God’s Activity

“Love not sleep, lest thou come to poverty” – Pr. 20:13

People need rest. We need refreshing each day. But we should not covet sleep unto laziness. God put man on earth to work, to labor; providing for his own (I Tim. 5:8), and to further his own dominion (Gen. 3). Busy hands are happy hands. Don’t slumber in your sleep, rather strive each day to participate in the activity of God.

Count The Cost

Are we prepared for what sanctification will cost? It will cost an intense narrowing of all our interests on earth, and an immense broadening of all our interests in God. Sanctification means intense concentration on God’s point of view. It means every power of body, soul and spirit chained and kept for God’s purpose only. Are we prepared for God to do in us all that He separated us for? – Oswald Chambers

Foolish Words

“A fool’s mouth is his destruction” – Pr. 18:7

It is said, some are thought a fool; others open their mouth and remove all doubt. In a day of instant messages, texting, e-mailing, etc., our words are many. But are they wise? They are numerous, but are they edifying? Always choose your words carefully. A fool’s mouth is his destruction.

The Spirit Himself

O Lord God, I pray not so much for graces as for the Spirit Himself, becuase I feel His absence, and act by my own sprit in everything. Give me not weak desires but the power of His presence… Teach me to find and know fullness of the Spirit only in Jesus. – Valley of Vision

Being A Friend

“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly” – Pr. 17:24b

Having a few good and godly friends can go a long way in making our journey through this world more enjoyable. Don’t fret over the quantity of people you call friends – few of them will be true friends. Cultivate the quality of people you associate with, be a real friend to them, and you will find they will do likewise.

The Glory of Children

“The glory of children are their fathers.” Pr. 17:6b

Dear father, can this be said of you? Do your children glory in you? Fathers must learn the love of Christ – My Life for Yours. Sacrifice, love and utter devotion is the mandate of the man. Children bless a faithful father, and a faithless father is a reproach. Let God’s Word ring true: Let the glory of children be in their fathers.

Christ the Curse

“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree“.  – Gal. 3:13

I want to look at what it means that Christ was made a curse. That He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. If there were one doctrinal or theological issue, one part of Scripture that needed our utmost careful attention – speaking to the matter of Christ being a curse – would certainly seem to qualify. Think about it like this – God cursed Himself, for our sakes. That’s a powerful statement to make. I believe we’re treading on holy ground here. So let us proceed carefully and reverently as we consider this matter.

Because of the sin of man, we have fallen under a curse. Man brought in sin, and death through sin, so that all things are now under a sentence of death.

Jesus Christ redeemed us from this curse. The Bible says the wages of sin is death. Sin costs us. We are debtors, and we owe more than we could ever repay. Our debt before God makes our national debt look minute. Yet while we were yet sinners, Christ Jesus died for us.  Jesus by His death, paid the price to ransom us from the power of another – from the power of this world, from Satan himself. The Lord paid the ultimate sacrifice, the ultimate price – He paid with His life.

Christ became the curse for us. All the punishment, wrath, and judgment that was to be placed upon man, God the Father placed upon Jesus. He bore our guilt and our shame. He who knew no sin, was made sin for us. I think we cheapen the love of Christ when we fail to understand the severity of the guilt and punishment of sin He delivered us from.

Do we know the love of God that took away that brought us out from under the curse of the law? This is what I believe Jesus meant when He said come unto me all who are weak and heavy laden, my yoke is easy and my burden is light. He lifts the guilt of our sin. He carries away the burden of eternal condemnation. In Christ, God grants life where there is only death. In Christ, God grants freedom where there was only bondage. And in Christ, God grants peace and joy, where there was once only turmoil and darkness.

This curse can be eternal – we can die separated from the love of Christ, and spend all eternity cursed of God. But we can find redemption. Christ has redeemed those who place their faith in Him, from the curse of the law. And what becomes of this curse for those who know Him are their mighty Savior? Revelation 22:3 says that in heaven there will be no more curse. God has lifted the curse from those who trust in Him. Believe on Him today. Christ has become a curse, taking on our guilt – let Him take on yours today.

Getting Ready

“You shall guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.” ~ Ps. 73:24

The Psalmist’s comforting words should set well within our own soul. Those that have their faith in the Lord can trust He is with them. His commitment is to be with them to the ends of the earth. Christians are the exclusive recipients of divine counsel. We are guided by a higher power. The Lord God has cast His special care and concern on you, dear believer, in a way in which others have been passed over. Therefore, we can come to anticipate and even expect the Lord to lead, guide and direct our paths, as we yield ourselves to Him.

And not only this, but His direction has a specific goal – we have a certain destination. God’s counsel leads to righteousness, holiness and eventually heaven. The Lord does have a wonderful plan for your life, when you understand that your life is to bring glory to Him. And in glorifying God you yourself are being molded and shaped to be received up into glory. The counsel of the Lord in your life now is preparing you for greater things. Listen to the wisdom of your Lord. He is readying you to receive into His glory. 

