The Infinite and the Finite...
Thou Great I Am,
Fill my mine with elevation and grandeur at the thought of a Being with whom one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day, a might God, who, amidst the lapse of worlds, and the revolutions of empires, feels no variableness, but is glorious in immortality.
May I rejoice that, while men die, the Lord lives; that, while all creatures are broken reeds, empty cisterns, fading flowers, withering grass, He is the Rock of Ages, the Fountain of living waters.
Turn my heart from vanity, from dissatisfactions, from uncertainties of the present state, to an eternal interest in Christ.
Let me remember that life is short and unforeseen, and is only an opportunity for usefulness; give me a holy avarice to redeem the time, to awake at every call to charity and piety, so that I may feed the hungry, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, reclaim the vicious, forgive the offender, diffuse the gospel, show neighborly love to all.
Let me live a life of self-distrust, dependence on thyself, mortification, crucifixion, prayer.
Taken from: Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, pp. 190.
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Join us Sunday nights in March at Converge for our current teaching series, "Storms"
Sunday Nights / 6:00 PM / Student Venue at CBC
Started reading John Piper's new book, "Finally Alive" tonight. It is a Biblical definition and defense of the phrase, "born again." I am very excited to read the rest of the book in the coming weeks (or months with my sloooowww reading style). In his introduction Piper explains why a book on this topic matters.
"It matter for eternity, and it matters for the glory of Christ in this life. If people are to enter finally into the kingdom of God (John 3:3), and if the church is to let her light shine on the earth that people may give glory to God (Matt. 5:16), then the new birth must be experienced."
- John Piper
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Join us Sunday nights in March for our Converge Teaching Series, "Storms: Where do you hide?"
Sunday Nights / 6:00 PM / Student Venue at CBC
"Not only has God blotted out our sins, He further says He remembers them no more. Someone has helpfully pointed out the difference between forgetting and not remembering. Forgetting is something we do because of our fallible minds. We forget to pick up something at the store, or we forget where we laid our car keys. Obviously, God does not forget as we do.
On the other hand, to not remember is to choose not to bring something to one's mind ever again. And God has promised never to remember our sins, never to bring them to His mind again. What an overwhelming thought! What joy this should bring to our hearts. Think of some of your more recent sins -- sins of which you are now ashamed. It may have been an unkind word, a resentful attitude, or a lustful thought. Whatever it might be, God says He has put it out of His mind; He remembers it no more."
-- Jerry Bridges
Quote stolen from: the Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges, pp. 61.
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Join us every Sunday in March for our Converge teaching series, Storms: Where do you Hide?
Sunday Nights / 6:00 PM / Student Venue at CBC
God Honoured...
O God, Praise waiteth for thee, and to render it is my noblest exercise; this is thy due from all they creatures, for all thy works display thy attributes and fulfill thy designs; the sea, dry land, winter cold, summer heat, morning light, evening shade are full of thee, and thou givest me them richly to enjoy.
Thou art King of kings and Lord of lords; at thy pleasure empires rise and fall; all thy works praise thee and thy saints bless thee; let me be numbered with the holy ones, resemble them in character and condition, and sit with them at Jesus' feet.
May my religion be always firmly rooted in thy Word, my understandings divinely informed, my affections holy and heavenly, my motives simple and pure, and my heart never wrong with them.
Deliver me from the natural darkness of my own mind, from the corruptions of my heart, form the temptations to which I am exposed, from the daily snares that attend me.
I am in constant danger while I am in this life; let thy watchful eye ever be upon me from my defense, save me from the power of my worldly and spiritual enemies and from all the painful evils to which I have exposed myself.
Until the day of life dawns above let there be unrestrained fellowship with Jesus; until fruition comes, may I enjoy the earnest of my inheritance and the firstfruts of the Spirit; until I finish my course with joy may I pursue it with diligence, in every part display the resources of the Christian and adorn the doctrine of thee my God in all things.
Prayer taken from: The Valley of Vision - A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions, pp. 24.
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Join us at Converge TONIGHT for the start of our new series "Storms: Where do you hide?"
Sunday Nights / 6:00 PM / Student Venue at CBC
