The Morning Prayer, August 21, 2011

Let us rouse ourselves to take hold of God, Isaiah 64:7(ESV) to seek his face, Psalm 27:8(ESV) and to ascribe to him the glory due his name. Psalm 29:2(ESV)

ADORATION AND CONFESSION

O you whose name is the LORD, who alone is the Most High over all the earth. Psalm 83:18(ESV) O LORD our God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, you cover yourself with light as with a garment; Psalm 104:1-2(ESV) and yet to us you make darkness your canopy, Psalm 18:11(ESV) for we cannot draw up our case because of darkness. Job 37:19(ESV)

To us belongs open shame, because we have sinned against you. Daniel 9:8(ESV) If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. Psalm 130:3-4(ESV) With you there is steadfast love! Yes, with you, our God, there is plentiful redemption, and you will redeem Israel from all his iniquities. Psalm 130:7-8(ESV)

Lord, all our longing is before you, and our sighing is not hidden from you, Psalm 38:9(ESV) even the sighs and groanings too deep for words; for, you who searches the heart knows what is the mind of the Spirit. Romans 8:26-27(ESV) Lord, we come to you, as the poor tax collector that stood far off and would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his cheat; and we pray his prayer, “God, be merciful to us sinners.” Luke 18:13(ESV) O God of infinite mercy be merciful to us! And meet with your people in worship. Amen.

PASTORAL PRAYER

Our souls bless you, LORD. Let all that is within us bless your holy name. Psalm 103:1-2(ESV) Your goodness is your glory, Exodus 33:19(ESV) and because of your goodness all your works give thanks to you and all the saints bless you. Psalm 145:10(ESV) Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears us up. God, you are our salvation. Psalm 68:19(ESV) O how wonderfully did your goodness and loving kindness appear! You saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to your own mercy. Titus 3:4-5(ESV) We had destroyed ourselves, but in you, and you only, was our help. Hosea 13:9(KJV) We thank you that having bore the sin of many, Christ makes intercession for transgressors, Isaiah 53:12(ESV) and prays, not only for those who were given to him when he was on earth, but also for all those who will believe in him through their word; that we may all be one. John 17:20-21(ESV) Grant that we are one…

Lord, build up and protect your church. Do good to Zion in your good pleasure; build up the walls of Jerusalem. Psalm 51:18(ESV) Peace be within her walls and security within her towers. For our brothers and companions’ sake, we now ask, “Peace be within her.” Psalm 122:7-8(ESV) Yes…

Lord, we pray for the peace and purity of your church. Let your Spirit be poured out upon your churches from on high, and then the wilderness shall become a fruitful field; Isaiah 32:12(ESV) then justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it. Psalm 94:15(ESV) Let what remains be put into order, Titus 1:5(ESV) and let every plant that is not of our heavenly Father’s planting be rooted up. Matthew 15:13(ESV) Within your church…

Lord, we pray for the officers of your church. Teach all who serve in your name how they should behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, 1 Timothy 3:15(ESV) that they may not preach themselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, 2 Corinthians 4:5(ESV) and may do their best to present themselves approved to you, workmen who have no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15(ESV) Make them good examples to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity; 1 Timothy 4:12(ESV) and let them purify themselves who bear the vessels of the Lord, Isaiah 52:11(ESV) and let HOLY TO THE LORD be written upon their foreheads. Exodus 28:36(ESV) And we ask for those outside the church or estranged from you…

Lord we pray for enemies of the gospel and all those who disgrace Christianity by their vicious and immoral lives. O teach transgressors your ways, and let sinners return to you. Psalm 51:13(ESV) O give them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 2 Timothy 2:25(ESV) the truth as it is in Jesus, Ephesians 4:21(ESV) the truth which accords with godliness; Titus 1:1(ESV) that they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil. 2 Timothy 2:26(ESV) We especially pray for wayward brothers and sisters. Let those who are straying like sheep return to Jesus Christ, the Shepherd and Overseer of our souls. 1 Peter 2:25(ESV) Hear us…

