In every changing scene of life...

18. Look as well on the bright, as well as on the dark side of Providence.

19. Keep up precious thoughts of God, under his sharpest and severest dispensations to you.

Thomas Brooks Legacies

True victory

17. Eye more the internal workings of God in your souls, than the external providences of God. If God should carry on ever so glorious a work in the world as the conquest of nations to Christ, what would it advantage you if sin, Satan, and the world triumph in your soul?

Thomas Brooks-Legacies

Three Legacies

Apologies for the lack of legacies :) Here it goes three of them in a row...I specially like number 15. It really puts things in perspective doesn't it? when one can think that this life is not all there is! 

14. Walk in those ways that are directly contrary to the vain, sinful, superstitious ways — which men of a formal, carnal, lukewarm spirit walk in.

15. Look upon all the things of this world as you will when you come to die. Men may now put a lovely mask upon them, but then they will appear in their own colors.

16. Never put off conscience with any plea that you dare not stand by in the great day of your account.

Thomas Brooks-Legacies

Public and Private Life

13. The fewer opportunities and the lesser advantages you have in public, the more abundantly address yourselves to God in private. (Malachi 3:16, 17.)

Legacies by Thomas Brooks

Perfect Liberty!

“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.” Romans 8:21

THEY are already in possession of a liberty most costly and precious. 

Is it no true liberty to stand before God accepted in the Beloved?

Is it no liberty to draw near to Him with all the confidence of a child reposing in the boundless affection of a loving father?  

Is it no liberty to travel day by day to Jesus, always finding Him an open door of sympathy the most exquisite, of love the most tender, and of grace the most overflowing?

 Is it, in a word, no real liberty to be able to lay faith’s hand upon the everlasting covenant, and exclaim, “There is now no condemnation”?

12. Test all things

12. Take no truths upon trust, but all upon trial. Bring all to the balance of the sanctuary. (1 Thessalonians 5:21; Acts 17:11.) It was the glory of that church that they would not trust Paul himself.

[Bold Emphasis mine]

Thomas brooks legacies

11.Exercise

11. Be most in the spiritual exercises of religion, meditation, self-examination, etc. Bodily exercises without these will profit nothing.

Thomas Brooks Legacies

10. Labor for a healing spirit. Away with all discriminating names that may hinder the applying of balm to heal our wounds. Discord and division befit no Christian. For wolves to worry the lambs is no wonder — but for one lamb to worry another is unnatural and monstrous.

Thomas Brooks-Legacies

Accountability

9. Let not a day pass without calling the whole man to an exact account. Hands — What have you done for God to day? Tongue — What have you spoke? ...

Integrity

8. Hold fast your integrity. Let all go rather than let that go. (Job 27:5, 6.)

Examples anyone??

7. Set the highest examples of grace and godliness before you for imitation. Next to that of Christ, the pattern of the choicest saints. For faith, Abraham; for courage, Joshua; for uprightness, Job; for meekness, Moses, etc.
Thomas Brooks -legacy 7

Doing Good

Sorry friends a late legacy : )

6. Be always doing or receiving good. This will make your lives comfortable, your deaths happy, and your account glorious in the great day of the Lord.

Thomas brooks-Legacies 6

Putting off

Dear friends, below an excerpt of D.M.L-Jones' excellent series of Ephesians. I am afraid this might be one of many excerpts in this blog.

That you put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and be renewed in the spirit of you mind; that ye put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Ephesians 4:22-24

Thus far we have demonstrated that sin in every respect is deceitful, from the devil downwards- the devil, his agents, sin itself, sin in me, and sin in my members. How does it deceive? How does this element of deceit come out of sin? It does so by coming to us as a would-be friend. It always flatters us. When the devil in his subtlety and his deceitfulness came to Eve he flattered her. He said: God is not fair to you, He has put a prohibition upon you; He should not have done so; He is afraid that you will become as He is.  In this way he was paying her a subtle compliment. 

Sin always comes with a smile; it is most ingratiating, it always pays us compliments; we are very wonderful-if only we listen! It plays on our pride in some shape or form, our appearance, our good looks, our nature, something about us-wonderful! And so it deceives us by flattering us. It is always attractive, of course. (...)

