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[Midwestern Seminary @MBTS]

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🎁 "Morning & Evening" by Charles Spurgeon

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[Ryan Denton @TexasPreacher]

Stop, I beg you, and consider: you are a dying man, and after death the judgment. The world you're chasing cannot follow you one step past the grave, and the God you are neglecting will meet you there. ARE YOU READY? Whatever else you have scrolled past this day, have you done business with the one thing needful?

Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart. He asks not for your goodness, for you have none to offer. He asks for your guilt, and your sin, that He may pardon it; and your heart, that He may make it His own. Cast yourself upon Him as a drowning man upon the only plank left. Come weary, come undone, but come. How long this door shall stand open, neither you nor I can tell.

Think how it shall be when the last sand runs out. You shall not bring one penny of your riches, nor one pleasure of your sin; you shall leave your house to another and go naked into a world you have never prepared for. And what will you say when the Almighty asks you what you did with His Son? Will you tell Him you had no time? That the shopping, the Netflix, the sports, the business, and the cares of this life crowded Him out? O scroller, that will be a poor account on that day, when the things you preferred to Christ are burned up before your eyes, and you see at last that you sold heaven for such a drab song.

Yet even now it is not too late. The same mercy that has spared you till this hour is the mercy that pleads with you now. That your heart is not yet hardened past feeling, and that these words find you still breathing, what is this but grace?

And yet it is a grace that will not last forever. You have been a great sinner; be now a great believer, for the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. There is no sin so scarlet it cannot be whitened in that fountain, and no sinner so far gone that the arms of Christ cannot reach. Why will you perish when there is a Savior with open arms? "Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die?"

Then come, poor soul. Wait not for a better self to bring, for you will never work yourself into His favor. I don't write to vex you but to win you. Throw down your weapons; give over your quarrel with heaven; and fall upon the neck of free mercy. He has never yet cast out one that came, and He will not begin with you. Fly to Him. Close with Him.

"Him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."

[Cooper Mitchell - HomeGymGuy @homegymcoop]

I grew an Instagram account to 100k followers, made a post about Jesus, and lost 5k followers.

I just grew a different account to 100k (again) and made this video as a celebration.

Christ is King.

[Biblical and Reformed @reformedhg]

John MacArthur singing ❤️

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

@SonofManwithus Not attending church when it is available means you don’t know the Lord, you are not a Christian. And this is why. https://t.co/CcYhzbJyl0

[William F. Hill, Jr. @WmHillJr]

I think many people underestimate the power and affects of sin.

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

Wow! I have studied the Bible for some forty years now and have never read anywhere in the Bible that Zionism is a necessary part of the gospel Message. Tsarfati just preached a false gospel! BEWARE!

Yes, God does say concerning Israel, "I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you" (e.g., Gen. 12:3; 27:27-29; Numb. 24:9; Deut. 30:7; Jer. 30:16; Ps. 122:6). But being cursed by God does not mean being beyond the pale of salvation, for if that is what is meant, the nation of Israel would be beyond the pale of salvation, but they are not! Yet, they are right now under the curse of the law and have been for quite some time (Deut. 28:15-68; 29:14-21). The nation of Israel, as a whole, have rejected their Messiah, King, Lord, and Savior Jesus Christ. Their rejection of Jesus Christ has left them under the curse of the law (e.g., Deut. 27:26; Dan. 9:7-16; Gal. 3:10-14). Read God's Word!

It is a lie to say you have to agree with everything the Israeli government is doing, or IDF is doing, or the current prime minister is doing, or what different groups of Jews or individual Jews around the world are doing. The prophets who were sent by God to Israel didn't agree everything Israel was doing! Jesus, God in human flesh, the Messiah, Savior, and King of Israel didn't agree with what Israel was doing! Jesus condemned the most respected Jewish religious leaders. Think biblically! Were the prophets of God and Jesus cursed? Of course not, don't fall for the lie, Israel was cursed because they agreed to abide by all things written in the Law of Moses or suffer the promised curses (Ex. 19:8; 24:3, 7; Deut. 5:27; 26:17; 27:26; Gal. 3:10).

The bulk of Jews today are unbelievers. They have rejected Jesus Christ. They are dead in their trespasses and sins and Satan is working in all the sons of disobedience (Eph. 2:1-3). Jews who reject Jesus Christ are held captive by Satan to do His will (2 Tim. 2:26). Jews who reject Jesus Christ are of their father the devil (Jn. 8:44). They lie in the power of Satan just like all unbelieving Gentiles (1 Jn. 5:19).

