The Twin Towers of Faith!

For all those who have Children....

2007-08-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of links for your viewing pleasure. Both are from a dad singing about his children and are a joy to listen to (you have to listen closely), if you have children, I think you can relate to his situation:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uISuvTiTYJA

http://youtube.com/watch?v=9V1gLr5jW7o

Enjoy!

'Worship' interview with Don Carson

2007-07-28T04:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to an interview between Don Carson, Research Professor of New Testament at Trinity Evangelical Divinty School. and Tony Payne, Senior Editor for The Briefing on the topic "Is the church a house of worship?":

www.beginningwithmoses.org/articles/carsonworship.htm

Here is an excerpt from that interview:

"...This is why I don't like things that go on and on, repeating the same thing again and again. They are like mantras. They worry me. Not that there shouldn't be any repetition-some of the psalms are repetitious-but when it becomes a way of building people up to an emotional high, it's a form of manipulation that is not godly.

But on the other hand, I don't want to be afraid of the articulation of truth, both in a sermon and through song, that breaks people down in tears. I've been in some wonderful Christian meetings that have been powerful emotionally, so long as we aren't trying to achieve it by manipulation-either by the preacher telling a weepy story for effect, or for mantra-like chants that get people all worked up. If the truth of the gospel is being rightly expressed through word and song, then we should not be afraid of emotion.

My mother died of Alzheimer's disease, over nine years. Nine or ten months before she died, you'd get a small flicker from the eyes or squeeze of the hand if you held up pictures of her grandchildren. Six months before she died, if you sang an old hymn like 'Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine', you'd get a squeeze. Or a quote from the King James Version that she'd been brought up on. That was about the last thing that produced any response in her. The most deeply embedded memories in that decaying brain were those old hymns and memorised Scripture. There is something worrying to me about a generation that sings choruses that won't last more than five years. There's not much memorization of Scripture, and there's not much memorization of doctrinally profound hymns. I want to see that reborn. Nobody's going to die remembering 'He's a great big wonderful God'."

How a Christian Can Read Any Old Testament Passage

2007-07-26T16:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a paper, which I have found useful, entitled "How a Christian Can Read Any Old Testament Passage" it is an outline taken from both Beale's and Greidanus' works:

http://www.covopc.org/Papers/Howtoread_OT.html

I would encourage you to read the outline and ponder how we, as Christians, can read the Old Testament in light of the revelation of Christ!

The Postmodern- A Poem By Don Carson

2007-07-23T16:47:00.000-07:00

The Postmodern

At last we know all truth is gray: no more
Faith’s raucous rhetoric, this blinding trap
Of absolutes, this brightly colored map
Of good and bad: our ocean has no shore.
Dogmatic truth is chimera: deplore
All arrogance: the massive gray will sap
The sparkling hues of bigotry, and cap
The rainbow, mask the sun, make dullness soar.

Yet tiny, fleeting hesitations lurk
Behind the storied billows of the cloud
Like sparkling, prism’d glory in the murk:
The freedom of the gray becomes a shroud.

Where nothing can be false, truth must away—
Not least the truth that all my world is gray.

–D.A. Carson, Published in First Things, (No. 93, May 1999), p. 51.

This ones for you Kerux Noemata...check this out!

2007-07-02T14:53:00.000-07:00

Our 'friend' Victor Wooten (see this link http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/ ) has a rival..if you've never seen Stanley Clark plucking the ol' strings on the acoustic bass, you've got to check this out...dedicated to you Kerux :-)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=MmI_BsVfuCg

The Twins

Wayne Grudem: Audio & documents :-)

2007-04-08T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody,

Here is a link to Dr. Wayne Grudem speaking on various subjects as well as a few documents which may be of some interest:

http://www.phoenixseminary.edu/Default.aspx?tabid=223

Enjoy and may God richly bless you as you study His Word!!

The Potty Driven Church

2007-04-01T12:34:00.000-07:00

The Potty Driven Church

Mainstream evangelicalism is literally in the toilet.

Christ’s Family Church of Hastings, Minnesota is now using the bathroom as a way to reach out to lost souls. http://cfc.ccbchurch.com/app/

"Our men’s room (decorated in race car motif) gives members a reason to invite people to church. That is what Christ Family Church is all about; reaching those who have become disenchanted with religion but are searching for a relationship with Jesus Christ."

That’s right. Toilet evangelism.

Somehow, a zoomy bathroom is supposed to save sinful souls. Even the local newspaper wrote an article titled, "Come for the Bathroom, Stay for the Service." We have moved from John the Baptist proclaiming truth in the wilderness, to using a testosterone designed men’s room to lure people to a building. While there is nothing wrong with a nifty water closet, there is plenty wrong with using it to attract people to Jesus.

We implore people to come to the Savior, not come for the bathroom. We promote Jesus, not the amenities. Church is for Christians, not curiosity seekers. We win them to the Lord, not by being hip. Evangelism is to be done by church members, not the church bathroom.

To demonstrate the foolishness of such an approach, imagine a touring Monet exhibit that advertises, "We have a new bathroom at the museum. Please come see this amazing new facility." Can you imagine the organizers using a restroom to lure people to see the valuable paintings? Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

How could we sink so low?

It all started with money. The prosperity Gospel promised, "Come to Jesus and you will be wealthy." Then we promised health. "Come to Jesus and you will be healthy."
Well that was just too "un-Biblical" for a new breed of evangelicals. We would never use cash and a pain-free life to bait people to "make a decision for Jesus."

