Last Luther quote (for a while) + + +

Last of a long list of Luther Quotes – Hope you profited from/enjoyed them.

“…We desire nothing more than that the glory of God may be advanced, the benefit of Christ truly known, and the truth of the gospel purely taught.”

Commentary on Galatians p 370

 

 

A worldly world likes “christmas.” (They don’t like Christ but they like “christmas.”) It gives a chance to erect fantasy scenes of lights, artificial trees, tinsel, fake snow, & make-believe characters. Their hollywood (it isn’t Christian) has created movie after movie with “christmas” themes. Their crooners made millions on records/tapes (yesteryear) & CDs singing one or more carols, mixed with secular sentimental, even silly songs. Sadly many “christians” watch their movies & buy their CDs. Please, Friend, Wake Up.

11/29/17

 

 

RICHES TO RAGS

We like the rags to riches tale:

Boy meets gal, poor girl meets male.

One once as low as he could be,

Finds gold coins, a pearl by the sea.

Poor-to-rich-myths never get stale.

 

But what about riches to rags?

One loses comforts and finds snags.

You like to think that direction?

How does that fit your perfection?

Rich men – bums, once cute women – hags.

 

Christmas ‘fore “all was said and done,”

Is about the rich to rags One,

He became poor, a peasant Man.

He, who at His call, angles ran,

Found no place to lay His head – none.

 

Christ had seen wealth beyond man’s mind,

Heard tunes no symphony can find,

Left such splendor, left it all.

God, Triune, gave and felt “the call”

To our world, so cold, so unkind.

 

Why? Why was Christ willing to switch?

Become poor – that we might be rich?

Came to set the sinners fully free,

By dying on that middle tree,

Agony. Pain.  Dead muscles twitch.

 

His loss was mankind’s greatest gain.

Sinner friend, He died not in vain.

Wealthy, then poor, Christ lives today.

Providing poorest man a way,

To lose his sin in Christ’s blood stain.

– eab, 11/30/06

 

If you memorized a player’s & memorized the team on which he plays, YOU can memorize a verse of Scripture. If you know the home city, team colors, & team mascot YOU can memorize a 2^nd verse. Now, in how many players, teams, home cities, mascots do you know? Do you have that many Scripture verses committed to memory with reference? Soon you OR that player/team will be dead. The Bible lasts forever!

– eab, 11/29/17

 

 

“God can never act or be anything less than His nature.”

– Paul Covert, sermon, 4/13/97

 

 

“Jesus Saves” was once correctly, popularly proclaimed. “Saves” from what? Does He save from sin? Does He save YOU from sin? Do you say you love Jesus but sin everyday in Thought, Word or Deed? Do you claim to be a follower of Christ but “slip” & sin, ask forgiveness, then “slip” & sin the SAME sin, again? Jesus Saves – – – from SIN!

– eab, 11/30/17

 

 

Luk 16. 18

“Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another, committeth adultery: and

whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery.”

 

Does the average evangelical/holiness pulpit still preach the horrors of hell? Do people (in church/out) believe there’s a REAL place of torment as recorded by Dr. Luke (ch.16)? The world, needs bold preachers & fervent praying souls to be concerned about relatives, “nice neighbors” & enemies who’ll soon be in hell, unless redeemed by the Blood of Jesus Christ. Hell is real. Salvation from hell is also very real.

– eab, 11/30/17

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Luther quote + + + + + +

Luther Quote

“…this is the proper office of an apostle, to set forth the glory and benefit of Christ.”

Commentary on Galatians p 255

 

God’s man comes with the urgency of a prophet, the solemnity of a judge, and the authority of the King. If any of these are consistently missing, you may not be hearing God’s man, regardless of how popular he is. – eab, 11/28/17

 

 

TAXES FOR TWO

What more could an angler wish?

Brother Peter “got paid” to fish.

He had a coin right out of the blue,

It paid His tax and Peter’s too.

The rest could be served in a dish.

– eab, 11/28/05

 

 

“He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…” (Mat 10.37). If Christ is this strict with the earliest, closest relationship He surely is opposed to those who love their “fatherland” or “mother country” more than they love Christ. Friend, do YOU love Christ above all?

– eab, 11/19/17

 

 

“I give light by being myself consumed.”

Superscription inscribed on the tomb of Adam Clarke (by a burning candle)

– as given by Thomas Cook in New Testament Holiness

 

The pastor who regularly goes to a secular job may argue he’s supplying his needs. Is he inadvertently denying his parishioners the blessing of giving (“…more blessed to give than to receive” Act 20.35) even poorer parishioners? Is he missing opportunities to pray & exercise faith? It’d be better for his children to remember the times God supplied needed food due to prayer, than to remember the years he “put in” at some factory. [Thoughts to consider – May each man mind God.]

– eab, 11/26/17

 

Psa 1. 1

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.”

 

 

Either you’re a saint or you ain’t (excuse the vernacular). There’s no middle ground, no “I hope so,” no maybe, no crossed fingers. So – – – which is it for you, Friend? 11/28/17

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Luther + + + +

Luther quote

“…They are saints through such a holiness as they freely receive, not through such a holiness as they themselves have gotten by their own industry, good works and merits.”

