October Surprise 2023 Episodes

Our mentor over this last year, J.C. Ryle, and his book, "A Call to Prayer," bring us another challenge, which your host has failed many times. Rightly are we warned: "I commend to you the importance of praying spiritually. I mean by that, that we should labor always to have the direct help of the Spirit in our prayers, and beware above all things of formality. There is nothing so spiritual but that it may become a form, and this is specially true of private prayer." Wow, and that is true. I ...

J.C. Ryle warns us: If I do not mean what I say, I am trifling with God. The Bishop's admonishment is one of the pillars of our relationship with the Holy God. He has already reminded us we are on Holy ground, and now he warns us to mean what we say. We know with one another that we are in the most trouble when we say things we do not mean to our community. I will take out the garbage. I will run that errand. I will pray for you. It is silly to think we can hide things from God, yet we ar...

J.C. Ryle reminds us once again: "I commend then to your attention, the importance of reverence and humility in prayer. Let us never forget what we are, and what a solemn thing it is to speak with God. Let us beware of rushing into his presence with carelessness and levity. Let us say to ourselves: "I am on holy ground. This is no other than the gate of heaven." Of course, he is correct, but I had to interject just a bit. I went through the prayers of the New Testament before recording, and n...

Happy October Surprise! As we continue in "A Call to Prayer" by J.C. Ryle, we will hear him call us to humility when we come to God. Pastor Ryle says: "Suffer me then, as a companion in the Christian warfare, to offer you a few words of exhortation. One thing, at least, we all feel: we must pray. We cannot give it up. We must go on. I commend then to your attention, the importance of reverence and humility in prayer. Let us never forget what we are, and what a solemn thing it is to speak wit...

J.C. Ryle continues to encourage all who pray. "There are few children of God who do not often find the season of prayer a season of conflict. The devil has special wrath against us when he sees us on our knees. Yet, I believe that prayers which cost us no trouble should be regarded with great suspicion." "I believe we are very poor judges of the goodness of our prayers, and that the prayer which pleases us least, often pleases God most. Suffer me then, as a companion in the Christian warfare,...

Richard is Back! Day two of our October surprise, and back to J.C. Ryle, and the mindset of saints of old is nothing not genuine about the ups and downs of the Christian struggle, and Ryle is in that mold. He told us yesterday: "Let me speak, lastly, to those who do pray. I trust that some who read this tract know well what prayer is and have the Spirit of adoption. To all such, I offer a few words of brotherly counsel and exhortation." "Brethren who pray, if I know anything of a Christian's...

Don't Panic; Richard will be back with us tomorrow. October 1, 2023, our October Surprise month is here! Unbelievable quick! Thank You for listening and encouraging the podcast principal, Fred, and Richard Durrington, your amiable announcer. We have some new stuff coming and some news in a day or two, I am praying, which you may find interesting, but today we commence with day one of our October wrap-ups to year five and prayerfully a launch into year 6! This month, we will hear every day, a...