SOMETHING VISIBLE

I found this over at SelahV Today.

I think it is a very significant song.

Watch, listen and be inspired.

MONDAY MUSINGS FROM THE FOUNDERS-Gabriel Duvall

Gabriel Duvall

SOLDIER; JUDGE; SELECTED AS DELEGATE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION; COMPTROLLER OF THE U. S. TREASURY; U. S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICE

"I resign my soul into the hands of the Almighty Who gave it, in humble hopes of His mercy through our Savior Jesus Christ."

Romans 9:14-29

Since there is no condemnation in Christ; since we live according to the Holy Spirit; and since we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, we therefore have an obligation to (Romans 8:12) offer our bodies as living sacrifices…(Romans 12:1).

The natural man rebels against the sovereignty of God. Man loves to accuse God of being unjust. The trouble is, the natural man forgets that God gets to define what is just and what is unjust because He is God and natural man is not.

The Verses

14. In the previous verses we saw God choosing Jacob over Esau. Was He unjust? No. He is God and defines what is and what is not just.

15. God gets to choose who He has mercy on and who He has compassion on. Because God is who He is and is unmanipulable, prayer must be finding out what God wants and getting on board with it…whatever it is.

16. Man is not the one who gets to choose. But God does. Salvation is not what God gives us because we are who we are; salvation is what God gives us because He is God. It is His mercy, not extended because of man’s will, but because of God’s mercy in Christ.

17. Back when Pharaoh chased the Jews to the Red Sea, God decided to show His power. God gave Pharaoh many chances to follow God’s will, but rejected them all. God’s says, “You may think you are not going to let my people go, but watch this: you ARE going to let my people go.” God forced Pharaoh to do what he wanted to do.

18. God has mercy on whom He wants to and hardens whom he wants to. Now a person can resist the prodding of the Holy Spirit if he/she wants to, but there will come a time when God will harden his/her heart until he can no longer respond to God.

19. Natural man says, “How can a fair and just God blame us for sin?” Because He is God, folks…because He is God. And natural man has rejected Him.

20. Who do we think we are to challenge God? It only shows that we don’t want to know who He is.

21. A potter can make whatever he wants out of the lump of clay he uses. The clay has no voice in the matter. But in the end, what the potter makes is a work of art. What if the potter had not gotten involved? What if the clay had said, “You have no right to mash on me?”

We sing:

Have Thine own way, Lord; have Thine own way;
Thou art the potter; I am the clay.
Mould me and make me after Thy will
While I am waiting, yielded and still.

Is that really what we mean?

22. What if God…This is not a verse setting out something God has done. This is a verse that forces the question, “SO WHAT?” What if God had done this…what if God had done that? SO WHAT? What if God had done the other thing? SO WHAT? HE IS GOD AND WE ARE NOT. HE GETS TO CHOOSE, AND HE HAS CHOSEN TO SHOW ETERNAL MERCY ON THOSE WHO TURN TO HIM IN FAITH BELIEVING, TRUSTING IN, AND ONLY IN, THE FINISHED WORK OF CHRIST AT THE CROSS AND HIS RESURRECTION FOR THEIR SALVATION.

23. Same theme.

24. Same theme and Paul adds that God has chosen the path of salvation by grace through faith for ANYBODY, Jew or Gentile…even you and me.

25-29: Paul’s wish for the Jews repeated: Come to Christ!

MONDAY MUSINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS-John Dickinson

John Dickinson

SIGNER OF THE CONSTITUTION; GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; GOVERNOR OF DELAWARE; GENERAL IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

"Rendering thanks to my Creator for my existence and station among His works, for my birth in a country enlightened by the Gospel and enjoying freedom, and for all His other kindnesses, to Him I resign myself, humbly confiding in His goodness and in His mercy through Jesus Christ for the events of eternity.

"[Governments] caould not give the rights essential to happiness… We claim them from a higher source: from the King of kings, and Lord of all the earth."

