God's Wrath is Coming... Are You Ready?

Saving faith is the desperate thrust of a helpless soul upon the arms of an almighty Savior. Are you doing what Jesus, who speaks the words of the Father, are you doing what He says? Seek first the kingdom of God! Are you taking every step necessary to stop feeding your lust? In God’s Name, Why? Why? Why? Why will you sit through another service and sit by a sign post that points you away from hell and the wrath of God and points you to heaven and life and forgiveness, and hug death to your breast?! Oh the madness! You are a vile, filthy, helpless, hell deserving, wretched Son or Daughter of Adam. You know nothing of true repentance and therefore of true and saving faith. Or you occasionally have a little whimper in your closet when your conscience gets so active you can’t live with it and you whimper and ask God for a little help and then you go right back with your hand and your eyeball firmly attached. Oh yes, once in a while you take a dull parry knife and scratch your hand and occasionally you scratch around your eyeballs, but you haven’t begun to cut off and pluck out.

You had better listen to the words of Jesus, “Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord, shall enter, but he that does the will of my father in heaven.” If ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall live. If you live after the flesh, you’ll die! The cross does not give us a minor shift or two with regard to a few of our ethical and religious values. The cross radically disrupts the very center and citadel of your life from self to Christ. And if the cross has not done that, YOU’RE NOT A CHRISTIAN! My Friend face it, young rogue, you’re not a Christian until the cross has radically disrupted the very center and citadel of your life! And brought you from a life of commitment to serve self, whether its religious self, moral self, proud self, covetous self, lustful self, prideful self, unforgiving self, lazy self… It doesn’t matter! What are the focal points of the reign of your self? If you’ve gone to the cross in union with Christ, it’s been shattered!

I want you in that day, when you stand with me before the Judge of the world, to have him say, “Come, be blessed.” I don’t want to look at you standing there saying, “Lord, Lord! Lord, Lord! I named you in earth, I named you before the elders, I named you before the church, I named you in prayer meeting, I named you in witness! And now, Lord, Lord! Did I not this and did I not that?” I don’t want to hear Him say, “Depart from Me. I never knew you, you worker of iniquity.” You never were made a doer of the will of God. You learned enough, and you learned what to say properly enough, to be accepted for what you professed yourself to be on earth, and now the day of judgment is come and the truth is now to be know.

- Preacher Al Martin

The Purpose of Giving

But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall also reap sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall also reap bountifully. Every man as he purposeth in his heart so let him give; not grudgingly, nor of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work...Being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.

From this text we see that the purpose behind giving is thankfulness on the part of recipients to God. God is praised when men give to others. God here also says that He will cause those who give bountifully to reap bountifully. Why is this? That we having sufficiency will have the means to abound to every good work.

There is then in this two blessings for the giver. The first is that his needs are met. The second is that he has the means to do more and more good works. For those good works which a man does for the glory of God, he receives rewards; thus with continued blessings for continued giving comes continually increasing rewards. As in the parable of the talents, to those who have done much for the kingdom, more will be given, but to those who have not, even that which they hath shall be taken away.

The Glory of God - Francis Chan

The Gospel in 6 Minutes

Apartment Walk Through

Short video clip (not very high quality) showing my apartment.

Design in Nature - NPR/The State of Things

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools." 

Click here to listen: "Design in Nature"

Why do you spend your wages on that which does not satisfy?

Isaiah 55:1-2, 6-12 NKJV

"Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance...Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands."

Principles Will not Fix Your Marriage

"Principles will not fix your marriage. Christ alone is the healer...Jesus is either in our midst, or He is not. Jesus is either the healer, or He is not. Reforming marriage requires more than just a few principles, a weekend getaway, and some flowers...It requires more than this. It requires Christ to be at the center of your life, husband...There is an inseparable connection: Christian marriage and the gospel are tied in a bond that cannot be broken. Why? Because marriage is to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church and Jesus is the only one who can heal married couples so that they can live together as heirs of the grace of life... [Peter] offers Jesus Christ to us as the only Savior and Lord of marriage...Let me tell you something. God doesn't heal marriage, Jesus doesn't heal marriage, so you can have a better marriage. He heals marriages so that He can show that there is a King in Zion and to give a testimony to the watching eyes of the world that he is the healer of His people, a Savior, not of words, not of platitudes, but of power, ready to save and heal all who earnestly confess their sins, face their diseased conditions and look to Him as their only Judge, their only lawgiver, their only King and say, 'Lord, You alone can save me.'" Chris Strevel - Christ the Lord and Savior of Marriage 

And ye my flock are men, and I am your God

Ezekiel 34:11-31

For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep, and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered; so will I seek out my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to lie down, saith the Lord GOD. I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment....And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd. And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it. And I will make with them a covenant of peace...; there shall be showers of blessing...they shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bands of their yoke, and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them...Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them, and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith the Lord GOD. And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord GOD.

