PCPrays

Pastor John MacArthur talking on a topic that I’m sure will make a lot of people mad.  But I think he’s right on.  It’s a Q&A session on how many American Christians are missing the point.  We are not called to make the world a better place.  We are not called to try to force unbelievers to live by the rules of the Bible by enforcing laws.  No we are called to preach the Gospel.  We are called to tell a dying world that unless the repent from their sins and turn to trust wholly on Jesus they will go to hell.

Anyways, I just found this to be encouraging and hope that you do to.

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When the Lord saw that Leah was hated, he opened her womb, but Rachel was barren.

Leah was hated.  But the Lord saw.  The Lord saw that Leah was hated and He acted.

Just as Leah was bound to a man who hated her there is one who hates us.  By birth we are bound to sin.  Bound to Satan.  But El Roi – The Lord Sees.  Just as He saw that Leah was trapped in a relationship of hate, He has seen that we are trapped in a relationship of sin and death and He acted.  He acted by sending His beloved Son who frees us from our bondage.

Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.  For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.  But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Romans 7:4-6

Paul says that, Yes, we were living in the flesh bound to the law.  Bound to sin.  Bound to death.  But through the body of Christ we have died to all of that.  So now, that we are free from sin, we may be bound to another.  To One who loves us.

Again in 2 Timothy 2:11 Paul writes “If we have died with Him, we will also live with Him”.  Have you put to death the deeds of the flesh (Romans 8:13)?  You can not do it on your own.  Just as Leah was helpless to change her relationship with Jacob, so we are helpless to change our relationship with sin.

It is by faith that we can be joined to Christ.  It is by trusting in what He has done for us that we can die with Him and be raised with Him (Romans 6:4).  And it is only by dying with Him that we are freed from the sin that has dominion over us.

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This is a cute little post.  It makes me want to go get Marci and give her a big hug..  But I guess it will have to wait

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I really enjoyed reading this post.  It’s a two part post on the Atonement.  I found it from the great site Calvinistic Cartoons!  So if you have time check it out, it’s not a long read  :)

The author takes the position of the Cannons of Dordt

Head 2: The Death of Christ, and the Redemption of Men Thereby

ARTICLE 3. The death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin, and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world.

ARTICLE 6. And, whereas many who are called by the gospel do not repent nor believe in Christ, but perish in unbelief, this is not owing to any defect or insufficiency in the sacrifice offered by Christ upon the cross, but is wholly to be imputed to themselves.

I love how article 3 reads The [atonement]… is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world.  Amen

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Then Jacob said to Laban, “Give me my wife that I may go in to her, for my time is completed.”  So Laban gathered together all the people of the place and made a feast.  But in the evening he took his daughter Leah and brought her to Jacob, and he went in to her.  (Laban gave his female servant Zilpah to his daughter Leah to be her servant.)  And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?”  Laban said, “It is not so done in our country, to give the younger before the firstborn.  Complete the week of this one, and we will give you the other also in return for serving me another seven years.”  Jacob did so, and completed her week. Then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.  (Laban gave his female servant Bilhah to his daughter Rachel to be her servant.)  So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and he loved Rachel more than Leah, and served Laban for another seven years.

Okay, so my first thought is “how drunk do you have to be?”…  Anyways, I wonder how long Laban plotted this.  Could this have been his plan from the very beginning to get Jacob to work for 7 more years?  Or was this a desperate attempt to marry off his oldest daughter?

It’s kinda of funny that Jacob, the young man who spent all his life cheating his older brother, gets so angry when he himself is cheated.  But that’s the way it goes.  How about us?  When someone wrongs us do we get angry?  Or do we think about all the people that we have wronged?

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