VFBC Blog - Valley Forge Baptist Church

Valley Forge Baptist Church

We Are The Lord's Portion! (Deuteronomy 32:9)

1/31/2023

by: Charles H. Spurgeon

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"The Lord's portion is His people."
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But, How are they His portion?

First, by His own sovereign election.
He chose them, and set His love upon them. He chose them altogether apart from any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which He foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom He would have mercy, and ordained a chosen company unto eternal life. Therefore, are they His by His unconstrained election.

They are not only His by choice, but by purchase.
He has bought and paid for them to the utmost farthing, hence there can be no dispute about His title to them. The Lord's portion has been fully redeemed, not with corruptible things, as with silver and gold--but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ! See the blood-mark upon all the elect, invisible to human eye, but known to Christ, for "the Lord knows those who are His!" He forgets none of those whom He has redeemed! He counts the sheep for whom He laid down His life, and well remembers the people for whom He gave Himself.

They are also His by conquest.
What a battle He had in us, before we would be won! How long He laid siege to our hearts! How often He sent us terms of surrender! But we barred our gates, and fortified our walls against Him. Do we not remember that glorious hour, when He conquered our hearts? When He placed His cross against the wall, and scaled our ramparts, planting the blood-red flag of His omnipotent mercy on our strongholds? Yes, we are, indeed, the conquered captives of His omnipotent love!

Leading Someone to Christ Using the ‘Romans Road’

1/27/2023

We’ve had some good interest in Evangelism and the Scriptural “Hows” and techniques of sharing the Gospel with the unredeemed amongst our families and all around us

Click the link below to view the message:

https://youtu.be/v5vjsh0vI3

No Outcasts (Isaiah 56:3-4)

1/25/2023

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Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, “The Lord has utterly separated me from His people”; nor let the eunuch say, “Here I am, a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord.
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Isaiah 56 is an unusual passage, written to two groups of outcasts. The first were foreigners. The others were Jewish males who had been mutilated by the Babylonian invaders. They were eunuchs. Sometimes we, too, feel like outcasts or suffer the loss of something the world has taken from us.

Recommended Reading:

Isaiah 56: 1 – 8

In Isaiah 56, the Lord invited foreigners and eunuchs to join themselves to Him, to serve Him, and to love His Name (verse 6). He promised, “Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer” (verse 7).
In Christ, there are no castaways; in heaven there are no outcasts. We’re included in the grace of Christ. Rejoice today knowing that we are no longer outcasts!

The gospel brings me explosive news: my search for approval is over. In Christ I already have all the approval I need.

Dave Harvey

Let Us Often Think of Home! (Psalm 23:6)

1/23/2023

By: James Smith, "A Devotional Glimpse at Psalm 23"

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"I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!"
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Notice, David's expectation for eternity. Not in the sheepfold in the wilderness, but in the house of the Lord! The dwelling-place of God, the family residence of the Father of mercies and His beloved children. In that house, we shall have . . .

All our desires gratified,
All our prayers answered, and
Our highest expectations more than realized!

There we shall dwell in peace, united to all the saints, and enjoying the society of all the ransomed brethren! All friendship will be unchangeable, and fellowship perpetual and pure.

There we shall dwell and worship--and our worship will be spiritual, pure, and perfect!
There we shall dwell and enjoy--and our enjoyments will be dignified, delightful, and eternal.
There we shall dwell and obey--and our obedience will be perfect, hearty, and perpetual.
There, we shall dwell and rest--and our rest will be sweet, refreshing, and satisfying.
There will be no wilderness storms there.
There will be no cruel, crafty, malignant foes there.

O glorious prospect! O sweet anticipation

In our Father's house are many mansions; and all those mansions will be occupied, for . . .

every one beloved and chosen by the Father,
every one for whom Jesus became a substitute and sacrifice,
every one ever born of the Spirit, will be there!

- All God's children shall be there--not one of them lost!
-  All God's sheep shall be there--not one hoof left behind!
There the Eternal Father will be surrounded by, and enjoy the society of all His happy family.
There the glorious Savior will see of the travail of His soul, and be fully and forever satisfied.
There the Holy Spirit will fill all His temples, and enjoy His divine workmanship, and the presence of all whom He has prepared for glory.
There, Jehovah, at home with His people--will manifest forth His glory, and pour floods of light, love, and blessing upon them forever!
Well then may the Psalmist say, "In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand are eternal pleasures!"

