The Study Corner    

"But if anyone loves God, he is known by God." 1Cor 8:3           

What I Believe – Revisited

Filed under: Belief,History — Jason at 12:54 pm on Wednesday, April 28, 2010

1689 London Baptist ConfessionI recently went through and redid my “What We Believe” to be much more detailed by basically reformatting the main document outside of the Holy Scripture that explains my core beliefs.  It is the 1689 London Baptist Confession.  I have considered myself Reformed to a point for quite a while, but there were still some incongruencies I had to resolve.  This document addresses them all in a form I can agree with.

I believe knowing what you believe, and why you believe it is important for every believer.  If you don’t know what you believe, read the bible.  Do you have to believe what I believe?  No.  I doubt many will.  That doesn’t hurt my feelings.  I believe what I believe, and I know why I believe it.  I use Scripture as the source of all my beliefs.  Scripture is the innerant divine revelation of God to the world.
(Read on …)

15th Anniversary of the Murrah Building Bombing

Filed under: History,News — Jason at 10:06 am on Monday, April 19, 2010

9:02 AM today marks the 15th Anniversary of the Murrah Building Bombing. 168 people tragically died in the attack, and hundreds of others were hurt. Most of us in Oklahoma remember that morning, and where we were when it happened.

Please keep everyone affected in your prayers.  Please remember victim’s families, rescuers, survivors, onlookers, and everyone else who this horrific event touched.  It left an indelible scar across the center of Oklahoma City that can never be repaired by man.  I pray for God’s grace and providence to touch each and every person who was affected in any way by this tragic bombing done for a twisted purpose.

The Great Change-Conversion

Filed under: Belief,History — Jason at 9:53 am on Thursday, July 12, 2007

Below is an excerpt from C. H. Spurgeon’s account of his own conversion entitled “The Great Change-Conversion” from Volume 1 of his autobiography The Early Years (pp. 87-88):

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist Chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. I had heard of the Primitive Methodists, how they sang so loudly that they made people’s heads ache; but that did not matter to me. I wanted to know how I might be saved, and if they could tell me that, I did not care how much they made my head ache. The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. Now, it is well that preachers should be instructed; but this man was really Charles Spurgeonstupid. He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was,—

“LOOK UNTO ME, AND BE YE SAVED, ALL THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.”

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus—”My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pains. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just, ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to College to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look. But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Ay!” said he, in broad Essex, “many on ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. You’ll never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the Father. No, look to Him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some on ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’”

Then the good man followed up his text in this way:—”Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to Heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! look unto Me!

When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so, he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I daresay, with so few present, he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart, he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did; but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, “and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death,—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.” Then, lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a Primitive Methodist could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothin’ to do but to look and live.” I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said,—I did not take much notice of it,—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” what a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could almost have looked my eyes away. There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to Him. Oh, that somebody had told me this before, “Trust Christ, and you shall be saved.”

Will You Be Setting Up Asherah Poles on The 4th?

Filed under: Belief,Faith,History,Leadership,Other Blogs — Jason at 7:44 am on Tuesday, July 10, 2007

4thHere is an interesting article from OldTruth.com relating to the Independence day celebrations in many churches. There’s quite a bit of good discussion on it:

“If you are in a church where the flag falls out of the ceiling on the Fourth of July, and an honor guard comes down the isle with flags for each branch of the service. And if you are singing God bless America on ANY Sunday on real estate owned by God. If this is the stuff you tolerate on the Lord’s Day, it’s not far off from Asherah poles” (idols in the Old Testament).

That was Michael Horton of the White Horse Inn who said that, on a recent program entitled Christless Christianity which dealt with the many ways modern churches get away from centering on Christ as their primary message.

Read the rest of the article…