Sovereign Grace Store – SALE!

Link: Sovereign Grace Store

The bottom line is this. From February 1 through February 29, Sovereign Grace will be selling all our CDs for six dollars. With free shipping. In addition, we’ll be selling our Pursuit of Godliness books for five dollars, also with free shipping. Of course you can download the CDs and not worry about shipping (great idea if you’re outside the U.S.).That means that for the month of February you can buy Valley of Vision, In a Little While, Savior, Worship God Live, You and You Alone, Upward, Songs for the Cross Centered Life, and every other Sovereign Grace produced CD for just six dollars. CD or download.

Read the rest: Worship Matters – The Blog of Bob Kauflin

The Vanity of Trusting Anything But

The king is not saved by his great army; a warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it can not rescue. Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the LORD; he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O LORD, be upon us, even as we hope in you.
Psalms 33:16-22 ESV

Yet there is mercy for me…

I bless Thee that great sin draws out great grace, that although the least sin deserves infinite punishment because done against an infinite God, yet there is mercy for me, for where guilt is most terrible, there Thy mercy in Christ is most free and deep.

- Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions

Ex-warlord confesses to 20,000 deaths

Source: Ex-warlord confesses to 20,000 deaths

Before he led his fighters into battle, wearing only a pair of lace-up boots, Blahyi said he made a human sacrifice to the devil.

The sacrifice was typically “the killing of an innocent child and plucking out the heart which was divided into pieces for us to eat,” he told The Associated Press on Saturday. He appeared before the commission Jan. 15.

Between the time he made a pact with the devil circa 1980 and began his rampage and the time he stopped fighting in 1996, he said “more than 20,000 people fell victim (to me and my men). They were killed.”

In 1996, while charging naked into a battle, Blahyi said God appeared and told him he was a slave to Satan, not the hero he considered himself to be, according to an earlier interview with The Associated Press.

He became a born-again Christian and for a while, traversed the war-wracked streets of Monrovia selling cassettes of his sermons.

Therefore…

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-2 ESV

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:28-29 ESV

Beautiful Things

Last night, my housemate and I went to visit our friend, discipler, and sister in Christ. When we got to her front door, we saw her 9 year old daughter running towards the house with 2 other sisters in the Lord behind her. As she’s running up the walkway, yelling ‘Stop the presses!’ (or something to that effect), I asked her…

Me – Trin, what’s wrong ?
Her – I forgot my Bible!!!
Me – Wow

We were let inside the house, and I thought to myself, If we could be like Trin! I found out that she and the other 2 young ladies had been about to head out, but Trin couldn’t leave without her Bible… wow.

I love the wisdom and zeal that she and her 10 year old brother possess. Their knowledge of the Lord at such a young age is so beautiful! By the grace of God, their parents have done an awesome job at instilling proper reverence of the Lord in them. Young believers; I pray that they grow amazingly as each year passes.

Kudos to them!

Snapshots and Premature Judgments

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:1-5 ESV

Yesterday, during a conversation with a sister in Christ, I was checked on something that has been on my mind for the past few days. In the past, up til now, I have been too quick to use snapshots to determine the authenticity of a person’s relationship with Jesus Christ. This sister and I were discussing a coworker who has a penchant for filthy language.

Her - You know, he cusses a lot. I don’t like that.
Me – I KNEW there was something that made me think he wasn’t a Christian.
Her – That doesn’t mean he isn’t a Christian. There ARE Christians who cuss.

It made me think – Yes, all believers are in different levels of their sanctification, and while we are called to be perfect and holy, we’re not, and we very much so fall short. And what if someone were to look at snapshots of MY life ? There are many moments where my behaviors don’t reflect the Lord Jesus. I am in no way proud of it, but it’s true. I have had moments of anger and various other sinful behaviors, where if someone were to see me in those moments, they’d probably assume I was one who didn’t know the Lord! In this, I’m convicted, especially in light of the Matthew 7 Scripture I referenced above.

Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.

