Exhortation | A People for His Name

Be sober, be vigilant!

October 28, 2024

Suppose that you were to receive an emergency call on your phone warning you not to go outside because there is a ferocious lion that is on the loose in your city. The lion has already devoured several people in the city.

How careful would you be in such circumstances? Would you not do everything possible to keep your kids away from the places where the lion has been reported to have been prowling?

Friends, we all are in a situation that is far, far worse and more dangerous than the hypothetical scenario that I have presented above:

1 Peter 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: 9 Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world.

Supernatural evil is a fearful reality in our world! We must stay as far away from such evil as we possibly can. We must not allow such evil to have access into our minds, homes, and lives.

Ephesians 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. 12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

Do What is Right Even If Your Heart Is Not Fully in It!

July 22, 2024

Have you ever heard someone say something like this: “It’s not what you do that matters—it is the heart that matters”?

Take care that you are not misled by such statements. The heart certainly matters, but what you do also matters.

In fact, God teaches us that He cares about people’s doing what is right in His sight even if they do not do it with a perfect heart!

2 Chronicles 25:1 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.

For our profit, the Spirit inspired this passage to teach us that God took note that Amaziah did what was right in His sight, but not with a perfect heart.

Even if your heart is not fully in it, always do what is right in the sight of God!

In Discipleship, Exhortation, Interpretation, Theology

Turn the Volume Down!

July 19, 2024

Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The playing of music in corporate worship at volume levels known to damage human hearing is to work ill to the people who are present in those services. Knowingly causing physical harm to people is unloving and therefore unrighteous conduct that violates what God explicitly teaches us in Scripture in Romans 13:10.

It does not matter what your preference is concerning the volume levels of worship music. If the volume level is at or above a level known to damage hearing, you are obligated to deny yourself your preference and love others more than yourself.

Turn the volume down in your worship services so that you are not damaging anyone’s hearing!

In Exhortation, Interpretation, Music

Let Us Praise God with Singing on Stringed Instruments Day and Night on the Lord’s Day!

July 6, 2024

God ordained that there would be consecrated singers who would minister to Him *day* and *night* with singing accompanied with stringed instruments.

1 Chronicles 9:33 And these are the singers, chief of the fathers of the Levites, who remaining in the chambers were free: for they were employed in that work day and night.

Especially on His uniquely consecrated day, it was a good thing to sing praises to His name upon stringed musical instruments *in the morning* and *every night.*

Psalm 92:1 <A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.> It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High: 2 To shew forth thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night, 3 Upon an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery; upon the harp with a solemn sound.

O that there were many more consecrated followers of Christ in our day who would supremely value the honor and privilege of being in God’s house both *in the morning* and *in the night* on the Lord’s Day to glorify God with singing His praises accompanied by stringed instruments.

In Exhortation, Prayer, Theology

Let All Mankind Hear and Heed What God Has Said

May 30, 2024

Let all mankind hear and heed what God has said:

Acts 10:42 And he commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead. 43 To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.

Acts 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent: 31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Romans 2:16 In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

Rev. 22:20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

In Evangelism, Exhortation, Gospel

A Necessary Response to “A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle”

April 27, 2024

A friend recently called my attention to a blog post by Pastor Brian Fuller, “A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle.”¹ In the post, he assails certain fundamentalists whom he has judged to be in sin because of their efforts to direct people’s attention to certain highly disputed theological and practical issues.

Having read his piece several times, I am compelled to make what I believe is a necessary response to his post. I am going to limit my response to him in this post to the one point that I believe most needs to be made prior to my possibly addressing in the future other issues with his post.

Unhelpful and Unedifying Use of Inflammatory Rhetoric

Choosing to title his piece, “A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle,” and speaking of believers as using their “dog whistles” to “screech” plainly shows that Pastor Fuller was not properly mindful of how his words would come across to the very people to whom he apparently thinks that he has made a substantive and gracious (?) appeal.

Immediately upon encountering this title, it was clear to me that this post was not the edifying offering of an obedient servant of the Lord who had given much careful thought to vital divine instruction about how to engage in such ministry:

Ephesians 4:29 Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.

2 Timothy 2:24 And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; 26 And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.

I urge Pastor Fuller to give serious attention to his unhelpful and unedifying use of such inflammatory rhetoric in his post and to take whatever public steps are needed to make right this unrighteous public conduct by a minister of Christ.

¹A Familiar Fundamentalist Dog Whistle (scriptureandplainreason.com)

In Discipleship, Exhortation, Theology

Sing Aloud to the God of Our Mercy!

May 14, 2023

Psalm 59:16 But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble. 17 Unto thee, O my strength, will I sing: for God is my defence, and the God of my mercy.

David ends this Psalm with three exclamations of his resolve to sing to God: “I will sing . . . I will sing aloud . . . will I sing . . .”

Like him, we must resolve to sing *aloud* of God’s power and mercy because He has been our defense, refuge, and strength in the days of our troubles.

We must sing *aloud* to the God of our mercy!

In Exhortation, Music

The Thanksgiving Psalms

April 24, 2023

God wants His people to be thankful people who give Him thanks. To help us give God the thanks that He deserves, demands, and desires, we should meditate on seven psalms that I have designated as the Thanksgiving Psalms because they begin with statements about giving thanks to God:

Ps. 75:1 <To the chief Musician, Altaschith, A Psalm or Song of Asaph.> Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

Ps. 92:1 <A Psalm or Song for the sabbath day.> It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:

Ps. 105:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people.

Ps. 106:1 Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Ps. 107:1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Ps. 118:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

Ps. 136:1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Whenever we find ourselves lacking in gratitude to God and reluctant to give Him thanks, we would do well to immerse ourselves in these seven Thanksgiving Psalms so that the Spirit will use them to direct our hearts to be grateful and give God thanks.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

Scripture Does Not Say, “A rock in bad hands killed Abel.”

March 29, 2023

“A rock in bad hands killed Abel. A rock in good hands killed Goliath. It’s not about the rock.”

This meme asserts something as true about how Abel was killed that the Bible never says was what happened.

Scripture only says the following about how Abel was killed:

Genesis 4:8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

There is no evidence in Scripture that Cain killed Abel with a rock.

This is a meme that Christians should stop using and sharing!

Additional thoughts added on March 30, 2023:

There are so many other ways that Cain could have killed Abel:

Beating him repeatedly with his fists and kicking him in the head repeatedly.

Tripping him and then choking him to death.

Finding a heavy piece of a branch that had broken off from a tree and killing him by hitting him over and over again on the head with that piece of wood.

Finding a sharp piece of a broken branch and stabbing him with it.

Etc.

Saying that “a rock in bad hands killed Abel” puts us in the position of possibly bearing false witness because we simply do not know that is what happened.

It could have happened that way, but we should not make statements that it did happen that way when we do not have any way of knowing what actually happened.

In Exhortation, Interpretation

Pleasing God and Valuing Assembling with His People

September 10, 2022

How pleasing it would be to God if there were more Christians who approached worshiping Him with the mindset that meeting multiple times a week gives us more opportunity to give God glory through corporate worship in such a manner that no other activities can give Him and that no other people than His people can give Him.

What a difference it would make in our world if more Christians on their own accord valued assembling themselves together so much that they would consider it a matchless privilege to meet with His people and hear from Him and be ministered to by His gifted servants multiple times a week instead of the bare minimum of once a week.

In Discipleship, Exhortation

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Unhelpful and Unedifying Use of Inflammatory Rhetoric

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