War Zone

Click on the picture if it's not big enough.
More Christian funnies can be found at: Calvinistic Cartoons
If you are in need of a laugh that is the site for you!

The 8 Year Old Prankster

Something Nifty - A rap song about the Heidelberg Catachism

A Jabbing of the Conscience

Well at church on Sunday the main thrust was end times – what we should be doing and how we should be behaving now and for Jesus’ return.

These are the verses mentioned:

Luke 21:5-28

2 Timothy 3:12 & 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 8.

Malachi 4:1-2

Hebrews 3:12-14, 9:27 & 10:19-25

Romans 12:9-21 (Although I think right from verse 1 is great because it fits with the theme.)

Titus 2:11-15

John 13:34-35

Acts 1:9-13

Matthew 22

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

2 Corinthians 5:8-11

1 John 3:2-3 & 2:28-29

1 Corinthians 15:50-52

Genesis 5:24

2 Kings 2:11-12

Well I called this post “A Jabbing of the Conscience” because it didn’t stop there...or rather God didn’t stop there.

My friend Mike, a brother in Christ, has a couple of blogs (Let Us Repent and Believe & Calvinistic "Quotes"), and on the latter he made four posts which fit in well with the theme.

Sunday November 21^st 2010

How do truly spiritual people behave?

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.(Romans 12:9-21 ESV)

Monday November 22^nd 2010

Whatever it takes, make me like Christ

I'll Be Honest: Father, whatever it takes, make me like Christ. - He will always answer this prayer, and it will hurt, but the joy's of knowing the Lord more and more are worth it all. To be broken is to be fixed, to be lost and unable to find yourself is to be found in Christ.

Patience to live

John Flavel: "Most men need patience to die, but a saint who understands what death admits him to should rather need patience to live." 

Tuesday November 23^rd 2010

Do nothing that you would not like God to...

J.C. Ryle: "Do nothing that you would not like God to see. Say nothing you would not like God to hear. Go no place where you would not like God to find you. Never spend your time in such a way that you would not like God to say, 'What are you doing?'" 

Even if you’re not a “Calvinist” I think you would enjoy Mike’s blogs. They are God-honouring and edifying.

Snippets of Spurgeon - Praise God for His Sovereignty

Evening, November 25

“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.”

Romans 9:15

In these words the Lord in the plainest manner claims the right to give or to withhold his mercy according to his own sovereign will. As the prerogative of life and death is vested in the monarch, so the Judge of all the earth has a right to spare or condemn the guilty, as may seem best in his sight. Men by their sins have forfeited all claim upon God; they deserve to perish for their sins—and if they all do so, they have no ground for complaint. If the Lord steps in to save any, he may do so if the ends of justice are not thwarted; but if he judges it best to leave the condemned to suffer the righteous sentence, none may arraign him at their bar. Foolish and impudent are all those discourses about the rights of men to be all placed on the same footing; ignorant, if not worse, are those contentions against discriminating grace, which are but the rebellions of proud human nature against the crown and sceptre of Jehovah. When we are brought to see our own utter ruin and ill desert, and the justice of the divine verdict against sin, we no longer cavil at the truth that the Lord is not bound to save us; we do not murmur if he chooses to save others, as though he were doing us an injury, but feel that if he deigns to look upon us, it will be his own free act of undeserved goodness, for which we shall forever bless his name.

How shall those who are the subjects of divine election sufficiently adore the grace of God? They have no room for boasting, for sovereignty most effectually excludes it. The Lord’s will alone is glorified, and the very notion of human merit is cast out to everlasting contempt. There is no more humbling doctrine in Scripture than that of election, none more promotive of gratitude, and, consequently, none more sanctifying. Believers should not be afraid of it, but adoringly rejoice in it. Charles Spurgeon

Christian Classics Ethereal Library - Spurgeon Morning and Evening, 25th November

Aussie Evangelism - Operation Five Thirteen

So Living Waters and Way of the Master are great but they're on the other side of the world. Wouldn't it be great if there were people doing similar evangelistic activities in Australia? Good news folks! Operation 513 is an Aussie group taking the Gospel to the lost. These people are keen apologists who are grounded in the Scriptures. They have been suffering for Christ; the local police and councils in QLD have been making things difficult by fining them when they haven't broken any laws. Our constitution permits what our brothers in Christ have been doing.  Please pray for the Op513 team.

http://www.operation513.com/ - This is their site where you can find all sorts of resources and keep track of their progress.

