"Be not conformed to this world..."

Romans 12:2

 

Nothing worse can happen to a church or a Christian than to be like the world... 

"Present your bodies a living sacrifice which is your reasonable service."

Romans 12:1

 

I'm not in love with the word sacrifice. Why, it only involves that which is reasonable. This great salvation, worked by the giving of everything He was, was an unreasonable act by Christ Jesus. It was above and beyond. So, for me to be asked to do something reasonable, falls just short of what I think the true demand should be. If we were in turn called to give all we have and become paupers, that would be closer. Or, if He so willed, we gave our very lives for Him, that is closer to reality. So, don't be satisfied with a reasonable life for Christ, seek that above and beyond. 

 

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

I Cor 15:10

 

In his last book before his death, "Directions For A Candidate For The Ministry",  in 1728, Cotton Mather, divine of the Great Awakening wrote,

"No man can live unto God until he is converted. There must be the experience infused from above into you, that shall be indeed Christ formed in you and Christ living in you...A principle of piety, even the love of God, thus produced in you shall be the root of the righteous in you, perpetually bringing forth fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ unto the glory of God. Without this principle all the ornaments on which the great men of the earth value themselves are but gilded vanities". 

 

"for whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."

Romans 10:13

 

It is with joy that I read this verse. I have often thought it is so much better than if it said "if Howard Allen Wilson shall call upon the Lord..." because there might be another Howard Allen Wilson and he were the one and not me. But, God opens the door and says "whoever" and that leaves room for me. How about you? 

 

"Therefore, take up the full armor of God..."

Eph 6:13a

 

We saints, alive now, stand on the shoulders of prior generations who have passed into glory. Let us not forget those dear ones who await us in heaven and honor them with our love and service to Christ. 

 

Let us also honor the memory of the ones who have shared battles with us in the military and the ones of generations past.

 

I'm a fan of Bluegrass music.

Say what you will, I offer this 3:30 for your pleasure if you are bent as I.

The Group of young people call themselves

"Nickel Creek"

 

"I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy..."

Romans 9:15

If there is one doctrine in all the bible which reveals the hatred of the human heart for God, more than any other, it is the doctrine of God's sovereignty. When men hear the Lord's voice saying "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy," they gnash their teeth and call the preacher an Antinomian, a High Calvinist, or some other harsh name. They do not love God unless they can make Him a little God who answers to their will. They do not want Him supreme. They would gladly take His will away from Him and set up their own will as first cause.