 The Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings |
jiminy
Tallowy Tamale
Registration Date: 11-16-2002
Posts: 9,494
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mf
I thought thats what I said....
Really - thanks for showing Spurgeons way of elegance and truth
(MOSTLY truth)
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jiMinY
theres nothing to EVER put here that will please everyone-let alone anyone.
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02-08-2005 18:16 |
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Mountain Fan 
Ubique Epoque
Registration Date: 10-09-2003
Posts: 14,224
Location: NC, Alive and Kicking, BOBD
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| quote: |
Originally posted by jiminy
mf
I thought thats what I said....
Really - thanks for showing Spurgeons way of elegance and truth
(MOSTLY truth) |
The timing was kinda neat, wasn't it? 
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02-09-2005 11:44 |
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jiminy
Tallowy Tamale
Registration Date: 11-16-2002
Posts: 9,494
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MF
well - today being Ash Wednesday and all..it seems appropriate to think on this aspect of the life of Christ ..and how it fits.
So regarding today:
if the ash fits- wear it!
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jiMinY
theres nothing to EVER put here that will please everyone-let alone anyone.
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02-09-2005 11:58 |
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Mountain Fan
Ubique Epoque
Registration Date: 10-09-2003
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devotions
Evening, March 9
"In that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit."
- Luke 10:21
The Saviour was "a man of sorrows," but every thoughtful mind has
discovered the fact that down deep in his innermost soul he
carried an inexhaustible treasury of refined and heavenly joy. Of
all the human race, there was never a man who had a deeper,
purer, or more abiding peace than our Lord Jesus Christ. "He was
anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows."
His vast benevolence must, from the very nature of things, have
afforded him the deepest possible delight, for benevolence is
joy. There were a few remarkable seasons when this joy manifested
itself. "At that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, and said, I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth."
Christ had his songs, though it was night with him; though his
face was marred, and his countenance had lost the lustre of
earthly happiness, yet sometimes it was lit up with a matchless
splendour of unparalleled satisfaction, as he thought upon the
recompense of the reward, and in the midst of the congregation
sang his praise unto God. In this, the Lord Jesus is a blessed
picture of his church on earth. At this hour the church expects
to walk in sympathy with her Lord along a thorny road; through
much tribulation she is forcing her way to the crown.
To bear the cross is her office, and to be scorned and counted an
alien by her mother's children is her lot; and yet the church has
a deep well of joy, of which none can drink but her own children.
There are stores of wine, and oil, and corn, hidden in the midst
of our Jerusalem, upon which the saints of God are evermore
sustained and nurtured; and sometimes, as in our Saviour's case,
we have our seasons of intense delight, for "There is a river,
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of our God. " Exiles
though we be, we rejoice in our King; yea, in him we exceedingly
rejoice, while in his name we set up our banners.
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03-09-2005 12:57 |
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jiminy
Tallowy Tamale
Registration Date: 11-16-2002
Posts: 9,494
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Roll L.A. river roll
and take me to a better world
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jiMinY
theres nothing to EVER put here that will please everyone-let alone anyone.
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03-09-2005 15:31 |
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Mountain Fan
Ubique Epoque
Registration Date: 10-09-2003
Posts: 14,224
Location: NC, Alive and Kicking, BOBD
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(What a world, what a world)
I can see it all in my dreams
(What a world, what a wonderful world)
And I really wanna make that scene
Where the people are nice, and the air is clean
What a beautiful world it must be
I believe I have found the river of life
It flows like blood through my veins
I hear a pounding like a heart beat
I can hear the thunder bringing the diamond rain
Roll L.A. river roll
Roll over me
To where the streets are lined with gold
and God is on His throne
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03-09-2005 15:46 |
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Mountain Fan
Ubique Epoque
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Spurgeon's Morning & Evening Devoti
Evening, March 14
"I called him, but he gave me no answer."
- Song of Solomon 5:6
Prayer sometimes tarrieth, like a petitioner at the gate, until
the King cometh forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which
she seeketh. The Lord, when he hath given great faith, has been
known to try it by long delayings. He has suffered his servants'
voices to echo in their ears as from a brazen sky.
They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained
immovable, as though it were rusted upon its hinges. Like
Jeremiah, they have cried, "Thou hast covered thyself with a
cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." Thus have true
saints continued long in patient waiting without reply, not
because their prayers were not vehement, nor because they were
unaccepted, but because it so pleased him who is a Sovereign, and
who gives according to his own pleasure.
If it pleases him to bid our patience exercise itself, shall he
not do as he wills with his own! Beggars must not be choosers
either as to time, place, or form. But we must be careful not to
take delays in prayer for denials: God's long-dated bills will be
punctually honoured; we must not suffer Satan to shake our
confidence in the God of truth by pointing to our unanswered
prayers. Unanswered petitions are not unheard.
God keeps a file for our prayers-they are not blown away by the
wind, they are treasured in the King's archives. This is a
registry in the court of heaven wherein every prayer is recorded.
Tried believer, thy Lord hath a tear-bottle in which the costly
drops of sacred grief are put away, and a book in which thy holy
groanings are numbered.
By-and-by, thy suit shall prevail. Canst thou not be content to
wait a little? Will not thy Lord's time be better than thy time?
