grace – Page 2

“God is watching how we care for children”

Posted on November 5, 2023November 5, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

This weekend has been a sober one, not sad exactly, but I’ve had a troubled spirit and been in deep ponderings about children.

Sometimes I get that way, maybe it’s the gift of discernment and the Spirit stirring my heart, or maybe it’s just normal observation of the things happening in the world, or maybe both. But it has been a furrowed brow weekend.

As you may know, I work with children. I teach children reading in small groups in levels from kindergarten to third grade, or age 5 to about 9. Because of my job, I’m aware and observant of anything that relates to children in the wider world.

On Friday, I wrote on Twitter,

“IMO you can detect how stable or unstable a society is by how they treat their children. In the US, our society is collapsing.“

My feeling of spiritual concern, my propelling drive to protect and love these children has increased of late. But I feel like the man on the starfish beach, seeing all the thousands of starfish washed up with no way to get to their safe haven of the ocean. The man came across a boy putting the starfish back into the water, one by one. The man scoffed, saying, “What are you doing? You can’t save them all! What you’re doing can’t possibly make a difference!” The boy looked at the starfish in his hand and calmly replied, “Yes, but I can make a difference to this one.”

I just have to keep remembering to be the boy, and make a difference to the ones in my sphere. Who I am able to help, I need to help.

Then in God’s providence, I came across John MacArthur’s latest sermon on Youtube. It was from October 29, 2023 and titled “Grace for the Children.“

MacArthur began the sermon by telling his congregation that the little booklet they received had a note in it about his new upcoming book, which is at the printer’s now and will be available in January: “The War on Children.” It is an apt title and crystallized things for me. Yes, it IS a war on children. I need to be a good soldier and remember that children are both targets in this war and collateral damage. They are helpless, vulnerable, and at-risk every moment. Most children.

“Just Say No” isn’t a motto for being against drugs anymore, it’s a motto for children against their parents’ authority. EPrata

Not like the old days when children were protected and cherished. Even in today’s good families, there is high risk. Just last week Robert Card of Lewiston Maine entered a bowling alley on a Family League night and shot people, one of whom was a 14 year old. The younger children who were present and survived still must deal with the trauma of being involved in such a horrific event.

Next, MacArthur said that he wants the church to renew their commitment to children.

“It was the process of going through that book and taking stock of what is happening to the children of our culture that I felt that we as a church needed to affirm our commitment to children. That is a stewardship, obviously, that God has given to us and we need to take it seriously. … What is happening to the children is horrific and it is disastrous temporally and eternally.” ~John MacArthur

This was good for me to hear. I need to re-affirm my commitment to children.

Then MacArthur launched into the main body of the sermon. He doesn’t whitewash the truth. It is the truth and it needs to be said, whether it’s “good” or “bad”. There are no primrose paths for us to tread in this day and age. Evidenced by how this society is treating its children, it is obvious God has moved in judgment of us. What is the next generation going to be like, we wonder? MacArthur answered,

“Biblically? It’s going to be worse. Because the Bible says evil men grow worse and worse. It doesn’t get better, it gets worse. And that means the people who will make this culture worse are the children of this generation.”

Not the news I wanted to hear, but it’s news that is true and informs my conscience and my behavior. I had also earlier noted on Twitter that it has been getting harder and harder to impress upon children to be responsible for their behavioral choices, to own up to them.

I see a lot of bucking authority and ignoring authority in society today. As I’m out and about I see children ignore or refuse their parents’ directions. “Just Say No” isn’t a motto for being against drugs anymore, it’s a motto for children against their parents’ authority.

I watch Youtube videos of people getting arrested for drunk driving or shoplifting. The younger ones, in their late teens or early 20s who are caught, absolutely refuse the Law Enforcement Officer’s orders. They completely ignore or reject his authority. It’s startling to see this, having grown up in the 1960s where the cultural revolution was happening but people still by and large protested peacefully, or law and order was maintained because of a more widespread acceptance of parental and law enforcement authority.

Then MacArthur spent time in Matthew 11 and exposited the meaning of several verses and parables involving children. He spent about half an hour in different verses. I couldn’t wrap my head around his point. I began wondering, since he is 84 1/2 years old after all, is he losing it? The sermon isn’t coalescing. Is there a point?

And YES of course, toward the end, there was a point that wraps the sermon up into a bow. He isn’t losing it. He came to a crescendo that pierced me. I have exactly seen what he started to talk about as he came to a close.

