By Robert Flynn on
7/30/2009 7:07 AM
He who has not spared his own son, etc. As it greatly concerns us to be so thoroughly persuaded of the paternal love of God, as to be able to retain our rejoicing on its account, Paul brings forward the price of our redemption in order to prove that God favors us: and doubtless it is a remarkable and clear evidence of inappreciable love, that the Father refused not to bestow his Son for our salvation. And so Paul draws an argument from the greater to the less, that as he had nothing dearer, or more precious, or more excellent than his Son, he will neglect nothing of what he foresees will be profitable to us. (John Calvin)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/29/2009 6:19 AM
The subject discussed having been sufficiently proved, he now breaks out into exclamations, by which he sets forth the magnanimity with which the faithful ought to be furnished when adversities urge them to despond. (John Calvin)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/28/2009 12:12 PM
…America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. (Alexis de Tocqueville)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/28/2009 6:17 AM
So we keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. (2 Th 1:11 NLT)
Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. (Eph 4:1 NLT)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/27/2009 6:26 AM
He then shows, by the very order of election, that the afflictions of the faithful are nothing else than the manner by which they are conformed to the image of Christ; and that this was necessary, he had before declared. There is therefore no reason for us to be grieved, or to think it hard and grievous, that we are afflicted, unless we disapprove of the Lord’s election, by which we have been foreordained to life, and unless we are unwilling to bear the image of the Son of God, by which we are to be prepared for celestial glory. (John Calvin)
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By Born4Battle on
7/27/2009 3:46 AM
Do you catch some flak because you are a Christian? Do other folks seem uncomfortable around you because you'd rather discuss spiritual matters than the latest 'reality' show? Feel like you're stuck in your career because of your faith?
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By Robert Flynn on
7/26/2009 8:52 AM
This promise is not for everyone, only for those who love God and have answered his call. But for these it is an all-inclusive promise, covering the good and the bad, the bright and the dark, the sweet and the bitter, the easy and the hard, the happy and the sad. The promise can be depended on in prosperity and poverty, in health and sickness, in calm and storm, in life and in death.
Willmington, H. L. (1997). Willmington's Bible handbook (671). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
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By Robert Flynn on
7/25/2009 5:53 AM
This is a remarkable reason for strengthening our confidence, that we are heard by God when we pray through his Spirit, for he thoroughly knows our desires, even as the thoughts of his own Spirit. (John Calvin)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/21/2009 6:25 AM
There is no reason why we should faint under the burden of afflictions, seeing that prayers minister to us a most sure help: which cannot be frustrated, seeing that they proceed from the Spirit of God who dwells in us. (Geneva Bible Translation Notes)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/20/2009 6:04 AM
Whether it be the hour of death, or the second coming of Christ, or the resurrection of the dead, and eternal glory; all which are unseen by us, and to be hoped for… (Dr. John Gill)
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By Daniel Cartwright on
7/16/2009 5:27 PM
"Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth (wanders), and one convert him (brings him back); Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins." James 5:19-20 (KJV, emphasis mine)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/15/2009 5:45 AM
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life; and he that winneth souls is wise. (Proverbs 11:30 KJV)
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By Daniel Cartwright on
7/15/2009 4:58 AM
How often do you take out the household garbage, especially the sort in the kitchen that usually holds a lot of stuff that stinks? As for me, for the non-stinky stuff like old papers in the downstairs office, the trip to "Big Blue" occurs when the trash can is full. For kitchen garbage, it can be when 1) it's full or 2) when it gets too smelly. For some of us, the second instance is directly proportional to the keenness of our olfactory nerves.
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By Robert Flynn on
7/14/2009 1:04 PM
“Every minister should make much of his calling and impress upon others the fact that he has been delegated by God to preach the Gospel. As the ambassador of a government is honored for his office and not for his private person, so the minister of Christ should exalt his office in order to gain authority among men. This is not vain glory, but needful glorying.
Paul takes pride in his ministry, not to his own praise but to the praise of God. Writing to the Romans, he declares, ‘Inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office,’ i.e., I want to be received not as Paul of Tarsus, but as Paul the apostle and ambassador of Jesus Christ, in order that people might be more eager to hear. Paul exalts his ministry out of the desire to make known the name, the grace, and the mercy of God.” Dr. Martin Luther
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By Robert Flynn on
7/13/2009 7:26 AM
By hope (τῇ ἐλπίδι) Better in hope. We are saved by faith. See on 1Peter 1:3. Hope - not hope. Here the word is used of the object of hope. See Colossians 1:5; 1Timothy 1:1; Hebrews 6:18.
1Pe 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (NET)
Col 1:5 Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel (NET)
1Ti 1:1 From Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope, (NET)
Heb 6:18 so that we who have found refuge in him may find strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us through two unchangeable things, since it is impossible for God to lie. (NET)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/10/2009 6:03 AM
The world is one where beauty fades and loveliness decays; it is a dying world; but it is waiting for its liberation from all this and the coming of the state of glory. (William Barclay)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/6/2009 6:07 PM
For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now — If for man’s sake alone the earth was cursed, it cannot surprise us that it should share in his recovery. (A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments by Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/5/2009 2:05 PM
We sometimes fail to see the fragility of life. One minute man or beast draws breath and has life while the next the enemy called death casts a vale over what was one bright and beautiful.
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By Robert Flynn on
7/2/2009 10:00 PM
The creation itself (autē hē ktisis). It is the hope of creation, not of the Creator. Nature “possesses in the feeling of her unmerited suffering a sort of presentiment of her future deliverance” (Godet). (WORD PICTURES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT by Archibald Thomas Robertson)
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By Robert Flynn on
7/1/2009 7:27 AM
But in addition to all which has been yet stated, the word of God instructs us that we have to contend not only with our own natural depravity, but with the power of darkness, the Evil Spirit, who rules in the hearts of the wicked, and whose dominion we learn from Scripture to be so general, as to entitle him to the denomination of "the Prince of this world." There cannot be a stronger proof of the difference which exists between the religious system of the Scriptures, and that of the bulk of nominal Christians, than the proof which is afforded by the subject now in question. (Willaim Wilberforce)
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