For all those who think they truly understand women

""...but at your bidding I will.."

"and he left everything behind, and rose and began to follow Him"

Luke 5:5, 28

I am often asked  if you can know for certain that salvation has occurred. With a resounding yes, I can reply to that. How can I be so certain? The mark is easy, Jesus Himself said "If you love me keep my commandments." The entirety of I John, James and I Peter are that same theme.

In the texts cited above we have early emblems of this truth. Two obvious cases of conversion leading to obedience. Now, as things progressed was this obedience as instant and as full, we know better. But the obvious direction of each of these lives was to obey.

Practically, I want to give you this simple exercise to follow through the rest of you Christian walk, or if you are not a believer a plan that will greatly improve your life.  I was asked by a man recently "How did you learn all this that you know about the bible?" That's a great question. Because I DO HAVE A PLAN WHICH CAN BE FOLLOWED BY EVERYONE WITH SUCCESS . I read the bible systematically each day, with purpose and I spend a lot of time reading other people who have done the same thing and had lives impacted by that habit.

Here is my reading schedule. It is not original with me. It allows me to read the New Testament 30 times each 2 1/2 years and the Old Testament once each year.

I read sequentially, staring with Genesis 1:1, 3 chapters of the Old each day. I will have finished the Old in slightly less than 365 days. I read a 5 to 6 chapter section of the New each day for thirty successive days. Yes, the same 5 to 6 chapters. For in stance, I will read I John (all 5 chapters) for 30 straight days. When finished I'll take a like sized section of the New and repeat the procedure. By the time 2 1/2 years are done I will have read the Old 3 times and the New 30 times. I give priority to the New because that's where we live today. As I read it is for pure intake. I don't stop to ponder questions that arise, and they always do, instead I have a tablet near me and I'll jot down the question for later consideration.

I've followed this schedule for 35 + years and it has proved useful for me. The total reading time is about 35-40 minutes per day. Where do I get the time? I get up earlier than usual for that day. I don't leave it for evening because by then I'm so worn I wouldn't do it and if I did I would shunt it off. 

Give this obedience to the Lord and see if He blesses. It's not an end all fit for everyone but it has worked for me.  Have a blessed calendar turning and pray for His return. Then you'll never have to read the bible again.

"Where is your faith?"

Luke 8:25

Jesus ask the disciples this question as they were in the midst of a gale in the middle of the sea on a short haul from shore to shore, in the middle of the night. I know you all know the setting. But, familiarity often makes us overlook the obvious. Let's look closer.

Here are men accustomed to boats and the suddenness of storms. They weren't cruise ship types who at the smallest swale lose it. These were men accustomed to the trials of their place and choice. So, why the fear? Well, we see that the storm was so large that it began to wash into the boat. Their level of security was challenged. They were being tried at a level they weren't everyday accustomed to having. We also know that they had a certain level of trust in what Christ could do, although it is evident by their raw reaction they weren't full blown in their belief.

He rises from the rest of the worn out and sees the seas and does what anyone with command will do, He calms the seas. He wasn't troubled by the circumstance. This was nothing in comparison to what would soon come. He knew though that they were and took the actions necessary to allay their fears. It's like the father who will take the flashlight and look under the bed of his child to see that there is no "Bogey man" there. He knows there isn't but he wants the child's fear to subside because they trusted him to handle it. 

So, does He leave it at that? Of course not. Here is a teaching opportunity and a chance to challenge them in what they profess. He calls them to acknowledge who He truly is, with this question. He doesn't want native faith in self sufficiency from them. He wants an acknowledgment of His Divinity. It is that alone which will carry them through the storms that are about to wash against their boat once He is gone. But the faith they will need is not their own faith it is the  faith to be provided by the Holy Spirit indwelt. He is leading them along to this acknowledgment. 

Christian friend, we don't know what 2011 holds for us individually or as a Body. But we don know who holds it. Do you trust Him with the common?  

"But what did you go out to see? A prophet?..."

Luke 7:26a

I am commanded by scripture to "redeem the time for the days are evil". That has application in every realm of my life. It means to make the most or "buy up", value the little time I have and to make he most of it. It is what the popular Latin phrase "Carpe diem" Means, seize the day. 

