The Aquila Report Archives - Page 21 of 942

Lowest and Last of All

By Tim Challies — 5 months ago

I trust that God is pleased with my intentions even when my deeds have been so faulty and my desires when my words have been unsuitable. Yet imperfect deeds and optimistic intentions would be the shakiest grounds of confidence before God. Thankfully, God gives much firmer grounds: I trust him to be pleased with my broken efforts and partial self-sacrifice only in the light of Christ’s perfect efforts and complete self-sacrifice. These deeds are not the basis of my salvation but proof of it and fruit that flows from it.

The day will come when every man will stand before the Lord and be asked to give an account of his life. God makes clear the basis of this coming judgment: he “will render to each one according to his works” (Romans 2:6).
I have spoken with the adherents of many faiths who insist they can approach that day with confidence. Each has put their good and bad deeds onto a scale and become convinced that in the end, the good will outweigh the bad. But a person who is humble and sincere will recoil at such a thought, intimidated and perhaps even terrified to consider the declaration of Jesus that “I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done” (Revelation 22:12). For when we are honest with ourselves we know that even our best deeds are still tainted by sin and even our best intentions are still suffused with selfishness. We know that we have no truly good deeds to claim and that we have fallen far short of the glory God demands.
Sometimes I find myself pondering my life after I trusted in Christ and considering the strange and grievous reality of being both saved and sinner and of living in both the already and the not yet. I consider that I have so often been careless with my life, I have so often been cowardly in my faith, I have so often been faithless in my calling. At times I have nearly mutinied against God. I would never deny that I have deserved rebuke and reproach.
But God knows as well that I have never been a traitor and I have never been a deserter.
Read More

.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);padding-top:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(–global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd{background-color:#dddddd;}.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id223392_4ab238-bd > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}
.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(–global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column223392_96a96c-18 > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}}

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 70

What We Misunderstand about Freedom

By Paul David Tripp — 5 months ago

God doesn’t give you grace so you can live how you want. His agenda for grace is to transform you into a person who humbly recognizes your need for authority. Grace leads you to celebrate the holy, loving, and benevolent authority of God.

I think we misunderstand true freedom. Freedom that satisfies your heart is never found in setting yourself up as your own authority. True freedom is not found in doing whatever you want. True freedom is not found in resisting the call to submit to any authority but your own. True freedom is never found in writing your own moral code. True freedom is not the result of finally deciding on your own identity. When you attempt to do these things, you never enjoy freedom; you only end up in another form of captivity.
Why is this true? Because you and I were born into a world of authority. First, there is the overarching authority of God. Nothing exists that does not sit under his sovereign and unshakable rule.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 36

The Rule of Life

By T.M. Suffield — 5 months ago

Written by T. M. Suffield |
Sunday, October 6, 2024
If you don’t actively embed habits into your life then they won’t get there any other way. It takes, depending on who you ask, between three and seven weeks to form a habit. Once they’re formed they last until a strange sequence breaks them, and then they need forming again. Discipline your life, like an athlete or soldier (1 Corinthians 9, 2 Timothy 2), and you will reap rewards. Decide what you’re going to do. Tell someone about it. Make a start. Fail. Keep going even after failing. The rewards are worth reaping. Will Jesus love you more? No. But will you love him more? Yes, I think so.

