The Moret's Pursuit

2010-11-25T07:00:00.000-06:00

From "WHY REVIVAL TARRIES" - Powerful!
-by Leonard Ravenhill.

Today God is bypassing men -- not because they are too ignorant,
but because they are too self-sufficient. Brethren, our abilities are
our handicaps, and our talents our stumbling blocks!

Elijah lived with God. He thought about the nation's sin like God;
he grieved over sin like God; he spoke against sin like God. He
was all passion in his prayers and passionate in his denunciation
of evil in the land. He had no smooth preaching. Passion fired his
preaching, and his words were on the hearts of men as molten
metal on their flesh.

Brethren, if we will do God's work in God's way, at God's time,
with God's power, we shall have God's blessing and the devil's
curses. When God opens the windows of heaven to bless us, the
devil will open the doors of hell to blast us. God's smile means
the devil's frown! Mere preachers may help anybody and hurt
nobody; but prophets will stir everybody and madden somebody.
The preacher may go with the crowd; the prophet goes against it.
A man freed, fired, and filled with God will be branded unpatriotic
because he speaks against his nation's sins; unkind because his
tongue is a two-edged sword; unbalanced because the weight of
preaching opinion is against him.

Ah! brother preachers, we love the old saints, missionaries, martyrs,
reformers: our Luthers, Bunyans, Wesleys, Asburys, etc. We will
write their biographies, reverence their memories, frame their
epitaphs, and build their monuments. We will do anything except
imitate them . We cherish the last drop of their blood, but watch
carefully the first drop of our own!

Oh, my ministering brethern! Much of our praying is but giving God
advice. Our praying is discolored with ambition, either for ourselves
or for our denomination. Perish the thought! Our goal must be God
alone. It is His honor that is defiled, His blessed Son who is ignored,
His laws broken, His name profaned, His book forgotten, His house
made a circus of social efforts.

God's problem today is not communism, nor yet Romanism, nor
liberalism, nor modernism. God's problem is -- dead fundamentalism!.

"So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will
spew you out of my mouth." - Rev. 3:16

This generation of preachers is responsible for this generation of
sinners...Sin today is both glamorized and popularized, thrown into
the ear by radio, thrown into the eye by television, and splashed on
popular magazine covers. Church-goers, sermon-sick and teaching-
tired, leave the meeting as they entered it -- visionless and
passionless! Oh God, give this perishing generation ten thousand
John the Baptists!

The Dotrines of Christ

2010-11-22T18:27:00.000-06:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLIn4t82b6I&feature=share
This is a must read penned through Teryl Hebert under inspiration of the Holy Spirit. It is an essential for every professing Christian.

From Woody Barnette---Another prayer available for you and me.

2010-11-18T05:18:00.002-06:00

"Plead my cause, O LORD, with those who strive with me; Fight against those who fight against me." (Psalm 35:1)

This prayer reminds all of us that no matter how powerful an intercessor we think we may be, how much money we have, how big is our church, or "how" anything, victory in life is to those who abide in Jesus Christ to, "Plead my cause," and, "Fight against those who fight against me."

David was very good with a sling----- but so were many of his Israelite Brethren. Any number of them could have slain the giant that day, if they would have just had the same trust, faith, and obedience as David. In fact, David witnessed others slaying giants similar to the one he slew. David won many battles in his life time, but those victories came because of David's right perspective, "[You] fight against those who fight against me. [You] take hold of shield and buckler, and [You] stand up for my help."

In Psalm 18, David said, "God...makes my feet like the feet of a deer....He teaches my hands to make war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze." Too many in Christendom today think and live as though only the big "Davids" can slay giants, "bend a bow of bronze," prophecy to the nations, reach the lost, heal the sick, raise the dead. That is idolatry. The reason most live this way is that it is an excuse to take the pressure off us, the fear of failure perhaps, or just an unwillingness to "pay the price." The Amplified Bible says, "Elijah was a human being with a nature such as we have [with feelings, affections, and a constitution like ours]; and he prayed earnestly." This "super prophet" availed himself of nothing but the same "means of grace" which are available to you and me.

Whoever lives with their eyes, "Fixed on Jesus," whoever, "hungers and thirsts after righteousness," whoever has, "faith as a grain of mustard seed," whoever is born of the Spirit, baptized in water in Jesus' Name, baptized in the Holy Spirit, "and My words abide in you," can slay any giant, topple any mountain; "For by You I can run against a troop, By my God I can leap over a wall." I know your mind is probably arguing with you, but this is the none other than the "God-Breathed" Word speaking.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I confess my unbelief is based on my gaze. Holy Spirit, work in me the gaze which sees You, O Blessed Trinity. Amen.

Faith Without a Test is Not Faith at All

2010-11-17T18:43:00.000-06:00

Faith Without a Test is Not Faith at All

Actually, there is no such thing as faith without a test. Faith "is the conviction of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1). Faith means trusting God's promises in spite of what we see or how we feel or what our circumstances seem like. Faith means disregarding the testimony of our senses and holding fast to God's promises. If you are going to exercise your faith, it will be tested.

Jesus instructed us to "believe we receive when we pray," and if we will, He promised that we will have our request (see Mark 11:24). But answers to prayers aren't always instant, are they? We must often stand in faith for a length of time, believing God has answered our prayer before we actually see the answer. There is always a time when our faith is tested.

"Without faith it is impossible to please God" (Heb. 11:6). Without tests, however, it is impossible to exercise faith because faith is not needed for that which can be seen.

What takes the highest priority in your life? Is it what you see with your eyes and hear with your ears, or God's eternal Word? God's Word should be our ultimate source of truth. We should judge everything that comes into our minds with the question, "Does that agree with what God has said?" If it doesn't, then it's an imagination we need to "cast down" (see 2 Cor. 10:5, KJV).

The Bible promises, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord" (Jer. 17:7). If you don't believe that, don't expect to be blessed! David Servant

95 Theses

2010-11-14T16:07:00.000-06:00

"95 THESES to the MODERN EVANGELICAL CHURCH"
-by Greg Gordon.
[Founder of Sermonindex.net]

1. The “church” at large has forgotten that the chief end of man is to glorify
God. (Rom 16:27; 1Cor 6:20; Mt 6:9; 1Cor 10:31)

2. Christians ignore most of the methods, practices and principles found in the
book of Acts. (Acts 2:42,44; Acts 2:46; Acts 2:38)

3. Many treat “church” like any other social club or sports event that they
might attend. (Acts 2:46; Heb 10:25; Acts 1:14)

4. We’ve made Christianity about the individual rather than the community of
believers. (Rom 12:5; 1Cor 12:12; 2Tim 4:16)

5. In most “churches” the priesthood of all believers isn’t acknowledged and
the role of pastor is abused. (1Pt 2:9; 1Cor 12:12; Eph 4:11-13)

6. The “church” as a whole has lost the concept of their being grafted into the
promises given to Israel. (Rom 11:15, 17-18, 20, 25)

7. There needs to be a recovery of teaching the whole counsel of God,
especially in expository form. (Acts 20:27; 1Tim 4:6, 2Tim 2:15)

8. We take it too lightly that we have the blessing and honor of having God’s
Scriptures in our possession. (Ps 119:16; Acts 13:44; Neh 8:9)

9. There has never been more access to the Word of God, yet so little reading
of it. (1Tim 4:13; Neh 8:1-3; Ps 119:59)

10. Some read the Scriptures to attain knowledge, but do not practice what they
read. (Jam 1:22; Mt 7:21; 3Jn 4)

11. Worship has become an idol in many “churches”. The music often resembles
that of the world. (Amos 5:23; Phil 4:8; 1Jn 5:21)

12. The world is shaping the views of the “church” more than the “church”
shaping the world. (Rom 12:2; Mt 5:13; 1Cor 1:22-23)

13. The “church” spends more money on dog food than on missions. (2Cor 9:6; Lk
21:2; Acts 4:34-35)

14. We take lightly the cost of discipleship laid out by Jesus Christ and do
not deny our lives. (Lk 14:33; Lk 14:26-27; Mt 8:19-20)

15. There is a lack of true discipleship and making others to be obedient
disciples. (Mt 28:20; 2Tim 2:2; 2Tim 2:14)

16. Many subscribe to the error that parts of life are to be spiritual while
others are to be secular. (1Pt 4:2; Col 3:3; 1Jn 2:6)

17. Modern Christians often find Jesus’ command to sacrifice and serve
abhorrent. (Phil 2:21; Jam 3:16; Rom 12:1-2)

18. Self disciplines in the Christian life such as fasting and praying are
considered legalistic. (2Tim 2:21; 2Tim 1:8; Mt 6:17)

19. Little thought and contemplation is put towards the lostness of men, the
seriousness of the Gospel. (Phil 3:8; Gal 2:20; Heb 10:34)

20. We are living with an epidemic of cheap grace with flippant confession and
shallow consecration. (Lk 14:28-30; Lk 14:26; Jam 4:8)

21. Since the inception of the Church, the Gospel had the requirements of
repentance and discipleship. (Acts 2:38; Lk 14:26; Jn 8:31)

22. Now forgiveness is offered without repentance, discipleship without
obedience, salvation without sanctity. (Heb 10:29; 4:11; Lk 13:24)

23. Introspection, counting the cost, godly sorrow over sin, are all foreign to
many in the “church”. (Acts 2:37; Ps 119:9; Heb 6:1-2)

24. The modern church loves itself more than its neighbor. (1Cor 3:3; Gal 5:13;
Phil 2:3)

25. The church must repent of its idolization of personality, and of business
principles. (2Cor 2:17; 1Cor 3:5; 1Cor 12:23)

26. Many elders and pastors of the “church” sadly are fleecing the flock to
supply their own wants. (Jn 10:12-13; 1Pt 5:2-3; Rev 2:15)

27. The qualities most in demand in today’s pastorate are frequently foreign to
the Scriptures. (1Tim 3:2-3; 1Tim 3:5; 1Tim 1:5-7)

28. The professionalization of the pastorate is a sin and needs to be repented
of. (2Cor 11:13; Gal 3:1; Gal 2:6)

29. There must be repentance for the ambitious desire and idolization of the
celebrity pastorate. (3Jn 9; Jer 17:5; 1Cor 12:22)

30. Pastors must trust the Spirit, not statistics. (2Sam 24:1; 1Cor 1:25; Rom
8:14)

31. Modern day prophets are being stoned by criticism and neglect. (2Tim 4:3-4;
Gal 1:10; Jer 1:7-8)

32. God’s prophets are ill-treated and shunned by most “christians” considered
too harsh or extreme. (Jer 6:10; Isa 6:9-10; Gal 4:16)

33. The prophets prophesy falsely, priests rule by their own power; and my
people love to have it so. (Mt 24:4, 11-12; 1Cor 1:19, Jude 8 )

34. There are many false gospels being preached from pulpits in our day. (2Cor
11:4; Gal 1:8-9; Jude 16)

35. There is an epidemic of a “mock” salvation message. It is correct in
doctrine, but false in reality. (2Cor 3:6; 1Jn 5:11-12; Rom 8:9)

36. A salvation that does not make men holy is trusted in by a deceived
multitude. (Jude 4; Rom 8:1; Rom 6:17-18)

37. There is a needed perseverance in the truths of the Gospel without
unbelief. (Eph 1:1; Heb 6:11-12; Heb 10:26-27)

38. A great need is to see “christians” become saints in actual experience.
(1Jn 2:29; Col 3:5-8; Tit 3:8)

39. Many professors of religion are forbidding people to be a part of the holy
body of Christ. (Mt 23:13; Ps 119:1-2; 2Pt 1:3-4)

40. Preaching has become all about the happiness of man and not the glory of
God. (Jn 6:26; Rom 4:20; 1Pt 4:11)

41. Preachers give smooth words to entice men, yet very few give any words of
correction or rebuke. (Jer 6:14; Pro 1:23; 1Tim 5:20)

42. Run from gospels that focus on our success and prosperity in the name of
Jesus Christ. (Jn 2:16; Acts 20:33; Jer 6:13)

43. Run from gospels that focus on self-improvement. (1Tim 6:5; Heb 12:14; Jam
4:14)

44. Run from churches where men, and not Christ, are glorified. (Col 1:18; Jude
25; Jn 16:14)

45. Run from churches where there is no Bible, no cross, no mention of the
blood of Christ. (1Pt 1:18-19; Eph 3:13; Rev 1:5)

46. Run from churches where the worship leaves you cold, where there’s no sense
of God’s presence. (1Cor 5:4; Ps 80:14-15; Jer 12:11)

47. Run from churches where you’re comfortable in your sin. (1Cor 14:25; Heb
10:30-31; Heb 4:13)

48. Run from churches that use the pulpit of God for a personal agenda. (Jude
10-11,19; 3Jn 9)

49. Run from those who preach division between races and cultures. (Jam 2:4,
Gal 3:28, Rev 5:9)

50. Run from ungodly, spasmodic movements and endless empty prophesying. (Jer
5:13; 1Cor 14:33, 1Jn 2:16)

51. Run from preachers who tell mostly stories and jokes. (Eph 5:4; Tit 1:8;
2:12)

52. Run from those that are only after money, who use one gimmick after another
to get your money. (2Pt 2:3; 2Cor 12:14; 1Cor 9:18)

53. The phrase “accept Jesus as your personal Saviour” is not found in the
Scriptures. (Rom 10:9-10; Col 1:13; Acts 26:20)

54. Evidence of true conversion does not seem important to modern day
Christians. (1Jn 2:6; 1Jn 4:17; Mt 7:20)

55. Thousands of sinners think of God as having only one attribute: Love! But
they continue in sin. (Rom 1:18; Acts 5:11; Ps 2:12)

56. “God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life!” has hindered true
evangelism. (Rom 3:19; Acts 26:18; Phil 3:18-21)

57. A Gospel of love and grace only, without the law of God being preached.
This is a doctrine of Satan. (2Tim 4:3-4; Rom 2:4-5; 3:19)

58. There has clearly arisen a careless mixture of 20th century reasoning with
God’s revelation. (Col 2:8; Rom 1:25; Gal 1:6)

59. Decisionism and the “sinner’s prayer” has been a major cause of false
conversions in the “church”. (2Pt 2:1-2; Eph 2:4-5; 2Cor 5:17-18)

60. Many will be surprised to hear Jesus say, “I never knew you, depart from
me.” (Mt 7:22-23; 1Cor 6:9-10; Gal 5:19-21)

61. Men have taken the place of the Holy Spirit in confirming men in their
supposed salvation. (1Jn 2:3-5; 2Ths 1:8; Gal 6:12-15)

62. The doctrine of hell and eternal suffering is something little grasped by
most professing “christians”. (Mt 13:42; Jam 5:1; Ps 9:17)

63. The judgment seat of Christ is perhaps one of the most neglected topics in
the modern pulpit. (2Cor 5:10; Rom 14:10; 1Cor 3:13)

64. The second coming of Christ needs to be re-instated as the church’s general
thrust and burden. (1Jn 3:2-3; Col 3:4-6; 1Ths 4:14-17)

65. The church has lost the fear of God and has over emphasized the love of
God. (Heb 12:28-29; Lk 12:5; Heb 10:31)

66. The church has left evangelism to a few trained professionals. (Acts 8:1,4;
Acts 4:29; Rom 10:14)

67. Repentance is considered a one-time act in modern evangelism rather than a
way of life. (Rev 3:19; Heb 12:17; 2Pt 3:9)

68. The Lordship of Jesus Christ is something that is not taught in many
pulpits. (Acts 2:36; 1Cor 12:3; Rom 6:18)

69. Many in “churches” are not open to correction, church discipline or rebuke.
(1Cor 5:5; 1Cor 11:31-32; Heb 12:7-9)

70. Some preach salvation as a theory instead of persuading men to come to
Christ. (Jn 5:40; Col 1:28; 2Cor 4:5)

71. There has been a loss of the fullness and majesty of the gospel. (1Tim
1:11; Jude 25; Rom 15:29)

72. There is little mention of sin or the depravity of man from “church”
pulpits. (Jn 3:20; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 5:5)

73. Covetousness, consumerism, and coddling of the world’s goods does not
appear wrong. (Jer 22:17; 1Jn 2:15-16; 1Tim 3:3)

74. Little is made of the resurrection of Jesus Christ in churches or in
evangelism. (1Cor 15:14-15; Acts 4:10, 33)

75. The “church” has relied more on technology than God. (Zech 4:6; 1Cor 1:21;
2:4)

76. The prayer meeting is considered one of the least important meetings in the
“church”. (1Tim 2:1; Acts 4:31; Phil 4:6)

