kerux noemata

The Charge of the Leaf Brigade

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 17:55:00 +0000

In emailing some "friends" today, I came to the conclusion that there are only 600 of us left who still cheer for the Blue and White...

And then I wrote this. With a little help from Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

----------------------------

Half a league, half a league,

Half a league onward,

All in the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Leaf Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!" he said:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

"Forward, the Leaf Brigade!"

Was there a man dismay'd?

Not tho' the soldier knew

Someone had blunder'd:

Theirs not to make reply,

Theirs not to reason why,

Theirs but to do and die:

Into the valley of Death

Rode the six hundred.

Bruin to the right of them,

Sabre to the left of them,

Hab in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

Boldly they rode and well,

Into the jaws of Death,

Into the mouth of Hell

Rode the six hundred.

Flash'd all their sabres bare,

Flash'd as they turn'd in air,

Sabring the gunners there,

Charging an army, while

All the world wonder'd:

Plunged in the battery-smoke

Right thro' the line they broke;

Yankee and Quebecois

Reel'd from the sabre stroke

Shatter'd and sunder'd.

Then they rode back, but not

Not the six hundred.

Bruin to the right of them,

Sabre to the left of them,

Hab in front of them

Volley'd and thunder'd;

Storm'd at with shot and shell,

While horse and hero fell,

They that had fought so well

Came thro' the jaws of Death

Back from the mouth of Hell,

All that was left of them,

Left of six hundred.

When can their glory fade?

O the wild charge they made!

All the world wondered.

Honor the charge they made,

Honor the Leaf Brigade,

Noble six hundred.

General Life MANners

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:51:00 +0000

I have thoroughly enjoyed the lively discussion these suggestions have made on the blog and Facebook. Here are a few more. Am I a prude? A prig? An out-dated goody-two-shoes?

Opening doors for others. When going into buildings, allow women and elders to go first and open the door for them. When preceding others into a building, don't let the door slam in the face of those behind, but hold the door until the person behind can grab it. If someone holds the door for you, then remember to say "thank you." Elevators/Transit: allow those in the elevator/subway to exit first before entering. Same with buildings or rooms - if someone is exiting the building or room through the same door you are entering, let them exit first.
Remove your hat when sitting down to eat, at the playing of the national anthem or during prayer. Some men prefer to not wear hats indoors as a sign of respect.
Don’t phone before 7:00 am and after 10:00 pm [unless in an emergency].
When on the phone, don't talk with others in the room. Also, leave the room to talk in private if at all possible.
Clean up after yourself. Especially when you are visiting a friend’s home.
Smile. Your whole demeanor should be pleasant and well-mannered and respectful. Take your time and observe people – do they take their shoes off, then you probably should too.

Eating MANners

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:28:00 +0000

Here are some more MANners for you gentlemen to "chew on." Not everyone has liked my suggestions so far, yet they don't seem to give a lot of reasons why in the comments. Tell us why you think these are off-base.

Never talk when there is food in your mouth.
Avoid chewing your food with your mouth open.
Sit up straight in your chair.
At formal meals, stand whenever a lady sits or gets up from table.
Learn place settings. It is not that hard!
Simply use utensils in order as the meal is served.
Place your napkin on your lap.
Cut meat with your knife in your right hand and fork in left. Then transfer utensils to take a bite. (Reverse if left-handed.) There is some variance of opinion on whether or not one should cut all the meat at once and then eat, or cut one piece at a time.
Never use your fingers to push food onto your fork. That is what your knife is for.
Do not eat until the host has picked up her utensil. Also, do not begin to eat until you have been passed all of the food. Wait until everyone is served before eating.
Eat slowly and don't gobble up the food. Someone took a long time to prepare the food, enjoy it slowly. Slowly means to wait about 5 seconds after swallowing before getting another forkful.
When eating rolls, tear off a piece of bread before buttering. Do not cut your roll with your knife but break in pieces with your hands.
Don’t clear the dishes off the table until everyone has finished eating.
Don’t start eating your dessert until the hostess sits down and begins hers. This may mean you have to sit looking at an incredible piece of dessert for some time. Deal with this. :-)

Talking and Church MANners

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:52:00 +0000

Well, this may cause a storm of controversy. Here is what I suggested for MANners in church and in your normal talking to one another.

