"Always remember, when somebody comes up with something new,
it's usually wrong. We are to be plagiarists of the same information that
God gave the first Christians." -- Dr. Matthew McMahon, aPuritansMind.com

 

7 March, 2007   comments: (0) Resource Spotlight   The Puritan's Guide To Taking Heaven by Storm The Puritan Thomas Watson asked: "What violence is offered unto the Kingdom of Heaven by the Christian? That sounds like a wrong statement. But this is wholly otherwise. The Christian is required to take the Kingdom of heaven by force, to take heaven by storm. He is to be a tornado, or a hurricane, in respect to his violence and his disposition in raging or pressing into the Kingdom of God with all his might. Would God require anything less than for the Christian to strive and place forth his best for the power of the Kingdom?" If that doesn't describe you, here's a book and an audio sermon that could help you make adjustments. Those words are from a 17th century book that I've talked about before on Old Truth. I was introduced to Heaven Taken by Storm through an audio presentation on it, which was part of Matthew McMahon's lecture series entitled "Who were the Puritans and what did they teach?". The subtitle to Watson's book is: "Showing the Holy Violence A Christian is to Put Forth in the Pursuit After Glory". McMahon points out that it's not a "chasing after the wind", but rather, it is being a holy wind of violence in a pursuit to take up the things of God and hide them in the heart and mind. Watson vividly explains how the Christian is to be about this practice of holy violence, what it consists in, how to obtain it, and how to improve upon it. Some of the topics in the book include: Offering Violence by . . . the Reading of the Word, ...by the hearing of the Word, ...by prayer, ...by Meditation, and more. Two appendices cover: The happiness of Drawing Near to God How we may Read the Scriptures with Most Spiritual Profit Though Watson's book is based on another passage of the bible entirely, the message is very much on par with the sermon that I heard this last Sunday, by Tom Chantry at Christ Reformed Baptist Church in Milwaukee. Making his way through the book of 1 Timothy, verse by verse, Tom preached this week on Paul's command to "fight the good fight". He covers what it means for Christians to "fight", what exactly it is that we are fighting, and perhaps just as importantly - what we are NOT (or should not be) fighting. If you don't own Thomas Watson's excellent book, I recommend that you listen to this sermon first (being that it has a similar theme), and then purchase this Puritan book from one of the many online classic bookstores. In case you are living under a rock and haven't noticed yet, your neighborhood Christian bookstore doesn't carry books like these, even though they are some of the best books ever written. These days, the local bookstore's shelves are too valuable not to be used for Purpose Journals, figurines, WWJD paraphernalia, and Jabez junk. Which is more of a statement about the buyer's demands, than the seller's supply, I think. I would also recommend this sermon of Tom's as a fine example of how to preach a message that challenges true believers towards a deeper walk, while in the same sermon - calling upon unbelievers to come to Christ. We live in a day in which we are so often told that you can't have it both ways; you can't have both of those things in the same service, therefore we must neglect the flock and focus instead on unbelievers only. I submit this sermon as proof to the contrary. My 13 year old daughter and I spent part of Sunday afternoon going through the book, as a follow-up to the sermon we heard that morning. I can think of no better way to have spent the Lord's Day. Posted by: Jim B.   Link: http://www.oldtruth.com/blog.cfm/id.2.pid.630   Be the first to post a comment about this article        Home  |   About  |  Videos   |  Calvinism