 There are many things on my mind today...I read an excellent sermon by JC Ryle~"Are You Regenerate?" Here is just a snippet, it is rich stuff: The Regenerate man is a holy man. He endeavors to live according to God's will, to do the things that please God, to avoid the things that God hates. His aim and desire is to love God with heart and soul, and mind and strength, and to love his neighbor as himself. His wish is to be continually looking to Christ as his example as well as his Savior, and to show himself Christ's friend by doing whatever Christ commands. No doubt he is not perfect. None will tell you that sooner than himself. He groans under the burden of indwelling corruption cleaving to him. He finds an evil principle within him constantly warring against grace, and trying to draw him away from God. But he does not consent to it, though he cannot prevent its presence. In spite of all short-comings, the average bent and bias of his ways is holy—his doings holy—his tastes holy—and his habits holy. In spite of all his swerving and turning aside, like a ship going against a contrary wind, the general course of his life is in one direction—toward God and for God. And though he may sometimes feel so low that he questions whether he is a Christian at all, in his calmer moments he will generally be able to say, with old John Newton, "I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world—but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am."* And here is the sermon in it's entirety. Later, I listened to Martha Peace's testimony. She recently spoke at a women's conference at our old church in California. They have been generous to post the audio. This afternoon, I thought I would begin trying to gather materials about the Reformation. Our church has an annual 3 day conference and I want to lay a little groundwork here at home. I will post some links for anyone that's interested as soon as I confirm that what I have found is good stuff. I was somewhat bemused when I read this article about the Reformation and Halloween. I wish we had been better informed about Halloween before we had children. But at least we know now.
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