All this business about banning large sugary drinks in NYC isn’t really about obesity or sugar at all. It is a facade behind which growing government control is hidden. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain, folks! This kind of legislation has the appearance of “our best interest” but the real agenda is the governments best interest.

Powerful story about the woman who tried to save one of the victims from Wednesdays shooting in Seattle: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2018328068_goodsamaritan01.html?syndication=rss

To all men who struggle with lust and/or porn:

Books, apps, filters, accountability partners, church discipline and every other thing under the sun are great for treating symptoms of a disease. The disease is sin, and its location is the heart. I encourage all men to actively seek the above mentioned methods for controlling yourself, but do not rely on these things to fix you. Nothing and no one can fix your sinful heart.

The only thing that can fix us is daily preaching to ourselves the Truth that Jesus has secured for us all that we need with his life, death and resurrection. Thank God that he has given us the faith to believe, even in our unbelief.

I’ll end with a quote from the great Puritan John Owen:
“…the choicest believers, who are assuredly freed from the condemning power of sin, ought yet to make it their business all their days to mortify the indwelling power of sin…Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you. Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work.”

“Never is just reven spelled backwards” - Dr. House

The problem with most modern worship is that it paints man in a favorable light. It says things like “I have found a peace” or “all I want is you” or “I give you my life.” These are not bad in and of themselves but we sing them without understanding the truth of the Gospel.

If it were not for God’s grace and the faith He gives to believe (Ephesians 2.8), I would not choose him. I hardly chose him as it is! I love to sin and believe that I know better than God what is good for me.

However, because of God’s grace we can see through the lie of sin and understand that it is only through God’s redemptive work in Christ Jesus that we can truly be justified.

The concept of sobriety is a great reflection of the Gospel. When someone admits they are an alcoholic, they must not fall into the trap of believing that they no longer want to drink. Almost as important s admitting one is an alcoholic, if not more, is to admit that one loves alcohol. This is what recovering alcoholics call “good recovery” or “working a good program.”

It is the same with sin! Let us not fool ourselves into believing that we do not want to sin! Of course we want to sin! If that was not our default mode what would be the point of grace?

However, sobriety is not a perfect example of a life surrendered to grace, just like nothing can quite grasp that or be a good analogy. We do get better as we cease to focus on our performance and instead focus on Christ’s performance for us.

Tullian Tchividjian makes the point that not focusing on our need to get better is what it means to get better!

It’s not about me, it’s about Jesus and what he has done for me, even while I was an enemy.

Jesus says that he is “greater than Jonah.” He is the greater-than-Jonah who succeeded where Jonah failed. For instance, in sending Jonah as his messenger to sinful Nineveh, God showed his boundless grace and faithfulness. But centuries later, God sent another messenger to sinful mankind. Only this messenger went willingly and joyfully because he knew the heart of God. In fact, he was the heart of God. He would be called “the Word” because he himself was God’s message. He was everything God wanted to say to the world—all wrapped up in a person.

-Tullian Tchividjian on Jesus and Jonah

This whole thing about hell has forced me to examine my beliefs about the subject. Do I believe in hell? Yes. Is it a place of eternal separation from God? Yes. Would I be angry if God decided to allow everyone into His kingdom at the end of time? No, in fact I would rejoice. Do I want people to go to hell? No! I would never wish hell on anyone. What is my problem with Rob Bell then? He isn’t teaching what the Bible teaches. If you’re beliefs don’t originate in the Word of God, or if you don’t know where they come from, you need to check them against Scripture. It is the final authority on all matters of Christian belief. Am I sad that people choose the lie over the truth? Absolutely. My heart breaks for the lost.

Lord, comfort those who mourn, Let those who are lost be found, but most of all let this tragedy prepare the people for such a Gospel revival as the people of Japan have never seen.

Amen

“To try to pray himself into something better than a condemned sinner, in order to win God’s favor, is to make prayer an instrument of self-righteousness; so that, instead of its being the act of an accepted man, it is the purchase of acceptance, - the price which we pay to God for favoring us, and the bribe with which we persuade our conscience no longer to trouble us with its terrors.” - Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Peace