Restart

WELCOME TO RESTART

Thankful

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 Jacobus Arminius, Thomas à Kempis, and François Fénelon; 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 English and Spanish and either Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament).  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.

You may explore recent posts in the main column by scrolling down.  I encourage you to also explore the many resources that may be found in the side column.  The resources are for both edification and enjoyment.  Some of the links simply help organize information and posts on this blog.  Other links take you to other sites.

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.

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 (9:30PM), and other Louisville radio and television stations.  I am a regular panelist on the program.

If you so desire you may access my "channel" on  YouTube.  You will find many videos that I have published.  You may subscribe to John's YouTube channel if you wish.

There are other ways for us to connect.  You may follow me on Twitter by going to John on Twitter.  You will be notified through twitter of any new posts to this blog and other sites that I manage.

We may also connect on Facebook.  You may find me on Facebook by going to John on Facebook.

Thanks for visiting ReStart.  If you have any comments you may make comments on individual posts.  Enjoy exploring the site by scrolling down and browsing the categories.  May God bless you always.

Yours in Christ, John

 

François Fénelon - LETTER XXV. We Should Listen to God and Not to Self-Love

I beseech you not to listen to self. Self-love whispers in one ear and the love of God in the other; the first is restless, bold, eager, and impetuous; the other is simple, peaceful, and speaks but a few words in a mild and gentle voice. The moment we attend to the voice of self crying in our ear, we can no longer hear the modest tones of holy love. Each speaks only of its single object. Self-love entertains us with self, which, according to it, is never sufficiently well attended to; it talks of friendship, regard, esteem, and is in despair at everything but flattery. The love of God, on the other hand, desires that self should be forgotten, that it should be trodden under foot and broken as an idol, and that God should become the self of espoused souls, and occupy them as others are occupied by self. Let the vain, complaining babbler, self-love, be silenced, that in the stillness of the heart we may listen to that other love that only speaks when addressed.

Daily Audio Bible - ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 4:24 SBLGNT, John 4:24 NIV, Juan 4:24 NVI

πνεῦμα ὁ θεός, καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας αὐτὸν ἐν πνεύματι καὶ ἀληθείᾳ δεῖ προσκυνεῖν.

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth. Audio: John 4.

Dios es espíritu, y quienes lo adoran deben hacerlo en espíritu y en verdad. Audio: Juan 4.

Love Lifted Me

François Fénelon - LETTER XXIV. Only Imperfection Is Intolerant of Imperfection

It has seemed to me that you have need of more enlargedness of heart in relation to the defects of others. I know that you cannot help seeing them when they come before you, nor prevent the opinions you involuntarily form concerning the motives of some of those about you. You cannot even get rid of a certain degree of trouble which these things cause you. It will be enough if you are willing to bear with those defects which are unmistakable, refrain from condemning those which are doubtful, and not suffer yourself to be so afflicted by them as to cause a coolness of feeling between you.

Perfection is easily tolerant of the imperfections of others; it becomes all things to all men. We must not be surprised at the greatest defects in good souls, and must quietly let them alone until God gives the signal of gradual removal; otherwise we shall pull up the wheat with the tares. God leaves, in the most advanced souls, certain weaknesses entirely disproportioned to their eminent state. As workmen, in excavating the soil from a field, leave certain pillars of earth which indicate the original level of the surface, and serve to measure the amount of material removed—God, in the same way, leaves pillars of testimony to the extent of his work in the most pious souls.

Such persons must labor, each one in his degree, for his own correction, and you must labor to bear with their weaknesses. You know from experience the bitterness of the work of correction; strive then to find means to make it less bitter to others. You have not an eager zeal to correct, but a sensitiveness that easily shuts up your heart.

I pray you more than ever not to spare my faults. If you should think you see one, which is not really there, there is no harm done; if I find that your counsel wounds me, my sensitiveness demonstrates that you have discovered a sore spot; but if not, you will have done me an excellent kindness in exercising my humility, and accustoming me to reproof. I ought to be more lowly than others in proportion as I am higher in position, and God demands of me a more absolute death to everything. I need this simplicity, and I trust it will be the means of cementing rather than of weakening our attachment.