The Simple Life

“Study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands” – 1 Thess. 4:11

There is a big difference between living simple and living simplisticly. The notion of being simplistic implies something of a willful ignorance. Someone who was living simplistically could be consider a biblical fool – not using the God’s given wisdom, prudence and abilities the way in which they are intended by our Creator.

Living simply, or a simple life though is something completely different. It is to live with the view in mind to carry out your days in quiet, peaceful living with a view towards utilizing all our God given abilities. Paul says here in our verse, we are to study to be quiet – to do our own business. In other words, don’t get caught up in the worlds ways. The Christian life is to be simple – when compared to the hustle and bustle of the world around them. The true disciple of Christ can experience a calmness of soul and a peace of spirit, even in this modern tumultuous world.

Finally this verse touches on the idea of working with your own hands. What the apostle appears to be getting at here is to be an honest hard working person, a man or woman of integrity that others can depend on. Christians should set an example for their fellow man as to how to live in this world, living productive lives and contributing to the well-being of others.

So don’t be simplistic - wandering in a woefully and willingly ignorant condition. Use sound godly wisdom, and biblically informed principles to guide your life. But live in such a way as to be quiet and simple. Do your own business, faithfully and in earnest. And whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.

Are You A Liar?

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.  – 1 John 2:4

The Scriptures are often much more demanding than we want them to be. It is all too easy for the depravity of our fallen nature to minimize the duties and responsibilities God asks of us as followers of Christ.  Here in 1 John 2, we are left with little room for compromise.

From off our lips may roll smooth words of comfort and assurance. It is convenient to say, “I know Him”. It is much more difficult to obey Him. The Lord has given His people His Word that it might serve as a light unto our feet and a lamp unto our path (Ps. 122).  If we neglect the commandments of the Master can we honestly believe we are His true servant?

Do not deceive yourself dear friend. God is not mocked. A man reaps what he sows, and that’s all he reaps – nothing more. True disciples of Christ hear His voice and respond to His call.  All others, even professing believers, are nothing but liars. They acknowledge Him with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. Pursue God. And be willing to do all that He has commanded you to do.

Living Unto God

We were created and redeemed for the sole purpose of praising and glorifying our Creator; and if we refuse or neglect to do this, we transgress the great law of creation, frustrate the end of existence, leave unperformed the work for which we were made, and do all in our power to prove that we were created in vain; and to cause God to repent of having made us. Should the sun refuse to shine: should the showers refuse to descend; should the earth refuse to bring forth food; or should trees in a fruitful soil continue barren—would you not say that it was contrary to nature and to the design of their creation; and that since they no lodger fulfilled this design, they might properly be reduced to nothing again? And do you not see that while you refuse to praise God, your conduct is equally unnatural, and that you may justly be made the monuments of his everlasting displeasure ? What would only be unnatural in inanimate creatures, is the height of folly and wickedness in us; because we are capable of knowing our duty, and are under innumerable obligations to practice it. Let the sun then refuse to shine, the showers to descend, and the earth to be fruitful; but let not rational creatures refuse to praise their Creator, since it is the purpose for which they were created. ~ Edward Payson

Fear Vs. Hate

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil” – Pr. 8:17a (There is a stark contrast between God and sin. The two are incompatible. They are mutually exclusive. To fear God is to hate evil. To despise sin. Cast off, dear Christian, even the appearence of evil. Grow to abhor sin in your own life. And come to fear the Lord.)

A New Book Study @ CCC

The Pursuit of God –  Beginning in January 2010, the men’s group at Christ Covenant Church will be meeting to read and study A.W. Tozer’s timeless classic work The Pursuit of God. This book should help the man of God grow in his faith and deepen his walk with the Lord. If you are interested in joining us for our time of study and fellowship, please contact the church at 901-494-3125 or at www.christcovenant@ymail.com.

Update:12/2/09

As technology progresses and the way to reach people on the Internet continues to change, we as a church want to persue as effective means as possible to stay up with the current trends and share the Gospel as effectively as we can with others. Therefore, Christ Covenant Church has opened a Facebook account and we will be focusing our postings, update, and other related material on there. This blogsite will remain open, and the articles and information on here will remain accessible. But please consider looking us up on FB (shorthand for Facebook), and joining us over there!

America: A City Set On A Hill

 ”Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill” – Matt 5:14

Jesus’ command for Christians to be a “city set on a hill” – letting our light shine before the world that men might see it and glorify our Father in heaven – was the original vision of our Pilgrim and Puritan forefathers here in America. Those men of faith firmly understood the notion there is no greater light for God than that church which is filling its Great Commission.

 Yet the days of the Pilgrims have past. America has long since forsaken the “old paths wherein was the good way” (Jer. 6:16). America is no longer a Christian nation. We are not even a post-Christian nation. We have become, to our own detriment, a Christ-hating, anti-Christian nation, which despises the Lord to the point there is no fear of God among us. The hand of almighty God is heavy upon us, and we rightly deserve His just judgment and grave displeasure. So how can we restore America? Can we ever recapture the former glory of this once great nation? And if so, how? Allow me to suggest we can: By recovering the original Pilgrim and Puritan vision of America as a shining city upon a hill.

