Responding to Divine Threats

After preaching for some time through Amos, and specifically addressing the divine threat at the end of Amos 6 this morning, I found some peace in the following thoughts:

What are we to do with a threat from God, either through His Word or through some providence that seems threatening to us

What did Jesus do? - He faced the threat of God's eternal wrath against us, and took that wrather for our salvation. The right answer for us can not be to simply ignore the passages in the Bible that contain divine threats.

Some simple advice:

1. LOVE the Lord who threatens and do not despise Him.

2. DRAW NEAR to Him through Christ by the means of grace and do not flee from Him.

3. OBEY Him in all things and do not harden your hearts in to rebellious disobedience.

Conclusion: Habakkuk 3:17-19 and Calvin’s prayer (Amos 6)

Calvin: Grant, Almighty God, that since we are extremely deaf to those so many holy warnings by which you continue to recall us to Yourself, and since we ever harden ourselves against those threatenings, by which you terrify us, that You may break or at least correct our hardness, -- O grant, that we may, though late, yet in time, before final vengeance comes, attend to Your Word and submit ourselves to You, and in a teachable spirit take up Your yoke, that You might receive us into favor, and bestow upon us your fatherly kindness, and being at length reconciled to us, You might grant us Your blessings, which You have promised to all Your children, who are the members of Your only begotten Son our Lord. Amen.

New Roman and Sasha Blog

Take a look at some Roman and Sasha pictures on their new blog.

5 Pillars of Non-Practicingism

1. There is a god.

2. I am not rejecting that god.

3. I loosely embrace the tradition I am most comfortable with.

4. I disturb no one with any faith claims.

5. I ask that no one disturb me with their faith claims.

Second Kings 18

What a relief to come to Hezekiah after the reign of wicked Ahaz. In this chapter the Assyrians try to discourage Hezekiah and his people. It is very clear that they do not understand Israel's God. We need to gain our understanding of the Christian faith and the worship of God from the Bible and not from the world around us.

We need to stay close to Christ and to reject the suggestions of those who do not understand the ways of the Lord. Our trust is in you, O Lord.

Second Kings 17

2 Kings 17:13-14 13 Yet the LORD warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets." 14 But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the LORD their God.

In morning worship we considered this chapter which recounts the fall of Israel (Northern kingdom) to Assyria. Such passages warn us that God calls us to hear his word and to obey Him. The point to our sin, but they also remind us of the One who came for us. He heard the commandments of God and obeyed. He has taken away our disgrace.

Welcome Roman and Sasha

We welcome Roman Savchuk and Sasha Faryga to our church and to Exeter Classical Christian School. We are so thankful to the Lord for the joy of serving him in this way. The boys are living in our home. They are wonderful. We had a reception for them at the school this afternoon. They are pictured here with their classmates and then again with some of the school parents.