77. Pastors have never prayed less than they do in the “church” today. (Jer
10:21; Phil 2:21; Eph 6:18-19)

78. Very few are waiting on God for His direction and purpose for His Church.
(Eph 1:11; Ps 37:7; Isa 40:31)

79. The “church” has many organizers, but few agonizers. (Phil 3:18-19; Rom 9:1-
3; Jer 9:1)

80. We need to have the gifts of the Spirit restored again to the “church”.
(2Tim 4:2; 1Cor 14:39; 1Cor 12:31)

81. A serious, sober, self-controlled Christianity is very seldom found or
preached. (2Pt 3:11; 1Pt 4:7; Jude 3)

82. The “church” at large has forgotten how to pray. (1Jn 3:22; Acts 6:4; 1Ths
5:17)

83. Many “churches” are more dependent on tradition than the leading of the
Holy Spirit. (Mk 7:13; Acts 16:6; Acts 13:2)

84. Multitudes of professors preach and teach: that you cannot be freed from
sin. (Rom 16:18; Rom 6:1-2; 2Pt 2:1)

85. The Apostles and Christ always preached the possibility to walk free from
sin. (Tit 2:11-12; 1Pt 1:14-16; Rom 6:19)

86. Sinners are not saved to sin, but rather, saved to holiness and good works.
(Rom 6:13; Eph 2:10; 2Pt 3:14)

87. Cheap grace means the justification of sin without the justification of the
sinner. (2Tim 2:19; 1Pt 4:17-18; 2Tim 3:12)

88. A baptism of holiness, a demonstration of godly living is the crying need
of our day. (1Tim 6:3; 2Ths 3:6; 2Ths 2:13)

89. Many are confused about obedience, and good works that are readily
mentioned in the Scriptures. (Tit 3:8; Jn 10:32; Rev 3:15)

90. Little emphasis is put on the plan of God to make us like Jesus Christ in
“churches”. (1Pt 1:14-16; 1Jn 2:6; 1Pt 4:1)

91. Christ did not die on the cross to obtain a worldly “church” but for a
“glorious Church.” (Eph 5:27; Tit 2:14; Col 4:12)

92. Christ does not come into an unregenerate and impure heart as many
contemporary theologians say. (2Cor 5:17; Mt 5:8; Eze 18:31)

93. A holy Church is God’s blessing to the world; an unholy “church” is God’s
judgment upon the world. (Mt 5:14,16; Eph 4:1; 1Ths 2:12)

94. If Christianity is to make any headway in the present time, it must be
proved to be more than a theory. (2Ths 3:6-7; 1Ths 4:1,11-12)

95. Unbelief has gagged and bound us as risen Lazarus! We need release in this
final hour! (Heb 3:12-14; 1Cor 3:21-23; Heb 11:6)

-Please comment on these "New 95 Theses" at the following site-

http://www.johnthebaptisttv.com/

-Official website for the theses-

http://95moderntheses.wordpress.com/

Strings for Your Harp by, Leonard Ravenhill

2010-09-29T07:51:00.001-05:00

Excerpts from "Heart Breathings"

By Leonard Ravenhill

Strings for Your Harp

Part IV. The Imperatives

C. Missions

           Christ cared enough for sinners

           to die for them.

           Do we care enough for sinners

           to live to reach them?

           If God could turn some of us inside out,

           He might send us

           to turn the world upside down.

If you don't glow, don't go.

Words are cheap -- action is expensive.

Hearts of stone can never bleed

for broken hearts of flesh.

A loveless heart is a greater tragedy than

having sightless eyes or a brainless head.

           A man is not to be judged

           by the height of his ambitions,

           but by the depth of his compassions.

           Advice given to a person in adversity

           may be misunderstood,

           but help given in a time of trouble

           needs no explanation.

           "Every man is an island!"

           He is an entity incapable of identical

           duplication or reincarnation.

           Every man is an island,

           a total and complete entity-

           a one-of-a-kind personality.

           There is a great deal of difference between

           building a boat and manning a boat.

           Theologians, in the main, build the boat --

           evangelists man it.

           It is not God's will that any should perish.

           It is not man's will that he should perish.

           It is not the Church's will

           that he should perish.

           Then why should he perish?

           Without God, without hope,

           millions are still calling

           how appalling!

QOTW - Salvation before Jesus?

2010-09-12T07:44:00.001-05:00

Question: "How were people saved before Jesus died for our sins?"

Answer: Since the fall of man, the basis of salvation has always been the death of Christ. No one, either prior to the cross or since the cross, would ever be saved without that one pivotal event in the history of the world. Christ's death paid the penalty for past sins of Old Testament saints and future sins of New Testament saints.

The requirement for salvation has always been faith. The object of one's faith for salvation has always been God. The psalmist wrote, “Blessed are all who take refuge in him” (Psalm 2:12). Genesis 15:6 tells us that Abraham believed God and that was enough for God to credit it to him for righteousness (see also Romans 4:3-8). The Old Testament sacrificial system did not take away sin, as Hebrews 10:1-10 clearly teaches. It did, however, point to the day when the Son of God would shed His blood for the sinful human race.

What has changed through the ages is the content of a believer's faith. God's requirement of what must be believed is based on the amount of revelation He has given mankind up to that time. This is called progressive revelation. Adam believed the promise God gave in Genesis 3:15 that the Seed of the woman would conquer Satan. Adam believed Him, demonstrated by the name he gave Eve (v. 20) and the Lord indicated His acceptance immediately by covering them with coats of skin (v. 21). At that point that is all Adam knew, but he believed it.

Abraham believed God according to the promises and new revelation God gave him in Genesis 12 and 15. Prior to Moses, no Scripture was written, but mankind was responsible for what God had revealed. Throughout the Old Testament, believers came to salvation because they believed that God would someday take care of their sin problem. Today, we look back, believing that He has already taken care of our sins on the cross (John 3:16; Hebrews 9:28).

What about believers in Christ's day, prior to the cross and resurrection? What did they believe? Did they understand the full picture of Christ dying on a cross for their sins? Late in His ministry, “Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21-22). What was the reaction of His disciples to this message? “Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’” Peter and the other disciples did not know the full truth, yet they were saved because they believed that God would take care of their sin problem. They didn't exactly know how He would accomplish that, any more than Adam, Abraham, Moses, or David knew how, but they believed God.

Today, we have more revelation than the people living before the resurrection of Christ; we know the full picture. “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1-2). Our salvation is still based on the death of Christ, our faith is still the requirement for salvation, and the object of our faith is still God. Today, for us, the content of our faith is that Jesus Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose the third day (1 Corinthians 15:3-4).

DO IT YOURSELF

2010-09-08T20:45:00.001-05:00

Casting down imaginations and every high thing that
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.
Corinthians 10:5

Deliverance from sin is not deliverance from human nature. There are
things in human nature, such as prejudices, which the saint has to
destroy by neglect; and other things which have to be destroyed by
violence, i.e., by the Divine strength imparted by God's Spirit.
There are some things over which we are not to fight, but to stand
still in and see the salvation of God; but every theory or conception
which erects itself as a rampart against the knowledge of God is to
be determinedly demolished by drawing on God's power, not by fleshly
endeavour or compromise (v. 4).

It is only when God has altered our disposition and we have entered
into the experience of sanctification that the fight begins. The
warfare is not against sin; we can never fight against sin: Jesus
Christ deals with sin in Redemption. The conflict is along the line
of turning our natural life into a spiritual life, and this is never
done easily, nor does God intend it to he done easily. It is done
only by a series of moral choices. God does not make us holy in the
sense of character; He makes us holy in the sense of innocence, and
we have to turn that innocence into holy character by a series of
moral choices. These choices are continually in antagonism to the
entrenchments of our natural life, the things which erect themselves
as ramparts against the knowledge of God. We can either go back and
make ourselves of no account in the Kingdom of God, or we can
determinedly demolish these things and let Jesus bring another son to
glory.

SPRINGS OF BENIGNITY

2010-09-08T20:36:00.003-05:00

SPRINGS OF BENIGNITY

The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well
of water.
John 4:14

The picture Our Lord gives is not that of a channel but a fountain.
"Be being filled," and the sweetness of vital relationship to Jesus
will flow out of the saint as lavishly as it is imparted to him. If
you find your life is not flowing out as it should, you are to blame;
something has obstructed the flow. Keep right at the Source, and -
you will be blessed personally? No, out of you will flow rivers of
living water, irrepressible life.

From Woody Barnette: The Horse is Out-- Don't Close the Door-Get the Horse

2010-08-04T05:11:00.001-05:00

The nations have sunk down in the pit which they made; in the net which they hid, their own foot is caught." (Psalm 9:15)

This is another way of stating the old adage, "You made your bed, now
lie in it." Or, the intent may be one thing, but the result is
another. Notice the words, "sunk down."
It is as though they got into something of their own choosing, but lost
control. The word for "sink" in English can also mean "to become
absorbed."

Do you know why we lost the major denominations in America to the humanists? We sank, "down in the pit which [we] made."
The "spiritual" people were too busy being "spiritual," while the
humanists took over the bishoprics, superintendencies, conference
committees, boards of missions, etc. Evangelicals no longer have
control of the "mainline" denominations----------------- and no longer
have control of the nation. Some say that control of the nation is not
an objective of the Church. No, it is not. It's the only objective. Jesus said,
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations."

The regrets in life are due to the indifference of life. We neglect a
problem-------- then it grows----- then it controls. This is the
history of the Christian Church in the global community. The only way
to get out of, "the pit which they (we) made," is to cry out to King Jesus what the psalmist later cries, "Arise, O LORD, do not let man prevail...." But do not just "cry out." Evangelicals have always loved to say, "Christianity is not just a list of dos and don'ts." But we could also say, "Christianity is not so much what you stop doing, but what you start doing."

Ulysses S. Grant, the great general of the American "War Between the
States," once said, "The art of war is simple enough. Find out where
your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as
you can, and keep moving on." Or, for the more spiritual among us:

          "Rise up, O men of God!

          Have done with lesser things.

          Give heart and mind and soul and strength

          To serve the King of kings."

Or, consider this WW I draft notice: "You will, therefore, report to
the local board named below at (location), at (time), on the (date) for
military duty. From and after the day and hour just named you will be a
soldier in the military of the United States."

Father, in Jesus' Name, I know there is so much I cannot change. Show me what I can. Amen.

*************************

When Peter,
an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that
day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but
included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

The Last Great Revival in the Bible is Global Transformation

2010-07-31T06:10:00.001-05:00

"He will be a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, a source of strength to those who turn back the battle at the gate." (Isaiah 228:6, NIV)

This is not just a description of local church revival. Take off your
Sunday School, church-meeting-confined glasses. Our text speaks of city
and national transformation. Even though many have tried for
centuries, the Bible will just not allow a parochial interpretation.

For the last 45 years particularly, the humanist collegiate scene has
denigrated the "Founding Fathers" of America. Regardless of the attack
on them, I saw a great painting in DC this past week of the 1774 meeting
of the Continental Congress which depicts the Congress in prayer, men
on their knees, some with hands folded. This is not just a painting;
it's historic fact. These men were a key part of, "those who turn[ed] the battle at the gate."
One can only imagine what would happen in the United States of America,
and any nation for that matter, if that painting would "come alive"
today!

In the mid 19th century, there was what has been referred to as "The
Layman's Prayer Revival of 1857-1858" (note, "Laymen's"). One author
describes it as "a widespread religious awakening most famous for urban
prayer meetings in major metropolitan centers across the United States."
Another writer says of the revival, "With little human planning, a
nationwide revival broke out....In the awakening that followed, nearly
1,000,000 people accepted Christ....It would be as though today 8-9
million people came to Christ." Here is a sample of the power of
Christ's Presence just in New York City. "Ships coming into New York
harbor came under the power of God's presence. On one ship a captain
and thirty men were converted to Christ before the ship docked. Four
sailors knelt for prayer down in the depths of the battleship North
Carolina anchored in the harbor. They began to sing and...shipmates
came running down to make
fun, but the power of God gripped them and they...knelt in repentance."

Some believe that had this "revival" spread even further, the tragic
American War Between the States may have been averted, speculation, of
course. But how many "speculations" do we need before the Church
decides "enough is enough?" How many more 2008 elections do we need?
how many more Sept. 11ths, 2001? Vietnams? etc.? Make no mistake-- even
though religionists, liberal, evangelical, and charismatic alike have
attempted to keep people involved with just "spiritual things," and that within the confines of church activities, parochial

sermons and national ministries, you just cannot keep Jesus Christ so confined. The last great "revival" in the Bible speaks of "Global Transformation." It would behoove us all to so prepare and involve ourselves.

Father, in Jesus' Name, enough of just reading about it. Amen.

***********************************

When Peter,
an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that
day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but
included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

Looking unto Jesus"

