One of my favorite authors, Dr. Jay Adams, has started a new blog where he is giving short, helpful comments on topics and passages of Scripture. In a recent post he discusses the topic of “Promptings of the Spirit” as they relate to assurance of salvation, and gives a helpful discussion of the biblical passage almost everyone uses to describe this experience.

Here is the complete text of what Dr. Adams said.

This is an extended quote from Puritan author Thomas Brooks, which is appropriately themed for the holiday season. I found it at the site of an old friend of mine, who now pastors a church in London.

The quote encourages to think highly and clearly about the reign of the great King, Jesus Christ, and of our soon entrance into His holy, heavenly Kingdom. And it encourages us to follow the example of the wise men, who humbly bow in homage and worship to the King of kings.

Are you following the guidance of the star of Bethlehem through the dark wilderness of life? If you are, you will be led to the Sun of Righteousness; you will find Jesus; and your heart shall rejoice; and your joy no man can take from you. And in a little while, your eyes shall behold the King of Zion, your exalted Savior, in the heavenly mansions, where his glory will be no more veiled as it was on earth. This blessed vision may be very near.

The sight of your Father’s house above, may be ready to open upon your enraptured view. Angels may be waiting to conduct your happy soul to the glorious presence of King Jesus, who now reigns on heaven’s highest, brightest throne. You may be about to sit down among that ransomed throng, who are now beholding the glory of Him, who was born in Bethlehem, and crucified on Calvary. You may be about to gaze upon that countenance which now shines as the sun; to see those hands which were for you nailed to the cross; to hear that voice, which alone can speak pardon and peace to the guilty, troubled soul. Oh, let us be thankful for that spiritual light which points us to such untold blessedness. And let our joy increase more and more, as by faith we see the Star of Morning, guiding us to glory and immortality. ‘Exult in his holy name; O worshipers of the Lord, rejoice!’

When the wise men find the Savior they fall down, and worship Him. Notwithstanding the low and unhonored condition in which they see Him, they at once prostrate themselves in His presence with grateful hearts, paying homage to His name, and presenting unto Him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. What a noble example is here presented to us! When we find the blessed Jesus, we should acknowledge His majesty, worship Him as our divine Savior, while, at the same time, we should give Him the strongest affections of our hearts, and the best services of our lives. We should present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto Him, which is our reasonable service. We should honor Him with our substance, and with the first-fruits of all our increase. Counting nothing too valuable to be withheld from Him, we should be ready, if necessary, to part with life itself for the sake of Him who, in His incomparable mercy, laid down His own precious life for us, that we might never experience the second death–that we might be crowned with a blissful immortality.

Thomas Brooks, The Star of Bethlehem

If you would like to listen to a Christmas themed sermon, here is one I preached a couple of years ago, which others have mentioned they enjoyed. I’ll take the opportunity for a cheap form of free advertising for our church’s website and our sermon audio.

At times it is simply unavoidable to engage in discussions about issues that are difficult to understand and controversial in nature. Because we are part of Christ’s one true church we should expect Satan and his blinded servants to attack and seek to confuse and distract God’s children. We’ve discussed in past posts why it is important to be vigilant about truth, and how to go about exposing error while maintaining Christlike character (clearly, our Lord did not shy away from controversy and “feather ruffling”).

I was encouraged by this quote from Martin Luther, who initially began the Protestant reformation as an objection to abuses within the Roman Catholic Church and by many of its priests. The real battle quickly exposed itself, as a battle that struck to the heart of the gospel, and the doctrine of justification by grace alone, through faith alone. Luther quickly took up that fight, because it was indeed the doctrine that “the world and the devil [were] at that moment attacking.”

Here is his strengthening encouragement.

“If I profess, with the loudest voice and clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battle fields besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point” — Martin Luther

Stand strong for truth. Be steady and loyal. A battle for truth is indeed raging today on many fronts, primarily regarding the very meaning of the term Christian (and the gospel), the sufficiency of Scripture, and the certainty and absolute nature of truth itself.

1 Corinthians 16:13-14 - Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.

The book series turned blockbuster movie, “Twilight” raked in over 70 million dollars it’s first weekend, and mostly on it’s appeal to young teenaged girls.

I haven’t read the books myself, but I know those who have, and it’s popularity and appeal to young ladies certainly has made me wonder what they’re all about. I was glad to see a careful, discerning and balanced review by Tim Challies on his website. I thought it would be helpful to let you know it was available in case you, your kids, or your friends are looking for reliable information about the book from a Christian perspective.

Here is a basic summary of his conclusions from the end of the review.

I just don’t know that young girls will derive any benefit from spending hours reading and thinking about such an unrealistic, unobtainable, perverse kind of love. It glories in love that is forbidden, dangerous and just plain weird. The fact that the story involves vampires may be beside the point. My primary concern with Twilight, as I consider handing it to a girl of thirteen or fifteen or seventeen, is its sensuous quality. The lack of overt sexuality means that it is not an erotic book, but it is very nearly so. It oozes sensuality even without an act of consummation.

