Quotes for the Week

Quotes for the Week

Each week as part of my daily meditations, I research and read quotes.  Here are a few from last week that spoke to my heart.

Say no to self, and yes to Jesus every time,  William Borden of Yale

If you do what you have always done, then you will be what you have always been, Steve Curington, Founder of Reformers Unanimous International

The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient, St. Augustine

What fools are they who for a drop of pleasure will drink a sea of wrath, Thomas Watson

Will power does not change men, time does not change men, Christ does; Henry Drummond

Sympathy is no substitute for action, David Livingstone

The income of God's Word is the outcome of a changed life, Ed Cole

The will of God, nothing less, nothing more, nothing else, F.E. Marsh

You will never read your Bible every day until you read your Bible on the days you don't want to, Steve Curington

Hope you gained something from these quotes.  Please follow my Daily Meditations blog:  http://reformersunanimous.wordpress.com



Transformed

Transformed

Romans 12:2 (KJV) ² And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The word transformed is the Greek word, μεταμορφοῦσθε = metamorphousthe, and is the same word in English as metamorphosis. As you will recall from your childhood, a metamorphosis is what the process of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly was called. It is defined as a complete change, a transformation, or transfigured.

Here in Romans God instructs us to how our lives can be transformed and changed.

1. Be not conformed to this world:

The word world as used here in Romans is in reference to the moral world or those whose beliefs, values, morals, and lifestyles are in contrast with God and His Word.

James 4:4 (KJV) ⁴ Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
1 John 2:15-16 (KJV) ¹⁵ Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ¹⁶ For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
The word conformed means to fashion alike, to copy the behavior and customs. Putting the two together we understand that be ye not conformed to this world means that our thinking and our lifestyle is not fashioned or patterned after the world.

2. Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind

So how are our lives transformed? Our lives are transformed when we change our thinking, the meditation of our heart.

Proverbs 4:23 (KJV) ²³ Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
Proverbs 23:7 (KJV) ⁷ For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:….

For there to be a complete transformation in one’s life, there must be a turning away from the thinking and hence the lifestyle of this world and a complete submergence in the God and His Word.
Read, study, memorize, and meditate on God and His Word. Pray, seek Him.

3. Prove…the will of God.

The word prove means to be able to discern. God’s will is the actions or course of life God would have us follow. Notice it comes last in this verse. If we are to do what God wants us to do, we must first stop copying the behavior and thinking of those without Christ and start seeking Jesus Christ and His Word with our whole heart.

He is intangible and invisible. But His work is more powerful than the most ferocious wind. The Spirit brings order out of chaos and beauty out of ugliness. He can transform a sin-blistered man into a paragon of virtue. The Spirit changes people. The Author of life is also the Transformer of life.
R. C. Sproul
The income of God’s Word is the outcome of a changed life.
Ed Cole

Write it down, take it with you, meditate on it throughout the day.

This is from my blog entitled Daily Meditations.  You can view it each day at: http://www.reformersunanimous.wordpress.com

The Fool (Part 5)

The Fool

The next reference to the word fool is found in Proverbs 8:5.

Proverbs 8:5 (KJV) ⁵ O ye simple, understand wisdom: and, ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart.

If you look at the first four verses of Proverbs 8 you will understand that wisdom is calling out, seeking to be heard of all.  Wisdom is available to everyone, yet so few take advantage.   Specifically, she addresses the simple and the fool in verse 5.

Proverbs 8:1-4 (KJV) ¹ Doth not wisdom cry? and understanding put forth her voice? ² She standeth in the top of high places, by the way in the places of the paths. ³ She crieth at the gates, at the entry of the city, at the coming in at the doors. ⁴ Unto you, O men, I call; and my voice is to the sons of man.

The simple is not someone who cannot learn, or refuses to learn, but is someone who lacks life experiences and has not learned.  They are gullible and easy influenced.  Wisdom’s goal is for the simple to gain the knowledge and ability to discern between what is wise and unwise.

The fool is one who despises wisdom and discipline.  They live their lives as if there is no God.  They are not stupid or lacking in ability to learn, but are hard hearted and not willing to do what is right.  They have trouble understanding the benefits of living wisely and are often short sighted.  The fool has great difficulty discerning between right and wrong, and usually doesn’t care.  It doesn’t enter their thought process.