– Commentary on Galatians, p484

 

When was Christ born? In a 4-yr college education (“crammed” into 6 J) I received no proof of a December birth. In a 60 hr seminary degree (“crammed” into 3 yrs) no verification of a December birth was heard. If you wish to say He was born a different month you’ve no argument from me. What I say – say adamantly is HE WAS BORN. Personally, I wish His birth was not celebrated on 12/25. But I’m glad some people do CELEBRATE His birth albeit on a wrong date. The date of Christ being born is of little-to-no consequence; His birth, life, death/resurrection is the most important fact known to man.

– eab, 11/26/17

 

FAITH

I’ve never been to Bethlehem,

Nor walked by Galilee.

And the hills that knew my blessed Lord,

I may never live to see.

But I’ve tried to trace His footsteps,

Across the Sacred Page.

And by faith, I know He rules today,

As He has in every age.

O Faith, faith without it,

You just cannot please the Lord.

Have faith, faith to doubt it,

Brother you cannot afford.

For faith is the substance

Of things hoped for and yet not seen.

And lack of faith is why the church is so awfully lean.

– eab, Nov. 1973

 

Comfortable? We love our “comfort foods,” our comfortable chairs in our comfortable houses & say to guests “Make yourself comfortable.” Perhaps we’re seeking too much comfort here below. Luke 16 records the Lord’s account of Abraham saying to the damned rich man “…Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things…NOW he is comforted & thou art tormented”(eab emphasis). “God, help us to have the discipline to endure here the uncomfortable, that we may join in Lazarus’ comforts above.”

– eab, 11/27/17

 

“If plain sense makes good sense, any other sense is nonsense.”

– T W Comadoll, as told by John Whiteman

 

Many people are disciplined who are not disciples of Christ. (Some of these are highly disciplined and pride themselves in their self control.) Discipline can make you happier with yourself, can bring a sense of contentment, and could (unless it becomes a stumbling block) lead to Christ. But discipline, of itself, can never save you – that takes Jesus.

– eab, 11/19/17

 

Luk 16. 10

“He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.”

 

Have you ever “missed the boat”? Did the bus “go off & leave you”? Have you gotten to a depot too late for the train? Did you perchance miss a plane connection? You & I have a final trip coming – – – Friend, we’ll make that departure ON TIME. Every rational soul knows death is coming. And, this is one trip we will NOT miss the boat. Prepare!

– eab, 11/27/17

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Never consider Suicide

Suicide – you need to decide about suicide. If you are willing to say (while you’re young & healthy) that this sin MAY be OK, I predict you’ll come nearer accepting it as FULLY OK when you’re old and sick. It is a SIN. God doesn’t smile on you “taking” His place. God, & God alone, has the right to end life. It is not in your bailiwick. Decide that now & never, Never, NEVER agree that suicide is OK – not for you, your kin, not your neighbor, your “enemy.”

– eab, 11/26/17

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Joh 4.18

1Jo 4. 18

“And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

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Why does he work

The pastor who labors full time at secular work – Does he do this to please God? Or is he thus busy to satisfy the “wishes” of a hard-to-please wife? Or is he lacking in self-discipline to cut back his own desires? Or is he paying off old debts? There may be times that a pastor HAS to work a 40 hr. secular week but there aren’t has many as some suppose. Examine yourselves.

– eab, 11/26/17

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Oswald Chambers quote

“Fretting springs from a determination to get our own way…[it] is wicked…Deliberately tell God…you will not fret about that thing.”

– Oswald Chambers, from My Utmost for His Highest

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Myth blended

Society has accepted a holiday of “shallow Christianity” blended with myth.* Plastic nativity scenes are placed in the same park/yard with a plastic, red-suited fat-man. This is sad (if not sacrilegious) dualism. Harken! This dualism has invaded the church/home. Pastors/parents can carelessly give lip-service to “baby Jesus” but use emblems/words invoking the mythological “side” of the present holiday. “Love not the world” applies at Christmas time. – eab, 11/26/17 * I hear you, if you insist a character existed centuries ago who did good deeds – but he can’t compare with the Savior who died for your sins.

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LEAVES LEAVE

 

I heard a little rustling,

A noisy sort of bustling,

On a cold November morning,

Outside my window light.

 

Then I looked into the street,

The leaves were on their feet,

Marching, marching onward, no retreat;

The wind had called the fight.

 

They’d been called on that day,

With others brown and gray,

And the mother tree that nourished them

Now couldn’t bid them nay,

As they scurried and hurried with their might.

– eab, Nov.  1970

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No “santa”

For decades I’ve opposed the falseness of “santa clause.” (We never taught our kids this lie.) In the last 2+ yrs I’ve gotten a new awareness of how The Counterfeit has warped the world. Please – if you profess the name of Christ – I beg of you do NOT have your child’s pic made with “santa clause.” Do not use his face in any of your house decorations (in or out). The possibility is awfully real that Christ will Judge those who allowed this guy’s image to corrupt their lives.

– eab, 11/26/17

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