I’ve argued that we’re in a discipleship crisis in the charismatic church in the UK. Friends from wider spheres of evangelical churches in the UK and elsewhere seem to agree. I’ve tried to plot some sense of what that looks like and why that might be the case. We’ve explored a model of formation, seeing the importance of doctrine, duty, and devotion (or head, hands, heart).
In the charismatic world we do well with the devotion side of things, but less well on the other two. I’m hoping to write slowly through a list of things that might help. None of these are solutions, and I keep emphasising that because we’re prone to machine thinking—if we do x we’ll get y result—and neither people nor the faith are mechanistic. Instead, I hope they are suggestions that could shape a community together over time.
They fall under three headings, which are my real prescription of a way forward in this particular cultural moment: Embedding Habits, Thickening Communities, and Stretching Minds.
Embedding Habits I
There are three kinds of habits we need to embed at the three layers of ‘society’ that the church usually thinks in: individually, in the household (or community), and in the church. I think we could think about what habits of life in cities or nations look like, but I don’t think most readers have access to levers there so I’m not going to touch on them.
We start individually, looking at what someone like John Mark Comer would call ‘a rule of life.’ He’s drawing on the old monastic traditions that would require monks to subscribe to a rule: a set of conditions that the community was formed around with each monk adhering to. Essentially, I’m arguing that each Christian should consider carefully how they can embed particular habits into their life in order to submit all of their life to Christ.
Before we turn to what that could look like, I’d like to address two objections. Firstly, someone might point out that monastic communities were a very small percentage of mediaeval Christians and whether we think that phenomenon good or bad, surely it isn’t for everyone? The thing is, in countries like the UK where evangelical Christianity is a small minority of people, we’re all monks now. I also don’t expect every Christian to do this, or any of my other suggestions. Every way we can shift the temperature of Christian faith in local churches will involve doing so with a small number of those in our congregations whose consciences are in some way pricked by the Spirit. While that could cause division if done badly, a good aim is turning a small number ‘hot’ in order to raise the general temperature a little. Think of them like early adopters on a technology adoption curve.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 49

Reasons Why Ministers Must be Diligent in Their Ministry

By Reformation Scotland — 5 months ago

The Preciousness of the Work
It is a great trust, far above any other trust in this world, when immortal souls are committed to us. These are the souls about which the thoughts of the Most High have been concerned from eternity, and for whose redemption God manifested in the flesh shed His precious blood, and for whose espousing He has put us unto the ministry.
I think we should never go this errand, without praying like Abraham’s servant (Gen. 24:12). We should pray, “O Lord God and Father of my master Jesus Christ (who has promised Him a great backing and a numerous seed, upon which He may see the satisfaction of the travail of His soul), send me good speed this day, and put forth thy power in the preached gospel, that Thy people may be a willing people!”
O, but it is a high and a great calling to trade about the saving of souls, one of which is a more precious jewel than the whole world can purchase or redeem! (as Christ tells us out of His own mouth; Matt. 16:26.)
Surely of all other persons, ministers should be most diligent, seeing they have both their own souls to save, and others!
The Difficulty of the Work
The second reason why we must take heed to our ministerial work is because it is a difficult work.
It is difficult partly from the various and numerous enemies that oppose it. Satan, that roaring lion and restless enemy of the Church is standing at our right hand (Zech. 3:1). Also what principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places, and what rulers of the darkness of this world we have to wrestle against! (Eph. 6:12)

Post Views: 52

Light in Your Darkness (Is. 9:1-7)

By Paul Ritchie — 5 months ago

He shines His light on us, but there are still dark shadows. At this very time those trust Him can celebrate His full and free forgiveness. At this time those who trust Him can be comforted that He guides us and fathers us in love. But we too look forward. For one day he will return. He will bring judgement on all who have refused to live for Him. He will wipe away all tears from those who have trusted Him. He will be the very light of our existence.

What darkness are you passing through? This year may have been one where you travelled through the valley of the shadow of death. Maybe you have struggled with the darkness of depression and despair. Maybe you feel that uncomfortable feeling of guilt for some sin that haunts you. Jesus has come to shine His light into your darkness!
Isaiah means ‘God saves’.
The key to understanding the book of Isaiah is found in the prophet’s name. Isaiah means ‘God saves.’
It is the eighth-century before Christ. God’s people had been divided into two kingdoms—Israel/Ephraim in the north and Judah in the south. Isaiah is speaking to the southern kingdom, whose king, Ahaz, is a descendant of the great king David.
The super-power of the day is the Assyrians. Ephraim/Israel had formed an alliance with a place called Aram to protect themselves against the Assyrians. Now Ephraim and Aram are threatening Judah: ‘if you do not join with us we will invade you.’ Rather than trust God, Ahaz forms a pact with the Assyrians. The Assyrians had no plans to do them God.
In short, Ahaz and his people are not trusting God, and the result is going to be disastrous. But God saves. He is going to rescue a people who will be guided by His words.
Light from a surprising place.
The light is going to come from the region around Galilee—Zebulun and Naphtali were in the north. When Israel and Judah were attacked this was the first place to be toppled. The Galileans knew plenty of slavery and despair. But God loves to turn things on their head. From this place of darkness and oppression comes the light of freedom. Matthew picks up these verses as he introduces the ministry of Jesus (Matthew 4:15-17).
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 44

