Category: Self-denial / Obedience

The Fearful End of Ignorance – Studies in The Pilgrim’s Progress by Thomas Sullivan

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….

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The Fruit of the Holy Spirit – Love – Mini Series Part 1

This first of three posts on love is about verse biblical love as in the following verse: Galatians 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  This article takes scripture from the entire Bible about love, and marriage. The next post will be a sermon specifically about the Galatians verse above; and the third post, on the three types of love discussed in the Bible.

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Proverbs 5:22  The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him…. [Explained from Commentaries]

The two verses looked at in this post are some of the most frightening in the Bible. They are about those people who think they are getting away with sinning. These not only apply to the believer who is backsliding, but to those marauders who are doing smash and grabs; to those manipulators cheating to win elections; those malevolent globalists creating vaccines to harm others and rid the earth of them, or who are orchestrating famines to accomplish that end… but they are God’s words to all who think they can get away with sinning: the act of sin carries its own punishment. [I reviewed these for my own edification, as my attitude towards some sins is not yet biblical; hopefully, others will find this post worthy of contemplating.]

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Morning and Evening Thoughts by C H Spurgeon for July 19

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).

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Two Ways To Live – Proverbs 9 – Part 3 of 3

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….

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I’m Stuck in Sexual Sin — Should I Excommunicate Myself? – Ask Pastor John

This post contains 3 videos: the one titled above is second.  I clicked on a 1-minute video from my YouTube notification page yesterday, and was busy doing something and the next two videos that played are posted here in that order. They are all related and relevant to the second video titled above. How so?  The first video is what one is not able to do if he / she is addicted to sexual sin; the third video is an answer to that problem from the pen of C H Spurgeon. It is about how the Lord sanctifies those whom He has drawn to Himself. 

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A Catechism on Human Sexuality – Table Talk Magazine Ligonier Ministries

The Western church presently lives in a time of much sexual confusion. Rev. Christopher Gordon has produced a helpful tool to assist Christians in becoming well-grounded in the biblical teaching on human sexuality. The New Reformation Catechism on Human Sexuality uses the time-tested method of catechesis to teach essential truths from God’s Word regarding sexual issues. The editors of Tabletalk interviewed Rev. Gordon shortly after the catechism was produced, as we believe it is a good tool for Christians to use as they endeavor to obey God’s Word.

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We Blunder and Stumble in our Holiest Endeavors – J. R. Miller (Christian devotional)

This brief devotional will give you some clarity about what God would have you doing with your life. To be more specific, and to summarize Miller’s words: God has placed you in a specific place, amid a specific group of people, with specific needs…; He has given you talents, interests, abilities… that He expects you to use to SERVE those around you…. J R Miller states that message in a pleasing and kind manner. His words will help you to see and act on those little specific things all around you.  [After publishing this post I discovered shorts by MacArthur and Baucham that apply to the matter discussed by Miller, these were added under the Miller video]

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Galatians 5:17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit….

Learning to walk in the Spirit is absolutely essential if you would please God and make it into heaven. I am not satisfied with my own comprehension of such verses found in Paul’s epistles. These verses specifically identify a problem that occurs throughout scripture in that God calls us to repent and obey, and we want to rule our own lives and follow our own inclinations…. Seeing the problem clearly in your own walk is the first step in rectifying it. Exhortations that hold out the solution are found in the epistles and generally in scripture; that would be submitting to the Spirit’s guidance out of a love of God; using God’s appointed means, the armor He has given us with which to fight the fight of faith. But to use God’s appointed means of prayer and scripture reading, e.g., when we are bent on pleasure seeking to fulfill the inclinations/lusts of our heart, is impossible….

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God’s Purposes for taking His children through grief, loss, darkness…. Pastor Patrick Hines

The video in this post is a podcast of Pastor Patrick Hines wherein he addresses Christian suffering. He used the text of 1 Peter 1:3-9 and after a brief intro, talked about a Christian pastor who committed suicide, and near the end, he discussed a man who was tortured by Vladimir Lenin’s officers and imprisoned for more than a decade. The latter, grew immeasurably from his ordeal and was more used by God…. Much was said about each man and his response / reaction to afflictions sent by our Sovereign God. You can learn something from Pastor Hines teaching to deal with the afflictions God sends into your life. He discusses a couple of useful books in the podcast.

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