What Is the Attractional Church?

https://www.challies.com/quotes/what-is-the-attractional-church/

A Fragrance . . . or a Stench? (A Study of 2 Corinthians 2:14-17) Part 1

A Fragrance . . . or a Stench? (A Study of 2 Corinthians 2:14-17)

For regular readers of my blog, this will be the third time I’ve touched on these verses! Way back on Dec. 23, 2018 we looked at I Samuel 27 and how David had become “obnoxious to his people” (v. 12). We looked briefly at 2 Corinthians 2:14-17, noticing that sometimes we Christians are a stench to others. On February 29, 2020 we talked about a couple of online friends who hate Christianity and how we are either a fragrance to those who believe or an odor to those who don’t.

Now, because we are working our way through 2 Corinthians, we get to look at this passage again! And I will be taking my time doing so. There is so much here!

Notice, first of all, the image of a triumphal procession (v. 14). We have been conquered by Christ! Oh, glorious defeat! He has won our hearts and we are now captive to Him. And therein is true freedom! No wonder Paul says, “But thanks be to God”!

Continue: https://larrydixon.wordpress.com/2020/05/26/a-fragrance-or-a-stench-a-study-of-2-corinthians-214-17-part-1/

Part 2: https://larrydixon.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/a-fragrance-or-a-stench-a-study-of-2-corinthians-214-17-part-2/

Learning How to Meditate

Joel Beeke

 

Perhaps nowhere are the Puritans so helpful as in offering guidelines for the process of spiritual, biblical meditation. Here’s an outline of their method.

First, ask the Holy Spirit for assistance. Pray for the power to harness your mind and to focus the eyes of faith on this task. As Edmund Calamy wrote,

“I would have you pray unto God to enlighten your understandings, to quicken your devotion, to warm your affections, and so to bless that hour unto you, that by the meditation of holy things you may be made more holy, you may have your lusts more mortified, and your graces more increased, you may be the more mortified to the world, and the vanity of it, and lifted up to Heaven, and the things of Heaven.”[1]

Next, read the Scriptures, then select a verse or doctrine upon which to meditate. It may be best to pick out relatively easy subjects to meditate on at the beginning. For example, begin with the attributes of God rather than the doctrine of the Trinity. Also, consider subjects one at a time.

 

Read more: https://www.reformation21.org/blog/learning-how-to-meditate

Conform Not

Romans 12:2

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is — his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Have you tried to figure out the will of God in your life? Several people have presented themselves as seeking God’s will over the years. When I ask – has anyone here ever wondered or asked why they were here – many have no idea. Figuring out God’s will for our lives is of utmost importance I believe. Have you figured it out? Has God revealed it to you? Have we asked God to make it clear?

continue: https://raymcdonald.wordpress.com/2020/05/27/conform-not/

Transfiguration

A Broadcast with R.C. Sproul

What can we learn from the transfiguration of Jesus Christ? Today, R.C. Sproul depicts the moment when Peter, James, and John looked upon their Master’s radiant glory.

LISTEN NOW

How to Build Yourself Up on Your Most Holy Faith

https://frankking.net/2020/05/how-to-build-yourself-up-on-your-most-holy-faith/

Worship IS Essential, But So Is Loving Your Neighbor

Since yesterday, when the President of the United States proclaimed churches to be essential, I have seen two major themes emanating from my Christian Facebook friends and pages I follow. Mind you, these are from professing Christians, not some outside news pundits or any other kind of outsider.

1. Churches are, in fact, essential, and should be allowed to reopen, because the government can’t tell the Church what to do.
2. Since Christians can worship anywhere, and since God’s work can continue in the world through the Church without official worship gatherings, said worship gatherings are not essential.

Neither of these is convincing in the least, for me, at least.

Regarding the first position, the COVID-19 crisis is a real thing. It is not a hoax. It is not a concerted effort to take away your rights and freedom. If you disagree, frankly, you’ve been listening to too many fringe conspiracy theorists. You have taken your position from nutcase Facebook status updates from people with some sort of persecution complex. Christians in this country are, by and large, not persecuted. These restrictions are in place because large gatherings pose a huge risk to the people in attendance, and to public health in general. There are documented cases of this happening, both present and historical. Perpetuating this fear is both irresponsible and lacking in faith in Christ, our living Head.

Read the rest: https://www.patheos.com/blogs/ponderanew/2020/05/23/worship-is-essential-but-so-is-loving-your-neighbor/

Psalms For Troubled Times

William Boekestein

You and I live in troubled times. Right now our attention is focused on a deadly virus and the accompanying financial instability. But this news has only eclipsed countless stories of violence, political free-for-alls, public moral failures, and general cultural upheaval. We also face more personal crises like backstabbing by the hands of a friend and parental breakups. For these and more reasons we worry about our future. What will it be like to grow up or grow old in these troubled times?

It isn’t surprising that many people turn to the Psalms amid trouble. Psalm writers were not recreational poets. Instead, they often wrote from within the chaotic, unsanitized place of disaster. David, God’s anointed, was hunted by Saul. His best friend was butchered by enemies. His own son tried to steal his kingdom. And David’s troubles only hint at the turbulent life of Jesus, who left the bliss of heaven for thirty-three agonizing years on earth.

Especially in troubled times, Christians should read and pray the Psalms (James 5:13) so that they can guide and refine us. Why are psalms so precious in troubled times?

1. Psalms give us perspective.

These troubles are not new. In our day, as in all times, the righteous can feel like “the foundations are destroyed” (Ps. 11:3). Three hundred years ago, Matthew Henry noted in his reflection on Psalm 14 the common assumption that problems were never so severe as they are now. He responds by saying, “But we see the former days were no better.” We are not the first to face our challenges.

And we don’t face them alone. Even when the foundations appear to be destroyed, “The Lord is in his holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven” (v. 4). Our problems are God’s problems. Following a deadly shooting in 2015 a newspaper ran this presumptuous headline: “God isn’t fixing this.” But he is. Our minds are just too puny and our memories too short to appreciate what God is doing. God uses troubled times to “test the children of men” (v. 4) and purify his people’s faith. In troubled times God also forces us to remember the coming of the great Day of Judgment. Some heartaches only heaven can cure. Sin is so terrible that without hell justice remains unanswered. By thinking of the restoration of all things Paul pressed “toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14).

read more: https://corechristianity.com/resource-library/articles/psalms-for-troubled-times

Three Most Common Interpretive Errors

http://dailydoseofgreek.com/special-editions/three-most-common-interpretive-errors/

When the Serpent Came Back to the Garden

by Uri Brito

There is a venomous snake in the garden. While the Messiah and his disciples enter the garden, a certain snake-like figure named Judas knows precisely where the faithful are. Judas enters the garden knowing that this was a place of constant fellowship and peace. But he is not a man of peace and his fellowship with the Messiah has been broken. He is now a man at war and his loyalty is with the darkness.

In the Garden of Eden, the Great Serpent entered the garden to bring about chaos; to tempt the first Adam. Indeed he was successful. The first Adam failed in his loyalty to Yahweh, being deceived by the serpent in the garden, and thus, thrusting all mankind into a state of sin and misery. Now in John 18, a new serpent re-enters the garden. He is possessed by the same devil that possessed the serpent in Genesis. It is this precise battle that is unfolding before us in this text.

Who Owns the Garden?

Continue; http://kuyperian.com/when-the-serpent-came-back-to-the-garden/