Beating of the Day

The Christian's heaviest burden

(Arthur Pink, "An Honest Heart")

"Behold, I am vile!" Job 40:4

Sin is the Christian's heaviest
burden--and his greatest grief.

"We are lying if we say we have fellowship
with God--but go on living in darkness."
1 John 1:6

Repentance is not only a sorrowing for
sin--but also a turning away from it;
the throwing down of the weapons of
our warfare against God.

If we truly love God, we will . . .
forsake our sins,
abandon our idols
and mortify our lusts.
An honest soul cannot do otherwise;
anything short of that would be hypocrisy.

The upright man is the one who "fears
God--and turns away from evil." Job 1:8

Thomas Watson said:
"It is better to go to Heaven with much difficulty than to Hell with ease."

Our thoughts are the seed of sin.

Hello,
I was listening to a message this morning that really spoke to me. The message was on guarding your thoughts. Phil Johnson was teaching that every sin is hatched and cultivated in the mind. I agree with Phil because scripture backs up his thinking. James Chapter 2 verses 14 and 15 say 14 but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15 Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. The evil desire is conceived, or birthed, in the mind and then grows into sin ( I guess you could say something like I am coveting a cor vet and then I actually commit the act of stealing it.) and then all sin leads to death. So with that small introduction please look over these little notes and tell me what you think..

Sins of the mind.

The sins of the mind grieve God. God destroyed the earth becasue of the thoughts and heart of men. This passage says that God the Almighty grieved and his heart was filled with pain.
Genesis 6:5-7
5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. 6 The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. 7 So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them."

God sees all of our thoughts, when we sin in our mind we sin in his presence. God sees you all the time.
Psalm 1391:-8
1 O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up;
You understand my thought afar off.
3 You comprehend my path and my lying down,
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.
5 You have hedged me behind and before,
And laid Your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
It is high, I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit?
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there;
If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.


What we think is what we are. If we are thinking abotu iniquity we will act out those actions if we think about righteousness we will act our those actions.
Proverbs 23:7
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “ Eat and drink!” he says to you, But his heart is not with you.

Jesus said that the sins of the mind are just as vile as the act, and require the same punishment.
Matthew 5:27-30
You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.

Our acts cannot save us even Jesus looked on the heart. Defilement that is on the inside cannot be washed away by ceremonial cleansing. Jesus said outwardly a person can appear righteous, but on the heart (mind) they are full of full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.
Matthew 23:25-35
25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you cleanse the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of extortion and self-indulgence. 26 Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup and dish, that the outside of them may be clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. 29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 and say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 “Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?


We need repentance. Only God's Spirit can create in us a clean heart that breaks the unholy alliance from sin.
Psalm 51:10
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
2 Cor 7:9-12
9 Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. 10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. 11 For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter. 12 Therefore, although I wrote to you, I did not do it for the sake of him who had done the wrong, nor for the sake of him who suffered wrong, but that our care for you in the sight of God might appear to you.

Name it and Claim it Baby!

Hmm ... 1, 2, 3, give me a new car.... Why didn't that work? Waaa... I followed the recipe...

1) Positive Confession: The Theology of the Spoken Word (Rhematology), or thought actualization, is commonly known as positive confession. It stresses the inherent power of words and thoughts. Each person predestines his own future by what he says verbally and by how well he uses spiritual laws. As such, it is as if we live in a mechanistic universe instead of a personal one (see, Kenneth Copeland, Laws of Prosperity, p. 15; Charles Capps, The Tongue A Creative Force, pp. 117-118; Releasing the Ability of God, pp. 98-99, 101-104).

2) The Gospel of Health: Isaiah 53 is used to justify blanket coverage for the physical healing of every Christian who has enough faith. "...it is the plan of our Father God in His great love and His great mercy that no believer should ever be sick, that every believer should live his life full span down here on earth and that every believer should finally just fall asleep in Jesus" (Hagin, Seven Things You Should Know About Divine Healing, p. 21). Hagin also denies having a headache for forty-five years, labeling such as "simply symptoms rather than any indication of a headache" (In the Name of Jesus, p. 44).

3) The Gospel of Wealth: A central tenet of the prosperity gospel is that God wills the financial prosperity of every Christian. If a believer lives in poverty, he/she is living outside God's intended will. "You must realize that it is God's will for you to prosper" (Copeland, Laws of Prosperity, p. 51).

Lets learn some new words

If it ain't in there it ain't in there.

