Catching Up

Much has happened since I last posted to this blog. My life has changed so significantly since I last posted, that it is hard to even know where to begin.

The most significant change the LORD has wrought in my life is that I have found a church to attend regularly. It's hard to describe how thankful I am for this act of divine providence. Prior to finding Immanuel Free Reformed Church, I had grown cold in a way that even I was not fully aware of. I had begun to think that I would never find a body of believers so much that I had almost given up all hope of looking for a congregation. I had been spending the LORD's day cloistered away in my room reading the Scriptures and listening to audio sermons, but I kept praying for church. Well several weeks ago my prayers were answered. My friend, Winston, at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary down in Wake Forest, NC kept bugging me about finding a local body of believers and was also praying for me. Listening to sermons of Reformed Baptist congregations close to where I was currently living in the suburbs of Philadelphia had caused me to grow callous. The preaching failed to excite the zeal in me that I was receiving from other ministries whose sermons are freely available on the Internet. One morning I was browsing Sermon Audio and I came across a feature that advertised sermons based on their relative geographic location to your IP address. It was through this feature that I discovered the preaching of William Einwechter and Immanuel Free Reformed Church. I resolved to visit the next weekend and did exactly that.

I've been attending now for over 2 months and have been integrated into the congregation. For the first few weeks, I was driving close to 1 hour to attend service out in Lancaster County, PA (Yes, Amish country.). From the start I was welcomed into the body. The first day I attended was a fellowship meal and I got the opportunity to talk to the elders and deacons of the congregation. Since then, I've been to the houses of all the elders and all but one deacon to enjoy a meal and fellowship. I will testify that I had no clue congregations like this exisited, but now I am aware that I had no reason to doubt what the LORD says in His Word. When I first heard the Gospel I so separated myself from everyone I knew in the World that I grew very accustomed to being alone, but in the depths of my heart I knew that a Christian life could not be lived out alone.

Since attending IFRC I have met many young men and women my age who are dedicated to living Christian lives. The vast majority of the young people in the congregation are or were homeschooled. Coming from first public school and then a state university, I was convinced that such a call to godliness was lost on my generation. It has helped me so much to have guys my age to talk to about theology and the practical issues confronting Christians today.

Not long after I began making friends in the congregation, the LORD put it into my heart to move closer to the church. Before, I was driving at least 1 hour each way to attend the LORD's day service. Just last week, I moved within 10 minutes of church so I can attend events that occur on other days of the week when I am in town. I live right behind the Mennonite used bookstore which apparently is a very popular place to find Christian books at bargain prices.

I spent 7 weeks in Northern California for my job and although it was hard on my body and mind, the LORD was with me the entire time strengthening me and allowing me to return to attend worship on Sunday. While I was in California, I met an interesting character, a lost man who needed desperately to hear the Gospel. The night before I discovered this co-worker had an interest in the things of God, I had read a sermon by Charles Spurgeon in the book I posted earlier called Farm Sermons. It dealt with the responsibility of Christians to preach the Gospel regardless of whether it will indeed bring sinners to repentance. Spurgeon likened the Christian and his testimony to a farmer sowing his seed though he does not know whether God will prosper his efforts. While I was in California, I went to dinner with this man twice and explained to him the Gospel as I had received it. The scary thing is that this man, though he now works for an international technology company, was trained as a pastor and preached in a non-denominational church for 7 years. This man had some twisted ideas about theology and he did not seem to know much at all about the orthodox beliefs held by Protestants throughout history. The amazing thing was that it did seem to be listening and considering what I had to say; I could tell that he felt that for whatever reason God had brought me into his life. I sowed like Spurgeon's farmer and did not hesitate to share the grace God has extended to me. We happened to go to a used bookstore and I made sure he purchased a copy of Pilgrim's Progress, which he had never read. Now it is up to the LORD to convict this sinner of his sin and bring him to repentance, if it be the His will.

One more thing, I just received word from my friend Winston last weekend that he will be coming to visit Lancaster County to attend a friend's wedding. What a coincidence! I only moved here two weeks ago. He will be staying with me Saturday night and attending service with me on the LORD's day. He will get a chance to see the congregation he pushed me to find when I was discouraged only a few months ago.

I hope this testimony finds any of Christ's sheep who are looking for a congregation. I will say that God's people are well hidden, but they are there. He has promised to maintain His flock. Seek the LORD's face in prayer and continue to look for a local body of the Church of Jesus Christ. He will provide in His own time.

