my burg

“The concept of substitution may be said . . . to lie at the heart of both sin and salvation. For the essence of sin is man substituting himself for God, while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for man. Man asserts himself against God and puts himself where only God deserves to be; God sacrifices himself for man and puts himself where only man deserves to be. Man claims prerogatives which belong to God alone; God accept penalties which belong to man alone.”  --John R.W. Stott, The Cross of Christ (InterVarsity Press, 1986) “All our obedience, every resolve to do good, and every work of faith is ‘by his power’ and so that the Lord Jesus would be glorified because of the grace he gives. Yes, we must pursue obedience, but that obedience must always be cruciform, formed by Christ’s cross . We must seek to obey because of the cross, find the grace to obey because of the cross, and live free from condemnation whether we succeed or fail in the light of the cross....

When I go don't cry for me  In my fathers arms I'll be  The wounds this world left on my soul  Will all be healed and I'll be whole  Sun and moon will be replaced  With the light of Jesus' face  And I will not be ashamed  For my savior knows my name  It don't matter where you bury me  I'll be home and I'll be free  It don't matter where I lay  All my tears be washed away  Gold and silver blind the eye  Temporary riches lie  Come and eat from heaven's store  Come and drink and thirst no more  So weep not for me my friend  When my time below does end  For my life belongs to him  Who will raise the dead again  It don't matter where you bury me  I'll be home and I'll be free  It don't matter where I lay  All my tears be washed away

And the LORD said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh, saying, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, when I am so old?' Is anything too difficult for the LORD ? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son."  (Genesis 18:13-14 NASB) "Faith looks beyond all the contrary circumstances to rest upon the character of the one who promised. Do not be misled by the popular delusion that faith stands by itself, that it is simply believing—anything! Faith must have a promise to rest upon. Anything else is presumption, gullibility, and folly. But when God has given a word, it is the Word of God, and it can be trusted, despite circumstance, feelings, or anything else. For is anything too difficult for the Lord? "Does it seem hard to you to be what God wants you to be? Is it hard to keep your evil nature in the place of death? It is not too hard for the Lord! Does it seem hard to you to be made sweet and gracious and forgiving a...

Here's the first of a new video series by Credo House on their blog regarding "Ten Myths About God."

Cool new pen, a present from my wife, purchased from Goulet Pens .  

Here is Chris Faith's outline from Sunday's message, " A Window on Spiritual Reality ", from  John 17:1-5.  Sermon MP3 and PDF is here .   Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the  Son may glorify You, even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal  life. This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on  the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with  the glory which I had with You before the world was."  ( John 17:1-5) A window on spiritual reality I. Spiritual reality is all about relationships.  II. The persons of God are caught up in glorifying one another. III. Eternal life is experiencing relationship with the  “other-glorifying” persons...

I'm working may way through the letters of Francis Schaeffer .  The rich advice in these letters is given with such warm (and very human) concern. This volume is very helpful in bringing Schaeffer's spiritual life principles to bear upon real people with real problems.    In one letter he responds to a friend who placed a lot of emphasis on mystical feeling as an essential part of reality in the Christian life.  Scheaffer says,  "Reality does not just come as a mystical feeling.  It comes rather in the whole man knowing the objective truth of what is, [and knowing this] to be the existence of God and his character of holiness and love. Then, knowing that this is truth and having accepted Christ as Savior once for all, it is necessary to practice the meaning of the work of Christ as a present reality in our daily lives.  This means two things: first of all, claiming the work of Christ for forgiveness for those specific sins we know we have committe...