And then another thing which sin does- and this is a part of its whole art of deceit - it always discourages thought, it always discourages meditation. Sin knows that it has only got one hope of succeeding, and that is to play upon the feelings and your desires. If the mind really begins to operate, sin is finished, and therefore in its subtlety, its play on the feelings and discourages mind and thought. We all know something of this. You find yourself in a temper simply because you did not think of what you were doing. It governed and controlled you. It makes us live for the moment only. We fail to think beyond the present moment, and then it has got you! If only men and women thought ahead, how different life would be! But they do not; sin discourages thought, and this is part of its strategy of deceit.

[bold emphasis not in the original]

D. M Lloyd-Jones

Chapter 10 'Corruption, Lusts, Deceits' 

Darkeness and Light 4:17-5:17

Ephesian Series

Right pains!

My favourite legacy:

5. Take more pains to keep yourselves from sin than from suffering.

Thomas Brooks

The Great Run

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified. 1 Cor 9:24

Christian Graces

4. See that all your graces, your faith, love, courage, zeal, resolution, magnanimity — rise higher by opposition, threatenings, and sufferings. Say as David, "If this be vile, I will be more vile!"

Thomas Brooks

Sense or Faith?

Another excerpt from Octavious Winslow's Morning thoughts, hope you will all forgive me!   In Christ Jesus, J Roque

"And do not be conformed to this world: but be you transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God." Romans 12:2

THE world, and the love of it, and conformity to it, may please and assist the life of sense, but it is opposed to, and will retard, the life of faith.

Preservation :)

3- In all places and companies, be sure to carry your soul-preservatives with you, (a holy care and wisdom), as men carry outward preservatives with them in infectious times.

Thomas Brooks

2- Make Christ and Scripture the only foundation for your souls, and for faith to build upon.

Thomas Brook-Legacies

Jesus, Jesus all sufficient!

 "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13

What! is not the atoning work of Jesus sufficient to give your believing soul solid rest, and peace, and hope, but that you should have turned your eye from Him, and have sought it in the polluted and broken cistern of self?

Oh, slight not the precious blood, the glorious righteousness, the infinite fullness, and the tender love of Jesus thus. No, you dishonor this precious Jesus Himself!

Shall He have wrought such an obedience, shall He have made such an atonement, shall He have died such a death, shall He have risen and have ascended up on high, all to secure your full salvation and certain glory, and will you derive the evidence and the comfort of your acceptance from any other than this one precious source—"looking unto Jesus!"

Look away, then, from everything to Jesus. No matter what you are, look away from self—to Jesus. The more vile, the more empty, the more unworthy, the greater reason and the stronger argument why you should look entirely off yourself—to Jesus.

Octavious Winslow- Morning 

Secure your saving interest in Christ-1

 Secure your saving interest in Christ. This is not a time for a man to be between hopes and fears. Take not up with an outward form, crying, "The Temple of the Lord." 

Thomas Brooks
-------
PS: I forgot to explain that this is a series of short posts that will be coming up every Monday...I came across these "Legacies" by Thomas Brooks and thought some of them very interesting...more to come next Monday!

In Christ alone

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Romans 3: 21-26

This is the glory of the gospel: that God is at the same time Just and the Justifier of everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ.  (How so? )

...and in faithfulness You has afflicted me...

The confession of justice may be mere natural conviction. Faith [however] goes further and speaks of divine faithfulness. 
David not only acknowledges God's right to deal with him as He saw fit, and His wisdom in dealing with him as He actually had done--but he saw also God's faithfulness in afflicting--not faithfulness though He afflicted--but IN afflicting him; not as if it were simply consistent with His love--but that it was the very fruit of His love! 

 Charles Bridges

Evolution Vs God

Another Excellent Movie by Living Waters! Shows how important it is to help people re-think their own position.

Run Christian, Run!

