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About Rev. Dr. David Bissett

I pastor a church in upstate NY. I'm happily married and the father of seven kids. It's fun, really! Leave me some feedback...

Tuesday? Thomas Manton: A Constant Obedience

Wicked men have their good moods, and devout pangs in the way to Heaven, but they are not lasting. They will go with God a step or two; but it is said, “He that walketh in the law of the Lord.”

…A man is judged by the tenor of his life, not by one action, but as he holdeth on his was to Heaven (JOB 27:10). Many run well for a while, but are soon out of breath.

“Enoch walked with God three hundred and sixty-five years.”

— comments on Psalm 119:1

God’s Gospel Testimony

On Sunday nights our church takes time in the service to hear testimonies from those gathered. My typical introduction says, “Who has something to share to encourage the saints? Either a morsel from the Word that blessed you this week? Or answered prayer, or a kind providence of God — great or small — to report? Who would like to go first?”

Then comes the pause … while folks decide if their testimony is worth sharing. To the best of my recollection, we’ve never gone lacking for a testimony.

Did it ever occur to you that without the “testimony” of God Himself, we would not know Him or about the salvation He offers mankind? Reading in puritan Thomas Manton this morning brought this to mind:

The Gospel is so called because there God hath testified how a man shall be pardoned, reconciled to God, and obtain a right to eternal life. We need a testimony in this case, [revelation, preaching or proclamation] because it is more unknown to us. The law was written upon the heart, but the Gospel is a stranger. Natural light will discern something of the law, and pry into matters which are of a moral strain and concernment; but evangelical truths are a mystery, and depend by the mere testimony of God concerning His Son.

I pray that you listen to God’s testimony (read it in the Bible), then believe it, and thank Him for it.

pdb