GOSPEL DELTA

Reformation Day

// October 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

Here are a few Luther-related links to enjoy in honor of Reformation Day 2009.

• Download for free Max McLean’s reading of Martin Luther’s speech:

HERE I STAND – MARTIN LUTHER

• Watch this clip from the the 2003 movie “Luther” starring Joseph Fiennes. This scene portrays Luther’s famous speech at the Diet of Worms in a brilliant way.

Real Strength for the Soul

// October 27th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection, Doctrine

George Müller’s theology was shaped by an experience in his mid twenties when he “came to prize the Bible alone as THE standard of judgement”.  He records in his autobiography that “It was at this time that God began to show me that his word alone is our standard of judgment in spiritual things; that it can be explained only by the Holy Spirit; and that in our day, as well as in former times, he is the teacher of his people. The office of the Holy Spirit I had not experimentally understood before that time. Indeed, of the office of each of the blessed persons, in what is commonly called the Trinity, I had no experimental apprehension. I had not before seen from the Scriptures that the Father chose us before the foundation of the world; that in him that wonderful plan of our redemption originated, and that he also appointed all the means by which it was to be brought about. Further, that the Son, to save us, had fulfilled the law, to satisfy its demands, and with it also the holiness of God; that he had borne the punishment due to our sins, and had thus satisfied the justice of God. And, further, that the Holy Spirit alone can teach us about our state by nature, show us the need of a Saviour, enable us to believe in Christ, explain to us the Scriptures, help us in preaching, etc. It was my beginning to understand this latter point in particular which had a great effect on me; for the Lord enabled me to put it to the test of experience, by laying aside commentaries, and almost every other book, and simply reading the word of God and studying it. The result of this was, that the first evening that I shut myself into my room, to give myself to prayer and meditation over the Scriptures, I learned more in a few hours than I had done during a period of several months previously. But the particular difference was, that I received real strength for my soul in doing so. I now began to try by the test of the Scriptures the things which I had learned and seen, and found that only those principles which stood the test were really of value.”

As kingfishers catch fire…

// October 22nd, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

by Gerard Manley Hopkins

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies dráw fláme;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same:
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves-goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying Whát I do is me: for that I came.

Í say móre: the just man justices;
Kéeps gráce: thát keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is-
Chríst-for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

Quarry Me Deep

// October 21st, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

Lord Jesus, give me a deeper repentance,
a horror of sin, a dread of its approach.
Help me chastely to flee it
and jealously to resolve that my heart shall be Yours alone.

Give me a deeper trust,
that I may lose myself to find myself in You,
the ground of my rest,
the spring of my being.

Give me a deeper knowledge of Yourself
as Savior, Master, Lord, and King.

Give me deeper power in private prayer,
more sweetness in Your Word,
more steadfast grip on its truth.

Give me deeper holiness in speech, thought, action,
and let me not seek moral virtue apart from You.

Plough deep in me, great Lord,
heavenly Husbandman,
that my being may be a tilled field,
the roots of grace spreading far and wide,
until You alone are seen in me,
Your beauty golden like summer harvest,
Your fruitfulness as autumn plenty.

I have no master but You,
no law but Your will,
no delight but in You,
no wealth but that which You give,
no good but of that which You bless,
no peace but that which You bestow.

I am nothing but what You make of me.
I have nothing but what I receive from You.
I can be nothing but what grace adorns me.

Quarry me deep, dear Lord,
and then fill me to overflowing with living water.

- a prayer from The Valley of Vision

How do you feel about the Prosperity Gospel?

// October 20th, 2009 // No Comments » // Doctrine

How do you feel about the “Health, Wealth and Prosperity Gospel”? Do you feel about it the way God feels about it? I’ve heard so many people speak to me about different prosperity preachers on TV with warm terms, saying such things as, “Well, at least they’re bringing people to Christ” or “Who are we to judge, they get it close enough”. It makes me sick to my stomach. When I think about the Prosperity Gospel, more than any other false gospel out there, I get really, really angry. If you don’t get angry, then you don’t know the Gospel. Don’t you know what is at sake here? Don’t you know what lies are being exported across the globe?

John Piper feels the same way about this as I do, check out this video and tell me that you’re not moved to stand and contend for the truth. Theology matters. The Gospel is not a “close enough” thing. There are three types of people: defenders of the Gospel, distorters of the Gospel, and deserters of the Gospel. Which kind are you?

New Matthew Henry Website

// October 19th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection

Check out this new site, built on Matthew Henry‘s A Method for Prayer.

This is how George Whitefield read the Bible:

“There he is at five in the morning . . . . on his knees with his English Bible, his Greek New Testament and Henry‘s Commentary spread out before him. He reads a portion in the English, gains a fuller insight into it as he studies words and tenses in the Greek and then considers Matthew Henry‘s explanation of it all. Finally, there comes the unique practice that he has developed: that of ‘praying over every line and word’ of both the English and the Greek till the passage, in its essential message, has veritably become part of his own soul.”

Arnold Dallimore, George Whitefield, I:82-83.

Mars Hill at Mars Hill

// October 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Coram Deo – Romans

// October 14th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection, Doctrine, Life

Listen to the MP3 series on the Book of Romans.

Gospel Transformation – Bob Thune

// October 11th, 2009 // No Comments » // Affection, Doctrine, Life

Bob Thune is the lead pastor of Coram Deo Church, an Acts29 Church in Omaha, NE. A few years ago he spoke at the Salt Company’s college retreat in Ames, IA.

Here are the MP3 of his talks, which I recommend:

• The Problem of the Gospel
• The Power of the Gospel
• The Purpose of the Gospel
• The Practice of the Gospel
• The Freedom of the Gospel

PopoutOriginal audio source (5TheFreedomOfTheGospel.mp3)

PopoutOriginal audio source (4ThePracticeOfTheGospel.mp3)

PopoutOriginal audio source (3ThePurposeOfTheGospel.mp3)

PopoutOriginal audio source (1TheProblemOfTheGospel.mp3)

PopoutOriginal audio source (2ThePowerOfTheGospel.mp3)

HT: JT

Win the Men, Win the War

// October 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Life

Set aside the “frat boy” talk and the shock-jock comments for a second and listen to what this guy is saying. I think there is a lot of truth and wisdom to ponder here.

Ask yourself: What am I going to do about this?

This is a question I want to be continually asking myself. What am I going to do about this…today?