Daily Audio Bible - ΠΡΟΣ ΕΦΕΣΙΟΥΣ 6:12-13 SBLGNT, Ephesians 6:12-13 NIV, Efesios 6:12-13 NVI

ὅτι οὐκ ἔστιν ἡμῖν ἡ πάλη πρὸς αἷμα καὶ σάρκα, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὰς ἀρχάς, πρὸς τὰς ἐξουσίας, πρὸς τοὺς κοσμοκράτορας τοῦ σκότους τούτου, πρὸς τὰ πνευματικὰ τῆς πονηρίας ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις. διὰ τοῦτο ἀναλάβετε τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, ἵνα δυνηθῆτε ἀντιστῆναι ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ τῇ πονηρᾷ καὶ ἅπαντα κατεργασάμενοι στῆναι.

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Audio: Ephesians 6.

Porque nuestra lucha no es contra seres humanos, sino contra poderes, contra autoridades, contra potestades que dominan este mundo de tinieblas, contra fuerzas espirituales malignas en las regiones celestiales. Por lo tanto, pónganse toda la armadura de Dios, para que cuando llegue el día malo puedan resistir hasta el fin con firmeza. Audio: Efesios 6.

Love Divine

François Fénelon - LETTER XXIII. Sensitiveness under Reproof Is the Surest Sign We Needed It

I greatly desire that you may have interior peace. You know that it cannot be found, except in lowliness of mind, and lowliness is not real, except it be produced by God upon every proper occasion. These occasions are chiefly when we are blamed by someone who disapproves of us, and when we experience inward weakness. We must accustom ourselves to bearing both these trials.

We are truly lowly when we are no longer taken by surprise at finding ourselves corrected from without and incorrigible within. We are then like little children, below everything, and are willing to be so; we feel that our reprovers are right, but that we are unable to overcome ourselves, in order to correct our faults. Then we despair of ourselves, and expect nothing except from God; the reproofs of others, harsh and unfeeling as they may be, seem to us less than we deserve; if we cannot bear them, we condemn our sensitiveness more than all our other imperfections. Correction cannot then make us more humble than it finds us. The interior rebellion, far from hindering the profit of the correction, convinces us of its absolute necessity; in truth, the reproof would not have been felt, if it had not cut into some living part; had death been there, we should not have perceived it; and thus the more acutely we feel, the more certainly we know that the correction was necessary.

I beg your forgiveness if I have said anything too harsh; but do not doubt my affection for you, and count as nothing everything that comes from me. See only the hand of God, which makes use of the awkwardness of mine, to deal you a painful blow. The pain proves that I have touched a sore spot. Yield to God, acquiesce in all his dealings, and you will soon be at rest and in harmony within. You know well enough how to give this advice to others; the occasion is important, critical. O what grace will descend upon you, if you will bear, like a little child, all the means God employs to humiliate and dispossess you of your senses and will! I pray that he may so diminish you that you can no longer be found at all.

Daily Audio Bible - ΙΑΚΩΒΟΥ 4:10 SBLGNT, James 4:10 NIV, Santiago 4:10 NVI

ταπεινώθητε ἐνώπιον κυρίου, καὶ ὑψώσει ὑμᾶς.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. Audio: James 4.

Humíllense delante del Señor, y él los exaltará. Audio: Santiago 4.

Lord I Want to Be a Christian

François Fénelon - LETTER XXII. The Fear of Death Is Not Taken Away by Our Own Courage, but by the Grace of God

I am not in the least surprised to learn that your impression of death becomes more lively, in proportion as age and infirmity bring it nearer. I experience the same thing. There is an age at which death is forced upon our consideration more frequently, by more irresistible reflections, and by a time of retirement in which we have fewer distractions. God makes use of this rough trial to undeceive us in respect to our courage, to make us feel our weakness, and to keep us in all humility in his own hands.

Nothing is more humiliating than a troubled imagination, in which we search in vain for our former confidence in God. This is the crucible of humiliation, in which the heart is purified by a sense of its weakness and unworthiness. In his sight shall no man living be justified (Psalm 143.2); yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight, (Job 15.15) and in many things we offend all. (James 3.2) We behold our faults and not our virtues; which latter it would be even dangerous to behold, if they are real.