Bowed Down by What Makes Them Beautiful

By Tim Challies — 5 months ago

The posture of our hearts soon matches the posture of our bodies. We acknowledge that God is the one whose providence has directed our every high and every low, our every joy and every sorrow, our every laugh and our every tear. And as we pass through the trials with a faith that is unbroken and a heart that is victorious, we see that, like those trees, we were made beautiful by the very thing that bowed us down.

There is no need to be concerned about snow in September” we were told as we began to pack and prepare for a trip to Austria. The travel sites said it wouldn’t come until later in the year, except perhaps on the highest peaks. Yet even as we drove from the Slovenian foothills into the Austrian Alps, rain turned to flurries and flurries turned to snow. Signs warned we ought to stick to the valleys and avoid the high passes. By the time we reached our destination, inches had fallen, blanketing the world in dazzling white.

The next morning I put on several layers of warm-weather clothing and went for a walk by myself. The world was pristine, the ground untouched by footsteps or tracks. The peaks that tower over the town were obscured by the clouds and by the flakes that continued to fall down and pile up. Every tree was coated in snow, almost as if God had told them to don their winter attire. Trees are beautiful in their own right, of course, but there is something about that snow that makes them more beautiful still.
I found a marker for a trail and followed it, trudging through deep woods made up of towering conifers.

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 54

How to be an Anxiety Fighter

By Justin N. Poythress — 5 months ago

Written by Justin N. Poythress |
Sunday, October 6, 2024
This is more than the power of positivity or a gratitude journal. The goodness of God alleviates more anxiety than a swaggering self-confidence because it frees you from that dreadful cell of…you. The antidote to anxiety is basking in the truth—God’s got this.

Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs him down, but a good word makes him glad. – Proverbs 12:25
One of my biggest beefs with sociology is that it tends to be heavy on problems, light on solutions. In its zeal to be labeled as science, it strives to appear objective. Sociology collects heaps of data in order to draw correlations or visualize cultural trajectories. But then, by its own constraints, it has nothing more to say. The problems pop off the page while the solutions are left up to…well, someone! The government, maybe?
Contemporary Christian writing has largely taken the same course. Fortunately, the Bible has a different approach. Take anxiety for example. This proverb doesn’t spend any time analyzing why your parents, career, the economy, or climate change have made you anxious. Social media is an environment that incubates anxiety, but it didn’t create it, otherwise Jesus wouldn’t have had to preach about it.
The Bible assumes anxiety is just there, in the air we breathe.
Therefore, in fighting anxiety, let’s go beyond one more prohibition (less screens), and look at how God pushes from the opposite direction. He tells us to bring a good word.
How to bring a good word.
1. Talk about positives
What unexpected blessings did you receive?
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 38

Right Reactions?

By Andrew Kerr — 5 months ago

Never forget that what the devil plans for bane God permit to bless. Brace yourself in advance so that you won’t be shocked by dark days in your life. Be resolved to keep going, not faint, and get the intended benefit of character forged like Christ. Ask for all His wisdom that you need to steady the ship and navigate your course. Wait for God who works all for good.

