Quote of the week

French theologian John Calvin
( July 10 1509—May 27 1564) was after Martin Luther the guiding spirit of the Protestant Reformation. If Luther sounded the trumpet for reform Calvin orchestrated the score by which the Reformation became a part of Western civilization. Calvin studied in Paris probably from 1521 to 1526 where he was introduced to humanistic scholarship and to appeals for reform of the church. He then studied law at his father's bidding from about 1525 to 1530. When his father died in 1531 Calvin turned immediately to his first love - study of the classics and theology. Between 1526 and 1531 he experienced a distinctly Protestant conversion. "God" he wrote much later "at last turned my course in another direction by the secret rein of his providence." Calvin's first published work was a commentary on Seneca's De Clementia (1532). A profusion of influential commentaries on books of the Bible followed.

“God preordained, for His own glory and the display of His attributes of mercy and justice, a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation”

Quote of the week

John Knox (1505, 1513 or 1514–1572) was a Scottish religious reformer who took the lead in reforming the Church in Scotland along Calvinist lines. He is widely regarded as the father of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland and of the Church of Scotland. He died in Edinburgh on November 24, 1572.

WHAT PRAYER IS:
"Who will pray must know and understand that prayer is an earnest and familiar talking with God, to whom we declare our miseries, whose support and help we implore and desire in our adversities, and whom we laud and praise for our benefits received. So that prayer contains the exposition of our dolours [sorrows], the desire of God's defence, and the praising of Hs magnificent name, as the psalms of David clearly do teach."

Quote of the week

Baxter is best understood as an eclectic scholastic covenantal theologian for whom the distinction between God's conditional covenant (the voluntas de debito) and his absolute will (the voluntas de rerum eventu) is key to the entire theological enterprise. Despite the difficulty in classifying Baxter, his emphasis on the conditionality of the covenant of grace and therefore on the necessity of faith and works for our standing before God is undeniable.

"Remember the perfections of that God whom you worship, that he is a Spirit, and therefore to be worshipped in spirit and truth; and that he is most great and terrible, and therefore to be worshipped with seriousness and reverence, and not to be dallied with, or served with toys or lifeless lip-service; and that he is most holy, pure, and jealous, and therefore to be purely worshipped; and that he is still present with you, and all things are naked and open to him with whom we have to do. The knowledge of God, and the remembrance of his all-seeing presence, are the most powerful means against hypocrisy."

Fellowship of Reformed Churches

This years Fellowship of Reformed Churches has a updated website for those of ya'll who will be in the area during this time, yes it's in Texas. The theme this year will be "Humble Orthodoxy", check out their website to see who will be speaking and leading us as we continue to undertake the task of "speaking the truth in love" to a world that is watching. See you there!

How Great is our God?

As I preview this landscape I see what a small drop in the bucket I really am. This does not even touch the expanse of space and all that it contains, yet it does however put some perspective to our littleness...is that a word? As I view the moring and see the lesser light in the sky even as the sun is arising, I think of the Psalm, "LORD, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him? Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow." This really should put us in our place as we see God's Glories in creation. May we find our joy in Him alone in that very low spot where worship takes place.

Piper offers a very familiar and mind blowing description that puts things in perspective.

"A brief look at all creation"

"Our planet earth is a small part of a solar system that is 7.3 billion miles across. This solar system is a little speck in the galaxy called the Milky Way which is 80,000 light years across. A light year is how far light travels in a year. Light travels at 186,000 miles per second. So our galaxy is 480,000 trillion miles across. The nearest star to us, Alpha Centauri would take 4.3 years to get to traveling at the speed of light. The nearest neighboring galaxy would take 2.2 million years to get to at the speed of light. All creation will be set free into the glorious liberty of the children of God. It is yours, and you are Christ's and Christ is God's. God has revealed these things to us, not so that we will fall in love with stars, but so that we will see something of the magnitude of his love. See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. And if children, then heirs—heirs of all things. Not for the sake of all things, but for the sake of comprehending the love of God."

Quote of the week

A German professor and theologian, a key leader of the Reformation, and a friend and associate of Martin Luther. Melanchthon's formulation of the authority of Scripture became the norm for the following time. The principle of his hermeneutics is expressed in his words:




"Every theologian and faithful interpreter of the heavenly doctrine must necessarily be first a grammarian, then a dialectician, and finally a witness."

What is Grace?

Just recently have I been introduced to a fresh perspective of God's Divine Grace. Up to this point I have always thought of it as "unmerited favor", but it is so much more than just saying "grace is unmerited favor". Up until this last week that was my answer, and a simple one I'll add. At care group this last week we looked at God's Grace as a Divine and Eternal Attribute. During a time of reflection and discussion I have come to see more clearly how little I know of His Grace, much less live in it. I need to be reminded that... and I'm quoting "Sin is more than breaking God's law. It is aggravated assault upon the infinite dignity of His person. Because of this, we deserve His wrath, but instead we receive His favor. That is grace." That is from Jerry Bridges treatment on God's Grace through a short illustration, read here.

Quote of the week

"A truly humble man is sensible of his natural distance from God; of his dependence on Him; of the insufficiency of his own power and wisdom; and that it is by God's power that he is upheld and provided for, and that he needs God's wisdom to lead and guide him, and His might to enable him to do what he ought to do for Him."

—Jonathan Edwards