Christ Church

Bible Challenge #26

Becky Pliego on

¡Hola, hola! Friends, welcome to week 25 of our Bible Reading Challenge! Welcome to another week of expectation as we open our Bibles to nourish our souls and trust that the Holy Spirit will open our eyes and hearts to know God more, to love Him more, to worship Him more.

I am aware, as I am writing this email, that many of us are going through severe trials. And all trials, we know, are meant to make us grow, to refine us, to increase our faith, to help us know God more and to love Him more. Yes, and amen. But the road that takes us through trials is sometimes pretty long and, honestly, very exhausting. How can we walk through it?  Where can we find the strength to persevere? Where can we find power to do the next thing we ought to do cheerfully?

Friends, the only place where we can find this strength, this sustaining power, is in the Word of God. God gave us His Word and His Holy Spirit to fight and win. In Christ we have all that we need to persevere and come out the other side of the trial with much rejoicing.

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Billy Graham, R.I.P.

Douglas Wilson on

by Douglas Wilson

Many years ago, when televangelist scandals were a thing, I was on the east coast for some ministry event or other, and found myself in need of a haircut. I sought out a barbershop, and the barber’s conversation turned to current events—as is the custom. The barber was not a Christian, as far as I could tell, and the scandals did come up. I will always remember what he volunteered out of nowhere. He said something like, “Well, they will never get ol’ Billy.”

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 87

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus” (Rev. 14:9–12).

A third angel arrives and delivers his warning in a loud voice. This warning concerns anyone who worships the beast and/or the image of the beast. This would be done by receiving the mark of the beast on the forehead or on the hand. Taking such a mark is an indication of total dedication, total allegiance. That being the case, God’s response to this impudence is total judgment.

We saw earlier that those who refused this mark were denied the privilege of buying and selling (Rev. 13:17). But those who take the mark are given the wine of the wrath of God to drink. It is the wine of wrath (thymos), and it is poured into the cup of wrath (orge), and it is poured in an unmixed form into the cup they must drink from. In this life, the wrath of God is revealed against the ungodliness of men (Rom. 1:18), but in this life it is always mixed with common grace. The ancients used to dilute wine with water in order to “cut” it, and they also used to add spices to their wine in order to increase the kick. The two words used here refer to both practices, one in reverse. This wine is mingled with spices and unmixed with water. It is a hard drink.

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Bible Challenge #25

Becky Pliego on

¡Hola, Hola! Friends, can we even start to count the many blessing the Lord has bestowed on us as we have come together to read His Word these past months? So many blessings, right?  And do you want to know what makes me even more grateful? That the secret of the success of this project lies not on the Bible Plan itself, nor the webinars, neither on the Facebook community, but in God who gives the increase. We absolutely love what the Lord has put in our hearts to do and we do it with much joy and put great effort into it to make sure it blesses you. But the truth is that you don’t need *this* plan to grow in your relationship with God. You need Christ. And this is -and always will be- the heart of the matter. However, we believe in a Sovereign God who governs all our lives through the Hand of His Providence, so we believe that He has planned for you and I to be doing this thing together, this year. And that, Friends, makes me -literally- sing for joy. Our God is good indeed!

We did a survey about the BRC and about 350 of you took the time to answer it. Thank you. And you know the one thing, generally speaking, that you all like most about this plan? The fact that you can “jump back in” anytime without feeling guilty! Well, praise God for that and praise God for each one of you who have jumped back in many times instead of quitting. We bless the Lord who leads us in His Kindness towards Him and never uses an “I-will-make-you-feel-guilty” approach. The Holy Spirit doesn’t accuse us, but in His kindness leads us to repentance when we fail to come to the Father in prayer and in the Word, and then ignites in us the desire and the hunger to keep coming!

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 86

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication” (Rev. 14:8).

This is the first place in the Revelation where the name Babylon makes its entrance. The Babylon that is introduced in this place has her fall actually described a few chapters later, in chapter 18. A great deal of ink has been spilled in trying to identify this Babylon, and both here and in the sections that follow I will hazard my reasons for supposing Babylon to be Jerusalem—the city doomed to destruction throughout the course of this entire book.

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