The law of the Spirit

http://streaming.ccphilly.org/video.aspx?id=G619
I listened to this sermon yesterday on Romans 8:2-9 by Don McClure, and was greatly challenged and encouraged.

Hope you are too.

Quote and a hymn

"There is an awful lot you do not need to know to find God. The light shines, the voice calls, and the Presence is here." A.W. Tozer.


"Church of God, beloved and chosen,
Church of Christ, for whom He died,
Claim thy gifts and praise thy Giver,
Ye are washed and sanctified.
Sanctified by God the Father,
And by Jesus Christ His Son,
And by God the Holy Spirit,
Holy, Holy Three in One.

By His will He sanctifieth,
By the Spirit's pow'r within;
By the loving hand that chast'neth,
Fruits of righteousness to win;
By His truth and by His promise,
By the Word, His gift unpriced,
By His blood and by our union
With the risen life of Christ.

Holiness by faith in Jesus,
Not by effort of thine own;
Sin's dominion crushed and broken
By the pow'r of grace alone;
God's own holiness within thee,
His own beauty on thy brow—
This shall be thy pilgrim brightness,
This thy blessed portion now.

He will sanctify thee wholly;
Body, spirit, soul shall be
Blameless till thy Saviour's coming
In His glorious majesty!
He hath perfected forever
Those whom He hath sanctified;
Spotless, glorious and holy
Is the Church, His chosen bride." by Frances Ridley Havergal

Isaac Watts

While trying to find some music for one of Isaac Watt's over 600 hymns!, I came across this little acrostic which he wrote when he was only 7 years old.

Pretty good theology for such a young person I reckon, although I guess some might say he had low self esteem...

"I" - I am a vile, polluted lump of earth
"S" - So I've continued ever since my birth
"A" - Although Jehovah, grace doth daily give me
"A" - As sure this monster, Satan, will deceive me
"C" - Come therefore, Lord, from Satan's claws relieve me.

"W" - Wash me in Thy blood, O Christ
"A" - And grace divine impart
"T" - Then search and try the corners of my heart
"T" - That I in all things may be fit to do
"S" - Service to Thee, and Thy praise too.

Tozer again

I read these two quotes yesterday and found them very interesting, taken from God's Pursuit of man.

"Not to us has it been given to have life in ourselves. For life we are wholly and continually dependent upon God, the Source and Fountain of Life. Only by full dependence upon Him are the hidden potentialities of our natures realized." (page 47)

"The cross where Jesus died became also the cross where His apostle died. The loss, the rejection, the shame, belong both to Christ and to all who in very truth are His. The cross that saves them also slays them, and anything short of this is a pseudo-faith and not true faith at all." (page 52)

The ways of God

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways,
And My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)

"As for God, His way is perfect..." Psalm 18:30

If you ever find yourself wondering why God allows something unexpected to happen, stop and remember these verses.

No, we're not necessarily going to understand it this side of heaven (and I think we might well have forgotten about it by the time we get there), but it is encouraging to remember that He is faithful and perfect.

Another quote on the subject from "The End of a Coil" by Susan Warner,
"His ways are wonderful and past finding out." 

A couple of quotes from J.R. Miller D.D.'s book "In Green Pastures"

"A life may be very lovely and yet be insignificant in the world's eyes. A beautiful life is one that fulfils its mission in this world, that is what God made it to be, and does what God made it to do."
"But the smallest life that fills its place well is far lovelier in God's sight than the largest and most splendidly gifted that yet fails of its divine mission."

Are we willing to be insignificant in the world's eyes?
Do we make it our aim to be well-pleasing to God?