Juncus Effusus

I recently went to a friends house to get some of that really tall grassy stuff that looks good in landscaping. I chopped off three chunks from the dried up stubs and tight roots of the mature plant. It was a little tougher than I thought it would be to get my chunks of landscaping grass, and I started to wonder if it was worth all the effort. With a sharp axe and spade, I eventually was able to get my prized grass in a big yellow bucket and went home to plant it in the soft spring ground around our house. Now it is starting to grow and it's almost 12 inches tall already!

Yesterday, our local newspaper published an article about this kind of grass that I was so excited about. It's called 'Juncus Effusus'. It actually is from Latin and means, 'ability to be tied together or joined together'. I wondered how this stuff was so hard to get apart from the original plant, and now I know!

I think its healthy for us to take elements of God's creation and use them as parallels as we learn principles from His Word. When I read of this Latin term for this grass, I immediately thought about the early church and how they conducted their 'Christianity'. Acts 2:42 states that these people were "continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to FELLOWSHIP, to the breaking of bread and to prayer". 'Fellowship' in this passage is 'koinonia' in the original Greek, which means 'partnership' or 'sharing'. Juncus Effusus! Tied together. Joined together. United in purpose and thought.

I wonder how many of us Christians are meeting for 'fellowship' just for rigatoni and potato salad in the church basement - OR - are we entering into each other's lives by partnering with them and sharing the same mind?

Patriotic Quiz

To whom are the following quotes attributed?

1). The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.

2). Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land, Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'

3). God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

4). I am profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this Book upon reason that you can, and the balance by faith, and you will live and die a better man.

5). It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the Providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly implore His protection and favor.

6). The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state but from the hand of God.

7). I don’t think it’s healthy for public figures to wear religion on their sleeve as a means to insulate themselves from criticism.

8). I think there is an enormous danger on the part of public figures to rationalize or justify their actions by claiming God’s mandate.

Answers:
1). George Washington - Father of our Country - First Inaugural address.
2). Francis Scott Key - excerpt from 4th verse of the Star Spangled Banner (National Anthem).
3). Benjamin Franklin - Signer of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution
4). Abraham Lincoln - Sixteenth President of the United States
5). George Washington, Thanksgiving Proclamation October 3, 1789
6). John F. Kennedy - Thirty Fifth President of the United States
7). Barack Hussein Obama - Democratic candidate for President of the United States
8). Barack Hussein Obama - Democratic candidate for President of the United States

Prayer Warrior

There's a new prayer warrior in our house. Last night, our two-and-a-half year old little girl prayed for us out loud, for the first time as far as I know, as we said our bedtime prayers together. She thanked God for me. She thanked God for her mommy. She even prayed for 'her future husband'. Out loud. Boldly. Unashamed. Confidently. The enemy is trembling - because victory over him and his corrupting influence is directly connected to communion with God through prayer. I pray that my children learn this truth early in their lives so that they might be spared a life of pain and difficulty.

One of my prayers for my children has always been that they will do great damage to the kingdom of Satan. Our little girl did some damage last night as she 'publically' acknowledged her thankfulness for mom and dad.

"Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving" - Colossians 4:2

Nothing But The Blood

"Without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin." Hebrews 9:22

Robert Lowry wrote this familiar hymn in 1872. It is the kind of song that should be sung in worship services as an affirmation of what we believe from scripture. Its doctrinal content on the blood of Jesus stands in stark contrast to many of the soft, fluffy, clever, catchy contemporary songs that people try to pass off as being ‘Christian’.

I am not against contemporary music. In fact, I like some of it – if the lyrics are doctrinally sound. Some of the older hymns of the faith are slowly disappearing from the modern face of Christianity and being replaced with stuff more shallow than a birdbath. We need to revive these great hymns and celebrate the doctrinal truth they teach.

Nothing But The Blood

What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Refrain
Oh! precious is the flow, That makes me white as snow;
No other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

For my pardon, this I see, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
For my cleansing this my plea, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain

Nothing can for sin atone, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
Naught of good that I have done, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain

This is all my hope and peace, Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
This is all my righteousness, Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain

Now by this I’ll overcome— Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
Now by this I’ll reach my home— Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain

Glory! Glory! This I sing— Nothing but the blood of Jesus,
All my praise for this I bring—Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Refrain

Sin is Lawlessness

No proclamation of the gospel is complete unless it articulates why we need to be saved and what we are being saved from. We are all sinners and we are all stained with the corrupting, defiling, polluting effects of sin. The Bible says that sin is lawlessness (1 John 3:4).