Talking
• Avoid talking longer than the person(s) you are talking to.
• Ask questions of others before launching out on a long description about you.
• Look the one you talk to in the eye, but glance away occasionally to break eye contact. The listener is expected to maintain eye contact and not glance away.
• Avoid the use of words like, suck, fart, crap, bull, pissed off, and other objectionable terms
• Never interrupt, but if you do, ask permission as you do it.
• Seek to use names often in conversation, especially with new acquaintances. Individuals more than ten years older than you should be addressed with Mr. or Mrs. and only altered by invitation.
• Say, "Please" and "Thank you" often. It shows respect and appreciation. In addition, if they are thanked, then say, "You're welcome".

Church manners
• Do not enter or exit the auditorium when the Bible is being read or prayer made.
• Offer your seat to a lady if there are no other seats available
• If two or more folks are talking together, wait to be invited in to the conversation. If you are standing to the side for more than 30 seconds without an invitation, this is a good clue that you not desired in the conversation.
• Go to new people and introduce yourself. Ask where they are from and seek out any ways to serve them.
• Sit in places where most folks don’t like to
• When you meet someone new be sure to introduce them to at least one or two others by name.

Dress MANners

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 15:32:00 +0000

So, we had a great time thinking through those manners that are particularly necessary for men living in Toronto in 2009.

I began our time by listing some benefits for having and using MANners (some a little tongue-in-cheek).

You should use good manners for these reasons:

You will offend less people.

Women will find you more attractive if you are single.

Married women will not be so disgusted at you.

You will likely appear smarter than you really are and that may get you a raise.

It is a way to love others.

You will likely gain more opportunities for the Gospel.

The we looked at some manners for dress.

Dress

Dress suitable for the occasion. Funerals and weddings generally require jacket and tie. Your 1993 high school jacket is probably due for retirement.

Avoid wearing objectionable images on your clothing

Do not expose your underwear. The only one who finds your underwear-exposure or “plumber-butt” sexy is you. And that is disgusting.

Unless planning on completing some manual labour, why not dress like you would for a casual date with your lady.

What do you think? Are we on the right track?

MANners: What Men Do at GFC.

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:59:00 +0000

Tonight will likely be the most fun Men’s Meeting we have had since, well, last month. We are devoting the year to the idea of Stewardship – How Men Should Wisely Use What God Has Given Them.

The first night was the easy one. We talked about money. The Bible has a lot to say about that and I will maybe post some of our notes from the meeting. More than listing Bible verses, we are trying to make things really practical.

Tonight we get to talk about MANners. Etiquette for men. You heard me. No more slobs. Manners don’t sanctify, but they may be the fruit of sanctification. We have a few things planned to make this an interesting night. I will post more later…

The Father's Whistle

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:40:00 +0000

My friend Michael Haykin is a poet. He writes things that you have to think really carefully about to understand.
I, on the other hand, sometimes find myself saying sentences with last words that rhyme. And for some reason I post them here once in a while. The example below is simply what popped into my head at the end of last Sunday morning’s sermon on Zechariah 10 and 11. I am never sure what to do with these little rhymes (most of which I write out and ignore) but the imagery of that passage was so unique I thought it a helpful way to pull together some of the big themes.
Anyway, here it is for free. I hope in some little way it points you to Jesus.

Behold the flock whipped along to what is certain slaughter
Behold the Father whistling clear for every son and daughter
Is it your name the Shepherd calls and invites to endless bliss?
Turn from the flock doomed to death, to heaven from the abyss.

He’s made a way for you to come, the price: his own Son’s blood
And all who venture faith on Him are met by mercy’s flood
Those worthless shepherds will yell and clutch and try to prove they own you
Just trust the Saviour, friend, and come; He never will disown you.

The Leafs Won Last Night

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:38:00 +0000

Let the dynasty begin.

For Some Parents, Shouting Is the New Spanking - NYTimes.com

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:27:00 +0000

For Some Parents, Shouting Is the New Spanking - NYTimes.com:

"Many in today’s pregnancy-flaunting, soccer-cheering, organic-snack-proffering generation of parents would never spank their children. We congratulate our toddlers for blowing their nose (“Good job!”), we friend our teenagers (literally and virtually), we spend hours teaching our elementary-school offspring how to understand their feelings. But, incongruously and with regularity, this is a generation that yells."