We must go straight on through this deprivation without interruption, just as we were endeavoring to walk in the way of God, before being disturbed. If we should perceive any fault that needs correction, we must be faithful to the light given us, but do it carefully, lest we be led into false scruples. We must then remain at peace, not listening to the voice of self-love, mourning over our approaching death, but detach ourselves from life, offering it in sacrifice to God, and confidently abandon ourselves to Him. St. Ambrose was asked, when dying, whether he was not afraid of the judgments of God; “We have a good master,” said he, and so must we reply to ourselves. We need to die in the most impenetrable uncertainty, not only as to God’s judgment upon us, but as to our own characters. We must, as St. Augustine has it, be so reduced as to have nothing to present before God but our wretchedness and his mercy. Our wretchedness is the proper object of his mercy, and his mercy is all our merit. In your hours of sadness, read whatever will strengthen your confidence and establish your heart. “Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” (Psalm 123.1) Pray for this cleanness of heart, which is so pleasing in his sight, and which renders Him so compassionate to our failings.

Daily Audio Bible - ΠΡΟΣ ΦΙΛΙΠΠΗΣΙΟΥΣ 4:8 SBLGNT, Philippians 4:8 NIV, Filipenses 4:8 NVI

Τὸ λοιπόν, ἀδελφοί, ὅσα ἐστὶν ἀληθῆ, ὅσα σεμνά, ὅσα δίκαια, ὅσα ἁγνά, ὅσα προσφιλῆ, ὅσα εὔφημα, εἴ τις ἀρετὴ καὶ εἴ τις ἔπαινος, ταῦτα λογίζεσθε·

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Audio: Philippians 4.

Por último, hermanos, consideren bien todo lo verdadero, todo lo respetable, todo lo justo, todo lo puro, todo lo amable, todo lo digno de admiración, en fin, todo lo que sea excelente o merezca elogio. Audio: Filipenses 4.

Lily of the Valley

François Fénelon - LETTER XXI. The Imperfection of Others Is to Be Borne in Love

It is a long while since I renewed the assurance of my attachment to you in our Lord. It is, nevertheless, greater than ever. I desire with all my heart that you may always find in your household the peace and consolation which you enjoyed in the beginning. To be content with even the best of people, we must be contented with little and bear a great deal. Those who are most perfect, have many imperfections, and we have great faults, so that between the two, mutual toleration becomes very difficult. We must bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ, (Galatians 6.2) thus setting off one against the other in love. Peace and unanimity will be much aided by frequent silence, habitual recollection, prayer, self-abandonment, renunciation of all vain criticisms, and a faithful departure from the vain reflections of a jealous and difficult self-love. To how much trouble would this simplicity put an end! Happy he who neither listens to self nor to the tales of others!

Be content with leading a simple life, according to your condition. Be obedient, and bear your daily cross; you need it, and it is bestowed by the pure mercy of God. The grand point is to despise self from the heart, and to be willing to be despised, if God permits it. Feed upon Him alone; St. Augustine says that his mother lived upon prayer; do you do so likewise, and die to everything else. We can only live to God by the continual death of self.

Daily Audio Bible - ΠΡΟΣ ΓΑΛΑΤΑΣ 6:1 SBLGNT, Galatians 6:1 NIV, Gálatas 6:1 NVI

Ἀδελφοί, ἐὰν καὶ προλημφθῇ ἄνθρωπος ἔν τινι παραπτώματι, ὑμεῖς οἱ πνευματικοὶ καταρτίζετε τὸν τοιοῦτον ἐν πνεύματι πραΰτητος, σκοπῶν σεαυτόν, μὴ καὶ σὺ πειρασθῇς.

Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Audio: Galatians 6.

Hermanos, si alguien es sorprendido en pecado, ustedes que son espirituales deben restaurarlo con una actitud humilde. Pero cuídese cada uno, porque también puede ser tentado. Audio: Galatas 6.

Like a River Glorious