There is much religiously that could occupy me. But the question must ever arise in my heart, "am I redeeming the time with this?"  There is much to occupy the Christian in this realm. This activity and that, this investment and that. By the way the most valuable commodity you'll ever have is your time.  

Today's churches are by in large given over to entertaining the group that gathers at the appointed times.  The instruction in righteousness and call to holy living is often or better, most often not what the teacher wants to have happen. Instead he wants to please them in one way or another so that they will come back to watch him or his group of entertainers again. Making him a success in his own  estimation and that of others.

I have proclaimed the word of God since 1977. It has often been water for the soul to many and for others a boring investment of time they have made. I cannot be held accountable for the reaction of the various hearts, but I can be held responsible for the truth I declare and for the clarity with which I explain the open word of God. It is easy to draw a crowd and easier to get them to commit their time and resources to a cause. It is far more difficult to open God's truth to them in a way that explains what God says, singularly. I have a speaking ability which would make it possible to entertain vast groups, I've done that. I also have a God given calling to "preach the word, be instant in season and out".

Jesus confronts this group of people who want to be entertained by John  the Baptizer. He instead points them to the content of what John says and not the person doing the declaring. That is a critical difference. Good speakers can sway millions with their persona. But when a man declares God's truth it will achieve it's intended purpose for "My word shall not return unto me void". 

Why do I tell you all this? Well, I want you to consider who you invest your time listening to and the reasons behind that investment. Nothing wrong with the speaker being a good speaker, but if that is the soul element of his speaking, invest your limited treasure of time with someone else. If all you are is impressed with his presence and presentation, you've made a bad choice. Instead, if your preacher leaves you informed as to what God says, you've probably found one worth hearing. When you do have one, support his ministry, challenge him to be faithful to teaching you and insist he do just that and not a multitude of other things. Pray for him, pay him and draw all you can from him.

The Reason Jesus was Born

Thanks to the guys at Teampyro

The following excerpt is from "Jesus, the King of Truth," a sermon preached Thursday evening, 19 December 1872, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London.

hrist did not merely speak the truth, but he was truth. Had he been truth embodied in an angelic form, he had possessed small power over our hearts and lives; but perfect truth in a human form has royal power over renewed humanity. Truth embodied in flesh and blood has power over flesh and blood. Hence, for this purpose was he born.

So when ye hear the bells ringing out at Christmas, think of the reason why Jesus was born; dream not that he came to load your tables and fill your cups; but in your mirth look higher than all earth-born things. When you hear that in certain churches there are pompous celebrations and ecclesiastical displays, think not for this purpose was Jesus born.

No; but look within your hearts, and say, for this purpose was he born: that he might be a King, that he might rule through the truth in the souls of a people who are by grace made to love the truth of God.

Merry Christmas, All

"...Where is your faith?..."

Luke 8:25

This was Jesus' question to the disciples in the boat after they were caught in the gale and He was sleeping. Was He asking them to have faith in Him or something else? I lean to the latter. 

The question was designed to show them God's sovereignty over every matter of life. Where has He taken you this year? Yes, there were some joys, yes there were some tears. But, most of the year was what we could call the normal, the ordinary. 

What Jesus wanted the disciples to realize was that we believers aren't apathetic, we are solidly in the arms of the God of control of the moment. Jesus' example to them was that "whatever my Lord doeth, it is right". 

So, His question comes to each of us, as we look back and as we look forward, "where is your faith?"  What will 2011 bring, we don't know, but we do know the God of 2011 and He is in control, not me or you.

"The badgers are not mighty folk,

Yet they make their houses in the rocks."

Proverbs 30: 26

Just as the ant, in the preceding clause, prepares his meat, so does the badger his refuge. Feeble as they are, they secure themselves from impending danger, by making their house in the holes of the inaccessible rocks.  There is a picture of this in Joel 2: 7,8 & 25.

Thus we see that what they lack in strength they make up for with wisdom. We are no less feeble and no less exposed to assault. And is not our refuge like theirs, "the munition of the rocks?" (see Isa 33:16) 

Are we like them then making our refuge on the Rock? Do we realize the evil that attacks us constantly? Do we acknowledge by action of faith that we have no other place to hide than the cleft of the rock?