Let us often think of home!
This vain world is not our rest.
   Here on earth, we have no continuing city.
Home, the home of the believer's heart, is in the skies . . .
        · Where Jesus is,
        · Where Jesus reigns,
        · Where love is perfect,
        · Where there is always a full tide of joy,
        · Where God displays all his glory,
Where grace satisfies the utmost desires of every renewed soul!

The Powerful Testing of Abraham (Genesis 22)

1/21/2023

The dramatic power of the testing of Abraham by the offering of Isaac (Gen. 22) is well known. The very terseness of the account calls forth our wonder. When he tells his servant that we (22:5—i.e., both Abraham and Isaac) will come back after worshiping on Mount Moriah, was Abraham speculating that God would raise his son back from the grave? Did he hope that God would intervene in some unforeseen way? What conceivable explanation could Abraham give his son when he bound him and laid him on the prepared altar?
A trifle earlier, Abraham’s reply to Isaac’s question about the lamb is a masterstroke: “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (22:8). There is no suggestion that Abraham foresaw the cross. Judging by the way he was prepared to go through with the sacrifice (22:10–11), it is not even clear that he expected that God would provide a literal animal. One might even guess that this was a pious answer for the boy until the dreadful truth could no longer be concealed. Yet in the framework of the story, Abraham spoke better than he knew: God did provide the lamb, a substitute for Isaac (22:13–14). In fact, like other biblical figures (e.g., Caiaphas in John 11:49–53), Abraham spoke much better than he knew: God would provide not only the animal that served as a substitute in this case, but the ultimate substitute, the Lamb of God, who alone could bear our sin and bring to pass all of God’s wonderful purposes for redemption and judgment (Rev. 4–5; 21:22).
“The Lord will provide” (22:14): that much Abraham clearly understood. One can only imagine how much the same lesson was embedded in young Isaac’s mind as well, and to his heirs beyond him. God himself connects this episode with the covenantal promise: Abraham’s faith here issues in such stellar obedience that he does not elevate even his own cherished son to the place where he might dethrone God. God reiterates the covenant: “I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me” (22:17–18). On this point, God swears by himself (22:16), not because otherwise he might lie, but because there is no one greater by whom to swear, and the oath itself would be a great stabilizing anchor to Abraham’s faith and to the faith of all who follow in his train (cf. Heb. 6:13–20).

“Young Man …” - Christian History

1/17/2023

On a cold Sunday in 1873, a dignified woman and her portly companion trudged across Clark Street Bridge in Chicago. College administrator Emma Dryer and evangelist D. L. Moody were discussing a Christian school for Chicago. Dryer insisted that such a school be coeducational, but Moody disagreed.
Miss Dryer decided to raise the money herself, and in 1882 her institute opened with 50 students. Moody, watching from afar, was impressed and agreed to lend his support if Chicagoans could raise $250,000. I will tell you what I have on my heart. I would like to see $250,000 raised at once; $250,000 for Chicago is not anything. Take $50,000 and put up a building that will house 75 or 100 people, where they can eat and sleep. Take $200,000 and invest it at 5 percent, and that gives you $10,000 a year to run this work. Then take men that have the gifts and train them for this work of reaching the people.
Men, he finally agreed, and women. It happened, and Emma Dryer, who had kept the vision before Moody for years and provided educational and organizational expertise to the school’s beginnings, resigned to make room for his leadership. Land and buildings were acquired, and on January 16, 1890, Moody Bible Institute was dedicated.
Two years later, William Evans became MBI’s first graduate. Evans, a New York journalist, had first heard Moody in New York City. Preaching from Luke 5, Moody had challenged young people to give themselves for Christian service. Suddenly the evangelist had looked down at young Evans. “Young man, I mean you.”
Afterward Moody found Evans and said, “Young man, somehow or other God told me He meant you. Have you never been called to give your life to the service of Jesus Christ?” When Evans mentioned his comfortable salary, Moody retorted, “Pack up your trunk and go to my school in Chicago. Never mind about money.”
Evans went. And he became the first of thousands who, for over a century, have spanned the globe for Christ from the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

Timothy, my child, Christ Jesus is kind, and you must let him make you strong. You have often heard me teach. Now I want you to tell these same things to followers who can be trusted to tell others. 2 Timothy 2:1,2

Sunday's AM Sermon now up on YouTube...

