Around the Blogoshere

Welcome to Around the Blogoshere for Friday October 9, 2009. We hope you take the time to check out these interesting blog post on the world wide web.

Spending Time with our Lord
1.) Jim Eliff has an encouraging post on spending time with The Lord. In the post titled, "An Intimate Hour with God", Eliff writes, "It is sometimes good to kneel or to lie down before the Lord. "Come let us bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our God, our Maker." (Ps. 95: 6) Walking while praying can also be helpful, or sitting in a comfortable chair so that all the focus can be on God. Be sure and find a quiet place." You can read the whole post here.

The Church and the World
2.) Over at Grace to You, John MacArthur, has a pointed article on the compromise seen in many "churches" today. In a post titled, 'The Church Verses the World', MacArthur says, "The quest for the world's approval is nothing less than spiritual harlotry. In fact, that is precisely the imagery the apostle James used to describe it. He wrote: "Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (James 4:4)." You can read the rest of the post here.

Real Choice?
3.) John Piper, over at Desiring God, has posted an article titled, "Real Choice, Divine Sway, and the Way Paul Lived". In the post Piper writes, "So my working and willing are necessary. They are real. But they are not first or ultimately decisive. God’s willing and working is decisively under and in my willing and working. The word “for” is crucial. I work because he is working in me. I will, because he is willing in me." You can read the article here.

Lessons From Proverbs
4.) Over at the CCW Blog, Daryl Wingerd, has written a blog post titled, "Disciple of Children: Lessons From Proverbs". In the article Wingerd writes, "The writers of the New Testament display an obvious dependence on this particular Old Testament book, especially when speaking of discipline. The writer of Hebrews, for example, quotes from Proverbs 3:11-12 when describing the discipline of the Lord, likening it to the discipline of the father who delights in his son. Jesus alludes to the same text when He says, “Those whom I love I reprove and discipline” (Rev. 3:19). Two of these New Testament texts bring to mind Proverbs 29:15 where we are told that “the rod and rebuke give wisdom”—something physical and something verbal. Jesus reverses the order in Revelation 3:19, putting the verbal first and the physical second, but in Ephesians 6:4 the order of physical then verbal is preserved—“the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” You can read the post here.

The Brazen Serpent
5) One of the most encouraging things we can do, as believers, is to read Sermons of men from years gone by. One such man I really enjoy reading is C. H. Spurgeon. Over at Spurgeon Dot Org there are many of his sermons that you can read. I have pick out one such sermon. In a sermons titled, "The Mystery of the Brazen Serpent", Spurgeon says, "And now, to-day, I am about to address the mass of my congregation concerning that simple subject of faith in the Lord Jesus, whereby men are saved. And instead of addressing them in a didactic and doctrinal manner, I shall adopt the parable of my text, and endeavour to imitate the example of my Lord, in trying to make faith plain to those who are but children in grace. Allow me, then, dear friends, to describe first, the people in the wilderness—the representatives of men who are sinners. Let me describe next, the brazen serpent—the type of Jesus Christ crucified. Let me then note what was to be done with the brazen serpent—it was to be lifted up; and so was Christ to be lifted up. And then let us notice what was to be done by the people who were bitten—they were to look at the serpent; and so sinners must believe in Christ." You can read the whole sermon here.