Hebrews 12:2

Ten Shekels and a Shirt

2010-07-30T05:09:00.001-05:00

Ten Shekels and a Shirt
Paris Reidhead:
And today I would like to speak to you from the theme, "Ten Shekels and a Shirt", as we find it here in Judges
Chapter 17. I’ll read the chapter and then I will read a portion also from the 18th to the 19th chapter as the
background might be clear in our minds. "And there was a man of Mount Ephraim whose name was Micah." A
little background if you please. There was a situation where the Amorites refused to allow the people of the
tribe of Dan to any access to Jerusalem and they crowded them up into Mount Ephraim. It is a sad thing when
the people of God allow the world to crowd them into an awkward position. So they were unable to get to
Jerusalem and we find, out of this comes the problems that we are about to see.
Judges 17:1- 18:6
And there was a man of Mount Ephraim, whose name was Micah.
And he said unto his mother, "The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from thee, about which thou
cursedst, and spakest of also in mine ears, behold, the silver is with me; I took it." And his mother said,
"Blessed be thou of the Lord, my son."
And when he had restored the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, his mother said, "I had wholly
dedicated the silver unto the Lord from my hand for my son, to make a graven image and a molten image; now
therefore I will restore it unto thee."
Yet he restored the money unto his mother; and his mother took two hundred shekels of silver, and gave them
to the founder, who made thereof a graven image and a molten image; and they were in the house of Micah.
And the man Micah had an house of gods, and made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons,
who became his priest.
In those days, there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
And there was a young man out of Bethlehem-Judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he
sojourned there.
And the man departed out of the city from Bethlehem-Judah to sojourn where he could find a place. And he
came to Mount Ephraim to the house of Micah, as he journeyed.
And Micah said unto him, "Whence comest thou?" And he said unto him, "I am a Levite of Bethlehem-Judah,
and I go to sojourn where I may find a place."
And Micah said unto him, "Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give the ten shekels of
silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals." So the Levite went in.
And the Levite was content to dwell with the man; and the young man was unto him as one of his sons.
And Micah consecrated the Levite; and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah.
Then said Micah, "Now know I that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.
Judges 18:1
In those days there was no king in Israel; and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance
to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel.
And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valor, from Zorah, and from
Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, "Go, search the land"; who when they
came to Mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there.
When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite; and they turned in
thither, and said unto him, "Who brought thee hither? And what makest thou in this place? And what hast thou
here?"
And he said unto them, "Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest."
And they said unto him, "Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go
shall be prosperous."
And the priest said unto them, "Go in peace; before the Lord is your way wherein ye go."
Judges 18:14
Then the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, "Do ye know that
there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim, and a graven image, and a molten image? Now therefore
consider what ye have to do."
And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man, the Levite, even unto the house of
Micah, and saluted him.
And the six hundred men appointed with their weapons of war, which were of the children of Dan, stood by the
entering of the gate.
And the five men that went to spy out the land went up, and came in thither, and took the graven image, and the
ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image; and the priest stood in the entering of the gate with the six
hundred men that were appointed with weapons of war.
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Ten Shekels and a Shirt
And these went into Micah’s house, and fetched the carved image, the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten
image. Then said the priest unto them, "What do ye?"
And they said unto him, "Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth, and go with us, and be to us a father
and a priest; is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe
and a family in Israel?"
And the priest’s heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the
midst of the people.
So they turned and departed, and put the little ones and the cattle and the carriage before them.
Well, there’s the story. This isn’t part of the actual history of the Judges, this is a gathering together of some
accounts that enable us to see the social condition in that period when every man did as seemed right in his
own eyes and there was no king in Israel. So we understand that Micah was unable to get to Jerusalem and
perhaps for some kind of devote reason he decided he would build a replica of the temple on his own property.
He built what he thought would be an appropriate building and he made the instruments of the tabernacle, for
these are part of the furnishings : The ephod, included among them, but then he also gathered some of the
things from the people around him; the teraphim, the images which God had forbidden.
But you see, nevertheless, there was a desire to get along as best he could. So he took a little bit of the world
and a little bit of Israel, that which had been revealed by God, and he sort of mixed them up, until he had
something that he thought might please the Lord. Then of course he was delighted beyond words when a
wandering young preacher came along from Bethlehem, Judah. He was a Levite, his mother was of the tribe of
Judah. Though he himself was a Levite, God had given permission through Moses that the Levites might marry
into other tribes and they might join themselves to other tribes.
So this young man didn’t like the living, and every Levite was provided for, but he had wanderlust and an
itching foot and so he started off to see if he couldn’t do better for himself that was being done. He felt that
being a Levite was good, but there should be opportunities associated with it, and so he came to the house of
Micah. There he waited and there he was invited in and asked to become the priest. And Micah made a deal with
him. He said, "If you’ll be my priest, be my father and priest, then I’ll give you ten shekels and a shirt" It says a
"suit", but you understand that the people of the day wore what would be called a gelavia, a long sort of an
outsize, well I was going to say a nightgown, I don’t know if that is exactly what it is but it is appropriate at
least, something like that. And he gave him a suit of clothes or a change of apparel and his food and ten
shekels a year.
This was pretty good living for him and so he decided that he would stay there and enter into the mixture of
idolatry and so on that was in the house of Micah. But the people of Dan came along, they were suppose to
have driven out the Amorites, but the Amorites were too difficult, and they wanted to find someone that was a
little easier to get out. And they came to, as you’ve read, to Micah’s house and the Levite told them to go ahead.
Then you find that they discovered that there were people after the manner of the Zidonians at Laish. They were
peaceful and no one was there to protect them, and so they figure this would be a very good place to take some
land for themselves. When they came with the men that were sent to conquer this area they figured that since
they found the land through the young Levite, it would be splendid to have his assistance.
And so they went into the house of Micah, took all the things that he had made and it cost a good bit of money,
because at least two hundred shekels had been given for this one piece of furniture. And so they just took it all,
made it theirs and took the Levite. Rather hard on Micah, but you’ll notice the young Levite was able to adjust
himself to this. It was amazing how flexible he was and how easily he could accommodate himself to such
changes when there was a little rationalization along the way - As soon as he could begin to see that it was far
more important to serve a tribe than one man’s family. And he could minister to so many more, why he could
see the wisdom of this and he could justify it. With no real strain of conscious he could make the adjustment,
hold his hand over his mouth while they took the furniture out of the little chapel that Micah had built. But he
was a wise man nonetheless, rather than go along at the front which put him in a place of danger or at the rear
which put him in a place of danger, I say he was a wise man, he put himself right in the middle. So that if Micah
had sent any of his servants to get him he was safe with soldiers on every side.
What can we call this and how will it apply to our days generation? Would I be out of line if I were to talk to you
for a little while about utilitarian religion and expedient Christianity? And a youthful God? I would like to call
attention to the fact that our day is a day which the ruling philosophy is pragmatism. You understand what I
mean by pragmatism. Pragmatism means if it works it’s true – if is succeeds it’s good. And the test of all
practices, all principles, all truth, so called all teaching, is do they work? Do they work? Now – according to
pragmatism, the greatest failures of the ages have been some of the men God has honored most.
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Ten Shekels and a Shirt
For instance, whereas Noah was a mighty good ship builder, his main occupation wasn’t ship building, it was
preaching. He was a terrible failure as a preacher. His wife and three children and their wives are all he had.
Seven converts in 120 years you wouldn’t call particularly effective. Most mission boards would have asked the
missionaries to withdraw long before this. I say as a ship builder he did quite well, but as a preacher, he was a
failure. And then we come down across the years to another man by the name of Jeremiah. He was a might
effective preacher, but ineffective as far as results were concerned. If you were to measure statistically how
successful Jeremiah was, he would probably get a large cipher. For we find that he lost out with the people, he
lost out with royalty, even the ministerial association voted against him and wouldn’t have anything to do with
him. He had everything fail. The only one he seemed able to please was God......but otherwise he was a distinct
failure. And then we come to another well known person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who was a failure from judging
all the standards. He never succeeded in organizing a church or denomination. He wasn’t able to build a school.
He didn’t succeed in getting a mission board established. He never had a book printed. He never was able to
get any of the various criteria or instruments that we find and are so useful; I’m not being sarcastic at all, they
are useful. And our Lord preached for three years, healed thousands of people, fed thousands of people, and
yet when it was all over there were 120....500 to whom he could have revealed Himself after His resurrection.
And the day that He was taken, one man said, "If all the others forsake you, I’m willing to die for you." He looked
at this one and said, "Peter, you don’t know your own heart. You’re going to deny me three times before the
cock crows this morning." So all men forsook Him and fled. By every standard of our generation or any
generation, our Lord was a single failure.
The question comes then to this, what is the standard of success and by what are we going to judge our lives
and our ministry? And the question that you are going to ask yourself, "Is God an end or is He a means?" And
you have to decide very early in your Christian life whether you’re viewing God as an end or a means. Our
generation is prepared to honor with single honor anyone that’s successful regardless of whether they settled
this problem or not. As long as they can get things done or get the job done, or, "It’s working, isn’t it?", then
our generation is prepared to say, "Well, you’ve got to reckon with this."
And so we’ve got to ask ourselves at the very outset of our ministry, and our pilgrimage, and our walk, "Are we
going to be Levites who serve God for ten shekels and a shirt?" Serve men perhaps in the name of God, rather
than God. For though he was a Levite and performed religious activities, he was looking for a place. A place
which would give him recognition, a place which would give him acceptance, a place which would give him
security, a place where he could shine in terms of those values which were important to him. His whole
business was serving in religious activities so it had to be a religious job. He was very happy when he found
that Micah had an opening. But he had decided that he was worth ten shekels and a shirt, and he was prepared
to sell himself to anyone that would give that much. If somebody came along and gave more, he would sell
himself to them. But he put a value upon himself and he figured his religious service and his activities were just
a means to an end and by the same token God was a means to an end.
Now in order to understand the implications of that in the twentieth century, we’ve got to go back 150, 100 years
at least, to a conflict that attacked Christianity. Just after the great revivals in America with Finney, the Spirit of
God having been marvelously outpoured onto certain portions of our country, there came an open attack on our
faith in Europe under the higher critics. Darwin had postulated his theory of evolution; certain philosophers had
adapted it to their philosophies, and theologians had applied it to the Scripture. And so about 1850, you could
mark the opening of a frontal attack upon the Word of God. Satan had always been insidiously attacking it. But
now it was open season on the Book, open season on the Church, and Voltaire could declare that he would live
to see the Bible become a relic and just have it placed only in museums; that it would be utterly destroyed by
the arguments that he was so forcefully presenting against it.
Well, what was the effect of this? The philosophy of the day became humanism. And you could define
humanism this way: Humanism is a philosophical statement that declares the end of all being is the happiness
of man. The reason for existence is man’s happiness. Now according to humanism, salvation is simply a matter
of getting all the happiness you can, out of life. If you’re influenced by someone like Nietzsche, who says that
"The only true satisfaction in life is power and that the power is its own justification", and that after all, the
world is a jungle. And it is therefore up to the man to be happy, to become powerful, and become powerful by
any means he can use. For it is only in this position of ascendancy or as we saw in the worship of Molech that
one can be happy. This would produce in due course, a Hitler who would take the philosophy of Nietzsche as
his working, operating, principles and guide, and would say of his people, that, "We are destined to rule the
world." Therefore any means that we can use to achieve this is our salvation.
Somebody else turns around and says, "Well, no. The end of being is happiness, but happiness doesn’t come
from authority over people, happiness comes from sensual experience." So you would have the type of
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Ten Shekels and a Shirt
existentialism that characterizes France today, that’s given rise to beatnicism in America and to the gross
sensuality of our country. Since man is essentially a glandular animal, whose highest moments of ecstasy
come from the exercise of his glands, salvation is simply to find the most desirable way to gratify this part of a
person. And so this became the effect of humanism, that the end of all being is the happiness of man. John
Dewey, then an American philosopher influencing education, was able to persuade the educators that there
were no absolute standards. Children shouldn’t be brought to any particular standard, that the end of education
was simply to allow the child to express himself and expand on what he is and find his happiness in being what
he wants to be. So we had cultural lawlessness, when every man could do as seemed right in his own eyes and
we had no God to rule over us. The Bible had been discounted and disallowed and disproved according to what
they said. God had been dethroned – He didn’t exist. He had no personal relationship to individuals. Jesus
Christ was either a myth or just a man – so they taught, and therefore the whole end of being was happiness.
The individual would establish the standards of his happiness and interpret it.
Now religion then had to exist because there were so many people that made their living at it, so they had to
find some way to justify their existence. So back about the time in 1850, the church divided into two groups.
The one group was the liberals, who accepted the philosophy of the humanism and tried to find some relevance
by saying something like this to their generation, "Ha, Ha....we don’t know there’s a heaven; we don’t know
there’s a hell. But we do know this – that you’ve got to live for 70 years! We know there’s a great deal of benefit
from poetry, from high thoughts and noble aspirations. Therefore it’s important for you to come to church on
Sunday, so that we can read some poetry, that we can give you some little adages and axioms and rules to live
by. We can’t say anything about what’s going to happen when you die, but we’ll tell you this, if you’ll come
every week and pay and help and stay with us, we’ll put springs on your wagon and your trip will be more
comfortable. We can’t guarantee anything about what’s going to happen when you die, but we say that if you
come along with us, we’ll make you happier while you’re alive." And so this became the essence of liberalism. It
has simply nothing more than to try and put a little sugar in the bitter coffee of their journey and sweeten it up
for a time. This is all that it could say.
Well now, the philosophy of the atmosphere is humanism; the chief end of being is the happiness of man.
There’s another group of people that have taken hum bridge with the liberals; this group are my people, the
fundamentalists. They say, "We believe in the inspiration of the Bible! We believe in the deity of Jesus Christ!
We believe in hell! We believe in heaven! We believe in heaven! We believe in the death, burial, and resurrection
of Christ!" But remember, the atmosphere is that of humanism. And humanism says the chief end of being is
the happiness of man. Humanism is like a miasma out of a pit; it just permeates everyplace. Humanism is lie an
infection, an epidemic – it just goes everywhere. So it wasn’t long until we had this, that the fundamentalists
knew each other because they said, "We believe these things!" They were men for the most part that had met
God. But you see, it wasn’t long until having said, "These are the things that establish us as fundamentalists!"
The second generation said, "This is how we become a fundamentalist! Believe the inspiration of the Bible!
Believe in the deity of Christ! Believe in His death, burial, and resurrection! And thereby become a
fundamentalist!" And so it wasn’t long until it got to our generation, where the whole plan of salvation was to
give intellectual assent to a few statements of doctrine. And a person was considered a Christian because he
could say, "Ah hah" at four or five places that he was asked. If he knew where to say "Ah hah", someone would
pat him on the back, shake his hand, smile broadly, and say, "Brother, you’re saved!" so it had gotten down to
the place where salvation was nothing more than an assent to a scheme or a formula, and the end of this was
that salvation was the happiness of man, because humanism has penetrated. If you were to analyze
fundamentalism in contrast to liberalism of a hundred years ago, as it developed, for I am not pinpointing it in
time, it would be like this: The liberal says the end of religion is to make man happy while he’s alive, and the
fundamentalist says the end of religion is to make man happy when he dies. But again! The end of all of the
religion it was proclaimed was the happiness of man. And where as the liberal says, "By social change and
political order we’re going to do away with funds, we’re going to do away with alcoholism and dope addiction
and poverty. And we’re going to make Heaven on earth and make you happy while you’re alive! We don’t know
anything about after that, but we want you to be happy while you’re alive!" They went ahead to try and do it only
to be brought to a terrifying shock at the first World War and utterly staggered by the second World War,
because they seemed to be getting no where fast.
And then the fundamentalists, along the same line, are now tuning in along this same wavelength of humanism.
Until we find it something like this: "Accept Jesus so you can go to heaven! You don’t want to go to that old,
filthy, nasty, burning hell, when there is a beautiful heaven up there! Now come to Jesus so you can go to
heaven!" And the appeal could be as much to selfishness, as a couple of men sitting in a coffee shop, deciding
they are going to rob a bank to get something for nothing! There’s a way that you can give an invitation to
sinners, that just sounds for all the world like a plot to take up a filling station proprietor’s Saturday night
earnings without working for them. Humanism is, I believe, the most deadly and disastrous of all the
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philosophical stenches that’s crept up through the grating over the pit of Hell. It has penetrated so much of our
religion. And it is in utter and total contrast with Christianity! Unfortunately, it’s seldom seen. And here we find
Micah, wants to have a little chapel, and he wants to have a priest, and he wants to have prayer, and he wants to
have devotion, because, "I know the Lord will do me good!" AND THIS IS SELFISHNESS! AND THIS IS SIN! And
the Levite comes along and falls right in with it! Because he wants a place! He wants ten shekels and a shirt
and his food! And so in order that he can have what he wants, and Micah can have what they want, They sell
out God! For ten shekels and a shirt! AND THIS IS THE BETRAYAL OF THE AGES! And it is the betrayal in
