“ VERY HELPFUL !! ” Excellent message. Thank you, Pastor Dilday, for being willing to give personal examples. More congregations would be helped if their pastor were willing to say, as you did in this sermon, "this is how at times it has been at my house and may you take a lesson from it." Thanks for being willing to share what has and hasn't worked for you and your wife.
“ GOD HAS A WORK TO BE DONE AND A PEOPLE TO DO IT !! ” It pleased God and served His purpose to have a “house comparatively mean” built. God marks out for each in His purposes beforehand the particular good works and the time and the way which He sees best for those works to be accomplished. He both makes ready by His providence the opportunities for the works and makes us ready for their performance. I like, Pastor Dilday, your mentioning of Matthew Henry in this sermon. God desired to have a commentary written on the whole Bible. And, He chose and equipped Matthew for the doing of it.
“ Great Sermon! ” A timely encouragement and warning to God's people. You can only be one of two things in this world: a blessed man or a wicked man. The blessed man will enjoy heaven forever in Christ's presence while the wicked will lament their absence from Him in hell forever.
“ Biblical and Reformed Apologetics On Display ” For more excellent material on the same topics, by Dr. Steven Dilday, see the free MP3 on SermonAudio entitled, "That They May Believe" at http://ow.ly/tpWM1 or http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=724131748196. This message by Dr. Dilday covers or mentions Jonathan Edwards, Dr. R.C. Sproul, Christian apologetics, Presuppositionalists (Cornelius Van Til, Dr. Greg Bahnsen, Gordon Clark), Francis Turretin, Evidentialism, Presuppositionalism, the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), the Orthodox Presbyterian Church (OPC), Westminster Seminary and much more. The free PDF by Dr. Richard Howe about Presuppositionalism and Legacy of Cornelius Van Til at http://ow.ly/tpWDv or http://www.richardghowe.com/Presuppositionalism.pdf is also very helpful concerning apologetics.
“ GIVING THANKS !! ” Thank you, Pastor Dilday, for viewing all the aspects of your ministry as part and parcel of what God has called you to do, as God’s will for you, and therefore engaging in those tasks joyfully and willingly. I am benefiting greatly from your ministry. I pray that God will never allow me to take you for granted, but to always see you and appreciate you for who you are ... a gift from Him, being used of Him, to glorify Him.
“ THE ROMAN POPE -- THE GREAT USURPER !! ” Thank you, Pastor Dilday, for this sermon series. May it please God to draw many “hearers” to it. Rev. J. A. Wylie, LL.D (1808-1890) wrote this: Paganism was a system of deceivableness. It was the worship of a false god, under the pretence of being the worship of the true God. But popery is a deceivableness on a scale far beyond that of paganism. The one was a counterfeit of the religion of the Gospel. Popery has a god of its own -- him, even, whom the canon law calls the “Lord our God” It has a savior of its own -- the Church, to wit. It has a sacrifice of it own – the Mass. It has a mediator of its own -- the Priesthood. It has a sanctifier of its own – the Sacrament. It has a justification of its own -- that even of infused righteousness. It has a pardon of its own -- the pardon of the Confessional; and it has in the heavens an infallible, all-prevailing advocate unknown to the Gospel –- the “Mother of God.” It thus presents to the world a spiritual and saving apparatus for the salvation of men, and yet it neither sanctifies nor saves anyone. It looks like a church; it professes to have all that a church ought to have; and yet, it is not a church. It is a grand deception -- "the all-deceivableness of unrighteousness."
“ OUR GOD IS ABLE TO DELIVER US !! ” A wonderful reminder that the children of God are not to fear. Thanks, Pastor Dilday, for giving as an example your daughter, Naomi, sitting on your arm. Now, I think of my Heavenly Father holding me in such a manner and I take solace from it.
“ FIRST THINGS FIRST !! ” There is a tremendous example given to us in the Old Testament of a man whose desire was not for the things pertaining to his own affairs, but for the affairs of God. Solomon, upon his ascendancy to The Throne of David, sought the wisdom of God (“...give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people” -- 1 Kings 3:9). Because Solomon sought FIRST AND FOREMOST to please God in the governing of His People, the Israelites, he received from God not only wisdom, but those things that he could have sought after, but did not, were given to him also -- “And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart … and I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches and honour …” (1 Kings 3:12-13).