Instead, we decided to uncover people’s emotional needs and dangle those as a draw card to salvation. Self-esteem, loneliness, depression, discontentment, emotional scars, disobedient children, wayward spouses, low social status, low employment status, lack of purpose, a wayward golf swing. Gotta problem? Ask Jesus into your heart.

The seeker sensitive/felt needs movement was in business. And business was good.
But, it never takes long for man to grow weary of man-made methods. Just like every other offer from the world-system, it must continually be upgraded and repainted lest we grow bored. So a new, younger breed of evangelicals is cropping up offering to feed the flesh in an effort to attract people to their quarter million dollar sound systems.

Is your sex life crappy (That’s their word, not mine)? Then come to our church and we will help you have the "best sex ever." http://www.mycrappysexlife.com/

Churches around the country are using the latest "sermon in a box" series, complete with billboards, post-cards and website design with two pair of feet wrapped up in the sheets, all in an effort to get people to visit their church with the promise to put a little zing into their nap time.

You got it. Come to Jesus, and your sex life will never be the same.

Just when you think, "That’s it, we have turned the Savior into a sex-enhancement tool; it can’t get worse than that." Oh yes it can.

Christ’s Family Church has turned Jesus into a bathroom enhancement tool. If your loved one does not have a desire to be wealthy, healthy or frisky…then invite them to church so they can have a unique experience while taking care of bodily functions.

What twisted hermeneutic was used to rationalize potty proselytism?

"Part of the mission statement at Christ Family Church is to ‘proclaim God’s reconciling love through Jesus Christ to neighbors, co-workers and friends.’ (How does that work? Come to Jesus and be regular?) The men’s room is just one of the many ways this church is trying to accomplish this mission (Nothing says "substitutionary atonement" like a groovy bathroom). As Pastor Paris likes to say: "We are willing to go to any lengths, use any means necessary, to bring people closer to Christ." (Have you ever seen I Cor. 9 more twisted?)

"Scott Girnau thought it would be a great way to reach out to people who wouldn’t normally be reached (You know, bashful bladder types). Stereotypes need to be broken about churches (That dreadful stereotype that we Christians just don’t know how to go to the bathroom right). Too many people feel like they don’t belong (Nothing says "welcome" like a kitschy toidy). Our hope is that when a person may not necessarily feel welcome, he can walk into the bathroom and say ‘cool.’"

Wow, who knew? Just gussy up your church bathroom and make sure your guests have a steamy cup of coffee to inspire them to use the facilities (Hey, maybe the church Starbucks makes sense after all), and they are just one step closer to saying the prayer and really, really meaning it.

What is the saddest part of all this?
1. Many evangelicals no longer believe that Scripture is sufficient. They need tools to enhance the Gospel to get regular attenders.
2. They clearly have no idea what the Gospel is.

We have gone as low as we can go. Or have we?

-found on www.wayofthemasterradio.com, written by Todd Friel

John MacArthur Video Podcasting Now Available

2007-03-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

Full video messages presented by Pastor-Teacher John MacArthur are now available online at

http://www.lightsource.com/ministry/grace_to_you/.

This site will be updated with more messages on a weekly basis.

Also, you may have the flexibility of automatically receiving programs featuring John MacArthur on your iPod/video media player via the internet without having to browse the web every day. Subscribe for free using the link above and clicking on “Video Podcasting” next to the Grace to You icon.

-taken from The Masters Dividend, Issue #182

Dr. Carson sermons online part 2...

2007-03-04T18:51:00.000-08:00

Recently I posted a link to a blog that had Dr. Carson sermons online. Well here is another site for you to enjoy! Most of the links overlap but there are some new ones!!

http://pjtibayan.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/d-a-carson-audio-sermonslectures/

Enjoy!!

To those who love D A Carsons work....

2007-02-25T18:08:00.000-08:00

Heres a link to a bio of Dr Carson, now you can get to know the man behind the books :-)

http://www.biblicalfoundations.org/pdf/Carson.pdf

God Bless....

The Mozambique Christian Book Ministry Fund

2007-02-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to our Brothers blog giving us information on the 'The Mozambique Christian Book Ministry Fund':

http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/2007/02/mozambique-christian-book-ministry-fund.html

Here is an excerpt from our brothers site:

Grace Fellowship Church is attempting to purchase the building that houses the book ministry; a building that is currently rented by Dr. Woodrow. The building’s owner is anxious to sell and it is located in a strategic area of downtown. It would serve as a base for the Pastor’s Conference, the Pastor’s Library Ministry, a lending library and not-for-profit Christian bookstore (all the books are sold for one-sixth of their cost).

So far we have raised $15,190 (1/21/07) toward our goal of $35,000 (the purchase price). $1270 of this was raised by 8 kids who read Books for Mozambique. But you can see we have a long way to go - another $19,810.

If you feel that the Lord would be pleased to have you contribute to this ministry, please make your cheques payable to Grace Fellowship Church and in the Memo line write: Mozambique Books. You will be receipted by the church for the tax year in which you give. We plan to accept donations for this ministry until May 31, 2007. You can mail cheques to: Grace Fellowship Church, c/o Timothy Christian School, 28 Elmhurst Dr., Toronto, ON, M9W 2J5 CANADA.

Please prayerfully consider giving to this ministry to the Glory of God!!

listing of all D A Carson sermons online..