Recall your history, those first Christian settlers who battled the tempest and trials of the North Atlantic and who stepped upon the shores of Plymouth were doing much more than simply escaping religious persecution. They had in essence already accomplished that through a series of moves through Europe to places such as Holland. Our godly forefathers had a much greater and more glorious vision for America than merely creating a religious refugee camp. They had a passionate vision: to apply all the Scriptures to every aspect of life, and to put the Bible into practice by creating a theocratic society based upon the precepts and principles of God’s Holy Word with true liberty and righteous justice for every soul. Their intentions were nothing less than to build a Scriptural commonwealth that would be an example to all — that would fulfill their passion to be that ‘city set upon a hill’ for the whole world to see. But America has lost that vision — we don’t know where we came from, we seem to no longer know whom we are or why we are here. America is in a moral fog. We seem to have developed a serious case of national amnesia, a loss of our historic collective memory. We have no standards for right and wrong. Decadence and decay surround us on every front. We have wandered away from the Ancient of Days, and His glory has departed from us. That means in order to restore America we have to have a time of national repentance. We need to seek God’s face and we need to do it upon our knees. Additionally, our nation needs to recover the truth about her Christian heritage, and God’s good providence in our country’s founding. For one example of this, Patrick Henry, a great Founding Father, and one of the strongest evangelical Christians of his time, said “It can not be too often repeated, or too strongly emphasized that America was not founded by religionists nor on any religion, but by Christians on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”

This fundamental concept of our founding is lost on us today. Statements like this (which number in the thousands) never show up in the history books. Neither are the men who said them really understood, studied, or honored as the men of God they were to any serious degree. John Adams, our second President and a true son of the Puritans, spoke for all the Founding Fathers when he spoke these words to the Massachusetts Militia in 1798: “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”

America must seek the Lord while there is still time. We must repent of our wickedness, and plead for God’s mercy. We are in a desperate moral and spiritual crisis. We so need God’s Spirit to move upon our land and bring about a nationwide revival of such historic proportions that it could be called the ‘Third Great Awakening’. Apart from a divine intervention that will bring forth this kind of reformation and revival, I fear we are without hope.

 God has given us the blueprints to restore America. He has set forth in His Word the requirements for this kind of movement. We must put 2 Chronicles 7:14 into practice. That verse says: “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves, and pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin, and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

This Scripture verse plainly puts the burden of restoring America on God’s own people – on His Church! While invoking this verse is no magic formula, revival will only come as God’s people humble themselves before Him, seek His face and turn from their wicked ways. The text doesn’t say that the heathen are to turn from their wicked ways; it says if “my people” turn from their wicked ways, I will heal their land. So true Spirit-wrought revival must begin with the recovery of Biblical Christianity in our local churches and fellowships.  Only as Christians are willing to say, “I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isa. 6:5) do I believe that God will fulfill His promise to heal our land.

The Church of Jesus Christ here in America has her work cut out for her. First we must forsake the idols in our land. Compromise with the world has led to corruption in the church. We have accommodated, for far too long, apathy and complacancy in our congregations. Christians have tolerated and accepted a watered-down false gospel that proclaims a false Christ, and a false hope of salvation. So many of our largest churches in America today need nothing less than pure evangelizing to bring people to a true saving knowledge of the faith.

Rediscovery of the essential truths of the Christian faith is imperative. Christians must come to reclaim and reestablish dominion in our the public and civil realm. Yes, we need revival in our churches. But we must repent of our notion that our religious convictions must be left at the doorway of the church! The Scriptures say that Christ is to have preeminence in all things! (Col. 1:16) Not just in our hearts, but yes there. Not just in the church, but yes there. In all things! He is Lord of all, for by Him and in Him were all things created. He is Lord of our homes. He is Lord of our schools. He’s Lord of economics, politics, education, and healthcare. He is Lord of our Congress, our President, and our nation. He is Lord of all! It all belongs to Jesus Christ. Christians in America need to relearn this priceless lesson from our Pilgrim forefathers. They understood the Lordship of Christ, and we desperately need to as well.

Is there hope for America? Yes, by God’s everlasting grace there is. It begins with you, dear Christian. Search your own heart and find every sinful way. Confess to God your need for forgiveness. Then turn your face towards the Lord like a flint, and intercede on the behalf of our country. Start seeing God’s Word as more than a simple plan for personal salvation, though it is that, it is so much more! It is His blueprint for godly dominion, for applying His will on earth as it is in heaven, and for taking every thought captive for Christ. Yes there is hope for America. Her hope is the Lord Jesus Christ. The hour is late, the time is now. Will you join me? Pray that He will but send His Holy Spirit upon us once more in a sweeping revival. If we will but humble ourselves, repent of our sins, and seek His face, He will heal our land. Then America will once more be that light, that city set upon a hill, for the whole world to see. Amen.