The Heavens Are Thine...

"The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine:

as for the world and the fulness thereof,

thou hast founded them." ~ Psalm 89:11

"The day is thine, the night also is thine:

thou hast prepared the light

and the sun." ~ Psalm 74:16

"Honour and majesty are before him: strength and

beauty are in his sanctuary." ~ Psalm 96:6

 

"Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who

prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass

to grow upon the mountains." ~ Psalm 147:8

 

"O LORD, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in

all the earth! who hast set thy

glory above the heavens." ~ Psalm 8:1

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Persevero,

Created for Work ~ Ch. 18 "The Plumbline"

"Important principals may, and must be, inflexible."

~ Abraham Lincoln

For those of you not familiar with the term, a "plumbline" is a line (as of cord) that is weighted at one end and is used especially to determine the verticality or straightness of something (you can make a simple one by taking a piece of string and tying a rock to one end). And when we say something is "plumb", we mean that it is exactly straight or true.

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Accurate measurements and calculations are fundamental to any project. They form the foundation of all well-laid plans.

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With them, you're sure to succeed. Without them, you're toast.

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With them, you can work smoothly, knowing the particular specifications your project must meet. Without them, your work will be slow and full of the unecessary hinderances which arise from poor planning.

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With them, everything will fall into place in the end. Without them, forget it.

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Notice the word "accurate". It's not enough to just have measurements and calculations. They must be accurate measurements and calculations. Any other kind is insufficient, misleading, and ultimately harmful. The importance of this fact cannot be over-stated.

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Furthermore, if accurate measurements and calculations are key in earthly affairs, are they not even more important in eternal affairs? If it is essential that houses and towers be built plumb and square and level, is it not much more essential that lives be so? Indeed, yes. A rock and a piece of string serves as a trustworthy plumbline to build a house by; and the Bible serves as a trustworthy plumbline to live by. God's Word is the universal plumbline, the only thing by which a man may accurately measure himself and his work.   

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Sadly, many people do not acknowledge this to be the case. They ignore the Bible and the divine instructions it gives. They throw away the yardstick God has provided them, and then substitute their own. They arrogantly assume they can live by their own rules. Some live based on how they feel; others let selfish desires take control; still others have no rule but lawlessness. In every case, the end result is misery, chaos, and failure.

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If our lives, including the way we work and do business, do not match up with the specifications given in the Bible, we're headed for disaster. Bob Schultz says, "Some folks mistakenly think that the Bible is for the religious world and not the business world. That kind of thinking leads any society into chaos. God intended His Word to be the standard measurement for industry and commerce. By it, men exchange goods and services in a way where everyone profits. Wherever men align their businesses with a practical understanding of the Bible, their society prospers."

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"Suppose," Schultz continues, "you go to a garage sale and see a $600 table saw with a $200 sign on it. You've been looking for one just like it. Do you slap down the cash and buy it before somebody else sees it? Maybe, but maybe not. As you talk with the woman holding the garage sale, you find that her husband died six months before and she is selling his tools to help make ends meet. She has no clue to the worth of the saw. What is the right thing to do? Here's a quote from God's Plumbline, 'Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees... To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!' (Isaiah 10:1-2). If you ever take advantage of a widow in  a business transaction, watch out. God will surely reprove you. Look through the Bible, observe God's heart for widows, and align with Him. If you need that table saw, buy it. However, don't pay the $200 dollars she ignorantly asked for. If you have it, pay the $600 it's worth before someone else comes along and takes advantage of her. If you dont have $600, tell her what it's worth and offer her as much as you can. That's God's standard."

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The Bible is the godly business man's instruction manuel. He aligns his work with it and with it alone. He rejects personal feelings, selfish desires, and lawlessness as contrary to God's commands. He measures his business by God's Word, and flourishes accordingly.  "The simple rock and string set the standard for every building in the world, from the skyscrapers of New York to the wooden huts in the Congo. The simple Bible, in the same way, sets the standard for business and work, from the most complex corporation to the lemonade stand on the sidewalk. As you go about life's business, may you learn to be a good builder, aligning all your affairs with God's Plumbline."

"Thus he showed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the Lord said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel..."

~ Amos 7:7-8

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Persevero,

On the New Birth

Earlier this afternoon, as I was reading from John Piper's Finally Alive, I came across some great points about the new birth which I thought I'd share...

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1. Apart from the new birth, we are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1-2).
"Dead implies lifeless. Not physically or morally lifeless, but spiritually lifeless... we are not dead in the sense that we can't sin. We are dead in the sense that we cannot see or savor the glory of Christ... we are unresponsive to God and Christ and this word."

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2. Apart from the new birth, we are by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
"Apart from the new birth, I am my problem. You are not my main problem. My parents are not my main problem. My enemies are not my main problem. I am my main problem. Not my deeds, and not my circumstances, and not the people in my life, but my nature is my deepest personal problem."

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3. Apart from the new birth, we love darkness and hate the light (John 3:19-20).
"We are not neutral when spiritual light approaches. We resist it. And we are not neutral when darkness envelops us. We embrace us. Love and hate are active in the unregenerate heart. And they move in exactly the wrong directions - hating what should be loved and loving what should be hated."