It doesn’t matter if we’ve broken the speed limit, robbed a bank, told a white lie or idolized possessions – we’ve all actively and willingly participated in lawless deeds. We do these lawless deeds because it is in our deceitful and wicked hearts to do so. We inherited this propensity to sin from our first forefather, Adam. There’s no escaping the fact that we all sin.

This is a seriously bad situation we’re in, because Isaiah says in chapter 59 and verse 2, that our iniquities have made a separation between us and our God. And not only that, but our sins have hidden his face from us so that he does not hear! This is not good news to the human race.

But, God loved us, even while we were still enemies! (See Romans 5:6-11) The good news - in the midst of the bad news – is that there is deliverance from the guilt of sin, the power of sin and the pollution of sin. But this deliverance and cleansing is only available to those who renounce their personal sin and sincerely put their faith and trust in the atoning, finished work of Christ - the work He did on the cross as our substitute. Claiming that our so-called good works will earn us a place in heaven is the highest manifestation of disrespect to God, who had His one and only Son killed to bear the wrath and fury that should have been directed towards us.

Oh to grace, how great a debtor,
Mark

Pray Without Ceasing

The Puritan Movement took place in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Valley of Vision is a collection of prayers by devoted men of God known as the Puritans, such as Richard Baxter, David Brainerd, John Bunyan, Thomas Watson and Isaac Watts. The writer of the preface to the book states that ‘the strength of Puritan character and life lay in the practice of prayer and meditation’.

To our own peril, in our slothfulness we have largely neglected the disciplines of prayer and meditation. We tend to let our pastors, friends and ‘prayer warriors’ do most of our praying.
The depth and intensity of our secret, private prayer life is often revealed in our corporate times of prayer. Our corporate prayers never develop beyond the weak and impotent because we never actively cultivate private prayer and communion with God. One of the disciples begged for Jesus to teach them how to pray (Luke 11:1), and so too should we beg in like manner for the Lord to teach us.

We can learn to pray by:
1). Reading and studying the great prayers of scripture.
2). Reading/hearing prayers of committed men of God (such as the Puritans).
3). Praying. We learn by doing. If we don’t pray, we’ll never learn how to pray with effectiveness.

Meditate on this prayer from The Valley of Vision:

May I never think I prosper unless my soul prospers,
Or that I am rich unless rich toward thee,
Or that I am wise unless wise unto salvation.
May I seek first thy kingdom and its righteousness.
May I value things in relation to eternity.
May my spiritual welfare be my chief solicitude.
May I be poor, afflicted, despised and have thy blessing,
Rather than be successful in enterprise,
Or have more than my heart can wish,
Or be admired by my fellow-men,
If thereby these things make me forget thee.

Reconciled to God

Continuing our look at Colossians chapter 1, we see in verses 21 and 22 that even though we were alienated, and hostile in mind, and engaging in evil deeds - even when we were all that and worse - Jesus Christ has reconciled us through His substitutionary death on the cross. Reconciled!

When I hear the term 'reconciled', I think of two married people who were estranged from each other - alienated from each other, hostile toward one another, possibly engaging in dispicable deeds toward one another - and now they have reconciled. They have thoroughly, completely, entirely, totally changed from being at enmity with each other and now they are at peace with each other. That is what the term reconciled means in this passage - we are not estranged from God anymore, we are not at enmity with him - we are thoroughly, completely, entirely, totally changed. And this is not through any effort on our own part, because the change is solely based on the finished work of Christ on the cross. See verse 22: HE has now reconciled us. How dare we would be so arrogant as to think that we could ever approach God in any other way except by the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Why would Christ spill His blood to reconcile us vile, wretched, sin-stained, bankrupt people? To present us to God as holy and blameless and beyond reproach. Does this passage not flood your soul with joy?

But go on to verse 23. We are not left without responsibility. Someone once said that 'responsibility is our response to God's ability'. God does the work and we respond accordingly.

How? By continuing in the faith, staying steadfast, and unmoveable.

A Great Inheritance

I have often thought that an unexpected inheritance would be a cool thing to receive someday. It might help to pay some bills or buy a few extras. It would be kind of nice!

This morning I found myself reading from Colossians chapter 1, and the Apostle Paul reminded me that I am already qualified to share in an entirely different and infinitely better inheritance! Not jewels, gold or legal tender, but rather an inheritance that is "imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven" for me (1 Peter 1:4). Some other parts of that inheritance I am experiencing already. Colossians 1:13 states matter-of-factly that I have been delivered from the domain of darkness and have been transferred into the kingdom of God's beloved Son. It goes on to say in verse 14, that I have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Is there any worldly inheritance that can do that??!! Any worldly inheritance that I would ever receive might well be squandered on things that will either be broken or in the garage-sale pile in 2 years.