Some trials of faith can be so sudden and ferocious that they can knock us off balance, cause our hearts to tremble, confuse our minds, force us to run away, or yield to pressure, compromise or stress. Other tests we face are so arduous and prolonged that they wear or grind us down, leave us exhausted and wrung out, or gradually drive us down into the depth of depression and despair.
Context
James, not one of the twelve, but a brother of our Lord, presided over the earliest Jerusalem Church. He had passed unscathed through initial waves of hostility that buffeted apostles. His namesake had been martyred by beheading after a brutal reprisal of Herod. Disciples had been hauled before courts, hurled into jail, or left without work, as Saul raged against Christ. He writes to calm and challenge scattered saints.
Be Positive
Though their trials are great, believers must not lose heart. Their outlook should be buoyant as they reckon pain “all joy”. This careful calculation is not Christian masochism. It is not “pure” or “sheer” joy, as some translator suggest, that is delightful in itself. “No pain, no gain” comes closer to the truth. If it is an instant plus to suffer stripes that identify believers with Christ, affliction and persecution accrue long-term benefits, and are thus “all joy”.
Be Bi-Perspectival
Don’t jump to rash conclusions about the origin of your pain. It is overly simplistic to point the finger at the devil, or reduce all affliction to divine punishment. James employs an identical term for both “temptation” and “test”. What he is impressing upon us is that, like a coin, trials are two-sided and should be viewed from both angles. Satan aims to hurt by what God allows to help. In trial we are meant not to sin but to stand.
Be Prepared
Christians are neither to be surprised or alarmed by trails of “various kinds”.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 45

Women in Church History: Phillis Wheatley (c. 1753–1784)

By Sarah White — 5 months ago

From the trauma of enslavement to repeated loss of loved ones and material suffering, Phillis’ story is a tragic one. Yet her poems show her unflagging belief in God’s providence within and beyond her circumstances. While acknowledging the sorrows of her early life, she praises divine mercy for allowing her to learn “That there’s a God, that there’s a Savior too; once, I redemption neither sought nor knew.”

While we know her as Phillis Wheatley, the first African-American published poet remains a mystery to us in many ways. This is because she was kidnapped from her birth family and sold into slavery while still a small child. All we know of her origins is that she was born somewhere in West Africa around the year 1753, then transported to America, where she was purchased by a wealthy Boston couple, John and Susanna Wheatley. They intended for the little girl—around seven at the time—to work as a servant and companion to Mrs. Wheatley.
The Wheatley family named her after the Phillis, the ship on which she had made the Atlantic passage to America. Noticing how rapidly Phillis learned English, the family tutored her in reading and writing. She also attended Old South Meeting House, a Congregational church, alongside the family and showed an interest in Scripture and theology from a young age. Before Phillis was a teenager, she was avidly studying not only the Bible, but ancient Greek and Latin classics and English literature as well. She began experimenting with poetry and published her first poem in a newspaper at age 12. The Wheatleys encouraged Phillis and had a strikingly progressive attitude about education for their time; however, the fact remains that Phillis was enslaved by them until after she reached adulthood.When the famous evangelist George Whitefield died in 1770, teenaged Phillis published an elegy for him. She had likely heard him preach in Boston just the week before. Reflecting on Whitefield’s ministry she wrote this exhortation about responding to Christ:
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.

Post Views: 41

Hardship Is Not the End

By Paul David Tripp — 5 months ago

As the children of God, we are ruled not by our circumstances but by the one who controls every circumstance for his ultimate glory and our ultimate good. It may seem like hardship is winning, but whatever hard thing you are going through is not your final destination. God is preparing us for our final destination, where suffering will die and hardship will be no more, forever.

Hardship Is Inevitable
If you’re not dealing with hardship now, you will someday. And if you’re not dealing with it now, you are near someone who is. The Bible is very honest about the condition of the world we live in. The apostle Paul says that our world is groaning, waiting for redemption (Rom. 8:22). Peter writes that we should not be surprised when we face trials (1 Pet. 4:12). The blood and dirt of this fallen world and the theme of suffering splash across the pages of your Bible from Genesis 3 until the end of Revelation. Because this broken world is not functioning the way God originally intended and because it is populated by flawed people, hardship is the environment in which we live. From our irritation with little things that just don’t seem to go right to tragic, life-altering moments of suffering, we all have to deal with the unexpected and the unwanted. It’s easy to get disheartened with how hard life is. It’s easy to become cynical and negative.
It’s easy to allow yourself to question the goodness of God or the reliability of his promises. It is here that the story of the troubled life of Joseph can help us.
Read More

Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.