And that is no surprise. When toddlers control the home and parents resort to threatening, repeating and attempting to reason with an unreasonable mind - they will more than likely lose it.

And yelling at your child is a far worse offense than any form of Biblical discipline. Even our own poets figured that one out when they coined the attempted rebuttal:

Sticks and stones may break my bones
But names will never hurt me.

Which, of course, is an utter lie. Any guy who has been beat up at school will tell you that pummelling was easier to forget than what some girl called him one day. That is not any kind of endorsement of physical abuse, by the way. Just noting the fact that verbal abuse really does damage and a parent screaming at her kids is verbal abuse.

How much better to lovingly set clear boundaries with clear results for disobedience, then keep them. Of course, only Christian parents really get this becuase only Christian parents see their duty as shepherding a heart toward God, rather than creating trophies... or tragedies.

On the Full Stretch

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:58:00 +0000

George Whitefield died in his 56th year. Only a few week before that transfer to heaven, he wrote the following to Charles Wesley back in England.

“O to be found on the full stretch for Him who was stretched for us!”

Red-nosed circus billionaire returns to Earth | U.S. | Reuters

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:32:00 +0000

Only in Canada...

Red-nosed circus billionaire returns to Earth | U.S. | Reuters:

"KOROLYOV, Russia (Reuters) - Canadian circus billionaire Guy Laliberte returned to Earth on Sunday wearing his trademark clown's red nose, landing as planned in Kazakhstan after a landmark space performance to highlight water scarcity.

A Russian Soyuz space capsule carrying Laliberte and a Russian-American crew touched down in the vast steppe near Arkalyk in northern Kazakhstan at 8:31 a.m. Moscow time (12:31 p.m. EDT)."

Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews: A Description of How Alexander the Great Was Halted from Destroying Jerusalem

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 18:23:00 +0000

Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews (ed. William Whiston, A.M.):

Although this bit of history is disputed by some, it is a rather remarkable description of what might have taken place. That Jerusalem was strangely spared in Alexander's march is indisputable - only God knows how that took place.

"So Alexander came into Syria, and took Damascus; and when he had obtained Sidon, he besieged Tyre, when he sent all epistle to the Jewish high priest, to send him some auxiliaries, and to supply his army with provisions; and that what presents he formerly sent to Darius, he would now send to him, and choose the friendship of the Macedonians, and that he should never repent of so doing. But the high priest answered the messengers, that he had given his oath to Darius not to bear arms against him; and he said that he would not transgress this while Darius was in the land of the living. Upon hearing this answer, Alexander was very angry; and though he determined not to leave Tyre, which was just ready to be taken, yet as soon as he had taken it, he threatened that he would make an expedition against the Jewish high priest, and through him teach all men to whom they must keep their oaths. So when he had, with a good deal of pains during the siege, taken Tyre, and had settled its affairs, he came to the city of Gaza, and besieged both the city and him that was governor of the garrison, whose name was Babemeses.

[321] ...Now Alexander, when he had taken Gaza, made haste to go up to Jerusalem; and Jaddua the high priest, when he heard that, was in an agony, and under terror, as not knowing how he should meet the Macedonians, since the king was displeased at his foregoing disobedience. He therefore ordained that the people should make supplications, and should join with him in offering sacrifice to God, whom he besought to protect that nation, and to deliver them from the perils that were coming upon them; whereupon God warned him in a dream, which came upon him after he had offered sacrifice, that he should take courage, and adorn the city, and open the gates; that the rest should appear in white garments, but that he and the priests should meet the king in the habits proper to their order, without the dread of any ill consequences, which the providence of God would prevent. Upon which, when he rose from his sleep, he greatly rejoiced, and declared to all the warning he had received from God. According to which dream he acted entirely, and so waited for the coming of the king.