2007-01-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

I came across this blog which listed all the sermons available online for free of Dr. D A Carson

I have not checked any of the links to see if they work but I thought I would post them all the same. Enjoy :-)

http://www.shallwesingasongforyou.co.uk/?p=168

Wayne Grudem- Gen. Ed. for ESV Study Bible

2006-12-30T17:47:00.000-08:00

Wayne Grudem Serving as General Editor for the ESV Study Bible

December 11th, 2006

Wayne Grudem mentions a few previously undisclosed tidbits about the forthcoming ESV Study Bible in an interview with Adrian Warnock:

Currently I am working as general editor for the ESV Study Bible (Crossway), which we hope will be published in late 2008. We have 84 different specialists writing on various parts of the Bible and also contributing additional essays to put in the matter in the back. All of that material goes through some other editors, then comes to me. It is taking all of my time and it’s a huge, but I think very worthwhile, project.

He and Adrian also discuss the translation of the Greek word doulos later in the interview.

-taken from http://www.esv.org/blog/

MacArthur Television Ministry

2006-11-24T16:55:00.000-08:00

MacArthur Television Ministry

Dividend Archives

On October 1st, Grace to You started airing a weekly Bible-teaching program on a new satellite television network on DirecTV (channel 378) at 2:00 p.m. PDT. During this time, video recordings of President MacArthur's sermons recently preached at Grace Community Church will be aired. In the past, John has been reluctant to join the world of Christian TV.

The majority of religious television programming in America is controlled by a few networks with unsavory reputations. False teaching, moral scandals, and financial irregularities have long characterized the largest segments of the religious television industry, and partnership with this is out of the question. By contrast, the network we'll be partnering with is committed to a biblical approach to ministry. Our broadcasts will be part of a weekly block of teaching on Sundays during an hour we know many will be watching.

The strategy this new network is implementing stands in stark contrast to what you're probably accustomed to seeing from other TV ministries. We simply want to communicate the truth of Scripture, and not to create a spectacle for TV with flashy sets, gaudy clothes, and theatrics. Another reason why we have stayed out of television until now is the cost. Starting and sustaining a television ministry independent from partnering with false teachers is extremely costly. However, this opportunity the Lord has provided offers us an affordable and simple way to reach people all across the United States at once via satellite.

Today there are roughly 16 million households that subscribe to DirecTV. We are grateful to this fresh and dynamic dimension added to our ministry to reach more people all over the country. Several other pastors and ministries we know and respect are joining in this effort and are being featured as well. Please pray for our President in this new ministry opportunity, and the continual furthering of God's kingdom in this avenue.

-taken from 'The Master's Seminary Dividend' Issue #178

2006-09-12T12:17:00.000-07:00

	A Postmodern Catechism

	unknown
	*The Postmodern Medium-Length Catechism* Being a List of Questions compiled by the Work of divers Postmodern Divines and edited by Christopher Alexion. Q1: What is the chief end of humankind? A: Humankind's chief end is to promote world peace and enjoy it forever. Q2: What rule do we have to direct us how we may accomplish this peace? A: We have but one rule, and that is that we have none. Q3: What is God? A: God is a Spirit, infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in His design to Bless America. Q4: Are there more gods than one? A: There is but one only, though the term includes all religions. Q5: How many persons are there in the Godhead? A: As many as we want there to be. Q6: What are the decrees of God? A: The decrees of God are the contingent purpose according to the counsel of our will, whereby, for our benefit, He will make all our favorite sports teams win. Q7: How doth God execute His decrees? A: God executeth His decrees in the work of watching us exercise our free will. Q8: Where and how is God to be worshipped? A: He is to be worshipped at the Washington National Cathedral, in the name of the Father, Mohammed, and Jesus Christ. Q9: What is the first commandment? A: The first commandment is, Thou shalt make no Absolute Judgments. Q10: What is the second commandment? A: The second is like unto it: Thou shalt accept all views as thine own, and be not Bigoted. Q11: Are we ourselves Bigoted in our thinking? A: Not at all. Q12: Not at all? A: No. Q13: Not even a little bit? A: No. Q14: No? A: Absolutely not. Q15: What is the only redeemer of postmoderns? A: The only redeemer of postmoderns is the Lord High State, which though the coercer of men, condescended to feel our pain, and so was, and continueth to be, coercer and pain-feeler, in two distinct natures, and one administration, forever. Q16: Wherein consisteth the humiliation of the State? A: The humiliation of the state consisteth in its being limited by the Founders, in allowing Terrorist Attacks, and losing Jobs. Q17: Wherein consisteth the exaltation of the State? A: The exaltation of the State consisteth in it its overcoming of the Constitution, its rule at the right hand of God, and its creation of Jobs. Q18: What office doth the State execute toward the redeemed? A: The State executeth the office of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king. Q19: How doth the State execute its office as prophet? A: The state executeth its office as prophet by revealing to us, by the TV news, the will of the State for our salvation. Q20: How doth the State execute its office as priest? A: The State executeth its office as priest, in continually offering up tax dollars for social programs, and in delivering us from Hate Crimes. Q21: How doth the State execute its office as king? A: The State executeth its office as king, in subduing us to itself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all its and our enemies. Q22: What is the true method of politics? A: The true method of politics is, to take a position that avoids all extremes, even as this catechism is neither Larger nor Shorter but Medium-length. Q23: What is the duty of civil government? A: The duty of civil government is, in matters important, clemency; in matters unimportant, severity; in all things, neutrality. Q24: What is the principal threat to neutrality in the civil realm? A: The principal threat to neutrality is Religious Extremism. Q25: What is Religious Extremism? A: Religious Extremism is, the view that certain absolute truths exist independent of the minds of men and women, that if something is true, it is true, and that A and not-A cannot both be true at the same time and in the same sense. Q26: Who are the two most dangerous proponents of Religious Extremism? A: The two most dangerous proponents of Religious Extremism are Jerry Falwell and Rush Limbaugh. Q27: By what means may we defeat Religious Extremism? A: We may defeat it by allowing it to make no Judgments in the civil realm. Q28: Is this itself a Religious Judgment? A: Nope. Q29: Not at all? A: Not at all. Q30: Art thou sure? A: Absolutely. Q31: Though the aforementioned Extremism is a vicious crime, does this imply that there is no place for religion? A: No, for there are the Liberal Churches. Q32: What are the Liberal Churches? A: The Liberal Churches are those churches which, to avoid conflict with non-Christian thought, and to maintain a High Level of Relevance, have rejected certain Minor points of faith. Q33: Wherein consisteth the worship of Liberal Churches? A: Liberal worship consisteth in tolerance, affirmation, lighting of candles, experiencing of religious experience, and the consumption of Goodies. Q34: What is the Moment of Silence? A: The Moment of Silence is, a time wherein one may engage in private prayer, meditation, or daydreaming, all while maintaining Religious Neutrality. Q35: What are the seven deadly vices? A: The seven deadly vices are, Intolerance, Bigotry, Logic, Extremism, Sexism, Smoking, and making Sin-judgments. Q36: What is the postmodern view of organized religion? A: Organized religion is to be carefully avoided (unless at the Washington National Cathedral or in certain Liberal Churches), as are the accompanying matters of liturgies, psalms, and catechisms.

