False Christian teachings, trends….
The following 4-minute video answers the Question: How Can I be filled with the Holy Spirit? He explains the difference between ‘indwelling’ and ‘filling’ by the Holy Spirit, and provides verses that support his explanation. The verses he mentions are plugged in below the video; you can pause the video or slow it down and read as he speaks.
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
Today, Spurgeon’s morning and evening thoughts are about God’s purpose for sending affliction into the believer’s life. If you have been feeling discouraged by hardships and your own failures in your Christian walk, then you could easily find encouragement in his words. You might be more inclined to seek Christ out in His word and prayer, than avoiding Him because of a sense of failure (which seems to mostly be about self-reliance, which God is working to eradicate via affliction).
In this post, the following verse is examined via 3 different Bible commentaries. Proverbs 9:17 “Stolen water is sweet, and bread eaten in secret is pleasant.” My reason for posting on this verse is that it is the type of thinking that keeps one stuck in sin; keeps one blind to sin, desiring sin, etc. The commentaries I chose are free commentaries from the Bible software, E-sword; they can also be found at Bible Hub. Using commentaries is especially necessary for new Bible students, because all verses of scripture have one meaning, that which God intended. It is necessary to discover that meaning. Many, speculate erroneously about the meaning of a verse or passage and never find out for sure what it means….
The purpose of this post is to help Christians get some additional insight into their struggles with temptation: lady wisdom represents the call of the Bible vs lady folly, the call of the world. Satan works against the Christian via the world system; lady Folly is the voice of that world system. Satan uses his dupes, works through them, to invite Christians to partake of delicacies from his kingdom….
Spurgeon’s morning thoughts are about how God’s truth sanctifies a believer. Therein, he explains mortification, vivification and perseverance. His evening thoughts contrast those who value the things of God with those who value the empty things of this world. The information in each will help you assess your own Christian walk, mindset….
This, the first of the father’s lectures, introduces us to some of the crucial distinctions between wisdom and folly. Wisdom comes to us in the form of teaching and instruction, and so it may not look particularly appealing. However, it yields a harvest of social honour and moral beauty. Folly, contrastingly, looks enticing but in the end yields destruction. This is the boomerang effect of folly: when we act foolishly, in the end we hurt ourselves. Fools lie in wait for their own blood.
Below you will find Spurgeon’s morning thoughts followed by the hymn he cited as he closed those thoughts: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less. The hymn is a video by Brian Cochran, he sings the song while playing guitar; lyrics are pasted in for those who might want to sing along. I find it easy to sing along with his songs, it is like being in church and singing along with the congregation. Spurgeon’s evening thoughts follow hymn and lyrics.
His morning thoughts provide some understanding about God’s purposes in affliction. All believers are shaped by it, and receiving it is not always something we want to do; Spurgeon’s words help with that in particular. His evening thoughts encourage us in learning to hold the things of this earth loosely because they are temporary, while we are being taught to see the things of Christ as precious. The Spirit shows the foolish and temporal things we have been trusting in as He helps us make the transition to trusting wholly in Christ. Spurgeon’s words remind us that our trust in earthly things must be let go of and transferred to Christ alone.
This video is the first of 12 in a series: Study on the book of Proverbs, chapters 1-9. The videos range from 9-14 minutes in length, this is the longest video. I found the last video of this series because I wanted to blog on Proverbs 9 and after listening to it, I decided it would be beneficial to me and interested readers to blog the entire series for reasons that will become apparent in this video. Video highlight points precede this lesson. ADDITIONALLY, this post contains a reading from John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion to explain the necessity of a believer knowing who he/she is in relationship to God