Read. Seen. Heard. Bits of wisdom.

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J.C. Philpot
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What Really Burned in the Fire of Notre-Dame?
By Erwin W. Lutzer April 16, 2019

The loss of the beautiful Cathedral of Notre-Dame has touched all of us deeply. Those of us who have had the privilege of visiting this iconic cathedral marvel at its Gothic architecture. I have watched people come into the cathedral and as soon as they adjust to the semi-darkness, their eyes follow the high columns heavenward. This is, of course, the very point of Gothic architecture; it speaks of transcendence, inviting us to look up beyond ourselves to God in humble worship.

As has been reported on the news, this cathedral has weathered political revolutions and two World Wars. When my wife and I visited it, we walked up to the altar, recalling that during the French Revolution the statue of Mary was replaced with a woman called “the goddess of reason,” and it was here that Napoleon crowned himself emperor in the presence of Pope Pius VIII. Napoleon crowned himself signifying that his authority was not derived from the church; indeed, the church would be subject to the state and not the other way around as was true in previous centuries.

Construction on the cathedral began in 1163, during a time when the only available worldview was that of Christianity—specifically Catholicism. It was built before the Reformation and the Enlightenment, which broke the Catholic Church’s monopoly over the consciences of the masses who longed for religious freedom.

What burned on Monday night? First, an architectural wonder. The huge cathedral’s stained-glass windows were damaged, as well a centuries-old organ. Also, many artifacts and paintings were destroyed (at the time of this writing the extent of the damage inside the cathedral is still being assessed).

Second, what burned was a symbol of French identity. The cathedral, originally built as a place for worship had, after the French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars, stood as a symbol of France and its religious and political history. Indeed, the cathedral is not even owned by the church, but by the state.

France prides itself in being a secular country, thoroughly secular. So as Parisians watched it burn, most were not thinking of it as a church where God was worshipped as much as a monument to Frances’s storied history. A French actor by the name of Emmanuel Gary, who gathered with the masses mourning the great loss, said it clearly: “This is not about the faith, it is a symbol of France.”

Something else burned as well: the cathedral’s iconic spire with its cross at the very top as a reminder of Jesus’ death on behalf of us as helpless sinners. Onlookers gasped as the burning spire, which for over a century pointed heavenward, fell piece by piece into the massive structure.

The news reported that a crown of thorns, purportedly the very crown placed on Jesus’s head, was salvaged. Let us pray that the message of the cross as explained in the New Testament will also be rescued from the flames of spiritual apathy. One of the important lessons of tragedy is that it forces us to think soberly of what matters most.

For history’s sake I hope the cathedral is rebuilt. But as I watched it burn, I was reminded of the words of Augustine, “Whatever men build, men will destroy, so let’s get on with building the Kingdom of God.”

The terrible fire in Paris reminds us that a greater fire is on its way. “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed” (2 Peter 3:10).

Let me reword Augustine: “Whatever men build, fire will eventually destroy, so let’s get on with building God’s church, since not even the fire of hades can destroy it.”

Only that which is eternal can escape the fire that is yet to come.
Source: https://www.moodymedia.org/blog/2019/04 ... otre-dame/
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
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J.C. Philpot
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God still continues to converts sinners, drawing them to Himself, even in these dark days.
I have had many opportunities to share the gospel this month in the mountains outside the city of Oxapampa. Several families invited me into their homes where I was able to speak to them about the Scriptures.

Among the different families, four people have turned to Christ and now confess Him to be their Savior. The Holy Spirit has worked in these four new believers in a way that I have rarely seen. On separate occasions, they have each been in tears and brokenness over their sin, repenting and confessing faith in Jesus Christ as their only Lord and Savior.

One of these new believers is named Hector. As we were sitting in his home the first thing Hector did was to make very clear that he was anti-Christian: ‘Pastor, I am not a Christian nor do I ever want to be a Christian.’ Hearing him make such an antagonistic statement, my first inclination was to leave him just as he wished to be—if he doesn’t want to listen to me, then I won’t speak to him.

But the Spirit of the Lord seemed to give me such an unsettledness on his behalf that I couldn’t do what humanly speaking I wanted to do, which was simply to leave him in his need. Instead, I was moved and felt the absolute necessity of speaking to him about the living and true God and about the risen Savior.

So I began telling him and his family about the gospel and I urged him to go to Christ for life rather than dying an eternal death in hell for his sins. Also, in light of what he said about not wanting to be a Christian, I explained to him that Jesus doesn’t just give us an invitation as if we could either take it or leave it, but rather commands us to obey His call to repentance and come and receive life from Him.

Up until that point in our conversation, I didn’t know what was going on in Hector’s heart. It wasn’t until I saw his eyes filling up with tears that I realized the Lord was doing something. He said, ‘I want to be saved, but I can’t.’ And so I assured him of the glorious promise of the gospel: ‘Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ That truth became a reality in this man’s life. The Holy Spirit brought new life and salvation to his lost soul.
Source: http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/latin ... OH4rH0BGPc (Mission Organisaton of Paul Washer)
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
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helma
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Arja
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Wat vind jij van zijn antwoord?
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helma
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Er zaten een paar stukjes in die me erg aanspraken.
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Arja
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helma schreef:Er zaten een paar stukjes in die me erg aanspraken.
Ja, dat had ik ook. Ik was er heel blij mee.
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J.C. Philpot
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Tim Keller schreef:If you're pharisaical towards Pharisees, you're still a Pharisee.
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
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Arja
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J.C. Philpot schreef:
Tim Keller schreef:If you're pharisaical towards Pharisees, you're still a Pharisee.
Please explain ...
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J.C. Philpot
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J.I. Packer turns 93 today. A couple of yours ago, he was interviewed about getting older.