[329] And when he understood that he was not far from the city, he went out in procession, with the priests and the multitude of the citizens. The procession was venerable, and the manner of it different from that of other nations. It reached to a place called Sapha, which name, translated into Greek, signifies a prospect, for you have thence a prospect both of Jerusalem and of the temple. And when the Phoenicians and the Chaldeans that followed him thought they should have liberty to plunder the city, and torment the high priest to death, which the king's displeasure fairly promised them, the very reverse of it happened; for Alexander, when he saw the multitude at a distance, in white garments, while the priests stood clothed with fine linen, and the high priest in purple and scarlet clothing, with his mitre on his head, having the golden plate whereon the name of God was engraved, he approached by himself, and adored that name, and first saluted the high priest. The Jews also did all together, with one voice, salute Alexander, and encompass him about; whereupon the kings of Syria and the rest were surprised at what Alexander had done, and supposed him disordered in his mind. However, Parmenio alone went up to him, and asked him how it came to pass that, when all others adored him, he should adore the high priest of the Jews? To whom he replied, 'I did not adore him, but that God who hath honored him with his high priesthood; for I saw this very person in a dream, in this very habit, when I was at Dios in Macedonia, who, when I was considering with myself how I might obtain the dominion of Asia, exhorted me to make no delay, but boldly to pass over the sea thither, for that he would conduct my army, and would give me the dominion over the Persians; whence it is that, having seen no other in that habit, and now seeing this person in it, and remembering that vision, and the exhortation which I had in my dream, I believe that I bring this army under the Divine conduct, and shall therewith conquer Darius, and destroy the power of the Persians, and that all things will succeed according to what is in my own mind.' And when he had said this to Parmenio, and had given the high priest his right hand, the priests ran along by him, and he came into the city. And when he went up into the temple, he offered sacrifice to God, according to the high priest's direction, and magnificently treated both the high priest and the priests. And when the Book of Daniel was showed him 1 wherein Daniel declared that one of the Greeks should destroy the empire of the Persians, he supposed that himself was the person intended. And as he was then glad, he dismissed the multitude for the present; but the next day he called them to him, and bid them ask what favors they pleased of him; whereupon the high priest desired that they might enjoy the laws of their forefathers, and might pay no tribute on the seventh year. He granted all they desired. And when they entreared him that he would permit the Jews in Babylon and Media to enjoy their own laws also, he willingly promised to do hereafter what they desired. And when he said to the multitude, that if any of them would enlist themselves in his army, on this condition, that they should continue under the laws of their forefathers, and live according to them, he was willing to take them with him, many were ready to accompany him in his wars."

Google Street View goes live in Canadian cites

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:44:00 +0000

Google Street View goes live in Canadian cites:

"Google Street View, a feature of Google Maps that shows high-resolution street-level images on the internet, has gone live in several Canadian cities.

The service is now available in Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, Quebec City, Halifax, Vancouver, Squamish, B.C., Whistler, B.C., Ottawa, Kitchener, Ont., and Waterloo, Ont."

I found my neighbour working in her garden. Thankfully we were not home when the Google Gestapo drove by.... but my bride did spot them this summer. I just have to figure out where she was when they drove by!

History of the Whole Church in a Saturday

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:45:00 +0000

An Old Kind of Christian

Nick has a link up to the No Other Foundation meeting with Dr. Michael Haykin in Ajax next week. Michael taught our church this seminar several years ago and it was a great blessing to us. If you live in the Toronto area, I highly commend it to you!

Why it is nice to not need relics to enflame faith - newsflash: the shroud is fake!

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 21:23:00 +0000

Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin | Science | Reuters:

"ROME (Reuters) - An Italian scientist says he has reproduced the Shroud of Turin, a feat that he says proves definitively that the linen some Christians revere as Jesus Christ's burial cloth is a medieval fake.

The shroud, measuring 14 feet, 4 inches by 3 feet, 7 inches bears the image, eerily reversed like a photographic negative, of a crucified man some believers say is Christ.

'We have shown that is possible to reproduce something which has the same characteristics as the Shroud,' Luigi Garlaschelli, who is due to illustrate the results at a conference on the para-normal this weekend in northern Italy, said on Monday."

Who Would Have Guessed? My Prime Minister Sings...

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:09:00 +0000

Rate Your Pain...

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:51:00 +0000

My good friend Matt is getting his hip surgically repaired. It is a pretty gruesome process. His wife wrote on their blog today...