Matthew 14:23-Frances Ridley Havergal

2006-08-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Matthew 14:23

It is the quiet evening time, the sun is in the west,

And earth enrobed in purple glow awaits her nightly rest;

The shadows of the mountain peaks are lengthening o'er the sea,

And the flowerets close their eyelids on the shore of Galilee.

The multitude are gone away, their restless hum doth cease,

The birds have hushed their music, and all is calm and peace;

But on the lowly mountain side is One, whose beauteous brow

The impress bears of sorrow and of weariness e'en now.

The livelong day in deeds of love and power He hath spent,

And with them words of grace and life hath ever sweetly blent.

Now He hath gained the mountain top, He standeth all alone,

No mortal may be near Him in that hour of prayer unknown.

He prayeth.---But for whom? For Himself He needeth nought;

Nor strength, nor peace, nor pardon, where of sin there is no spot;

But 't is for us in powerful prayer He spendeth all the night,

That His own loved ones may be kept and strengthened in the fight;

That they may all be sanctified, and perfect made in one;

That they His glory may behold where they shall need no sun;

That in eternal gladness they may be His glorious bride:

It is for this that He hath climbed the lonely mountain side.

It is for this that He denies His weary head the rest

Which e'en the foxes in their holes, and birds have in their nest.

The echo of that prayer hath died upon the rocky hill,

But on a higher, holier mount that Voice is pleading still;

For while one weary child of His yet wanders here below,

While yet one thirsting soul desires His peace and love to know,

And while one fainting spirit seeks His holiness to share,

The Saviour's loving heart shall pour a tide of mighty prayer;

Yes ! till each ransomed one hath gained His home of joy and peace,

That Fount of Blessings all untold shall never, never cease.

HeartCry Missionary Youth sermon...

2006-08-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

This sermon is by Paul Washer and was Delivered in Montgomery, AL in 2002 at a Youth Evangelism Conference. This message is a strong antidote for a sensual and worldly christendom. A message in season.

http://www.grantedministries.org/audio/p_washer_youth_evangelism_conf.mp3

Be prepared to be convicted!! You have Got to listen to this sermon!

The sermon can be found on the following web site:

http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/

Moral Abdication in British Schools

2006-08-03T05:06:00.000-07:00

Moral Abdication in British Schools -- A Sign of the Times

Posted: Tuesday, August 01, 2006 at 3:56 am ET

A newly-proposed national curriculum for British schools means that the schools will no longer attempt to teach the difference between right and wrong. As The Times [London] reports:

Schools would no longer be required to teach children the difference between right and wrong under plans to revise the core aims of the National Curriculum.

Instead, under a new wording that reflects a world of relative rather than absolute values, teachers would be asked to encourage pupils to develop "secure values and beliefs".

In addition, a responsibility to teach Britain's cultural heritage is also to be removed in favor of this: "The school curriculum should contribute to the development of pupils' sense of identity through knowledge and understanding of the spiritual, moral, social and cultural heritages of Britain's diverse society."

Over twenty years ago, in The Closing of the American Mind the late Allan Bloom observed this: "There is one thing a professor can be absolutely certain of: almost every student entering the university believes, or says he believes, that truth is relative." The kind of educational vision represented by this proposed curriculum, and similar atrocities in the United States, produces just the kind of student Professor Bloom encountered in his teaching at the University of Chicago.

An education without reference to right and wrong is a total abdication to moral relativism and a denial of the very aim of education -- to produce a person of character who not only knows a great deal, but is also capable of moral discernment.

A nation that adopts such a worldview is in its death throes, having lost confidence in itself and its founding truths. To cite Bloom again: 'We are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where great civilizations once flourished. The shepherds play with the fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part."

© All rights reserved, www.AlbertMohler.com

In Prayer

2006-07-30T18:26:00.000-07:00

O Lord,

In prayer I launch far out into the eternal world,

and on that broad ocean my soul triumphs

over all evils on the shores of mortality.

Time, with its gay amusements and cruel

disappointments, never appears so inconsiderate as then.