He said that when children are in their tender years, 5,6,7 they are very receptive to the things of God. They are eager and take them as normal and true. But after a certain point, which some call the Age of Accountability, they close down. They become hostile to the things of God. He said you will know when the child reaches that age,

“because accepting the Gospel is difficult. Submitting to the Law of God, a struggle to confront their sin, turn from their sin and submit their lives to Christ.”

I have seen kids age 5 or 6 burble about Jesus. The excitedly relate what they know and have interpreted. They speak of heaven and the cross. They say things like, “Jesus died on the cross for our sins and then came alive again and then he killed all the dinosaurs.” LOL. But they speak admiringly or positively about Jesus, especially during Thanksgiving time in November when you ask them what they are grateful for.

After about age 10, 11, 12…they don’t.

The point of his sermon is to be aware of this and during the years they are compliant and accepting, “Teach, teach, teach.”

“Because all that you teach them, all that input into their little minds will be available to them when they come to the point when the struggle begins. You want them filled up with the knowledge of scripture. You want them singing songs you heard today…because that truth in their heart is what mitigates against their fallen nature.”

In Literacy Education, we do something called “frontloading.”

Frontloading means punctuating the key learning points before an activity or experience takes place, rather than or in combination with, debriefing it afterwards.” (Source)

Frontload your children with hymns, scripture, God’s holy love, and be persistent in it. For me, working in a secular school, I can’t pointedly teach them about Jesus, but I can behave that way. I can live it. I can love, love, love in His name, and remember they are not the enemy. They are the enemy’s targets. I can counter the devil’s push with patience, love, and kindness acted out and expressed.

“God is watching how we care for children.”
John MacArthur

Here is the sermon. Please consider listening. My discernment radar is telling me things are getting very, very serious out there. I was not off track when I pondered these things on Friday and by Saturday night the Lord graciously led me to this sermon, where it is also obvious that JMac’s discernment radar is also going off.

When JMac’s book “The War on Children” is published in January, I want to buy it immediately.

Sermon audio, no transcript yet, at Grace Church: https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/81-161

Sermon on Youtube, with closed captions.

encouragement, Uncategorized

The House on the Rock

Posted on October 6, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The Ocean State is aptly named.

Growing up in Rhode Island in the 1960s was a fun experience. The nation’s smallest state is beautiful and the ocean and Narragansett Bay is never far from anyone who lives there. We happened to live just a few miles from the ocean and most Sundays we took a drive south to Saunderstown, crossed the Jamestown bridge, and then took the ferry to Newport. The ferry was a blast.

Newport is home to all those Jacob Astor mansions from The Gilded Age. Dad would drive the kids and mom around the island on Ocean Drive past all the mansions, past the smaller mansions on the water’s edge with their lovely lawns and rocky outcrops reaching for the sea, and then we’d have a picnic by the park and watch the boats

There was no Newport Bridge at that time. You had to take the ferry. On the ferry, we passed boats, the islands with lighthouses, and other sights. One sight always captured my attention.

“Clingstone”.

Clingstone is a house built in 1905, perched atop a small, rocky island in an island group called “The Dumplings” in Narragansett Bay, near Jamestown, Rhode Island. It withstood the devastating 1938 Hurricane, (though was damaged) faced other hurricanes, storms, decay, renovation, and more. The house is known by locals as “The House on a Rock”.

Even to my young eyes the house looked strong. I mean, it’s built on a rock! I often wondered what it was like to live there.

I don’t have to wonder any more what it is like to build my house on the rock. In His grace, He saved me and taught me to cling to the rock. I have my own Clingstone now. Isn’t it funny how life goes. Jesus, who was so far from my mind for over 40 years, is my All in All now. The little girl with big eyes looking at the House on a Rock, the Rock all for her own now and a house that will never fall.

The verses below are familiar but please slow yourself and read them carefully. Then really think about it for a minute, before you go on to other things. The verses are soul-soothing. Be encouraged.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. (Matthew 7:24-25).

grace

His incomparable riches of grace, plus recommendations for books on grace

Posted on October 5, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Scroll to bottom after photo for mini-library suggestions of books on grace.

What are these incomparable riches of God’s grace?

First, Christ Jesus.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:4-7).

As we are saved, we step from dead flesh to life eternal. From enemy sinner to forgiven friend. From object of wrath to recipient of grace.

He is GREAT!!

He manifested Himself as man, servant, no less, so that He could live a life full of the same temptations we experience, can you imagine that? “Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Hebrews 2:18)

GRACE!!

As our High Priest, when we confess to Him, He understands! Thoroughly, bodily, intimately. “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are–yet was without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15).

GRACE!!

Another example of the incomparable riches of His grace is “The Promise of the Holy Spirit” –“On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” (John 7:37-39).

