Saturday Snapshots 7.23.2011

The cutest little turtle I ever have seen!





Laboring for the Good of Our Soul

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.

We must take our whole heart to the house of God, and worship and hear like those who listen to the reading of a benefactor's will.

We must fight daily against sin, the world, and the devil, like those who fight for liberty, and must conquer, or be slaves.

These are the ways we must walk in if we would find Christ, and be found of Him. This is laboring. This is the secret of getting on about our souls.

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels: John, volume 1, [Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1987], 349, 350. {John 6:22-27}

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Healthy Preaching = Healthy Churches

The importance of preaching is God's chosen instrument for doing good to souls. By it sinners are converted, inquirers led on, and saints built up. A preaching ministry is absolutely essential to the health and prosperity of a visible church. The pulpit is the place where the chief victories of the Gospel have always been won, and no Church has ever done much for the advancement of true religion in which the pulpit has been neglected. Would we know whether a minister is a truly apostolical man? If he is, he will give the best of his attention to his sermons. He will labor and pray to make his preaching effective, and he will tell his congregation that he looks to preaching for the chief results on souls.
~ J.C. Ryle

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