.

Interesting: How Many Bible Passages Speak To Homosexuality?

[VIDEO] I liked this part of Kevin Durant’s MVP acceptance speech.

How scientists can see cancer cells in action.

Appalling! Planned Parenthood helps an accused serial rapist cover up his crimes!!

“The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of his mother, is already a human being, and it is a monstrous crime to rob it of life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house then in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.” —John Calvin, commenting on Exodus 21:22-23

[VIDEO] John Maxwell and Nick Vujicic remind you that you are unique.

No Apologies Needed

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

Jesus spoke.
A lot.
In fact,
He’s called the Word.
He told stories,
He quoted Scripture,
He used nursery rhymes.
He laughed,
He cried,
He thundered.
He spoke to the religious,
And the irreligious;
To Jews,
To Gentiles,
To Samaritans.
His words excited,
And angered,
Healed,
And restored.
But…
Not once did He misspeak,
Or stumble,
Or apologize.
How could He do this?
“I did not speak of My own accord,
But the Father who sent Me
Commanded Me what to say
And how to say it …
So whatever I say
Is just what the Father
Has told Me to say” (John 12:49-50)
You and I can speak like this too:
We, too, can slow down, listen, and then speak only those Holy Spirit-directed words. If we can do that, we won’t ever need to apologize.

Check out my video called Time To Check The Mirror where I talk about so-called Freudian slips, and my blog post A Leader’s Sincere Apology.

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6 Quotes from “Porn-Again Christian”

Earlier today I posted a review of Porn-Again Christian: A Frank Discussion on Pornography and Masturbation. Here are some of the quotes from this book that really caught my eye

“Simply, according to God, marriage and sex are related, connected, and exclusive.”

“The cold hard truth is that most guys’ struggles are only known by their fellow Christian buddies and unless Christian dudes man up and stop arguing about stupid secondary theological issues and spend their energies holding one another accountable to get dominion over their underwear, then Christian friendship is nothing more than Christian fakery.”

“The act of lusting after the unclothed body of a woman is not a sin. The issue is which woman’s unclothed body you are lusting after. If she is your bride, then you are simply making the Song of Songs sing again to God’s glory and your joy. If she is not your bride, then you are simply sinning. It was God who clothed our mother Eve after her sin, and it is Eve’s daughters who undress themselves for themselves for the camera in violation of God’s desire that the female bodies he formed be seen only in their full glory by their husbands.”

“Pornography has the sad effect of objectifying people into objects with parts, thereby divorcing a person from their body and consequently diminishing their dignity.”

“The Bible is emphatically clear that God’s men should abstain from certain sins that war against their souls. First, God’s men should not commit adultery (Exodus 20:14). Second, God’s men should not covet their neighbor’s wife, even if her clothes leave little to the imagination (Exodus 20:17). Third, God’s men should not participate with prostitutes who use their bodies as a commodity to be rented for a good time or a good photo (Proverbs 23:26-27; 1 Corinthians 6:15-16). Fourth, God’s men should not be polygamous, because their father Adam and Head Jesus each had one bride (Eve and the Church). Fifth, God’s men should not be fornicators who slide their hands, which God made to lift up in prayer (1 Timothy 2:8), up the shirt of their girlfriend, even if she asks (1 Corinthians 6:9-13).”

“Eve may or may not have been beautiful, but to Adam she was glorious because she was all he had ever known. Practically, he had no standard of beauty to compare his bride to—she was his only standard of beauty. In creation, we see the wise pattern that for every man his standard of beauty is not to be objectified, but rather it should simply be his wife. This means that if a man has a tall, skinny red-headed wife then that is sexy for him, and if his neighbor has a short, curvy brunette wife than that is sexy for him. Pornographic lust exists to elicit coveting and dissatisfaction that no woman can satisfy because she cannot be tall and short, endowed and waifish, black and white, young and old, like the harem laid out in pornography.”

Christian men, you MUST read this book!

