True-Hearted
Discipleship

In today’s episode of The Whole Counsel podcast, watch session 4 of Christ Our Treasure: Enjoying the Preeminence of Jesus in the Local Church, “The Sanctified Bride of Christ: Treasuring Christ Together in His Word.”

Always, everywhere God is present, and always He seeks to discover Himself. To each one he would reveal not only that He is, but what He is as well.

If we are going to see growth in our Christian lives, we must learn to see Christ through the entirety of the Bible.

Our failure to be captivated by Christ is certainly not owing to any deficiency in Him! Missing the magnificence of Jesus is an exposé of spiritual blindness.

If we find Jesus boring, the problem is not with him. It is in us.

How are we to labor? There is but one answer. We must labor in the use of all appointed means. We must read our Bibles, like men digging for hidden treasure. We must wrestle earnestly in prayer, like men contending with a deadly enemy for life.

Churches choose many things to focus on. It may be mercy ministries, confessional statements, clarity of doctrine, etc. All these are good and worthwhile, but Scripture makes it clear that only one thing is ultimately needful - a clear, consistent, persistent, undistracted view of Christ.

True thankfulness to God is discerned from counterfeit by these qualifications.

Have you considered that it is impossible to really progress as a Christian without gratitude?

One of our favorite episodes to record every year is our annual book recommendations.

Moment by moment, every hour of every day, our Great High Priest is praying for all His believing people.

This week, watch Session 1 of The Nature & Practice of True-Hearted Discipleship: “Where Authentic Discipleship Begins.”

Likeness to Jesus is forged in the same crucible that God used to perfect His own Son (Hebrews 5:8).

Behind the scenes at Media Gratiae we have been busily working on our next study, The Nature and Practice of True-Hearted Discipleship by Ian Hamilton.

The Spirit of God is not in the fire, or the earthquake, or the hurricane; but in the still, small voice.

This year our podcast happens to be published on Reformation Day, October 31.

This Reformation Day, we invite you to join us as we remember and praise God for His faithfulness to guide His people throughout Church history.

I neither can nor will retract anything; for it cannot be either safe or honest for a Christian to speak against his conscience. Here I stand. I cannot do otherwise. God help me. Amen.

To conclude this short series we want to present you with session one of our study, Living with the True God: Lessons from Judges.

Oh, we shall see, when we arrive in heaven, how wonderful has been the wisdom that has guided us in all our journey through! You may be quite certain that all that takes place, small or great, is in that covenant that is ordered in all things and sure. Nothing is uncertain with God. A sparrow falls not to the ground without Him. You are of more value than many sparrows.

The refrain of Judges is, “Every man did what was right in his own eyes.” When we stop to consider this statement, it can be quite shocking.

When God's people are careless with His honor and fail to uphold His reputation, God will uphold it at their expense.

The people of Israel wrongly believed that since the battle for Canaan was over their battle against idolatry and sin was as well. As New Testament believers reading this account know, the battles for their hearts was just beginning.

It is not comely, it is not seemly for the upright to go mourning all their days. Ye children of God, refrain yourselves from weeping, and make a joyful noise unto the Rock of your salvation.

Why is Judges so important? What can we learn of Christ? What would the Christian life be missing without it? This week we begin a series highlighting this piece of Scripture.

Beware sparing any sin. It will not spare you.

Today on The Whole Counsel podcast, Andrew Davies is reading a Great Awakening era sermon by William Chalmer Burns on Psalm 110:2: "The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, 'Rule in the midst of Your enemies.'"

He loves them with a tender and compassionate love, with an active or doing love, with a passive or suffering love. His love is infinite, without bounds or limits; it is superlative, without comparison; transcendent, beyond comprehension; everlasting, without change, and which will have no end or conclusion.

God is the author of Scripture and the same Holy Spirit that worked in the lives of its human authors is living and working in every believer. But that does not mean the work of reading, studying, interpreting, and applying will be easy.

In the end, Christ will be everlastingly treasured by His blood-bought bride. Then, we will not only know, but also fully experience that Christ is the infinite store-house of every heavenly blessing (Ephesians 1:3).