A John Owen quote on the Love of Christ

(7.) In this his readiness, willingness, and delight, springing from love and compassion, the counsel of God concerning the way of our recovery is, as it were, proposed unto him. Now, this was a way of great difficulties and perplexities unto himself, — that is, unto his person as it was to be constituted. To the divine nature nothing is grievous, — nothing is difficult; but he was to have another nature, wherein he was to undergo the difficulties of this way and work. It was required of him that he should pity us until he had none left to pity himself when he stood in need of it, — that he should pursue his delight to save us until his own soul was heavy and sorrowful unto death, — that he should relieve us in our sufferings by suffering the same things that we should have done. But he was not in the least hereby deterred from undertaking this work of love and mercy for us; yea, his love rose on this proposal like the waters of a mighty stream against opposition. For hereon he says, “Lo, I come to do thy will, O God;” — it is my delight to do it, Heb. x. 5–7; Isa. l. 5–7.
John Owen "The Glory of Christ"

This makes me think of the hymn song "And Can it Be" by Charles Wesley.

He left His Father’s throne above
So free, so infinite His grace—
Emptied Himself of all but love,
And bled for Adam’s helpless race:’
Tis mercy all, immense and free,
For O my God, it found out me!

Those these two mens doctrine were as different as night and day, their view of the importance and love of the death of Christ was placed at the forefront of all they believed. They both had great love and saw such great love for Christ in his sufferings and pains, and their lives where neither the same after they saw this. Our lives should be moved and changed when we think and view Christ death, the pain he suffered. They both saw the power in the blood.

Even Isaac Watts saw this great love "When I Survey The Wonderous Cross" , Charles Wesley was qouted as saying "he would give up all of his hymns to have written this one"

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss,
And pour contempt on all my pride.

Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast,
Save in the death of Christ my God!
All the vain things that charm me most,
I sacrifice them to His blood.

See from His head, His hands,
His feet,Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e’er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

His dying crimson, like a robe,
Spreads o’er His body on the tree;
Then I am dead to all the globe,
And all the globe is dead to me.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Isaac Watts also wrote "Alas and Did My Savior Bleed"

Alas! and did my Savior bleed
And did my Sovereign die?
Would He devote that sacred head
For sinners such as I?

Thy body slain, sweet Jesus,
Thine—And bathed in its own blood—
While the firm mark of wrath divine,
His Soul in anguish stood.

Was it for crimes that I had done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity! grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might the sun in darkness hide
And shut his glories in,
When Christ, the mighty Maker died,
For man the creature’s sin.

Thus might I hide my blushing face
While His dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay
The debt of love I owe:Here,
Lord, I give my self away’
Tis all that I can do.

Is Tithing Biblical?

Now I know, that instantly this ruffles feathers, because even as I right this it ruffles mine a little, going against everything that I have been taught. We must remember that it is not was has become traditional to us that determines what is instituted, it is what the bible says is true. So I am going to take a stab at this, because everything that I have read in the New Testament about tithing talks about the heart, loving and willful giving, not an instituted and formalistic style given where we have preset rates.

Paul speaks in 1 Cor. ix. 14, (ESV)“In the same way, the Lord has commanded that those who preach the gospel should receive their living from the gospel.”

A preacher should receive his living from the church so that he can apply himself solely to the study of God’s word, for the instruction of the sheep that they should not be led astray by strange doctrines.

Eph. 4:11-14 (ESV)“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

We know that the Lord has given us pastors to guide us into truth and that they are to live off of the church, so that they can apply themselves unto bible and prayer. So what about how the church is to be funded, are we to give because we are required (tithe) or does God look at our motives in giving? Scripture shows over and over that God is not interested in what we can give him as if we are offering him something, but rather our motives are in question when we are giving to God. Now our motives should line up with our ability to give also, it would be foolish to try and give ten million dollars because we want to help out when we only have a hundred dollars. So we must use wisdom even when our motives are right.

Psalms 50:7-15 (ESV)"Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me."

Heb 11:6 (ESV)“And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.”

Our Christian lives must move past the mediocrity of reluctant heart, and into the realm of faith, love, and a giving heart. Paul sums it up nicely in II Cor. chapters 8 and 9 about how we are to give and what should be our drive to give.

2Co 8:3-5 (ESV)“For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own free will, begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints - and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us.”

2 Cor. 9:7 (ESV)“Each one must give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

2Co 9:12 (ESV)“For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God.”

Paul makes a point about being a cheerful giver, and he gives examples about hew these people gave not because they had to, but because they chose to. This is the whole point of obedience of the Christian faith is not that we do things because we have to begrudgingly, but rather because of our overflowing abundance of love to God. Ever trusting in his faithfulness to give and to provide for our needs, not always our wants. Though when we give ourselves completely to God our wants will change. When our all is given to God then is all of our praise also shown to God and evident to others around and they to praise God because they know that all things proceed from God.