The Foundation of God stands Sure

Thanks to the guys at Teampyro
The following excerpt is from "The Great House and the Vessels in It," a sermon preached Sunday Morning 8 April 1877, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, London.

NE of the most serious calamities which can befall a church is to have her own ministers teaching heresy: yet this is no new thing, it has happened from the beginning.

Paul and Peter and James and John in their epistles had to speak of seducers in the churches, even in those primitive days, and ever since then there have arisen in the very midst of the house of God those who have subverted the faith of many, and led them away from the fundamental truths into errors of their own inventing.

The apostle compares this to a gangrene, which is one of the most dangerous and deadly mischiefs which can occur to the body. It is within the body; it eats into the flesh deeper and deeper, festering and putrefying, and if it be not stopped it will continue its ravages till life is extinguished by "black mortification." False doctrine and an unchristian spirit in the midst of the church itself must be regarded as such a gangrene, a silent wolf ravenously gnawing at the heart, the vulture of Prometheus devouring the vitals: no external opposition is one-half so much to he dreaded.

Yet here is our comfort when distressed at the evils of the present age, among which this is one of the chief, that the truth abides for ever the same, "The foundation of God standeth sure." There is no moving that. Whether ten thousand oppose it or promulgate it, the truth is still the same in every jot and tittle; even as the sun shineth evermore, as well when clouds conceal its brightness as when from a clear sky it pours abroad a flood of glory.

The lovers of profane and vain babblings have not taken away from us, nor can they take from us, the eternal verities: the Lord liveth, though they have said, "There is no God." The precious blood of Jesus has not lost its efficacy, though divines have beclouded the atonement; the Spirit of God is not less mighty to quicken and to console though men have denied his personality; the resurrection is as sure as if Hymeneus and Philetus had never said that it is passed already; and the eternal covenant of grace abides for ever unbroken though Pharisees and Sadducees unite to revile it.

The foundation of God standeth sure, and moreover the foundation of the church remains sure also, for, blessed be God, "the Lord knoweth them that are his." All that God has built upon the foundation which he himself has laid keeps its place, not one living stone that he ever laid upon the foundation has been lifted from its resting place. Earthquakes of error may test the stability of the building and cause great searching of heart, but sooner shall the mountains which are round about Jerusalem start from their seats than the work or word of the Lord be frustrated. The things which cannot be shaken remain unaltered in the very worst times.

"The ants are not a strong folk,

But they prepare their food in the Summer..."

Proverbs 30:25a

The union of so many noble qualities in so small a corpuscle is one of the most remarkable phenomena in all of God's creation.

Weakness, then, is no excuse for indolence, no occasion for despondency. It is , indeed, the cheering exercise of faith (2 Cor 12: 9-10).

"The worm shall thresh the mountain" Isa 41:15

To the diligent "laborer shall be given the meat, that endures to everlasting life." John 6:27

Listen to John Chrysostom "The wonder of divine wisdom is this; in so minute a body with such a perpetual desire for labor, teaching us so strongly the lesson, not to affect softness and delicacy, or to fly from toil and labor. The wise man, sending us to learn from these small creatures, points out how the elder children in a family can learn from the industry of the younger because the younger don't have the privilege of position" (Homilies 12 at Antioch) 

Another Passing Into Glory

Grace Beloved, We had news this morning of another saint going home to the side of our Lord. Josie Olmstead was a friend and fellow servant from our days in Germany. She and her husband Steve have served our Lord since the late 70's as missionaries to Jews, with the gospel. Josie was worthy of all the good people will say about her and will be missed here but welcomed greatly by those awaiting us in heaven. 

 

"Four things are small on the earth,

But they are exceedingly wise,"

Proverbs 30:24

The mind of man spreads over the length and breadth of creation, and draws instruction from every corner. God teaches us by His works as well as by His words, small as well as great. In this ection we are looking down and deeply at small things

Here Agur references four very small things. Don't despise them because of their size; rather admire the hand that made them, hands that gave them the capacity to provide feed and care. It has been said "God reigns in the realm of the ant as well as the universe."