The nurses often ask Matt to rate his pain on a scale of 1-10. I think he's rating his pain too low. He said a ten on his scale would be for someone to rip his femur out of its socket and beat him with it.

Oh Matty. Made me think of this...

Woman in a Basket

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 14:39:00 +0000

So there was this woman sitting in a basket with a leaden lid. Then this angel popped open the lid, pointed at her and said, “Her name is Wickedness.” Just when you thought it could not get any stranger, two stork-winged women grabbed the basket (lid closed!) and flew off to Babylon.
Such was one of Zechariah’s visions and in its context what a remarkable image it is of what God has done for us in Christ – He has taken our sins away. Our sins themselves, along with all our guilt for them have been “flown away.” Forever.
Last night we pondered that truth for a few minutes at our meeting to pray. I asked folks to think of their sins, then we took a few minutes to state to each other the following: “Jesus died to take away my __________...” and they would fill in their sin (pride, gossip, immoralities, anger, unbelief, etc). I even encouraged them to ponder some of those sin “grocery lists” you find in places like Romans 1 to properly identify their sin.
As one after another spoke I got happier and happier! It was, to press the analogy, like we were all dumping our wickedness in the basket that was soon to be flown away. I reminded our folks that this was not a rehearsal of failure, but a rejoicing in substitutionary atonement! Jesus died for real sins that we commit. But He died! The wrath of God against these wicked deeds was paid in full.
It sure is easy to pray to a Saviour like that.

A New Poster-boy for Catholicism? Conrad Black: Why I became a Catholic

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:31:00 +0000

Conrad Black: Why I became a Catholic - Holy Post:

"As a nominal Anglican, I had always had some problems with Henry VIII as a religious leader. The Anglicans, moreover, have never really decided whether they are Protestant or Catholic, only that they “don’t Pope,” though even that wavers from time to time. Luther, though formidable and righteous, was less appealing to me than both the worldly Romans, tinged with rascality though they were, and the leading papist zealots of the Counter-Reformation.

The serious followers of Calvin, Dr Knox and Wesley were, to me, too puritanical, but also too barricaded into ethnic and cultural fastnesses, too much the antithesis of universalism and of the often flawed, yet grand, Roman effort to reconcile the spiritual and the material without corrupting the first and squandering the second. Fanatics are very tiresome, and usually enjoy the fate of Haman in the book of Esther; of Savonarola, Robespierre, Trotsky, Goebbels, and Guevara...

...Though there are many moments of scepticism as matters arise, and the dark nights of the soul that seem to assail almost everyone visit me too, I have never had anything remotely resembling a lapse, nor a sense of forsakenness, even when I was unjustly indicted, convicted, and imprisoned, in a country I formerly much admired."

Toronto Pastors Fellowship Ready to Go on Monday!

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 19:07:00 +0000

The best part of serving other pastors by hosting the Toronto Pastors Fellowship is that I get to read all the papers presented about one week before anybody else. I just finished David Robinson’s excellent work on, “The Pastor as Competent” and I am quite excited to meet with my brothers, hear this paper, and discuss the truths it contains.
I think we have a pretty cool line up this year. Our idea was to listen carefully to Paul’s admonition to Timothy in 2 Timothy 3 and 4 and so we will take each section and unpack its relevance to us. David starts us off with a look at what makes us competent in our duties – the Word of God we preach.
As always, there will be some great coffee, singing, time to fellowship, pray together and sharpen one another in the things of God.
Does your pastor attend TPF? Some men say they can’t make it because they take Mondays as a day off. I do, too. But I have found over the last 14 years that “losing” part of my day off once a month to this kind of spiritual input bears greater fruit than gardening. Besides, most pastors have fairly flexible schedules and can probably take another day off, so tell your pastor to come. The Starbucks is free!
Looking forward to seeing you there. All are welcome.

Joy in God - Thanks Haggai!

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:46:00 +0000

We have been studying Haggai Sunday mornings at GFC and last week traced out the development of the temple theme in two directions: back to Eden and ahead to the New Jerusalem. What is dominant in that theme is the thought, “God dwells with man.”

Wednesday’s church meeting to pray usually includes some time to put the truth we are learning into action, so I asked our folks to list off everything they could think of about God. My premise was that being residents of this world tempts us to lose focus on the One who will dwell with us forever. We are prone to get more interested in our “paneled houses” than we are in God.