Lord, we pray for our friends and those who love us. We wish for all those whom we love in truth, that all may go well with them and that they may be in good health. We especially pray that it will go well with their souls. 2 John 1:2(ESV) May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with their spirits. Philemon 1:25(ESV) Finally…

Lord, we pray for the good of this nation, the United States of America. Restore this nation to yourself, O Lord GOD of hosts, and let your face shine, that we may be saved! O stir up your might and come to save us! Psalm 80:2-3(ESV) God, be a wall of fire all around this nation and the glory in the midst of this nation. Zechariah 2:5(ESV) Let your gospel be the glory of this nation. Isaiah 4:5(ESV) We beg in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that there may be no divisions among us, but that we be united in the same mind and the same judgment. 1 Corinthians 1:10(ESV)

CONCLUSION

Now, Lord, direct our hearts to your love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ. 2 Thessalonians 3:5(ESV) God of Israel, grant us the things we have requested of you. 1 Samuel 1:17(ESV) We entreat your favor, O God, with all our heart; be gracious to us according to your promise, Psalm 119:58(ESV) for in your favor is life; Psalm 30:5(ESV) yes, your steadfast love is better than life itself. Psalm 63:3(ESV) Amen.

A Prayer for a Spiritual Mind

Almighty God, You alone can order the unruly wills and affections of sinful men: Grant me the ability to love what You command and desire what You promise. As the waves of this world crash over me, the ebb and flow of life, anchor my heart to the One in whom true joys may be found, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Scary Cast of Characters

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"Every generation has its share of men who fully live the art of manliness. But there may never have been a generation when the ratio of honorable men to slackers was higher than the one born between 1914 and 1929. These were the men that grew up during the Great Depression. They’re the men who went off to fight in the Big One. And they’re the men who came home from that war and built the nations of the Western world into economic powerhouses. They knew the meaning of sacrifice, both in terms of material possessions and of real blood, sweat, and tears. They were humble men who never bragged about what they had done or been through. They were loyal, patriotic, and level-headed. They were our Greatest Generation."

Read about what we can learn from them here.

ER & Redemption

Ron Paul - A Possibility?

Aaron Russo's "America: From Freedom To Fascism."

"Neither left- nor right-wing, this startling examination exposes the systematic erosion of civil liberties in America."

Food for Thought

Here is some interesting information about World War I and Communism –

"Money equals access, by controlling the money, they effectivle control the access to society and it's forming functions.

"They control the world by controlling the access to recources, it's all about controlling the access to recources. It may looks like we have a "free market" and a privat economy and all those things, but it's just apparence, it's not real.

"In reality more 90% of all wealth on this planet is probably already owned by less than 200 people which I call the Great Puppeters, the rest are just minions. We are talking about people that are so rich and powerful that they don't want other people to know how much they really own. They stay in the shadows and influence from behind the scenes. All these people you believe to be rich and powerful are just minions, mere servants for the truly powerful. Politicians nowadays are nothing more than mere actors for they don't decide anything on their own anylonger.

"In reality ownership of most of the world is already monopolised in a few hands in a system designed to keep the rest down."

The Best Antidote for Extravagantly Broad and Liberal Theology

J.C. Ryle’s writings are always so relevant and plain. They are appropriate for anyone to read at anytime. His writings about modernism in the 19th century are just as relevant today as they were back then. In fact, the too broad and too liberal theology of today is rebuked by Ryle too. Read on and see.

