False Christian teachings, trends….
Alistair Begg preached this two-part sermon for the New Year, to orient his congregation in accordance with God’s purposes in this world. Sermon series title: Behold Your God He had two points, the message and the mission: those need to be the chief concern of the individual Christian and the church. We are not to listen to some new prophet claiming to have a new, improved message for the church… but commit, recommit to God’s gospel message and its propagation.
The purpose of Dr. MacArthur’s sermon was to address the law that passed in Canada, which states that it is against the law to convert a transgender or homosexual. He used scriptures that clearly state God’s view of transgenderism and homosexuality, there is much on both in the Old and New Testaments. He emphasized that the apostle Paul described the Corinthian Christians as having been great sinners, giving a long list of particular sins, yet the government only wants to protect two of that list of sins via legislation; and that protecting those sins is taking a stand against Christ’s church, because it’s chief purpose in the world is to converts sinners. It is an excellent sermon in that Christians are informed about God’s view of our current culture and encouraged to be godly. Sermon highlights are provided because the sermon is 72 minutes long.
“As Christians, we can take comfort in knowing that our entire lives take place under the sovereign rule of an all-wise God. In this message, Steven Lawson opens the books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes to remind us that the Lord has appointed all things for the right time, including the salvation of His elect.” [After the sermon highlight points and the video, for those who would like to see additional scriptures on God’s sovereignty that are very plain, seven are noted; there is also a ‘study recommendations’ section that has two links to a post on the order of salvation and one on Bible covenants]
This post contains a portion of the audiobook of The Pilgrim’s Progress. If you have never read it, then you will be amazed at how well Bunyan identified the threats that a Christian experiences on his pilgrimage through this earthly wilderness. If you have read through the Bible and are engaged in fighting against your sin, then you should get a lot from this audiobook; if you don’t read your Bible, and have no idea of the fight against sin that the apostle Paul often described (see Ephesians 6 for one example), then you might benefit by discovering that something is wrong with your profession. By the end of this excerpt, you should better understand the dangers that Christian’s experience on their journey of faith
According to the standard of the Bible, it does cost something to be a real Christian. There are enemies to be overcome, battles to be fought, sacrifices to be made, Egypt to be forsaken, a wilderness to be passed through, a cross to be carried, and a race to be run. Conversion is not putting a man in an armchair and taking him easily to heaven. It is the beginning of a mighty conflict in which it costs much to win the victory. Therefore arises the unspeakable importance of counting the cost…. It will cost him his self-righteousness. He must cast away all pride and prideful thoughts and any conceit of his own goodness. He must be content to go to heaven as a poor sinner saved only by free grace, owing all to the merit and righteousness of another. He must really feel the words of the prayer book that he has “erred and gone astray like a lost sheep,” that he has “left undone the things he ought to have done, and done the things he ought not to have done, and that there is no health in him.” He must be willing to give up all trust in his own morality, respectability, praying, Bible reading, church-going, and sacraments, and he must trust in nothing but Jesus Christ.
We’ve all met people who are greedy and who never seem to have enough, even when they have plenty. Some of us may be haunted by a desire to have more: more money, more time, more affection, more fame, and so on. It is sometimes difficult to remember that we come into this world with nothing, and we leave with nothing. Maybe “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens and an illustration by Arthur Rackham can remind us of the importance of overcoming our greed.
The purpose of this post is to provide a biblical definition of sin. I believe this is important because mainstream Christianity focuses on grace, believing they can ignore the Old Testament, sin, hell-fire preaching…. If you have read through the Bible, then you know that they are making up their way as they go along. They are on the wide road that leads to destruction, according to Jesus in Matthew 7. When Jesus opened His ministry in Matthew 4, His first words were, Repent and believe the gospel. To repent of known sin, one must know how to define it first of all….
I know many people who celebrate Christmas and love the season…but don’t go to church, read the Bible, believe in Christ; I also know people who adhere to the teachings of other world religions and celebrate Christmas. That is easy in this culture, because Christ has been removed from this celebration which used to bear His name but is called “The holidays” presently. So, this post has two purposes, to enable readers to understand the very reasons of Christ’s incarnation; and to help readers value Christ and being part of His kingdom rather than continuing on in their culturally conditioned oblivion and soul-killing lives.
What does it mean to “believe” in Christ, to pick up your cross and follow Him? Pastor Piper explains these words biblically. His sermon is extremely valuable because Christian culture gets these things very wrong. This post contains a 12 minute excerpt of his 64 minute sermon; it also contains the entire sermon for those who want to know the foundation he laid before he got to the crux of the text that is stated in excerpt; and the application he proposed after the excerpt. Hopefully, the excerpt will whet your appetite to hear the entire sermon, it is valuable in this time of false gospel messages and short cuts to the Christian life
In the following 4 minute video, Dr. Jeff Mayfield highlights chapter 6 of Dane Ortland’s book, Gentle and Lowly; Mayfield provides numerous examples of why Jesus will not cast out: