False Christian teachings, trends….
J. C. Ryle stated that there is a four-fold cost for being a Christian: 1. your self-righteousness; pride; sense of personal goodness; merit… 2. your sins have to turned from, forsaken; every practice, habit, addiction that is wrong in God’s sight; you must be at war with these… 3. It will cost your love of ease: to fight a battle; to run a race; to watch and pray… and 4. It will cost one the favor of the world; to please God will result in being thought ill of by the world….
My purpose in posting Psalms recently is to show that scripture can be arranged in a contemporary manner; furthermore, all who sing and listen can be certain that they are hearing music that is approved by God, He wrote the lyrics. Hearers and singers can also be sure that the content is doctrinally sound and edifying. No one can say that about contemporary Christian music in general; some has a trace of doctrine….
This post is about Psalm 19: one short video is a contemporary arrangement of the Psalm by the group Sons Of Korah; one 2 minute video is by N. T. Wright providing an overview of the Psalm; and lastly, a children’s organization used Psalm 19:14 as a children’s song for the planting of a godly seed and memorization
This post contains two songs using only scripture, by vocalist, Esther Mui: Psalm 119:137-144 (NKJV) Song “Righteous are You, O Lord;”and from Psalm 34:1-9 “O Taste and See that the Lord is Good” Although these songs have a contemporary flavor, they are certainly approved by God, as He wrote the lyrics
There are two 1 minute acapella videos in this post that use only words of scripture. The vocalist’s voice is lovely. If you should happen to want to memorize either of them, singing along with her will certainly aid you.
James Smith was a predecessor of Charles Spurgeon at New Park Street Chapel in London from 1841 until 1850. Early on, Smith’s readings were even more popular than Spurgeon’s! This post is related to the preceding one, Walking in the Spirit; it provides a few insights about how the Spirit works in the born-again believer. …Although I have written about that topic a lot, especially the beatitude posts, I have only scratched the surface. And since contemporary Christianity seemingly understands nothing of the matter, this post is to help believers who seek answers to such questions.
Pastor Kenneth Stewart of Glasgow RP Church of Scotland preached the following sermon titled, The Need To Triumph. It is about walking in the Spirit.
However, this sermon differs from many on this topic because it gives specifics on sowing-reaping; how to notice your own sowing; what to do about that; how sowing impacts one’s spiritual walk; things one needs engage in to promote a spiritual life that lends itself to walking in the Spirit….
The things that hinder our fellowship with the Lord may be socially respectable or shameful distractions. Dr. Mayfield uses the following three examples: politics, finances and pornography. If any of those three distractions take up much of our time and are higher than God in our hearts, then it is an idol. With socially acceptable distractions / idols, it is more difficult to identify them as problems; therefore, they may continue to be a hindrance to your fellowship with the Lord far longer than another’s porn is to him / her….
There are several posts from this blog linked to this post because they are directly related to the last post about how the Holy Spirit helps the weak. These linked posts are about the following: the five stage struggle of faith developed by Jonathan Edwards; instruction about self-observation, examination, journaling…from Jonathan Edwards; instruction in basic doctrines such as justification and faith; and lastly, some basic instruction on God’s purpose in affliction; and spiritual disciplines that help Christians deal with the aforementioned
Via 5 and 7 minute videos, Dr. Jeff Mayfield explains a portion of the works of John Owen, from his book Communion with God; his explanation enables listeners to understand Owen’s complex writings: topic of the 5 minute video – how the Holy Spirit intercedes for weak followers of Christ who have backslidden, or wandered knowingly or unknowingly; topic of the 7 minute video is about restoring one’s delight in Christ. [These are problems that every Christian will experience at some point in their walk with the Lord]