5.  The fool makes decisions without thinking about what is right and what is wrong.  They could care less.

The question we must ask ourselves is; are we making decisions based on God’s Word or our own knowledge?  Do we care about what is right and what is wrong?  Are we attempting to make decisions that please God?

I am amazed at how many people fall into the category of a fool.  They live life ignoring God and His Word and then do not understand that the problems in  their lives are the consequences for living unwisely.

Listen up, hear the cry of wisdom, and begin to live according to teachings of God’s Word.

Freedom from Addictions for Life - Reformers Unanimous

Freedom from Addictions for Life - Reformers Unanimous

Prescription Drugs and Teenagers

This is the latest from Dr. Crabbs blog.  It is a must read for all teens, parents, and those working with the addicted.

Prescription Drugs and Teenagers

by drcrabb on January 2, 2012

Prescription Drugs and Teenagers

A Dangerous New High

When Amanda was 14 years of age she had the last of four sinus surgeries. The best part of the whole process, according to Amanda, was that she received hydrocodone or a common pain pill called Vicodin, Lortab, Norco, etc, every time. She took some of the pills for her pain and brought the rest, along with some medications she’d stolen from her mom, to parties at her friends’ houses. There, she and her friends would get high on those and other prescription drugs. Forget BYOB. For some teenagers, parties today are of the bring-your-own-pills variety.

Teenagers today will bring whatever they can get their hands on: Vicodin, Percocet, Percodan, Oxycontin and other pain killers; antianxiety medications like Xanax, Valium, Klonopin, Ativan; stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin; and over-the-counter (OTC) drugs. Then they begin the dangerous game of prescription drug and OTC roulette.

These gatherings are called “pharming parties”, and they can be destructive and deadly. These parties are taking place in living rooms and basements across the country. At some parties, the teenagers toss their pharmaceutical offerings into a communal bowl, called the “salad bowl”, grab an assortment as if the pills were M&M’s and knock them back, usually with alcohol. At others parties it can be more organized, with bartering and negotiations. Someone will say, “I have an X, which is harder to get. You will have to give me three of what you have to get one of what I have.”

Alarming New Trend

The abuse of prescription drugs, a practice known as “pharming”, is rampant among middle and high school students. According to a 2005 report from Columbia University’s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), 2.3 million kids ages 12-17 abused prescription drugs in 2003. More recent studies indicate that the trend is escalating.

What’s frightening is that so many kids are doing it and parents are completely unaware. This problem is not on the parent’s radar. But it should be: A National Institute on Drug Abuse survey estimates there’s been a 25% increase each year since 2001 in the use of sedatives and barbiturates among high school seniors.

These “pharming parties” are the cool thing to do according to many teenagers. Technology, in part, is to blame. Technology is allowing kids to communicate more often and quicker making the passing on of information easier.

Kids aren’t looking for any specific medication. Conventional wisdom used to be that it was an Oxycontin problem. Most authorities know now that it has nothing to do with the brand of medication. Teenagers admit that the newer the product, the more interesting. Kids will take it and figure out how to mix it with other things to get a different kind of high. Kids want to know how to get high quicker, faster and they want to find the best buzz. That’s why they combine the drugs with one another and with the alcohol and illegal drugs such as marijuana – sometimes with fatal results.

Deadly Doses

Approximately five years ago, when I was practicing medicine in the state of Michigan, I lost an 18 year old male patient to the lethal combination of beer and methadone, a potent prescription narcotic.
The patient was staying with friends for the night. He talked with his parents over the phone around 10:30PM. This was the last time his parents would ever talk to him. His friends found him unconscious the next morning. They rushed him to the Emergency Room where I got involved in his care. We worked on him for over 90 minutes but he finally went into cardiac arrest and died.
Prescription drugs are pretty safe when used correctly. But kids take risks without fully comprehending the consequences. An example: Oxycontin. As prescribed, it’s a perfectly legitimate pain medication. As the pill dissolves, it gradually releases its payload, for long lasting pain relief. But teens will often crush the pill before ingesting it or even snorting it, releasing all the medication at once. One pill could lead to overdose.