which we live. And I don’t see how God can revive it! Until we come back to Christianity. As in direct and total
contrast with the stenchful humanism that’s perpetrated in our generation in the name of Christ.
I’m afraid that it’s become so subtle that it goes everywhere. What is it? In essence it’s this! That this
philosophical postulate that the end of all being is the happiness of man, has been sort of covered over with
evangelical terms and Biblical doctrine until God reigns in heaven for the happiness of man, Jesus Christ was
incarnate for the happiness of man, all the angels exist in the.....Everything is for the happiness of man! And I
submit to you that this is Unchristian! Isn’t man happy? Didn’t God intend to make man happy? Yes. But as a
by-product, and not a prime-product.
It was that good man that’s so admired by the fuzzy thinkers of our day, out there in Africa, dear Dr. Schweitzer;
bless his heart, he’s a brilliant man. A philosopher, doctor, musician, composer – undoubtedly a brilliant man.
But Dr. Schweitzer is no more Christian than this rose, and he would call it a personal insult if he were to say he
was a Christian. He doesn’t see Christ as having any relevance to his philosophy or life. Dr. Schweitzer is a
humanist. Dr. Schweitzer was sitting on the bow of the boat going up the broad Congo river toward his station,
watching the Belgian government officials with their high power rifles, shooting at the crocodiles sunning on
the mud flats along the river. They were expert marksmen. They would use these dumb-dumb bullets that would
explode inside the crocodile and just send them spinning up into the air, from the contraction of muscles. You
say, " How do you know so much about it?" Well , to my shame, I was guilty of the same thing in the Nile. And
they were there; this was what their sport was. They bagged them, and they kept count and they’d put strings
around the place where their gun was and have a little place for the gun and then they’d tie knots so that they
could see how many crocodiles they killed. A colossal waste of life! And it was there that Schweitzer saw the
essence of his philosophy. And do you know what it is? Three words – Reverence for life..... Reverence for life.
Crocodile life, human life, and other kinds of life. My friend, George Kline, who was with us last week and is
going back to the Gabon, was just about 50 or 60 miles away from this Dr. Schweitzer’s station. You know, Dr.
Schweitzer is so convinced of reverence of life, that he doesn’t like to sterilize his surgery. He has the dirtiest
surgery in Africa, because bacteria are life and he doesn’t want to hurt any of the good bacteria with the bad, so
he just sort of, let’s them all grow together. His organ broke. Someone had sent him our an organ and the
means of playing it. Mr. Kline is an expert organist and an organ repairer as well, so he went over to see Dr.
Schweitzer, and Dr. Schweitzer said, "George, do you think you can fix my organ?" He said, "I wouldn’t be
surprised – let me try it." So he took the back off and to his amazement he discovered a huge nest of
cockroaches. With characteristic, American enthusiasm and zeal, George started trampling all over the
cockroaches not to let a one of them get away. And the good doctor came out – his hair standing straighter
than it had for a long time, and because of his anger, he shouted, "You stop that right now!" "Why? They’re
ruining your organ?" He said, "That’s alright, they were just being true to their nature, "he said, "You can’t ." So
one of the boys came in and said, "It’s alright Mr. Kline." And he reached down, very tenderly picked them up,
and put them in a little bag, and crimped the top, and he put each cockroach in, and they took them out into the
jungle and let them loose.
Now here was a man that believed his philosophy, reverence for life. Utterly committed to it! Utterly consistent!
Even when it came to the matter of cockroach or microbe. Do you see? This is humanism, this is consistency.
Now I ask you; What is the Philosophy of Missions? What is the Philosophy of Evangelism? What is the
Philosophy of a Christian? If you’ll ask me why I went to Africa, I’ll tell you I went primarily to improve on the
justice of God. I didn’t think it was right for anybody to go to Hell without a chance to be saved. So I went to
give poor sinners a chance to go to heaven. Now I haven’t put it in so many words, but if you’ll analyze what I
just told you , do you know what it is? Humanism. That I was simply using the provisions of Jesus Christ as a
means to improve upon human conditions of suffering and misery. And when I went to Africa, I discovered that
they weren’t poor, ignorant, little heathen running around in the woods looking for someone to tell them how to
go to heaven. That they were Monsters of Iniquity! They were living in utter and total defiance of far more
knowledge of God than I ever dreamed they had! They deserved Hell! Because they utterly refused to walk in
the light of their conscious, and the light of the law written upon their heart, and the testimony of nature, and
the truth they knew! And when I found that out I assure you I was so angry with God that on one occasion in
prayer I told Him it was a mighty little thing He’d done – sending me out there to reach these people that were
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waiting to be told how to go to heaven. When I got there I found out they knew about heaven, and didn’t want to
go there, and that they loved their sin and wanted to stay in it.
(Brother Paris speaks with great passion in this paragraph) I went out their motivated by humanism. I’d seen
pictures of lepers, I’d seen pictures of ulcers, I’d seen pictures of native funerals, and I didn’t want my fellow
human beings to suffer in Hell eternally after such a miserable existence on earth. But it was there in Africa that
God began to tear through the overlay of this humanism! And it was that day in my bedroom with the door
locked that I wrestled with God. For here was I, coming to grips with the fact that the people I thought were
ignorant and wanted to know how to go to heaven and were saying, "Someone come and teach us!", actually
didn’t want to take time to talk with me or anybody else. They had no interest in the Bible and no interest in
Christ, and they love their sin and wanted to continue in it. And I was to that place, at that time, where I felt the
whole thing was a sham and a mockery, and I had been sold a bill of goods! And I wanted to come home. There
alone in my bedroom as I faced God honestly with what my heart felt, it seemed to me I heard Him say, "Yes,
will not the Judge of all the earth do right? The heathen are lost, and they’re going to go to Hell, not because
they haven’t heard the gospel. They’re going to go to Hell because they are sinners, who love their sin! And
because they deserve Hell. But......I didn’t send you out there for them. I didn’t send you out there for their
sakes." And I heard clearly as I’ve ever heard, though it wasn’t with physical voice but it was the echo of truth
of the ages, finding it’s way into an open heart. I heard God say to my heart that day something like this, "I
didn’t send you to Africa for the sake of the heathen, I sent you to Africa for My Sake....They deserved Hell! But
I love them! And I endured the agonies of Hell for them!!!! I didn’t send you out there for them! I SENT YOU OUT
THERE FOR ME... Do I not deserve the reward of my suffering? Don’t I deserve those for who I died?" And it
reversed it all!! And changed it all!! And righted it all!! And I wasn’t any longer working for Micah and ten
shekels and a shirt! But I was serving a living God! I was not there for the sake of the heathen. I was there for
the Savior that endured the agonies of Hell for me, who didn’t deserve it. But He deserved them, (the heathen).
Because He died for them.
Do you see? Let me epitomize, let me summarize. Christianity says, "The end of all being is the glory of God."
Humanism says, "The end of all being is the happiness of man." And one was born in Hell, the deification of
man; and the other was born in heaven, the glorification of God! And one is a Levite serving Micah, and the
other is a heart that’s unworthy serving the living God, because it’s the highest honor in the universe.
What about you? Why did you repent? I’d like to see some people repent on Biblical terms again. George
Whitefield knew it. He stood on Boston Commons speaking to twenty thousand people and he said, "Listen
sinners – you’re monsters – monsters of iniquity! You deserve Hell! And the worst of your crimes is that
criminals though you’ve been, you haven’t had the good grace to see it!" He said, "If you will not weep for your
sins and your crimes against a Holy God, George Whitefield will weep for you!" That man would put his head
back and he would sob like a baby. Why? Because they were in danger of Hell? No! But because they were
"monsters of iniquity", that didn’t even see their sin or care about their crimes. You see the difference? The
difference is, here is somebody trembling because he is going to be hurt in Hell. And he has no sense of the
enormity of his guilt! And no sense of the enormity of his crime! And no sense of his insult against Deity! He’s
only trembling because his skin is about to be singed! He’s afraid and I submit to you that where as fear is good
office work in preparing us for grace, it’s no place to stop. And the Holy Ghost doesn’t stop there. That’s the
reason why no one can savingly receive Christ until they’ve repented. And no one can repent until they’ve been
convicted. And conviction is the work of the Holy Ghost that helps a sinner to see that he is a criminal before
God and deserves all of God’s wrath. And if God were to send him to the lowest corner of a devil’s Hell forever
and ten eternities, that he deserved it all! And a hundred fold more. Because he’s seen his crimes.
This is the difference between twentieth century preaching and the preaching of John Wesley. Wesley was a
preacher of righteousness that exalted the holiness of God. When he would exalt the holiness of God, and the
law of God, and the righteousness of God, and the justice of God, and the wisdom of His requirements! And the
justice of his wrath and his anger! Then he would turn to sinners and tell them of the enormity of their crimes
and their open rebellion and their treason, and their anarchy. And the power of God would so descend upon the
company, that on one occasion it is reliably reported that when the people dispersed there were 1800 people
lying on the ground, utterly unconscious! Because they had a revelation of the holiness of God and in the light
of that they’d seen the enormity of their sins and God had so penetrated their minds and hearts that they had
fallen to the ground! It wasn’t only in Wesley’s day; it was also in America, New Haven, Connecticut, Yale. A
man by t he name of John Wesley Redfield had continuous ministry for three years in and around New Haven.
Culminating in the great meetings in Yale Ball, the first of the Yale Balls’ back in the 18th century. The
policeman were accustomed during those days, if they saw someone lying on the ground, to go up and smell
his breath. Because if he had alcohol on his breath they’d lock him up; but if he didn’t, he had Redfield’s
disease. And all you needed to do if anyone had Redfield’s disease was just take him into a quiet place and
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leave him until he came to. Because if they were drunkards, they’d stop drinking, and if they were cruel, they’d
stop being cruel, and if they were immoral, they gave up their immorality. If they were thieves, they returned
what they had. For as they had seen the holiness of God, and seen the enormity of their sin; the Spirit of God
had driven them down into unconsciousness because of the weight of their guilt! And somehow in the
overspreading of the power of God, sinners repented of their sin and came savingly to Christ.
But there was a difference! It wasn’t trying to convince a "good" man that he was in trouble with a "bad" God.
But that it was to convince Bad men that they had deserved the wrath and anger of a Good God! And the
consequences were repentance, that lead to faith, and lead to the life. Dear friends, there’s only one reason -
one reason for a sinner to repent: and that’s because Jesus Christ deserves the worship and adoration and the
love and the obedience of his heart. Not because he’ll go to heaven. If the only reason you repented, dear
friend, was to keep out of Hell, all you are is just a Levite serving for ten shekels and a shirt! That’s all! You’re
trying to serve God because He’ll do you good! But a repentant heart is a heart that has seen something of the
enormity of the crime of playing god and denying the just an righteous God the worship and obedience that He
deserves!
Why should a sinner repent? Because God deserves the obedience and love that he’s refused to give Him! Not
so that he’ll go to heaven. If the only reason he repents is so that he’ll go to heaven, it’s nothing but trying to
make a deal or a bargain with God.
Why should a sinner give up all his sins? Why should he be challenged to do it? Why should he make
restitution when he’s coming to Christ? Because God deserves the obedience that He demands!
I have talked with people that have no assurance that sins are forgiven. They want to feel safe, before they’re
willing to commit themselves to Christ. But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His
Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say
something like this, "Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me
to do, as long as I live, even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and
obeyed and served, and I’m not trying to make a deal with you!"
Do you see the difference? Do you see the difference? Between a Levite serving for ten shekels and a shirt or a
Micah building a chapel because God will do you good, and someone that repents for the glory of God.
Why should a person come to the cross? Why should a person embrace death with Christ? Why should a
person be willing to go, in identification, down to the cross and into the tomb and up again? I’ll tell you why –
because it’s the only way that God can get glory out of human being! If you say it’s because he’ll get joy or
peace or blessing or success or fame then it’s nothing but a Levite serving for ten shekels and a shirt. There is
only one reason for you to go to the Cross, dear young person – and that’s because until you come to the place
of union with Christ in death, you are defrauding the Son of God of the glory that He could get out of your life.
For no flesh shall glory in His sight. And until you’ve understood the sanctifying work of God by the Holy Ghost
taking you into union with Christ in death and burial and resurrection, you have to serve in what you have and
all you have which is under the sentence of death: human personality, and human nature, and human strength,
and human energy. And God will get no glory out of that! So the reason for you to go to the cross isn’t that
you’re going to get victory – you will get victory. It isn’t that you’re going to have joy – you will have joy. But the
reason for you to embrace the cross and press through until you know that you can testify with Paul, "I am
crucified with Christ.." (Galatians 2:20) It isn’t what you’re going to get out of it, but what He’ll get out of it, for
the glory of God. By the same token, why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of the Holy Spirit?
Why aren’t you pressed through to know the fullness of Christ? I’ll tell you why – Because the only possible
way that Jesus Christ will get glory out of a life that He’s redeemed with His precious blood, is when He can fill
that life with His presence and live through it his own life.
The genius of our faith wasn’t that we were going to go through the motions like a Levite that was hired to serve
God. No, No! The genius of our faith was that we’d come to a place where we knew we could do nothing, and all
we could do would be to present the vessel and say, "Lord Jesus, you’ll have to fill it. And everything that’s
done will have to be done by You and for You." But oh, I know so many people that are trying to know the
fullness of God, so that they can use God.
A young preacher came to me down in Huntington, West Virginia. He said, "Brother Reidhead, I’ve got a great
church. I’ve got a wonderful Sunday School program, go a radio ministry – growing. But I feel a personal need
and a personal lack, I need to be baptized with the Holy Ghost, I need to be filled with the Spirit. And someone
told me God had done something for you and I wonder if you could help me." I looked at the fellow, and you
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know what he looked like? ME. Just looked like me. I just saw in him everything that was in me. You thought I
was going to say "me before". No. Listen dear heart; if you’ve ever seen yourself you’ll know you’re never going
to be anything else than you were. For in me and my flesh there’s no good thing. (Romans 7:18) He looked like
me.
He was like a fellow driving up in a big Cadillac, you know, to someone standing at the filling station, saying
"Fill her up, bub, with the highest octane you’ve got!" Well, that’s the way it looked. He wanted power for his
program. God is not going to be a means to anyone’s end. I said, "I’m awfully sorry, I don’t think that I can help
you." He said, "Why?" I said, "I don’t think you’re ready." I said, "Well, suppose you consider yourself coming
up with a Cadillac. You’ve talked about your program, you’ve talked about your radio, you’ve talked about your
Sunday School and church. It’s very good. You’ve done wonderfully well without the power of the Holy Spirit."
That’s what the Chinese Christian said, you know, when he got back to China. "What impressed you most about
America?" He said, "The great things Americans can accomplish with out God." And he, (the young preacher)
accomplished a great deal, admittedly without god. Now he wanted something of power to accomplish his ends
even further. I said, "No....no...you’re sitting behind the wheel and you’re saying to God, "Give me power so I
can go." You won’t work. You’ve got to slide over." But I knew the rascal, because I knew me. I said, "No, it will
never do. You’ve got to get in the back seat." And I could see him leaning over and grabbing the wheel. "No," I
said, "it will never do in the back seat." I said. "Before God will do anything for you, you know what you’ve go to
do?" So he said, "What?" I said, "You’ve got to get out of the car, take the keys around, open up the trunk lid,
hand the keys to the Lord Jesus, get inside the trunk, slam the lid down, whisper through the keyhole, "Lord –
look. Fill her up with anything you want and you drive, it’s up to you from now on." That’s why so many people
you know, do not enter into the fullness of Christ. Because they want to become a Levite with ten shekels and a
shirt. They’ve been serving Micah, but they think if they had the power of the Holy Ghost they could serve the
tribe of Dan.
It will never work. Never work. There’s only one reason for God needing you and that’s to bring you to the place
where, in repentance, you’ve been pardoned for His glory. And in victory you’ve been brought to the place of
death that He might reign. And in the fullness, Jesus Christ is able to live and walk in you. Your attitude is the
attitude of the Lord Himself, who said, "I can do nothing of Myself" (John 8:28) I can’t speak of myself. I don’t
make plans for myself. My only reason for being is for the glory of God in Jesus Christ. If I were to say to you,
"Come to be saved so you can go to Heaven, come to the Cross so that you can have joy and victory, come for
the fullness of the Spirit so that you can be satisfied," I would be falling into the trap of humanism. I’m going to
say to you dear friend, if you’re out here without Christ, you come to Jesus Christ and serve Him as long as you
live whether you go to Hell at the end of the way Because he is worthy!
I say to you Christian friend, you come to the cross and join Him in union, in death, and enter into all the
meaning of death to self in order that He can have glory. I say to you dear Christian, if you do not know the
fullness of the Holy Ghost, come and present your body a living sacrifice, and let Him fill you, so that He can
have the purpose for His coming fulfilled in you and get glory through your life. It’s not what you’re going to get
out of God, it’s what He is going to get out of you.
Let’s be done, once for all, with utilitarian Christianity that makes God a means, instead of the glorious end that
He is. Let’s resign. Let’s tell Micah we’re through. We’re no longer going to be his priests serving for ten
shekels and a shirt. Let’s tell the tribe of Dan we’re through. And let’s come and cast ourselves at the feet of the
nail pierced Son of God and tell Him that we’re going to obey Him, and love Him, and serve Him, as long as we
live, because HE IS WORTHY!
Two young Moravians heard of an island in the West Indies where an atheist British owner had 2000 to 3000
slaves. And the owner had said, "No preacher, no clergyman, will ever stay on this island. If he’s shipwrecked
we’ll keep him in a separate house until he has to leave; but he’s never going to talk to any of us about God. I’m
through with all that nonsense." Three thousand salves from the jungles of Africa brought to an island in the
Atlantic and there to live and die without hearing of Christ.
Two young Moravians heard about it. They sold themselves to the British planter and used the money they
received from their sale, for he paid no more than he would for any slave, to pay their passage out to his island
for he wouldn’t even transport them. As the ship left it’s pier in the river at Hamburg and was going out into the
North Sea, carried with the tide, the Moravians had come from Herrenhut to see these two lads off, in their early
twenties. Never to return again, for this wasn’t a four year term; they sold themselves into life-time slavery.
Simply that as slaves, they could be a s Christians where these others were. The families were there weeping,
for they knew they would never see them again. And they wondered why they were going and questioned the
wisdom of it. As the gap widened and the housings had been cast off and were being curled up there on the
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pier, and the young boys saw the widening gap, one lad with his arm liked through the arm of his fellow, raised
his hand and shouted across the gap the last words that were heard from them, they were these: "MAY THE
LAMB THAT WAS SLAIN, RECEIVE THE REWARD OF HIS SUFFERING!" This became the call of Moravian
missions. And this is the only reason for being, That the Lamb that was slain, may receive the reward of His
suffering.
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2010-05-09T15:08:00.001-05:00