In the next place, a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to the extravagantly broad and liberal theology which is so much in vogue at the present time. The tendency of modern thought is to reject dogmas, creeds, and every kind of bounds in religion. It is thought grand and wise to condemn no opinion whatsoever, and to pronounce all earnest and clever teachers to be trustworthy, however heterogeneous and mutually destructive their opinions may be. Everything forsooth is true, and nothing is false! Everybody is right, and nobody is wrong! Everybody is likely to be saved, and nobody is to be lost! The atonement and substitution of Christ, the personality of the devil, the miraculous element in Scripture, the reality and eternity of future punishment, all these mighty foundation–stones are coolly tossed overboard, like lumber, in order to lighten the ship of Christianity, and enable it to keep pace with modern science. Stand up for these great verities, and you are called narrow, illiberal, old–fashioned, and a theological fossil! Quote a text, and you are told that all truth is not confined to the pages of an ancient Jewish book, and the free inquiry has found out many things since the Book was completed! Now, I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as constant clear statements about the nature, reality, vileness, power, and guilt of sin. We must charge home into the consciences of these men of broad views, and demand a plain answer to some plain questions. We must ask them to lay their hands on their harts, and tell us whether their favourite opinions comfort them in the day of sickness, in the hour of death, by the bedside of dying parents, by the grave of beloved wife or child. We must ask them whether a vague earnestness, without definite doctrine, gives them peace at seasons like these. We must challenge them to tell us whether they do not sometimes feel a gnawing “something” within, which all the free inquiry and philosophy and science in the world cannot satisfy. And then we must tell them that this gnawing “something” is the sense of sin, guilt, and corruption, which they are leaving out in their calculations. And, above all, we must tell them that nothing will ever make them feel rest, but submission to the old doctrines of man’s ruin and Christ’s redemption, and simple child-like faith in Jesus.

–Holiness, J.C. Ryle, p 13-14

The Antidote For Hazy Theology

As you read Ryle's description of the ailments of the church, it is hard to believe that he was writing in the 19th century and not the 21st century. He seems to be diagnosing contemporary evangelicalism especially the cultural Christianity of the southern variety. Read on and see.

I say, then, in the first place, that a scriptural view of sin is one of the best antidotes to that vague, dim, misty, hazy kind of theology which is so painfully current in the present age. It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity nowadays which you cannot declare positively unsound, but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight, and sixteen ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably “something about Christ, and something about grace, and something about faith, and something about repentance, and something about holiness”; but it is not the real “thing as it is” in the Bible. (Job 26.3.) Things are out of place, and out of proportion. As old Latimer would have said, it is a kind of “mingle-mangle,” and does no good. (Works, 1, p. 290.) It neither exercises influence on daily conduct, nor comforts in life, nor gives peace in death; and those who hold it, often awake too late to find that they have got nothing solid under their feet. Now I believe the likeliest way to cure and mend this defective kind of religion is to bring forward more prominently the old scriptural truth about the sinfulness of sin. People will never set their faces decidedly towards heaven, and live like pilgrims, until they really feel that they are in danger of hell. Let us all try to revive the old teaching about sin, in nurseries, in schools, in training colleges, in universities. Let us not forget that “the law is good if we use it lawfully,” and that “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” (1 Tim. 1.8; Rom. 3.20; 7.7.) Let us bring the law to the front and press it on men’s attention. Let us expound and beat out the Ten Commandments, and show the length, and breadth, and depth, and height of their requirements. This is the way of our Lord in the Sermon on the Mount. We cannot do better than follow His plan. We may depend upon it, men will never come to Jesus, and stay with Jesus, and live for Jesus, unless they really know why they are to come, and what is their need. Those whom the Spirit draws to Jesus are those whom the Spirit has convinced of sin. Without thorough conviction of sin, men may seem to come to Jesus and follow Him for a season, but they will soon fall away and return to the world.

– J.C. Ryle, Holiness, p. 12

Christ Is The Measure

A man may take the measure of his growth and decay in grace according to his thoughts and meditations upon the person of Christ.

– John Owen

How To Give A Great Man Hug

VideoJug: How To Give A Great Man To Man Hug
There is a lot of confusion among men in the church about showing affection. The whole greeting one another with a holy kiss (Rom. 16:16; 1Cor. 16:20; 2Cor. 13:12; 1Th. 5:26) is just too weird. It may be OK for the Apostles, but this is the 21st century man! ;-) So what are we to do? Well...we have the man hug! We now have an option so that we can show we care and still be manly. If this social gesture is foreign to you, we have supplied an instructional video to help.

Your loving friend (said in a manly grunting voice),

John

The fine fellows at Team Pyro posted a wonderful section from Spurgeon about preaching. May the land be filled with Spirit-filled simple preaching...

Never was there a sermon more commonplace than that of Peter, and let me tell you that it is one of the blessed effects of the Holy Spirit to make ministers preach simply.