My tremendous responsibility and weighty challenge is not to squander this spiritual inheritance that has been lavished upon me. I think this responsibility and challenge also extends to anyone else that has been delivered from darkness and who is sharing in the inheritance of the saints.

Are we living up to the challenge?
Mark

Obamanation

The Obama campaign needs ME?!

I am so excited! With the slogan ‘Change We Can Believe In’, I have some ideas of my own that the campaign might be able to use!

Today my home state of Pennsylvania is holding its primary. It’s no secret that the national front-runner in the Democratic Party is no more ‘pro-life’ friendly than his opponent. But he says he is for ‘change’, so maybe my help in his campaign will help him to implement REAL change.

Here are some ideas on real change that I’d like to see coming out of the Obama camp:

1). Change your attitude about the unborn. We need to change from a culture of death to a society that embraces life - especially the lives of innocent babies! Would you view a little boy as any less of a person than a teenager? Would you view a toddler as any less of a person than a boy? Would you view an infant as any less of a person than a toddler? Would you view a 39-week old fetus as any less of a person than a baby that was born two months prematurely? Why is it acceptable to you that women have the right to murder their unborn, unwanted children, but it is not acceptable to murder their unwanted 2-month old infants?

2). Change your definition of Pro-Choice. If we must be a pro-choice society, then the abortion providers MUST give women all the choices and options, rather than being hell-bent on selling only abortions. Keeping the baby would certainly be a good choice. Adoption is a good choice. Killing the innocent is never a good choice. But providing real choice to scared and distraught women puts the murder mills out of business.

Our country is guilty of killing five pre-born babies every two minutes. And we’ve been doing it year after year after year, since Roe v. Wade. That’s pretty sick if you think about it. It’s an abomination. I think its time for ‘change’ from the status quo and stop the senseless homicide. We need some RADICAL changes in our collective thinking and behavior if we’re ever going to have the kind of ‘change we can believe in’.

Does the Obama campaign still need me?

New Stuff

I've added two new features! "Treasuring the Word" in the upper left corner will hopefully encourage you to memorize the same verses that I am working on. Also further down in the left column will be a "Quotes" section where I will share some of my favorite statements by some of my favorite authors from some of my favorite books!

Mark

Doxology!

It is fitting to have respectful bursts of glory and honor to King Jesus after hearing the great truths of the scriptures. That is what a ‘doxology’ is. The dictionary defines the term as ‘an expression of praise to God, especially a short hymn sung as part of a Christian worship service’. The word ‘doxology’ comes from two Greek words: ‘doxa’, meaning 'glory'; and ‘logia’ (or logos), meaning 'words'. Words expressing glory!

A doxology is a powerful, emotion-filled response to proper theology and doctrine. In Romans 16:25-27, Ephesians 3:20-21 and 1 Timothy 1:17, Paul explodes in praise, honor and adoration to the King of Kings after having just explained some great theological point.

When I was growing up - after every sermon, without fail - we sang the hymn known simply as ‘The Doxology’. I didn’t know it back then, but we were responding corporately to the truth that we just heard from God’s Word in the sermon. This is one of the first songs we taught our own children, singing it to them almost every night before bed.

Dads and Moms of young children: sing this song with your children.

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Do not neglect the daily teaching of biblical truth to your young children, and do not neglect teaching them the proper responses to it. And do not neglect it in your own life.

Mark

What's Wrong With This Picture?

1). Could it possibly be a violation of the Second Commandment, not to make any graven images (Exodus 20:4)? If the Second Commandment’s purpose is to prohibit idolatry and false worship, and not necessarily ‘artistic expression’, then maybe this big cement Jesus is just someone’s way of expressing what they perceive Jesus to have looked like on the cross.

But…

2). This Jesus is too clean and too recognizable. The Bible says that Jesus was pierced and crushed and bruised and wounded (Isaiah 53:5). Jesus was scourged and beaten (Matt. 27:26;30). Historians tell us that the floggings that took place in that day were beyond brutal. The device used for the floggings was usually a leather whip with stones and glass embedded into the leather so as to rip the skin off of the ‘criminal’ in ribbons of torn flesh and muscle. Jesus also had a spear rammed into his side (John 19:34) and He wore a crown of thorns that was mercilessly rammed onto his head (Mark 15:17). There is no accurate representation of this brutality in this picture.

3). The other thing that is wrong is this: Jesus is no longer on the cross. He’s no longer in the tomb either. The cross is empty and the tomb is empty. He is very much alive and seated at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19; Col. 3:1; Heb. 1:3). What is attractive to the unbeliever about showing a dead and defeated Jesus in His humiliation? Why would we want to depict the Conqueror of sin and death in any other way than ‘living and victorious’?