1/16/2023

The Bible and the New Birth (P2)

We’re finishing up what we started last Sunday AM thinking about “The New Birth”. We said that the “New Birth is True of ALL GENUINE Believers. We went on and talked about 6 Facts About Spiritual Growth and finished up with Eight Blessings of the New Birth from 1 John…

To see it click the link below:

https://youtu.be/gpp81RuOIF

Should I Expect to be Persecuted for My Faith?

1/15/2023

by: Dr. John MacArthur

In Matthew 10:32, Jesus makes the amazing promise that the person who acknowledges Him as Lord in life or in death, if necessary, is the one whom He will acknowledge personally before God as His own (Matt. 13:20; 2 Tim. 2:10–13). Conversely, He describes the soul-damning denial of Christ of those who through fear, shame, neglect, or love of the world reject all evidence and revelation and decline to confess Christ as Savior and King.
Though the ultimate end of the gospel is peace with God (John 14:27; Rom. 8:6), the immediate result of the gospel is frequently conflict (v. 34). Conversion to Christ can result in strained family relationships (vv. 35, 36), persecution, and even martyrdom. Following Christ presupposes a willingness to endure such hardships (vv. 32, 33, 37–39). Though He is called “Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6), Christ will have no one deluded into thinking that He calls believers to a life devoid of all conflict.
When Jesus adds that a disciple must “take his cross” (v. 38), it is His first mention of the word “cross” to His disciples. To them it would have evoked a picture of a violent, degrading death. He was demanding total commitment from them—even unto physical death—and making this call to full surrender a part of the message they were to proclaim to others. For those who come to Christ with self-renouncing faith, there will be true and eternal life (v. 39).

Why is Compassion the Key to Christian Service?

1/13/2023

In Matthew 9:35, it describes Jesus’ ministry of teaching and preaching the gospel of the kingdom and of healing every sickness and every disease among the people. Jesus banished illness in an unprecedented healing display, giving impressive evidence of His deity and making the Jews’ rejection all the more heinous.
In v. 36 it adds that Jesus was “moved” with compassion when He saw the multitudes. Here the humanity of Christ allowed expression of His attitude toward sinners in terms of human passion. Whereas God, who is immutable, is not subject to the rise and fall and change of emotions (Num. 23:19), Christ, who was fully human with all the faculties of humanity, was on occasion moved to literal tears over the plight of sinners (Luke 19:41). God Himself expressed similar compassion through the prophets (Ex. 33:19; Ps. 86:15; Jer. 9:1; 13:17; 14:17). He saw these people as weary and scattered. Their spiritual needs were even more desperate than the need for physical healing.
Meeting those needs requires laborers (v. 37), which is where we come in. The Lord spoke of the spiritual harvest of souls for salvation; but apart from being “moved” with the same compassion, our service will be in vain.

Approaching Life from a Divine Perspective (Ephesians 4:1)

1/11/2023

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“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called”
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To mature in our faith, we must learn to see things from God’s perspective.

Paul was a prisoner of Rome. Why then did he call himself “the prisoner of the Lord”? Because he had the ability to see everything in terms of how it affected Christ. No matter what happened in his life, he saw it in relation to God. His questions were, “What does this mean, God?” and “How does this affect You?”
When a problem comes in life, we are prone to say, “Oh, woe is me!” and wonder how it will affect us: Will it cause me pain? Will it cost me money? Too often we think only on the earthly level. But like Paul, we should think on a heavenly level: What is God trying to teach me? How can I glorify Him in this? In fact, a good definition of Christian maturity is: automatically seeing things in light of the divine perspective.
This perspective, this God-consciousness, is the only right way for Christians to live. David said, “I have set the Lord continually before me; because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely” (Ps. 16:8-9). Because David was always aware of God’s presence, he found joy and security, and no trouble could disturb him for long.
Paul was the same way: he knew there was a reason for his imprisonment and that Christ would be glorified by it (cf. Phil. 1:12-14). Paul wasn’t preoccupied with how it affected him, and thus he was able to rejoice, even in prison.
“God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). Nothing happens outside of God’s control. Let’s trust that He knows what is best for us.

Suggestions for Prayer
If you tend to get discouraged or complain when troubles come, ask God to forgive you and help you see troubles from His perspective. Acknowledge before Him that He is in control of everything.

For Further Study
Paul’s attitude toward difficulties was cultivated by the experience he describes in 2 Corinthians 12:2-10. What did Christ teach him about troubles in verse 9, and how did that change Paul’s outlook?