The same things I see in other people, they are probably seeing in me. There were moments after I 1st got saved where I used profanity, took part in physical relations with the opposite sex, and various other sins. This didn’t mean I wasn’t saved. At this time in my life, those things are no longer a part of it. By no means have I attained perfection, oh… far from it! But my life as a Christian has changed as the Lord sanctifies and prunes me. The fruit that the Lord, in His grace, has caused me to bear, attests that I am of Him, even though I have a myriad of weak moments where I give in to my sin… *sigh*.

I am nowhere NEAR as gracious and merciful as my Father. I judge people and consider them unsaved without being in their lives to see them on a regular basis. How horrible am I. My eyes contain trees, yet I find much fault with the splinters of others.

While I can’t assume someone’s salvation, I cannot assume their non-salvation. And even with all of the above, I am sure not to negate 1 John 3:

No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.
1 John 3:9-10 ESV

There’s such a difference between a video and a snapshot. A video is life being lived; a snapshot is but a moment. May I not add more to the Gospel of grace:

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel– not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
Galatians 1:6-7 ESV

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a Gospel of grace. We didn’t have to work to be called, and works wouldn’t merit salvation anyhow… It is by God’s own graciousness that He calls people to salvation. Who am I to strip such a beautiful thing from a beautiful God ?

With this, I repent, and pray for His grace to see others the way He sees them. We’re ALL sinners, and as Robin Boisvert said in his 12/16/07 sermon, he’s never heard one pig say to another, ‘You stink’.

May I NOT lose my convictions, but may I operate in more grace when it comes to seeing others.

In His Name

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and do not be harsh with them. Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged. Slaves, obey in everything those who are your earthly masters, not by way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but with sincerity of heart, fearing the Lord. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. For the wrongdoer will be paid back for the wrong he has done, and there is no partiality.
Colossians 3:17-25 ESV

What a hard principle to follow at times… It is most definitely something I need to remember when I am having a hard time at work… Ultimately, we work for Him…

What would life look like if we were truly to apply this principle HARD to our lives ?

Give Thanks

It’s been almost 6 months since I picked up and moved from Dallas to Philadelphia. What an amazing time it has been! I have experienced so much, and in all of it, the goodness and graciousness of God is truly shown. From night time travels to driving in snow (never did that in Texas!) to growing in the Lord to everything else! His constant protection is so evident, and maybe I’ve become so used to it that I fail to give Him proper thanks.

Lately, I’ve looked at all the things I have amassed in the past few years – clothes, CDs, shoes, books, etc. – and I’ve wondered, Man, if there were a fire, I’d have none of this! I am so used to having a car to get in to drive to a home I stay in to lay in a bed I own. None of these things are promises, nor basics. They are all a blessing from the Lord, a glorious provision of His… luxury even. It is a blessing that I leave in the morning and my car is still there, untouched. It is a blessing that when I get home from work, the house is still here, untouched. I’ve become more proactive (not nearly enough though) in thanking God for the things that I, as a sinner and as an American, take for granted.

Nothing is owed to me… And in this modern brand of Christianity that instructs people to ‘claim what is yours’ in the form of materialism, God is much forgotten.

How can we forget Him ? We become so used to His goodness that it becomes nothing to us. We’re so used to the fact that He’s so gracious that we overlook Him, paying attention to things that He in His goodness has allowed us to have.

We forget how amazing and marvelous it is that such a Holy God as He would desire to give good gifts to His children.

Let us make it a point to give thanks as the Holy Scriptures have instructed us to do.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
1 Chronicles 16:34 ESV

… give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV

May this be our sincere attitude:

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.
Psalms 9:1 ESV

But we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise.
Psalms 79:13 ESV

…. lest we be like those in Romans 1:
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Romans 1:21 ESV

Grace and peace.

This world…

Memo: Don’t use obscene check to pay parking ticket

“The F-word isn’t what it used to be,” attorney Keith Williams said. It doesn’t have a sexual connotation anymore and so can’t be considered obscene, he said.

Wow… what !? One, what kind of justification is that ? And two, when did it stop having a sexual connotation ?

This world…