Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

This is from GraceGems.org and is a daily e-mail I receive. I post this one because of the beauty which is in Christ. There was been a few edits from the original b/c of some format errors. The original content has not been changed.

Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

(Octavius Winslow, Christ is Ever With You!" 1863)

"Lo, I am with you always--even unto the end of the world!" Matthew 28:20

Whose presence is thus promised and pledged?

It is the presence of Christ! The Christ who is God. "Immanuel, God with us!"

The Christ who . . .
made all worlds,
created all beings,
governs all empires,
controls all events!

The Christ who replenishes . . .
earth with beauty,
heaven with glory,
eternity with song!

The Christ before whom angels and archangels, principalities and powers bend, and at whose name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord!

The Christ . . .
whose glory is divine,
whose beauty is peerless,
whose wealth is boundless,
whose love is as infinite as His being!

The Christ who . . .
bore and put away your sins forever,
uplifted and forever removed your curse,
paid all your great debt to Divine justice,
sorrowed for you in the garden,
suffered and expired in your stead on the cross,
rose from the grave, ascended up to heaven, lives and intercedes for you, representing your person and presenting your prayers and praises with ineffable acceptance and delight--to His Father and your Father, to His God and your God.

"Lo, I am with you always! Mark! Behold! I the Incarnate God, I who opened my bleeding heart for your redemption on Calvary, I who am your dearest Friend--I am with you always, in all places, and at all times, unto the end of the world!"

O honored saint of God! You have . . .
the Divinest in the universe to love you,
the Mightiest in the universe to shield you,
the Loveliest in the universe to delight you,
the Dearest in the universe to soothe, cheer, and gladden you!
O favored disciple of Jesus--you have such a one ever at your side!

This is the promise of promises--the richest pearl of all the promises, exceeding in its mightiness and preciousness; while it is the substance, sweetness, and pledge of all the rest!

Who is this amazing spectacle of woe and torture?

This is from a e-mail I get daily called Grace Gems. It features quotes from old died guys whose theology can not change. This quote is by Samuel Davies.

"Christ died for the ungodly!" Romans 5:6

In the cross of Christ--God's hatred to sin is manifested in the most striking light! The evil of sin is exposed in the most dreadful colors! Now it appears, that such is the divine hatred against all sin, that God can by no means forgive sin, without punishment; and that all the infinite benevolence of His nature towards His creatures cannot prevail upon Him to pardon the least sin--without an adequate satisfaction.

Nay, now it appears that when so malignant and abominable a thing is but imputed to His dear Son, His co-equal, His darling, His favorite--that even He could not escape unpunished--but was made a monument of vindictive justice, to all worlds!

What can more strongly expose the evil of sin--than the cross of Christ? Sin is such an intolerably malignant and abominable thing, that even a God of infinite mercy and grace--cannot let the least instance of it pass unpunished!

It was not a small thing that could arm God's justice against the Son of His love. Though He was perfectly innocent in Himself--yet when He was made sin for us--God spared not His own Son--but delivered Him up unto death--the shameful, tormenting, and accursed death of the cross!

Go, you fools, who make a mock at sin! Go and learn its malignity and demerit--at the cross of Jesus!

WHO is it that hangs there writhing in the agonies of death--His hands and feet pierced with nails, His side with a spear, His face bruised with blows, and drenched with tears and blood, His heart melting like wax, His whole frame racked and disjointed; forsaken by His friends, and even by His Father; tempted by devils, and insulted by men? Who is this amazing spectacle of woe and torture? It is Jesus, the eternal Word of God; His Elect, in whom His soul delights; His beloved Son, in whom He is well pleased!

And WHAT has He done? He did no wickedness; He knew no sin--but was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. And WHY then, all these dreadful sufferings from heaven, earth, and hell? Why, He only stood in the law-place of sinners; He only received their sin by imputation. And you see what it has brought upon Him! You see how low it has reduced Him! What a horrid evil must that be--which has such tremendous consequences, even upon the Darling of heaven!

Oh! what still more dreadful havoc would SIN have made, if it had been punished upon the sinner himself in his own person! Surely all the various miseries which have been inflicted upon our guilty world in all ages, and even all the punishments of hell--do not so loudly proclaim the terrible desert and malignity of sin--as the cross of Christ!

The infinite malignity of sin, and God's hatred to it, appear nowhere in so striking and dreadful a light--as in the cross of Christ! Let a reasonable creature take but one serious view of that cross, and surely he must ever after tremble at the thought of the least sin!

2 Days, 2 Blog posts, and something else.

This is a huge event. For the first time in 2010, I will write 2 blog post on back-to-back days. I want to give you want this blogs does not offer much. I have been thinking about what this recent car crash I was involved in has taught me. It has thought me that God is in control. It just happened that I was listen to Wretched Radio and the host Todd Friel has been talking about why part does God have in Haiti. He talks about how know matter what happen, God is still in control and it happened because God allowed or ordained it. This has been what has get me on the straight road with this trial I went/going through right now. I am sorry that I am not the get with Bible verses to help but I went in search because I know that God is faithful. Is I was looking for a verse is Psalm 140-149, I do not remember what Psalm it was in, I remember a what my EVAN 101 special guest said today, from Psalm 55. David starts out in verse 1 saying, " Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not yourself from my plea for mercy! Attend to me, and answer me; I am restless in my complaint and I moan(.)" (Psalm 55:1-2, ESV) David is talking about enemy is that is drawing near. In verse 4, David talks about that he heart is heavy and how he fears that we will not make. Starting in verse 9, David pleas that God destroys those evil people. Then in verse 16 David says, "But I call to God, and the Lord will save me. Evening and morning and at noon I utter my complaint and moan, and he hears my voice. He redeems my soul in safety from the battle that I wage, for many are arrayed against me." (Psalm 55:16-18, ESV) How great is this God that is able to help us when we are low and are trying to understand what is going on. James tells us to rejoice in all trials (James 1:2-3), while Peter tells us that God test our faith to make sure it is genuine (1 Peter 1:6-7). As I finish this post, I just think how much Jesus also suffered here on earth and how much more on the cross. Yet he defeated it all and God received the glory. How much must I submit to his will and give him to glory for what he has done. This car crash has reveled that.

