Last Sunday, I preached at Springfield Baptist Church. The text was Philippians 1:29 and the focus of the message was on the 3 Gifts that God gives to His people as seen in that passage. God gives us the Gospel: He gives us Jesus. On this basis, God gives us the faith to believe on Him, and He also gives us suffering so that we may be conformed more into His image in the trials and afflictions of this life.
Monday, August 29, 2011
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Hurricane Days and the NBA Lockout....
Here is my tribute to the NBA Lockout.Just some highlights I've been looking at during this wonderful weather we are having in Richmond...Long live the League!... Enjoy!
Allen Iverson's crossover.....on MJ...Classic
Vince Carter's Olympic Dunk
JDub's Elbow pass
D.Wade on Anderson Varejao
Some college cat crushed this guys ankles.....
Allen Iverson's crossover.....on MJ...Classic
Vince Carter's Olympic Dunk
JDub's Elbow pass
D.Wade on Anderson Varejao
Some college cat crushed this guys ankles.....
Thursday, August 25, 2011
What is the Gospel - Paul Washer
A fresh reminder by Paul Washer on "What is the Gospel". Washer's preaching and passion communicate the message of the gospel in a way that leaves you on the edge of your seat. His words are crushing, yet encouraging, and he always lifts high the beauty of Jesus Christ's death on the cross and His resurrection for sinners. Enjoy.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Thoughts on The Grace of God - J.I. Packer
" We can only claim from him justice- and justice, for us, means certain condemnation. God does not owe it to anyone to stop justice taking its course. He is not obliged to pity and pardon; if He does so it is an act done, as we say 'of His own free will,' and nobody forces His hand. 'It does not depend on man's will or effort, but on God's mercy'(Rom. 9:16 NEB). Grace is free, in the sense of being self-originated and of proceeding from One who was free not to be gracious. Only when it is seen that what decides each individual's destiny is whether or not God resolves to save him from his sins, and that is a decision which God need not make in any single case, can one begin to grasp the biblical view of grace."
J.I. Packer - Knowing God
J.I. Packer - Knowing God
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Perfect Storm
Last Sunday I was given the opportunity to preach at the church I attend, Redemption Hill. The text I preached from was Acts 27:1-44 and the title of the message was "The Perfect Storm". In this sermon, I focused on how God works not in spite of, but in and through the sufferings of His people, to accomplish His mission of advancing the gospel to the world. Next to the sufferings of Jesus, Paul the Apostle was a great example of how God providentially worked in and through suffering for His glory and for our good. This hurricane that Paul encountered in Acts 27 was just another opportunity for God to be glorified as the Lord saved all 276 men on board the ship, and supernaturally confirmed to Paul that he would arrive at Rome safely.
Just as all 276 sailors, soldiers, and prisoners were delivered from the storm and were saved for the sake of Paul, we too are saved from the hurricane of God's wrath and delivered from the power of darkness only for the sake of Jesus.It is because of His perfect life and substitutionary death on the behalf of sinners that we are able to be reconciled to God and brought safely to Him.
The audio of the sermon can be found here
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Kind of Preaching God Blesses - Steve Lawson
This was a great sermon and exposition of 1 Corinthians 1:18-24. In this sermon, Lawson talks about the need for modern day preachers to preach nothing but Christ crucified. Philosophy, the wisdom of this age, and "sharing" of opinion and ideas in the pulpit will not glorify God in the preaching of the gospel.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Why Does the Truth of Hell Rise to Watershed Significance?
Why Does the Truth of Hell Rise to Watershed Significance?
Just read this article at Desiring God. Check it out...
Just read this article at Desiring God. Check it out...
Monday, July 18, 2011
Paradoxes - Valley of Vision
This prayer crushed me as I was reading it this morning....Thought I'd share it.
"O changeless God,
Under the conviction of Thy Spirit I learn that
the more I do, the worse I am,
the more I know, the less I know,
the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,
the more I love, the more there is to love.
O wretched man that I am!
O Lord, I have a wild heart,
and cannot stand before Thee;
I am like a bird before a man.
How little I love Thy truth and ways!
I neglect prayer,
by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly,
by knowing Thou hast saved my soul.
Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ's blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,
for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.
My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord's Day,
ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
with nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention, so I forget easily the lessons learned,
and Thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home
the water of Grace."
"O changeless God,
Under the conviction of Thy Spirit I learn that
the more I do, the worse I am,
the more I know, the less I know,
the more holiness I have, the more sinful I am,
the more I love, the more there is to love.
O wretched man that I am!
O Lord, I have a wild heart,
and cannot stand before Thee;
I am like a bird before a man.
How little I love Thy truth and ways!
I neglect prayer,
by thinking I have prayed enough and earnestly,
by knowing Thou hast saved my soul.
Of all hypocrites, grant that I may not be
an evangelical hypocrite,
who sins more safely because grace abounds,
who tells his lusts that Christ's blood
cleanseth them,
who reasons that God cannot cast him into hell,
for he is saved,
who loves evangelical preaching, churches,
Christians, but lives unholily.
My mind is a bucket without a bottom,
with no spiritual understanding,
no desire for the Lord's Day,
ever learning but never reaching the truth,
always at the gospel-well but never holding water.
My conscience is without conviction or contrition,
with nothing to repent of.
My will is without power of decision or resolution.
My heart is without affection, and full of leaks.
My memory has no retention, so I forget easily the lessons learned,
and Thy truths seep away.
Give me a broken heart that yet carries home
the water of Grace."
Monday, July 11, 2011
Just Like You - Lecrae
Saw this today, pretty good video concept. The last verse is pretty awesome too....
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
God's Love Defined - J.I. Packer
" God's love is an exercise of His goodness toward individual sinners whereby, having identified Himself with their welfare, He has given His Son to be their savior, and now brings them to know and enjoy him in a covenant relation."
- J.I. Packer, "Knowing God"
- J.I. Packer, "Knowing God"
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Confession and Petition - Puritan Prayers
Holy Lord, I have sinned times without number, and been guilty of pride and unbelief, of failure to find Thy mind in Thy Word, of neglect to seek Thee in my daily life. My transgressions and short-comings present me with a list of accusations, but I bless Thee that they will not stand against me, for all have been laid on Christ. Go on to subdue my corruptions, and grant me grace to live above them. Let not the passions of the flesh nor lustings of the mind bring my spirit into subjection, but do Thou rule over me in liberty and power.
I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.
No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
I thank Thee that many of my prayers have been refused. I have asked amiss and do not have, I have prayed from lusts and been rejected, I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness. Go on with Thy patient work, answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers, and fitting me to accept it. Purge me from every false desire, every base aspiration, everything contrary to Thy rule. I thank Thee for Thy wisdom and Thy love, for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject, for sometimes putting me into the furnace to refine my gold and remove my dross.
No trial is so hard to bear as a sense of sin. If Thou shouldst give me choice to live in pleasure and keep my sins, or to have them burnt away with trial, give me sanctified affliction. Deliver me from every evil habit, every accretion of former sins, everything that dims the brightness of Thy grace in me, everything that prevents me taking delight in Thee. Then I shall bless Thee, God of jeshurun, for helping me to be upright.
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