Extra-biblical ---
Teachings, concepts and practices claimed to be supported by or taught in the Bible, but which are based on incorrect interpretation. In hermeneutics, the study of the methodological principles of interpretation, this is known as "eisogesis" (super-imposing a meaning onto the text), as opposed to "exegesis" (drawing the meaning out of the text).

-- Aaron

Ministry Alert! Justin Peters

Hello all. I met Justin Peters at the deeper conference put on by WOTM this past October. Justin is a very, very Humble minister of the Gospel, who suffers from a relatively mild case of Cerebral Palsy. His ministry is educating believers about the Word of Faith movement. Justin has done A Biblical Critique of the Word of Faith Movement or commonly know as he Health and Wealth or Prosperity Gospel. Justin seminar contains dozens of audio and video clips (primarily the latter) of various WoF leaders such as Benny Hinn, Kenneth and Gloria Copeland, Jessie Duplantis, Creflo Dollar, etc. I have purchased the materials and I must say it was eye opening. He also goes over WoF theology and it's beginnings. I would say that the WoF movement is a cult since they believe in a different Jesus. I also would say that there are probably born again Christians in this movement, but they were not saved at these crusaded. The WoF leaders add things like tongues, healing, and prophecy to salvation. They would say if you do not show these attributes then you are not saved. They also deny the trinity, don't believe Jesus is God, and deny other basic Christians tenants about Jesus and God. You can check out his ministry at Justin Peters , and you can watch the Justin Demo here.


More on Benny Hinn
More on the Copelands
More on the WoF

Blessings,
-- Aaron

Count it all Joy.

Hello All. Please pray for my family. We have been going through a bout of sickness and strain in our lives. My wife who has a congenital heart defect is going to have a catheterization done on February 9th. Please pray the Lords will be done and we accept his good plans. Also she was diagnosed with Hepatitis C yesterday, again please pray that we praise, honor, and Glorify our Lord who saved us becasue he loves us in this situation. Also RJ my son, has a pulmonologist appointment today to see if his lungs are OK. And finally pray that I would be the man that God needs me to be in all of this. That I would honor the Lord with thought, action, and deed, and our family would glorify his precious name. We have been clinging to the Cross during our trials and we hope that through all of this we can strengthen our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

Please hold this scriputer close to your hears.

James 1:2-4
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

I almost forgot. 1 Timothy 4 coupled with Colossians 2

Just and FYI I am an X Catholic. Being Catholic there were certain ordinances and thing we were taught. I read something in 1 Timothy and Colossians today that just jumped off the page for me. I cannot believe I have never seen this before. Back in the days, when I was Catholic we abstained from eating certain foods, like meat, fish, and so on. Also the Priests are not allow to marry. With that being said read these scripture verses..... Does it sound like the Catholic Church is out of order with Scripture?

- Aaron

1 Timothy 4:1-5
1The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

Colossians 2:20-23
20Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belonged to it, do you submit to its rules: 21"Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!"? 22These are all destined to perish with use, because they are based on human commands and teachings. 23Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

Iron Sharpening Iron

Hello all. Here is a great site for free sermons. These sermons are by pastor teacher Phil Johnson. Phil Johnson is John MacArthur's right hand man, so you know they are NOT heresy. :)

Enjoy
-- Aaron

Do you know the Gospel?

OK. I guess I am picking on the Emergent Church quite often here.... Well if they would just do what the bible says I guess I would be OK. I have read yet another article where the Gospel they preach is one of GOOD WORKS to attain salvation. We can never attain salvation through our good works, we have no righteousness of our own. This is the Galatians Heresy repackaged. We cannot teach a false Gospel, look at the consequences of teaching a false Gospel: Galatians 1:8,9 8 But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have reached to you, he is to be accursed! 9 As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! This is strong language. The word accursed used here means "go to hell" in the Greek. Our Good Works cannot attain righteousness for us. Romans 3:10 says As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one; This is the testimony of Scripture about man Genesis 8:21 21The LORD smelled the soothing aroma; and the LORD said to Himself, "I will never again curse the ground on account of man, for the intent of man's heart is evil from his youth; and I will never again destroy every living thing, as I have done. Our hearts are wicked so if we are left up to our own judgment we think we can attain salvation by our own means. But again the Bible says : Jeremiah 17:9 9 The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it? We need to be clothed in Christs Righteousness to be saved. This is the Gospel , read it and beleive.

- Aaron

Morfication of SIN.

This is probably one of the best sermons I have heard on Mortifying SIN by Phil Johnson. You can listen to it here at The Grace Life Pulpit. This message has some great examples of how to destroy the problem of indwelling sin in the believers life. I hope it helps you as it has me.