We are given the grace of Spirit within us and as a result have eternal security of our salvation all the days of our life. Incomparable grace!

“He set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)

What is to come is MORE GRACE!!

When you think of Jesus and what He has done for us and continues to do, don’t you just get weak in the knees? Doesn’t your heart faint with love? He saved us so that He could shower us with His grace. “But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.” (1 Peter 5:10) He is the God of all grace, and He chose to shower us with the riches of that incomparable grace.

Don’t forget to remind each other of these things. Encourage one another. Repeat your testimonies. Share verses, laugh with joy at our Great Savior, who is of all Grace. All is well because Christ Jesus has risen and dwells in His heaven. All of us in Him are testimonies of His grace, and that is all joy.

Some Suggestions for Books on Grace:

Fundamentals of the Faith: 13 Lessons to Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus Christ, by John MacArthur

John Bunyan and the Grace of Fearing God, by Joel R. Beeke

The Glory of Grace, by Lewis Allen

Christian Freedom (Grace Essentials), by Samuel Bolton

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: A Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to His Poor Servant John Bunyan, by John Bunyan

All of Grace: An Earnest Word with Those Who Are Seeking Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, by C. H. Spurgeon

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament, by Mark Vroegop

Grace Transforming, Philip Graham Ryken

The Grace of Repentance, Sinclair B. Ferguson

Grace Defined and Defended: What a 400-Year-Old Confession Teaches Us about Sin, Salvation, and the Sovereignty of God, Kevin DeYoung

Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love, Jerry Bridges

encouragement, theology

Amazing Grace, so amazing

Posted on October 4, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

My favorite doctrines are Grace, followed by Providence.

Grace that is extended by our loving God is shocking and amazing and wonderful. I was saved later in life and I remember what it felt like to live a sinful life in rebellion against God. It was confusing and upsetting, most of the time.

I read a lot, and enjoyed historical books and the world’s myths. As I read books, all the world’s made-up gods were capricious or unloving or dismissive of humans. That seemed weird to me. Even when I read of the Founding Fathers and learned about their deism, that god also seemed weird to me. The deist god created everything – including humans – but then retreated from humankind’s affairs and let us wind down of our own accord. I could not reconcile that. No one creates something only to walk away from it. Weird.

But I was pretty OK with a god who created me but left me alone to do what I wanted. As long as ‘he’ didn’t interfere with my life.

Grace given by a loving God was foreign to me and unthinkable. Because that would mean He was involved with humans, lovingly.

But that and only that God is the one true God.

He pre-existed since forever, but at the appointed time set by the Father, He came in the form of a baby who grew to be a man-God, teaching and loving and performing miracles. He died for our sins and absorbed the wrath of God on our behalf.

Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound
It was not a sweet sound to me then, but it is now.

That saved a wretch like me
I used to close my mouth if I happened to be at a Church service, like at Christmas, and this hymn came on. I wasn’t a wretch!, I’d mumble. And close my mouth, refusing to say the lyrics.

I once was lost, but now am found
I didn’t know I was lost and I didn’t know I needed to be found.

Was blind but now I see
I didn’t know I was blind. Revelation 3:17 may apply here:
For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.

That the Lord of All would stoop to save a wretch like me, covered in mud and dwelling with the pigs, like the Prodigal, is amazing. That He would walk into Jerusalem, knowing the cries of Hosannah! would turn bloody and hateful a week later. That He went toward his kangaroo trials, his scourging, and his death, even death upon a cross, to save filthy sinners, is amazing. What grace!

Thank you Lord, for your grace!! How wonderful that even when we’ve been there 10,000 years, we’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we first begun. An eternity praising You is not enough, but what grace that I am able to do so in the first place.

Was blind but now I see…

Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:5-7)

theology

Why I am grateful for THAT troll

Posted on April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

By John Bauer – Illustration of Walter Stenström’s The boy and the trolls or The Adventure in childrens’ anthology Among pixies and trolls, a collection of childrens’ stories, 1915., Public Domain

Internet trolls have been around for a long time. Well, at least as long as the internet, lol. Before that there were “nattering nabobs of negativism” as Vice President Spiro Agnew called the media, who were constantly critical of the Nixon Administration. Before that it was naysayers, and before that gadflies. There was even a troll in the Bible, the demon-possessed slave girl who followed Paul around shouting things constantly, disturbing his work and emotions. He became greatly annoyed. (Acts 16:16-18). Constant critics are part and parcel of the public life. And the internet is very public.