In prayer I see myself as nothing;

I find my heart going after thee with intensity,

and long with vehement thirst to live to thee.

Blessed be the strong gales of the Spirit

that speed me on my way to the New Jerusalem.

In prayer all things here below vanish,

and nothing seems important

but holiness of heart and the salvation of others.

In prayer all my worldly cares, fears, anxieties disappear,

and are of as little significance as a puff of wind.

In prayer my soul inwardly exults with lively

thoughts at what thou art doing for thy church,

and I long that thou shouldest get thyself a great

name from sinners returning to Zion.

In prayer I am lifted above the frowns and flatteries of life,

and taste heavenly joys;

entering into the eternal world

I can give myself to thee with all my heart,

to be thine for ever.

In prayer I can place all my concerns in thy hands,

to be entirely at thy disposal,

having no will or interest of my own.

In prayer I can intercede for my friends, ministers,

sinners, the church, thy kingdom to come,

with greatest freedom, ardent hopes,

as a son to his father,

as a lover to the beloved.

Help me to be all prayer

and never to cease praying.

–From The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions. Ed. Arthur Bennett. (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1975), p. 146.

Augustus Toplady

2006-07-17T07:33:00.000-07:00

Yesterday at my church, Grace Fellowship Church (http://gfcto.com) we had an Augustus Toplady night, in which we sang some great hymns written by Toplady. I always enjoys the words of great divines of the past. Unlike some of the songs written and sung today, which can be fluffy, feel-good and somewhat man centered (see previous post, Lend me your brains..song lyrics!) many of the great hynms are full and rich of scripture and tell us of many great theological truths. One of my favorite hymns of Toplady's is, O Fount of Never-Ceasing Grace. Here is another hymn of Toplady's called A Hymn of Soveriegn Grace.

Formed for thyself, and turned to thee,
Thy praises, Lord , I show;
No more, with sacrilegious pride,
I rob thee of thy due.

Divested of my fancied plumes,
I throw me at thy feet;
Nor, as a debt, thy favour claim,
But, as an alms, intreat.

Repentance, holiness, and faith.
By which to thee we live,
Are not conditions we perform,
But graces we receive.

Thy Spirit does not offer life,
But raises from the dead;
And neither asks the sinner's leave,
Nor needs the sinner's aid.

Thy power, before the fruit is good,
Must first renew the tree;
We rise, and work the works of God,
When wrought upon by thee.

Each grace of our celestial birth
From thy blest influence springs;
Which plants, and nourishes, and guards,
And to perfection brings.

Gardens of thine, enclosed and sealed,
Thou all our works hast wrought;
And wilt eternal peace ordain
For those thy blood hath bought.

Had not thy love laid hold on us,
We has not loved thee now;
Possess us quite, thou God of grace,
To whom our all we owe!

Soli Deo Gloria

Long Have I Pondered the cross....

2006-07-13T06:02:00.000-07:00

Long Have I Pondered

Long have I pondered the pain of the cross:
Wood soaked in blood, washed with tears,
drenched in sweat.
Whips, cruel nails, crown of thorns, countless cost:
Somehow this death is both promise and threat.
Cascades of suff’ring and love shrink my pride:
Silent I’m hushed by his spear-riven side.

Long have I pondered the shame of the cross:
Jeered by the troops, by authorities scorned.
Mocked by a brigand, society’s dross —
Christ is abandoned, rejected, ignored.
How can I focus on triumphs and things?
Here writhes my Maker, Redeemer and King.

Long have I pondered the curse of the cross:
Sinless, the Christ bears my guilt and my pain.
Thundering silence, a measureless cost —
God in his heaven lets Christ cry in vain.
Now I can glimpse sin's bleak horror, and worse:
Christ dies and bears the unbearable curse.

Long have I pondered the Christ of the cross:
Gone is the boasting when I’m next to him.
Loving the rebel, redeeming the lost,
Jesus’ pure goodness exposes my sin.
Self is cut down by this triumph of grace:
Christ’s bloody cross is the hope of our race.

Lyrics by D.A. Carson, Music by Mark Hopper
Copyright 1999 Christway Media, Inc.

Letters of John Newton

2006-07-13T05:05:00.000-07:00

I (Ken) have almost finished a little book by Banner of Truth called Letters of John Newton, and thought I would share a few quotes from it. Some of these letters include subjects about Communion with God, The right use of the Law, Temptation, Controversy and many others which I found really helpful. This is an excellent book. The chapters are usually quite short(3-4 pages), which makes for easier reading if you don't have a lot of time. Here they are:

"Once more: Temptations, by giving us a painful sensibility of the weakness of our graces, and the strength of our inward corruptions, tend to mortify the evil principles of self-dependence and self-righteousness, which are so deeply rooted in our fallen nature; to make Christ, in all his relations, offices, and characters, more precious to us; and to convince us, that without him we can do nothing."
(pg. 97-98)

"Lastly, Faith is of daily use as a preservative from a compliance with the corrupt customs and maxims of the world. The believer, though IN the world, is not OF it: by faith he triumphs over its smiles and enticements; he sees that all that is in the world, suited to gratify the desires of the flesh or the eye, is not only to a avoided as sinful, but as incompatible with his best pleasures. He will mix with the world so far as is necessary, in the discharge of the duties of that station of life in which the providence of God has placed him, but no further. His leisure and inclinations are engaged in a different pursuit. They who fear the Lord are his chosen companions; and the blessings he derives from the word, and throne, and ordinances of grace, make him look upon the poor pleasures and amusements of those who live without God in the world with a mixture of disdain and and pity; and by faith he is proof against its frowns. He will obey God rather than man; he will "have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but will rather reprove them." and if, upon this account, he should be despised and injuriously treated, whatever loss suffers in such a cause, he accounts his gain, and esteems such disgrace, his glory."
(pg. 87)

Where wrath and mercy meet...

