The Plodding Preacher

"This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, "Our Father." There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." This childlike spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father "in heaven" and ascends to devout adoration, "Hallowed by thy name." The child lisping, "Abba, Father," grows into the cherub crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." ----Charles Spurgeon

“Christianity is summed up in the two facts: Christ  for  us, and Christ  in  us—Christ  for  us upon the Cross, revealing the eternal opposition of holiness to sin, and yet, through God’s eternal suffering for sin making objective atonement for us; and Christ  in  us by his spirit, renewing in us the lost image of God, and abiding in us as the all-sufficient source of purity and power. Here are the two foci of the Christian ellipse: Christ  for  us, who redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us, and Christ  in  us, the hope of glory, whom the apostle calls the mystery of the gospel."  “The union with Christ is mediated by his Spirit, whence we are both renewed and justified. The great fact of objective Christianity is incarnation in order to atonement; the great fact of subjective Christianity is union with Christ, whereby we receive the atonement. We may add that this union with Christ, i...

In our adult Sunday School summer class we have been studying the phrase "in Christ."  As I was preparing for Sunday's lesson an old Imperials song kept running through my mind. Now Satan is a liar, And he wants to make us think, That we are paupers, when he knows himself, We're children of the King. As a result of being placed in Christ by God's grace, we have been adopted into God's family.  We have been made joint-heirs with Jesus Christ (Romans 8:17).  We have been made part of the household of faith (Ephesians 2:19).  The enemy tries to make God a killjoy who is miserly with the blessings He gives to His children.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  We are children of the King upon whom God has lavished (I love that word) the riches of His grace (Ephesians 1:7-8).

“Avoid trivial pursuits. You are a child of God, destined for glory, and called to do great things in His Name. Do not waste your life on hobbies, sports, and other recreational pursuits. Do not throw away the precious moments of your life on entertainment, movies, and video games. Though some of these things can properly have a 'small place' in the Christian’s life, we must be careful not to give undue attention to temporal and fruitless activities. Do not waste your life. Employ the time of your youth in developing the character and skills necessary to be a useful servant of God.”   Paul Washer

GLORY IN THE CROSS by steve camp written - 1/3/01 Glory in the cross, our faithful High Priest Went beyond the veil as our Prince of Peace Clothed with our sin, its guilt and shame Our sinless Substitute, Jesus His name Glory in the cross, the law now fulfilled Righteousness displayed on Calvary’s Hill He, Son of Man and God the Son The Lord and the Lamb, our victory won Glory in the cross, where grace doth abound Where the Man of Sorrows wore transgressions crown Wounded and chastened for our iniquities Our faithful Redeemer, God the Father pleased Glory in the cross, marked by sin’s crimson stain Grace and forgiveness flows from His precious veins Perfect redemption once for all sacrifice Salvation made secure by the Lord Jesus Christ Glory in the cross, Satan’s power of death destroyed Rendered impotent by The Incarnate Word He crushed the Serpents head upon Golgotha’s tree Our great and dreadful Sovereign, Champion is He Glory in the cross, the elect have been redeemed O cove...

Jason Helopoulos  (click Jason's name to view the original post)   I love my family. I love being a husband. We celebrate sixteen years of marriage this week and I can’t imagine living life with anyone else. I love being a father. I have two kids that delight my soul. I can’t wait to see them in the morning before I head off to the church and I am always anxious to see them in the evening when I return. There are few things I enjoy more in this life than being a father. I love my family. However, having said that, I want to be on guard against loving them inordinately. I am thankful for the growing emphasis upon the Christian family in evangelical circles. Our two children are home schooled, so I am in no way opposed to homeschooling. We attempt to practice family worship each night of the week, so I am not opposed to family worship. For goodness sakes, I wrote on a book on the subject. I am passionate about it. We have attempted to have our children in corporate worsh...