And that is what makes trolling so alluring to trolls, the immediate reaction they receive from their efforts. The most prized trolling behavior among these goblins is getting the hugest reaction they can by putting in the least effort. The less effort they put in compared to the biggest reaction they can receive is the golden ratio for these corrupt people.

I’ve noticed one thing through long observation, first as a newspaper woman for 6 years receiving letters to the editor and then as an observer of blog comments and now Twitter. These debauched defects have a facility with words. Whether lengthy or pithy, they possess a satan-inspired skill to say just the right thing at just the right moment in just the right way, for maximum, hurtful damage to their target.

I’ve been the target of many critics, naysayers, and trolls for years. But there is one particular troll I must award the taker of the cake. Her degeneracy is full tilt, and I mean topped up to the brim of the cup. I’ve been wounded by her words, turned to the Lord, and gone my way. Then more words, and more, with me over time becoming frustrated, upset, then full-blown angry.

Then one day all that changed.

There is a limit, a boundary, a line that most sane trolls do not cross. Though these unfortunate pagans run their mouth, speak ill, practice lawlessness, they have a conscience. It’s withered to the size of a raisin and just as dark, but it’s there.

This particular day, my evilly faithful troll said something about me that made me drop my mouth open. I was aghast. Stunned actually. It was a decisive moment. My mouth agape, I understood that she must have no conscience. She operates with impunity as if there is no God keeping track of every careless word. And her minions chimed in with worse things to say. Very bad.

She had gone beyond the bounds. She was in a wilderness landscape familiar to evil men and beasts. Stunted trees where the most raucous of crows and ravens perch, leering. Oppressive mist, black scudding clouds, parched and wilted vegetation, bony animals drooling and ravening. That is her landscape. A William Blake hellish landscape. That is her mind. Her and her minions.

Gustaf Tenggren’s book cover for his ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ (1923).

I bow to William B. Yeats’ words here, his poem The Second Coming,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Yes, the passionate intensity of the shameful fiends. That intensity never tires, does it. As John Bunyan said in Pilgrim’s Progress of the Man in the Iron Cage, “I laid the reins upon the neck of my lusts” and that is what these shrews enjoy, runaway sin, careening down into an boiling abyss from which they will never escape.

Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. Matthew 7:17

I said it was a watershed moment for me. My anger dissipated at once. I thanked the Lord for showing me the utterly evil contaminated souls these trolls are, these particular trolls I’m speaking of. The Queen Troll and her minions.

Every human being operates on earth under His restraining grace. To varying degrees, the unsaved conduct their murky works in some sort of restraint. We all have a problem you see. We are all sinners. Unless the Lord intercedes, brings us to His Light, and reveals it to us so we repent, we stumble about in darkness. Eyes do not see. Ears do not hear. Sin abounds and more and more it mounts up to the limit in which God allows. See Job 1 where God put limits on satan in his work against Job.

We know in Romans 1:18-32 that God lifts His hand of restraint from some sinners, then lifts it again, then again. We have a problem you see. Even Christians who know of sin and personally experience sin and repent of sin- we really don’t know sin. We don’t comprehend the inky depths to which sin drags us. We underestimate its power… sin’s utter absence of any light, any good, anything favorable. Sin is not only crouching at the door waiting to have us, its putrefied claws are scratching at the door, laying hold of the handle, opening it a crack. Itd deceit!

But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “TODAY,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (Hebrews 3:13)

Sin is so dark that even after being struck blind, the lust of the homosexuals at Lot’s door were unappeasable animals. Lust had rendered them into incoherent brutes in search of what would satisfy their perversion.

No, sin is powerful in its hideousness.

So why am I grateful?

I am grateful to the Lord for His patience. That he allows such unspeakable behavior for so long is a testament to His sovereign patience.

I am grateful for the test of my own talk, to withstand the temptation to speak back in ways that would give satan gleeful reasons to accurately accuse me.

I am grateful to personally witness what it is like when the Lord’s restraining grace is lifted from a person and they lay the reins against the neck and run pell mell into satan’s cauldron.

It seems likely that the bestial bevy of trolls, particularly THAT troll, has had the bonds of common, restraining grace removed from her soul, and THIS is what runaway sin looks like. The Lord is letting us see! And it is not even a millimeter forward on the scale of what is in us, all of us.

I am grateful the Lord is showing me, us, her targets and bystanders, just what sickening unrestrained sin looks like. We see by her behavior what we all are in the natural. Her depraved potential is being realized and her deepest desires are being revealed, as more and more of the common grace that surrounds her is whittled away from her with every keystroke.

