What happens when a clear doctrine in Scripture assaults and comes into direct conflict with our personal conviction of right and wrong, or what is fair and just or what is unfair and needs to be corrected
What happens?
Do we simply accept the clear teaching of Scripture as truth? Or do we somehow try to place the blame for this moral inconsistency on the head of God Himself?
Unfortunately, my experience says the latter. Especially when dealing with issues like election, free-will and personal accountability.
Want to know more? Keep listening.
The following is a study on Romans 8:29-30.
To Download the podcast, click - HERE
To Subscribe to the podcast, click - HERE
To Download the Notes for the study, click - HERE
For more podcasts: www.stevemccranie.com/sermons
For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. - Isaiah 9:6
Merry Laodicean Christmas... to the shame of us all.
What do you think?
Iran will launch 10 days of naval drills from Saturday around the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil-shipping route, reports said, after a rumour earlier this month hinted the country planned to close the waterway.
"Our naval drill will begin from 24 December lasting 10 days covering east of Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman to the Gulf of Aden", navy Adm. Habibollah Sayari said. "This is the first time that we are covering such large area."
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on December 14th that closing the strait was "not on the agenda," after the rumour that appeared to stem from a comment by an Iranian lawmaker circulated. But Mehmanparast had hinted that the strait, a narrow stretch along Iran's gulf shoreline, could be threatened if current rising tensions in the region ever spilled over into war.
When asked Thursday if the strait will be closed as part of the impending naval drill, Sayari said: "The ability to do so exists . . . whether to go ahead lays with the regime's top officials."
Oil prices spiked dramatically after the rumour, but quickly returned to normal once the rumour was discounted.
To read the rest of the article, click - HERE
Romans 8:28 is either one of the greatest statements of divine encouragement found in the New Testament or it is, hands down, the greatest excuse for our "stay at arms length, don't get too close" lack of ministry to others who are hurting. It has become for many a Biblical placebo freely prescribed by uninformed, apathetic Christians to those who are in deep distress spiritually, physically, or emotionally.
It's as if by saying the words or quoting the verse we have somehow uttered the magic incantation that will set everything right and soothe away all the pain and hurt. "There's no place like home. There's no place like home."
It has become the church's default ministry position when we simply don't know what to say or don't want to get too involved or we are just too busy to hear about their problems or bear their burdens.
Is that all this verse mean?
But for those who how understand and live in the realm of the sovereignty of God, it is something more. Much more. After all, according to Psalm 115:3, "Our God is in His heavens and does what He pleases."
So, which is it? Encouragement or placebo? Listen and find out more.
The following is a study on Romans 8:28.
To Download the podcast, click - HERE
To Subscribe to the podcast, click - HERE
For more podcasts: www.stevemccranie.com/sermons
Question: What does worship really mean?
Answer (and more questions): Is worship simply a style or type or genre of Christian music? Or, is worship just the singing part of our Sunday morning church routine?
Does worship always have to be connected with music or can worship intersect other parts of our lives? And, if so, what other parts? And how? In what way?
What does true worship look like? How does it feel? What does it accomplish? What does it do for God (as strange as that sounds) and what does it do for me? What is the purpose of worship?
Need more? Then keep listening.
The following is a study on true Worship.
To Download the podcast, click - HERE
To Subscribe to the podcast, click - HERE
To Download the Notes for the study, click - HERE
For more podcasts: www.stevemccranie.com/sermons
Doing Great Things
We first learned that my little girl Shannon would always be a little girl, when we discovered about her first birthday that she was profoundly disabled. My father, a deeply compassionate man, asked how I was handling the news. I told him that I had been preparing for this moment all my life. If anyone should be able to rest in the sovereignty of God it is me. The sovereignty of God is the cornerstone of Reformed theology, which theology I have been schooled in from my youth by one of its greatest living proponents.
The sovereignty of God, rightly understood, was the very core of my father’s best known work, The Holiness of God. The doctrine came front and center in his next book, Chosen by God. I was a young man when those books were first published. Like many others I ate them up, drank them in, and like too many young men, spat out their wisdom with precious little grace and care. I reveled in God’s sovereignty, and delighted in nothing more than to argue for, to defend, to proclaim that sovereignty.
That all changed, however, when I read still another book by my father, this one born of a family hardship. Surprised by Suffering begins with the still-born birth of my niece, Alissa. From there the book explores not just the truth that God ordains our suffering but why. The point that has stuck with me over the years was this - suffering isn’t something that happens, nor it is just something God permits. It is instead a vocation, a calling. God does not merely say, "I’m going to make you go through this." Instead He says, "It is My desire for you that you should go through this. Follow Me."
All of us, when we are brought into the kingdom, in joyful gratitude for the grace of God, want to do great things for the kingdom. Having been rescued by His glorious grace, we want in turn to rescue others, to serve the body, to proclaim the Good News. God has called us to do just that. He calls out heroes who take the message to strange and foreign lands. He calls out pastors who feed the sheep. He calls out teachers, like my father, who explain to the broader body the fullness of the gospel. Some, however, He calls to suffer.
My wife, for this part of His story, is called to suffer. Her role right now is to do this great thing for the kingdom - to be Jesus to us, so that we might be Jesus to her. She is Jesus to us because as we serve her, we remember His promise, that serving the least of these is serving Him (Matthew 25). We, in turn, are Jesus to her, precisely because the church is His body. When we pray for her, she rests in Jesus’ arms. When we bring a meal, she tastes Jesus feeding her. When we dry her eyes, she feels Jesus wiping away her tears.
Hers is not an easy calling. It is, however, a great one. Being Jesus means walking the via dolorosa.
How blessed I am to walk that road with her, and with Him.
When we tire of the constant struggle between the inner man and our flesh sometime we can begin to believe that maybe we aren't really saved, that maybe we're not one of the chosen ones... maybe we've just been fooling ourselves or maybe we just flat missed the boat.
During those dark times it is helpful and encouraging to see the three confirmations of our sonship in Christ that are found in Romans 8.
We can relish in the fact that being (1) led by the Spirit proves our (2) adoption, and if we are adopted then we are (3) sons of God and joint-heirs with Christ.
And it doesn't get much better than that.
The following is a study on Romans 8:14-16.
To Download the podcast, click - HERE
To Subscribe to the podcast, click - HERE
To Download the Notes for the study, click - HERE
For more podcasts: www.stevemccranie.com/sermons