Truly nothing was made for naught. The world of instinct shows us the blush of reason. The actions and character of these four little animals will teach us much of the substance of ourselves and of the God who created it all. Enjoy this journey under the microscope of God.

"...and a maidservant when she suplants her mistress."

Proverbs 30:23b

Here we have the final oppressive element in Agur's list. These have all been destroyers of tranquility and seats of evil outcome. What, on the surface, might seem to be innocent or ordinary, are in fact sources of great danger to the human soul and society.

Want of discipline, simplicity or integrity, leads to waywardness and self-indulgence, and the house, instead of being under wholesome rule, becomes a prey to envy and strife. Look what happened when the relationship between Abraham and Hagar was violated, she sought to usurp Sarah.

Thus it is in society, a handmaid, a servant, treated with familiarity breaks the Divine barrier between the levels designed by God to maintain good order. We elevate people because of athletic ability or musical talent, pay them enormous sums of money and then wonder why they act as they do, with lives fit for the pig sty.

How needful it is to maintain position, to preserve consistency. Though a man of high position is my brother in Christ, he has still been put where he is by the hand of God and I need, for the sake of order in society, to maintain that buffer God has placed there. Though I have believing children, they are none the less still my children and that void is never to be violated by familiarity.

Beloved, honor God's order and your life will have order.

 

How the law kills self-righteousness

Your weekly dose of Spurgeon
Thanks to the guys at Teampyro





T The following excerpt is from "Secret Sins," a sermon delivered on Sunday morning, February 8, 1857, at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.



ELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS arises partly from pride, but mainly from ignorance of God's law. It is because men know little or nothing concerning the terrible character of the divine law, that they foolishly imagine themselves to be righteous. They are not aware of the deep spirituality, and the stern severity of the law, or they would have other and wiser notions. Once let them know how strictly the law deals with the thoughts, how it brings itself to bear upon every emotion of the inner man, and there is not one creature beneath, God's heaven who would dare to think him, self righteous in God's sight in virtue of his own deeds and thoughts. Only let the law be revealed to a man; let him know how strict the law is, and how infinitely just, and his self-righteousness will shrivel into nothing—it will become a filthy rag in his sight, whereas before he thought it to be a goodly garment.

"Under an unloved woman when she gets a husband..."

Proverbs 30:23a

Oh, how odious she can be when she comes to power. Unappreciated all her life she now holds sway over many lives. Think Jezebel here. She was the scourge of Israel, the well spring of all of Ahab's evil acts, and the source that brought Go's judgments down on the land. Herodius brought her husband to slay the forerunner of the Christ. 

When marriage becomes the instrument of fulfillment of lust rather than a union of God , evil will result in all corners but especially the female one. This is a canker to domestic quiet and bliss.  For you with modern thought, think Clinton.

 

"...and a fool when he is satisfied with food"

Proverbs 30:22a

This second class of burdensome people is most revealing.

This is not an idiot, but a willful sinner.Given that what rules him is the satisfaction of food, what hope has he? His reigns are his tastes and he becomes devoid of understanding in their pursuits. The history of Nabal but needs to be traced to see the brutishness to which he sank in the pursuit of his desires and lusts. Elah was murdered by his servants while "drinking himself drunk in his steward's house. And who can forget Belshazzar? 

Such dig their own graves with the spoons of delight and weigh down all that surround them with their insatiable desires for flesh and spirit. Oh, the horror of being so controlled by the flesh as to have to serve it. It, the flesh, is a cruel master for it knows no satisfaction. To think that such dig their own graves with their teeth and tongue. 

"Under a slave when he becomes king..."

Proverbs 30:22a

This is a serious source of evil in any group, family, church or government. Why, he is obviously out of place; and ruling where he out to be serving, this will only bring confusion and disorder.