April 15, 2010

THE RELAPSE OF CONCENTRATION

But the high places were not taken away out of Israel;

nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect all his days.

2 Chronicles 15:17

http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=2ch+15:17&sr=1

Asa was incomplete in his external obedience, he was right in the

main but not entirely right. Beware of the thing of which you say -

"Oh, that does not matter much." The fact that it does not matter

much to you may mean that it matters a very great deal to God.

Nothing is a light matter with a child of God. How much longer are

some of us going to keep God trying to teach us one thing? He never

loses patience. You say - "I know I am right with God"; but still the

"high places" remain, there is something over which you have not

obeyed. Are you protesting that your heart is right with God, and yet

is there something in your life about which He has caused you to

doubt? Whenever there is doubt, quit immediately, no matter what it

is. Nothing is a mere detail.

Are there some things in connection with your bodily life, your

intellectual life, upon which you are not concentrating at all? You

are all right in the main but you are slipshod; there is a relapse on

the line of concentration. You no more need a holiday from spiritual

concentration than your heart needs a holiday from beating. You

cannot have a moral holiday and remain moral, nor can you have a

spiritual holiday and remain spiritual. God wants you to be entirely

His, and this means that you have to watch to keep yourself fit. It

takes a tremendous amount of time. Some of us expect to "clear the

numberless ascensions" in about two minutes.

2010-04-03T06:44:00.002-05:00

HEARTINESS V. HEARTLESSNESS TOWARDS OTHERS

    It is Christ ... who also maketh intercession for us.

    Romans 8:34,27


Do we need any more argument than this to become intercessors - that
Christ "ever liveth to make intercession;" that the Holy Spirit
"maketh intercession for the saints"? Are we living in such a vital
relationship to our fellow men that we do the work of intercession as
the Spirit-taught children of God? Begin with the circumstances we
are in - our homes, our business, our country, the present crisis as
it touches us and others - are these things crushing us? Are they
badgering us out of the presence of God and leaving us no time for
worship? Then let us call a halt, and get into such living
relationship with God that our relationship to others may be
maintained on the line of intercession whereby God works His marvels.

Beware of outstripping God by your very longing to do His will. We
run ahead of Him in a thousand and one activities, consequently we
get so burdened with persons and with difficulties that we do not
worship God, we do not intercede. If once the burden and the pressure
come upon us and we are not in the worshipping attitude, it will
produce not only hardness toward God but despair in our own souls.
God continually introduces us to people for whom we have no affinity,
and unless we are worshipping God, the most natural thing to do is to
treat them heartlessly, to give them a text like the jab of a spear,
or leave them with a rapped-out counsel of God and go. A heartless
Christian must be a terrible grief to Our Lord.

Are we in the direct line of the intercession of our Lord and of the
Holy Spirit?

2010-03-15T19:34:00.000-05:00

GREAT QUOTES on HOLINESS

“There will be no great Revival until the people of God are deeply
convicted of their need of holiness.”
-MAJOR ALLISTAIRE SMITH (Salvation Army).

“A God-sent Revival must ever be related to holiness”
- Duncan Campbell.

“Holiness has been the message of saints of God down the
centuries, and was the foundation of the glorious Revivals of
Christianity under the original Quakers, Methodists and the
Salvation Army and wherever it is truly known and experienced,
it is the bringer-in of Revival today.” - PAGET WILKES.

“That such widespread misunderstanding should exist about the
word (sanctification) and its meaning, is a spiritual disaster. If
there is one New Testament term more than another which calls
for rescue it is that precious, expressive word, Sanctification.“
-Sidlow Baxter.

“Believers must be brought into conviction of the shame and evil
of the carnal state. God brings believers into, what may be called,
a second conviction — conviction of a need of deliverance from
the power of sin.” - ANDREW MURRAY.

"True holiness is a Revival of Holiness. Personal holiness is more
desirable than happiness, he (Duncan Campbell) taught, and it is
not in heaven alone that God wants our saintliness - it is here and
now; holiness is not just a doctrine to be taught, it is a way of life -
it is the life of Jesus." - DUNCAN CAMPBELL.

"God Who delivers us from the guilt of sin through faith in Jesus
Christ, is able to deliver the believer from the power of sin as
well." - J. EDWIN ORR.

-From the Book, "Holiness The Key To Revival" by Patricia Knowles.

SOURCE - holinesstorevival.com

2010-03-14T18:03:00.001-05:00

A. W. Tozer

The Old Cross and the New
Chapter 10

ALL UNANNOUNCED AND MOSTLY UNDETECTED there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences, fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique-a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no truck with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather, it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher plane morally if not intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new and entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner anal jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the thrillseeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship." The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-by to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of the man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.

The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men. God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life up onto a higher plane; we leave it at the cross. The corn of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

We who preach the gospel must not think of ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.

God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just sentence against him.

What does this mean to the individual, the condemned man who would find life in Christ Jesus? How can this theology be translated into life? Simply, he must repent and believe. He must forsake his sins and then go on to forsake himself. Let him cover nothing, defend nothing, excuse nothing. Let him not seek to make terms with God, but let him bow his head before the stroke of God's stern displeasure and acknowledge himself worthy to die.

Having done this let him gaze with simple trust upon the risen Saviour, and from Him will come life and rebirth and cleansing and power. The cross that ended the earthly life of Jesus now puts an end to the sinner; and the power that raised Christ from the dead now raises him to a new life along with Christ.

To any who may object to this or count it merely a narrow and private view of truth, let me say God has set His hallmark of approval upon this message from Paul's day to the present. Whether stated in these exact words or not, this has been the content of all preaching that has brought life and power to the world through the centuries. The mystics, the reformers, the revivalists have put their emphasis here, and signs and wonders and mighty operations of the Holy Ghost gave witness to God's approval.

Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.

2010-02-21T16:34:00.001-06:00

I made this a note on facebook, but it would only let me tag so many people in it. I wanted to encourage the body with this if I could. I know this word was not only for me.

This is a word God gave me through prayer the other night. I wrote it down and I feel compelled to share it with you.

Do you want me? Do you really want Christ? Or is it that you just have this false idea of what I am. And that is what you want? Have you been seeking your own agenda while professing to serve me for so long that you don't know if you are serving that image or serving me? Do you just want me for what I can give you - great friends, blessings (hopefully in the form of money), or maybe you just want me to bring you a moral person for a husband? Do you only want Me for what I offer to you? I know you say that is not true. But what does your LIFE say? If you love me, keep my commandments.

Don't I say that if you love me, keep my commandments? I know you like to quote that, but does your life PROVE that you love me? I didn't say "If you love me keep my commandments - but I know you're human so I'm just going to step back and let you work this out." By no means. I am saying, "If you LOVE me KEEP my commandments." Period. I promise I won't test you without giving you a way out. I will not give you anything that I have not equipped you to handle. I am not leaving you to bear this yoke alone. Look up to the hills, to ME, where your help comes from. Cry out to me in your time of adversity and I will come to you. Seek me I will be found by you.

So you choose this day, every day, whom you are going to serve. I will not share the throne of your heart with another. I will not share my throne with YOU. Please, NOW, count the cost of serving me. Weigh the balances. Do you want money, clothes, entertainment, food, friends, material stuff, or love MORE than you want ME? Do you? Really? Is this love for me going to be proven by your life? Don't falsely tell yourself that you love me more and continue to live the same way you are now. The day will come when you will wish you weren't so nice to yourself. When you will sincerely wish that you had not gone easily on yourself and copped out using the excuse, "I'm just human."

PLEASE decide. Please cry out to me to be MY CHILD and REPENT because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Or at least stop lying to yourself and admit that you do not want to dwell in my kingdom because you are enjoying this earthly kingdom too much to be willing to give it up for my sake. You see, "accepting" me is not saying, "Lord and Savior come into my heart." Accepting ME is when your LIFE says "This world is DEAD to me. All else pales in comparison to following you. I GLADLY relinquish ALL control to YOU my King. I step down off of the throne and throw myself at your feet that you may now be my Lord. I can no longer stand in that place of my life, and once there You have free reign. You may shine light on any area of my heart, mind soul, and life. And then I will lay it on the altar saying, freely, My Lord this is yours. Let me die, O my God, sharing in your sufferings, your pain, that you may live through me." Your LIFE must say to me, "I believe, I have FAITH in your and your power to overcome sin IN THIS LIFE, thereby to live, HOLY, set apart to you and you alone. I seek not to please man, nor myself, but YOU my KING."

Does your life say that you are first and FOREMOST a child of the Kingdom of God? This Kingdom that is here and NOW - not when this mortal body dies, but when I by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the flesh. Or does your life say, "I profess to people that I love God. But I am a child of my earthly parents - humans. I live in the kingdom of THIS earth FIRST. I know what you expect of me through your word - but there are so many good excuses not to live like that. There are so many people in the "church" who don't live by your word, so you can't seriously expect me to. I am going to continue to live in THIS kingdom. And maybe, I will just drop by and visit you sometime when it's convenient. You know how busy I am, "Lord"." Please do not let yourself be so deceived. You either are my child, or you are not. So live according to the calling which I have set before you. I have no left you to do this alone, but I have given you a helper, my spirit. By my divine power I have given you all things pertaining to life and godliness. Therefore, walk in that. Come. You will be my people, and I will be your God. Walk with me. Run with me. Abide in me. Commune with me.

Passages in II Peter 1 and Galatians 5 go with this word.

God also asked me a serious question that I would challenge you to ask yourself as well. Here it is:

"Why do you love me? Jordan, Why? Is it because of my hand?"

My Lord, NO! I LOVE you because you are Holy!! I love you because you require that of me, and do not change your standards - not for me, not for anyone. I love you and I love loving you. I praise you that you have brought me to a place where I can cry out, O God, let me follow you all the days of my life! Grant me to serve you! That is all that I ask. Let me walk with you. Where you go, I will go. Let your people be my people. Let me continually share in your death that I may thereby live with you for all my days. This work you are doing in me, may it never cease. May I not draw one more breath unless you are in it. You, my God, YOU are my everything!

Jordi

2009-10-10T18:02:00.000-05:00

SPIRITUAL AWAKENING: The Only Thing That Will Save Us
-by J. Lee Grady.

We can learn an important lesson from the East African Revival,
which transformed a region 80 years ago.

The people of Uganda call it Balokole. In the Luganda language it
means "the saved ones," but the word became synonymous with
the East African Revival—one of the most significant Christian
movements in modern history.

This revival had humble beginnings in September 1929, just
before America's Great Depression. Historians trace it to a
prayer meeting on Namirembe Hill in Kampala, Uganda, where
a missionary to Rwanda, Joe Church, prayed and read the Bible
for two days with his friend Simeoni Nsibambi. They felt God had
showed them that the African church was powerless because of
a lack of personal holiness.

It is impossible to explain exactly what happened after this prayer
meeting or how the resulting spiritual fervor spread. When God
comes, unusual things happen. Within weeks after the Rev.
Church returned to Gahini, Rwanda, Christians gathered to pray
0Aand confess their sins openly. A heavy spirit of conviction fell on
the people. Whenever they repented for their sins and failures
they would weep uncontrollably, ask others to forgive them and
pledge to make restitution.

The weeping spread to farmlands and open fields. Unbelievers
who visited these gatherings were converted after they witnessed
the sincerity of the Christians. Repentance went deep. Husbands
publicly apologized for adultery and farmers repented for stealing
cows from each other. Eventually, as the revival spread from
Rwanda to Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Burundi, even the
centuries-old tradition of polygamy (which was still common
among professing Christians) was unraveled in some areas.

Balokole changed African Christianity forever. In a 1986 article for
Christian History, Michael Harper writes of the revival: "It's effects
have been more lasting than almost any other revival in history, so
that today there is hardly a single Protestant leader in East Africa
who has not been touched by it in some way."

I spent the past two weeks ministering in Uganda and Kenya, and
everywhere I went I met people who still talk about the East African
Revival—80 years after it began. It breathed resurrection power into
dead, traditional churches and triggered aggressive church-planting
movements that affected a variety of denominations.

Whether sermons were delivered from pulpits or under trees, six
important themes were emphasized in those d ays: 1) the blood
of Jesus; 2) the name of Jesus; 3) the cross of Jesus; 4) the
Word of God; 5) the testimony of the saints; and 6) the anointing
of the Holy Spirit.

Leaders also stressed the message of 1 John 6-7: "If we say
that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness,
we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as
He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another,
and the blood of Jesus His son cleanses us from all sin (NASB)."
As was true in other spiritual awakenings in history (such as the
Asbury Revival in Kentucky in 1970), people stood in front of
each other and admitted their sins, no matter how embarrassing.
The honesty cut deep into human pride and dealt a fatal blow
against entrenched sin and religious hypocrisy.

After hearing more details about the East African Revival while I
was in Uganda last week, I was convinced that this type of
movement is the only thing that will pull the United States out of
its current despair.

We must have a spiritual awakening, or we die. Political
engineering, economic policies, government bailouts and stimulus
packages will not save us. No politician, Democrat or Republican,
will reverse our course toward destruction.

Our only hope is that a backslidden American church—a church
that is as smug, blind and lukewarm as the Laodiceans-—will
"be zealous and repent" (see Rev. 3:19).

What encourages me is that God, not man, initiated all the
spiritual awakenings of the past—including the First Great
Awakening, which gave our country its historic Christian identity.
Yes, we play our feeble part by praying, and we must storm
heaven. Yes, awakenings come in response to our weak attempts
to repent, and we must passionately seek a fresh baptism of
holiness.

But we cannot manufacture revivals. Pentecostal fire comes from
heaven alone. It is a sovereign blessing from a God who loves us
and desires to rescue us from ourselves. We charismatics have
generated a lot of our own sound and fury in the past 30 years,
but much of what we have created is a shameful substitute for
revival. We must become desperate for the real thing.

Today our movement is mired in the shallow waters of self-centered,
carnal Christianity. May God mercifully send us our own version of
Balokole. May gut-wrenching repentance and public confession of
sin interrupt our trendy worship services. May this holy fire spread
until the people of the United States see genuine Christians living
the message we preach.

-J. Lee Grady is editor of Charisma.
SOURCE - http://fireinmybones.com/Moret's Pursuit

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Jordan's Speech

2009-10-06T20:38:00.000-05:00

Jordan Ward’s Speech that she gave on Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Charles Spurgeon once said, “If your religion does not make you holy it will damn you. It is simply painted pageantry to go to Hell in.”

So, how about we all say the “sinners’ prayer”, go to church, and try to be “good people”, and then we would all be saved from Hell and our lives would be hunky-dory. To the dismay of many modern “Christians” it doesn’t work that way. Jesus didn’t die to save us from Hell; He died to save us from Sin! God requires holiness, and He deserves nothing less. Psa 24:3-4 reads, “ Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall sand in his holy place? He that has clean hands and a pure heart.” The church doesn’t want to mention how our sin slaughtered Christ. That might make people uncomfortable; they might actually have to repent on biblical terms again. People would have to count the cost of serving Christ verses serving themselves and self might win, which means they would leave the church and take their money with them. No, pastors today are running a business, not leading the body of Christ. They know they have to keep the customer happy, so they preach a religion without holiness. Say a prayer, go to church, pay them money and you will have a life of love, joy, peace and prosperity. No holiness required. David Servant says in his book The Disciple Making Minister that “It results in professing Christians who are indistinguishable from the world and who are on the broad road to hell.” It will damn you.

It is a wonder modern “Christians” even have bibles, because it is apparent they don’t live by them. James 1:22 says, “Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” The religion of today’s church doesn’t teach this. David Servant points out a few of the lies of the modern gospel in his book The Great Gospel Deception saying “Today we are told that repentance is only a change of mind that may result in no change of actions. People can believe in Jesus and continue practicing sin. They can be born again and never give any outward indication of the Holy Spirit’s indwelling. Christians can be adulterers and fornicators, and we certainly don’t want to judge them because we don’t know their hearts. Those who maintain that heaven is only for the holy are legalists. Faith without works can save.” The religion David talks about is much like the religion of the Scribes and Pharisees Jesus spoke to in Matthew 23. Jesus addressed them saying “"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead [men's] bones and all uncleanness…28 Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness…33Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?” He wasn’t talking to the “sinners” of the day, not the liars, thieves, and murderers, but to those who proclaimed to be “Christians”, to the people who based their salvation off of what they learned in church rather than what Christ said! They paint and season their words with religion, but their actions show an utter denial of Christ and all that He stands for. These people are on their way to Hell and a great majority of them don’t even know it. Do not let yourself be so deceived.

" If your religion does not make you holy, it will damn you. It is simply painted pageantry to go to hell in."

We had to have a "display/prop" and so I said that my display would be my life lived out before them utterly on fire for God with no hypocrisy.

It was funny because at the end the teacher was all like, "Wow, yeah that was a good topic...it's not widely talked about, especially among the religious circles. I always wondered that myself growing up in the Catholic church. Yeah, I am for sure on the straight away to...like running down the broad road to....well...I mean...I am a good person...deep down really I am..in my heart I am a good person." The class just laughed at this point because he kinda proved what I was saying. It did show me how quickly someone can escape from conviction if they want to.

I though it went pretty well overall. :)

2009-09-20T17:34:00.001-05:00

THE DIVINE RULE OF LIFE

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father in heaven
is perfect.

Matthew 5:48
http://www.SearchGodsWord.org/desk/?query=mt+5:48&sr=1

Our Lord's exhortation in these verses is to be generous in our
behaviour to all men. In the spiritual life beware of walking
according to natural affinities. Everyone has natural affinities;
some people we like and others we do not like. We must never let
those likes and dislikes rule in our Christian life. "If we walk in
the light as God is in the light," God will give us communion with
people for whom we have no natural affinity.

