For His Glory
"The church has bought into this idea that if we make Jesus look
cool, we win. But we're really trying to make ourselves look cool, not
Jesus. We certainly need to repent of that."
-Donald Miller, author of Blue Like Jazz
Carl Trueman on the prosperity problem:
"What always challenges me about prosperity doctrine is that many of us who
repudiate it in theory still practice it in reality. Every time we
suffer a minor setback and are tempted to curse God in our hearts,
that's practical prosperity doctrine. Every time we measure our success by the size of our churches, or the near-eschatological importance of our conferences by the number of attendees and the calibre of the speakers, or our
self-worth by the Reformed megastar names we can drop in conversation,
we make ourselves vulnerable to accusations that we too are committed
to a form of the prosperity doctrine, more subtle and all the more
deadly precisely because of that subtlety.
"We are what we arein Christ, nothing more, nothing less. And in his final hours, Christ
was friendless, an embarrassment to his disciples, with the fair
weather followers and even his closest friends having long since
abandoned him; and then, to cap it all, he was crucified. We shouldn't
be complacent about the prosperity doctrine; it's not just a problem
for 'them'; it's a problem for us too."
(HT:Justin Taylor)
"What always challenges me about prosperity doctrine is that many of us who
repudiate it in theory still practice it in reality. Every time we
suffer a minor setback and are tempted to curse God in our hearts,
that's practical prosperity doctrine. Every time we measure our success by the size of our churches, or the near-eschatological importance of our conferences by the number of attendees and the calibre of the speakers, or our
self-worth by the Reformed megastar names we can drop in conversation,
we make ourselves vulnerable to accusations that we too are committed
to a form of the prosperity doctrine, more subtle and all the more
deadly precisely because of that subtlety.
"We are what we arein Christ, nothing more, nothing less. And in his final hours, Christ
was friendless, an embarrassment to his disciples, with the fair
weather followers and even his closest friends having long since
abandoned him; and then, to cap it all, he was crucified. We shouldn't
be complacent about the prosperity doctrine; it's not just a problem
for 'them'; it's a problem for us too."
(HT:Justin Taylor)
From John Pipers series on Battling Unbelief:
Are we not then saved by faith—by believing in Jesus Christ?
We are indeed! Those who persevere in Faith shall be saved (Matthew
24:13; 10:22; 1 Cor. 15:3; Col. 1:23; 2 Thess. 2:13). How do you
lay hold on eternal life? Paul gives the answer in 1 Tim. 6:12—"Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life."...
The great error that I am trying to explode in these messages is
the error that says, faith in God is one thing and the fight for
holiness is another thing. Faith gets you to heaven and holiness
gets you rewards. You get your justification by faith, and you get
your sanctification by works. You start the Christian life in the
power of the Spirit, you press on in the efforts of the flesh. This
is the great evangelical error of our day. The battle for obedience
is optional, they say, because only faith is necessary for
salvation...
Our response: the battle for obedience is absolutely necessary
for salvation because it IS the fight of faith...
Are we not then saved by faith—by believing in Jesus Christ?
We are indeed! Those who persevere in Faith shall be saved (Matthew
24:13; 10:22; 1 Cor. 15:3; Col. 1:23; 2 Thess. 2:13). How do you
lay hold on eternal life? Paul gives the answer in 1 Tim. 6:12—"Fight the good fight of faith: lay hold on eternal life."...
The great error that I am trying to explode in these messages is
the error that says, faith in God is one thing and the fight for
holiness is another thing. Faith gets you to heaven and holiness
gets you rewards. You get your justification by faith, and you get
your sanctification by works. You start the Christian life in the
power of the Spirit, you press on in the efforts of the flesh. This
is the great evangelical error of our day. The battle for obedience
is optional, they say, because only faith is necessary for
salvation...
Our response: the battle for obedience is absolutely necessary
for salvation because it IS the fight of faith...
Ligonier launched a newly revamped website this week. Plenty of audio and video resources! Don't forget to check out Soli Deo Gloria publishing with a great selection of Puritan works. Say hi to R.C. Sproul while you are there!
With twenty five years of audio sermons! Wow! Allot of work was put into this site. What a wonderful resource! Check it out, here is the tour.
