Understanding the Use of God's Moral Law

I wanted to make sure CRCC and others who follow our ministry are encouraged to understand how we view the use of God's Moral Law.  Below are some links to recent sermons notes, a repost of some wonderful teaching by Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron, and the book/class we recommend for all our Covenant Members on our actual Vision Triangle.

Enjoy! :)

The Role of the Law

Biblical Examples of Use of the Law

 Loving Others Lawfully

The School of Biblical Evangelism

Or PLEASE read The Book if you cannot take the class.

Edit: And here is a FREE BOOK that is worth a read!

1Ti 1:8-11 ESV - Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it lawfully, (9) understanding this, that the law is not laid down for the just but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who strike their fathers and mothers, for murderers, (10) the sexually immoral, men who practice homosexuality, enslavers, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound doctrine, (11) in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.

Please forgive me if I haven't been clear here: keeping the Moral Law DOES NOT save us: we are under GRACE.  It's use is about giving us a good foundation to rightly love God and others, and to show sin and the need for men to repent in evangelism.

Amen.

I'm Not Self-Sufficient

Or at least in the way I'd like I'd like to think I am...

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5

The longer I live the more it dawns on me that truthfully, I can do nothing without the grace of God. I cannot live, move, breathe, or even provide for my family unless God blesses me to do so.

This is really is true: I am nothing. HE alone is all and all.

So Lord, thank YOU for feeding my family. Thank YOU for teaching Your flock at CRCC...caring for them...loving them. Thank YOU for humbling us and loving us and protecting us.

Love you Jesus. Grateful. Aware more than ever that all I have and know and succeed at is Yours and must be for Your glory alone.

Soli Deo Gloria!

No Truce

I just watched (barely stomached) the Grammy's clip with Queen Latifah "marrying" several couples...some gay some not.  There was a lot of talk and lyrics about love, peace, harmony, all people ultimately believing in the same God...songs about "all of us not just some" etc.  People were waving, crying, dancing, cheering, and quite happy about it all.

Not me.

My heart broke.  And I was angry.  Angry at the devil for perpretrating such mass deception.  Angry at the church for being limp-wristed with Scripture.  Angry that Christian families allowed generations of children to grow up educated with such worldviews.  Angry that Christ and His Word was mocked, misinterpreted, and misrepresented.

Sad that so many people are totally blind to the truth and destined for an eternity without Christ...and sad that people who hold the biblical view will also be mocked, misinterpreted, and misrepresented.

Gracious Lord...please open their eyes.  Please pull off the scales.  Please help them to see You...the True You.  Please use the true church to preach your Gospel.  Please stop this tidal wave of wickeness in our Nation.  Please save...

But let me also say that I've declared NO TRUCE with the world.  None.  No white flags waving at the McLeod house.  I have no plans to capitulate, back down, compromise, back up, make a deal, run scared, move over, move out, just be quiet, become an appeaser, stop loving enough to state the truth, or stop believing that God can still, through the finished work of His Son, save those trapped in this mess of a mindset.

No truce.  Nope.  And not cozying up with the devil either.  May the Lord rebuke him.

As for me in my house, we will serve the Lord.

The Church: Different From the World

Ran across this old A.W. Tozer devotional just now...had to post it! :)

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Therefore "Come out from among them and be separate," says the Lord. "Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you."
- 2 Corinthians 6:17

The church's mightiest influence is felt when she is different from the world in which she lives. Her power lies in her being different,rises with the degree in which she differs and sinks as the difference diminishes.

This is so fully and clearly taught in the Scriptures and so well illustrated in Church history that it is hard to see how we can miss it. But miss it we do, for we hear constantly that the Church must try to be as much like the world as possible, excepting, of course,where the world is too, too sinful....

Let us plant ourselves on the hill of Zion and invite the world to come over to us, but never under any circumstances will we go over to them. The cross is the symbol of Christianity, and the cross speaks of death and separation, never of compromise. No one ever compromised with a cross. The cross separated between the dead and the living. The timid and the fearful will cry "Extreme!" and they will be right. The cross is the essence of all that is extreme and final. The message of Christ is a call across a gulf from death to life, from sin to righteousness and from Satan to God.  (-The Set of the Sail, 35, 36).

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Lord, help me to be willing to be different.  Forgive me for the sin of blending in.  I pray that our neighbors would see something different in our church and our people and be drawn to the Savior. 

Amen.