The Example Our Lord gives us is not that of a good man, or even of a
good Christian, but of God Himself. "Be ye therefore perfect even as
your Father in heaven is perfect," show to the other man what God has
shown to you; and God will give us ample opportunities in actual life
to prove whether we are perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect.
To be a disciple means that we deliberately identify ourselves with
God's interests in other people. "That ye love one another; as I have
loved you . . ."

The expression of Christian character is not good doing, but
God-likeness. If the Spirit of God has transformed you within, you
will exhibit Divine characteristics in your life, not good human
characteristics. God's life in us expresses itself as God's life, not
as human life trying to be godly. The secret of a Christian is that
the supernatural is made natural in him by the grace of God, and the
experience of this works out in the practical details of life, not in
times of communion with God. When we come in contact with things that
create a buzz, we find to our amazement that we have power to keep
wonderfully poised in the centre of it all.

2009-09-19T16:05:00.001-05:00

"Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for?" — Leonard Ravenhill

2009-09-19T15:52:00.001-05:00

As a Father
by David Servant

Last month, George Sodini walked into a women's aerobics class at an LA Fitness Club just a few miles from where I live. He turned out the lights and began shooting into the darkness, firing fifty rounds. Within seconds, he killed three women and wounded nine others. Then he shot and killed himself.

According to his blog, he had been planning the killings and his suicide at LA Fitness for months in advance. In December, he wrote in that blog of the evangelical church he had attended for thirteen years, saying of the pastor, "This guy teaches (and convinced me) you can commit mass murder then still go to heaven."

Just one day before his murder spree and suicide, he wrote:

Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not matter. I was reading the Bible and The Integrity of God beginning yesterday, because soon I will see them.

The book he mentioned, The Integrity of God, is written by an author who teaches that believers cannot forfeit their salvation no matter how much they sin.

A few days later there was an article in our local newspaper titled,"'Once saved, always saved' — Deacon says killer rests in heaven." Here are a few excerpts:

George Sodini rests in heaven now because he professed a faith in Jesus years before his shooting rampage, a ________ Church leader said.

Jack ______, a deacon at the church Sodini attended for years, said the Bible makes it clear that "professing a faith in Jesus as savior means you will have complete eternal salvation."

"George is going to heaven, but he's not going to get his rewards," _______ said. He said that Sodini won't be offered all of heaven's benefits because of his sin.

"George was a professing believer."

Although many Christians who adhere to the doctrinal position of "once-saved-always-saved" would probably argue that George Sodini was never actually born again in the first place (and they might well be correct), the fact remains that the church he attended for thirteen years made it easier for him to murder three women. Worse, that particular church teaches exactly what a large percentage of evangelical churches do, that once a person is saved, he is permanently saved. Believers are supposedly unconditionally eternally secure, regardless of their lifestyles. No sin can keep them from heaven.

One of America's most well-known preachers, who was twice elected to be the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who has written scores of best-selling Christian books, and who is heard around the world via his television and radio broadcasts, is a primary proponent of the doctrine of unconditional eternal security. In a book on this very subject, he wrote:

No matter what you do as a child of God, you are forgiven. You say, "Murder?" Forgiven. "Stealing?" Forgiven. "Adultery?" Forgiven. "Worshiping idols?" Forgiven.

Note that he did not write, "No matter what you did prior to becoming a child of God, you are forgiven." He wrote, "No matter what you do as a child of God, you are forgiven." His argument is that Jesus died for all our sins, so there is no future sin we can commit for which He didn't die. Our only danger is that of forfeiting special rewards in heaven.

That is grace gone mad.

And that kind of teaching is what leads people like George Sodini to think they can murder people yet go to heaven, even though Scripture teaches that no murderer will inherit eternal life (see 1 John 3:15; Rev. 21:8; 22:15).

That kind of teaching also leads people to think that their behavior has nothing to do with their ultimate salvation, even though Scripture teaches that no unrighteous person will inherit God's kingdom, which, according to Paul, includes fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, homosexuals, thieves, the covetous, drunkards, or swindlers (1 Cor. 6:9-10; see also Gal. 5:19-21; Eph. 5:3-6). Jesus' own teaching certainly affirms this also.

So the question, "Can a genuine Christian forfeit his or her salvation" is answered by another question, "Can a genuine Christian become an adulterer (or an idolater, or a homosexual, or a thief, or a drunkard)? If the answer is "yes," then a genuine Christian can forfeit his or her salvation. Obviously, any of us has the capacity, as free moral agents, to become an adulterer or a thief and so on.

The answer to the question, "Can a genuine Christian forfeit his or her salvation," is also found in many other places in Scripture (see Matt. 18:21-35; 24:4-5, 11-13, 23-26, 42-51; 25:1-30; Luke 8:11-15; 11:24-28; 12:42-46; John 6:66-71; 8:31-32, 51; 15:1-6; Acts 11:21-23; 14:21-22; Rom. 6:11-23; 8:12-14, 17; 11:20-22; 1 Cor. 9:23-27; 10:1-21; 11:29-32; 15:1-2; 2 Cor. 1:24; 11:2-4; 12:21-13:5; Gal. 5:1-4; 6:7-9; Phil. 2:12-16; 3:17-4:1; Col. 1:21-23; 2:4-8, 18-19; 1 Thes. 3:1-8; 1 Tim. 1:3-7, 18-20; 4:1-16; 5:5-6, 11-15, 6:9-12, 17-19, 20-21; 2 Tim. 2:11-18; 3:13-15; Heb. 2:1-3; 3:6-19; 4:1-16; 5:8-9; 6:4-9, 10-20; 10:19-39; 12:1-17, 25-29; Jas. 1:12-16; 4:4-10; 5:19-20; 2 Pet. 1:5-11; 2:1-22; 3:16-17; 1 John 2:15-28; 5:16; 2 John 6-9; Jude 20-21; Rev. 2:7, 10-11, 17-26; 3:4-5, 8-12, 14-22; 21:7-8; 22:18-19). Clearly, our eternal security is conditional, not unconditional. That is why we should, as the Bible teaches, "work out our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil. 2:12) and "pursue the holiness without which no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14). Nothing is more important.

There is a correlation between holiness and heaven because there is a correlation between belief and behavior. We are saved by grace through faith, but faith without works is dead and cannot save us (Eph. 2:8; Jas 2:14-26). I can't help but wonder how many people, just like George Sodini, are now in hell, when they fully expected to be in heaven, because they were trusting in a grace that God has never offered, a grace that is little more than a license to sin.

The Technicalities

Among those who are convinced that genuine believers can forfeit their salvation, there is sometimes debate over some technicalities. For example, some on the extreme fringes maintain that a Christian who lusts instantly forfeits his or her salvation since (1) no adulterer will inherit God's kingdom, and (2) since Jesus equated lust with adultery (1 Cor. 6:9-10; Matt. 5:28).

The plain fact is that there is no scripture which teaches that the moment a Christian lusts the Holy Spirit departs from him, or that he forfeits his sonship and salvation in Christ, or that if he were to die one second after his sin that God would cast him into hell. Rather, Scripture leads us to believe that God disciplines His wayward children---whom He loves so much---in order to lead them to repentance, and that He often succeeds. When Paul warns that no adulterer will inherit God's kingdom (1 Cor. 6:9-10), he was clearly talking about future, not immediate, consequences. The words "will inherit" are future tense. To claim, based on that warning, that any Christian who lusts or commits adultery instantly forfeits his or her salvation, is unwarranted.

So the Christian who commits adultery places his future, ultimate salvation in jeopardy. The Holy Spirit who indwells him, however, does not abandon him, but rather convicts him to bring him to repentance, a wonderful indication of God's grace. You may recall that God went to great lengths to bring David to repentance after he committed adultery and vicarious murder, and He succeeded. You may also recall that David, under conviction, prayed to the Lord, "Do not cast me away from Thy presence, and do not take Thy Holy Spirit from me" (Psa. 51:11). David believed the Holy Spirit was still with him. The prophet Nathan's divine exposure of David, and David's Spirit-induced conviction were both indications of God's continued love for him.

Concerning David, no scripture states that he forfeited his salvation during that time. And what would be gained if we could ascertain with certainty that David did forfeit his salvation for a time? The fact is, if he did forfeit it, he got it back! Why even debate the question of whether or not David would have gone to hell if he had died one second after he lusted after Bathsheba? The fact is, he didn't die then. God, who holds the power of life and death in His hands, kept David alive long enough for him to repent.

When a genuine believer sins, God does not rub His hands together and laugh with glee over another opportunity to disown one of His beloved children. Rather, He grieves and loves, and goes to work to bring a wayward child back to Him. Anyone who is truly born again is indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and because of it, he experiences an inward resistance to sin whenever he is tempted. If he yields, he immediately feels conviction and guilt. If he softens his heart, he feels remorse which results in confession and repentance. The Holy Spirit never left him the entire time. He has not been "un-born again" and then born again again! No such concept is taught in Scripture.

I think it is interesting that those fringe folks who claim that such teaching "gives people a license to sin" often teach that a Christian who falls into adultery regains his salvation if he repents. Isn't that just as much a "license to sin"? Should we not be concerned that some Christians, upon hearing such teaching, might think that they can commit adultery as many times as they want, as long as they confess and repent after each immoral act?

Of course, such a concern is nonsense, simply because no true Christian is looking for ways to commit adultery with impunity. The imaginary Christian who commits adultery without concern is indeed a straw man if there ever was one. Likewise, teaching what Scripture teaches, that the Christian who falls into adultery forfeits inheriting God's kingdom if he doesn't repent, yet does not instantly forfeit the indwelling Holy Spirit and his sonship and salvation in Christ, is not giving any true Christian a "license to sin." True Christians don't want to sin.

Paul warns believers:

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God (Gal. 5:19-21).

Those are not my words, but the apostle Paul's words. Notice he says that those who "practice such things" will not inherit God's kingdom, not those who commit one sin in that list one time. He was writing about people whose lives are characterized by the deeds of the flesh.

Similarly, John wrote,

Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous; the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God (1 John 3:7-9).

The new birth changes us so that we have an inward resistance to sin. For that reason, no true Christian could fall into adultery without a huge degree of inward resistance beforehand and an equal amount of conviction afterwards.

So let us maintain balance in regard to the holiness and grace of God. There is nothing more dangerous than someone with two verses of Scripture that he has strung together to create a doctrine. We need to take the whole Bible into consideration.

This balance was perfectly revealed in Jesus, the perfect representation of His Father, who was amazingly longsuffering with sinners.

For example, Jesus solemnly warned, "Whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven" (10:33). Remember that Peter denied the Lord three times before men. Did Jesus instantly disown Peter because of it? When the cock crowed after Peter's third denial, did Jesus look up to heaven and say, "Father, I deny that I know that wicked man who just denied Me"?

No, Jesus simply looked at Peter, and He didn't even silently lip the words, "I told you so," (which is no doubt what I would have done). When their eyes met, Peter was crushed. He went out and wept bitter tears. Scripture says, "A contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise" (Ps. 51:17).

It seems that a few days later Peter was still drowning in his remorse. When Jesus appeared to him and the other disciples along the Sea of Galilee, He went to work on restoring Peter, first through an affirming sign of a miraculous catch of fish and then by providing a good breakfast. The message? "Peter, I still love you."

Then, thoughtfully taking Peter apart from the others, Jesus asked him the question that Peter had surely been asking himself: "Do you love Me more than these?" (21:15). Remember that Peter had boasted that his love for Jesus was greater than the other apostles. He had said, "Even though all may fall away because of You, I will never fall away" (26:33). His boast, followed by his utter failure, surely haunted him.

In most translations it appears that Jesus asked Peter the same question three times, but He actually didn’t. The first two times, Jesus asked Peter if he loved Him using the Greek verb agapeo, which each time is translated "love." The final time, He used the Greek verb phileo, which is also translated "love." Agape is a self-denying, sacrificial love, whereas philos is a lesser love based on common interests and mutual benefits.

Interestingly, when Jesus first asked Peter if he loved Him with an agape love, Peter replied, "Yes, Lord, You know I phileo You." It was probably said with sigh of regret, and it meant, "Yes, Lord, You are well aware from my actions that my love for you falls short of agape." Jesus repeated His question a second time, and Peter responded with the same answer.

The third time, however, Jesus literally asked him, "Peter, do you love me with phileo love?" That is likely why Scripture tells us that Peter was so grieved at the third question (John 21:17). I don't think Jesus asked him this because He Himself didn't know the answer, but perhaps because He wanted Peter to affirm it to help lift him from his despondency. Sometimes when we fail, we give up, which is a greater failure. Failures should make us more determined to do better, rising up in God's grace. Peter replied, "Lord, You know all things; You know that I phileo You" (21:17). Peter needed to hear himself say that. It was true, and it was something affirmative.

More importantly, after each of Peter's three replies, Jesus gave him a commandment: "Tend My lambs...Shepherd My sheep...Tend My sheep" (21:15-17). Surely these commands were also intended to encourage Peter. Even though he had failed the Lord, Jesus had not given up on him, and there would be plenty of future opportunities to prove his love for Jesus. The Lord had work for him to do.

I suspect that is also why Jesus then told Peter, "When you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go" (John 21:18). John knew that this was a reference to Peter's future martyrdom. We might wonder why Jesus foretold Peter then about that. Personally, I think it was also meant to encourage him. Peter was so disappointed in himself. He had shown by his actions that he was not willing to die for Jesus. Jesus assured him that would change. He would glorify God in martyrdom. Tradition tells us that Peter requested to be crucified upside down, considering himself unworthy to die in the same position as Christ.

When we fail and our hearts are not contrite, God works to bring us to contrition and repentance. When we are contrite, He works to affirm and restore us, just as He did with Peter, and just as does any good parent. Our God is in the redemption business. He's our Father, not a cold-blooded probation officer who is hoping to put us away for good.

Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him (Psalm 103:13).

For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need (Heb. 4:15-16).

2009-09-19T15:46:00.000-05:00

Raising Pure Children in an Impure World”

There is no question that we live in a very dark and wicked hour. Our society is continually growing more evil with time. Everywhere we turn we are faced with immorality, lust, perversion, sensuality, and obscenity. It is very difficult to go to your local grocery store or Wal-Mart without being bombarded with this flagrant display of sin. Nevertheless, we must remain pure and holy and we must teach our children to stand against the evil of our day. We must warn them against the schemes of the devil, and his plot to destroy their purity and desensitize them to evil. Purity of mind, heart, and action is so important to the happiness of our homes. As you read this article, may you prayerfully consider the responsibility that God has put before you, seeking His wisdom, as you prepare and train your children for a life of purity and godliness in Christ Jesus.

The Bible says in Titus 1:15, “Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled...is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled.” The purity of a child has much to do with his spiritual development. Lets take a look at Webster’s definition and see what purity involves.

Pure: spotless, stainless, free from what weakens or pollutes; containing nothing that does not belong, marked by chastity; freedom from foulness; cleanness, innocence, without spot, not tarnished, free from anything improper, including improper motivations; not spoiled by improper speed or corrupt words.

What a definition! And from a dictionary! How far the church has fallen in the last century. We hardly know what those words really mean. And yet, throughout scripture the Spirit of the Lord witnesses to us about the need for utmost caution in this area.

“Blessed are the pure in heart....”
-Matthew 5:8

“...whatsoever things are pure... think on these things”.
-Philip. 4:8

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure...”
-James 3:17

“...keep thyself pure.”
-1 Tim. 5:22

“Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
-2 Tim. 2:22

“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” -1 John 3:3

“Let no man despise thy youth; but be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity.”
-1 Tim. 4:12

As a mother of growing sons and daughters I am deeply concerned about the matter of purity and modesty. Much of what our children learn about purity comes from us: what we believe and live, and what we have taught them from the time that they were very small. If our hearts are pure and chaste, our children will find it so much easier to be pure. Purity of heart and mind, as we see above is a command throughout the New Testament.

Children need a reserve, a sense of modesty and shame. Reserve involves purity and chastity of one’s heart and affections. Since the reserve that we have will be the foundation for the training that we impart to our children, what does the word really mean?

Reserve: to keep oneself for future use; lay up and keep for future time; something in the mind which is withheld from disclosure; restraint of freedom in words and actions; caution in personal behavior, this may proceed from modesty, bashfulness or prudence.

