(Although these prayers did not originate from Pastor Begg, I heard them from him first.)"Make the book live to me, O Lord, Show me Yourself within Your Word, Show me myself and show me my Savior, And make the book live to me."
"Lord,what we know not, teach us ; what we have not, give us; and what we are not, make us; for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen.”
"We live in an age of relativism, a belief system based on the absolute certainty that there are no absolute certainties. We hypocritically applaud men for seeking the truth but call for the public execution of any man who believes he has found it."
“Boasting is the response of pride to success. Self-pity is the response of pride to suffering. Boasting says ‘I deserve admiration because I have accomplished so much.’ Self-pity says, ‘I deserve admiration because I have suffered so much.’ Boasting is the voice of pride in the heart of the strong. Self-pity is the voice of pride in the heart of the weak. Boasting sounds self-sufficient. Self-pity sounds self-sacrificing. The reason self-pity does not look like pride is that it appears to be needy. But the need arises from a wounded ego, and the desire is not really for others to see them as helpless, but as heroes. The need that self-pity feels does not come from a sense of unworthiness but from a sense of unrecognized worthiness. It is the response of unapplauded pride.”
"I do not know how some people, who believe that a Christian can fall from grace, manage to be happy. It must be a very commendable thing in them to be able to get through a day without despair. If I did not believe the doctrine of the final perseverance of the saints, I think I should be of all men the most miserable, because I should lack any ground of comfort. I could not say, whatever state of heart I came into, that I should be like a well-spring of water, whose stream fails not; I should rather have to take the comparison of an intermittent spring, that might stop on a sudden, or a reservoir, which I had no reason to expect would always be full. I believe that the happiest of Christians and the truest of Christians are those who never dare to doubt God, but who take His Word simply as it stands, and believe it, and ask no questions, just feeling assured that if God has said it, it will be so. I bear my willing testimony that I have no reason, nor even the shadow of a reason, to doubt my Lord, and I challenge Heaven, and earth, and hell, to bring any proof that God is untrue. From the depths of hell I call the fiends, and from this earth I call the tried and afflicted believers, and to Heaven I appeal, and challenge the long experience of the blood-washed host, and there is not to be found in the three realms a single person who can bear witness to one fact which can disprove the faithfulness of God, or weaken His claim to be trusted by His servants. There are many things that may or may not happen, but this I know shall happen—"
If you did not get started on a Bible reading plan for 2009 yet, it is not too late. I just noticed tonight that you can now follow the McCheyne Bible reading plan online. Simply pick the day's date and all of the passages for that day are gathered onto one page. The McCheyne Bible reading plan allows you to read through the Old Testament once and the New Testament and Psalms twice in a year.
"I often tell my congregation that when it comes to battling sin in our lives, the difference between Christians and non-Christians is not that non-Christians sin whereas Christians don't. The difference is found in which side we take in the battle. Christians take God's side against sin, whereas non-Christians take sin's side against God. In other words, a Christian will sin, but then he will turn to God and his Word and say, 'Help me fight against sin.' A non-Christian, even if he recognizes his sin, effectively responds, 'I want my sin more than God.'"
"Some seem to think that predestination is a terrible scheme to keep somebody out of salvation that otherwise might have had it. I want to tell you my friends none would have had it had it not been the purpose of God to predestinate a people to be comformed to the image of His Son."
"I'm going to tell you this, on judgment day, I would rather be standing in the group of liberal politicians waiting to receive my judgment than I would be wanting to stand in the group with conservative pastors in the United States of America, and I mean that.
"True repentance is a change of direction. It involves turning away from sin and toward God---replacing sinful actions with righteous ones. Genuine repentance springs from heartfelt sorrow over sin because it is against God and then leads to real change in the way a person thinks and lives."
"There is little need for the devil and evil men to oppose a man praying for revival unless he is also laboring for reformation.""This temper of mind is hostile to precise definitions. Indeed nothing makes a man more unpopular in the controversies of the present day than an insistence upon definition of terms. . . . Men discourse very eloquently today upon such subjects as God, religion, Christianity, atonement, redemption, faith; but are greatly incensed when they are asked to tell in simple language what they mean by these terms."
-J. Gresham Machen
"God-centered evangelism believes all men are fallen and will not come to God by their own power or will, because they are deaf, blind, dead and have no power for spiritual good. Their minds are at enmity with God, and left to themselves, they will not seek God. Men need new natures. We call this regeneration. Regeneration is the work of God alone, and this great work always produces conversion, which is repentance toward God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ. Regeneration is a big theological word that views salvation from God's side---it is the instantaneous impartation of life. Paul calls it new creation. One may, or may not, be conscience of the exact moment when it takes place in them.
"When Jesus invites sinners, 'Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,' he immediately adds, 'take my yoke upon you, and learn from me' (Matt. 11:28-29). To come to him includes taking his yoke upon us, being subject to his direction and guidance, learning from him and being obedient to him. If we are unwilling to make such a commitment, then we have not truly placed our trust in him."
"Every day of our Christian experience should be a day of relating to God on the basis of His grace alone. Your worst days are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God's grace. And your best days are never so good that you are beyond the need of God's grace."