So, in the span of 4-5 minutes, folks just rattled off what they knew was true about God. And as we did that, I sensed our joy in Him getting elevated. I thought I would share with you what the GFC folks said – I was merely “the scribe.”

God is…

Faithful
He rejoices over His own
Love
Accepts sinners
Keeps all His promises
Just
Cannot be deceived
Sovereign
Unchanging
Patient
Holy majestic
Full of power
Complex
Answers prayer
Self-existent
All knowing
Provides all we need
Sustains the universe
Lives in us
The Breath of life
Victorious
Worthy of worship
Truth
Limited only by His nature
Puts away wrath and judgment
Loved us first
Provides the way of escape
Holy holy holy
Sends suffering for our good
Righteous
Restorer
Brings justice
Grace
Sanctification
Creator
Brings the dead to life
Knows all the deep thoughts of every person
Convicts of sin
Does all for his glory
Does not need us
Exercises steadfast love
Not clear the guilty
Our hope
Gives strength
Made the universe, not just the earth
Takes down His enemies
Compassion
Intentional, not arbitrary
Limits the sea and man
Lets Himself be known
A Person
Angry with the wicked
Owns everything

The Futility of Regret

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Here is a chapter on "The Futility of Regret" from A.W. Tozer's "That Incredible Christian" that Paul McDonald referenced on his blog this summer. I had read it years ago and forgotten about it, but a fresh look increased my appreciation.

I think that many Christians slide off the narrow path into a sea of regret far too often. Ultimately, this reflects a poor grasp of the Gospel. I will be addressing this somewhat on Sunday night at GFC.

The human heart is heretical by nature.Popular religious beliefs should be checked carefully against the word of God, for they are almost certain to be wrong.

Legalism, for instance, is natural to the human heart. Grace in its true New Testament meaning is foreign to human reason, not because it is contrary to reason but because it lies beyond it. The doctrine of grace had to be revealed; it could not have been discovered.

The essence of legalism is self-atonement. The seeker tries to make himself acceptable to God by some act of restitution, or by self-punishment or the feeling of regret. The desire to be pleasing to God by self-effort is not, for it assumes that sin once done may be undone, an assumption wholly false.

Long after we have learned from the scriptures that we cannot by fasting, or the wearing of hair shirt or the making of many prayers, atone for the sins of the soul, we still tend by a kind of pernicious natural heresy to feel that we can please God and purify our souls by the penance of perpetual regret.

This latter is the Protestant's unacknowledged penance. Though he claims to believe in the doctrine of justification by faith he still secretly feels that what he calls "godly sorrow" will make him dear to God. Though he may know better he is caught in the web of a wrong religious feeling and betrayed.

There is indeed a godly sorrow that worketh repentance and it must be acknowledged that among us Christians this feeling is often not present in sufficient strength to work real repentance; but the persistence of this sorrow till it becomes chronic regret is neither right nor good. Regret is a kind of frustrated repentance that has not been quite comsummated. Once the soul has turned from all sin and committed itself wholly to God there is no longer any legitimate place for regret. When moral innocence has been restored by the forgiving love of God the guilt may be remembered, but the sting is gone from the memory. The forgiven man knows that he has sinned, but he no longer feels it.

The effort to be forgiven by works is one that can never be completed because no one knows or can know how much is enough to cancel out the offence; so the seeker must go on year after year paying on his moral debt, here a little, there a little, knowing that he sometimes adds to his bill much more than he pays. The task of keeping books on such transaction can never end, and the seeker can only hope that when the last entry is made he may be ahead and the account fully paid. This is quite the popular belief, this forgiveness by self-effort but it is natural heresy and can last only betray those who depend upon it.

It may be argued that the absence of regret indicates a low and inadequate view of sin, but the exact opposite is true. Sin is frightful, so destructive to the soul that no human thought or act can in any degree diminish its lethal effects. Only God can deal with it successfully; only the blood of Christ can cleanse it from the pores or the spirit. The heart that has been delivered from this dread enemy feels not regret but wondrous relief and unceasing gratitude.

