This post is about a sermon on The Pilgrim’s Progress, focusing on the character ‘ignorance.’ The contents of the post emphasized how this is relevant to all Christians who are born again and walking in the WAY; in other words, on pilgrimage through the wilderness of this world. Highlight points identify the contents of the 40-minute sermon with some statements from the sermon. Also, there is a link to a post from last week that identifies all the characters in Bunyan’s book and concepts, themes…. Besides the Bible, Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is the most meaningful book you will read about the Christian walk. It identifies many aspects of the Christian battle, especially diversions temptations, lies, false teachers… that take a believer off the true path. The believer must return to that path after becoming aware of being temporarily duped, deceived, tricked….
Category: A Christian Defined
Characters in John Bunyan’s Book, Pilgrim’s Progress
This post contains a list of the characters in John Bunyan’s work, The Pilgrim’s Progress. It also explains the themes, motifs, and symbols used in his writing. Four characters have an in-depth explanation; and the subject matter of the other sections provides much insight into the book, making it much more valuable. I read the book early in my Christian walk and realized that many things were not clear to me. I have since listened to Spurgeon preach on it, for example, but the theme and motif sections of this article, done by SparkNotes, yield some nuggets quickly, providing a basis for deeper understanding from preachers like Spurgeon if one desires it.
Why Christian Nationalism makes American Christians less Christlike – RNS
This post contains an article from Religious News Service on Christian Nationalism. I posted it with the purpose of critiquing it to show that it is not directed at biblical Christians, but at those professed Christians who mostly believe in the social gospel, propounded by people like Rick Warren and others. The social gospel has been around since the late 1800’s; if a professed Christian has not read through the Bible, then he / she likely does not know the difference. Also, I also wanted to show that the article upholds the Marxist democrat left’s values; it is therefore, not Christian. Why so? Marxism and Christianity oppose each other.
Basic Instructions For Battling Sin – Pastor Mayfield via John Owen
The two very brief videos in this post provide foundational instructions on battling sin from the works of John Owen. Pastor Mayfield explained that God wants Christians to sin less; that all Christians sin; that a Christian must seek God’s help via prayer to successfully fight sin…. The contents of these videos necessary building blocks for a Christian walk. These two videos are from a 17-part series, but stand alone. New and old Christians alike can benefit from what Pastor Mayfield explains because such things are not typically part of the Sunday church service….
Is Oprah right on Psalm 37:4? – Ask Pastor John
Pastor John Piper explains Oprah’s errors in her beliefs about the meaning of Psalm 37:4 – Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. In the process, he explains the biblical meaning of that verse and clarifies Oprah’s errors, agenda, motives…. Oprah’s view is also held by those in favor of ecumenism, the two biggest names in that arena are the Pope and Rick Warren; but many think that unity before doctrine is the right way.
What does it mean to delight yourself in the Lord? Psalm 37:4 – Got Questions Ministries
This post contains 3 videos. The first, 3-minute video is by Got Questions Ministries and it explains ‘delighting’ in the LORD; the second video is a reading of Psalm 37 with accompaniment of saxophone, KJV; and the third video is a NIV reading of Psalm 37 with gentle musical accompaniment. The biblical explanation provide by Got Question Ministries speaks against the purposes of the entire Prosperity and Word-of-Faith gospels. Those are unbiblical and do not lead to spiritual blessings and towards heaven….
Psalm 37:1-6 Commentary by Matthew Henry
This post contains comments on Psalm 37:1-6 from Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Whole Bible. While I was reading this morning, I reviewed several commentaries on this passage and thought it very worthy of posting. The next couple of posts will also be about verses from this passage.
The Heavenly Race – C H Spurgeon
This post contains a 7-minute sermon excerpt and the entire sermon. The excerpt contains an exhortation by Spurgeon wherein he suggests that we should think of our race as though we were running from a swordsman that wants to slay us. To which he makes the following points: no one would have to exhort us to run; one would run with all his might; if we had eyes to see, then we’d know that hell pursues us; sin pursues us; evil wants to overtake us; the avenger of death is pursuing us and we should run to the city of refuge with all our might; the gates of that city stand open; Christ is that city; many shall not enter that city. Sermon highlights precede the full-length sermon
Do You Have A Christian Worldview? Assess your worldview via the contents of this message
In the video of this post, Ken Ham, of Answers in Genesis, specifically explains why many Christian youth turn away from the church. I posted a 4-minute excerpt of this message recently, but as I listened to the message again this morning, I realized that Ham does a thorough job of articulating the Christian worldview in the process of informing his audience on the topic of youth leaving the church. This video clearly explains how it is that church leaders and parents have failed their children. His message not only informs hearers, but provides them with specifics required for turning this situation around and encouragement to find strength in Christ and His word
Psalm 32: The Joy of Forgiveness – Psalm 51 [series] with R.C. Sproul
Everyone who truly repents of his or her sins receives the grace of God’s forgiveness and enjoys the delight of restored fellowship with Him. In this message, R.C. Sproul shows how Psalm 32 helps us grasp the unspeakable joy of forgiveness in Christ. [Numerous essential and foundational concepts of the Christian life are herein carefully explained. Highlight points are noted]