A Walking Sermon

The world knows little of Christ, beyond what it sees of Him in His people. Oh, what plain clearly written epistles they ought to be! A holy believer is a walking sermon. He preaches far more than a minister does, for he preaches all the week round. Such a one does good indeed by his life, and after death what great broad evidences he leaves behind him! We carry him to the grave without one unpleasant doubt! Oh, the value and the power of a growing Christian! The Lord make you and me such!

~ J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com

Labor Is Rest, Pain Is Sweet

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Ps 23:4)



How can suffering be consistent with happiness? Perfectly well. Many centuries ago, is was remarked by St. Chrysostom, "The Christian has his sorrows as well as his joys: But his sorrow is sweeter than joy." He may accidentally suffer loss, poverty, pain: But in all these things he is more than conqueror. He can testify,

Labor is rest, and pain is sweet,
while thou, my God, art here.

He can say, "The Lord gave: the Lord taketh away: Blessed be the name of the Lord!" He must suffer, more or less, reproach: "For the servant is not above his Master:" But so much so the more does "the Spirit of glory and of God rest upon him." Yea, love itself will, on several occasions, be the source of suffering.

-John Wesley "The Writings of John Wesley"

Christ-Our Holiness

But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy." (I Pet 1:15-16

Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then begin with Christ! You will do nothing, until you feel your sin and weakness—and flee to Him! He is the beginning of all holiness. He is not only wisdom and righteousness to His people—but sanctification also. People sometimes try to make themselves holy first—and sad work they make of it! They toil, labor, and turn over many new leaves, and make many changes—and yet they feel nothing bettered, but rather worse. They run in vain and labor in vain! Little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end! They are building up a wall of sand; their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are baling water out of a leaky vessel. The leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of holiness, can no person lay, than that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. Without Christ, we can do nothing.

-J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving

Shout with joy to the LORD, all the earth! Worship the LORD with gladness.

Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the LORD is God! He

made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give

thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good. His

unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness

continues to each generation. –Psalm 100 NLT

Take A Moment To Enjoy The Splendor Of God's Creation

For since the creation of the world 

God's invisible qualities

his eternal power and divine nature

have been clearly seen, 

being understood from what has been made, 

so that men are without excuse.  

Rom 1:20

There is Joy in the Labor

It must also be allowed, that as the love of God naturally leads to works of piety, so the love of our neighbor naturally leads all that feel it to works of mercy. It inclines us to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; to visit them that are sick or in prison; to be as eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame; a husband to the widow, a father to the fatherless.

But can you suppose, that the doing of this will prevent or lessen your happiness? Yea, though you did so much, as to be like a guardian angel to all that are round about you? On the contrary, it is an infallible truth,

All worldly joys are less Than that one joy of doing kindnesses.

-John Wesley "The Writings of John Wesley"

I Give Thee Thanks

I am the Lord and there is no other.

"Of what value is an idol,

since a man has carved it?

Or an image that teaches lies?

For he who makes it trusts in his own creation;

he makes idols that cannot speak.

Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!'

Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!'

Can it give guidance?

It is covered with gold and silver;

there is no breath in it.

But the LORD is in his holy temple;

let all the earth be silent before him."

Habakkuk 2:18-20

What is Religion?

Religion is the love of God and our neighbor; that is, every person under the heaven.  This love ruling the whole life, animating all our tempers and passions, directing all our thoughts, words, and actions, is "pure religion and undefiled."

Now, will anyone be so hardy as to say, that love is misery?  Is it misery to love God? to give Him my heart who alone is worthy of it?  Nay, it is the truest happiness; indeed, the only true happiness which is to be found under the sun.  So does all experience prove that justness of that reflection which was made long ago,

"Thou hast made us for thyself; and our heart cannot rest, until it resteth in thee."

Or does anyone imagine, the love of our neighbor is misery; even the loving every person as our own soul?  So far from it, that, nest to the love of God, this affords the greatest happiness of which we are capable.

-John Wesley "The Writings of John Wesley"

Increase Our Faith

Do you desire to grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Would you bring forth much fruit? Would you be eminently holy and useful? Would you be bright, and shine as a light in your day? Would you, like Moses, make it clear as noonday that you have chosen God before the world? I dare be sure that every believer will reply, “Yes! yes! yes! these are the things we long for and desire.”

Then take the advice I give you this day: go and cry to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the disciples did, “Lord, increase our faith.” Faith is the root of a real Christian’s character. Let your root be right, and your fruit will soon abound. Your spiritual prosperity will always be according to your faith. He that believeth shall not only be saved, but shall never thirst, shall overcome, shall be established, shall walk firmly on the waters of this world, and shall do great works.

~ J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com

So That We Are Without Excuse...

For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. (Rom 1:20)

Bright, however, as is the manifestation which God gives both of himself and his immortal kingdom in the mirror of his works, so great is our stupidity, so dull are we in regard to these bright manifestations, that we derive no benefit from them.

For in regard to the fabric and admirable arrangement of the universe, how few of us are there who, in lifting our eyes to the heavens, or looking abroad on the various regions of the earth, ever think of the Creator? Do we not rather overlook Him, and sluggishly content ourselves with a view of his works?

-John Calvin "Institutes"

Do You Not Know...