2Co 8:15 (ESV)“As it is written, "Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack."

2Co 9:12-15 “For the ministry of this service is not only supplying the needs of the saints, but is also overflowing in many thanksgivings to God. By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission flowing from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others, while they long for you and pray for you, because of the surpassing grace of God upon you. Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!”

I will finish off with a quote from “The General Assembly off 2004 Steward Ship and Budget and Finance Christian Giving”:

“Putting emphasis on tithing might well constitute a trap if the impression were given the Christian can do whatever he or she desires with the other ninety per cent. (This is at least part of the reason for the criticism of the tithing practice in Matthew 23:23 – the minute concern for the giving of ten percent can overshadow the large and limitless commitment which we owe to God.)”

Standing in the Power of God

In the Christian life our faith must be planted in something, whether it is in me and my abilities, or in another’s. The philosophy of most Christians is that their faith was all theirs and that it rested in their ability to exercise it, not that someone gave them their faith or the ability to believe. Thinking that they would then relinquish their will, their ability and making them robots, unaccountable for their actions. We all want the ability to make our boast in what we have done or accomplished, even in our faith we want to say well I had faith and now because of me and my faith now I can enter into the gates of heaven. Though we want to keep Christ as the center of all evangelism, we want to add men in there too as part of the center, that we don’t violate his will. The only thing that we neglect is that there is more to saving faith than just plain faith, because (James 2:19) “you believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe--and shudder!” Many men today claim to have faith in the Father and even in Christ and the atonement, but they are not Christians because they think that they must earn the right to go to heaven. There emphasis is on themselves and what they have to offer to God and what God needs from them, a me, me, me gospel.

This is no knew philosophy the devil has been deceiving men with this since the garden of Eden, convincing men that he can be as God that his destiny is up to him and nothing to do with the might maker. (Gen. 3:5) “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." That is truly what man wants too, is to be the ruler of his own destiny, standing in his own power and strength, but wanting to sneak in that it was through Jesus it was accomplished. I think that if you search through the bible you will see that all men have this tendency to be ruler of their own destiny, and when men followed their own will thinking they were in charge they fell. Not only did they fall, but great problems befell them when they fell. Abraham, Moses, David, Nebuchadnezzar, Saul, Samson, and Jonah just to name a few who decided that they could follow their own destiny and it was up to them. But even though these men supposedly followed their own destiny, where they out of the will of God? I tell you no, that everything that happened to them was not by mere chance or by a mere accident, but all was purposed and planned. It was all orchestrated by an omniscient and omnipotent hand of the all mighty, who controls all things by his power and his wisdom. (1Cor. 10:6) “Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did.” (1Co 10:11) “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” Nothing happens that God is not in perfect and complete control over and works as he pleases, and no man can resist his will, but rather act according and perfectly as he chooses. (Rom 9:19) “You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?"

One of the strongest examples of men trying to be in charge of his own destiny and do as he should please would have to fall to Jonah. He chose to disobey God is his strong hate and displeasure for the people of Nineveh. (Jonah 1:1-3) “Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me." But, Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went on board, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah was resistant to God’s will it was his actions and his choice to resist, but the Lord is the supreme ruler and controller of the universe. Jonah made no decision that was out of the bounds of God’s will, for his actions were as an example to us of God’s power and perfect will. We all know the story a fish came and swallowed up Jonah and retained him in the belly of a whale until he changed his mind to go to Nineveh and preach salvation. Then the whale spit him up onto the dry land, and that ole’ boy ran all the way to Nineveh and preached God’s message to them that lest they should repent they would perish. (Jonah 3:1-3) “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you." So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days' journey in breadth.” Men has his free will but is not in charge of his destiny, but acts in perfect accordance with God’s will of decree which only he knows. Jonah is a perfect example of what Paul said, (Rom 9:19) “…For who can resist his will?"
Christians cannot glory in the things that he has done, as if he himself was initiator of his good works or that they were accomplished in his strength. (Phil. 2:13) “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” The things we do in our life come from the strength and power of the Spirit through Christ for God, not of ourselves lest we should boast. So we must look at why men is incapable in and of himself to accomplish God’s work without Christ, why men is weak and helpless.

(Psalms 51:5) “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Rom 5:12) “Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned.” (Rom 1:32) “Though they know God's decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.” (Rom 3:10-18) “As it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; “no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one." "Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive." "The venom of asps is under their lips." "Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness." "Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.", “There is no fear of God before their eyes." Men has a sinful nature from birth and in that sin nature all of his decisions are sinful, he lives in darkness and deliberately is disobedient to God’s law. If left to himself he would never choose any course of freedom from sin, he would eventually find himself in an eternity in hell. All his decisions would only lead him further away from a Savior, though men have a free will they must be governed by a greater authority or destruction would be there only path.

