SOME THOUGHTS FOR TODAY

Today I offer you some various thoughts to consider. We must seek God for all
our answers.He has spoken to us clearly in His word. I hope these thoughts are a help
to each of you. Please pray for me.   

    
 “He Must Increase, But I Must Decrease” John 3:30
I would far rather publish the good writings of my brothers and sisters than to seek glory
for myself by always being the one doing the writing, or the preaching. Let Him who “ever
lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25), receive any glory that comes from these
feeble publishing efforts. To paraphrase George Whitefield “Let the name of Woodruff
perish, but Christ be glorified!” I only let you know who I am so that I may be of service to
you in Jesus Christ.
As George Whitefield himself said:
“Unloose my stammering tongue to tell, Thy Love immense, unsearchable”.
 
Enemies of the Christian That Rise Up Against Him                            
We know that the world, the flesh and the devil are our enemies. We may have our worst
problems with the flesh, though that very flesh may lead us to say “the devil made me do it”.
The flesh brings the believer these problems:
1. Indifference= spiritual coldness.
2. Ingratitude= unthankful to God.
3. Inconsistency= unstable in all our ways.
4. Inactivity= Not interested in the things of God.
5. Indecency= Immorality, sin, rebellion.
(The remedy can be found in Psalm 3:3, 4.)
“If you believe what you like in the gospels, and reject what you don't like, it is not the gospel
you believe, but yourself.”(Augustine of Hippo).
 
The Subject of Liars                                                                                                                     
A preacher finished the service one morning by saying, “Next Sunday, I am going to preach on
the subject of liars. As a preparation for my sermon, I would like you all to read Mark 17.”
On the following Sunday, the preacher rose to begin. Looking out at the congregation he said,
“Last week I asked you all to read Mark 17. If you have read the chapter, please raise your
hand.” Nearly every hand in the congregation went up. Smiling, the preacher said, “You are the
very people I want to talk to. Mark has only 16 chapters.”
 
Reformed Theology - Sola Scriptura                                               

The Arminian doctrine of election states that God looked into the future and chose those people 
who were going to choose Him. In Romans 8, the Greek word for ‘foreknew’ means to ‘to
know beforehand’ ‘forelove’ or ‘foreappoint’, not ‘look into the future’. The Arminian
absurdly believes that the eternally omniscient God looked into the future to gain knowledge
from His creations.No being can choose Christ until He is revealed to himself by the Lord.
 
The Author of Salvation
"For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many
sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" Hebrews
2:10).A Captain in today's U.S. military is a high ranking officer. In the U.S. Navy the rank of
Captain is equivalent to U.S. Army Colonel, which is higher up the ladder than the Air Force,
Army or Marines’ Captain. So when we see the King James phrase "captain of their salvation"
we realize it is an officer of high rank in the military. But, actually the same Greek word is
translated "author" in Hebrews 12:2. "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Some versions say "leader", "originator",
"founder", "author", etc... Jesus Christ is all that. He is the author, leader, originator of this life
changing event, this thing, this joy, which we call salvation. Our following of this leader is not
to simply be going forward in a congregation one time to make a confession of faith, but is a
lifetime of endeavoring to follow Him who is the Good Shepherd. The sheep do follow Him. I
remember well the hymn we sung so often in my Southern Baptist childhood "Where He Leads
me I will Follow". (See link) http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/w/h/e/wherehlm.htm .To sum
it up, a captain is a leader. There is much more we could say, but that is beyond the purpose of
this short meditation. As His sheep, we should be prepared to do as the old hymn says, and
follow Him today wherever He leads and "Go with Him, with Him, all the way".
 
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto
babes." Matthew 11:25Jesus' words here show us:
To some sinners truth is revealed;
To some it is hidden and concealed.
 
A Warning! 

This is a warning I hope we all take to heart. As people of The Word,we have to ask ourselves
“How we can really expect to improve on a perfect model?” Cautiously, I will say that some new
ways of applying the unchanging biblical principles are fine. We need to be able to communicate
with 21st Century culture, but we must not abandon the heart of the Gospel, and basics of 
authentic discipleship in the process. We must preach the pure gospel as Paul, John,
 and Peter did! Amen!
Published by Charles Woodruff- email oursong2000@yahoo.com