What we see is what the world is becoming and what we would be without the Lord’s intervention. Restraint gone, her maniacally gleeful conflicts spurred by a degradation from which most of us are blessedly protected, are made plain for all to see. I’m grateful for the reminder that such could have been

And it is gross. No matter how gross sin is, no matter to what level a person has descended, without His restraining hand, it always becomes lower…worse…more corrupt. And so it was with her.

They continued to display their allegiance to satan this week with even worse speech against a dear brother and sister who were going through a grief laden walk. Thousands of people online were horrified at her words, her evil, the depths to which she swam. Did you ever notice that the word vile and the word evil are almost the same?

Oh, the patience of God in his dealings with such as her. Oh His patience with all of us. It is a miserable thing to hold onto sin, to pet it and carry it and think that is feels good to let it claw your mind to a point of soulless depravity.

Pity her. Pity them, all of them. And learn from her example sin’s power, sin’s evil, sin’s scope, and sin’s grip on a lost person. There but for the grace of God go I…

Many are the sorrows of the wicked,
But he who trusts in Yahweh, lovingkindness shall surround him.
Be glad in Yahweh and rejoice, you righteous ones;
And shout for joy, all you who are upright in heart.
Psalm 32:10

Further Reading

Sin’s deceitfulness, devotional

theology

Psalm 50:3- God’s ‘Terrible majesty’

Posted on April 20, 2023April 20, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Think of who God really is. Over the years through sermons, pamphlets, Sunday School curricula, podcasts, and books- we see repeated whittling of our august, holy God down to a weak boyfriend pleading with people to walk down the aisle and “accept Him,” or a heavenly butler willing to tolerate anything we say or do and give us our 3 wishes. No.

Psalm 50:3 says He is a tempest!

Barnes’ notes says,

And it shall be very tempestuous round about him – The word used here – śa‛ar – means properly to shudder; to shiver; and then it is employed to denote the commotion and raging of a tempest. The allusion is doubtless to the descent on Mount Sinai Exodus 19:16, and to the storm accompanied by thunder and lightning which beat upon the mountain when God descended on it to give his law. The whole is designed to represent God as clothed with appropriate majesty when judgment is to be pronounced upon the world.

This scene is going on right now in the throne room of heaven. Isaiah was given a vision of it in Isaiah 6:1-4

In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim were standing above Him, each having six wings: with two each covered his face, and with two each covered his feet, and with two each flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of armies. The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke.

Yet for all that, if you are a true believer, you are a son of God, His child, given privileges of approaching Him boldly, says Hebrews 4:16.

Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

What grace! To go from His enemy, shaking at His thunder and smoke, standing at the bottom of the quaking mountain, but being WITH Him at His throne, worshiping in love, making petitions, and seeking His guidance via the Holy Spirit. He is not a weak boyfriend, nor a heavenly butler, but a powerful God, Providentially bringing all His plans to fruition, one of them being to sanctify His children and bring us to His dwelling place someday. Amazing!

encouragement, theology

Grace IS Amazing

Posted on April 2, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

My favorite doctrines are Grace, followed by Providence.

I read a lot, and enjoyed historical books and the world’s myths. As I read books, all the world’s made-up gods were capricious or unloving or dismissive of humans. That seemed right to me. Even when I read of the Founding Fathers and learned about their deism, that god also seemed right to me. The deist god created everything – including humans – but then retreated from humankind’s affairs and let us wind down of our own accord. I could accept that. (As long as any god left ME alone!)

Grace given by a loving God was foreign to me and unthinkable. Because that would mean He was involved with humans, lovingly.

But that and only that God is the one true God.

Amazing Grace! how sweet the sound
It was not a sweet sound to me then, but it is now.

That saved a wretch like me
I used to close my mouth if I happened to be at a Church service, like at Christmas, and this hymn came on. I wasn’t a wretch!, I’d utter. And close my mouth, refusing to say the lyrics.

I once was lost, but now am found
I didn’t know I was lost and I didn’t know I needed to be found.

Was blind but now I see…

theology

You never know which words

Posted on February 21, 2023February 21, 2023 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

The other day I was scrolling around online, and I passingly saw a quote from John MacArthur. “God is holy. We are not.” It was a simple phrase, common, a regularly spoken thing. I see that kind of sentiment frequently and it never affected me like it did at that moment. It wasn’t even scripture, just a spiritual/doctrinal concept.

But my spirit was immediately overcome. I teared up, I bent over in my chair, I whispered aloud, “Praise the Lord”. I kept praying for a while, tearing up at the sweetness of such a simple but true concept.