“ A BOLD SERMON !! ” As I listened to this sermon by Pastor Dilday, it reminded me of something that I had read that the English Puritan, John Trapp (1601-1669), said -- “Truth must be spoken however it is taken.” Thank you, pastor, for making the truth known that Hurricane Katrina was NOT caused by some mindless “Mother Nature,” but Katrina was an act of judgment of God. He used that storm to hold the world’s most powerful nation hostage in a devastating grip. And, what did America do?! Foolishly, she went on in her wicked way, proud of being the nation to champion the correctness and the right to “go after strange flesh.” Today, she stands with a defiant fist raised in the face of He who rained down fire and brimstone, destroying Sodom and Gomorrah, and who once exterminated every breath on the whole earth (save Noah and his family) for the sin of “going after strange flesh.” God says that “going after strange flesh” is unnatural, it’s against the normal sequence of His creation of producing after one’s own kind, and He will not allow it to continue. Obviously, based on scripture, “going after strange flesh” always includes some form of a very severe punishment. Thus, I hold the belief that America is on God’s “hit list” and rightly so because she shows no desire to repent!
“ Great Sermon! ” I have benefited so much from this sermon series, and this one personally about the fall of Hippo Regius. I can attest to the truth that you spoke about how God judges idolatry in a nation. I was in Algeria a few years ago and had the opportunity to visit the city of Annaba(Hippo Regius)and the only thing that remotely resembles Christianity there today is the Roman Catholic Basilica of Augustine (built near the original). Otherwise the entire city is given over to Islam. I remember reflecting, how could a city which was once such a beacon of truth for the cause of Christ now be completely given over to the enemy? And I thought further about our nation and that only God's mercy is what has preserved us for so long but we are just as guilty and no more deserving; and the same judgment will come on us if we don't repent. Very sobering and I will continue to pray that our nation will repent and acknowledge Christ. I would like to know more about how our own constitution was formed and this great omission of not recognizing Christ as Lord in it. I hope you will preach more about that in the future. May God bless your ministry and continue to use you.
“ Great Sermon! ” Dear Pastor Dilday, I want you to know this message was a real blessing to me and helped me with some tough questions I have been having. Especially when you quoted the verse from the Song of Solomon I knew the Lord was speaking directly to my heart because thats the exact verse I had in meditation while you were preaching. I hope you will preach more again on this topic because there is really such confusion in reformed circles today (about many things) and yet there are many that want the old paths and to follow the "footsteps of the flock". Praying for you and your church. May God bless you.
“ comforting message ” very relevant to the present day situation. i pray the Lord will grant his people repentant and humble hearts in these troublesome times and to put our trust in the Lord for our safety. may the Lord Jesus continue to use you mightily for his glory.
" Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God." Psalm 20:7
“ Great Sermon! ” Thank you pastor Dilday for this winsome, yet appealing exposition of 1Tim 3 regarding wives of deacons. I have been humbled and challenged all the same listening to this sermon. May God use you richly to bless many more!
“ Great Sermon! ” i don't use facebook for many of the reasons listed here in this sermon but i was still thoroughly convicted about my own shortcomings regarding Christian communication...then the phone rang. thankyou for a great lesson, it really made me think and consider some things regarding speech I never considered before. I see i have such a long way to go in this area and im still really confused on where to draw the line of acceptable speech. i trust the sanctifying grace of the Lord Jesus to help me. one thing i want to add is that I recently did a study this week about Anne Hutchinson and I think that the principle problems and situations addressed in this sermon were very similar to what happened so long ago in Puritan New England. one persons unruly speech led to so much division and strife and heresy. May the Lord bless his church and may he grant his people repentance, revival and reformation.
“ Great Sermon! ” Worship is to be what pleases God, not what pleases us. He is the "Customer" we are His "Waiters" The Psalter describes the Biblical God, not the de-fanged God of today's hymnals. Rather than de-fang (as it were) the God of Scripture we need to flee to Christ! Two of Pastor Dilday's finest sermons.
“ Faithful Martyrs & Persecution in the Early Church ” In this sermon Dr. Dilday provides us with a powerful and moving message of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and Christian martyrdom in the early church, from which all hearers will greatly benefit. "It is no small condemnation of us to behold what an ardent zeal the holy martyrs had in the past. For as soon as a poor man of that time got so much as a little taste of the true knowledge of God, he did not hesitate to expose himself to the danger involved in confessing his faith. He would have preferred to be burned alive than to go so far as to commit some outward act of idolatry," wrote John Calvin. For more on Christian martyrs see: "Christian Martyrs and Persecution: Early Church, Protestant Reformation, Covenanters and Contemporary (Free MP3s and Books in Many Formats)" at http://ow.ly/9PwGm. Also see RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLES OF THE SCOTTISH MARTYRS at http://ow.ly/9Puv9.
“ Fantastic Sermon On Biblical Worship! ” This may be one of the best sermons you will ever hear about biblical worship. Don't miss it, if you truly desire to know the only kind of worship that pleases God -- all other forms of "worship," according to Scripture, being nothing but will-worship and idolatry (and what most Churches practice in our day).
“ By faith... ” In troublous times, the just shall live by faith. Thanks for the encouraging message that the Lord is able to make his people stand with sure feet on slippery slopes, even when all around them seems to be in chaos. May we all prepare ourselves spiritually for the difficult days of judgment ahead.
5/13/14 12:12 PM