The same is even worse when such a one rises to rule in a country. Men of low station can indeed rise in station. Indeed, God has done such throughout history. He did so with Joseph. The evil is in the rise of unprincipled, ignorant minions. Men of mean spirit cannot bear to be raised. Intoxicated by elevation  these upstarts show themselves not only as fools, but most often tyrants.; swelled with an intolerance borne out of the knowing they are where they don't belong.  Such was the emnity of Tobiah the Ammonite and of Haman. What national tragedy raised from the elevation of Jeroboham! What anarchy from the successful usurpation by Zimri!

The reign of the servant is to be deplored. It is God's way of chastening a people who should know better.

America, we are in the throes of God's chastening hand with the elevation of the one who now reigns over us. 

"Under three things the earth quakes,

And under four it cannot bear up"

Proverbs 30:21

Just as in the last clause (vvs 18-20) Agur has given us 4 things that are unsearcahble, now he will list for us 4 things that are unbearable--things by which life is disquieted, bringing confusion wherever they are found. Who does not naturally condemn things out of place, as unsuitable and unseemly? Order is the law of the works of God in the world and especially the church and any breech of order is to be deprecated.

Four such evils are here mentioned -- two connected with men, two with women; the one class is the community, the other in the family.

Tune in tomorrow to start the list, or better yet, do your own research and see what I am about to tell you.

A Word in Favor of Mature, Not-So-Restless Reformers

A Word in Favor of Mature, Not-So-Restless Reformers

 The following excerpt is from "Ripe Fruit," a sermon preached on Sunday morning, 14 August 1870, at the Met Tab in London.
Thanks to the guys at Teampyro




he church wants mature Christians very greatly, and especially when there are many fresh converts added to it. New converts furnish impetus to the church, but her backbone and substance must, under God, lie with the mature members.

We want mature Christians in the army of Christ, to play the part of veterans, to inspire the rest with coolness, courage, and steadfastness; for if the whole army is made up of raw recruits the tendency will be for them to waver when the onslaught is fiercer than usual. The old guard, the men who have breathed smoke and eaten fire before, do not waver when the battle rages like a tempest; they can die but they cannot surrender. When they hear the cry of "Forward," they may not rush to the front so nimbly as the younger soldiers, but they drag up the heavy artillery, and their advance once made is secure. They do not reel when the shots fly thick, but still hold their own, for they remember former fights when Jehovah covered their heads.

The church wants in these days of flimsiness and timeserving, more decided, thorough-going, well-instructed, and confirmed believers. We are assailed by all sorts of new doctrines. The old faith is attacked by so-called reformers, who would reform it all away. I expect to hear tidings of some new doctrine once a week.

So often as the moon changes, some prophet or other is moved to propound a new theory, and believe me, he will contend more valiantly for his novelty than ever he did for the gospel. The discoverer thinks himself a modern Luther, and of his doctrine he thinks as much as David of Goliath's sword, "There is none like it."

As Martin Luther said of certain in his day, these inventors of new doctrines stare at their discoveries like a cow at a new gate, as if there were nothing else in all the world but the one thing for them to stare at.

We are all expected to go mad for their fashions, and march to their piping. To whom we give place; no, not for an hour. They may muster a troop of raw recruits, and lead them whither they would, but for confirmed believers they sound their bugles in vain. Children run after every new toy; any little performance in the street, and the boys are all agog, gaping at it; but their fathers have work to do abroad, and their mothers have other matters at home; your drum and whistle will not draw them out.

For the solidity of the church, for her steadfastness in the faith, for her defense against the constantly recurring attacks of heretics and infidels, and for her permanent advance and the seizing of fresh provinces for Christ, we want not only your young, hot blood, which may God always send to us, for it is of immense service, and we cannot do without it, but we need also the cool, steady, well-disciplined, deeply-experienced hearts of men who know by experience the truth of God, and hold fast what they have learned in the school of Christ.

May the Lord our God therefore send us many such; they are wanted.

"This is the way of an adulterous woman,

She eats and wipes her mouth,

And says 'I have done no wrong'".