Where’d THAT come from? I wondered…

It had to have been the Holy Spirit in me knitting Himself to the Lord of Lords in truth. It was a mini-event. To use a trite phrase, “a God thing”. But it was a potent reminder. When we go about our daily lives in public, whether online or in real life, we never know which scriptures or which scriptural concepts will be flung into a heart and pierced with eternal truth. Especially to the lost.

If you don’t know how Spurgeon was saved…he had been wrestling with the issue of his sin and longing for redemption for a few years. But to no avail. It wasn’t until he stumbled into a small church during a snowstorm, knowing he would not make it to his intended church destination. The pastor of that church couldn’t make it either so a layman took the pulpit. Hardly knowing what to say, he simply repeated the verse several times, mispronouncing along the way, and added a bit of his own commentary in his own halting, simple manner. But the words grabbed Spurgeon with a vise-like grip and would not let go. Here was the verse-

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22 KJV).

After that, the layman substituting for the regular pastor just kept saying, Look! Look! A simple verse, a simple man, but it did the work and the heart of the soon to be Prince of Preachers was pierced.

The Conversion of Charles Haddon Spurgeon: January 6 1850

If you don’t know of the conversion of John Bunyan…

John Bunyan…”The thing that gave Bunyan any notoriety in the days of his ungodliness,” writes his biographer, Dr. Hamilton, “and which made him afterwards to appear to himself such a monster of iniquity, was the energy which he put into all his doings. He had a zeal for idle play and an enthusiasm in mischief which were the perverse manifestations of a forceful character.” (source)

Bunyan was notorious in his raucous doings among the town. He was well known for being a rake. In fact, he was a hardened sinner – yet deeply disturbed by his own sin. He experienced a prolonged conviction of sin and tried in his own strength at various times to remove this burden from himself by reforming his character. Of course, this did not work. His sinful nature always re-emerged, to Bunyan’s despair.

One day Bunyan passed some women sitting in the doorway in the sun, talking of Godly things, the graces the Lord had afforded them, satan’s wiles and resisting temptation. Bunyan later wrote,

And methought they spake as if joy did make them speak; they spake with such pleasantness of Scripture language, and with such appearance of grace in all they said, that they were to me as if they had found a new world, as if they were people that dwelt alone, and were not to be reckoned among their neighbours (Num. 23.9). (Source)

There were actually about ten things over time that entered Bunyan’s bosom and rested there, until the appointed day they should come together and knit a glorious salvation into his soul, but the women’s plain talk was one of them, a significant point of entry on his path toward eternal glory. Regular women, salted conversation.

The conversion of John Bunyan

Augustine: a rotting, foul, fetid sinner, by his own characterization, Augustine was definitely one who by man’s eyes would seem beyond redemption. But his mother Monica prayed. And prayed. And prayed.

Augustine was tormented by his sin and inability to change the direction of his life. He had gotten to a point in his depravity it bothered even him, but more so, how he constantly lied to his mother. One day he heard a child in a garden singing simple words- Augustine later wrote,

I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when, lo, I heard the voice as of a boy or girl, I know not which, coming from a neighbouring house, chanting, and oft repeating, Take up and read; take up and read. Immediately my countenance was changed, and I began most earnestly to consider whether it was usual for children in any kind of game to sing such words; nor could I remember ever to have heard the like. So, restraining the torrent of my tears, I rose up, interpreting it no other way than as a command to me from Heaven to open the book, and to read the first chapter I should light upon —

Romans 13:13-14, Not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof

Gulp. The exact verse he needed to see himself reflected in scripture describing his flavor of sin in which he was drowning. Augustine was pierced through. He later wrote of his mother’s prayers, “whereby when I was cleansed, the streams of my mother’s eyes should be dried, with which for me she daily watered the ground under her face.”

The conversion of Augustine

Simple words, some, from a child. Scriptures, plainly stated. Godly conversation seasoned with salt and grace. We don’t have to be experts in nuance and knowledgeable of the Greek and Hebrew. Simple words carried by the winds of the Holy Spirit to minds and hearts will cause change in perspective unto conversion as much as a complex sermon from a seminary professor. The point is, do not be afraid to speak Godly verses, concepts, conversations. The hearers will be blessed.

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for building up what is needed, so that it will give grace to those who hear. Ephesians 4:29

Any of God’s words or concepts can pierce a heart

theology

Grow in Grace Newsletter: Laboring Together With Jesus, Part 2

Posted on November 5, 2022November 15, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Pastor James Bell is a pastor at Southside Baptist Church in Gallatin TN. He is one of the faithful pastors who labor diligently, outside of social media fame or Big Eva celebrity. He simply for 47 years has pastored in the same church, delivering the Good News week in and week out. He publishes a Grow in Grace newsletter, which I enjoy. It is always full of scripture and wisdom. Pastor Bell urges the recipients of the newsletter to use as we feel motivated, to share if we feel led or as a resource. I do share it now. Part 1 here.