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4. Apart from the new birth, our hearts are hard like stone (Ezekiel 36:26; Ephesians 4:18).
"At the bottom of our problem is not ignorance. There is something deeper... our ignorance is a guilty ignorance, not innocent ignorance. It is rooted in hard and resistant hearts... we suppress the truth in unrighteousness. Ignorance is not our biggest problem. Hardness and resistance are."

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5. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to submit to God or please God (Romans. 8:7-8).
"... without the Holy Spirit, our mind's are so resistant to God's authority that we will not, and therefore cannot, submit to Him... and if we cannot submit to Him, we cannot please Him."

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6. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to accept the gospel (Ephesians 4:18; 1 Corinthians 2:14).
"The problem is not that the things of God are over [our] heads intellectually. The problem is that [we] see them as foolish... in fact, they are so foolish to [us] that [we] cannot grasp them... the heart is so resistant to receiving them that the mind justifies the rebellion of the heart by seeing them as foolish. This rebellion is so complete that the heart really cannot receive the things of the Spirit. This is real inability. But it is not coerced inability. The unregenerate person cannot because he will not. His preferences to sin are so strong that he cannot choose good. It is a real and terrible bondage. But it is not an innocent bondage."

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7. Apart from the new birth, we are unable to come to Christ or embrace Him as Lord (John 6:44, 65; 1 Corinthians 12:3)
"It is morally impossible for the dead, dark, hard, resistant heart to celebrate the Lordship of Jesus over his life without being born again... we so strongly prefer self-reliance that we cannot come. That is what has to be changed in the new birth. A new preference, a new ability, is given."

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8. Apart from the new birth, we are slaves to sin (Romans 6:17)
"Until God awakens us from spiritual death and gives us life that finds joy in killing sin and being holy, we are slaves and cannot get free. That's why the new birth is necessary."

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9. Apart from the new birth, we are slaves of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-2; 2 Timothy 2:24-26)
"Our deadness is not unresponsive to the devil. It is perfectly in tune with the devil... the mark of unregenerate persons is that their desires and choices 'accord with' the prince of the power of the air. The unregenerate may scoff at the very idea of a devil. And of course, nothing is more in line with the father of lies than the denial that he exists... until God does that that miracle of new birth, we stay in bondage to the father of lies because we love to tell ourselves whatever we please. We keep fondling smooth roaches and warm, fuzzy tarantulas in the dark."

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10. Apart from the new birth, no good thing dwells in us (Romans 7:18)
"Faith is good. The Holy Spirit is good. The new spiritual nature is good. Growing holiness is good. But in [our] flesh, that is, in the person [we] are by nature apart from the new birth, there is no good thing. All that was created good was ruined by being made the servant of man-centered concerns, not God-centered concerns."

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Persevero,

Psalm 8

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3When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon

and the stars, which Thou hast ordained;

4What is man that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,

that Thou visitest him?

~

Psalm 8:3-4

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Persevero,

"The Book of Books"

Within this ample volume lies

The mystery of mysteries.

Happiest they of human race

To whom their God has given grace

To read, to fear, to hope, to pray,

To lift the latch, to force the way;

But better had they ne'er been born

That read to doubt or read to scorn.

~ Sir Walter Scott

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Persevero,

Scribe

Thanksgiving

1 Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands.

2 Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing.

3 Know ye that the LORD He is God: it is He who hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him and bless His name.

5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; and His truth endureth to all generations.
~Psalm 100

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Persevero,
Scribe

Balancing the Sword

"You have to know what the Bible says before you can know what it means."

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I've been doing Balancing the Sword for over a year now, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. These books are must-have resources when it comes to studying the Scriptures, enabling you to easily work through all 66 books of the Bible comprehensively.

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Balancing the Sword comes in two large volumes, each one covering the entire Bible in detail. To give you a little bit of an idea of just how detailed these books are, here are some stats. There are...

• over 7,000 questions with almost 13,000 parts (with answer keys) targeting every 2.7 verses on average
• almost 54,000 carefully chosen cross references (averaging 7.6 references per question)
• over 1,000 quotes and from famous figures who spoke of the Bible's greatness
• over 1,000 images: artistic illustrations, literal depictions, charts, and maps

The Balancing the Sword study package includes two books, software (which allows you to design a totally customized reading schedule within minutes), and Web support. You can learn more about the books here, at www.balancingthesword.com.

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"And take...the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."

Ephesians 6:17

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"For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword..." Hebrews 4:12

Persevero,

Scribe

On the Word of God

"I acknowledge no authority but that of the Gospel. Before you can shake one word of that, the earth itself will open before you."

~ Ulrich Zwingli

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"Had I the tongue of angels, I could not sufficiently set forth the excellency of Scriptures." ~Thomas Watson

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"The truly wise man is he who always believes the Bible against the opinion of any man."