The returned prodigal honours his father more by rejoicing than by repining. Had the young man in the story had less faith in his father he might have mourned in a corner instead of joining in the festivities. His confidence in the loving-kindness of his father gave him the courage to forget his chequered past.

Regret frets the soul as tension frets the nerves and anxiety the mind. I believe that the chronic unhappiness of most Christians may be attributed to a gnawing uneasiness lest God had not fully forgiven them, or the fear that He expects as the price of His forgiveness some sort of emotional penance which they have not furnishes. A our confidence in the goodness of God mounts out anxieties will diminish and our moral happiness rise in inverse proportion.

Regret may be more than a form of self-love. A man may have such a high regard for himself that any failure to live up to his own image of himself disappoints him deeply. He feels that he has betrayed his better self by his act of wrongdoing, and even if God is willing to forgive him he will not forgive himself. Sin brings to such a man a painful loss of face that is not soon forgotten. He becomes permanently angry with himself by going to God frequently with petulant self-accusations. This state of mind crystallises finally into a feeling of chronic regret which appears to be proof of deep penitence but is actually proof of deep self-love.

Regret for a sinful past will remain until we truly believe that for us in Christ that sinful past no longer exists. The man in Christ has only Christ's past and that is perfect and acceptable to God. In Christ He died, in Christ he rose, and in Christ he is seated within the circe of God's favoured ones. He is no longer angry with himself because he is no longer self-regarding, but Christ-regarding; hence there is no place for regret.

Praying for More Than a Few Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:48:00 +0000

What makes a church like ours set aside a beautiful Saturday morning to seek God in five hours of prayer?

When Grace Fellowship Church began we were one dependent lot. We had no money, no building, no people, and no guarantee of success. Yet, reading of two personalities from the past had recently impacted me.

First, I read a description of the Week of Prayer held every year at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London under Spurgeon’s ministry. The author held up that week as one of the sweetest, most spiritually refreshing seasons of the calendar year. The week would begin with the elders leading in prayers of repentance “often in tears” and culminate in aspirations of great hope in the progress of the Gospel.

I also read how George Mueller started an orphanage, yes, to help the orphans, but more importantly, to launch an impossible ministry that would prove the sovereign God hears and answers prayer. If you read his autobiography you will laugh with joy at all the ways God did exactly that.

So, at GFC we started with a mid-week meeting to pray before we ever met for worship on Sundays. And after Sunday meetings began we kept it. Within a year or two we added a week of prayer in the New Year. Several years after that we started holding a second week or a day of prayer in September (the second new year!).

And all we do at these meetings is pray. Oh, we have little booklets to direct us and remind us of what we should be praying about, but there is no teaching, nor is there that bane of all lively prayer meetings – the 40 minutes of “prayer requests.” (It has always floored me that we can be so easily duped into talking about what we are going to pray rather than just praying!)

So, this Saturday will come, our fall day of prayer, and I will have feelings in the morning like, “Yawn, here we go again.” And, “Five hours on a Saturday sure is long!” Then I will put on my pastor game-face, show up at 7AM and by noon be thinking, “Does it have to end?”

You pray for us, won’t you? That the Lord will “come down” this Saturday and meet with His people. He has never missed an opportunity so far.

Pure Church: Carey Conference Audio

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:21:00 +0000

Pure Church: Carey Conference Audio

He must have put this together while I was preparing his All-dressed chips. For somehow, Thabiti managed to piece together a nice post linking to all the audio from Carey Conference last week.

He missed his own messages though, and the two wonderful sermons he preached at GFC today.

Other than that, not a bad post!

Carey Conference 2009 and Thabiti Anyabwile

noreply@blogger.com (kerux) — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Well, just “one more sleep” until Carey Conference! Already things are looking grand. Registrations are high, the camp is ready, and we are delighted to add Thabiti Anyabwile to our own list of great preachers.

Speaking of Thabiti, you can pray for his safe and quick travel. Already they have experienced one flight cancellation and been delayed by about 2 hours. We are praying they get in easily tonight.

Thabiti is travelling from Grand Cayman. Yes, that Grand Cayman. So it is no small feat to get to Toronto from there. It really is remarkable that you can stick your toes in the warm Caribbean (thanks GT) in the morning and in Lake Ontario at night… all in the same day.