“ Excellent. ” Singing in the face of the devil! Singing for the edification of the saints and for defying of the devil. Excellent message about Luther's theology of singing. A lively presentation of an aspect of Luther's life, theology and church practice.
“ Gnosticism and Christianity. ” The difference between Gnosticism and Christianity is that the first seeks a secret knowledge, the second proclaims a revealed knowledge for all. The first seeks a knowledge which can be found by man in his power, the second depends on the revelation of God. This knowledge must be believed also for salvation.
“ Great burden. ” What a serious thing: God does not want His servants to be un-sensible preachers, but He burdens Hosea, so that Hosea can know and feel the heart of God and can deliver the message to the people with broken heart. I know preachers who denounces with determination the sins of their people, but never saw them crying because the sins of their people! God wants us His servants to be preachers who have His burden for the state of the people. Only in this way we can preach to others!
“ Great sin. ” Even if the unsaved man sees many of God's miracles and deeds of love, his heart remains full with murmurings and dissatisfaction, until God gives him a new heart. He bases his life of the gratifying of his lust and not trusting in the character and the promises of God. The faith given by God enables us to trust in Him.
“ Upside down. ” A sincere testimony of a man of God troubled by the apparent absence of God's justice and judgment. But he enters the Temple and he sees things from the point of view of the eternity and everything turns upside down.
“ Great work of God. ” Blessed work of God's salvation and empowering to witness in the life of Stephen. I liked very much the idea of God's glory shining on Stephen's face, as on the face of Moses, bringing testimony to the Jews, who were not accepting the reality.
“ Great help. ” Great encouragement to see whom God uses in His Providence to save David's life: Saul's son and daughter. And when there is no one to help him, the Holy Spirit intervenes Himself to save him. We must trust in God: God will be our refuge and strength. Christ is also God's anointed, against whom the leaders of this world fight, but He is conquering always.
“ Great wisdom. ” God takes great care for the well-being of His people. The apostles manifested great wisdom and love in their counsel. The peace of the church was restored and the service of God empowered.
“ Testimony of God. ” God is testifying that David is His faithful servant and His anointed. Saul perceives that David has what he has not in his life, but resists and hates that.
“ Dependence on the Spirit. ” We must look like the Gospel we proclaim. Paul didn't use the worldly carnal methods of trying to impress the listeners or to manipulate it. He wanted not that man may respond to him, but to respond to the Holy Spirit. He believed that, if the Gospel is preached faithfully, the Holy Spirit will use the preaching to save people.
“ The cross. ” The church must attain the unity of the faith regarding the cross of Christ. Paul's message was centered on the cross. Our message must be centered on the cross.
“ Dependence. ” God's purpose is that we might be totally dependent on Him and not in what we are or have. God will exalt Himself before our eyes and will show us our total unworthiness. God must increase and we must decrease, for our eternal happiness in Him.
“ Great God. ” A great Gospel, a great grace and a great God. God created in the early a church a blessed new society which is a taste of the blessed society which will be experienced by God's people in heaven.
“ Spiritual battle. ” David saw that Goliath was attacking God and that God will revenge this. And he saw that God can use him to destroy this enemy. David had spiritual eyes to see, when all the people saw only with physical eyes.
“ Seeing or listening. ” We must not trust in our seeing, but we must listen to what God speaks to us. We must not decide things in our understanding, but to seek God's guidance. Even Samuel was deceived to look to the face of man. But God sees the heart.
“ Repentance. ” A message about repentance. God calls the sinner back to Himself and promises that He will accept them. What He did for mankind in Christ demonstrated God's care for people.
11/25/11 7:24 AM