Please use the Grow in Grace Newsletter for your own spiritual growth; and as a resource to help equip you to minister to others! Volume 47, No. 41, October 18, 2022 / Southside Baptist Church / P.O. Box 1594 / 1028 South Water Avenue, Gallatin, TN 37066 (615) 452-5951 / The Grow in Grace Newsletter is a weekly Bible Study, plus local church news notes— designed first and foremost for members and those attending services at Southside Church; and is sent forth with the desire to aid one and all, (including friends far and wide), in the experience of 2 Peter 3:18. “But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD JESUS CHRIST!”

QUESTION: In light of this reality, why is the Church-wide Prayer meeting so neglected by us today?

NEEDS in the congregation JESUS IS BUILDING:

There is a need to genuinely praise God corporately— So that when we are singing hymns or choruses or praying; or reading Scripture; or preaching; and/or giving testimony, we are truly before the Throne of God in worship in a spirit of unity and holiness! (Eph. 4:1-16)

There is always an urgent need for laborers— EXAMPLES: Laborers are needed for the sometimes thankless, monotonous tasks that make it possible for us to be a well-equipped, well-nourished, gospel army. There are many needs for laborers: – People to be responsible in the nurseries. – People to help get dinner ready at fellowship meals. – People to help cleanup. – People to open and close. – People to help with music and singing. – People to teach classes. – People to disciple others. – People to visit the sick, shut-ins, and widows. – People to write letters. – People to minister to folks at home…, etc. – People to ‘own’ specific missionaries we support— so that each month those missionaries will receive specific ministry from the assembly of saints at Southside. – PEOPLE TO evangelize.

REALITY: No assembly of believers can function with power if it doesn’t have an army of people COMMITTED to do the ‘every day and unseen’ jobs purely as acts of worship unto our LORD! (Worship is not just PRAISE, as in singing! Worship is SERVICE unto the Lord!) SO, WE HAVE THESE TWO BOTTOM LINE NEEDS: MORE PRAISE! MORE LABORERS! THUS,

[1] WE go to the Word of God and behold GOD and His gospel of mercy and grace. (Rom 12:1-2) [2] AND when we need laborers— we go to the LORD of the harvest! (Matt 9:36-38; Luke 10:17-20)

NOTICE: (1) Going to God IN ONE ACCORD IN PRAYER brings forth PRAISE! (Acts 4:23-33); (2) DEALING WITH SIN in the church brings forth new laborers! (Acts 5:1-14) JESUS knows what we need better than we do. – He cares more than we do! Jesus builds His church through the intercession of His saints! (Acts 4:23-33)

WITH GOD’S WAY of JESUS BUILDING HIS CHURCH— there are seasons of many (Acts 2) and there are seasons of few who remain, (John 6:63-66; Phil. 3:18-19) — BUT AT ALL TIMES, we must LOOK UNTO THE LORD!

MOREOVER, the true work of God can NEVER be judged by size, only by SORT! (1 Cor. 3:13)

“Lord, give us a spirit of true praise!”— BUT WHAT ARE WE ASKING? Well, we can picture SINGING hymns and Choruses with our whole hearts, even with uplifted hands and with wonderful God-honoring testimonies, etc. – and these things should happen!

But true praise is something much more than that— the true praise of God is to serve God well with body, soul, and spirit, 24/7: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.” (Ps 100:1-2; Rom 12:1-2)

If our joyful noise to the Lord is real and our singing in His presence is truly music to His ear— then we’re going to be serving Him gladly as we serve Him well.

MOREOVER, WE WILL NOT ONLY SING WITH THE CONGREGATION; WE WILL SING AT MIDNIGHT IN THE PRISON! (Acts 16:22-40) AND, we will be manifesting holiness and the fruit of the Holy Spirit and not the works of the flesh! (Galatians 5:19-23; Isaiah 1:11-20)

GOD REQUIRES HOLINESS, LOVE, and FORGIENESS! GOD REQUIRES THAT WE REPENT OF all works of the flesh! Moreover, God’s way to JOY and gladness, (which is foundational to worship), is serving others after the pattern of Jesus! (John 13:13-17; 13:34-35)

GENUINE PRAISE is the offering up of our body as a living sacrifice, committing it gladly in the service of God without grumbling; and praise from hearts repenting and being purified from sin! (Ps. 51)

“I appeal to you therefore brethren by the mercies of God to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship.”(Rom. 12:1-2)

How did Jesus live so as to receive His Father’s pleasure? By emptying Himself of His glory, taking the form of a servant, and serving obediently even unto death.

How did Paul live manifesting spiritual worship to God? It was through endurance in afflictions, hardships, beatings, imprisonments, labors, fasting … REJOICING in the LORD always… seeing every situation as one to further the gospel! (Phil. 1-4)

So if we’re asking the Lord to shower us with a spirit of true praise, we’re really asking Him to help us yield ourselves to a spirit of glad service in the everyday and in the thankless places and the cruddy jobs. We are really asking Him for BOLDNESS to take the gospel to the lost in our world. Moreover, we are willing to be done with the filth of this world, to be done with bitterness, anger, lust, etc. LET US: … Serve the Lord with gladness… and come before his presence with singing… with cleansed hearts. (Isa. 1:10-20)

We also need to get clear in our minds what we’re asking for when we’re asking for more laborers. “Lord, give us more laborers!” …

We might picture MORE people gathered for OUTREACH ministry … more help in the nurseries … help with various Classes … faithful ministry to the widows… parents nurturing their children in the ways of the LORD… men and women reaching out boldly proclaiming the gospel … somebody going out to a foreign land to help those missionaries … All this and more may well happen.

HOWEVER: (1) But every laborer who is truly serving the Lord with gladness is first of all a person whose heart is on fire with praise and thanksgiving toward God!

(2) GETTING RID of all manner of sin that has been allowed to dirty a believer’s heart is a foundational key to PRAISE-JOY-FILLED LABORS for the souls of others! (Psalm 51:12-15; 40:1-3) When King David repented of his sin, then he began to SING again and then he went AGAIN into the harvest! (Psalm 51)

(3) TODAY, the Holy Spirit is already PRESENT and indwelling; but even so we must follow the same pattern: Acts 4:23-33; Acts 5:1-14!! All too often the Holy Spirit is grieved and quenched. Nothing so quenches the Holy Spirit as lovelessness and ungodliness.

Who are these laborers who get the work done?

People who live a life of repentance and faith… People who have first learned to enter into God’s gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise … People who have learned truly to be thankful unto Him and bless His name. They work diligently with songs of praise in their hearts … they continually renew their strength… for they that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength… (Isaiah 40:31)

JESUS: “… I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) Jesus is building His church all over the earth, including the place where you and I are.

As we lay these two needs [More Praise and More laborers!] before Him we can be sure that our very desire to pray for these things is coming from Him. And we can be sure that He waiting to give us these two miracles in the coming days in greater measure than we could ask or think! But we have not because we ask not!

SHALL WE BECOME A HOUSE OF PRAYER? Or shall we to go to the world for methods and techniques, drawing people to religious clubs rather than being those through whom JESUS CHRIST BUILDS HIS CHURCH?

(1) A spirit of true praise to serve the Lord with gladness – May we yield to it! (2) An army of laborers who will joyfully live and die praising Him – May we be found among them! [Additions and Edited from R.E. Bieber]

Part 1 here

The End Time Blog Podcast Season 2, Episode 269

grace

The incomparable riches of His grace

Posted on June 1, 2022June 1, 2022 by elizabethprata

By Elizabeth Prata

Scroll to bottom after photo for mini-library suggestions of books on grace.

What are these incomparable riches of God’s grace?

First, Christ Jesus.

As we are saved, we step from dead flesh to life eternal. From enemy sinner to forgiven friend. From object of wrath to recipient of grace.

He is GREAT!!

GRACE!!

We are given the grace of Spirit within us and as a result have eternal security of our salvation all the days of our life. Incomparable grace!

“He set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” (2 Corinthians 1:22)

What is to come is MORE GRACE!!

Some Suggestions for Books on Grace:

Fundamentals of the Faith: 13 Lessons to Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus Christ, foreword by John MacArthur

John Bunyan and the Grace of Fearing God, Joel R. Beeke

The Glory of Grace, Lewis Allen

Christian Freedom (Grace Essentials), Samuel Bolton

Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: A Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to His Poor Servant John Bunyan, John Bunyan

All of Grace: An Earnest Word with Those Who Are Seeking Salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, C. H. Spurgeon

Dark Clouds, Deep Mercy: Discovering the Grace of Lament, Mark Vroegop

Grace Transforming, Philip Graham Ryken

The Grace of Repentance, Sinclair B. Ferguson

Grace Defined and Defended: What a 400-Year-Old Confession Teaches Us about Sin, Salvation, and the Sovereignty of God, Kevin DeYoung

Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love, Jerry Bridges