Even worse, kids rarely take just one pill. Many of the drugs at a “pharming party” are depressants, which slow down brain activity. Now add alcohol, another depressant, to the mix. All decrease brain activity, and they enhance one another. So a Vicodin-Ambien-Xanax-booze combination can be extremely dangerous. It can do more than put you to sleep – you can be put to sleep permanently.
If you combine depressants with stimulants, on the other hand, heartbeat, blood pressure and other systems in the body will start careening up and down. The heart doesn’t like this. When you start pushing the heart around, there could be the danger of arrhythmia. It could progress to a point where the heart is working inefficiently, and then you may have trouble. Things may start collapsing or stopping.

As a physician I am concerned that these young people are taking these drugs while their brains are still forming. These kids are in a fairly critical stage of brain development. Their decision-making skills are being honed. When you disturb that physiology with pharmacology over and over again, the brain may not reach its capacity and may not mature fully. Their ability to make decisions and process information will be compromised, maybe for the rest of their lives.

Why Prescription Drugs?

About 5 million school-age children take a prescription drug every day for some sort of behavior disorder. As a result, kids learn at an early age that if you take a pill, you get a mood change. And many teens view “pharming” as safe, since the drugs are of pharmaceutical quality. This is a frightening myth that can have fatal consequences.

Of course, OTC drugs are also welcome at “pharming parties.” Kids abuse cold medications made with dextromethorphan, or DXM. Instead of 1-2 pills recommended, they’ll take 2-3 boxes’ worth at a time, to create a drug-induced psychosis.

What About the Parents?

Most parents have no idea that their child is addicted. When some parents find out that their kids are abusing prescription drugs, breathe a sigh of relief. They think, Oh, at least my child isn’t smoking pot or doing heroin.

But prescription drugs can be more potent than street drugs. One in ten 12^th graders admits to using Vicodin at least once in the last year. If I said one in ten kids is using heroin, people would go through the roof. But while heroin sold on the street might be 10-40% opiate, pharmaceutical-grade Vicodin could be 10x more powerful an opiate than heroin.

Spiraling out of Control

Many kids are taking these drugs because they find life hard to take. Many are also proud of their drinking and drugging activities. They also think that young people can’t get addicted and that young people will not go through withdrawals – obviously these statements are false.

I want people who are getting into drugs to know how bad it can get and to let them know that there is a way out!

The Fool (Part 4)

The Fool

This is the fourth part of the Bible study, The Fool.  It is a look at what God teaches concerning the fool in the Book of Proverbs.  Over 80 times the word fool or a derivative is used in the Book of Proverbs.  By definition a fool is anyone living life as if there is no God.  

Here is a classic example of a proverb.  One of the definitions of a proverb is a description by means of a comparison.  Here is one of many comparisons in Proverbs between the wise and the fool. 

Proverbs 3:35 (KJV) ³⁵ The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

The first part of this parable states that the wise shall inherit glory.  If we are to better understand this proverb and the book of proverbs in general we must understand the definition of the word wise.  Who is the wise?  What is wisdom? 

The word wisdom is ḥokmâh  in the Old Testament and refers to the mental and physical skills of craftsmen, sailors, singers, mourners, administrators, counselors, and others; but other times, as in Proverbs, it focuses on the application of moral and ethical principles that result in skillful, godly living. A person with this wisdom has “expertise” in godly living.

A.W. Tozer said this about wisdom:  “Wisdom is the power to see, and the inclination to choose, the best and highest goal, together with the surest means of attaining it. Wisdom is, in fact, the practical side of moral goodness. As such, it is found in its fullness only in God. He alone is naturally and entirely and invariable wise.”

Wisdom is living live obediently to God’s Word.  It is knowing what to do, how to do it, and when to do it.  The wise man is learning God’s Word and most importantly learning to live life according to the Bible. He is applying the teachings of God’s Word to his daily life. 

This proverb states that the wise shall inherit glory.  An inheritance is an estate received by a child from his parents.  In Scripture to inherit means what we receive from God based on us being His children. 

Here in this proverb, inherit simply refers to what one receives if they are wise.  What the wise will inherit is glory.

Glory is defined as weighty. A weighty person is someone in society that is honorable, impressive, worthy of respect.   

To summarize the first part of this proverb a person living by the word of God receives honor and respect. 

This is a proverb or a comparison.  The other half of the proverb reads but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

The word shame means disgrace, dishonor and indicates a lowering of social position. 