Blessings.
- Aaron

The Emergent Church is WRONG!

I have to say that the emergent church has got to be crazy. It seems to me like the leaders of this movement read the scriptures (maybe they do) and then decide to go to the opposite direction. I recently read a posting where they are now have a spin off movement called... Queermergent. Why would they support homosexuality? The bible calls homosexuality an out right sin. I beleive we are seeing the Wrath of God in the form of abandonment. The emergent church must repent they are leading people into open and out right rebellion. To say that homosexuality is OK is just another form of supplanting the authority of GOD Holy word, and denying the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. GOD can save these people out of that sin; Nothing is impossible for GOD. I pray the Lord would cleanse society, before it's too late.


Romans 1:18-32 (NIV)
18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. 27In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

28Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

God is Love. Is that ALL?

Everywhere I go I see God is Love. God is Love. Yes he does love us. But is that all he is? God is also, Holiness, Goodness, Justice, Truth, Spirit, Infinite, Eternal, Wisdom, Eternal, Unchangeable, just to name a few. We must understand God and all of his attributes to give an accurate understanding of who and what God is. The first question I like to ask people who say God is love is... If God is so loving why is there , hurt, pain, and disease, in the world? This question usually leaves the person in a lurch. I am going on a Tangent : Our evangelism cannot be "lets show Gods love". The truth is man is evil and man sees all the hurt in the world and makes up a God that is the exact opposite of what he sees. Man breaks the second commandment and invents a God that is just Love, no other attributes like WRATH and ANGER, and JUSTICE. Genesis 6:5 The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. Before the regeneration of the Holy Spirit we are in sins and trespasses. Ephesians 2:1 1As for you, you were in your transgressions and sins. The question is why does God love at all? He loves us because he is Love. Sounds funny. God loves because he is love. We love because we need an opposite reaction to and anger. There is a difference between us and God. Gods ways are not our ways. We all deserve the WRATH and ANGER of a GOOD GOD, but instead he sent his only begotten son to die on a cross for us. End Tangent! We must be diligent to learn about GOD and all of his attributes so we can love him more.

ATTRIBUTES OF GOD.

GOD IS HOLY : Separate for sin and sinners. Isiah 6:1-3 HOLY, HOLY, HOLY
GOD IS WRATH : Romans 1:18 The wrath of God is revealed.
GOD IS JUSTICE : Isiah 30:18 God is a God of Justice.
GOD IS UNCHANGEABLE : Malachi 3:6 I the LORD do not change
GOD IS TRUTH : John 17:17 Your word is Truth.
GOD IS WISDOM : Proverbs 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom
GOD IS SPIRIT : John 4:24 God is spirit.
GOD IS OMNIPRESENT : PSALM 139:8 God is everywhere.
GOD IS OMNISCIENT : ACTS 15:18 God sees everything, even your thought life.
GOD IS OMNIPOTENT : Matthew 19:26 God can do whatever he wants to.

Ouch that stings......

It is little comments like these that make me realize I need the Lords power to keep me on his path. I need him in his power to keep my heart separated unto him. I beleive that Robert Robinson said it best in his hmyn "Come thou fount of every blessing" where is says: "Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love; here's my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above." Lord seal our hearts for your courts above.

- Aaron



"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this--to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

Holiness means separation unto God. The life which belongs to Christ--must be kept from sin. The hands which are held up in prayer--must not touch any unclean thing. The lips which speak to God, and sing His praise--must not be stained by any sinful or bitter words. The heart which is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit--must not open to any thought or affection which would defile God's temple. The feet which Christ's pierced hands have washed--must not walk in any of sin's unhallowed paths. A Christian's life must be holy.

Unholiness is very subtle. It creeps in when we are not aware. It begins in the heart. At first it is but a thought, a moment's imagination, a passing emotion, or a desire. Hence the heart should be kept with unremitting diligence. Only pure and holy thoughts should be entertained.

It is in the thoughts, that all acts begin. All acts are first thoughts. Our thoughts build up our character, as the coral insects build up the great reefs. "As a man thinks in his heart--so is he." If we are to keep ourselves unspotted from the world, as we pass through its foul streets--we must see to it that no unholy thing is for a moment tolerated in our heart! A crime stains one's name before the world; a sinful thought or desire stains the soul in God's sight, and grieves the divine Spirit within us! "Above all else, guard your heart, for out of it are the issues of life." Proverbs 4:23

Fight the good fight of faith.

