Edwards Quote

"If God dwells in the heart, he will show that he is a God by the power of his operation. Christ is not in the heart of a Christian as a dead Saviour in a tomb, but as a risen and living Saviour in his temple." 

-Johnathan Edwards in The Experience That Counts

The True Christian is as a Child

"True spiritual affections turn a heart of stone more and more into a heart of flesh. They make the heart tender, like bruised flesh which is easily hurt. Christ points to this tenderness by speaking of the true Christian as a little child (Matt 10:42 and 18:3, John 13:33). The flesh of a little child is tender. So is the heart of a spiritually new-born person. And not only the flesh, but the mind of a little child is also tender. A little child easily feels sympathy and cannot bear to see others in distress. So it is with a Christian. Kindness easily wins the affection of a little child. So it is with a Christian. A little child easily becomes afraid at the appearance of outward evils. So a Christian becomes alarmed at the appearance of moral evil. When a little child meets anything threatening, it does not trust in its own strength, but runs to its parents. So a Christian is not self-confident in fighting spiritual enemies, but runs to Christ. A little child easily feels suspicious of danger in the dark, when alone, or far from home. So a Christian becomes aware of spiritual dangers, and feels concerned for his soul, when he cannot see his way clear before him; he is afraid of being left alone and at a distance from God. A little child easily feels afraid of his elders, fears their anger and trembles at their threats. So a Christian fears to offend God and trembles at God' chastening.
In all these ways a true Christian resembles a little child. In spiritual things, the tallest and strongest saint is the smallest and tenderest child."
-Johnathan Edwards in The Experience That Counts

Divine Beauty of God

"God is unique. He is utterly different from all others beings, and it is God's beauty, more than any other divine attribute, which sets him apart. This beauty is utterly different from all other beauty. So when the Christian sees this beauty in Christianity,he sees God in it. He sees the diving beauty which is the chief distinguishing feature of God. This gives the Christian a direct intuitive knowledge that Christ's gospel comes from God. He does not need to be convinced by long complicated arguments. The argument is simple: he grasps the truth of the gospel because he sees it divine beauty and glory.

Many of the most important truths of the gospel depend on its spiritual beauty. Since the natural man cannot see this beauty, it is little wonder he does not believe theses truths. Let me give some examples. Unless we see the beauty of holiness, we will be blind to the ugliness of sin. In consequence, we will not understand the way Scripture condemn sin. Nor will we understand what Scripture says about the terrible sinfulness of mankind. A person can only see and feel the desperate depravity of his own heart, if the Holy Spirit gives him this ability to taste the sweetness of holiness and the bitterness of sin. Only this convinces us that Scripture speaks truly about the corruption of human nature, man's need of a Savior, and God's mighty power to change and renew the human heart. It also convinces us that God is just in punishing sin so severely, and that man cannot atone for his own sin. This sense of spiritual beauty enables the soul to see the glory of Christ as Scripture reveals him. We understand the infinite value of his atonement and the excellence of the gospel way of salvation. We see that man's happiness consists in holiness, and we feel the indescribable glory of heaven. The truth of all these things appears to the soul, only when it receives that spiritual sense of divine beauty I have been speaking of."

-Johnathan Edwards in The Experience That Counts

My Wish List

Incase you haven't noticed I've added a new link on my blog which takes you to my Amazon.com wish list of desired books. My birthday is months off but here is my wish list so you don't have to guess what my heart desires!
P.S. Used books are fine with me- my only request is please no books with highlighting!

Rundown of the 2007 Ligonier Ministries National Conference

This was the fourth Ligonier Ministries National Conference I've attended and was my most favorite one yet. This years topic "Contending for the Truth" is a favorite of mine as it encompassed philosophy and apologetics. I wanted to tell you about each lecture but unfortunately I lost all the notes I took so here is just a brief rundown of the conference.

Zacharias opened the pre-conference up with a bang when he spoke on "Postmodernism and Philosophy." Zacharias is an impressive speaker to listen to; filled with insight, wisdom and awesome stories of personal experiences. Mohler followed with a lecture on "Postmodernism and Society." Mohler is so up to date and in the loop on culture and current events and has a keen and discerning mind. RC Sproul Jr. then spoke on "Postmodernism and Christianity." I always look forward to Sproul Jr.'s lectures each conference and wish he would speak more than once. A question and answer session followed with the above mentioned speakers which is always enlightening and entertaining.

RC Sproul opened the conference up Thursday night with an awesome lecture entitled "The Task of Apologetics." This was one of my favorite lectures of the entire conference. John Piper entered the conference after Sproul with a lecture called "Faith and Reason" which, delieverd with all of Piper's passion, was superb!

MacArthur was the first speaker Friday morning and opened up with "The Challenge of Science." I expected this to be similar to his most excellent series called "Battle for the Beginning" but it was not as good. If you do not have "Battle for the Beginning" I HIGHLY recommend it. Piper followed with the "The Challenge of Relativism." This lecture was good but I liked his first lecture better. MacAthur then blew the crowd away with his treament of "The Problem of Evil." This lecture was typical of MacArthur and was outstanding!

Zacharias spoke in the afternoon on "The Existence of God" which was good but I liked his first lecture better. Mohler closed the Friday afternoon session with "The Authority of Scripture." By this time I must admit my brain had started smoking and was no longer functioning properly. I will have to listen to this lecture again when I get the conference DVDs.

Mohler opened the conference back up Saturday morning with "The Holy Spirit and Apologetics." This was Mohler's best lecture of the conference in my opinion and was excellent. After this was the last question and answer session. Zacharias, Sproul, and Mohler handled the questions and never ceased to awe and amaze with their wisdom. Zacharias is bold in the truth and at the same time so compassionate and respectful to those of other beliefs it is no wonder he garners so much respect himself. Sproul closed out the conference with "The Resurrection of Christ" and started out speaking on philosophy and Kant. This lecture was so interesting but I didn't get to hear the entire thing because we had to leave early. I can't wait to get the conference DVDs to watch the rest of this one!

All of the speakers were so good but I would have to say this year my favorite was RC Sproul. I got so much out of his lectures and can't wait to see them again. The music this year was also wonderful and I bought a CD from the Westminster Brass. There is nothing like hearing "A Mighty Fortress" played by the brass and the hugest pipe organ I have ever seen. It makes you feel like Martin Luther make come walking out at any minute!

Next years conference will be on EVANGELISM with RC Sproul, John MacArthur, Steve Lawson, Sinclair Furgeson, and Johnny Erickson Tada. Hope to see you there!

*Listen to Piper's sermons from the conference under event messages at
http://www.desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/EventMessages/ByDate/
The titles are "Faith and Reason" and "The Challenge of Relativism."

Next Week!

Next week at this time I'll be sitting under the teaching of the top Bible teachers in the world. I have been listening to interviews with Ravi Zacharias lately. I think he is the most brilliant man of our lifetime. What wisdom, discernment, and insight God has blessed him with! I also started reading his book "Can Man Live Without God" which is an extremely interesting and thought provoking read. See you soon ladies for the best Ligonier conference yet!