Richard Sibbs Quote (The bruises of other saints are a comfort to us)

"Such bruising may help weaker Christians not to be too much discourged, when they see stronger ones shaken and bruised. Thus Peter was bruised when he wept bitterly Matt. (26:33). This reed, till he met with this bruise, had more wind in him than pith when he said,'Though all forsake thee I will not.' The people of God cannot be without these examples. The heroic deeds of those great worthies do not comfort the church so much as their falls and bruises do. " Sibbs The Bruised Reed Banner Pg. 5).

Calvin Quote (Authorities)

"But (you will say) rulers owe responsibilities in turn to their subjects. This I have already admitted. But if you conclude from this that service ought to be rendered only to just governors, you are reasoning foolishly. For husbands are also bound to their wives, and parents to their children, by mutual responsibilities. Suppose parents and husbands depart from their duty. Suppose parents show themselves so hard and intractable to their children whom they are forbidden to provoke to anger [Eph. 6:4], that by their rigor they tire them beyond measure. Suppose husbands most despitefully use their wives, whom they are commanded to love [Eph. 5:25] and to spare as weaker vessels [1 Peter 3:7]. Shall either children be less obedient to their parents or wives to their husbands? They are still subject even to those who are wicked and undutiful" (Calvin Institutes Civil Government section 29).

Jeremiah Burroughs Quote (Service)

"The Lord does not so much look at the work that is done, as at the faithfulness of our hearts in doing it" Jeremiah Burroughs The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment Pg. 199 Banner of Truth).

Obadiah Sedgwick Quote

"There are but two sorts of people in the world--good and bad--and both of them choose their lords (Sedgwick The Anatomy of Secret Sins SDG Pg. 167.)

Obadiah Sedgwick Quote (Sin)

"... though the heart and nature have surrendered themselves to Christ as the only Lord, and to his will as the only law yet, in many particulars, sin gets the better over grace. Though it cannot be said to rule, yet it may be said to conquer. It makes the man to fall down; it is too strong and prevalent for all the actual improvements and particular resistances of grace and prayer at that time, and for that fact" (The Anatomy of Secret Sins Sedgwick Pg. 150 SDG Publications).

Orphan Ministry

There are one hundred forty seven million orphans in the world. Do you know any of them? (James 1:27).

Augustine Quote (Love of things Temporal)

"The wicked can cause no harm to the good, for they do not deprive them of what they love" (Augustine The Christian Combat Ch. 7).

Augustine Quote (The Sovereignty of God)

"Almighty God, Lord of all the universe, who, as it is written, 'hath made all things very good,' has so ordered them that He can accomplish good from both the good and evil" (Augustine The Christian Combat Ch. 7).

Augustine Quote (both the sinless and sinful subject to God)

"And since even sinless creatures are subject to Him, how much more are sinful creatures? Seeing, therefore, that all the good angels are subject to Him, how much more so are all the wicked angels, whose chief is the Devil?" (Augustine The Christian Combat Ch.1)

Melville Quote (The Sermon)

"If we obey God, we must disobey ourselves; and it is in this disobeying ourselves, wherein the hardness of obeying God consists" (Herman Melville Moby Dick Ch. 9 The Sermon)

The Unhappy Life and the Happy Life

Positive thinking is good but some have found their lot in life to be that mostly of affliction, and almost of necessity they can not seem to attain too high of a degree in such thinking. Take Job for example, "If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will change my expression, and smile,' I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent" (Job 9:27,28). What extreme torment of both soul and body Job was in! His condition was so severe that he loathed his very life "I loathe my very life; therefore I will give free rein to my complaint and speak out in the bitterness of my soul (Job 10:1). His sufferings great as they were cannot compare with the sufferings of our Lord. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings" Hebrews 2:10).

On the other hand there are those that almost find themselves out to be the very exapmpe to Paul's exhortation in 1 Thessalonians 5:16, "Rejoice evermore." What a mystery that one should suffer while another does not in proportional comparison! What moderation and balance of thought and emotions must we keep! For the one it is seemingly impossible to keep up a Christian smile while for the other they may be at the very risk of thinking they are innocent when they are not. Paul, Peter, and James knowing how greatly and overwhelmingly pained one can be by persecution and sufferings were able to find with the aid of the Holy Spirit comfort and even happiness inspite of all of the bad things that happened to them as well as to other Christians. It is true that there can be peace obtained and even rejocing during hardships of Christians, while they undergo the threat of or actual outward persecution, bodily infermities, and spiritual torments.
What torment some saints go through wrestling with this perdiciment they find themselves in that they are to rejoice evermore!

So let us with job cautiously not forget that we are not innocent before God but at the same time have faith with Paul and "reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18). There is place for a smile here! And with James let us "count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations" (James 1:2). And with Peter let us "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (1 Peter 4:13).