“I am sorry I can say nothing more consoling to you, for love in action is a harsh and dreadful thing compared to love in dreams.  Love in dreams is greedy for immediate action, rapidly performed and in the sight of all.  Men will give their lives if only the ordeal does not last long but is soon over, with all looking on and applauding as though on the stage. But active love is labor and fortitude, and for some people too, perhaps, a complete science.  But I predict that just when you see with horror that in spite of all your efforts you are getting farther from your goal instead of nearer to it – at that very moment I predict that you will reach it and behold clearly the miraculous power of the Lord who has been guiding you.”

–Fyodor Dostoyevsky

The Brothers Karamazov

I’ve been reading R.L. Dabney’s discussion on “The Uses and Results of Church History.” Here are a few quotes that I found interesting, and its style is characteristic of Dabney’s rugged strength: 

I may illustrate the importance of history as a school of experience by its warning and purifying effect upon the moral judgments of men. It teaches us to beware of the estimate which the seductive brilliancy of present success might entice us to make of the doubtful acts of our contemporaries, by pointing us to the end of similar acts and principles in others…

The man who undertakes to teach, to legislate, or to govern, either in church or state, without historical wisdom, is a reckless tyro. His wicked folly is like that of the quack who should venture upon the responsibilities of the physician without having either seen or read practice. For, a series of human generations constitute but one lifetime of a political or ecclesiastical institution. The incidents of one human lifetime, or one era, constitute but a single “case,” a single turn of the diseases of society. And no man has experience of those diseases who has not studied the symptoms and results through many generations…

Man has no pole star and no compass, by which he may boldly break away from the track of experience and navigate the ocean of the future. The province of his wisdom is to follow the ways explored by previous voyagers, and only to venture into the uncertain storms of the untried so far as the light of the past is reflected forward upon it. All the safe and successful progress which has been made in human institutions has been from changes made under the guidance of history…

“Faith and love are often thought of as easy things to do, but they are not thought of in this way by those who put them into practice.  As they are the only springs of obedience toward God and usefulness toward other people, so they are greatly opposed from within and from without.”

John Owen on Hebrews 6:10 (from abridged version)

Love is hard work– loving each other, selflessly loving our wives and families, loving the lost, loving our Lord, none of these are easy, and often it feels nearly impossible.  Sometimes, our self-love is gratified by the good feelings and returned affections we experience when we love others.  So, during those times  loving seems easy, but  doesn’t that have more to do with loving ourselves?  That’s one love that is not hard.

But what about when our families are noisy and bothersome, what about when our fellow Christians are irritating and awkward, what about when God feels far away and when unbelievers act so offensively and so irritatingly… unbelieving?  What about when there is no gratification to our self-love?  Is there some trick?  Is there someway to make it easy again?  Nope, as Casey Kirkman exhorted us Sunday night: Hold Fast!   This is the work of the Christian, this is the love that is demanded, this is the life to which we are called (Col 3: 14-17).

Hold fast to Christ. Keep going back, keep filling your mind with Him, with His work, with His love, with all He has done for you.  Christ’s love is the foundation of absolutely everything we do, there is no short cut around it, no special program to make it easy, in fact it’s not supposed to be easy (Phil 1: 27-30) so don’t expect it to be!  Expect to have to work at it, to struggle with it.

But God has not left us here alone to struggle against ourselves, our sin, and the world, God has been gracious to give us many things to help us along this Way.  Perhaps it’s good to meditate on these truths so well known to us:

1. God has given us His Holy Spirit!  (John 14: 15-29 – These are awesome words)
2. God has given us prayer and Christ to always be our mediator! (Heb. 4: 14-16)
3. God has given us His Word. (2 Tim. 3: 16,17)
4. God has given us His Church (Col. 3: 14-17, Heb. 3: 13-14, Heb. 10:24, 25)

Love is hard, in fact love is war!  This is not some sentimental mushy nothing!  But it is emotional!  Let us strive to keep stirring each other up to love!  Let our hearts be enlivened. Let our wills be engaged. Let our imaginations be filled with the dreams of God’s kingdom and glory!  Let us press on!  Let us hold fast!  Remember this is a fight, so don’t forget all the weapons God has given us to wage this war!

God bless you in the battle!  The war is already won!

Fishermen!  Remember to check out the “Upcoming Events” link on the right of the blog.

I’m putting all the preaching opportunities of the fishermen that I know about on the calendar.  The upcoming events section will give you a heads up as to who will be out in the world doing the Master’s business.

So, let me know when you’re preaching (or add it to the calendar yourself) and check the “Upcoming Events” often, and keep praying for each other.

It is wonderfully exciting to see the Fishermen going out to preach!  May God grant many more opportunities! May the Kingdom be expanded by these labors!  May the name of our Lord Jesus Christ be exalted in all the Earth!

God bless you in your labors.  Hold Fast!

