Welcome to ReStart! This Weblog is offered to help you restart your life in Jesus Christ, or to start your day. You will find resources such as daily Bible readings, writings of the Apostolic Fathers, Jacobus Arminius, Thomas à Kempis, François Fénelon, and many others; sermons by John Wesley; and other occasional posts for renewing life, families, churches, denominations, and Methodism through faith in Christ.
The Daily Audio Bible selections are posted every morning. Each post features a printed verse in either Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament), English, Spanish, Taglog, Korean, and Malayalam. With each verse there is a link to the reading of the respective chapter in English and Spanish. The English audio comes from The Listener's Bible. These posts are always accompanied by a music file in MP3 format and an image in jpg format. You may download the images for your own usage.
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If you are looking for an online worship experience I encourage you to go to Virtual Church. This site contains weekly posts of video worship with a scritpture, sermon, and music. It is designed to provide a supplement or temporary alternative for worship. Other resources may be found on this site.
I have a special website called Virtual Church Resources. Virtual Church Resources offers books-in-print, eBooks, and weblogs for Christians for personal growth, small group study, devotionals, and entertainment. Christian pastors will find many of the resources to be helpful in their work. Some resources are free. Costs are kept as low as possible for easy access.
Another site of interest for you may be Moral Side. This site offers resources and discussions on current events and their moral implications. Your comments are welcome on this site. The core of Moral Side are the video presentations of the program "The Moral Side of the News" that is produced by WHAS-TV in Louisville, Kentucky. "The Moral Side of the News" is a weekly discussion of current affairs by a panel of clergy. The program is broadcast on Sundays on WHAS-TV (5:30AM), WHAS 840AM radio (8:30PM - streaming available), and other Louisville radio and television stations. I am a regular panelist on the program.
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“For tell me, was it not God who commanded by Moses that no image or likeness of anything which was in heaven above or which was on the earth should be made, and yet who caused the brazen serpent to be made by Moses in the wilderness, and set it up for a sign by which those bitten by serpents were saved? Yet is He free from unrighteousness. For by this, as I previously remarked, He proclaimed the mystery, by which He declared that He would break the power of the serpent which occasioned the transgression of Adam, and [would bring] to them that believe on Him [who was foreshadowed] by this sign, i.e., Him who was to be crucified, salvation from the fangs of the serpent, which are wicked deeds, idolatries, and other unrighteous acts. Unless the matter be so understood, give me a reason why Moses set up the brazen serpent for a sign, and bade those that were bitten gaze at it, and the wounded were healed; and this, too, when he had himself commanded that no likeness of anything whatsoever should be made.”
On this, another of those who came on the second day said, “You have spoken truly: we cannot give a reason. For I have frequently interrogated the teachers about this matter, and none of them gave me a reason: therefore continue what you are speaking; for we are paying attention while you unfold the mystery, on account of which the doctrines of the prophets are falsely slandered.”
Then I replied, “Just as God commanded the sign to be made by the brazen serpent, and yet He is blameless; even so, though a curse lies in the law against persons who are crucified, yet no curse lies on the Christ of God, by whom all that have committed things worthy of a curse are saved. [Gal. iii. 13]
Y vosotros, padres, no provoquéis á ira á vuestros hijos; sino fhhijos; sino fh amonestación del Señor. [Efesios 6:4] [RVA] [NVI Audio]
Und ihr Väter, reizet eure Kinder nicht zum Zorn, sondern zieht sie auf in der Vermahnung zum HERRN. [Epheser 6:4] [LUTH1545]
E vós, pais, não provoqueis ã ira vossos filhos, mas criai-os na disciplina e admoestação do Senhor. [Efésios 6:4] [AA]
Mga ama, huwag ninyong ibunsod sa galit ang inyong mga anak sa halip ay alagaan ninyo sila sa pagsasanay at sa turo ng Panginoon. [Mga Taga-Efeso 6:4] [SND] [Audio]
또 아 비 들 아 ! 너 희 자 녀 를 노 엽 게 하 지 말 고 오 직 주 의 교 양 과 훈 계 로 양 육 하 라 [에베소서 6:4] [Audio]
“For [God] sets before every race of mankind that which is always and universally just, as well as all righteousness; and every race knows that adultery, and fornication, and homicide, and such like, are sinful; and though they all commit such practices, yet they do not escape from the knowledge that they act unrighteously whenever they so do, with the exception of those who are possessed with an unclean spirit, and who have been debased by education, by wicked customs, and by sinful institutions, and who have lost, or rather quenched and put under, their natural ideas. For we may see that such persons are unwilling to submit to the same things which they inflict upon others, and reproach each other with hostile consciences for the acts which they perpetrate. And hence I think that our Lord and Saviour JesusChrist spoke well when He summed up all righteousness and piety in two commandments. They are these: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself.’ [Matt. xxii. 37] For the man who loves God with all the heart, and with all the strength, being filled with a God-fearing mind, will reverence no other god; and since God wishes it, he would reverence that angel who is beloved by the same Lord and God. And the man who loves his neighbour as himself will wish for him the same good things that he wishes for himself, and no man will wish evil things for himself. Accordingly, he who loves his neighbour would pray and labour that his neighbour may be possessed of the same benefits as himself. Now nothing else is neighbour to man than that similarly-affectioned and reasonable being—man. Therefore, since all righteousness is divided into two branches, namely, in so far as it regards God and men, whoever, says the Scripture, loves the Lord God with all the heart, and all the strength, and his neighbour as himself, would be truly a righteous man. But you were never shown to be possessed of friendship or love either towards God, or towards the prophets, or towards yourselves, but, as is evident, you are ever found to be idolaters and murderers of righteous men, so that you laid hands even on Christ Himself; and to this very day you abide in your wickedness, execrating those who prove that this man who was crucified by you is the Christ. Nay, more than this, you suppose that He was crucified as hostile to and cursed by God, which supposition is the product of your most irrational mind. For though you have the means of understanding that this man is Christ from the signs given by Moses, yet you will not; but, in addition, fancying that we can have no arguments, you put whatever question comes into your minds, while you yourselves are at a loss for arguments whenever you meet with some firmly established Christian.
Cantad á Dios, cantad salmos á su nombre: Ensalzad al que sube sobre los cielos En JAH su nombre, y alegraos delante de él. Padre de huérfanos y defensor de viudas, Es Dios en la morada de su santuario: [Salmos 68:4-5] [RVA] [NIV Audio]
Singet Gott, lobsinget seinem Namen! Machet Bahn dem, der durch die Wüste herfährt-er heißt HERR-,und freuet euch vor ihm, der ein Vater ist der Waisen und ein Richter der Witwen. Er ist Gott in seiner heiligen Wohnung, [Psalm 68:4-5] [LUTH1545]
Cantai a Deus, cantai louvores ao seu nome; louvai aquele que cavalga sobre as nuvens, pois o seu nome é Já; exultai diante dele. Pai de órfãos e juiz de viúvas é Deus na sua santa morada. [Salmos 68:4-5] [AA]
하 나 님 께 노 래 하 며 그 이 름 을 찬 양 하 라 타 고 광 야 에 행 하 시 던 자 를 위 하 여 대 로 를 수 축 하 라 그 이 름 은 여 호 와 시 니 그 앞 에 서 뛰 놀 지 어 다 그 거 룩 한 처 소 에 계 신 하 나 님 은 고 아 의 아 버 지 시 며 과 부 의 재 판 장 이 시 라
“Unless, therefore, a man by God’s great grace receives the power to understand what has been said and done by the prophets, the appearance of being able to repeat the words or the deeds will not profit him, if he cannot explain the argument of them. And will they not assuredly appear contemptible to many, since they are related by those who understood them not? For if one should wish to ask you why, since Enoch, Noah with his sons, and all others in similar circumstances, who neither were circumcised nor kept the Sabbath, pleased God, God demanded by other leaders, and by the giving of the law after the lapse of so many generations, that those who lived between the times of Abraham and of Moses be justified by circumcision, and that those who lived after Moses be justified by circumcision and the other ordinances—to wit, the Sabbath, and sacrifices, and libations, and offerings; [God will be slandered] unless you show, as I have already said, that God who foreknew was aware that your nation would deserve expulsion from Jerusalem, and that none would be permitted to enter into it. (For you are not distinguished in any other way than by the fleshly circumcision, as I remarked previously. For Abraham was declared by God to be righteous, not on account of circumcision, but on account of faith. For before he was circumcised the following statement was made regarding him: ‘Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.’ [Gen. xv. 6] And we, therefore, in the uncircumcision of our flesh, believing God through Christ, and having that circumcision which is of advantage to us who have acquired it —namely, that of the heart—we hope to appear righteous before and well-pleasing to God: since already we have received His testimony through the words of the prophets.) [And, further, God will be slandered unless you show] that you were commanded to observe the Sabbath, and to present offerings, and that the Lord submitted to have a place called by the name of God, in order that, as has been said, you might not become impious and godless by worshipping idols and forgetting God, as indeed you do always appear to have been. (Now, that God enjoined the ordinances of Sabbaths and offerings for these reasons, I have proved in what I previously remarked; but for the sake of those who came to-day, I wish to repeat nearly the whole.) For if this is not the case, God will be slandered, as having no foreknowledge, and as not teaching all men to know and to do the same acts of righteousness (for many generations of men appear to have existed before Moses); and the Scripture is not true which affirms that ‘God is true and righteous, and all His ways are judgments, and there is no unrighteousness in him.’ But since the Scripture is true, God is always willing that such even as you be neither foolish nor lovers of yourselves, in order that you may obtain the salvation of Christ, who pleased God, and received testimony from Him, as I have already said, by alleging proof from the holy words of prophecy.
