Our Blog

Beginning To See

August 21, 2020 jakin7

 

 

Dear (fill in the blank),

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are beginning to see what it looks like when the intellectually blind grasp for a
shadow to embrace. Where is the modern day Deborah singing “March on, my soul; be strong!” Where is the spiritual Anne Sullivan to teach

a nation that is deaf, dumb, and blind?

 

Not all, but too many pastors are sleeping
the sleep or blowing with the breeze or
knocking with the knees. Not all,
but too many professors are
continuing to do as
they please–groping in
personal darkness
when the spotlight
shines on them from above.

 

 

Stand up – stand now or
you will find yourselves                 
shining the boots of those
handing out your
bamboo slippers

as they march you off to
the gulag camps of your reeducation.

Sincerely  –  Walley

 

P.S. read Judges Chapters 4 and 5 – particularly 4:9
….consider the voice of the singers at the watering places…

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Days Are Evil

August 18, 2020 jakin7

 Be very careful, then,

 

how you live-

not as unwise but as wise,

making the most of every opportunity,

because the days are evil.

Ephesians 5:15,16

The World Rising In Hostility

August 17, 2020 jakin7

Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

Matthew 5:10-12

“Happy are they who suffer persecution The disciples of Christ have very great need of this instruction; and the more hard and disagreeable it is for the flesh to admit it, the more earnestly ought we to make it the subject of our meditation.

 

We cannot be Christ’s soldiers  on any other condition, than to have the greater part of the world rising in hostility against us, and pursuing us even to death. The state of the matter is this. Satan, the prince of the world, will never cease to fill his followers with rage, to carry on hostilities against the members of Christ. It is, no doubt, monstrous and unnatural, that men, who study to live a righteous life, should be attacked and tormented in a way which they do not deserve.

Yet, in consequence of the unbridled wickedness of the world, it too frequently happens, that good men, through a zeal of righteousness, arouse against them the resentments of the ungodly. Above all, it is, as we may say, the ordinary lot of Christians to be hated by the majority of men: for the flesh cannot endure the doctrine of the Gospel; none can endure to have their vices reproved.”

John Calvin (1509-1564)

Calvin, John. “Commentary on Matthew 5:10”. “Calvin’s Commentary on the Bible”

Wake Up O Sleeper

August 5, 2020 jakin7

Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

 For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.

But everything exposed by the light becomes visible, for it is light that makes everything visible.

 This is why it is said:

“Wake up, O sleeper,
rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you.”

Ephesians 5:11-14

 

We Deceive Ourselves

August 4, 2020 jakin7

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves

and the truth is not in us.

1 John 1:8

 

Repent

July 28, 2020 jakin7

if my people,

who are called by my name,

will humble themselves

and pray

 

and seek my face

and turn from their wicked ways,

then will I hear from heaven

 

and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.         2 Chronicles 7:14

A Garden

July 26, 2020 jakin7

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow,

so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness
and praise spring up before all nations.    Isaiah 61:11

The Lord will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,
like a spring whose waters never fail.      Isaiah 58:11

Fix Your Gaze

July 10, 2020 jakin7

Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.

 

Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.

 

Do not swerve to the right or the left;

 

keep your foot from evil.

Proverbs 4: 25-27

The Snares of Death

July 1, 2020 jakin7

I love you, O Lord, my strength.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield

and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I am saved from my enemies.

The cords of death entangled me;

the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me;

 

the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

The earth trembled and quaked,
and the foundations of the mountains shook;
they trembled because he was angry.    Psalm 18: 1-7

“What then can a thundering legion of such praying souls do? It was said of Luther, iste vir potuit cum Deo quicquid voluit, That man could have of God what he would; his enemies felt the weight of his prayers; and the church of God reaped the benefits thereof.

The Queen of Scots professed she was more afraid of the prayers of Mr. Knox, than of an army of ten thousand men. These were mighty wrestlers with God, however {contemned} and vilified among their enemies.

There will a time come when God will hear the prayers of people who are continually crying in his ears, “How long, Lord, how long?”

John Flavel (1627-1691)

The Treasury of David (Classic Reflections on the Wisdom of the Psalms)

by Charles H Spurgeon page 254

Smoke rose from his nostrils;
consuming fire came from his mouth,

burning coals blazed out of it.

He parted the heavens and came down;

dark clouds were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew;
he soared on the wings of the wind.    Psalm 18: 8-10

When God comes to punish his foes and rescue his people, nothing has ever surprised his friends or foes more than the admirable swiftness with which he moves and acts: He flies “upon the wings of the wind.”
William S. Plumer (1802-1880)

  The Treasury of David (Classic Reflections on the Wisdom of the Psalms)

by Charles H Spurgeon page 256.

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him—
the dark rain clouds of the sky.

Out of the brightness of his presence clouds advanced,
with hailstones and bolts of lightning.

The Lord thundered from heaven;
the voice of the Most High resounded.    Psalm 18:11-13

He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies,
great bolts of lightning and routed them.    Psalm 18:14

-“Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them,” etc. O that you who are now strangers to God would but consider these things! O that you would but think what the battle may be, where the combatants are so unequal! Stand still, O sun, in the valley of Ajalon, till the Lord have avenged him of his enemies! Muster yourselves, O ye stars, and fight in your courses against those miserable sinners that have waged war against their Maker; plant your mighty cannons, shoot down huge hailstones, arrows of fire, and hot thunderbolts! Oh, how do the wounded fall ! How many are the slain of the Lord, multitudes in the Valley of Decision, for the day of the Lord is terrible.

James Janeway (1636-1674)

The Treasury of David (Classic Reflections on the Wisdom of the Psalms)

by Charles H Spurgeon page 257

   The valleys of the sea were exposed
and the foundations of the earth laid bare
at your rebuke, O Lord,
at the blast of breath from your nostrils.

He reached down from on high and took hold of me;
he drew me out of deep waters.

He rescued me from my powerful enemy,
from my foes, who were too strong for me.

They confronted me in the day of my disaster,
but the Lord was my support.


He brought me out into a spacious place;
he rescued me because he delighted in me.   Psalm 18:15-19

 

 

Modern Man

June 22, 2020 jakin7

 

Man has increased in scientific, medical, historical, educational, psychological, and technological knowledge to an astounding degree. But he has not changed his own basic nature and he has not improved society.

Man’s knowledge has greatly improved, but his morals have progressively degenerated. His confidence has increased, but his peace of mind has diminished. His accomplishments have increased, but his sense of purpose and meaning have all but disappeared.

Instead of improving the moral and spiritual quality of his life, man’s discoveries and accomplishments have simply provided ways for him to express and promote his depravity faster and more destructively.

Modern man has simply invented more ways to corrupt and destroy himself.

Man’s knowledge is increasing by quantum leaps, but his increased knowledge is mechanical knowledge, inanimate knowledge, lifeless knowledge, knowledge that has no bearing on the inner man (cf. 2Tim. 3:7). His knowledge does not retard his corruption but rather is used to intensify and defend it.

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur

Matthew 1-7 Page 238

As God’s children and as the temples of His Holy Spirit, Christians represent God’s presence in the earth. We are the salt that prevents the entire earth from degenerating even faster than it is.

The MacArthur New Testament Commentary by John MacArthur

Matthew 1-7 Page 243

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.”

Matthew 5:13