" Let us run the race'- But how shall we run? So run that you may obtain. Many run upon hope of heaven, and get hell in the end. But hear what the Spirit of god says, Lay aside every weight; every clog...Cast off everything that make you heavy: make yourself light, that ye may be nimble, skip and spur away. Run, run, look not behind you, remember Lot's wife. Although you should be like to burst, tarry not. You will mend of a sweat, and a heat, God has a napkin to rub the sweat off you, and He has a chair and a cushion for you, against the race be ended, and He will lay your head in His bosom. Take a little pains in the day, for I promise you, you shall get rest at even. "

' Life and Works of Samuel Rutherford'

The beauty of contentment

There is no work that God has made—the sun, moon, stars, and all the world—in which so much of the glory of God appears as in a man who lives quietly in the midst of adversity. That was what convinced the king: he saw that the three children could walk in the midst of the fiery furnace and not be touched (Dan 3:25). By this, the king was mightily convinced that surely their God was the great God indeed. So when a Christian can walk in the midst of fiery trials without his garments being singed and has comfort and joy in the midst of everything—when like Paul in the stocks he can sing, which wrought upon the jailor (Act 16:25-34)—it will convince men, when they see the power of grace in the midst of afflictions. When they can behave themselves in a gracious and holy manner in such afflictions as would make others roar, this is the glory of a Christian!

Jeremiah Burroughs 

“Vanity of vanities; all is vanity” (Ecc 1:2)

There is nothing in the creature that is suitable for a gracious heart to feed upon for its good and happiness. My brethren, the reason why you do not have contentment in the things of the world is not that you do not have enough of them. The reason is that they are not things proportional to that immortal soul of yours that is capable of God Himself.

'The rare jewel of Christian Contentment' Jeremiah Burroughs

The way to personal spiritual revival.

Another except from Spiritual Mindedness by John Owen. 

Remember your former spiritual state. Remember how it was when you first became a Christian. Remember how strong and vigorous your spiritual hunger and thirst, how greatly you desired Christ and his grace and mercy. Now compare it to your present spiritual state. This will help you to arouse your desires to return to God and to be healed of your present low spiritual condition (Hos 2:7).
(...)

Call to mind the former days. Consider whether those days where better than now, when in your lying down and your rising up, you had many thoughts of God, and how sweet and precious they were to your souls; when you rejoiced at the remembrance of His holiness; when you had zeal for His glory,  delight in His worship, and were glad when they said 'Let us go to the house of God together'; when you poured out your souls in prayer and experienced his love reviving your hearts. Remember what peace of mind, and what joy you had, and compare it to what you have got now in your present lukewarm state. 

The evils of lukewarmeness

Where God i not loved above all He is not loved at all, and God is not loved where men will not part with one cursed sin for His sake. Do not let the fact that you know the gospel, that you have gifts, that you are faithful in attending worship that you profess faith in Christ deceive you. If you allow one sin remain in your life you do not love God. (...)
He that will not make every attempt to boot out every sin from his life now, may say what he will and pretend what he will, but the truth is that he never intends to boot out this particular sin, nor is he probable that he will ever do so. 

'The evils of lukewarmness 'pp.211 , Spiritual Mindedness by John Owen

This book can be found here.

Crazy world in which we live :(

Annie and Christer Johansson’s appeal to the Supreme Court of Sweden may be their last hope to see their son again. They haven’t seen him in nearly three years.
The family was on board Turkish Air Flight 990 on June 25, 2009 when their 7-year-old son Domenic was snatched from them by armed Swedish police. The police were ordered to seize the boy based on the fact that he had been homeschooled, even though school had already ended for the year. The family was moving permanently to India, Annie’s home country.
In December 2012, a Swedish appeals court overturned a lower court ruling in favor of the parents and ordered the guardianship of Domenic transferred to an appointed third party. The ruling effectively terminated Annie and Christer’s parental rights over Domenic, who has now been in a foster home for nearly four years. The strain of the forced separation is inflicting unbearable pain and pressure on the family who still live on the same island just miles from where their son lives—yet they are not permitted to have any contact with him whatsoever.

from  HSLDA The whole article can be found here. 

Blogging still...Updated

What was never published...:) I was looking through my drafts the other day and I think I accidentally posted this draft (see below). Looking our blog a few days later I realised that this post was rather...em...late...
Ha cannot believe it is almost 2 years that I (we) have been to NZ. Truly the LORD is abbreviating the times...Okay will try having a comeback post soon ( the official first in 2013).  For now just what was meant to come live but never did ( in time).