A little joy...

I have my very own shower. Getting there has been a back-breaking (literally) project, but I have it now and for that I am profoundly thankful to the Lord.

(The shower head is currently removed.)

Plenty of floor room.

That spot looked like this on Monday:

Dare To Be a Daniel

Standing by a purpose true,
Heeding God’s command,
Honor them, the faithful few!
All hail to Daniel’s band! 

 

Refrain:
Dare to be a Daniel,
Dare to stand alone!
Dare to have a purpose firm!
Dare to make it known.

Many mighty men are lost,
Daring not to stand,
Who for God had been a host
By joining Daniel’s band.

Many giants, great and tall,
Stalking through the land,
Headlong to the earth would fall,
If met by Daniel’s band.

Hold the Gospel banner high!
On to vict’ry grand!
Satan and his hosts defy,
And shout for Daniel’s band.

Will you dare to be a Daniel? God has not called sissies, but soldiers! 2 Timothy 2:3-4, "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." 

The time has come to put aside our vain aspirations of what it means to be Christians. God has called us to be holy warriors who sell everything for the kingdom of God. For years, the church has acted as though Christianity was lived by simply going to church, saying a few good sounding words, and putting some money in the offering plate. The time has come for us to take a stand and say "No! No man can be Christ's disciple unless he gives up everything!" Jesus warns that those who are lukewarm, He will spew them out of His mouth. We need no army then of half-harted Christians who are as salt that has lost its savor and are good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot!

The judgment time is falling on America when no more will the easy thing be to say, "I am a Christian." Only those who are radical followers of Jesus Christ will be able to stand. Will you be a radical Christian? Do you have a name for yourself that you are clothed and well to do, and yet are poor, blind, dumb, and naked? Come to Christ and sell all of your possessions for the Kingdom! There is nothing on this earth that is worth more and any pursuit of the things of this world is vanity and will bring grief in the end. However, he who sows to the Spirit shall reap life everlasting. What profit is there then if a man gain the world and lose his soul? I tell you the truth the answer is "None!"

Jesus has laid down the line of what it means to be His disciple. The stakes are high. In that day of judgment, nothing in this world will be worth standing on the wrong side of the line. "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple. So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." Dare, then, to be a Daniel. Sell your life for Jesus Christ for there is no greater Master, no greater joy, no greater life, than Jesus Christ.

They Could Find No Occasion or Fault

Thus was the testimony of Daniel - a man who lived prior to the complete revelation of the glory of God in Christ. Oh, that Christians would, for the glory of Christ, thus strive to live their lives and the gospel of salvation thus be more promoted and advanced through the testimony of the saints!

Daniel 6:3-5

"Then this Daniel was preferred above the presidents and princes, because an excellent spirit was in him; and the king thought to set him over the whole realm. Then the presidents and princes sought to find occasion against Daniel concerning the kingdom; but they could find none occasion nor fault; forasmuch as he was faithful, neither was there any error or fault found in him. Then said these men, We shall not find any occasion against this Daniel, except we find it against him concerning the law of his God."

Are You Clothed With Power? - Paul Washer

Luther on Prayer

"You are to look closely at this command and stress it that you do not consider prayer an optional work and act as if it were not a sin for you not to pray. You should know that praying is earnestly enjoined, with the threat of God's supreme displeasure and punishment if neglected. It is enjoined just as well as the command that you should have no other gods and should not blaspheme and abuse God's name but should confess and preach, laud and praise it...He who does not do this [i.e., pray] should know that he is no Christian and does not belong in the kingdom of God." Ewald M. Plass, ed., What Luther Says: A Practical In-Home Anthology for the Active Christian, 1705.