I do not mean those who fight holiness, but use the word fighting as an adjective to describe holiness.
The phrase may be used in a bad sense and a good sense. A professor of religion who is all alive to his own importance, ready to join issue with everybody on every occasion who differs with him, to put the worst construction upon the actions and the worst meaning to the words of others, who stirs up strife and divisions wherever he goes, has a bad kind of warring holiness. He may be zealous to reform yet does but little towards promoting “on earth peace, and good will toward men.” He is very apt to substitute bitterness for love, presumption for faith, obstinacy for firmness. Men who are naturally pugnacious, even when truly sanctified, are liable to lose the fullness of love, and then become quarrelsome: and if, as is generally the case, they keep up their profession of holiness, they prejudice sensible people against the doctrine, and do a vast amount of harm.
But true holiness is not the easy, obsequious, compromising principle that many appear to think that it is—it is brave as a hero and at the same time gentle as a woman. It is valiant for the truth. When called upon, it is ready to defend it, and if need be to die for it. The man of God is solemnly charged—
“Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life.”—I Tim. 6:12.
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.”—Matt. 10:34.
Wherever sin and true holiness come in contact there must be war.
All eminent saints have been great warriors. Paul describes his life at its close by saying, “I have fought a good fight.” Luther and Wesley and Finney were mighty men of war.
But see to it that in the midst of all your fightings you keep filled with love.
We have a Presbyterian brother—a devout man of God, and an able preacher—who holds to the doctrine of sanctification. He says that, as a matter of fact, he finds that those professing holiness are generally “sanctified in streaks.” Is there not too much ground for this observation?
Some evidently love the world. They gain all they can, and save all they can,—but they do not give all they can. They have enough, and more than enough, to make themselves and those dependent on them comfortable as long as they live. Still they go on laying up for themselves “treasures on earth.” Some make a gain of godliness. Even “holiness camp-meetings”are so managed that a good deal of money is made out of them. The ground for tents to stand on is rented at a large profit; the tents and furniture are rented at a profit; and even the railroads—grasping as are these corporations—are made to share with the managers, the profits of carrying the worshipers to these great gatherings. If those who labor specially to promote holiness set such an example of money-making, is it to be wondered at if the same spirit should be imbibed by others?
Some are greatly wanting in meekness and humility. They put on style. In their dress, they violate the plain rules of Scripture. They mince their words, and affect a high degree of social refinement in their manner of speaking.
Others are too forward. They never know their place. If they cannot lead, they balk. They must be foremost, or they will not work at all. If you disagree with them in opinion, they take it that you are their enemy. An effort to correct anything that is really objectionable, they count as persecution. They are not “easy to be entreated.”
Some are wanting in self-denial. They live in ease and self-indulgence. They do not seem to know what it is to deny themselves of anything for Jesus’ sake.
