GEMS
As I read books and listen to preachers and others speak, occasionally I read or hear a gem of truth that is so outstanding and powerful that it merits being remembered and shared with others. Watch this link for new gems as I unearth them.
Wesley’s Mother on Sin
John Wesley’s mother wrote to her son at Oxford University. “Whatever weakens your reason, Impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes away the delight for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin.”
God’s Justice will not Sleep Forever
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice will not sleep forever.”
Thomas Jefferson 1781
What kind of preaching attracts you?
“Carnal believers often find great pleasure in listening to Dispensational and eschatological discourses, attending what are called “prophetic” conferences; but what such really need is the trumpet-like call to consider their ways, rather than eloquent and beautiful discourses about things to come.
The Haggais may not be so popular with the crowds as the Zechariahs, but their ministry is ever a much needed one. He who goes on with God will welcome Truth, and will thus hold the Truth in its right proportions.”
H.A. Ironside, beloved Bible preacher of the early 20th century.
Read, Laugh, Ponder and Weep
“I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle.”
-Winston Churchill
“Foreign aid might be defined as a transfer of money from poor people in rich countries to rich people in poor countries.”
-Douglas Casey, classmate of Bill Clinton at Georgetown University
“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.”
P.J. O’Rourke, Civil Libertarian
“Government is the great fiction, through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.”
- Frederic Bastiat, French Economist (1801-1850)
I will modify that by adding Socialistic government. mgb
“Government’s view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases. If it moves, tax it. It if keeps on moving, regulate it. If it stops moving, subsidize it.”
- Ronald Reagan (1986)
“I don’t make jokes. I just watch government and report the facts.”
“If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs
when it’s free!”
-P.J. O’Rourke
“No man’s life, liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in session.”
-Mark Twain (1866)
“The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The
inherent blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.”
-Winston Churchill
“What this country needs are more unemployed politicians.”
-Edward Langley, Artist (1928 – 1995)
“A government big enough to give you everything you want is strong enough to take everything you have.”
-Thomas Jefferson
Crime is Contagious
“Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a law breaker, it breeds contempt for the law, it invites every man to become a law unto himself; it invites anarchy.”
Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis 1916- 1939
appointed by President Woodrow Wilson
The power of the Bible
As a boy I remember someone wisely warning me concerning the Bible, “This Book will keep you from sin or sin will keep you from this Book.” Through the years I have observed the truth of this statement in countless lives as well as my own.
Liberty or Security
“They who would give up essential liberty for temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security.” Benjamin Franklin
Liberty means Responsibility
“Liberty means responsibility. That is why most men dread it.” - George Bernard Shaw
America’s Founders
“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded; not by religionists, but by Christians: not on religions; but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ! For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship.”
- Patrick Henry
Oysters and Pearls
“I wish, brothers and sisters, that we could all imitate the pearl oyster.
A hurtful particle intrudes itself into its shell, and this vexes and grieves it. It cannot reject the evil, but what does it do but “cover” it with a precious substance extracted out of its own life, by which it turns the intruder into a pearl!
Oh, that we could do so with the provocations we receive from our fellow Christians, so that pearls of patience, gentleness, and forgiveness might be bred within us by that which otherwise would have harmed us.”
Charles Spurgeon
Nobodies exalting Somebody
“Missionaries are very human folks, just doing what they’re asked. Simply a bunch of nobodies exalting Somebody.”
Jim Elliot, missionary to Ecauador and martyred in 1956.
Humility
“Humility is perfect quietness of heart.
It is never to be irritated or vexed or disappointed.
It is to expect nothing and to wonder at nothing done against me.
It is to be at rest where nobody praises me,
And where I am blamed and despised.
It is to have a blessed home in the Lord
Where I can go in and shut the door
And kneel to my Father in secret.
It is to be at peace as in a deep sea of calmness
Where all around and above is trouble.”
- Andrew Murray
Politicians and statesmen
Somewhere recently I heard or read that a politician focuses on the next election while the statesman focuses on the next generation.
Are we on God’s side?
“America was founded by people who believed that God was their rock of safety. He is ours. I recognize we must be cautious in claiming that God is on our side, but I think it’s all right to keep asking if we’re on His side.”
–Ronald Reagan
Hate
The moment I begin to hate a man, I become his slave. He controls my thoughts. He controls my feelings. He even controls my dreams. Stress hormones constantly surge through my bloodstream and wear down my body. My work becomes drudgery. I tire easily. My windowed office seems like a cell in Alcatraz. Even while sailing the Chesapeake Bay, resentment ruins my relaxation. The spinnaker may be billowing in the breeze, but I might as well be a sea-sick galley slave.
