Here I Stand . . . I Can Do Nothing Else

One of my favorite devotional tools is the book The Valley of Vision, a collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions.  There is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t read in this extraordinary collection.  One of my favorite, and most convicting prayers, is this one:

Continual Repentance

O God of Grace,

You have imputed my sin to my substitute, Jesus
and You have imputed His righteousness to my soul,
clothing me with a bridegroom’s robe,
decking me with jewels of holiness.
But in my Christian walk I am still in rags;
my best prayers are stained with sin;
my penitential tears are so much impurity;
my confessions of wrong are so many aggravations of sin;
my receiving the Spirit is colored with selfishness.
I need to repent of my repentance;
I need my tears to be washed;
I have no robe to bring to cover my sins,
no loom to weave my own righteousness;
I am always standing clothed in filthy garments,
and by grace am always receiving change of raiment.
for You do always justify the ungodly;
I am always going into a far country,
and always returning home as a prodigal,
always saying, Father, forgive me,
and you are always bringing forth the best robe.
Every morning let me wear it,
every evening return in it,
go out to the day’s work in it,
be married in it,
be wound in death in it,
stand before the great white throne in it,
enter heaven in it shining as the sun.
Grant me never to lose sight of
the exceeding sinfulness of sin,
the exceeding righteousness of salvation,
the exceeding glory of Christ,
the exceeding beauty of holiness,
the exceeding wonder of grace.

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The media is no longer the watchdog for the people in this country.  They are the lapdogs for the liberal elite.

Mallard Fillmore tells it like it is more than most “journalists” do in our nation today.  And he is a fictional duck, for heaven’s sake!!!!

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Powerful message . . . beautiful melody . . . let’s worship our God together through the Power of the Cross.

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Several days ago I reflected on some notes I had taken at an SBTS trustee meeting in April of 2000. The notes were from the presidential address to the trustees by Dr. Albert Mohler. Dr. Mohler listed “10 Challenges Facing the Church in the 21^st Century” that we would be wise to take notice of and seek to confront. Over the next several weeks, I want to address each of these, briefly, in this blog.

The first one states that the church must “Address Post-modern Americans with the authentic Gospel.” What is meant by “Post-modern Americans”? Post modernism is a philosophical vision that has filtered into the mainstream of America and sadly into many churches. It says that there is no absolute truth, that all things are relative and of one’s own belief system. In the 1960s, for instance, if you asked the general public about who would go to heaven, most people would say “Christians.” Today, the answer is likely to be “any good person” or in some instances “everybody.” A couple of weeks ago in an edition of the Kentucky Baptist paper, the Western Recorder, there is a front page headline that reads, “Study finds belief that heaven open to nearly everyone.” This study was conducted by Baylor University (a former Baptist college in Texas). Rodney Stark, who helped conduct the study says, “I think that it’s really just a broadening because of the cultural experiences of diversity.” (Say what?) That expresses a basic tenet of Post-modernism, that truth is determined by one’s experience and that truth does not stand on its own. Of course, Christianity denies this. Christianity says that truth is determined by the God who created and sustains His universe.

How has the church handled this challenge in the past decade? In far too many cases, it has merely capitulated to the thinking of the day. The clear Gospel, the authentic Gospel, has not been the mainstay of much preaching. There has been a warm, fuzzy type of preaching that is really just moralism . . . be good, be happy, because that’s what God wants for you. There must be a return to a clear proclamation of God’s Gospel, not man’s. What is the authentic Gospel? Well, it is simple, but deep in its application. I like the one sentence definition that John Piper gave a year or so ago: “The Gospel is the news that Jesus Christ, the Righteous One, died for our sins and rose again, eternally triumphant over all his enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe, but only everlasting joy. Now that is Good News!! That is a good summation of the authentic Gospel. Paul stated it pretty clearly in 1st Corinthians 15:1-4 — Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, ² by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. ³ For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures

That, my friend, is the full Gospel, the authentic Gospel, and the Gospel that we must proclaim to our generation.

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Today my friend, Dr. R. Albert Mohler, President of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, posted on his blog a very solid and insightful article entitled A Prayer for America on Election Day. Click on the link to read the entire post on his blog. Here are his main points:

1. We should pray that God will bless America with leaders better than we deserve.

2. We should pray that Americans will be motivated to fulfill the responsibilities of citizenship, yet also that we will be stripped of an unhealthy and idolatrous confidence in the power of government to save us.

3. We must pray that Americans will vote by conscience, not merely on the basis of celebrity or emotion.

4. We must pray that Americans will vote to defend the least among us — and especially those who have no vote.

5. We should pray that God will prick the conscience of the nation on issues of morality, righteousness, and respect for marriage as the central institution of human civilization.

6. We should pray that God will protect these candidates and their families.

7. We should pray that the election is conducted with honor, civility, respect and justice.

8. We must pray that Americans will be prepared to accept the results of the election with respect and kindness.

9. We should pray that this election would lead to even greater opportunities to preach the Gospel, and that the freedom of the church will be respected, honored, and protected.

10. We must pray for the church, praying that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ would be strengthened in the truth, grounded in the faith, and empowered for witness and ministry.

He closes with this: “May God bless American, not because this nation deserves to be blessed, but because He is a God of grace and mercy. Oh God . . . save us from ourselves.”

This is just a skeleton . . . read the entire article at AlbertMohler.com

John Piper also has a post of a prayer for Election Day . . . read it HERE.

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Today I cast my vote for life, marriage, and freedom. I fear that all three are in peril if this nation dramatically turns left.

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I know this is a bit “off subject” from the normal posts on this site. But hey, it has been a long time coming to see the Tide back at #1. I know we still have three games to go, and two of those involved Tigers, but for now, it is just sweet to savor the return of the Tide.

BCS standings
1) Alabama ……. 0.974
2) Texas Tech … 0.937
3) Penn State …. 0.928
4) Texas ……….. 0.853
5) Florida ………. 0.826

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