Wow. Great Testimony by Paul Washer. We must all realize that we are susceptible to the devils schemes. As a man I know that I am very susceptible to the images that all around us in this culture. This clip was helpful for me to watch. Enjoy.

Well Well Put. Modesty.

Modesty is a big issue in our culture and in the Church. I have noticed that the dress in most modern evangelical borders indecency. Clothing is too tight, or too revealing, or the T-Shirts say some pretty dirty things. Mrs. Ingrid Schlueter is a host on Cross Talk , and very Godly woman, who address the issue in her broadcast and Blog post. I was just listening to the show on January 7 that was addressing modesty in the Church and Culture. I have to say she handled the issue very well, and showed it how it really is. I would highly recommend that everyone listen to this broadcast. You can listen to it by going to the link in this post and then going to recent broadcasts on the main page. Also read her blog Ingrid . There is a post on there called Thoughts on Godly Femininity, which talks about the disgusting practice of sexualization of children. It seems as though our culture is more determined than ever to totally destroy purity. I cannot wait for the King to return.

Will the apostles recognize the Gospel you Preach?

I was challenged by Dr. Al Mohler yesterday to ask myself; will the apostles recognize the Gospel I preach when talking with lost people? I challenge you to confront yourself with the same question. Please read what Aurthur Pink said about today's evangelism. I found his words very frighting becasue they speak the truth.


When they awake in hell!

(Arthur Pink, "Present Day Evangelism")

If "modern evangelism" is weighed in the balances of Holy Writ, it will be found lacking; lacking that which is vital to genuine conversion, lacking what is essential if sinners are to be shown their need of a Savior, lacking that which will produce the transformed lives of new creatures in Christ Jesus.

The "evangelism" of the day is not only superficial to the last degree--but it is radically defective. It is utterly lacking a foundation on which to base an appeal for sinners to come to Christ. There is not only a lamentable lack of proportion (the mercy of God being made far more prominent than His holiness, His love than His wrath)--but there is a fatal omission of that which God has given for the purpose of imparting a knowledge of sin. There is not only a reprehensible introducing of humorous witticisms and entertaining anecdotes--but there is a studied omission of dark background upon which alone the Gospel can effectively shine forth.

In twentieth-century evangelism, there has been a woeful ignoring of the solemn truth of the total depravity of man. There has been a complete underrating of the desperate case and condition of the sinner. Very few indeed have faced the unpalatable fact--that every man is thoroughly corrupt by nature, that he is completely unaware of his own wretchedness, blind and helpless, and dead in trespasses and sins! Because such is his case, because his heart is filled with enmity against God--it follows that no man can be saved without the special and supernatural intervention of God.

The teaching of Holy Writ on this point is unmistakable: man's plight is such that his salvation is impossible, unless God puts forth His almighty power. No stirring of the emotions by anecdotes, no regaling of the senses by music, no oratory of the preacher, no persuasive appeals--are of the slightest avail. None but the Holy Spirit can make him willing in the day of His power (Psalm 110:3). He alone can produce godly sorrow for sin, and saving faith in the Gospel. He alone can make us not love ourselves first and foremost, and bring us into subjection to the Lordship of Christ.

But serious indeed as is the above indictment, worse still is that which is being retailed by the cheap-jack evangelists of the day. The positive content of their message is nothing but a throwing of dust in the eyes of the sinner. His soul is put to sleep by the devil's opiate, ministered in a most unsuspecting form. Those who really receive the "message" which is now being given out from most of the "orthodox" pulpits and platforms today--are being fatally deceived. It is a way which seems right unto a man--but unless God sovereignly intervenes by a miracle of grace, all who follow it will surely find, that the ends thereof are the ways of death! Tens of thousands who confidently imagine that they are bound for heaven--will get a terrible disillusionment, when they awake in hell!

What is the Gospel? Is the Gospel a message of glad tidings from heaven to make God-defying rebels at ease in their wickedness? Is it given for the purpose of assuring the pleasure-crazy young people that, providing they only "believe," there is nothing for them to fear in the future? One would certainly think so, from the way in which the Gospel is presented--or rather perverted, by most of today's 'evangelists'! And the more so, when we look at the lives of their 'converts'! Surely those with any degree of spiritual discernment, must perceive that to assure such 'converts' that God loves them and His Son died for them, and that a full pardon for all their sins (past, present and future) can be obtained by simply 'accepting Christ as their personal Savior'--is but a casting of pearls before swine! Because the churches are so largely filled with these 'converts', explains why they are so unspiritual and worldly.