The word promotion means to raise, to uplift.

To sum up this half of the parable:  The person living life as if there is no God brings shame, disgrace, and dishonor to themselves. 

4.            The fool brings shame and disgrace to themselves.

The Fool (Part 3)

The Fool

This is the third part of the Bible study, The Fool.  It is a look at what God teaches concerning the fool in the Book of Proverbs.  Over 80 times the word fool or a derivative is used in the Book of Proverbs.  By definition a fool is anyone living life as if there is no God.  

The next unique occurrence of the word fool appears in Proverb 1:32.  However, unlike most proverbs it requires an understanding of preceding verses to gain an accurate read on verse 32. 

Proverbs 1:20-33 (KJV)
²⁰ Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets: ²¹ She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words, saying, ²² How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge? ²³ Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you. ²⁴ Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; ²⁵ But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: ²⁶ I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; ²⁷ When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you. ²⁸ Then shall they call upon me, but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: ²⁹ For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: ³⁰ They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. ³¹ Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way, and be filled with their own devices. ³² For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. ³³ But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil.

Wisdom here is personified as a woman.  This woman is crying in the streets begging all to listen to her.  God has placed in all of us a conscious that knows right from wrong.  Sure, this conscious can be seared by our actions, it can be influenced by the world around us, but it is still there.  There are certain things that all of us know is wrong.  Doesn’t everyone know it is wrong to murder?  But God goes beyond just our conscious to inform us of what is right to do.  Wisdom, as stated here, is heard in the streets.  It is available to all who desire her.  Wisdom is not only a voice seeking to be heard, but wisdom is chastening us when we do wrong.  Wisdom is trying to teach us from our mistakes. 

What is man’s response to the voice of wisdom?  Well, if we are fools, we hate knowledge, we refused, we have not listened, and we have not learned from her correction.  In other words, the fool is living live contrary to what wisdom teaches.  The fool is living life not listening, obeying, or seeking what God would have them to do.

What happens to the person who does not heed the voice of wisdom?  What happens to the person who does not change their ways?  This passage is teaching that eventually our choices catches up to us.  Sin always starts slowly in one’s life and like a snowball gathers speed and size as it continues down its path. 

The teaching of our text verse (32) is this.  The fool’s actions have caught up with him. If it is because of their naivety or because of their prosperity (interestingly enough the close definition in our language is stupidity), their actions will catch up to them.  There lifestyle ignoring the attempts of God to live life wisely has consequences.   Scripture teaches us in Galatians 6:7 (KJV) 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. The fool will suffer for their actions.  The turning away (their sinful actions) will slay (destroy) them.

The blessings of life are found within the boundaries of God’s Word.  Too many people do not like the boundaries of God and exchange them for their own personal freedom.  However, when one removes the boundaries they gain bondage.  In other words, one exchanges the boundaries of God’s Word for the bondage of sin.  God’s boundaries are not meant to limit our pleasure and enjoyment of live, but to protect us from the bondage of sin. 

The greatness of Proverbs lies in its conciseness.  Verse 32 and 33 are a summary of chapter 1.  Simply, live like a fool and it will catch up to you.  It will wreck havoc in your life.  Live wisely and avoid the fear of sin’s consequences.  The wise will be protected from the maladies of sin.  He will be at ease and at peace. 

3.  The Fool will Face the Consequences of His Actions.

Quotes for the New Year

Quotes for the New Year

Here are some quotes for the New Year.  Enjoy!

Pastor Curt

Be always at War with your vices, at peace with your neighbors,
and let each New Year find you a better person.

Benjamin Franklin

Glory to God in highest heaven,Who unto man His Son hath given;While angels sing with tender mirth,A glad new year to all the earth..

Martin Luther

Every man should be born again on the first day of January. Start with a fresh page. Take up one hole more in the buckle if necessary, or let down one, according to circumstances; but on the first of January let every man gird himself once more, with his face to the front and take no interest in the things those were end are past.

By Henry Ward Beecher

New day, new blessings. Don’t let yesterday’s failures ruin the beauty of today. Blessings of God are new every morning. Today has its own promise of love, forgiveness, joy and success.Happy new year!.