I hope you’re helped by the information

Here is an encouraging devotional thought from Stephen Altrogge on his blog The Blazing Center. I copied it completely here, but you can view the post here at his site if you want.

He quotes from the English Standard Version of Judges 10:16. I actually prefer the way the NIV puts it — God “could bear Israel’s misery no longer.” When you are suffering and in misery, even as a result of your sinful choices, God’s mercy and grace is still in operation.

Here are Altrogge’s comments.

God is patient and longsuffering when it comes to our sins, but impatient over our suffering.

The book of Judges recounts how Israel rejected God repeatedly, and after much patience with their idolatries, would send foreign nations to oppress them, to turn them back to himself. And every time, after chafing under their oppressors’ yokes for years, Israel would cry out to God. Then, filled with pity, despite all their past rebuffs, God would rescue them. But as soon as things were going well again…poof – Israel’s love would evaporate, and they’d be back sleazing with their idols.

You’d think God would have just dumped them. That after so many slaps in the face, he’d say, “Hey, you made your bed, now sleep in it.” But he was patient with their sins and amazingly anxious to end their well-deserved suffering.

So they put away the foreign gods from among them and served the Lord, and he became impatient over the misery of Israel. Judges 10.16

Isn’t that incredible? God was “impatient” over their distress. When I’m impatient it’s sinful, but God’s impatience in the above verse is seen by many scholars “as a reference to God’s great mercy and his capacity to be moved by Israel’s misery and repentance” (ESV Study Bible).

If God pitied unfaithful Israel in their affliction, how much more is he moved by the suffering of his blood-bought children. God has a holy impatience with our suffering. He’s not deaf to our cries or unmoved by our sighs, but quick to listen, quick to send grace. He has pity and compassion as vast and deep as the ocean.

What an incredible God – he’s patient with our sins and offenses, but he’s impatient over our misery, and anxious to end it.

In our last post we discussed the principle of tithing, and its applicability to the New Testament Christian. We concluded that a tithe “can’t be required and applied the same way in the church” as it was in the Old Testament, and we gave some reasons why. The principles of giving outlined in the NT emphasize cheerful, sacrificial, generous giving that is not dictated in its specifics (”not grudgingly or under compulsion” as Paul says in 2 Cor. 9:7).

However, we also concluded that giving can still legitimately be “quantified” in some way for the individual giver. The tithe (10%) is a logical choice as a starting point for what sacrificial and cheerful giving should look like, even if it is wrong to make tithing a mandate in the local church.

But can every Christian give that much? Is it really possible?

This is one of the biggest questions raised in regard to faithful, generous giving that is “shaped” (not “demanded”) by the tithe principle. Can financially strapped Christians really give 10%. Read the whole post to find out why I am convinced it is not only possible, it is dangerous not to.

Last spring we did a series on biblical giving at our church. You can find the sermon audio here if you’re interested. In one of the messages under the point that, “giving generously invites God’s abundant blessing,” I explained the principle of tithing and how it is to be understood and applied as a Christian. Because we get so many questions related to this topic, I thought it would be a good idea to post the information here so that we can refer people to it from time to time. Click here to read the whole article.

By the way, the principles of interpretation that I apply result in similar conclusions regarding the Sabbath, which you can link to here as well.

As always, we welcome your comments and questions.

When the topic of “family devotions” comes up, do you feel buried in anxiety or confusion? Do you picture a corporate worship gathering in your home where you need to prepare an age-appropriate sermon for each family member, fit with three points and a poem? Are you overwhelmed with the idea of leading your kids in singing or prayer or Bible reading because you don’t know where to start, don’t feel capable in some area, or don’t think your kids will sit still or respond?

Maybe you need to step back and simplify your concept of family devotions. As well, maybe you could do some things to connect your Sunday worship to your family devotions to enhance both. If you struggle with whether your kids are “getting anything out of church”, maybe the missing link is your preparation and follow-up at home. Can I share some suggestions about how to simplify family devotions and to connect them with your local church ministries? Click here to read on.

My wife and I were blessed this evening with babysitters who urged us to enjoy an evening out together. They also asked if we’d seen FIREPROOF, the new Christian movie in theaters starring Kirk Cameron. Having heard good things about the movie and hoping we could enjoy dinner out before the 7 PM showing, we headed out for a date.

Though I’ve appreciated the faith and ministry of Kirk Cameron, I must confess I wasn’t sure what to expect with the movie. Click here to see what I thought.

Today we will look at the final three areas of doctrinal concern in regard to what I have chosen to call the “Radical Homeschool Movement.” I will also give a very brief overview of the Bible’s call to discernment in all areas, and present a brief proposal for how churches should respond.

Click here to read the rest of the article!