Bethel Community Church

Reformed Baptist Congregation Exaltation | Edification | Evangelism

A REFORMED BAPTIST CONGREGATION
EXALTATION  |  EDIFICATION  |  EVANGELISM
Sarasota, Florida
941-922-6007

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Sweet Flattery

May 9, 2020

“Now God’s truth requires us to look for something different when we think of ourselves – namely, a knowledge which banishes our arrogant belief in our own strength and which removes every excuse for vainglory, leading us instead to humility. This is a rule we ought to follow if we want to reach the goal of right thinking and right action. I know how much nicer it is for men to be allowed to recognize their gifts and praises than to see and understand their poverty, shame, vileness, and frailty. There is nothing our mind desires more than to be wooed by honeyed words and flattery…thus because man is so prone to self-flattery, nothing can please him more than to be tickled with empty praise.”

John Calvin (Institutes, French Edition, 1541, pp. 29, 30)

Filed Under: Blog, Calvin

Spiritual Light

April 15, 2020

Jonathan Edwards distinguishes so clearly in his little sermon “The Reality of Spiritual Light” between real enlightenment for the believer and (any) light that might be given to the unbeliever. He says,

“In this spiritual light…(there is) a true sense of the divine and superlative excellency of the things of religion; a real sense of the excellency of God and Jesus Christ, and of the work of redemption, and the ways and works of God revealed in the Gospel. There is a divine and superlative glory in these things; an excellency that is of a vastly higher kind and more sublime nature, than in other things…He that is spiritually enlightened truly apprehends and sees it or has a sense of it. He does not merely rationally believe that God is glorious, but he has a sense of the gloriousness of God in his heart. There is not only a rational belief that God is holy, but there is a sense of the loveliness of God’s holiness.”

(Works, Vol. 2, p. 14)

Such a sense can only come as a result of the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. The reality of it is sweet indeed.

Filed Under: General, Holy Spirit, Jonathan Edwards, Light

How To Praise Now

April 15, 2020

“Heaven is unwearied praise – Earth would be heaven begun if our whole hearts were wholly tuned to praise.”

Henry Law (Vol. I, p. 39)

Filed Under: General, Henry Law, Joy, Praise

Christ Supreme To Us

January 1, 2020

The Lord Jesus Christ is the great unifying theme of the Word of God, not because He is a word among many, but because He is the only Word. Thus, He is supreme to us.

Filed Under: Christ, General

Take Up & Read

December 19, 2019

As Augustine heard the words: “Tolle Lege” (Take up and read), let us do the same.

JC Ryle says: “He (or she) that desires to read the Bible with profit, must first ask the Lord Jesus to open the eyes of their understanding by the Holy Spirit. Human commentaries are useful in their way. The help of good and learned men is not to be despised. But there is no commentary to be compared with the teaching of Christ. A humble and prayerful spirit will find a thousand things in the Bible that the proud self-conceited student will utterly fail to discern.”

So – Tolle Lege!

Filed Under: Augustine, Bible, General, JC Ryle, Reading

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Widows in the Church (1 Timothy 5:9 – 16) July 27, 2025

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A Life Worth Emulating (Genesis 37 – 50) July 27, 2025

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