Proverbs 30:20

Unfathomable are the ways of an adulterous woman to entangle her prey. Solomon spoke minutely of this in 7:6. Such a pattern of abomination, wickedness and hypocrisy, as hers can be conceived; indulging her lusts as a sweet morsel under her tongue; feasting greedily upon her sweet water and secret bread, yet keeping the semblances of innocence and purity, wiping her mouth, to prevent suspicion, suffering no sign of the action to remain. A woman must be far advanced in sinning to present such an unblushing front. Yet every fresh act of her devices, yet every fresh act of her sin throws her deeper into her reward. Its fascination throws her deeper into her hardness of heart.

The lesson, throw this sinfulness away at it very first entrance. Turn to God for the resolve to resist. Pray that He "lead us not in to temptation but deliver us from evil." Abundant warning is given about sensuality. You are not uninformed. Flee with the feet of God to God for the resolve. Adultery is a flowery road that leads to the funeral of the soul.

 

The answer for all you with lives so hurried you don't have time to say thanks for the meal"

There's a business niche for everyone

Can't Fool A Country Boy

Thanks to Gary R. for the link

J

"A Tribute To James Zaspel

I wrote to some of you yesterday about an article I had seen online about the illness of a dear friend and mentor, Dr James Zaspel. Jeff Rogers did a little more digging, contacted Dr Zaspel's son, Fred, and has this update from Fred:

Greetings! Yes, I remember you, and I remember Howard also, although I don't think we have ever met. Dad had many wonderful memories of his times in Sembach. Dad passed away Sept.11, 2009. He had been in retirement but active in his church, leading singing, and preaching now and then at his church and elsewhere. When people heard he was dying his preaching schedule suddenly was jammed -- everyone wanted to hear him again before he died! So he preached up until the next to last Sunday before he died. He preached that day while seated and with oxygen tubes, but he preached effectively nonetheless. God took him earlier than he really should have died, thus sparing him of many weeks of awful suffering that lay ahead -- this was a specific answer to his prayer and for which we were grateful. His ministry was unusually blessed, and his family loved him much. We miss him and still appreciate those -- such as you and Howard -- who were an encouragement to him in his work.

Many thanks for your note!

Blessings,
Fred

Dr Zaspel had a ministry altering impact on what I did for the Lord. He was the first living example of someone who unashamedly declared the Doctrines of Grace, openly and clearly. It aided me at a time I desperately needed it. I had read much of men of his sort but he was the first living example. I recall the last time I saw him on a visit he made to our church in Germany. He told me "Howard, my preaching schedule has been greatly diminished because churches don't want to hear these doctrines anymore and I can't change what I teach because it is truth." So, his schedule was reduced and he served more regularly in his church in Minnesota. Fred's comments indicate how many lives he touched an impacted. I wish all of you could have known him. He was a man's man of the first sort yet his gentleness toward his "Connie" was an example for all husbands to follow. I remember on one of his visits we took the two of them on a trip to the Crystal factories in Southwest Germany and after a full day of travel and shopping he asked "What is that strange smell?" Well none of us could smell anything untoward and he said "Oh, I know. It's the smell of melted credit cards in Connie's wallet". 

I still have some of his lesson sermons on cassette tape as does Jeff Rogers, if any would like to hear on of God's greatest servants. Let us know. Oh, I want to see and hear his voice. I know when I get to go home the second voice I hear will be Jim's giant voice shouting "Howard, over here, near the throne ."

Musings Over The Card List

I spent some time over Thanksgiving with my Christmas card list. Yes, I'm of the old school that still takes the time to send out these touches of contact and love to people I don't normally interact with over the year. Friends at far places, relatives not seen for a while and hope cards to ones we haven't heard from at all. We still do it because our prayers are full with these dear people and we want updates.

I realized as I went through the list that there were some names we have struck through because this has been the year of their removal from this travail of life. That brought to my heart the reminder that when we have family and friends that are not Christians, whether they think they are or not, we have an obligation as ambassadors of reconciliation to bring the gospel faithfully to all we know. And that reminder needs to be persistent and clear. Done in a spirit of love, our Lord often uses these gentle but honest statements from our hearts to bring them into His Kingdom of salvation.

So, resist the temptation to send them an e card this year, get a box of real cards and surprise those who haven't heard from you and spread the Gospel, especially to the lost. 

Why did I choose the graphic above? At my age that's what a birthday cake looks like.