a tulip in the psalms

Psalm 65: 3,4

"When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions. Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!"

T = "When INIQUITIES PREVAIL against me..."
U = "Blessed is the one YOU CHOOSE"
L = "...the ONE you choose"
I = "...and BRING NEAR"
P = "We SHALL BE SATISFIED with the goodness of your house"

Sure, there are more clear verses in scripture that point us to the wonderful truths of God's salvation, but once you are convinced of these, then your eyes are opened to see the more subtle verses that echo His unbelievable love.

key: T (total depravity) U (unconditional election) L (limited atonement) I (irrisistable grace) P (perseverance of the saints)

a quote worth remembering

"Alot of what Job's friends said could be put on a coffee cup and sold in a Christian bookstore." - Michael Horton

Here mp3's of OKC Conference on Reformed Theology "Too Good to be True: Finding Hope in a World of Hype" with Dr. Michael Horton

faith is hard

"Our opponents regard faith as an easy thing, but I know from personal experience how hard it is to believe. That the Holy Ghost is received by faith, is quickly said, but not so quickly done.

All believers experience this difficulty. They would gladly embrace the Word with a full faith, but the flesh deters them. You see, our reason always thinks it is too easy and cheap to have righteousness, the Holy Spirit, and life everlasting by the mere hearing of the Gospel" - Martin Luther

zealous for good works

"[He] gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works." - Titus 2:14

"At the heart of Christianity is the truth that we are forgiven and accepted by God, not because we have done good works, but to make us able and zealous to do them. The Bible says, "[God] saved us... not because of our works" (2 Timothy 1:9). Good deeds are not the foundation of our acceptance, but the fruit of it. Christ suffered and died not because we presented to him good works, but he died "to purify for himself a people... zealous for good works".

"Zeal means passion. Christ did not die to make good works merely possible or to produce a half-hearted pursuit. He died to produce in us a PASSION for good deeds. Christian purity is not the mere avoidance of evil, but the pursuit of good."

- John Piper, from Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came To Die

death and the gospel

"...let us never forget that the gospel is for Christians too. We need to hear the word preached to us, whether from the pulpit on a Sunday or in conversation with other believers. If a brother or sister is mourning, then let us not simply tell them that the death of their loved one is all within the will of God; let us not even stop with simply feeling compassion and sympathy for them; let us also point them to the Lord Jesus Christ who rose from the dead.

Death is an outrage, an illegitimate boundary; it is nasty and brutish; but the captain of our salvation has burst through that boundary and come out on the other side. He is risen from the grave; and in his resurrection we see that, though we live in a vale of tears and agony here and now, where death seems to hold all the trump cards, there is a day most certainly coming when we know that we too, and all the loved ones who have gone before us in Christ, will rise to be with Christ. His death was agonizing but it could not hold him; ours will no doubt be terrible and traumatic; but because of Christ, death will not hold us either. " - Carl Truman