2006-07-10T20:22:00.000-07:00

Where justice and mercy charge towards each other and meet with a kiss.

Do you want to see Gods mercy...look to the Cross!!

Do you want to see Gods Wrath...look at the Cross!!

Come and see, come and see
Come and see the King of love
See the purple robe and crown of thorns he wears
Soldiers mock, rulers sneer
As he lifts the cruel cross
Lone and friendless now he climbs towards the hill

We worship at your feet
Where wrath and mercy meet
And a guilty world is washed
By love's pure stream
For us he was made sin
Oh, help me take it in
Deep wounds of love cry out 'Father, forgive'
I worship, I worship
The Lamb who was slain.

Come and weep, come and mourn
For your sin that pierced him there
So much deeper than the wounds of thorn and nail
All our pride, all our greed
All our fallenness and shame
And the Lord has laid the punishment on him

Man of heaven, born to earth
To restore us to your heaven
Here we bow in awe beneath
Your searching eyes
From your tears comes our joy
From your death our life shall spring
By your resurrection power we shall rise

by Graham Kendrick

-taken from a sermon on Ezekiel by D A Carson.

Valley of Vision set to music CD!!! YES!!!!

2006-06-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

"For years we have wanted to record a CD of songs inspired by the classic book of Puritan prayers, The Valley of Vision. Our hopes are finally being realized. Scheduled for release at WorshipGod06 (see above), Valley of Vision attempts to capture some of the biblical richness, passionate zeal, and gospel focus of these prayers.

Valley of Vision is still in production, and is scheduled to be released in August at our WorshipGod06 conference.

Someone might ask, "Why produce a CD inspired by the prayers of a bunch of dead guys?" That's an easy one. Puritans like John Bunyan, Thomas Watson, Richard Baxter, and Isaac Watts knew their hearts, their Bibles, and their God much better than we do. Many of them wrote down their prayers not to be published, but to assess their own spiritual growth and to encourage themselves in times of spiritual dryness. These prayers reveal a personal, humble, passionate relationship with an awesome God, a living Savior, and an active Spirit. Reading their meditations inspires us to pursue the same level of reality as we worship God.

The songs on Valley of Vision draw from these prayers at various levels and in various ways. Some use a few phrases from a specific prayer, others develop a particular idea, and a few try to capture the original flow of thought, using many of the original words."

Click on the following link to find out more:

http://www.sovereigngraceministries.org/music/projects/valleyofvision/

Children can have two mothers...whhaaa??!??

2006-06-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

I didnt think this was possible but apparently the courts may think otherwise..

CHILDREN CAN HAVE TWO MOTHERS: COURT
Today’s Family News
June 14, 2006

The negative fallout from the decision by Canada’s Parliament a year ago to nationally legalize same-sex marriage has officially hit home.
Last week, as the Globe and Mail reported, an Ontario judge gave provincial politicians one year to change the Vital Statistics Act to allow a lesbian couple to be registered as “co-mothers” of a baby conceived artificially with sperm from an anonymous donor.

The provision in the Act for registering a live birth was struck down as unacceptably unequal treatment because it requires the names of a baby’s father and mother. This, Superior Court Justice Paul Rivard ruled, caused lesbian couples unjustified “pain and hardship” by suggesting “there is something wrong or unnatural about their families.
“Likewise,” Rivard added, “for children of lesbian mothers – who are even more vulnerable than their parents to the lack of symbols of their families in popular culture – exclusion of their parents from birth registration furthers this vulnerability.”

The case involved an application by four lesbian mothers who had been denied their request to have their partner’s names officially registered along with them as the children’s parents – or “co-mothers” – on their birth certificates.

Ontario law already allows for a non-biological mother to be declared a parent by adopting her partner’s child. Yet “some found the notion of being required to adopt their own children ‘immoral,’” the Toronto Star reported.

Rivard declared all four women to be the parents of their partner’s children. But he suspended the effect of his ruling for one year to allow the Ontario legislature time to bring the law in line with the equality provisions of the Charter.

Writing in the Woodstock Sentinel-Review, Kristi Setterington applauded the ruling.
“Given last year’s decision regarding same-sex marriage,” she wrote, “it seems only fitting we have taken the next step.”

The Canada Family Action Coalition, on the other hand, denounced the notion a child can have two mothers as “a biological impossibility and a foolish ideology to be promoting.”
“Telling children this false information is destructive and ought to be illegal. Are there not laws that could prosecute a person who intentionally promotes false information? Yet here we have a court doing just that,” CFAC commented on their website.

Rivard’s decision appears to conflict with a decision in April 2003 by Ontario Family Court Justice David Aston. He rejected an application by the biological parents of a boy then two years old to grant his mother’s lesbian partner equal status as a parent.

Had the case proceeded and a judgment rendered in favour of the applicants, it would have marked the first time in Canadian history that a child was declared to have three parents.

An appeal of that decision is now scheduled this September before the Ontario Court of Appeal. According to the Star, one of the lawyers for the four lesbian couples said they may seek to intervene.

Focus on the Family Canada is a member of a coalition that has intervener status in the three-parent case.

Lend me your brains..song lyrics!