Decolonizing the Industrial Mind

I was kind of waiting to post about Michael Bunker's new book "Surviving Off Off Grid" but I came across this today and I was blown away. More to come on the book in the next few weeks. If you have any interest in living a simpler or more godly life, please buy the book on March 4 through Amazon.com.

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment

Well I am a month into my new job and I am now very aware that God is using this situation, which to my eyes did not seem to be ideal, to sanctify me and prepare me to do his work (or am I already doing it?). From my perspective and outside of the faith I have that all things works together for good to them that fear and love Him, I would not choose to be working 5 days a week in a corporate setting. But the wisdom of God is so much higher than my own and in these past few weeks I have become painfully aware of that.

This issue came to a head as I began to read "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment" by Jeremiah Burroughs. The book focuses primarily on the severe evil that exists within the sin of murmuring. Burroughs holds the sin of murmuring up to the light of Scripture and what follows weighed heavily on my heart. So often, the greatest evils are committed by those who are not contented with what God has given them.

This is of great consideration to me in my current state. Although I desire to live an agrarian lifestyle and I say that I want this thing in order to do what God has commanded us in the Scrirptures, yet I know that God has called me to do what I am doing now at least for the time being. I struggle because so often I find myself looking forward to something that God has not promised me when I know my responsibility is simply to be obedient here and now. This aligns closely with Michael Bunker's teaching on a process-driven v.s. a purpose-driven life. I should be glad for what I have and the tasks God has given me to do, for I know God has already extended me more grace in my present state than I can even begin to comprehend. Moreover, what glory can I give God by ignoring that he has in the present met every need. I have a well-paying job and my living situation allows me to be extremely frugal. Most importantly, He has given me the desire to know Him and to search the Scriptures to seek out His ways.

I found that by always looking forward to something future, I am disparaging the graces of God now. Not only that, but by despising God's graces now, the murmurer never comes to satisfaction. They are always looking forward to something such that if God were ever to give them the desires of their heart they would continue to look forward and to be unsatisfied. I see now that this intermediate step is really extremely necessary for me in my Christian walk. God is cultivating patience and contentment in me, such that when His deliverance does come in whatever form it comes, I will be contented. I must say though it felt really good to put that first paycheck in my savings account toward a farm. I'll get there in time LORD willing.

Insurance or Assurance?

As I mentioned before, I just started a new job in the Philadelphia area. The first couple of weeks have not been without some hiccups. As part of my compensation, I was offered the enticements of this world: all flavors of insurance, 401k, and stock sharing plans. I have decided consciously to abstain and to diligently save my money towards the purchase of a farm, but my decision does not sit well with those who belong to the world, even my own parents. At my parents request, I searched the Scripture rather than relying on my initial distaste for the concept of hedging against God's providence. Through prayer and reading the Scriptures today and yesterday, I have come to the conclusion that to participate with that world system which is in rebellion against our Creator would sear my conscience more than I could bear. Thinking I could be reassurred by talking to a brother, I reached out to my brother Winston only to find that his allegiances to the world are deeper than I once perceived. He said that by refusing insurance I would be allying myself with Muslims who also abstain from insurance, even though I was not aware of this nor do I think it is relevant. He maintained that paying insurance premiums is simply rendering to Caesar what belongs to Caesar. I replied by saying that providence does not belong to Caesar. Nor was Scripture sufficient to convince him of his error; all obedience was rationalized away. The whole situation called to mind the story of Job, where Job argues his case for God's sovereignty albeit not perfectly. His friends from whom he sought comfort were unrelenting in their accusations towards him. Finally at the end, Job bowed down in the Fear of the LORD. I am sure I am not the first person to go through this and certainly I will not be the last. I wanted to share some of the things I found in the Scripture that strengthened my resolve to stand against the rudiments of this world.

1 Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
2 That walk to go down to Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
3 Therefore shall the strength of Pharoah be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
Isaiah 30:1-3 KJV

In this passage, the Israelites were seeking protection from their enemies in war by becoming allied with Pharoah of Egypt who in the past had enslaved them. It says they seek a covering or a shield of protection, but that this covering is not of God. Their defense is from the world around them, but not from God's providence and sovereignity. God replies to them and says that the trust they have placed in the power and protection of the ungodly will be their shame and their confusion.