J. I. Packer, 89, On Losing Sight But Seeing Christ
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/arti ... ng-christ/
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
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J.C. Philpot
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John MacArthur schreef:Complementing Christ

God exalted Christ "and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:22-23).

The church was designed to complement Christ.

Here Paul uses a graphic analogy to illustrate the relationship of Christ to the church: He is the head; believers are His body. Paul elaborates that we're to hold "fast to the head [Christ], from whom the entire body, being supplied and held together by the joints and ligaments, grows with a growth which is from God" (Col. 2:19; cf. Eph. 4:15-16).

Just as the head controls the human body, so Christ governs His Body, the church (cf. 1 Cor. 12:12-31). By His Spirit and His Word He supplies all the resources the church needs to function to His glory. In that way He guarantees that His purposes will be fulfilled.

The church is in fact "the fulness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:23). The implication is that the incomprehensible, all-sufficient, all-powerful, and utterly supreme Christ is in a sense incomplete—not in His nature, but in the degree to which His glory is seen in the world.

A synonym for "fulness" is "complement." The church was designed to complement Christ. He is the One "who fills all in all"—the fullness of deity in bodily form (Col. 2:9) and the giver of truth and grace (John 1:16). Yet He chooses to reveal His glory in and through the church. Therefore, until the church is fully glorified, Christ will not be fully complemented.

Does your life complement Christ? Do you "adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect" (Titus 2:10)? Do you "let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16)? You have every spiritual resource to do so, so don't let anything hold you back (Heb. 12:1-2)!

Suggestions for Prayer

Read Psalm 139:23-24 and pray with David that God will search your heart and reveal any sin that might hinder you from complementing Christ today.
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
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J.C. Philpot
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He who has no experience of the love of Christ for others very likely has no saving knowledge of the love of Christ at all.

Alexander Simpson
Man is nothing: he hath a free will to go to hell, but none to go to heaven, till God worketh in him to will and to do of His good pleasure.

George Whitefield
Isala
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Testimony of Mary Peckham.
How God has worked in the Hebriedes revival.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS2Gw4u_Tv4&t=302s
Hora est!
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C.H. Spurgeon: "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law. The book of Leviticus and all the other typical books are valuable as gospel-teaching to us, because there is always in them most clearly the law of God. The law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man’s heart, unless you first send the needle of the law through the center thereof, to make way for it. If men do not understand the law, they will not feel that they are sinners; and if they are not consciously sinners, they will never value the sin offering. If the Ten Commandments are never read in their hearing, they will not know wherein they are guilty, and how shall they make confession? If they are not assured that the law is holy, and just, and good, and that God has never demanded of any man more than He has a right to demand, how shall they feel the filthiness of sin, or see the need of flying to Christ for cleansing? There is no healing a man till the law has wounded him, no making him alive till the law has slain him."
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Arja
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Canada schreef:C.H. Spurgeon: "I do not believe that any man can preach the gospel who does not preach the law. The book of Leviticus and all the other typical books are valuable as gospel-teaching to us, because there is always in them most clearly the law of God. The law is the needle, and you cannot draw the silken thread of the gospel through a man’s heart, unless you first send the needle of the law through the center thereof, to make way for it. If men do not understand the law, they will not feel that they are sinners; and if they are not consciously sinners, they will never value the sin offering. If the Ten Commandments are never read in their hearing, they will not know wherein they are guilty, and how shall they make confession? If they are not assured that the law is holy, and just, and good, and that God has never demanded of any man more than He has a right to demand, how shall they feel the filthiness of sin, or see the need of flying to Christ for cleansing? There is no healing a man till the law has wounded him, no making him alive till the law has slain him."

The law is our pedagogue to bring us to Christ; and there is no coming to Christ unless the stern pedagogue shall lead us there, with many a stripe and many a tear.

In this text we have law and gospel too: there is the law which tells us that the sacrifice must be perfect to be accepted; and behind it there is the blessed hint that there is such an unblemished sacrifice which is accepted, which we may by faith bring to God without fear of being rejected. Oh, for grace to learn both law and gospel at this time!

https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-libra ... #flipbook/
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Arja
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John Flavel

Perhaps the smallness of the sin is urged as a reason why you may commit it: "It is ... but a little sin, but a small matter, but a trifle!"

But, if you commit this little sin - you will offend a great God! Is there any little Hell to torment little sinners in? No! The least sinners in Hell are full of misery! There is great wrath treasured up for those whom the world regard as little sinners. The less the sin - the less the inducement you should have to commit it. Will you provoke God for a trifle? Will you destroy your peace, wound your conscience, and grieve the Spirit--all for nothing? What madness is this!
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