By-and-by he will comfortably appear, to thy soul's joy, and make
thee put away the sackcloth and ashes of long waiting, and put on
the scarlet and fine linen of full fruition.
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03-16-2005 14:24 |
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Mountain Fan
Ubique Epoque
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| weakness is related to suffering |
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from our new pastor's blog:
Pastor’s Update 09/13/2005
It seems that God’s finest spiritual warriors throughout history have been weak and frail mortals. There is something mysterious, even ironic in God’s order of things that the secret of strength is found through weakness.
Once complimented by a friend for his growing ministry, Hudson Taylor, the great missionary pioneer to China, responded with these penetrating words:
It seemed to me that God looked over the whole world to find a man who was weak enough to do His work, and when He at last found me, He said, ‘He is weak enough—he’ll do.’ All God’s giants have been weak men who did great things for God because they reckoned on His being with them.
Where do you find strength to carry on in your present situation?
Be encouraged. Find strength in weakness. For when we are weak, then we are strong. Why? Because it only in our greatest weakness that we can fully understand and embrace God’s power and strength.
The apostle Paul modeled strength in weakness when he penned these words to the Corinthians:
We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers. (2 Corinthians 1:8-11)
Be encouraged! Find strength in weakness.
Stay vertical,
Pastor Scott.
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09-14-2005 16:06 |
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bereal
Ubique Epoque
Registration Date: 03-08-2004
Posts: 11,824
Location: "I still love Jesus, I'm just afraid of His followers." DwDunphy
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Holy God break me, Holy Lord take me
Lay your crushing hand, Your mighty hand, On me gently
Your crushing hand, Your mighty hand, On me gently
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09-15-2005 01:39 |
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jwaltb
Mind Peach
Registration Date: 04-23-2002
Posts: 167
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I read this this morning and when I saw the Buechner reference I immediately thought of this group. I really appreciate these guy's devotionals and Ravi's preaching. They also quote Lewis and MacDonald alot. If you'd like to check them out you can find stuff at www.rzim.org
Hope you like it. Now back to work......
JimB
A Slice of Infinity
by Jill Carattini
A Holy Ground
I was approached some time ago by a group of teenagers conducting a study on faith and belief in America. My reaction was immediately one of curious excitement. I was excited to find young people thinking through such vital matters, whether it was a project thought up in their own minds or one assigned by a teacher. Silently, I offered a quick prayer that God would speak clearly to them through their study and help me speak clearly in my answers.
"Who or what in your words is God?" they asked first. I could only imagine the vast assortment of answers they must have received as they approached random people in a shopping mall. I replied, "He is Father, creator, and king. He is the only one whose existence relies on no other, and who is in and of Himself perfect. He is the hunter and husband of our hearts and minds."
Their second question asked whether or not I believed in absolutes and why. "Yes, I believe in absolutes because I don't think life makes sense without them," I said. "When you're in a car and suddenly your brain tells you that something is moving, you respond the same way every time. You find a stationary object, a building or a tree. You find something that orients you, and tells you whether it is your car or the car beside you that is moving. Absolutes are the stationary principles that are built into life and help us as we move through it. They are truths that ultimately point us to God." The young interviewers commented on the illustration (which was not my own); I wondered again how vastly different were the answers they had received to the inquiry.
And then they asked their final question: "If you were standing before God and had the opportunity to ask Him anything at all, what would you ask Him?" I cannot explain it except to say that my words seemed to leap out of me almost involuntarily, "I would ask Him why my dad had to die so young."
Fredrick Buechner says that man cannot live his life only within his skull. In this instance, I was reminded just how true it is that the mind cannot sever itself from the heart. In the midst of presenting the apologetics that govern my life and offering the reasons for the hope that is within me, with one simple question I was swept back to that tender spot and reminded of my desperate need for these reasons, for the God that intimately reaches both my heart and my mind.
For undeniably, God was near to us through my father's swift loss to cancer. Though painfully realized, we saw the evidence of Romans 8:28 that "in all things God works for the good of those who love him," and we saw as Joseph himself saw, that even in the midst of harm, God had intentions for good. And I still see that there is a certain holy ground within a broken heart. In many ways it was a turning point for me in faith and sight. Though a tenderness remains, we often find in our deepest sorrow, the compelling touch of God.
As holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel once noted, what we say about God, we must be able to say over the darkest pits of life. What we know about God, we must be able to profess in the midst of brokenness, in the middle of a very dark world, in the midst of disorienting pain, and the angst of "why?"
I am convinced that a biblical theology and a sound apologetic is the balm to life's deepest wounds and the torch for its darkest pits. Only in Christ do we find the one who can provide coherent answers to life's most probing questions; only through the Cross do we find meaning in suffering. We find the holy ground of God's broken heart and body, crushed for our iniquity, broken that we may find Him. We find the one who not only bore our sin but bore our sorrows. And in our relationship with God, found in Christ, made possible by the Cross, we find the one who not only is, but is here.
© 2005 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. All Rights Reserved
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09-16-2005 15:47 |
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Mountain Fan
Ubique Epoque
Registration Date: 10-09-2003
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I like that. Instead of asking some theoretical question to God, he gets personal. We have a personal God!
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09-16-2005 15:53 |
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