~ R.A. Torrey

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"God has made Himself known to us in many ways in creation and providence, but most clearly by His Word. The judgments of his mouth are magnified even above those of His hand, and greater things are done by them. The wonders of grace exceed the wonders of nature; and what is discovered of God by revelation is much greater that what is discovered by reason."

~ Matthew Henry

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"God's Word is it's own best argument."

~ Vance Havner

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"Every word of God is life to holiness and death to sin. Use the Word of God as your sword and shield: there is none like it."

~ C.H. Spurgeon

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"Our faith is fed by what is plain in Scripture and tried by what is obscure."

~ St. Augustine of Hippo

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"The soul can do without everything, except the Word of God, without which none at all of its wants are provided for."

~ Martin Luther

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"He who is not satisfied with Scripture desires to be wiser than is either proper or desirable."

~ John Calvin

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"The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying."

~ John Flavel

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"If the Holy Spirit guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures, and never contrary to them."

~ George Muller

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"There are thousands who seem ready to believe anything in religion, if they hear it from an ordained minister. They forget that clergymen may err as much as laymen. They are not infallible. Their teaching must be weighed in the balance of Holy Scripture. They are to be followed and believed, so long as their doctrine agrees with the Bible, but not a minute longer."

~J.C. Ryle

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"The Scripture is the library of the Holy Ghost."

~ Thomas Watson

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"For what page, or what discourse, of Divine authority of the Old or the New Testament is not a most perfect rule for human life." ~ St. Benedict

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"The Bible is a great and powerful tree. Each word is a mighty branch. Each of these branches have I well shaken. And the shaking of them has never disappointed me."

~ Martin Luther

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Persevero,

Scribe

Quit You Like Men!

In today's perverse culture, manly, Christian men are about as hard to come by as gold in a coal mine. Boys are not being taught what true manhhood is anymore. They no longer look to God's all-sufficient Word as the basis of their lives.They reject the calling God has given them in the Bible - the shirk their responsibilty to be courageous, Christ-honoring men in a crooked world. The black consequence of this is that we seldom have true men these days - we have boys in men's bodies. We have immature adults who have embraced the world's philosophy and shunned the command which Paul sets forth to us in I Corinthians 13:16: "Watch ye, standfast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong." Our society is not raising men according to that standard. It is instead raising men to be wimpy, spiritually barren, and self-pleasing - in short, totally useless for the work which God has called them to. Many Christians, too - and not only men - have been drawn into this deadly trap. They become sluggish in their spiritual lives - they are not watchful concerning their souls - they waver in the faith, and do not stand fast when the world plies assault after assault on them - they do not behave with manly vigor and faith when the devil challenges them - they are not strong in Christ. Such are the dire results of not following God's express guidelines in this matter. Just as plants deprived of water wither, so men deprived of God's Word wither, not only physically, but spiritually as well. A society bereft of God is a society doomed to fail.

Today, godly men are needed more than ever. As boys and young men, we should be preparing ourselves to fulfill the calling God has given us. The first and greatest step in that is to diligently drill ourselves in the Scriptures, that we may be prepared to confront Satan head-on and give and answer for our faith (1 Peter 3:15) - how can a soldier hope to cope with his enemies if he wears not armor and bears not a sword and shield? Weapons are requisite to battle, and since this life is a battle, the Bible must be our sword (Hebrews 4:12). When the Scriptures are our foundation, everything else will follow swiftly. But neglect that first step and your efforts are to no effect.

This is by no means an exhaustive commentary on this subject. But God's word is. It gives us many express teachings on the subject - Psalm I for instance - and provides us with myriad examples of men who fulfilled their God-given calling - Moses, Joshua, Abraham, Isaac, David, Noah, Paul, Peter, and John are only a few such men. We should strive to be such soldiers of God as were these, sinful as they were, sinful as we are. By the blood of Christ we are cleansed, and in the Bible we find our armaments and marching orders. Therefore let us watch, stand fast in the faith, be strong in Our Lord, and with God's help quit ourselves like the men He wants us to be!

"Give us Men!

Men- from every rank,

Fresh and free and frank;

Men of thought and reading,

Men of light and leading,

Men of loyal breeding,

The nation's welfare speeding;

Men of faith and not of fiction,

Men of lofty aim in action;

Give us Men - O say again,

Give us Men!

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Give us Men!

Strong and stalwart ones;

Men whom purest honor fires,

Men who trample self beneath them,

Men who make their country wreath them

As her noble sons,

Worthy of their sires;

Men who never shame their mothers,

Men who never fail their brothers,

True, however false are others:

Give us Men - I say again,

Give us Men!

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Give us Men!

Men who, when tempest gathers,

Grasp the standard of their fathers

In the thickest fight;

Men who strike for home and alter,

(Let the coward cringe and falter),

God defend the right!

Truth as truth the lorn and lonely,

Tender, as the brave are only;

Men who tread where saints have trod,

Men for for Country, Home, - and God:

Give us Men - I say again - again -

Give us Men!"

~Josiah Gilbert Holland

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"A bold Christian is the highest style of a man." ~Thomas Young

Persevero,

Scribe