Romans 9 1-12

Since there is no condemnation in Christ; since we live according to the Holy Spirit; and since we are controlled by the Holy Spirit, we therefore have an obligation to (Romans 8:12) offer our bodies a living sacrifices…(Romans 12:1).

The Verses

1. Paul affirms that he is being truthful in what he is about to say.

2. His heart is vexed by what he is about to say.

3. If he could, he would bear the sins of “his brothers” (Israel) on himself.

4. Christ came to offer them adoption; glory, the old and new covenants; the Law; an opportunity for true worship and the promises of the Old Testament (Jesus)

5. Everything in the Old Testament, as culminated in the New Testament, was offered to the Jews, but they rejected it all.

6. It was not God who failed, but them. The natural offspring of Jews are not the real children of Israel…Christians are (spiritual offspring).

7. Being a descendant of Abraham will not save you. If it were so, Islam would be a true religion…they are sons of Abraham. When Jesus was confronted by Jews who claimed to be descendants of Abraham, He set them straight. They are not real descendants.

8. Jesus made clear that the real descendants of Abraham are the children of the Promise (Himself) There were thousands who turned to Christ after the resurrection. (Acts 21:20)

9. Words are important, and how people say things determines the meaning of their words. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise to return and provide the many offspring of Abraham.

10. Isaac and Rebekah are given as a principle of the divine election of God; that is: whoever comes to Christ is elected.

11. God’s election was determined before the multitudes of descendants were born.

12. The point here is that God’s salvation does not depend upon one’s birth, (the twins were born at the same time), it does not rest upon the order of birth (in fact, God chose the younger), it does not depend upon their character, or their works.

13. It all depends upon Christ…God’s purpose in election.

MONDAY MUSINGS FROM OUR FOUNDERS Charles Carroll

" Without morals a republic cannot subsist any length of time; they therefore who are decrying the Christian religion, whose morality is so sublime and pure...are undermining the solid foundation of morals, the best security for the duration of free governments."

Charles Carroll

SIGNER OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE;

SELECTED AS DELEGATE TO THE CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION;

FRAMER OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS;

U. S. SENATOR

Member, 1774-1776 Constitutional Conventions,

Anne Arundel County Senate, Western Shore, 1777-1800

Senate President, 1782-1783

Delegate, Continental Congress, 1776, 1777-1778, 1780

Signer, Declaration of Independence, 1776

U.S. Senator, 1st, 2nd Congresses, 1789-1792

Romans 8:28-39

SAINTS AT WORSHIP


Remember: We are still working on the explanation of the “therefore” of verse 12 and the therefore of Chapter 12, verse 1: “Therefore…therefore I urge you to offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God which is your reasonable act of worship (service).”

The Verses

28. “And.” In addition to what we have already known, we know this: God is for us.

29. We’ll not enter into a discussion of the meaning of “predestination” here except to say you are either a “saint” or an “ain’t .” If you are an “ain’t” you are doomed. If you are a saint, you can know that you have been predestined…to what?…to be Christ like.

30. If you are a saint, you are called to be like Jesus, both in justification and glorification.

31. If God is for us, who can be against us? Nobody and nothing.

32. In His graciousness He will give us all things. Now this does not mean that we will all have Beamers or Mercedes, but, sticking to the subject: we will inherit what Christ has inherited…all of creation and heaven, too. What a deal!!!

33. The “who” here is a direct reference to Satan. He can’t charge us with our sin, and neither can anybody else, because God has both chosen and justified us.

34. Christ is the only one who can condemn and He only condemns those who have rejected Him. He intercedes for us.

35. Who can separate us from the love of Christ? Nobody and nothing.

36. Psalm 44:22. It will cost you to stand for Christ. You will be led as sheep to the slaughter.

37. But they cannot triumph! We are more than conquerors! (Through Christ, that is) That means to have assistance from one who gets the victory for us. The victorious life is not our life…it is HIS in us!!

38. & 39 Nothing. NOTHING! NOTHING! Can separate us from God’s love if we are in Christ. He does the keeping, not us. He does the saving, not us.