Think what the Word of God says about all wh do not know Christ, Jew or Gentile. Think why God sent many prophets to prophesy judgment against Israel. It was because Israel, as a nation, was in sin. Israel went into the Babylonian captivity because of sin. Jerusalem was destroyed by Titus because of sin. God was faithful to bring the curses of the Law upon the Jews which they agreed to suffer if they did not abide by all things in the Law of Moses. The Jews, as a whole, rejected the promised forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist (Mt. 17:12). The Jews, as a whole, did not recognize the day of their visitation by their own Messiah (Lk. 19:41-44). Read what the Word of God says about the Jewish people and the nation of Israel:

"When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” (Luke 19:41–44)

Thus, Israel remains under the curse and will remain under the curse, until they repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ, crucified for sinners, dead, buried, and resurrected from the dead (Zech. 12:10). To "bless Israel" is to desire their repentance from sin and faith in Jesus Christ. It is not supporting everything the Israeli government, groups of Jews, or individual Jews around the world are doing. Jesus and the prophets did not support any evil the Jews were doing in their day and we shouldn't support any evil Jews are doing in our day, especially the rejection of Jesus Christ.

Nevertheless, the Jews are still God's chosen nation. Not chosen unto salvation, but chosen to receive the Word of God, the covenants of promise, to produce the Messiah and Savior of the World, Jesus Christ, and have an exalted place in Christ's future millennial kingdom. But each individual Jew must repent and believe in Jesus Christ alone to be saved from the curse that abides on them and be blessed with the New Covenant that Christ inaugurated in His blood (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; Heb. 12:24).

During the Daniel's 70th week, many Jews among the cursed nation of Israel will be saved (Zech. 12:10; Rom. 11; Rev. 7:4; 14:1-3). But each individual Jewish person must repent of their sins and place their faith in Jesus Christ alone for salvation if they want to get out from under the curse of the Law of Moses and be blessed with the New Covenant promises (Ezek. 36:24-32; Jer. 31:31-34; Heb. 8:7-9:28).

Don't believe the lie that "Zionism" means supporting everything any Jewish person, group of Jews, or Israeli government might do. Don't believe the lie that "Zionism" is a necessary part of the gospel. Don't believe the lie that if you reject modern day definitions of "Zionism" that you are cursed, that you are beyond the pale of salvation. Cursed is anyone, even an angel from heaven, who preaches a false gospel (Gal. 1:6-9).

[Ryan Denton @TexasPreacher]

Do you attend your church's prayer meeting? 12 quotes on the power of the prayer meeting.

John Knox - "The strength of the kirk lies not in its numbers, but in its cries to God in the assembly of prayer."

Charles H. Spurgeon - "Prayer meetings are the throbbing machinery of the church."

E.M. Bounds - "The prayer meeting is the pulse of the church; its power is in proportion to its prayer."

Thomas Watson - "A prayer meeting is the forge where the church’s weapons are beaten out; without it, we fight unarmed."

Andrew Murray - "The power of the church to truly be the church lies in the prayer meeting."

George Whitefield - "Oh, what sweet communion is found when the saints meet to wrestle with God in prayer!"

D.L. Moody - "Every great movement of God can be traced to a kneeling figure, and every prayer meeting is a potential birthplace of revival."

R.C. Sproul - "The prayer meeting is where the church learns to lean on the sovereignty of God, not the strength of man."

John Wesley - "God does nothing but in answer to prayer; and the prayer meeting is where the work begins."

Jonathan Edwards - "Extraordinary prayer meetings have ever been followed by extraordinary outpourings of the Spirit."

Martyn Lloyd-Jones - "The prayer meeting is the thermometer of the church; its spiritual temperature is revealed there."

Matthew Henry - "When God’s people meet to pray, it is as if heaven and earth join hands for the glory of His name."

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

Don't believe the "millions and billions of years" propaganda, which is pushed because we can't see nor have we ever seen macro-evolution take place. Yes, micro-evolution which is variation within species, but never one species turning into another.

So in order to not have to show any scientific evidence that 1) life came from non-life, 2) that order and design came from chaos, 3), that the second law of thermodynamics doesn't apply, 4) that the law of cause and effect doesn't apply, and 5) that animals left on their own, in an open system, will have information added to their DNA so that they can do everything they did before and something else better, to avoid having to prove any of that, they push "millions and billions of years." The heavens and earth are a few thousand years old because God, who was there, says so in His Word. This is what true observational science confirms.

[WWUTT? @WWUTTcom]

Brethren…

Buy more Bibles. Have a physical copy of the word.

Some recommended translations: ESV, LSB, NASB, NKJV, CSB

[Mike Riccardi @MikeRiccardi_]

“Let us treasure the virtues and excellences of our fellow-members, and search for signs of the Spirit’s work in them; and, remembering our own imperfections and failures, let us not fix our eyes upon their defects.”

— Charles Spurgeon

[Ryan Denton @TexasPreacher]

The theory of evolution will someday go down as one of the dumbest ideas ever foisted onto humanity. Here's Calvin on evolution lol - "They've conjured up the most absurd things to resist God's majesty. I'm not joking, they say the world came together by chance and that tiny objects tumbled around and built the sun, moon, stars, earth and even men. Could anyone invent a scenario more stupid?"

[Media Gratiae @mediagratiae]

Spurgeon writes, "Resting time is not wasted time."

Join us today on The Whole Counsel podcast as we continue to explore the prince of preachers' advice for those who are weary in well-doing.