Hello Fellow Fishermen!

Thanks to Brad, you all have the upgraded security access of “Editor”  that means that when you are logged in you can view everyone’s “Private” posts.  What does that mean to you?

It means that when you mark a post as private only those users that have logged in will be able to view it.  So, if you would rather control who will be able to see your post, mark your post as private, then you’ll know that only your brothers will be able to see it.

It also means you need to log in each time you come to visit so you can make sure you see everything.  If you’re not logged in you can’t see the private posts!!!

But HOW DO I POST PRIVATELY?

First, you need to log in!   If you haven’t found it, the “Log In” link is just below the sober gaze of Henry Martyn on the right-hand side of the page. (Don’t trifle!  Be in earnest!)

Second, click on the “Site Admin” link that displays after you log in, it should display just above the log in link.

Third, click on the “Add New” link in the “Posts” box on the upper left-hand side of the page.  Enter all the text of your post.

Forth, in the Publish box on the upper right-hand side of the page, click on the “Edit” link next to “Visibility,” click on the “Private” radio-button which displays, and then click the “OK” button.

Fifth, click “Publish”  you’re done!

P.S.  I’ll post a private post next, please comment on that post if you can see it.  Thanks!  Remember, you have to be logged in to see private posts!  So log in to make sure you not missing any of the posts!

Psalm 116:8, 12

For You have delivered my soul from death,
my eyes from tears,
my feet from stumbling;

What shall I render to the LORD
for all his benefits to me?

Beloved Fishermen,
“What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits to me?”  These words hit me afresh this morning as I read them.

When considering the benefits of God towards us, the Psalmist goes directly to the root of the matter:  God has “delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling… .”  Whatever else is distracting or disappointing or whatever painful, temporary circumstances threaten to eclipse the love and goodness of our God and Savior, these words stand sure, unchanged, unwavering – God has delivered my soul from death.

How much more, as a New Covenant believer, should I be moved by these words.  As a New Covenant believer I have a more perfect view of God’s salvation.   I have the record of the work of Jesus Christ, the completed work, the completed salvation–though I see still but as through a mirror dimly– and I have  the special presence of the Holy Spirit, the promised presence of Jesus Christ, Oh the manifold benefits the Lord has poured out upon me!

Yet still the effects of sin in this world, in me, in my body threaten to cloud out my perception, dampen my zeal, weaken my resolve.  How foolish, how weak “Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from the body of this death?”

Ah, but what’s the point, man?  the point, my beloved brothers, is that my perception of a thing does not affect the thing itself, it may only affect my response to the thing.  The issue is not how well I perceive, in my sin addled mind,  the benefits of God towards me, the issue is that they are REAL!  They have been proved in Jesus Christ!  God IS gracious and righteous and merciful (116:5), God DOES preserve the simple (vs 6), God DOES deal bountifully with me (vs. 7), in Christ, God HAS delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling (vs. 8).  Through faith in Christ, these things are done! The work is done, though my perception of it will not be complete until the New Heavens and the New Earth reveal it perfectly to me, and I being made perfect will be able to perceive it perfectly.

So the heart of the matter rests with the question that started this post, these benefits being sure, what then shall I render to the Lord, now?  In the face of waning zeal, in the face of all our responsibilities, in the face of exhaustion, in the face of remaining sin…  in the face of all these things which may affect my perception of God’s benefits towards me, what shall I render to the Lord?

It must be resolved, that it will not, it cannot be my perception that drives my answer to this question, it must be the reality of the benefits, the reality of Jesus Christ that drives my answer.

May the Lord our God so fill our minds and hearts with His truth, that by the power of His Holy Spirit, and by His glorious grace we might be able to hold fast to Christ as the sand shifts beneath our feet, so that we might be able to render to our Lord our last breath, our last ounch of strength, our last whisper of worship.  To God be the glory.

Dear Fishermen,
I just posted a new blog update. “Glorious Freedom = Glorious grace”
http://casey-consideringgrace.blogspot.com/
Please continue to pray for this outreach effort as I seek to reach friends and family members with the gospel.
Made Willing In The Day Of His Power!
Casey

Dear Fishermen, DR. Albert Mohler, Jr. has written an article which is worthy of reading on his blog. For all who are aspiring to the ministry this will be a great read! Just click on his link in the blog roll!
Made Willing In The Day of His Power!
Casey Kirkman

Dear Fisherman, there is a conference coming up in June featuring John Piper, Mark Driscoll and a few other as well. If anyone is interested in going it might be something that some of us can do together. I checked the availability of seating and I believe it is running out fast.

Brothers, please be praying for Jason Kay as he is preaching tomorrow in Verona, and for Robert Fisher who is leaving on Monday to fly to Australia!

May God bless you both richly in your endeavors, infuse your labors with His grace, and use you mightily to build His kingdom and glorify His name!

“that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Eph. 3: 16-19