In addition, we must remember the wicked in Proverbs 1 whom entice the Children of God saying "Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse". The LORD instructs the righteous: "My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path". To those who lay wait for blood (read: bet on life and health), God says:

24Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;
27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me:
29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD:

To his elect, he assures them:

32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them.
33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Farm Sermons

I know I just posted, but I just came across this and I wanted to share. Below is a link to a collection of sermons published by Charles Spurgeon in 1882 which are written with the tiller of the soil in mind. An excerpt from the section entitled "Lessons from the Acres":

Farmers should make brave Christians when grace renews them, for God is everywhere about them, and in his presence gracious souls are sure to thrive. Of old the Lord met men by the bush, the brook, and the well, and spake with them in the field, the threshing-floor, and the sheep-fold; and he still seems nearer in the country than in the grimy town. Never can the tiller of the ground open his eyes without learning something if he is willing to be taught. Weeds and plants, frost and sunshine, green shoots and yellow ears, drills and reapers, hedges and ditches, foxes and sheep, drought and flood, waggons and horses, harrows and ploughs—all reveal some spiritual mystery concerning God and our own souls. Surely those men should learn much who find a schoolmaster and a lesson-book in every acre which they cultivate.

Google Books (public domain):
http://books.google.com/books?id=Rx4FAAAAQAAJ&ots=moieEG0h3w&dq=spurgeon%20farm%20sermons&pg=PR1#v=onepage&q&f=false

HTML version:
http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/fspref.htm

Mortification of Sin

I apologize for not posting recently, but I have been in the process of moving to the Philadelphia area and starting my new job. More importantly, I have been preparing myself with the Word of God to be in the world but not part of it (Edit: I just read an article on how this phrase is heretical and found nowhere in the Bible. I rebuke myself! Link ) Although sometimes I fall into fear of being lead astray by my own fallen nature, I know that this job is God's will because I submitted myself to his decision (see Casting Lots). On my first day of work, I was sitting in my truck and I opened my Bible that I keep in my car to Galatians 4. What I read helped me to understand God's plan:

1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all.
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Galatians 4:1-2

I understand now that I am under guardians until the time when the LORD will bring me to deliverance. My only responsibility is to submit myself to his righteous judgement and be obedient in the process until the appointed time.

In travelling back and forth between Williamsburg, VA and Philadelphia I had the opportunity to visit several times with my brother Winston Brady whose family lives outside of Washington, DC. He is currently in seminary at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY but is thinking of transfering to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, NC. Both are reformed Baptist seminaries. It was really refreshing to have someone with which to talk about the Doctrines of Grace and their practical application. We both were called by Christ while at the College of William & Mary, but only really came to know each other after he graduated.

Yesterday on the Sabbath day, I finished reading The Moritification of Sin by John Owen and I would highly recommend it to anyone who feels that the sinful thoughts they struggle with are out of their control. For weeks, I would wake up in the night and realize how vain and evil my dreams were and although I was ashamed of my sin, but I comforted myself rationalizing that I had no control. It is this very behavior that John Owen warns so strongly against. Owen tells us that when man comforts himself for sin even if he is greived by it, his heart becomes hardened and he is allowed to become calloused to the evilness of sin. Owen continues to gives the reader a practical discourse on how we as Christians are to approach these evil inner thoughts and desires to mortify them and to supplicate Christ for relief.

My parents gave me a graduation gift, which has been very useful in my Bible study. It is a hardback copy of Noah Webster's 1828 American Dictionary of the English Language. Lately, I have just been flipping through it to look at how the meaning of words have changed. Modern man has become unable to comprehend even the most basic meanings of words. I recall in one of Michael Bunker's sermons how he was talking about the senses of taste and sight being prioritized over the other senses because they are more capable of invigorating and satisfying man's lust. The prophet Isaiah puts it this way:

Thou shalt not see a fierce people, a people of a deeper speech than thou canst perceive; of a stammering tongue, that thou canst not understand.

Isaiah 33:19

In this case, Isaiah is describing a time when we will not see these people any longer. He says these people will be "as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire" (33:12). But to God's elect, he says "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (33:17).

In other news, my first King James Bible which I bought at the dollar store finally gave way. The crease in the binding that had developed several months ago around the Book of Job just last night split in two. It has served me well, but I went ahead and ordered a replacement today. Hardback this time.

Also, today I finished up a documentary series by Francis Schaeffer which I really enjoyed that examines the decaying Christian consensus in Western society and its devastating impact on our culture. The whole series (10 parts) is available on YouTube using the link below:

Francis Schaeffer - How Should We Then Live?
http://www.youtube.com/user/TwoMunchuTwo#grid/user/7C1A83B0551BDD84

Pioneer Life

I just found this video about a couple that lives simply in the desert of West Texas.