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One of the most important truths we need to grasp in our life with Christ is that God ordains both the end and means of achieving that end. He determines the outcomes and how those outcomes are brought about. Unless we understand this truth we are likely to be unfruitful in our lives. For example, we are likely to fall into a sin of prayerlessness. Many of us do not take prayer seriously because deep down we do not realise that unless we pray, we won’t have that which we desire God to for us. We often do not have things, because we do not ask for them( James 4:2). God can give us things but not without prayer. He has promised us to call on him and He will answer us (Jeremiah 33:3; Psalm 91:15).  Now,  in order for us to really believe this truth that God will not give us what we desire without prayer, we need to be convinced on why God has ordained prayer as a means of delivering outcomes. I think once we understand that it will help to take prayer seriously. I found this explanation g

All the powers of hell shall never overthrow the Church. It shall continue, and stand, in spite of every assault. It shall never be overcome. All other created things perish and pass away, but not the Church of Christ. The hand of outward violence, or the moth of inward decay, prevail over everything else, but not over the temple that Christ builds. Empires have risen and fallen in rapid succession. Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Tyre, Carthage, Rome, Greece, Venice - where are all these now? They were all the creations of man's hand, and have passed away. But the Church of Christ lives on. The mightiest cities have become heaps of ruins. The broad walls of Babylon are sunk to the ground. The palaces of Nineveh are mounds of dust. The hundred gates of Thebes are only matters of history. Tyre is a place where fishermen hang their nets. Carthage is a desolation. Yet all this time the true Church stands. The gates of hell do not prevail against it….Has the true Church been oppressed

Christ is the way : men without Him are Cains, wanderers, vagabonds. He is the truth : men without Him are liars, like the devil of old. He is the life : men without Him are dead in trespasses and sins. He is the light : men without Him are in darkness, and they do not know where they go. He is the vine : men that are not in Him are withered branches prepared for the fire. He is the rock : men not built on Him are carried away with a flood. He is the Alpha and Omega , the first and the last, the author and the ender, the founder and finisher of our salvation. He that does not have Him has no beginning of good and will have no end to their  misery. Oh, blessed Jesus, how much better were it not to be than to be without You! Never to be born than not to die in You! A thousand hells come short of this, eternally to want Jesus Christ’ JOHN OWEN As quoted by J C Ryle in ‘Warnings to the Churches’. John Owen spoke these words in sermon to the House of Commons. We cannot exalt the Lord Jesus

The English reformer Hugh Latimer (1487-1555) was once called to preach before Henry VIII. He started his sermon like this this:  ‘Latimer! Latimer! Do you remember that you are speaking before the high and mighty King Henry VIII; before him who has power to command you to be sent to prison; before him who can have your head struck off, if he chooses to do so? Are you not going to take care not to say nothing that will offend royal ears?'  Then after a pause, he went on: ' Latimer! Latimer! Do you not remember  that you are speaking before the King of kings and Lord of lords; before Him, at whose court Henry VIII will stand; before Him, to whom one day you will have to give account for yourself? Latimer! Latimer! be faithful to your Master, and declare all God’s Word.  (Source: A Warning to the Churches, J C Ryle) This should be the attitude all preachers must have. We should not care whether people pleased or displeased, or whether people say we were eloquent or feeble. Our fo

We must take heed to our doctrine about the total corruption of human nature. The corruption of human nature is no slight thing. It is no partial, skin-deep disease, but a radical and universal corruption of man's will, intellect, affections, and conscience. We are not merely poor and pitiable sinners in God's sight: we are guilty sinners; we are blameworthy sinners: we deserve justly God's wrath and God's condemnation. I believe there are very few errors and false doctrines of which the beginning may not be traced up to unsound views about the corruption of human nature. Wrong views of a disease will always bring with them wrong views of the remedy. Wrong views of the corruption of human nature will always carry with them wrong views of the grand antidote and cure of that corruption. JOHN CHARLES RYLE (Source: Warnings to the Churches)

Ignorance of God, carnal and low conceptions of His nature and attributes, earthly and sensual notions of the service which is acceptable to Him, all characterise the religion of the natural man. There is a craving in his mind after something he can see, and feel, and touch in his Divinity. He would fain bring his God down to his own crawling level. He would make his religion a thing of sense and sight. He has no idea of the religion of heart, and faith, and spirit. In short, just as he is willing to live on God's earth, but, until renewed by grace, a fallen and degraded life, so he has no objection to worship after a fashion, but, until renewed by the Holy Ghost, it is always with a fallen worship. In one word, idolatry is a natural product of man's heart. It is a weed, which like the earth uncultivated, the heart is always ready to bring forth. And now does it surprise us, when we read of the constantly recurring idolatries of the Old Testament Church,- of Peor, and Baal, and