The next question I guess that comes to mind is; how do men ever come to the enlightening and understanding of salvation? In Romans Paul answers the question; (Rom 10:14) “But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?” (Rom 10:17) “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Rom 1:16) “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.” So what is this power of salvation that is found in the scriptures? What could the scriptures possibly do that men in his wisdom and eloquence of speech could not do? I think the scriptures explain themselves, (1Co 2:4) “and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.” Paul points out something very interesting in the scriptures here about preaching, that it is not about words of wisdom and eloquent and moving speeches, but rather it is about the power of the Spirit. Men can try all he wants to convict people and try and make them change, but if it is not of the Spirit it will be but only fleeting here today and gone tomorrow. Men’s conviction play on the emotions and may cause change but it is only momentary and inspired by a man putting his faith in another man.

So where does true conviction come from? (John 16:8-11) “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.” It is not man that convicts the lost or the righteous, but rather the Holy Spirit that convicts man and guides man to an understanding of a need for a Savior. The Spirit works through our preaching of the gospel, which is foolishness because though we preach the gospel; the work that changes the heart and converts a sinner belongs to the Spirit’s efficacious work. Man has no where to boast in the conversion of one sinner, not even of themselves because it is the work of the Spirit and his conviction and his transformation.

Why should it be that man should have no where to boast in the conversion of any sinner or in their own salvation? Jesus made a very valid point concerning salvation of the lost. (John 15:16) “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” The reason that we can’t boast is because God chose us not because of anything good in us, but because he loved us with an everlasting love. (Ezekiel 34:15-16) “I Myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.” (John 10:16) “And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.” Christ has an effectual call that no human being can equal or even come close to, it is not with mans wisdom either that the Spirit speaks to the heart either, but with an efficacy and power enough to change hearts and save the worst of sinners. The reason that we must recognize and give honor to God is that our faith and all that we believe will not stand in us but in God. For we are finicky and wavering, but God is immutable and unchangeable the same yesterday and today so we must plant ourselves on a solid rock, (1Cor. 2:5) “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Everything in our Christian life should be planted in the power of God. When we began to put faith in ourselves, we only begin to move farther and farther away from the true power. We may be able to draw in the crowds, and see the multitudes moved to tears, but if there is no real Holy Spirit life changing convictions. Then our salt is not salty any more only to be tossed out and trampled on, ready to be spewed out of the mouth of God and have his candle stick removed from our midst. Let our focus be turned back to monergism, that God may receive the glory and honor due unto him in his work.

London at Night

A few of us decided that we would all load up and head down to London for the night. It was a blast, and everything looks so much different down there at night. Everything is so much more detailed, you can see how old things are this way, and it all looks a little gothic.

We emerged from the tube exactly when the bell struck 9:30pm. The whole thing was really cool and lots of fun. We also ate at this really nice Itallian Resteraunt, where they where playing Madonna. I ate: Black Tagliolini with crab meat and two cherrie tomatoes. Very deliciouse I might add, I ate every bit of it, of course the meal was 14.95 pounds, which is about equivilent to 21 dollars. Worth it though.


These are pictures of Parlement, Bigben, The Eye of London at night. The last one is of me and my friends, and my friend Chris who is taking the picture, riding in the tube. He is the one who took the pictures that you are seeing now, I just got me and ancient Digital Camera, which has a 4 mb card in it. So it is good for maybe 10 pictures.

Lord willing I will be able to come back into the military as a Chaplain, and see some more of the world like I have gotten the opportunity now. I have been enjoying my time here, I am kinda a homebody so I haven't seen as much as I could have. There is so much to see just in England alone.


Picture of the Eye of London at night, of course half the lights were off at this particular moment for some reason.


Micah, John David, his wife Juliana, Christ (taking picture), and I, crusing the tube at 9:00 at night. Heading to London.

Lavenham, England

One of the neat quaint little villages that I have visited on my time here in England is named Lavenham. There is a poem called: "The Crooked Man", the poem was based on this little town in England. It is a pretty amazing town and really small, but what is amazing is that people live and have lived in houses as crooked as these. I ate at this little restraunt called "The Sweetmeats Tea Room" and my chair would not even sit level due to the floor being wavy. The walls too were really wavy, which to me is amazing.


They say that when they built the town that they took all of the ships and tore them apart to build the houses out of them. The only problem is, ships are wet and so is the wood, so when they built the houses out of them of course the wood dried up and warped. There are very few houses in England, infact this is the one of the only towns in England where the house is built out of wood, and even at that there is plaster between the wood. I hope that you enjoy the pictures, I will have to post more periodically.


There was a crooked man
Who walked a crooked mile.
He found a crooked sixpence
Against a crooked stile.
He bought a crooked cat
Which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together
In a crooked little house