2006-06-13T19:31:00.000-07:00

Recently my bro and I went to a 'worship night' at a nearby church and we sung the following song...what are your thoughts??Does it reflect scripture? What questions does it raise in your brain? Personally I dont like the illusions that are not found in scripture and I think this song has a couple. Perhaps Im mistaken..lemmie know! Here ya go:
----------------------
Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, mmmm intimate
I feel like moving to the rhythm of Your grace
Your fragrance is intoxicating in our secret place
Your love is extravagant

Chorus:
Spread wide in the arms of Christ
is the love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known
You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again

Spread wide in the arms of Christ
is the love that covers sin
No greater love have I ever known;
You considered me a friend
Capture my heart again

Your love is extravagant
Your friendship, it is intimate
------------------------------

homosexuality in BC's school curriculum...ugghhh

2006-06-12T05:10:00.000-07:00

BC GOVERNMENT AGREES TO ADD HOMOSEXUALITY INTO SCHOOL CURRICULUM
Today’s Family News
June 2, 2006

British Columbia continues to lead the way in the assault on family values with the provincial government’s decision on Thursday to include more gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered issues in the school curriculum. The government also plans to make it more difficult for parents or students to choose to opt out of classes that address these topics.

The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of the Attorney-General made this decision as part of a settlement to a complaint filed in 1999 with the B.C. Human Rights Tribunal. In the complaint, Murray and Peter Corren argued that homosexuals were being discriminated against because of a "lack of positive portrayals of gay, lesbian and transgendered people."

A bulletin from the provincial government stated that the settlement includes the development of a “social justice” course for Grade 12 students with content that “will include issues such as race, ethnicity, gender, family structure and sexual orientation.”

However, changes are not limited to this one course. The bulletin also states that the province “will also establish a process and schedule to review the B.C. educational curriculum to ensure that it reflects inclusion and respect for the diverse groups that today make up B.C.’s population.”
According to Thursday’s Vancouver Sun, homosexual activist Peter Corren revealed that “the settlement will also make it more difficult for students and parents to opt out of course lessons that address topics pertaining to sexual orientation and gender identity.”

Last summer, TFN readers were informed that Peter and Murray Corren wanted independent schools to be included in the complaint to the government. However, a spokesperson from the office of the Attorney-General told TFN on Thursday that independent schools are not being included in this decision to introduce more sexual diversity into the curriculum.

It is expected that this decision will increase the already growing percentage of families that are choosing alternatives to public education such as private faith-based schools and home schooling.

Take Action> As more of the details are being worked out regarding how this settlement will affect the education system, now is the time to express your concerns to the B.C. government. Contact Minister of Education Shirley Bond, Attorney-General Wally Oppal or your local MLAs. Remind them that parents have ultimate responsibility for the education of their children and there should be no restrictions on parents who wish to exempt their children from any teaching on sexual orientation.

Guess who's leg this is??

2006-06-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

As two of my brothers have already posted leg pictures, which can be found at:

http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/

and

http://reformedandbaptist.blogspot.com/2006/06/comparing-ankles.html

I thought I would jump on the conspiracy bandwagon and flog the perverbial dead horse, so to speak, and post a leg pic of my own. So can anyone guess the injury or the leg? This ones a toughy so ya gotta use your brains!!

Let the guessing begin?

Drum-roll please!!

P.S feel free to click on the picture to get a larger view, so you may perhaps be able to identify the leg or injury in question..thanks, and have a nice flight.

I know who not to vote for...airplane sickness bag needed!

2006-06-09T06:26:00.000-07:00

Pedophiles to launch political party
Tue May 30, 2006 1:03 PM ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch pedophiles are launching a political party to push for a cut in the legal age for sexual relations to 12 from 16 and the legalization of child pornography and sex with animals, sparking widespread outrage.

The Charity, Freedom and Diversity (NVD) party said on its Web site it would be officially registered Wednesday, proclaiming: "We are going to shake The Hague awake!" The party said it wanted to cut the legal age for sexual relations to 12 and eventually scrap the limit altogether.
"A ban just makes children curious," Ad van den Berg, one of the party's founders, told the Algemeen Dagblad (AD) newspaper.

"We want to make pedophilia the subject of discussion," he said, adding the subject had been a taboo since the 1996 Marc Dutroux child abuse scandal in neighboring Belgium.

"We want to get into parliament so we have a voice. Other politicians only talk about us in a negative sense, as if we were criminals," Van den Berg told Reuters. The Netherlands, which already has liberal policies on soft drugs, prostitution and gay marriage, was shocked by the plan.
An opinion poll published Tuesday showed that 82 percent wanted the government to do something to stop the new party, while 67 percent said promoting pedophilia should be illegal. "They make out as if they want more rights for children. But their position that children should be allowed sexual contact from age 12 is of course just in their own interest," anti-pedophile campaigner Ireen van Engelen told the AD daily.
Right-wing lawmaker Geert Wilders said he had asked the government to investigate whether a party with such "sick ideas" could really be established, ANP news agency reported.

Kees van deer Staaij, a member of the Christian SGP party, also demanded action: "Pedophilia and child pornography should be taboo in every constitutional state. Breaking that will just create more victims and more serious ones."

The party wants private possession of child pornography to be allowed although it supports the ban on the trade of such materials. It also supports allowing pornography to be broadcast on daytime television, with only violent pornography limited to the late evening.
Toddlers should be given sex education and youths aged 16 and up should be allowed to appear in pornographic films and prostitute themselves. Sex with animals should be allowed although abuse of animals should remain illegal, the NVD said.

