False Christian teachings, trends….
Sowing and reaping is a thoroughly biblical concept which I have often liked to forget about. However, to forget about it is to put your soul in grave danger. Pastor Caldwell presents the idea of sowing and reaping in a clear and memorable way as he preaches through Hosea 10: 11-15. My last post was on Pastor Caldwell’s sermon on repentance; well, knowing the ideas in this post will likely motivate you to desire repentance, and help you move in that direction.
Well, as you are well aware if you have been with us throughout most of this study of Hosea, most of the message of Hosea is a message of judgment. It is a message of warning. It is the Lord through the prophet bringing his people face to face with their sins and the Lord calling upon them to recognize the gravity of their sins and the truly destructive nature of their sins. This is the main message of Hosea. And yet what we cannot miss in the book, what is unmistakable, what appears interspersed all throughout the book is also the certain knowledge of God’s love, God’s amazing patience, his grace, his mercy, because throughout the book you have the Lord calling these people to repent. Don’t just recognize that you have sinned. Don’t just recognize where it all leads, but recognize it so that you are rescued from it. Turn from it. Turn to the living God. Receive his forgiveness and submit your life to him. Obey him. That is the purpose of the book. That is the goal of the book. [opening lines of the sermon copied from PDF]
This post contains comments from Albert Barnes and John Calvin on Philippians 3:10 – “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.” It opens with that verse from 5 different Bible translations, as it is good to look to different translations when one is seeking understanding of a given verse; those readers who did not know that see the benefit of doing so.
This post uses the commentary of Albert Barnes to consider Philippians 3:9 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith.” This topic is foundational to the Christian life, Romans and Galatians are about it. From my own struggles, and writing about the false teachings that pervade the 21st century church, I am certain that most Christians do not understand this doctrine sufficiently well, such that they are certainly relying only on the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. If you cannot say with certainty that you do, then take a few moments and get some helpful insight.
The two verses considered in this post are important to understand for encouragement and motivation. I believe that and have been reading through Philippians recently for help on the battle front of my own personal spiritual warfare. If you’re flagging in your own spiritual warfare, his words may also be of help to you.
This post contains 3 videos: a video short, a 17-minute excerpt of the full sermon from which the short came; and the full-length sermon. The Puritan Christopher Love addressed the matter of the Holy Spirit’s work in sanctifying the believer. He focused on two aspects: what the Spirit does to dissuade a believer from sinning; and what the Spirit does to sanctify the believer after he has sinned. Every Christian needs to understand this matter as well as possible such that he/she is receptive to the Spirit’s workings. Highlights are provided for the 17-minute excerpt; a link to some posts in this blog about Jonathan Edwards addressing these matters, but Edwards was not as thorough as Love.
This post contains a message on backsliding from Pastor Rom Prakashpalan. He provides a definition and a strong message from Hosea 14. Highlight points were written for the 27-minute excerpt. The entire sermon is also embedded for those who want to listen through it.
The May edition of Mike Gendron’s Newsletter covers the following topics and more: Unity Accords Between Catholics and Evangelicals; Warnings Are Being Withheld or Avoided; Disobedience to God and His Word; Compromise for the Sake of Peace and Unity; Ignorance of Catholicism’s False and Fatal Gospel; Scripture Proves Eucharist Is a False Christ; Plenary Indulgence for Worship of Eucharist; letters to the editor
The Mp3 sermon in this post is on James 1:2-11, about how we are to face trials. Pastor Ramsey provided much useful information for the Christian’s daily struggle in life. there is a link to his series on James at Sermon Audio for those who might want to hear more. Sermon highlight points follow the sermon.
This post contains the video of the Got Questions Podcast of today; it is an interview with Ray Comfort of Living Waters Ministries. He answered questions about how he shares the gospel. His major strategy, which I’d never discerned from watching his videos, is that he directs his questions at the conscience of the person with whom he is interacting; and avoids questions that engage the carnal mind: he explained that clearly in the video. If you have fear about witnessing or you just lack strategies, then you could benefit from hearing this podcast. Highlight points are below the video