They are also part of the blogger family - http://operation513.blogspot.com/

Check them out!

Snippets of Spurgeon - Jesus is a Heartful

Being a "Sovereign Gracer" and a "Tuliparian", I think Charles Haddon Spurgeon is the best thing since the Gutenberg Press.

I also like CCEL (Christian Classics Ethereal Library) http://www.ccel.org/ because they have Morning and Evening. This means I don't have to type out a whole page of eloquential brilliance, as I am prone to coveting Spurgeon's vocabulary and grasp of intricate grammar.

Well the 8th day of November came and went, as did the 9th, 10th.....15th, 16th and today it is the 17th day in November.

[Oh a quick shout out to Corinna - Happy 30th Birthday! Although by the time I get this posted it will probably be the 18th...in which case it will be Andrea's 20th Birthday! Have a good one *hugs*]

Ok...so I'll dump my pride (or maybe just a bit). I'm basically 10 days behind in my posting but I would like to clarify that I am not in my reading...only missed this morning due to cooking Corinna a birthday breakfast :-D That, however, isn't a viable excuse before God so I will buck up and catch up.

My excuses are all done now. This is what I was going to write 10 days ago:

My favourite part was the last line and that is what I most wanted to share with you.

Copied and pasted from http://www.ccel.org/ccel/spurgeon/morneve.d1108am.html
Penned by Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Morning, November 8

“As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord.”

Colossians 2:6

The life of faith is represented as receiving—an act which implies the very opposite of anything like merit. It is simply the acceptance of a gift. As the earth drinks in the rain, as the sea receives the streams, as night accepts light from the stars, so we, giving nothing, partake freely of the grace of God. The saints are not, by nature, wells, or streams, they are but cisterns into which the living water flows; they are empty vessels into which God pours his salvation. The idea of receiving implies a sense of realization, making the matter a reality. One cannot very well receive a shadow; we receive that which is substantial: so is it in the life of faith, Christ becomes real to us. While we are without faith, Jesus is a mere name to us—a person who lived a long while ago, so long ago that his life is only a history to us now! By an act of faith Jesus becomes a real person in the consciousness of our heart. But receiving also means grasping or getting possession of. The thing which I receive becomes my own: I appropriate to myself that which is given. When I receive Jesus, he becomes my Saviour, so mine that neither life nor death shall be able to rob me of him. All this is to receive Christ—to take him as God’s free gift; to realize him in my heart, and to appropriate him as mine.

Salvation may be described as the blind receiving sight, the deaf receiving hearing, the dead receiving life; but we have not only received these blessings, we have received Christ Jesus himself. It is true that he gave us life from the dead. He gave us pardon of sin; he gave us imputed righteousness. These are all precious things, but we are not content with them; we have received Christ himself. The Son of God has been poured into us, and we have received him, and appropriated him. What a heartful Jesus must be, for heaven itself cannot contain him!

527 Today! (that's a lot of candles)

Happy Birthday Martin Luther

10^th November 1483

A zealous, God-fearing man, who gave the Roman Catholic Church a whopping of phenomenal proportions, via voice and pen.

Luther stated, when standing before the Diet of Worms, “Unless I am convinced by proofs from Scriptures or by plain and clear reasons and arguments, I can and will not retract, for it is neither safe nor wise to do anything against conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other. God help me. Amen”.  

A little devotion

Oh Lord, that I would to do Thy will and desire Thy glory, forsaking my own.

Before Thy face Lord, I do fall, with nothing but my weaknesses to give Thee.

My mind is corrupt, my flesh is weak, my heart is collied; I am a puisne, but pernicious rebel.

Without Thee, Thy loving kindness, Thy mercy and Thy grace, I would surely perish.

Lord Jesus, Thou art precious to me.

It's Offical!

Praise God I got my acceptance letter today - I am going to the Reformed Theological College!

Everything starts February 21st 2011. I plan to take the boat over a couple of weeks earlier with my possessions in my car. But that's about it for my plans. So much to organise and think through.

I'm all in a flap now. It's too exciting.