Strings Attached

Often when someone does something nice for us, we feel a certain obligation to return the favor. What about when God blesses us? Are we obligated to do something back? Are there strings attached to His blessings?

The Israelites left Egypt and were now in a desert, on the way to the Promised Land. Although they were free from slavery, they were also without the daily provision of food that their slave owners had provided them.

And did I mention they were in a desert?!

At this desperate point, the people were seriously thinking about returning to their slave owners.

Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not. (Exodus 16:4 AMP)

God blessed the Israelites with food, but He wanted something in return: their faithful obedience to Him.

If God has blessed me—and, indeed, He has—He requires me to honor Him with that blessing. Too many people pray and seek God fervently in the ‘lean times,’ and when the answer comes they are thankful only at the moment of blessing. This should not be! God has blessed me so that I will continue to seek Him, and so that I will be a blessing to others.

(Check out what Jesus taught about using the blessings we have been given in Matthew 25:31-46 and Luke 19:12-16.)

So, yes, there are strings attached to God’s blessings. And I want those strings! Without the strings, I am trying to do things my own way; I am severing myself from God, and from His greater future blessings.

You’re Better Than A Star

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple or Spotify.

Astronomers admit that they cannot observe the entire universe, because it’s simply too vast for any equipment that has been made. In the Milky Way galaxy alone there are something like 10 trillion stars.

But that’s just one galaxy.

Astronomers used to estimate that there are another 10 trillion galaxies, but they have recently admitted that there are likely three times more stars than they originally thought. Which makes the total number in the observable universe 300 sextillion stars.

300,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars

But here’s what is more amazing: God knows each of those stars by name!

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing. (Isaiah 40:26)

As awesome as the stars are, here’s what God thinks about you

When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers—the moon and the stars You set in place—what are mere mortals that You should think about them, human beings that You should care for them? Yet You made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:3-5)

And most amazingly of all, God not only knows the 300 sextillion stars by name, but He knows you by name too (Exodus 33:17)!

Friend, in God’s eyes you shine brighter than a star! He knows you by name. If not one star is missing from His view, how much more does He see you!

If you’re feeling discouraged or alone or forgotten, step outside tonight and look up at the stars. God knows them all by name, but He knows you too—and He thinks the world of you!

You are not alone—God sees you and He loves you!

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Taking A Rest

“This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all the day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations; but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.” —Westminster Confession

“A holy rest” is usually a hard concept to grasp. When we rest we often feel one of two things:

  • There is something I should be doing <or>
  • I’m just lazy!

But rest is not the same thing as inactivity.

Rest is really different activity—rest is preparation for activity. The rabbis teach that a day of rest is supposed to be a day of distinction: a day that’s so different from the other six days of the week. Creating this day of distinction requires a lot of serious thought to prepare (“a due preparing of their hearts,” as the Confession says).

We need to take time to be OFF. You and I are not wired to be ON all the time. So as you contemplate a Sabbath day of rest for your life, think about this:

I’m going to be OFF tomorrow, so that I can be better ON to start the week.

Read the rest of this entry »

Illogical But True

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on AppleSpotify, or Audible. 

To the natural, analytical, rational mind the following formulas are illogical:

90% > 100%

6 > 7

1 > 1

They may look illogical, but with God, they are indisputably true.

Tithing on your income (giving 10% to God) makes the rest of your money go further (Malachi 3:8-11); so 90% > 100%.

Taking a Sabbath break from your work makes the rest of your workdays more effective (Exodus 20:8-11); so 6 > 7. For example, Chick-fil-A closes all of their stores on Sunday for the employees to take a Sabbath, and founder Truett Cathy frequently mentions how God continues to bless this decision.

Entering into marriage with another Christ-follower allows your life to be more productive together than either of you could be on your own (Genesis 2:24); so 1 > 1.

Stop looking at what you have (or don’t have), and start looking at what God has. His ways may seem to defy conventional wisdom, but He’s an unprecedented God. His promises are true. All you have to do is trust His ways and obey.

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