God has intrinsically built into the child a natural restraint, thus parents have the privilege and responsibility to nurture and to protect their children from those influences that would break down that reserve. Once a child’s reserve is broken down, there is very little possibility of restoring it fully. The child has also lost an important safety device that God intends he should have during his childhood and young adult years. If that reserve is nurtured and not destroyed, children will be uncomfortable or embarrassed in the presence of impurity.

One of the first steps to leading a life of purity and likewise, teaching our children, is to check or own attitudes toward this subject. Many of us were raised in very morally loose and immodest homes and therefore we consider this to be normal. The Bible says...

"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” -Romans 12:1-2

Our past experiences and the way we learned about such things as the "facts of life," must be taken to the cross. We must seek God’s forgiveness and commit ourselves to personal purity. The world is full of the doctrine of hedonism and self-indulgence — "do whatever feels good." It has crept into the churches all across our country until we hardly know what true reserve and purity are. Purity has been so watered down that many of us are not rooted and grounded in these precious safeguards for our life, our marriage, and our children. Many believe that their loose standards of modesty (individually or as a family) have not hurt them. But they are indeed unaware of the damage it has already caused. We must be cleansed in our mind from the philosophies of this world. God has a plan for our children to be taught through His Word. He has a standard and a protection that He has granted to each child. Let the Lord take your past indiscretions and use it to make you more sensitive to the temptations and passions that our children will battle in this sinful world.

We want to give our children the utmost care in training in the early years of their lives, that this protection that God has provided might be nurtured and not in any way spoiled. Where do we begin? We start by preparing our children in purity at the earliest age. Every area of our lives must be guarded with the utmost concern, as well as our children. The Bible says, “ the light of the body is the eye.” Therefore, we should pay careful attention to what we see. You should always examine books that your children read. They should never be allowed to go into a library and pick up just anything without our approval. You also should not read questionable material and think it will have no effect. Your children should not be allowed to watch just anything on TV because it seems “innocent.” You must always be on guard especially out in public. Your sons must learn at a very early age to be guarded against immodesty. It only takes one image for Satan to continually bombard their precious minds. We must also be ever so careful about what our children hear. One of the most infamous strategies of the devil is to constantly barrage us with godless music everywhere we go. There are some stores that I will not even bring my children to because of the blasphemous music. I do not want their minds corrupted with that filth. You say that seems a little extreme. I ask you how often have you had to war against something that you have heard or seen? How much more can the devil use it on our children if we allow them to go unshielded?

We need to have a really good grip on these very important truths if we are to transmit them to our sons and daughters. We know from experience that more is "caught" than "taught." Relationships are another very important and sensitive issue to shelter your children in. We should begin to teach them about proper relationships just as soon as they start making friendships with others. It is important to teach our children to relate to those of the opposite gender with carefulness and propriety. Little ones mayplay together in sweetness and innocence but we need to guard their playtime. We can only be sure that pure, clean words and actions happen in their play if we carefully supervise all that they do. Teach them to be reserved and self-disciplined at home. Watch carefully over brother and sister relationships. Help them to show proper respect to each other and they will find it easier to relate to others correctly.

One thing that I have noticed with parents is that they will allow seemingly innocent recreation to slip by, completely unaware of the foolishness they are breeding in their children. Choose things for your children that are profitable to the kingdom of heaven and productive for their growth in Christ. What you allow your children to be captivated with as children will only strengthen and grow and when they are young adults it will hold their hearts.

Keep open, friendly communication with your sons and daughters. Speak freely about the issues of moral purity, social reserve, and respect. This openness encourages them to come to you with their problems. Alert your young folks to the fact that not every person that they know will have the same standards. Tell them to quickly let you know if they ever find themselves in a puzzling or distressing situation with another boy, girl, man or woman. Continually keep them accountable as to their purity of thought, life, and actions. Pray with them and for them about this purity.

We need Josephs and Daniels and Esthers in our day and we must be the ones to instill these moral and spiritual qualities. Who knows whether we will have to watch our youth be taken from our homes, by ungodly men and women to places that we cannot help them and guide them. Let us be vigilant and careful. Let us invest time and prayer and teach our youth to be strong, pure and upright.

I have only scratched the surface concerning practicalities of training our children in purity and godliness. I pray that as you seek the Lord for your family, the Holy Ghost will convict you of anything that is impure or leavened in your life or home. May we all learn and grow in Jesus as we train young men and women for Christ.

-Bridget Williams

Editor’s Note: It has been several years since I first penned this article, and my children were much smaller at the time. I can distinctly remember the burden and concern that was upon my heart for protecting my small children from the sights and sounds of this wicked world. Years have gone by now, and I have older ones that have been raised up in that protected environment. This having been my experience, I am all the more convinced of the urgency of keeping our children protected. However, through the years, I have learned this alone is not the sole solution to keeping our children. Prayer for the souls of our children is paramount. As Jesus said, our children must be born again. J.C. Ryle said it so well when he wrote, “It is not enough to keep boys and girls at home and shut out every outward temptation. They carry within them a heart ready for any sin, and until that heart is changed, they are not safe whatever we do. Bad companions are a great evil to be avoided as much as possible. But no bad companion teaches a boy or girl half as much sin as their own hearts will suggest to them, unless they are renewed by the Spirit...if parents were half as diligent in praying for their children’s conversion as they are in keeping them from bad company, their children would turn out far better than they do.”

2009-09-19T15:45:00.000-05:00

I can think of one thing when I get to the Judgment Bar and Jesus will look down and say, "I had many things to tell you but you couldn't bear them." We're too busy running our own lives: praying when you want to pray, eating what... you want to eat, going where you want to go, spending what you want to spend, reading what you want to read, (Do you) call that a spiritual life? Brother, it is carnal as carnality! --Leonard Ravenhill

The Average Church In America

2009-08-29T12:15:00.002-05:00

The Average Church in America

"Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people."
-Isaiah 62:10

"Set ye up a standard in the land, blow the trumpet..."
-Jeremiah 51:27

God establishes a group of believers in any given community so as to make Christ known through His chosen vessel, the local church. In essence, to make Christ known is to bring the Word of God alive in time. Or, in other words, to allow Jesus to do as He would do, to walk as He would walk, and to say what He would say through the yielded and sanctified vessel of the body of Christ. We may ask, how is this accomplished? Only as true, born-again believers come together in unity, embrace the cross, deny themselves, and purpose to fulfill the vision of God is this end realized.

Unfortunately, many suppose the local church is a place where they occasionally attend services to fulfill their felt needs. Though, there is some truth to this, God intended it to be so much more. The local church is God's chosen and ordained vehicle to raise up disciples. Thus, it is imperative that we understand our calling to the local church.

1 Cor. 12:18 But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.

As we come together, wherever God has planted us, we realize our high and holy calling both individually and corporately. We see this life is to be a holy life. Anything less than a Biblical life cannot be described as a pure display of Jesus. And anything short of a manifestation of Christ can only be defined as dead religion. Religion, in essence, is a mere shell of true, heart-felt, vibrant Christianity. Many of us have seen and experienced the curse of religion and we certainly believe God intends for us something beyond the norm. However, being free from religion is far more difficult than discerning religion. Unfortunately, the vast majority of what refers to itself as Christianity in America is in actuality nothing more than dead, formal religion. Current statistics reveal that:

* Only a tiny fraction of church members attend all their weekly services.
* Only 27% of professing Christians pay their tithes.
* A survey of professing Christians in America revealed that the average church-goer prays less than 5 minutes a day, the average minister less than 7 minutes.
* Few believe in the reality of Hell or the Biblical conditions that must be met to realize Heaven.
* Only 45% of professing Christians in America believe the world will end as the Bible predicts.

The above statistics expose the vast balance of modern Christendom as nothing more than a gutted, powerless parody of N.T. Christianity.

2 Tim. 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

Unless we make a conscious effort to contend for the faith and to hold fast to the truth, we will also succumb to this same pitiful standard. The spirit of this age applies incredible pressure upon us to conform to these worldly standards. The following are current religious trends and tendencies that we must not tolerate in our midst.

I. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA IS PRAYERLESS.

Matthew 21:12-14 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves, 13And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.

Almost every spiritual problem for the Christian can be traced back to prayerlessness (Matt 26:41). Moreover, a mark of the new covenant is a intimate walk with God through a persistent, overcoming, and diligent prayer life (Jn 17:3). Therefore, the ministry of any local church that fails to influence men into deeper communion with God is dysfunctional at best.

"No man is greater than his prayer life."
-Leonard Ravenhill1

A spiritual ministry produces spiritual men. A prayerful ministry will influence men to pray. When the local church no longer compels men to seek God, she has lost her way and waxes spiritually inept.

"To neglect prayer is a proof that the life of God in the soul is in deadly sickness and weakness."
-Andrew Murray

And, no doubt, the prayerful always mourn over the prayerless. In fact, prayerlessness may be the single most grievous condition for the prayerful.

"It would seem that the biggest thing in Gods universe is a man who prays. There is only one thing more amazing, that is, that man knowing this, should not pray...Brethren, The crying need of the church today is her laziness after God."
-Samuel Chadwick

II. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA HAS MADE A TRUCE WITH SIN.

Amos 5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Contrary to popular theology, God intends for His sanctuary to be a place where sin is unwelcome.

Jude 1:23 ...hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.

Frequently, the modern pulpit fails to communicate God's hatred for sin. Preachers today present a gospel void of conviction. The gospel prerequisites of godly sorrow and full surrender are often conveniently neglected. There is much reformation, but little repentance. Many may come to our altars, but I fear few are coming to Calvary. Multitudes sign the rolls of our churches, but how many are actually following Jesus? Consequently, the concept of the "new birth" has been watered down to accommodate the shallow spiritual experiences that abound. Sin is expected, even pampered. Church discipline is rarely if ever practiced. Most churches resign themselves congregations filled with religious hypocrites and tares. If the pastor denounces sin he is often accused of lacking love. Few seem to realize that true spiritual leadership demands constant confrontation, provocation, and conflict. A man who is not constantly rejuvenated by the Spirit of God cannot maintain the strength to resist the perpetual pressure to relax.

"Satan does not fear the brilliant preacher. He will compromise the work and give the preacher full possession of his study and great ability and reputation in the pulpit, if he, as a pastor, will let the people alone. Satan is well content to let Paul be the preacher if Satan can be the pastor."
-E.M. Bounds

III. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA IS HIGHLY UNFAITHFUL.

2 Tim. 2:2 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.

Faithful: {Greek} pis-tos', Trustworthy; overflowing with faith.3

The Church, built through faith in Jesus Christ, should show evidence of faithfulness. Faithfulness is a product of true faith. If you want to find faithfulness, of all places you ought to be able to find it among a people of faith. In the average church member is more faithful to his secular job than to God's purpose for him in the local church. People disesteem the Body of Christ. They are loosely committed to the functions in the local body. Professing Christians today are generally uninvolved and uncommitted, you can rarely count on them. How can the tide be turned? Each of us must resolve, by faith, to be faithful in what God has called the local body to do.

IV. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA LACKS SPIRITUAL HUNGER.

Proverbs 27:7 The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.

There is little appetite for the pure Word of God. More often than not, people want to be entertained and amused. Like the children of Israel in the wilderness, their soul loathes the manna from heaven. Hence, it is rare to find anyone who is simply content with ol'fashioned Bible preaching/teaching.

Luke 5:1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God...

It's difficult to hold the attention of today's church for longer than an hour, and you almost have to do spiritual hat tricks to do so. Folks often seem bored with the Word.

Proverbs 26:15 The slothful hideth his hand in his bosom; it grieveth him to bring it again to his mouth. 2. So little hunger for sound doctrine.

Amazingly, its common for people to sleep through sound Bible preaching. This is the ultimate insult, the highest act of disrespect to God, to fall asleep under His Word.

Moreover, this lack of hunger is also evident in the quality of spiritual service.

Proverbs 21:25 The desire of the slothful killeth him; for his hands refuse to labour.

Proverbs 22:13 The slothful man saith, There is a lion without, I shall be slain in the streets.

In most churches 10% people do 90% of the work. People hate to be asked to do anything. They have, what we call in our church, the bare minimum spirit. People in this hour become wearied with a constant pace of sacrifice.
They become grieved if asked to give of their time for ministry.

Luke 10:2 Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few...

Remember, a week consist of 7 twenty-four hour days. Think about it, if you simply tithed on your free time, apart from necessities...

A week is 7 days x 24 hours = 168 hours - 40 hours work = 128 hours - 56 hours for sleep (8 hours a night) = 72 hours - 14 hours for devotions (2 hours a day) = 58 hours x 10% = 7.2 hours weekly we could give to ministry (this is not meant as a absolute standard, only an illustration).

V. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA IS A SPIRITUALLY DANGEROUS PLACE TO RAISE A FAMILY.

Neh. 4:14 ...remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.

I would be afraid to raise my family in most churches in America. The current doctrines that are taught promote disorder at best, rebellion at worst. Children are allowed to run wild, they wax disrespectful, and there is little standard for obedience. The teaching on the family is almost exclusively derived from the philosophies of the world. Families are divided and authority is often undermined. Men have forfeited their God-given responsibility to lead their home in spiritual matters to the women.

Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.

Order is not only neglected but disorder is often promoted.

VI. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA MURMURS AND COMPLAINS.

Philip. 2:14 Do all things without murmurings and disputings...

Remember, an attribute of the children of Israel in the wilderness was that they murmured about everything.

1 Cor. 10:10 Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.

Because carnality is left unchallenged, church-goers in these last days can be found arguing over almost anything. There is nothing submissive or humble about the flesh. The flesh is a war-monger, it's petty, childish, sensual, devilish, and brutal. Hence, rivalries, clicks, and competition all flourish in the professing church. Among professing Christians an offended spirit is often common, and therefore, murmuring and complaining is the norm, rather than the exception.

VII. THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA COULD CARE LESS ABOUT ONE ANOTHER.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

1 Peter 4:8 And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves...

If you can't find love in the Church where can you find it? People in this hour don't genuinely love one another. How can we know if we love one another?

John 15:13 Greater love hath no man than this,that a man lay down his life for his friends.

Love can be measured by how much we are willing to sacrifice so others can be strengthened in Jesus. Most are too busy with their own plans to give themselves to the local church. Hence, an independent spirit is a contradiction to God's plan in the local church. How can we truly minister if we have not forsaken our personal agendas? In the Book of Acts says...

Acts 2:44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common...

Acts 4:32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul...

Church-goers today tend to occasionally show for a service (if it is convenient) and never seek fellowship with others until the next week, or month. This ought not be brethren.

1 John 4:10 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

We must nurture a pure and godly love for one another. Most people cannot graduate from the love they nurture for their family to extend it to their church family to the same degree.

VIII. LASTLY, THE AVERAGE CHURCH IN AMERICA IS WISE, DIGNIFIED, AND WIDELY ACCEPTED BY THE WORLD.

1 Cor. 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.

To some degree, the spirituality of a Church can be measured by the horror it displays at the word "worldliness." Unfortunately, instead of seeking to be separate from the world, the modern church is searching for it's applause. Since numerical growth is the key indicator of success in the minds of many, they invariably are drawn to seek the world's approval. This is a formula for disaster and a mark of shame. When the world accepts the church the church has lost her testimony.

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

We must be content to be branded as ignorant, unlearned, and foolish fanatics. We must seek the approval that comes from God alone.

Let us consecrate ourselves afresh to produce a spirituality that is, at least, above average. Author Unknown

2009-06-23T20:49:00.000-05:00

“If I had my way, I would declare a moratorium on public preaching of ‘the plan of salvation’ in America for one to two years. Then I would call on everyone who has use of the airways and the pulpits to preach the holiness of God, the righteousness of God and the law of God, until sinners would cry out, ‘What must we do to be saved?’ Then I would take them off in a corner and whisper the gospel to them. Such drastic action is needed because we have gospel-hardened a generation of sinners by telling them how to be saved before they have any understanding why they need to be saved.” Paris Reidhead

Humanism

2009-05-18T19:56:00.001-05:00

A doctrine or ethical point of view that emphasizes the
dignity and worth of individual people, rejects claims of
supernatural influences on humans, and stresses the need
for people to achieve improvement of society and
self-fulfillment through reason and to develop
human-oriented ethical values without theism.

A Generation That Did Not Know God

2009-04-25T20:17:00.001-05:00

A Generation That Did Not Know God

“When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers (died), another generation arose after them who did not know the LORD nor the work which He had done for Israel.” Judges 2:10

This theme is repeated throughout the Old Testament and especially in the book of Judges. Why couldn’t the knowledge of God be passed to the next generation? My heart’s desire is that I would raise up a generation after me that will know and follow God even more than I do. There are two things I noticed in the reading about Israel as they took the Promised Land God gave them.