You see, even a statue, a crucifix, or ornamentation on the front of a church can give us the wrong ‘picture’ of who Jesus Christ is. If we have a wrong view of who He is, how then can we properly understand why He came to earth and what He did here? We MUST go to the Word of God to find out who Christ is, how He lived, how He died, what His purpose was and what He is doing right now.

Christians must preach the good news of the gospel. Christians must be able to articulate and clarify the gospel. At least once a week, probably on the weekends, I hope to enter into a habit of sharing elements of the gospel from what I am learning in my study of Paul's letter to the Romans.

Not ashamed of the Gospel,

Mark

Christian Influence

In the greatest sermon ever preached, Jesus Christ said 'you are the salt of the earth' (Matthew 5:14). He most assuredly was speaking to the fact of the Christian's influence in the culture.

I am not sure who Elihu Burrit is, but he makes the following statement (as quoted in The New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-7, by John F. MacArthur) :

"No human being can come into this world without increasing or diminishing the sum total of human happiness, not only of the present but of every subsequent age of humanity. No one can detach himself from this connection. There is no sequestered spot in the universe, no dark niche along the disc of nonexistence to which he can retreat from his relations with others, where he can withdraw the influence of his existence upon the moral destiny of the world. Everywhere his presence or absence will be felt. Everywhere he will have companions who will be better or worse because of him. It is an old saying, and one of the fearful and fathomless statements of import, that we are forming characters for eternity. Forming characters? Whose? Our own or others? Both. And in that momentous fact lies peril and responsibility of our existence. Who is sufficient for the thought? Thousands of my fellow beings will yearly enter eternity with characters differing from those they would have carried thither had I never lived."

Am I making a difference?
Are you?

Mark

Great is Thy Faithfulness

This morning our family read through the familiar refrain in Lamentations where Jeremiah remembers the faithfulness of his God (3:20-23). After a rough night of sleep, this passage was a welcome refreshment to my tired soul:

Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness. Surely my soul remembers and is bowed down within me. This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.

As the sun made its appearance over the morning horizon on my way to work, I was indeed experiencing the new, fresh mercies of the Lord on a cool, crisp, spring morning in April.

Thomas Chisolm wrote the following hymn in 1923 as a result of his personal study of the Word of God and by experiencing the mercies of God first hand. How many times have we sung this great hymn of the church without feeling the height and depth and breadth of the character of God it describes?

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee.
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy Faithfulness, Lord unto me.

Looking forward to tomorrow’s new mercies,
Mark

Choose Life

I spent part of my day today at a Hillary Clinton rally. If you think I was there to support Hillary for President, well… you’re wrong! I can’t think of much that she stands for that I would support, but it was an interesting experience for a staunch conservative to be in this crowd. You could say that I was in the minority.

Her and I would disagree on much, not the least of which is our views on abortion. She says that ‘the potential for life begins at conception’. Please stop the word games already. Potential? Until he or she is brutally murdered with saline solutions or having their bodies torn to pieces with forceps, of course.

Hillary supports the right for a woman to choose whether she will let her pre-born child live or whether she will murder her pre-born child. Are you kidding me? This is still allowed in America in 2008, after all we have learned about prenatal development since Roe v. Wade?

God would be completely justified in obliterating our nation right now after we have allowed these atrocities to go on for so long. In fact, we are already under the wrath of God (Romans 1:18-32), and every day that we don’t experience His fury over this issue is one more day that we have a chance to repent and do the right thing.

Hillary, the right to ‘choose’ will never include ALL women, until it is extended to pre-born women also. In fact, equal rights for women will never be achieved until ALL pre-born females also have equal rights. Stop your support of infanticide. Stop supporting the murder of the most helpless and innocent among us. Choose life.

Proud to be Pro-Life,

Mark

The First Step

"In every journey, there must be a first step. There must be a change from sitting still to moving forward." This is a quote from a booklet I just finished reading by J.C. Ryle entitled ‘A Call to Prayer’. He makes this statement in regards to those who have real desires for salvation, but there is a principle here that applies to everything after salvation. This includes everything from Bible study to worship and systematic giving; from fervent prayer to solitude and journaling.

This web log is somewhat of a journaling effort, but not necessarily. It is a forum to communicate things that I might not otherwise communicate. It is mostly a means for me to change from ‘sitting still to moving forward’ by posting my thoughts and musings, while at the same time provoking stimulating responses and discussion.

My hope and prayer is that this site will be beneficial to family, friends and anyone else that might stumble upon the site - while at the same time being beneficial to myself and my own immediate family. We might all be encouraged by each other’s respective faiths in the same Lord, Jesus Christ (Romans 1:11-12).

Moving forward,
Mark