Contentment and Disappointment

"Godliness with contentment is great gain." 1 Timothy 6:6

"There is many a thing which the world calls 'disappointment', but there is no such a word in the 'dictionary of faith'. What to others are disappointments, are divine appointments to believers. If two angels were sent down from heaven--one to conduct an empire, and the other to sweep a street--they would feel no inclination to change employments." --John Newton

"I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in need." Philippians 4:11-12

Parish Leadership Retreat

Closet Hours

"There ought to be no adjustment of life or spirit for the closet hours. Without intermission, incessantly, assiduously; that ought to describe the opulence, and energy, and unabated ceaseless strength and fullness of effort in prayer; like the full and exhaustless and spontaneous flow of an artesian stream." --E.M. Bounds

"Prayer should be the breath of our breathing, the thought of our thinking, the soul of our feeling, the life of our living, the sound of our hearing, and the growth of our growing. Prayer is length without end, width without bounds, height without top, and depth without bottom; illimitable in its breadth, exhaustless in height, fathomless in depths, and infinite in extension. Oh, for determined men and women who will rise early and really burn for God. Oh for a faith that will sweep into heaven with the early dawning of morning and have ships from a shoreless sea loaded in the soul's harbor ere the ordinary laborer has knocked the dew from the scythe or the lackluster has turned from his pallet of straw to spread nature's treasures of fruit before the early buyers. Oh, for such." --Homer W. Hodge

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Chosen for the Fight

"The Lord has chosen, called, and armed us for the fight! Shall we wish to be excused from the battle? Shall we not rather rejoice that we have the honor to appear in such a cause, under such a Captain, with such a banner, and in such a company?" --John Newton

Giving Thanks

"The worst moment for the atheist is when he is really thankful and has nobody to thank." --Dante Gabriel Rossetti

More and Simpler

“The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more child-like will be our faith.” --J. Gresham Machen

An Embassy from Heaven

"An embassy from Heaven is waiting to be heard; it is charged with the tidings of an atonement for sin wherewith God is satisfied, and whereby our own deepest satisfaction is won; for we lie under and peremptory invitation to look unto Christ." --Thomas Chalmers

Not a Chance

"God is very good to those who trust in Him, and often surprises them with unlooked for blessings. Little do we know what may happen to us in the future; but this sweet fact should cheer us--that nothing which is really good for us--shall be withheld from us! The word chance is banished from the Christian's vocabulary--for we see the hand of God in everything. The seemingly trivial events of today or tomorrow, may involve consequences of the highest importance." --Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Ligon Duncan’s Counsel

Ligon Duncan, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, MS, former moderator of the PCA, and a professor at Reformed Theological Seminary was recently interviewed by the only journal, Cal.vini.st. Not surprisingly, many of Dr. Duncan's observations are very insightful. But, I am particularly struck by his counsel to pastors and church leaders:

First, be patient.

Second, preach the Word from the pulpit with fervency, clarity and power, and let the prime means of grace do its work.

Third, emphasize the importance of a weekly prayer meeting.

Fourth, invite a core group of potential leaders in the congregation to study the Bible and pray with you, weekly and personally. Meet as a small group and do a Bible survey, and lead them in prayer. Model for them how to do it. Make them take part and be active participants. Watch the contagion spread among them for the study of God’s Word and prayer in the church, homes and their personal lives. Let them become recruiters and encouragers of others to study the Word and pray for themselves.

Fifth, in the course of your teaching/preaching the Bible in the local church, spend time explicitly and specifically on explaining why it is important for Christians to study the Word and to pray, and how one ought to do it.

Sixth, get your people to read good books about Bible study and prayer.

Wiser Today

“Never be ashamed to own you have been in the wrong; ‘tis but saying you are wiser today than yesterday.” Jonathan Swift

The Empire

"As the disciples of Christ, we cannot in conscience surrender the universality of His empire." --Thomas Chalmers

Body and Soul

“If the people in a church do not believe the first question and answer to the Heidelberg Catechism, then everything else they may say or do doesn’t matter.” --Karl Ludwig of the Hungarian Reformed Church

Q: What is thy only comfort in life and death?