This small trial has reminded me although I may not finish this semester, God is in control and I must submit to his plans. He will not leave me or forsake me and yet even when we get surrounded with problems, he has a plan that helps us and not harm us. O, how great is our God!

A Head Full of Froth

This is a Grace Gem that I received a couple of days ago. You can get great quote like this at gracegems.org. This is a quote from C. H. Spurgeon as it appears in the Grace Gem E-mail.

"Many of you know more about your magazines and novels--than what God has written! Many of you will read a novel from the beginning to the end, and what have you got? A head full of froth when you are done! But you cannot read the Bible--that solid, lasting, substantial, and satisfying food goes uneaten, locked up in the cupboard of neglect--while anything that man writes, a best-seller of the day--you greedily devour!"

It makes you think a little about what we choose to read. Does the book you read have the same impacful information like the Bible? Even books that contain Biblical information do not come close to what the Bible brings to the table.

God of this City

Here is a song we sang in convo today. It is by Chris Tomlin called God of this City.

[Verse 1]
You're the God of this City
You're the King of these people
You're the Lord of this nation
You are

[Verse 2]
You're the Light in this darkness
You're the Hope to the hopeless
You're the Peace to the restless
You are

There is no one like our God
There is no one like our God

[Chorus]
For greater things have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
Greater thing have yet to come
And greater things are still to be done in this City
-------------------------------------------------------
I want to use this song to encourage us that God is never done with a city. There is always hope to change a community and it starts with out choose to reach the lost. Let us not forget that our God wants all people to be saved because he create people to glorify his name. Let us fight for the glory of God. Not all have been called to preach on the streets day after day but we all are called to share our faith. One person at a time. I feel that we have been praying for a revival but we fail to get out to start it. Let us start to be faithful in sharing our faith so God can start the revival.

Christ The Lord has Risen Today.

Enjoy these 6 verses from Charles Wesley "Christ the Lord has Risen Today."

1. Christ the Lord is risen today, Alleluia! 
 Earth and heaven in chorus say, Alleluia! 
 Raise your joys and triumphs high, Alleluia! 
 Sing, ye heavens, and earth reply, Alleluia! 

2. Love's redeeming work is done, Alleluia! 
 Fought the fight, the battle won, Alleluia! 
 Death in vain forbids him rise, Alleluia! 
 Christ has opened paradise, Alleluia! 

3. Lives again our glorious King, Alleluia! 
 Where, O death, is now thy sting? Alleluia! 
 Once he died our souls to save, Alleluia! 
 Where's thy victory, boasting grave? Alleluia! 

4. Soar we now where Christ has led, Alleluia! 
 Following our exalted Head, Alleluia! 
 Made like him, like him we rise, Alleluia! 
 Ours the cross, the grave, the skies, Alleluia! 

5. Hail the Lord of earth and heaven, Alleluia! 
 Praise to thee by both be given, Alleluia! 
 Thee we greet triumphant now, Alleluia! 
 Hail the Resurrection, thou, Alleluia! 

6. King of glory, soul of bliss, Alleluia! 
 Everlasting life is this, Alleluia! 
 Thee to know, thy power to prove, Alleluia! 
 Thus to sing, and thus to love, Alleluia!

Cambridge, England and the Gospel

Today, Saturday, I went out to pass out tracts with a local church. The local church has a member that OAs so I am more there to make a crowd. One of these days, I will branch out and talk to some of the people instead of offering tracts. Anyways, it was a rough start to the day. I woke up and wanted to get back to bed but knowing that God has something good happening Cambridge, I got up and went. This has been 1st time in 2 weeks that I was able to go to Cambridge to pass tracts. SO I went in force with my 1 million pound notes and round tuits. I gave a lot of million pounds notes. I had one lady tell me to go back to America. I guess the days of Spurgeon and Wesley are gone in England. I guess there are still that OA near the Cambridge University. I did learn, so when I do jump on a box, to use a heckler to attract a crowd. I saw people’s faces change as the gospel was told. But God was faithful and we meet Joel. Joel is in the British Army and was in Afghanistan when a USAF Fighter dropped a bomb on a group of British Army personnel. The fighter was from a USAF base that is in the UK. He was asked what would he have done if he knew that the bomb was going to land there? He said that he would save himself. We used to show the need of Christ. We know that we are to be judged by Christ. So why not seek his protection from God’s judgment? So even if it was cold outside and a heckler tried to make the person OA look dumb, God was faithful provide us with Joel. Please pray for Joel that he will repent and trust in Christ.

"I am good enough to get to heaven"

Here is a news story on FoxNews.com about a 7 year old kid that broke into a zoo.

Read it here.

Do we need any more proof that we are sinful people needing some one to save us. That is why Christ died for us. To save us from the wrath of God because we sin. Enough said.