Pride and Power

Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. (‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭18‬ KJV)

In the life of a believer, when pride enters, power exits.

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Not a Surprising Example of Depravity

One Puritan theologian wrote that Puritan boys "were very like other boys, and their wickedness was a continual trouble to theologians of the day who used them as examples of total depravity and unconverted man." Just goes to show you that nothing much has changed.

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The Root Problem

James 1:14-16 says, But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. (15) Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. (16) Do not err, my beloved brethren. 

James 4:2a says, You lust and do not have. You murder and covet and cannot obtain. 

Also, Proverbs 11:6 says, The righteousness of the upright will deliver them, But the unfaithful will be caught by their lust. 

I am reminded of a story as told by radio personality Paul Harvey about how an Eskimo kills a wolf. The account is grisly, yet it offers fresh insight into the consuming, self-destructive nature of sin. "First, the Eskimo coats his knife blade with animal blood and allows it to freeze. Then he adds another layer of blood, and another, until the blade is completely concealed by frozen blood. "Next, the hunter fixes his knife in the ground with the blade up. When a wolf follows his sensitive nose to the source of the scent and discovers the bait, he licks it, tasting the fresh frozen blood. He begins to lick faster, more and more vigorously, lapping the blade until the keen edge is bare. Feverishly now, harder and harder the wolf licks the blade in the arctic night. So great becomes his craving for blood that the wolf does not notice the razor-sharp sting of the naked blade on his own tongue, nor does he recognize the instant at which his insatiable thirst is being satisfied by his OWN warm blood. His carnivorous appetite just craves more--until the dawn finds him dead in the snow!" 

It is indeed a fearful thing that people can be consumed by their own lusts. Only God's grace keeps us from the wolf's fate.

Transformation

Christ takes each sin, each pain, each loss, and by the power of His cross transforms our brokenness and shame; so that our lives exalt His name. — D. De Haan

A Man on Fire

“Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire. A man who can speak about these things dispassionately has no right whatsoever to be in a pulpit and should never be allowed to enter one.” - Martin Lloyd Jones

Light of the World

Jesus said in Matthew 5:14, "Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid."

We need to remember today that the light always shines the brightest when it is the darkest. Maybe instead of complaining, we need to be trimming our wicks.

Church Membership

The writer of Hebrews encourages us in Hebrews 10:25 that we are to not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Martin Luther said of this, “Membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake "our assembling together." His understanding of this prompted Martin Luther to say, "Apart from the church, salvation is impossible." Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the "saved" one can't fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.”

Brother Luther and I are in complete agreement.

Blessings,

Dwayne

A Call to Humility

1 Peter 5:5-6 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (6) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

This is a call to humility for all of us. We are all the younger to someone and older than someone else.

Illustration: In the House at Bonn occupied by Beethoven there still is preserved the piano upon which the great master played, and which he used in the composition of his great music. Years ago, an American girl visited the shrine. She waltzed airily to the instrument and began playing a careless tune; and then, turning to the custodian, said, "I suppose you have many visitors here every year?" "A great many," was the reply. "Many famous people, no doubt?" said she. "Yes, Paderewski came recently." "I suppose, of course, he played on the piano?" said the girl, her fingers still thrumming the keys. "No," said the custodian, "he did not consider himself worthy."

This is the reverence of the great in soul. The flippant enter the hallowed places, the sanctuaries of the world, with light laughter and careless jest; they feel nothing in their shallow souls, and reduce everything to the flippant and commonplace; but the high-souled enter with bared heads, they take the shoes off their feet, they stand awed and in silence. "They do not consider themselves worthy."

We live in a society that has forgotten humility.

Luther on Bible Study

Martin Luther said, “I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb--study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.”