Anonymous

I do not advise that we end the year on a somber note. The march, not the dirge, has ever been the music of Christianity. If we are good students in the school of life, there is much that the years have to teach us. But the Christian is more than a student, more than a philosopher. He is a believer, and the object of his faith makes the difference, the mighty difference. Of all persons the Christian should be best prepared for whatever the New Year brings. He has dealt with life at its source. In Christ he has disposed of a thousand enemies that other men must face alone and unprepared. He can face his tomorrow cheerful and unafraid because yesterday he turned his feet into the ways of peace and today he lives in God. The man who has made God his dwelling place will always have a safe habitation.

A.W. Tozer - The Warfare of the Spirit

Look not back on yesterday
So full of failure and regret;
Look ahead and seek God's way--
All sin confessed you must forget.

Dennis DeHaan

If this is to be a Happy New Year, a year of usefulness, a year in which we shall live to make this earth better, it is because God will direct our pathway. How important then, to feel our dependence upon Him!

Matthew Simpson

As we grow older in life, years somehow seem to shorten and New Year's Day approaches with an ever increasing tempo. The more mature we get, the more we realize that time is only relative; how we live means more than how long we live. Haply also we do not live by years, but by days. In His wisdom God does not show us all that lies ahead. So we enter a new year to live it day by day. What is past is past. Today we start anew, and what we do today will make our life for tomorrow. Chin up, shoulders straight, eyes agleam, let us salute the New Year, and each day let us follow more faithfully, more courageously, more daringly the lead of our great Captain who bids us follow Him.

William Thomson Hanzsche

Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.

Jonathan Edwards

The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Unless a particular man made New Year resolutions, he would make no resolutions. Unless a man starts afresh about things, he will certainly do nothing effective. Unless a man starts on the strange assumption that he has never existed before, it is quite certain that he will never exist afterwards. Unless a man be born again, he shall by no means enter into the Kingdom of Heaven.

Gilbert Keith G. K. Chesterton

No matter what the ruin of any life may be there is always a place to start. There is a place where you must begin. You need to apologize to someone. You need to go to somebody and straighten something out. You need to stop some practice that is wrong. You need to open yourself up to counsel. You need to seek advice. You need to get some guidance. There is always a first step. That is where you must begin.

And whatever you pray, pray that God will give you the grace, the strength and the determination to take that step. Then, the process of recovery has begun.

Ray C. Stedman

I said to a man who stood at the gate of the year: "Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown"; and he replied, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way!" quoting from a poem by M. L. Harkins.

King George VI

A New Year's Prayer

May God make your year a happy one!
Not by shielding you from all sorrows and pain,
But by strengthening you to bear it, as it comes;
Not by making your path easy,
But by making you sturdy to travel any path;
Not by taking hardships from you,
But by taking fear from your heart;
Not by granting you unbroken sunshine,
But by keeping your face bright, even in the shadows;
Not by making your life always pleasant,
But by showing you when people and their causes need you most,

God's love, peace, hope and joy to you for the year ahead.

Anonymous

I pray that the Lord might crown this year with His goodness and in the coming one give you a hallowed dare-devil spirit in lifting the biting sword of Truth, consuming you with a passion that is called by the cultured citizen of Christendom 'fanaticism', but known to God as that saintly madness that led His Son through bloody sweat and hot tears to agony on a rude Cross---and Glory!

Jim Elliot

I'm part of the fellowship of the unashamed. I have Holy Spirit power. The die has been cast. I have stepped over the line. The decision has been made. I'm a disciple of His. I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, my future is secure. I'm finished with low living, sight walking, small planning, smooth knees, colourless dreams tamed visions, mundane talking, cheap living, and dwarfed goals.,

I no longer need pre-eminence, prosperity, position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity. I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised, regarded, or rewarded. I now live by faith, lean on His presence, walk by patience, lift by prayer, and labour by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow, my way rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear. I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured, lured away, turned back, deluded or delayed. I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of the adversary, negotiate at the table of the enemy, ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I won't give up, shut up, let up, until I have stayed up, stored up, prayed up, paid up, preached up for the cause of Christ. I am a disciple of Jesus. I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know, and work till He stops me. And when He comes for His own, He will have no problems recognizing me - my banner will be clear!

Anonymous African Pastor - Nailed to his wall.

To all my faithful friends, may you be found living this New Year in Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit of God and enjoying His sweet presence daily in your life.

In Christ,

Pastor Curt