Beloveds, the Gospel proposes to effect in each one of us a perfect cure. We are sanctified
This cannot be too strongly impressed upon the mind. You will be sanctified only so far as you receive the truth. If your views of truth are defective or distorted, there will be a corresponding defect or distortion in your piety. Do not be rickety Christians, with a head disproportional to the rest of your body. SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES. Aim at a full and harmonious development of all the Christian graces. If you find you are defective in any respect, do not peevishly throw away the whole of your experience, and go over the same old, beaten road again, but come to God for that particular grace. Persevere in prayer until you get it. Insist upon it that it is your privilege to be right with God in all respects. Be willing to know your faults; for until you know them you will never seek deliverance from them. Welcome the light.
“And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity.”—II Pet. 1:5-7.
“And God by Moses shows in another way the force of the mystery of the cross, when He said in the blessing wherewith Joseph was blessed, ‘From the blessing of the Lord is his land; for the seasons of heaven, and for the dews, and for the deep springs from beneath, and for the seasonable fruits of the sun, and for the coming together of the months, and for the heights of the everlasting mountains, and for the heights of the hills, and for the ever-flowing rivers, and for the fruits of the fatness of the earth; and let the things accepted by Him who appeared in the bush come on the head and crown of Joseph. Let him be glorified among his brethren; his beauty is [like] the firstling of a bullock; his horns the horns of an unicorn: with these shall he push the nations from one end of the earth to another.’ [Deut. xxxiii. 13–17] Now, no one could say or prove that the horns of an unicorn represent any other fact or figure than the type which portrays the cross. For the one beam is placed upright, from which the highest extremity is raised up into a horn, when the other beam is fitted on to it, and the ends appear on both sides as horns joined on to the one horn. And the part which is fixed in the centre, on which are suspended those who are crucified, also stands out like a horn; and it also looks like a horn conjoined and fixed with the other horns. And the expression, ‘With these shall he push as with horns the nations from one end of the earth to another,’ is indicative of what is now the fact among all the nations. For some out of all the nations, through the power of this mystery, having been so pushed, that is, pricked in their hearts, have turned from vain idols and demons to serve God. But the same figure is revealed for the destruction and condemnation of the unbelievers; even as Amalek was defeated and Israel victorious when the people came out of Egypt, by means of the type of the stretching out of Moses’ hands, and the name of Jesus (Joshua), by which the son of Nave (Nun) was called. And it seems that the type and sign, which was erected to counteract the serpents which bit Israel, was intended for the salvation of those who believe that death was declared to come thereafter on the serpent through Him that would be crucified, but salvation to those who had been bitten by him and had betaken themselves to Him that sent His Son into the world to be crucified. [John iii. 14] For the Spirit of prophecy by Moses did not teach us to believe in the serpent, since it shows us that he was cursed by God from the beginning; and in Isaiah tells us that he shall be put to death as an enemy by the mighty sword, which is Christ.
“Bring us on, then,” said [Trypho], “by the Scriptures, that we may also be persuaded by you; for we know that He should suffer and be led as a sheep. But prove to us whether He must be crucified and die so disgracefully and so dishonourably by the death cursed in the law. For we cannot bring ourselves even to think of this.”
“You know,” said I, “that what the prophets said and did they veiled by parables and types, as you admitted to us; so that it was not easy for all to understand the most [of what they said], since they concealed the truth by these means, that those who are eager to find out and learn it might do so with much labour.”
They answered, “We admitted this.”
“Listen, therefore,” say I, “to what follows; for Moses first exhibited this seeming curse of Christ’s by the signs which he made.”
“Of what [signs] do you speak?” said he.
“When the people,” replied I, “waged war with Amalek, and the son of Nave (Nun) by name Jesus (Joshua), led the fight, Moses himself prayed to God, stretching out both hands, and Hur with Aaron supported them during the whole day, so that they might not hang down when he got wearied. For if he gave up any part of this sign, which was an imitation of the cross, the people were beaten, as is recorded in the writings of Moses; but if he remained in this form, Amalek was proportionally defeated, and he who prevailed prevailed by the cross. For it was not because Moses so prayed that the people were stronger, but because, while one who bore the name of Jesus (Joshua) was in the forefront of the battle, he himself made the sign of the cross. For who of you knows not that the prayer of one who accompanies it with lamentation and tears, with the body prostrate, or with bended knees, propitiates God most of all? But in such a manner neither he nor any other one, while sitting on a stone, prayed. Nor even the stone symbolized Christ, as I have shown.