The one I hate hounds me wherever I go. I can’t escape his mental tyranny. The waiter at the sea side restaurant may be serving up a blackened swordfish or a chocolate mousse, but I feel like a dungeon prisoner eating stale bread and musty water. My teeth chew the food, but the one I hate has stolen my pleasure. King Solomon must have had a similar experience, for he wrote, “Better a simple salad with love, than a sumptuous feast with hostility.” Proverbs 15:17
The man I hate may be soundly snoring many miles from my bedroom: but more cruel than any slave driver, he whips my thoughts into a frenzy. My Perfect Sleeper mattress becomes a rack of torture. I am, indeed, a slave to everyone I hate.
**********
Early in my ministry, I was blessed to come across a book by S.I. McMillen M.D.
None of These Diseases. This book, published by Fleming H. Revell, made a profound impact on my life and has kept me from the negative emotions that could have ruined my health. The book, which has sold over 1 million copies, has gone through three editions with new material added for this generation. The above excerpt was worth the price of the book for me.
I’m Only One
I’m ONLY ONE,
But I AM one;
I can’t do EVERYTHING
But I CAN do SOMETHING;
And what I CAN do,
I OUGHT to do;
And by the grace of God,
I’ll DO IT!
- Anon. I learned this from Dr. Bob Jones Sr. as he shared it in chapel at Bob Jones University back in the mid fifties.
Narcissistic Christians
”I don’t think many Christians seem to understand that today we live in a very self-centered, very, very overly personalized narcissistic world. People are programmed to believe that they are the center of the universe, that the whole universe revolves around them. And even God is one of those revolving planets that moves around them to serve them somehow. There’s a very superficial understanding of divine glory, a very superficial understanding of divine exaltation, divine honor, the lifting up of the majestic Christ.
Really for decades, I think, evangelism efforts in the church in our sort of minimalist theology have been mostly sinner-centered. And even more so lately. God loves you, He loves you unconditionally. He loves you so much He wants you to be happy. He loves you so much He wants you to be satisfied. He loves you so much He wants you to be healthy. He loves you so much He wants to deliver you from all disappointment and all pain and to take you to heaven. And if you don’t let Him do that, He’s really upset and unfulfilled.
In other words, you’re the key to God’s fulfillment. It’s as if the salvation of the sinner is the goal of redemption and God is the means to that. That’s the very opposite of what Scripture teaches. The glory of God is the goal of redemption and the salvation of the sinner is the means to that. We are saved only that we might forever give glory to God, that we might forever exalt Christ.
That’s why we’re here doing what we do on the Lord’s day and only people who really understand that know what worship is all about. It’s not about a mood induced by certain music, it’s about being consumed with the honor and glory of God and Christ. And when you have a world where all the emphasis is on personal fulfillment, and then you devise a gospel that simply fits into that world of personal fulfillment, you cheat people out of understanding the very purpose for salvation, the very essence of worship and the very reason why we hope for the return of Christ.”
Well said, John MacArthur
A Tiffany Diamond
God says, “You are not a store sample. The man I have chosen for you will be willing to pay the price to take you home. There is no need for a ‘taste test’ beforehand. You are not a K-Mart blue-light special; you are a well kept woman.”
A well kept woman is always mindful of her worth; she never stoops to being common and cheap. This woman will not be handled, examined and thrown back into anyone’s bin.
God says, “You are a Tiffany diamond, and when i’m finished with you, you will be of the highest grade. No flaws. No inclusions. It takes a discriminating eye to tell the difference between a cubic zirconia and a real diamond.”
Not too many people have the nerve to go into Tiffany’s “just looking.” They respect the name, they are aware of the quality and price, so if they’re not serious, they seldom move past the window. God says we should be regarded in the same light.
Remember, the things you do now will affect your relationship for the rest of your life. Build a solid foundation from the beginning, one that God can bless and build on.”
Taken from Joy Isaquirre’s web site: http://pinkmonster.wordpress.com in which she quotes
from Michelle McKinney Hammond’s book, What to do until Love finds you.
The True Gentleman by John W. Wayland
The True Gentleman is the man whose conduct proceeds
from good will and an acute sense of propriety
and whose self-control is equal to all emergencies;
who does not make the poor man conscious of his poverty,
the obscure man of his obscurity,
or any man of his inferiority or deformity;
who is himself humbled if necessity compels him to humble another;
who does not flatter wealth,
cringe before power,
or boast of his own possessions or achievements;
who speaks with frankness but always with sincerity and sympathy;
whose deed follows his word;
who thinks of the rights and feelings of others rather than his own;
and who appears well in any company;
a man with whom honor is sacred and virtue safe.
1899
