"Why should I gain from His reward? I cannot give an answer But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom."

We sang this hymn at the end of our service today, just after we partook in the Lord's Supper. I found this video, and thought the art this person used was interesting to look at, and think about. I have an appreciation of art more than I used to. Though I'm not real picky, I do have my lines that I draw.

The main purpose of this post though is to hear the words to this hymn, and listen as they are beautifully sung. I don't know the artist who is singing the song however.



This was the Holy Scripture text, which the sermon was taken from today:

"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-9

It was a fine sermon. Very convicting, and encouraging as it was edifying. The truth of the Gospel is beyond awesome really!

"For the word of the Cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the Power of God." - St. Paul

[Paolo Veronese (1528–1588)]

I just finished reading Michael Horton's book: "Christless Christianity". Here are a few quotes for you to ponder.

""Smooth talk and flattery" is part of the staple diet of successful American religion today. And it is almost always advertised simply as more effective mission and relevance."

"We are swimming in a sea of narcissistic moralism: an easy-listening version of salvation by self-help."

"Scripture never refers to the gospel as having a personal relationship with Jesus nor defines faith as a decision to ask Jesus to come into your heart, this concept of salvation fails to realize that everyone has a personal relationship with God already: either as a condemned criminal standing before a righteous judge or as a justified coheir with Christ and adopted child of the Father."

"We do not preach ourselves but Christ. The good news--not only for ourselves, but for a world (and church) in desperate need of good news--is that what we say preaches better than our lives, at least if what we are saying is Christ's person and work rather than our own. The more we talk about Christ as the Bible's unfolding mystery and less about our own transformation, the more likely we are actually to be transformed rather than either self-righteous or despairing."

"The evangel defines evangelism; the content determines the methods of delivery; the marks of the Church (preaching and sacrament) define its mission (evangelizing, baptizing, teaching, and communing)."

'...the Church is not a club for those with similar cultural tastes, political views, ethnic backgrounds, and moral leanings. ...the Church is not made up of people I chose to be my friends. God chose them for me and me for them. They are my family because of God's election, not mine. Gathered to be redefined by the kingdom of Christ rather than by the kingdoms of this age, we are then scattered again into the world as salt--not huddled together in Christian societies for moral transformation and ecclesiastically sanctioned political causes, but dispersed into the world as doctors, homemakers, plumbers, lawyers, truck drivers, citizens, and neighbors."

"When we regularly hear and receive Christ's forgiveness, we are filled with love for Him and for others."

"When our churches assume the gospel, reduce it to slogans, or confuse it with moralism and hype, it is not surprising that the type of spirituality we fall back on is moralistic, therapeutic deism. In a therapeutic worldview, the self is always sovereign. Accommodating this false religion is not love--wither of God or neighbor--but sloth, depriving human beings of genuine liberation and depriving God of the glory that is His due. The self must be dethroned. that's the only way out."

I like this Bull Jumping. Not much on Bull Fighting though.

I watched some bull fights on youtube today, and it was brutal: Sometimes for the bloke with the sword, who gets beat up by the bull, and of course the Bull is really torn up in all sorts of ways.

But I found this jumping over bulls, and thought it was definitely cool beans.

"They must be silenced, since they are upsetting whole families by teaching for filthy lucre's sake what they ought not to teach." Titus 1:11

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them. For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive." (Romans 16:17-18)

What I think is good about this brother marking and exposing these false teachers, is that he actually went to eight Benny Hinn concerts, and saw first hand the deception.
Well done my brother. I'm sure the Lord is pleased with the gentle way he has confronted fasle disciple.

May the Lord draw His children away from these phoney baloney teachers, as they are exposed for what they truly are. Amen.

The Quotable Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963).

"God cannot give us a happiness and peace apart from Himself, because it is not there. There is no such thing."

"If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this."