A: That I with body and soul, both in life and death, am not my own, but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ; who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins, and delivered me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head; yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation, and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

Living in Peace

"Give me, Almighty Father, to make peace my assiduous study so that as much as in me lieth, I may live peacably with all men." --Thomas Chalmers

No Exceptions

"Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule." --Stephen King

Infinitely More Precise

"Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite." --C.S. Lewis

Mortifying Corruption

When you are to resist a temptation, or to mortify a corruption--do not go out in your own strength, but in the strength of Christ. Some go out to duty in the strength of their abilities; and go out against sin in the strength of their resolutions--and they both come home foiled. Alas! What are our resolutions, but like the green cords which bound Samson! A sinful heart will soon break these! Do as David when he was to go up against Goliath. He said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord!" So say to your Goliath lust, "I come to you in the name of Christ!" Then we conquer, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah marches before us! --Thomas Watson

Regenerating Grace

Grace is favor shown to the undeserving and ill-deserving. When Divine grace bestows salvation upon the ill-deserving, it makes them conscious of the infinite favor that has been shown them. Fallen man is naturally proud, self-complacent, and self-righteous.

But wherever the miracle of regenerating grace is wrought--all this is reversed. Its subject is stripped of his peacock feathers, made poor in spirit, and humbled into the dust before God. He is made painfully aware of the loathsome plague of his heart, given a sight of his vileness in the light of God's holiness, and brought to realize that he is a spiritual pauper, dependent upon Divine charity. He now readily acknowledges that he is a Hell-deserving sinner.

"I am not worthy of the least of all Your mercies and unfailing love, which You have shown to me, Your servant" (Genesis 32:10). This is the confession made by all who are the recipients of the saving grace of God. Whenever a miracle of saving grace is wrought in the heart--pride is subdued, self is effaced, and a sense of ill-desert takes possession of the heart.

One of the elements of great faith--is deep humility. "For I am the least of the Apostles, that am not worthy to be called an Apostle" (1 Cor. 15:9). "I am less than the least of all saints" (Eph. 3:8). What complete self-abasement! The most eminent Christians--are always the most lowly ones; those most honored in Christ's service--are deeply conscious of their unprofitableness. --Arthur Pink

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Unanswerable Questions

"Can a mortal ask questions which God finds unanswerable? Quite easily, I should think. All nonsense questions are unanswerable." --C.S. Lewis

Baptism

"Do I believe in infant baptism? Heck, sir, I've seen it with my own eyes!" --Mark Twain

True and Permanent Rest

“On the system of ‘Do this and live,’ no peace, and even no true obedience, can ever be attained. It is ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.’ When this belief enters the heart, joy and confidence enter along with it. The righteousness we try to work out for ourselves eludes our impotent grasp, and never can a soul arrive at a true and permanent rest in the pursuit of this object.” -- Thomas Chalmers

Humility and Modesty

"Perfect humility dispenses with modesty." --C.S. Lewis

Virtues Gone Mad

"The modern world is full of the old Christian virtues gone mad. The virtues have gone mad because they have been isolated from each other and are wandering along. Thus, some scientists care for truth, but their truth is pitiless. And thus some humanitarians care for pity, but their pity--I am sorry to say--is often untruthful." --G.K. Chesterton

Knowledge and Virtue

"No people will tamely surrender their liberties, nor can any be easily subdued, when knowledge is diffused and virtue is preserved. On the contrary, when people are universally ignorant, and debauched in their manners, they will sink under their own weight without the aid of foreign invaders." Samuel Adams, November 4, 1775

Happiness and Peace

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing." --C.S. Lewis

Fresh Error

"Every uncorrected error and unrepented sin is, in its own right, a fountain of fresh error and fresh sin flowing on to the end of time."
--C.S. Lewis

Promises Like Pie Crust

"Those who are quick to promise are generally slow to perform. They promise mountains and perform molehills. He who gives you fair words and nothing more feeds you with an empty spoon. People don't think much of a man's piety when his promises are like pie-crust: made to be broken." --Charles H. Spurgeon

Faith Alone

Strong Son of God, Immortal Love,
Whom we, that have not seen thy face,
By faith, and faith alone, embrace.
--Alfred Lord Tennyson

At the Cross

"Abide hard by the Cross, and search the mystery of his wounds."
--C.H. Spurgeon