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? (I Cor 6:19)

While His perfections are thus most vividly displayed, the only means of ascertaining their practical operation and tendency is to descend into ourselves, and consider how it is that the Lord their manifests His wisdom, power, and energy,--how He their displays His justice, goodness, and mercy. John Calvin "Institutes"

How great are you works, O Lord, how profound your thoughts! The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand. (Ps 92:5-6)

The Lord Is Manifested By His Perfections

But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: (Rom 10:8)

When we feel their power within us, and are conscious of their benefits, the knowledge must impress us much more vividly than if we merely imagined a God whose presence we never felt. Hence it is obvious that, in seeking God, the most direct path and the fittest method is, not to attempt with presumptuous curiosity to pry into his essence, which is rather to be adored than minutely discussed, but to contemplate Him in his works, by which he draws near, becomes familiar, and in a manner communicates himself to us.

-John Calvin "Institutes"

What You Didn't Know About Amazing Grace

God's Needed Grace

It is the conviction that there is nothing in us or done by us at any stage of our earthly development because of which we are acceptable to God.  We must always be accepted for Christ’s sake or we cannot ever be accepted at all.  This is not true of us only “when we believe,” it is just as true after we have believed.  It will continue to be true as long as we live.  Our need of Christ does not cease with our believing nor does the nature of our relation to Him or to God through Him ever alter no matter what our attainments in Christian graces or our achievements in Christian behavior may be.


-B.B. Warfield

http://theoldguys.org

Seek Holiness In Christ Alone

Would you be holy? Would you become a new creature? Then begin with Christ! You will do nothing, until you feel your sin and weakness—and flee to Him! He is the beginning of all holiness. He is not only wisdom and righteousness to His people—but sanctification also. People sometimes try to make themselves holy first—and sad work they make of it! They toil, labor, and turn over many new leaves, and make many changes—and yet they feel nothing bettered, but rather worse. They run in vain and labor in vain! Little wonder, for they are beginning at the wrong end! They are building up a wall of sand; their work runs down as fast as they throw it up. They are baling water out of a leaky vessel. The leak gains on them, not they on the leak. Other foundation of holiness, can no person lay, t han that which Paul laid, even Christ Jesus. Without Christ, we can do nothing.

~ J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com

To The One Who Hides Their Life In Christ.

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.  Matt 25:34

And "the dead, small and great, stand before God, and are judged, every one according to his works." Then Shall the King say to them on his right hand," (God grant he may say to you!) "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."  And the angels shall tune their harps and sing, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, that the heirs of glory may come in."  And  then shall they "shine as the brightness of the firmament, and as the stars for ever and ever."

-John Wesley, "The Writings of John Wesley"

To The One Who Loses Their Soul.

"What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"  Matt 16:26

The moment he steps into eternity, he meets with the devil and his angels.  Sad convoy into the world of spirits!  Sad earnest of what is to come!  And either he is bound with chains of darkness, and reserved unto the judgment of the great day; or, at best, he wanders up and down, seeking rest, but finding known.  Perhaps he may seek it (like the unclean spirit cast out of the man) in dry, dreary and desolate places.  And little comfort can he find here!  Seeing every thing contributes to increase, not remove, the fearful expectation of fiery indignation, which will devour the ungodly.


-John Wesley, "The Writings of John Wesley"

Strangers

Breathtaking Painting Performance....

Preserve Sound Judgment and Discernment

My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. Prov 3:21

What would you say to someone who claims, "I've got the Bible. I don't need church history or systematic theology"?

We would not even have the Bible without its reliable transmission, which is another way of talking about the work of God the Spirit. Orthodoxy understands that God is at work in the body of Christ to form that body in history, awaiting God's own coming in the return of Christ.

Christ promised the early church the Spirit, who came on the first Pentecost and continues to dwell in the lives of the faithful. He promised that the Spirit would abide with this community, guide it, lead it to all truth, and help it recollect the words of the Lord. This is just what has been happening for the 20 centuries since the ascension. We're moving in the wrong direction when we say individualistically, "I've got my Bible; I don't need anything except these words." Protestants now need to recover a sense of the active work of the Spirit in history and through living communities. Our modern individualism too easily tempts us to take our Bible and abstract ourselves from the wider believing community. We end up with a Bible and a radio, but no church.

-Thomas Oden, "Back to the Fathers" Christianity Today

Know Thyself

We are accordingly urged by our own evil things to consider the good things of God; and, indeed, we cannot aspire to Him in earnest until we have begun to be displeased with ourselves. For what man is disposed to rest in himself? Who in fact, does not thus rest, so long as he is unknown to himself; that is, so long as he is contented with his own endowments, and unconscious or unmindful of his misery? Every person, therefore, on coming to the knowledge of himself; is not only urged to seek God, but is also led as by the hand to find Him.

-John Calvin, Institutes

What Do You Think About Christ?

What do you think of Christ? Is He great or little in your eyes? Does He come first or second in your estimation? Is He before or behind His Church, His ministers, His sacraments, His ordinances? Where is He in your heart and your mind’s eye? After all, this is the question of questions! Pardon, peace, rest of conscience, hope in death, and heaven itself all hinge upon your answer.


To know Christ is life eternal. To be without Christ is to be without God. “He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life.” (1 John 5:12)

~ J.C. Ryle

http://jcrylequotes.com