[T. S. Sinclair @_TSSinclair]

“At times, the hills are disheartening, and the darkness closes in around us. Our knees buckle under the pressure, and our shoulders droop under the weight. We begin to succumb to doubt and despair. In such times as these, we need to remember that deliverance from suffering comes fully and finally only in glory. To put it another way, we need to remember the Christian life always ends well, but it does not always go well. In times of difficulty, we lift our eyes to our God who is incomparable in power, and we remind ourselves that He is our keeper.”

— Stephen Yuille, The Heart Taken Up, 42.

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

I teaching on Priestly garments from Exodus 28 this Sunday, Lord willing, and here is the opener of my sermon where I address how we are to dress when we gather with the church for corporate worship.

There are a lot of opinions about what Christians should wear to church or how they should dress. Some argue that since we are worshiping God, we wear our very best. Others argue that what you wear on the outside, as long as it is modest and doesn’t attract attention to yourself, has nothing to do with our worship because God is concerned about the heart.

It is true that some are concerned about personal comfort, looking good to others, or making a fashion statement. We need to keep in mind that things like suits, ties, button up, collared shirts, and modern dresses did not exist in the first century and for many centuries following. They are part of our culture and other cultures, but they are not biblically prescribed.

What is prescribed in the Bible is modesty, not attracting attention to yourself, not making a statement about your wealth, not dressing to impress others with your fashion trendiness, nor seducing people to lust after you, nor to distract others from worshipping God. Some have asked, “How should we dress when we gather together for corporate worship?”

And there is no one right answer as long as we stay within the biblical parameters. It is a matter of context, conscience, of culture, of love for others, and a desire to glorify God. I have taught men training for ministry about this topic and my general rule is, “Dress in such a way that you distract as few people as possible from worshiping the Lord. Dress for the Lord and His glory.”

Of course this doesn’t satisfy many who desire law.
But let’s go through the influencing factors just mentioned. Context should affect the way we dress. I might wear a suit to a funeral, but jeans and a polo shirt to a men’s retreat in the mountains. How a woman dresses on her wedding day will be different than her normal church attire. We dress considering the context.

We must also dress so as to not defile our conscience before God. At times, others may have expectations for how we dress, but we must never defile our conscience, for as Rom. 14:23 reminds us, "whatever is not of faith is sin." We must be careful to have a clear conscience before God in the way we dress.

We dress considering the culture. I pastored a church in an area with a lot of Armenians who have strong cultural preferences for dressing your best for church. So, I wore a suit and tie every Sunday all year round so as not to offend those with strong cultural convictions.

We dress thinking of others and how our dress might affect them and their worship. We don’t want to boast, entice, tempt, or draw people’s attention to ourselves and away from the Lord by the way we dress. And finally, we dress to glorify and show honor to the Lord. Normally, when you stand before a king, queen, president, or judge, you dress up to show your respect and to honor them.

If you were invited to the Whitehouse or Buckinham Palace for dinner, it would be an offense if you didn’t dress up. If you go to court thinking only of yourself and your comfort, dressed in shorts and wearing flip flops, the judge is going to interpret your dress as disrespect for them personally and the court in general.

Having said that, some can’t afford to purchase a suit and their “best” maybe your casual work dress. Purchasing a suit, dress shirt, tie, sports coat, and dress shoes may not be an option for some people. They may be dressing their best, but it may be less than your best.

But how exactly we apply all these various principles for what we wear to church is a matter of personal conviction as we individually consider the factors we have just mentioned, i.e., context, culture, conscience, love for others, and a desire to glorify God.

Somethings are certainly off limits, e.g., immodesty or drawing attention to yourself in corporate worship. After that, let each person be fully convinced in their own mind and let us extend charity to others who have different convictions.

[T. S. Sinclair @_TSSinclair]

“The law condemns, and cannot justify a sinner: the gospel justifies, and cannot condemn the sinner who believes in Jesus… The law condemns a sinner for his first offense, but the gospel offers him the forgiveness of all his offenses.”

— John Colquhoun

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

Read, study, meditate on the Word of God. Listen to biblical preaching and teaching. Read good books saturated in truth of God's Word and sound doctrine. Sing songs that teach and admonish in the Word of God. Cultivate friendships that will encourage you in the Scriptures. Why? Because God's Word is more precious than gold, yes, than much fine gold and sweater also than the drippings of the honey comb (Ps. 19:9-10).

[DrJackHughes @DrJackHughes]

You can't believe your eyes anymore. Green screens, deep fake, 7 D holograms, augmented reality, virtual reality, AI generated images and video of people, who look like and sound like the real thing. We are living in the age of lies and deception and it's only going to get worse. Best to stick to the truth of God's Word, place your faith in Jesus Christ, and live for His glory. Hard times are coming on this world.

“Now at that time Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued." (Daniel 12:1)

“For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short." (Matthew 24:21–22)

“And just as it happened in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: they were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. “It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. “It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed." (Luke 17:26–30)

[challies @challies]

"Resolve by the grace of God that you will have regular seasons for examining yourself and looking over the accounts of your soul." (J.C. Ryle)

[challies @challies]

"Morality may keep you out of jail but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell." (C.H. Spurgeon)