The first is that the generation that proceeded the generation that didn’t know God was always in a battle. They were fighting to take what God had given them as a result of His covenant with them. Was the next generation involved in the fighting or were they spectators that never experienced a fight nor were they taught to fight?

We as the first generation can get so caught up in fighting spiritual battles that we forget to teach the next how to fight. The next generation never learned how to know God in the midst of the battle. They never experienced His faithfulness to drive out the enemy before His people. They never experienced these things for themselves but were benefactors of the blessing God gave their fathers.

“The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.” 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

We as Christians are in a warfare and God has given us spiritual weapons that we can and will with. Are we giving weapons to the next generation and teaching them to use them? Or are they sitting back and watching us fight?

The second thing I saw is that the first generation did not fully obey God in that they did not fully drive out the inhabitants of the Promised Land. One generation’s disobedience can be the cause of the next generation’s curse. Future generations will suffer the consequences of the prior generation’s wrongs. The first generation disobeyed God and consequently began to take on the idolatry of the people they did not drive out. When we become friends with the world through sin and compromise we cause the next generation’s vision to be cloudy. We introduce them to another god and instead of knowing and experiencing the one true God they are introduced and begin to know a god we have made with our own hands and imagination.

Romans 1:21-23 clearly points this out.

“Because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God (did not fully obey Him), nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man--and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.”

When one generation does not fully glorify God through their lives the progression begins as mentioned in the verse. Futile thoughts and foolish hearts become darkened so that in this condition another god is made that is full of corruption. What is left for the next generation is a god that has been made up from minds that became futile and hearts that were darkened.

We must get back to knowing the God of the Bible and teach Him and His ways to the next generation. As Christians we have been given the Holy Spirit who will bring revelation to us all as we follow Christ. We must pray as Paul prayed for the generation that would follow him in Ephesians 1:15-19:

“Father give us and the next generation the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of our understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe.” AMEN!!

Danny Allen

April 23, 2009

Offending The Body Of Christ

2009-04-20T20:27:00.002-05:00

Yesterday at House Church, and last night at the elders meeting, we discussed being baptized into the Body of Christ from 1 Corinthians 12:12-27. While we were talking last night, another word or verse stood out to me. It is 1 Corinthians 11:27, which says; Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. The word unworthily means to treat as something common or to treat irreverently. Zodihates definition points to treating the meal irreverently. While that may be part of it, Paul's focus is more on the Body of Christ than on the food. To treat the Body and Blood of Christ as common is to take and rob from it for your nourishment (benefit), but you don't give back or commit wholeheartedly to it.

Paul starts dealing with food and the body of Christ in chapter 10. In verse 2 he tells how Israel was Baptized unto Moses. In verses 3&4, he tells how Christ was there spiritual meat and drink. In verses 16&17, he deals with the body and blood of Christ. In the following verses of Chapter 10, he deals with food and drink offered to Idols. It seems to me that Paul is pointing out that the eating of food isn't a big deal, but what we join ourselves to is what matters. Jesus will not share us with another. The feast weren't just about eating, but also about the fellowship. Paul was saying that if you knew the fellowship was based on Idol worship, then don't take part in it. In verses 20&21, he says that you can't take part in the table of the Lord (fellowship with his body), and also be a partaker of the table of the devil (Idolatry).

This prepares us for chapter 11:27-31. In these verses Paul talks about the discerning the Lord's body and the judgment that comes from partaking of the Lord's table irreverently. This judgment does come from trying to eat at both tables (the Lord's and the devils), but I believe that it can also come from taking from his Body without being Baptized into, or being married to, his Body. That is Fornication; the intimacy and the benefits of marriage without entering covenant. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:13-18. In verse 18 Paul tells the Church to flee fornication, and he says that when one commits fornication, he sins against his own body. I am saying that when someone takes the covenant benefits and blessings from the Body of Christ without being married to it (baptized into it), then they are sinning against Jesus' Body. This is a serious offense against Christ , and He as the Head judges the offender of His Body. In chapter 11:29, it says this person eats and drinks Damnation to himself. It is a judgment that we bring upon ourselves. Verse 31 tells us to judge ourselves to avoid this judgment.

As a Christian, we MUST be Baptized into His Body. That means that we MUST be submitted to one another, transparent with our lives, and accountable for our actions. We must care for the other parts of the Body as much as we care for ourselves.

Personally, I see where I have offended The Lord's Body. I wanted to keep the benefits while I closed my heart off and guarded it. I have been wrong for doing that. I ask for your forgiveness as His Body, as I have also asked that Jesus would forgive me for my offenses against His Body.

In Christ,

Scott Alford

Va Lung Village

2009-04-18T05:13:00.001-05:00

Dear all,

By the grace of God, hope that you all are doing well.
I must tell you about last week we go to burning village in Chin hill.
Va Lung village is located in between Kalaymyo and Hakha main road. There are around 100 houses. Last month 26 houses were burned and most of them are so poor and they don't even have living places. Therefore, me and some of my freinds went to the burning place and gave them some clothe and a little money for their daily needs.
Therefore, I humbly request all of you please prays for them. they needs more help and more prays.
I do send you some pictures take a look.

ြGod bless you
Robert

An Interesting Survey

2009-04-18T04:58:00.001-05:00

Link:http://www.barna.org/barna-update/article/12-faithspirituality/260-most-american-christians-do-not-believe-that-satan-or-the-holy-spirit-exis

Interesting items from article:

Four out of ten Christians (40%) strongly agreed that Satan “is not a living being but is a symbol of evil.”
46% of Christians disagreed that Jesus lived a sinless life while on earth.
Much like their perceptions of Satan, most Christians do not believe that the Holy Spirit is a living force, either. Overall, 38% strongly agreed and 20% agreed somewhat that the Holy Spirit is “a symbol of God’s power or presence but is not a living entity.

Holiness Part 1

2009-04-13T19:49:00.001-05:00

Let us start by defining what Holiness is. Strong's defines it as sacred
(phys.pure, mor. blameless or religious, cer. consecrated). I like this
definition it covers all regions that pertain to God and our daily living.
Holiness is also a command. Lev11:44b You shall there for be holy, for
I am holy. 1 Peter 1:15-16 but He who has called you is holy,you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written," Be holy, for I am holy."
So we have been commanded to be holy. That is to live a holy life here and now before God and man. How is it possible to live in a corrupt world
and live a holy life? Only God can take a sinful man out of the world make
him holy put him back in and keep him holy. So what then must a man do?
What is his responsibility in holiness? In part 2 I will attempt to answer these questions.

Proverbs 27:19

2009-04-10T20:40:00.000-05:00

As in water face reflects face, So a man's heart reveals the man.
(NKJV)

2009-04-10T20:26:00.000-05:00

If we would rise into that region of light and power plainly beckoning us through the Scriptures of truth, we must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. (A.W. Tozer The Pursuit of God)

The Newest Dark Age

2009-04-05T19:08:00.001-05:00

Hey,
I’ve been up all morning writing this. I would like for you two, to
read it. My head was full of it when I woke up. See what you think.
(I’m sending the attachment & copying it just in case.)

Love you guys,

Samantha

The Newest Dark Age

Historically
we are in the Age of Information, but I submit that we are in another
Dark Age of Christianity. I know that this is not a new concept but we
need to be reminded of it to see religion for what it is, to know our
enemy.

In the Middle Ages, “church” attendance was booming, everyone from serfs on up to Kings attended the “church” of the day.

An
article from Minnesota State University states, “From the moment of its
baptism a few days after birth, a child entered into a life of service
to God and God's Church. As a child grew, it would be taught basic
prayers, would go to church every week barring illness, and would learn
of its responsibilities to the Church. Every person was required to
live by the Church's laws and to pay heavy taxes to support the Church.
In return for this, they were shown the way to everlasting life and
happiness after lives that were often short and hard.”

“In
addition to collecting taxes, the Church also accepted gifts of all
kinds from individuals who wanted special favors or wanted to be
certain of a place in heaven. These gifts included land, flocks, crops,
and even serfs. This allowed the Church to become very powerful, and it
often used this power to influence kings to do as it wanted.”

Due
to the caste system, called the feudal system, most common people and
all serfs could not read. The ignorance of the people and the greed of
all who had understanding allowed the Roman Catholic entity to thrive.
Selling God to the highest bidders and assuring people if they say
certain prayers and pay the church they will go to heaven.

The
modern apostate church still sells God to the highest bidder and
teaches that if you say the sinner’s prayer and be a good little
pew-sitter and pay your tithe, surely you will go to heaven. And, if
you really want to support and be a champion of their ministry they’ll
even send a miracle healing cloth or anointing oil that will wipe away
your sufferings and send you straight into a life of ease and
prosperity. And even better, that life is in the here and now not the
obscure beyond.

The
common people of today live under a sort of chosen ignorance. People
don’t challenge what they’re taught, not because they are illiterate,
but because they choose to be devoid of understanding. Not wanting to
upset the delicate balance of their greed-driven humanistic theology.
Unfortunately what Karl Marx said is too true, “Religion is the opiate
of the masses.” People must drug themselves to sleep with religion so
that they can live their lives without sacrifice and feel that they are
going to heaven.

Today’s
apostasy is a dual force where the powers that be and the common man
unite in their endeavor to maintain their lifestyle of greed and
complaisance. A monster of epic proportions that is blasphemously
called the body of Christ. In this endeavor there is an updated caste
system of the “Super-Christian” and the “Pew-Sitter”. The elite clergy
and their inner circle of faithful tithers/yes men and the other guys
who sit on the pew listening to an inspirational, if not mildly
challenging at best, sermon to feel that they have done their duty to
God.

II Thessalonians 2:9-12

The
coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with
all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception
among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

II Timothy 3:1-5

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For
men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud,
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving,
unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of
good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”

I
remember when I used to read that scripture, I was put off by it
thinking, surely that is not me! Look again though, some of the
descriptions are blatant but some are subtle to our “enlightened”
humanistic minds. The ones that we can look at with disdain and say
that Paul definitely didn’t mean us are obvious: blasphemers,
unthankful, unholy, unloving, slanderers, brutal, despisers of good,
traitors… but what about the rest?

Surely, Paul was talking about the world, sinners, those who do not claim to know God. Wait a minute… “having a form of godliness but denying its power”? What does that mean? What
is having a form of godliness? Perhaps having a form of religion, a
code of ethics, a man-made set of standards of church attendance and
growth that we think establishes God’s kingdom? And
wouldn’t that very fact lead you right into all of those other blatant
sins? If you come up with your own standards and leave biblical
standards, you are open to justifying God’s laws away in your freedom
and liberty.

What is the power of godliness?

2 Peter 1:3

as His divine power has given to us all things that [pertain] to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue,

Luke 24:49

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high."

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

Acts 1:8

But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."

The
Holy Spirit is the Promise of the Father, the power from on high. He
will teach us all things and bring to our remembrance the things that
Jesus said!

Having
a form of godliness but denying its power; is having our own standard
of behavior and thought but denying the work of the Holy Spirit in us
to repent and change our thinking to God’s thinking and our standard of
behavior to the standard that God has set before us in His word and in
the example of Jesus’ life!

Until
each of us looks at ourselves through the Word of God and sees that we
are the ones who are denying the power of God, we will be in a darkness
and strong delusion. We must repent and change the way we think so
that the Holy Spirit can give us power to live godly lives. And then,
He will give us power to be witnesses to Him to the ends of the earth.
Showing people the real enemy of their souls… RELIGION!!

** all emphasis in the scripture is mine.

Which Jesus do You Serve?

2009-04-02T18:18:00.001-05:00

WHICH JESUS Do YOU SERVE??
-Postred by Brendon Powell.

There seems to be more than one Jesus to choose from these days.
Which one is the true Jesus and who am I following?

·    There’s a ‘seeker friendly’ Jesus, he’s the one who will not
offend anyone in anyway. He loves everyone no mater what they do.
·    There’s a ‘sow and reap’ Jesus, he made a covenant with man
so that man could sow his seed and reap wealth and happiness on
earth and then go to heaven when he dies.
·    There’s a ‘blend in with the world’ Jesus, he wants us to look
like, act like, and be like the world in order to reach the lost.
·    There’s a ‘neverending grace’ Jesus, his ‘grace’ covers us no
matter what we do or how we live.
·    There’s a ‘just believe’ Jesus. As long as you truly believe
in your heart, you’re saved.
·    There’s a ‘name it claim it’ Jesus. You name it; anything and
it’s yours! If you don’t get it, it’s because you lack faith. It’s your
fault.
·    There’s a ‘carnal’ Jesus. He doesn’t expect you to overcome
sin, he understands you’re just carnal.
·     There’s a ‘heart dwelling’ Jesus. All you have to do is ask
him into your heart and voilà, he’s there. You’re going to heaven!

Truth:

·    There’s the Jesus who said “Repent and believe the gospel,
the kingdom of God is at hand.” -Mark 1:15
He said, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him.” -Lk 9:23-25
He said without Him you are already condemned. -John 3:18
He said He came to save the world -John 3:16
He said unless you forsake all you have, you cannot be His disciple.
-Luke 14:33
He said if we love anyone more than Him we are not worthy of Him.
-Matt 10:37-39
He said if you love this life you’ll lose it. -John 12:25-26
    He said you cannot serve God and money. -Matt 6:24
He said fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell. -Mt 10:28
He said be extreme in your war against sin. -Matt 18:8-9
    He said love God with all your heart, soul and mind and your
    neighbour as yourself. -Matt 22:37-39
      He said He is the light of the world. –John 8:12
He said the gate is narrow and the way is difficult and few find it.
-Matt 7:13-14
    He said those who believe in Him but work iniquity will be
      cast out. -Matt 7:21-23
He said you’ll be hated for His name’s sake, but if you endure to
the end, you’ll be saved. -Matt 10:22
He said I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to
   the Father but by Me. –John 14:6

Which Jesus do you serve?

Fear of The Lord

2009-03-29T09:55:00.001-05:00

Psalm 119:120 My flesh trembles for fear of you,and I am afraid of your judgments.
Are we there?
Hebrews 110:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the
hands off the living God.
Sobering statement!!

Dying To Self

2009-03-29T08:28:00.001-05:00

I find that dying to self daily is a hard thing for the
flesh to grasp. To gain God is the most important
thing in this life. The sins of self often rear their ugly
heads and interfere with a constant daily all long
walk with God. I more and more understand Paul's
cry of "who will deliver me from this body of death"
Like Paul I am grateful for the cross. We must take
up the cross daily. People that carry the cross daily
die to self daily. When we get it that to die is gain
we have started down the straight and narrow path
to the narrow gate which only sheep can pass through
Kill the goat and be transformed in Christ to a sheep.
A new creation molded and made in Christ's own image
formed by his hands. Then we can truly love God with
all our heart soul and might and our neighbor as our
self. Praise God for the precious sacrifice of our savior
who saves us from our sin by His blood.

2009-03-28T13:29:00.001-05:00

Our pursuit of God and holiness is never ending and
changing. As we learn and comprehend what it means to
die to self to take up the Cross means we die. The only way to
the upper room is through the cross. We understand it now if we
would apply it fancy for live it.

Email From a refugee friend

2009-03-08T07:29:00.003-05:00

thank for your pictures your family si so big i think your family are happy.I miss you ......

Now I am in malaysia.Very hard for me mang polic they catch mang myanmar peopel.I am alway frait.But I alway pray from God so you alway pray for me.

I wait the refugee in UNHCR.

bye I always pray for you and your family

cincin

2009-02-22T16:14:00.000-06:00

The Moret's Pursuit

The Dotrines of Christ

From Woody Barnette---Another prayer available for you and me.

Faith Without a Test is Not Faith at All

95 Theses

Strings for Your Harp by, Leonard Ravenhill

QOTW - Salvation before Jesus?

DO IT YOURSELF

SPRINGS OF BENIGNITY

From Woody Barnette: The Horse is Out-- Don't Close the Door-Get the Horse

The Last Great Revival in the Bible is Global Transformation

Ten Shekels and a Shirt

Jordan's Speech

As a Father by David Servant

The Technicalities

The Average Church In America

Humanism

A Generation That Did Not Know God

Offending The Body Of Christ

Va Lung Village

An Interesting Survey

Holiness Part 1

Proverbs 27:19

The Newest Dark Age

Which Jesus do You Serve?

Fear of The Lord

Dying To Self

Email From a refugee friend

As a Father
by David Servant