You do not want the Holy Spirit to make them ride the high horse and mount up on the wings of the spread-eagle to the stars; what is wanted is to keep them down, dealing with solemn subjects in an intelligible manner.

What was the theme of this sermon? Was it something so intellectual that nobody could comprehend it, or so grand that few could grasp it? No, Peter just rises up and delivers himself somewhat like this—"Jesus Christ of Nazareth lived among you; he was the Messias promised of old; you crucified him, but in his name there is salvation, and whosoever among you will repent and be baptized shall find mercy." That is all! I am sure Mr. Charles Simeon in his "Skeleton Sermons" would not have inserted it as a model, and I do not suppose that any college professor alive would ever say to his students—"If you want to preach, preach like Peter."

Why, I do not perceive firstly, secondly, thirdly, and fourthly, to which some of us feel compelled to bind ourselves. It is in fact a commonplace talking about sublime things—sublime things which in this age are thought to be foolishness and a stumbling-block. Well then, may the Spirit of God be poured out to teach our ministers to preach plainly, to set our young men talking about Jesus Christ, for this is absolutely necessary.

When the Spirit of God goes away from a Church it is a fine thing for oratory, because then it is much more assiduously cultivated. When the Spirit of God is gone, then all the ministers become exceedingly learned, for not having the Spirit they need to supply the emptiness his absence has made, and then the old-fashioned Bible is not quite good enough; they must touch it up a bit and improve upon it, and the old doctrines which used to rejoice their grandmothers at the fire-side are too stale for them; they must have an improved and a new theology, and young gentlemen now-a-days show their profound erudition by denying everything that is the ground, and prop, and pillar of our hope, and starting some new will-o'- the-wisp which they set their people staring at.

Ah! well, we want the Spirit of God to sweep all that away. Oh that my dear sister who conducts the female class, and all who are in the Sunday-school, may be helped just to talk to you about Christ. When you get the Spirit of God to come upon you like fire and like a rushing mighty wind it will not be to make you doctors of divinity, and scholars, and great elocutionists; it will only be just for this, to make you preach Christ, and preach him more simply than ever you did before.

Good to be back!

"Two Crazy Guys"

Soccer Star

THE world's most famous soccer club - Manchester United - has offered nine-year-old Brisbane whiz kid Rhain Davis a shot at stardom. Rhain has been invited to join Manchester United's famed academy, the breeding ground of current Red Devils' star Ryan Giggs and 1966 World Cup-winning England hero Bobby Charlton. Take a look!

Cartoon Christianity

Interesting...

Messy Room

Messy Room

Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
His underwear is hanging on the lamp.
His raincoat is there in the overstuffed chair,
And the chair is becoming quite mucky and damp.
His workbook is wedged in the window,
His sweater's been thrown on the floor.
His scarf and one ski are beneath the TV,
And his pants have been carelessly hung on the door.
His books are all jammed in the closet,
His vest has been left in the hall.
A lizard named Ed is asleep in his bed,
And his smelly old sock has been stuck to the wall.
Whosever room this is should be ashamed!
Donald or Robert or Willie or--
Huh? You say it's mine? Oh, dear,
I knew it looked familiar!

--Shel Silverstein

Lostpedia

Some of my Lost predictions from last week were off. But that isn't deterring me. I correctly predicted Mr. Echo's death!

So - the guy with the eyepatch who appeared on the video. Think it has anything to do with this? And now I've gone and filled you afternoon with the wonder of the Lostpedia.

The Blur of Our Culture

In the book Gaily The Troubadour, published in 1936, Arthur Guiterman wrote the following poem. Reading his observations, you wouldn't guess it was written 60+ years ago.

First dentistry was painless;
Then bicycles were chainless
And carriages were horseless
And many laws, enforceless.
Next, cookery was fireless,
Telegraphy was wireless,
Cigars were nicotineless
And coffee, caffeinless.
Soon oranges were seedless,
The putting green was weedless,
The college boy hatless,
The proper diet, fatless,
Now motor roads are dustless,
The latest steel is rustless,
Our tennis courts are sodless,
Our new religions, godless.



Arthur Guiterman, Gaily The Troubadour.