The party also said everybody should be allowed to go naked in public and promotes legalizing all soft and hard drugs and free train travel for all.

I miss this guy...

2006-06-07T18:47:00.000-07:00

I look forward to his return...to find out why hes gone click on the following link to go to his blog:

http://wildoliveshoot.blogspot.com/

This ones for you Julian...and anyone else whos interested :-)

2006-06-07T05:10:00.000-07:00

I just found a few audio sermons by D A Carson and thought Id post them for those who are interested (I thought of you Julian..since you like Mr Carson). Heres the link every body:

http://www.rts.edu/Site/RTSNearYou/Jackson/Chapel/carsonmissions.aspx

The sermons are on Revelation and are much like the ones at Canadian Carey Conference but I believe he does add more info since he has six sermons rather than five and they are from a missions perspective.

Here is a link to the Canadian Carey Family Conference audio files:

http://www.careyconference.net/

Just click on the link for the Carson sermons..feel free to check out the other ones as well :-)

As the saying of one of the breakfast cereals goes:

There GRRRREEAATT!!!

Need a Candle..try the new Jesus scent..ahhhh

2006-06-06T14:09:00.000-07:00

Candles that "Smell Like Jesus"?

BY SHANE ROSENTHAL [POSTED ONLINE: JUNE 13, 2005]

According to WACU television in Philadelphia, a South Dakota couple has recently marketed a line of candles which they claim “smell like Jesus.” Scented candles have long been popular, and have increasingly been offered in more and more unusual scents such as lavender spice, chocolate chip cookie, apple pie, and so forth.

But now, buyers have the option of filling their homes with the fragrance of Christ.“We see it as a ministry,” says Bob Tosterud. Along with his wife Karen, he got the idea for the scented candle after reading Psalm 45:7-8, “Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness beyond your companions; your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.” Karen explains that this is a “Messianic psalm referring to when Christ returns.” But she wondered what the fragrance of myrrh mixed with aloes and cassia might smell like, so she ordered those oils and mixed her first batch with a friend who also made candles.

After the candles went on sale they were an instant hit. Karen suggests, “It’s the only one on the market and everyone tells us it’s very unique.” She also added, “We wanted people to be able to experience Christ in new ways and to be able to read a Bible and have that scent and that candle as a reminder that he is with us all the time.” Her husband Bob commented, “You can’t see him and you can’t touch him [but]...this is a situation where you may be able to sense him by smelling. And it provides a really new dimension to one’s experience with Jesus.” The candles sell for about $18 and can be ordered at Bob and Karen's website, as well as in numerous stores throughout the country.

Taken from the following web site:

http://www.modernreformation.org/btt.htm#btt061305

-Italics added

NEW CANADIAN MILLION DOLLAR TRACT!

2006-06-05T17:53:00.000-07:00

COMING SOON... NEW CANADIAN MILLION DOLLAR TRACT!

The Month of May has been quite eventful. The Bank of Canada called to serve us notice that our Million Dollar bill tract featured some design elements they considered to be too similar to those found on some bank notes and asked us to stop printing them or advertising them on our web site. So we complied and made the necessary changes. We sent the new Images to the Bank of Canada and we were delighted to receive a reply in which they said, “This is acceptable… Thank you.”

So I am very pleased to announce that the Million Dollar Bill tract will be back in circulation by the end of June!! The new design features the Toronto Landscape and the snowbird jets with the word Million in the background. The front isn't much different than the original except for some changes to the designs and color.

-taken from Living Waters Canada newsletter

Feds seize "millions"-in gospel tracts!!

2006-06-05T05:08:00.000-07:00

Feds seize 'millions'– in gospel tracts
Secret Service threatens evangelist in Texas with arrest for counterfeiting

Posted: June 2, 20067:45 p.m. Eastern

By Joseph Farah© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

WASHINGTON -- Secret Service agents today threatened a Denton, Texas, evangelist with arrest for counterfeiting and seized 8,300 gospel tracts designed as "million-dollar bills."

Three Secret Service agents visited the Great News Network offices about 1 p.m. asking staffer Tim Crawford if he was responsible for printing "the million-dollar bills."

Crawford suggested they talk to his boss, Darrel Rudus, the founder of the organization that trains evangelists from around the country in the techniques of witnessing their faith.

By telephone, Rudus offered his opinion that it was impossible to counterfeit something that wasn't real – a $1 million bill. But the agents explained that a woman in North Carolina had attempted to deposit one of the million-dollar bills in her bank account. The address of the Great News Network was on the back, and the Secret Service went into action.
Rudus also explained that his organization had not designed the tracts. They are the work of the Living Waters Ministry of Ray Comfort in Southern California, which distributes millions of them a year.
Before he got off the phone, Rudus was convinced the agents were going to drop their demand for the Great News Network's tracts.

But later, he reports, the agents again demanded them from Crawford, threatening him with arrest for "concealing evidence." Rather than face arrest, Crawford turned over the approximately 8,300 million-dollar tracts the group had stored. The agents left a receipt and their business cards.

Ray Comfort told WND he was stunned by the action of the Secret Service and expects agents to visit his offices soon. He said he has no plans to abandon the use of the tracts, which are among the most popular of the many his organization distributes. Living Waters is known for its television program, "The Way of the Master," and an association with actor Kirk Cameron.

"I'm not going to stop printing them," Comfort said. "How can you possibly counterfeit something that is not real – a $1 million bill?"
One side of the tract is designed like an imaginary $1 million bill.

The other side has the gospel message written around the border. It also includes this message: "The million dollar question: Will you go to Heaven? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks upon a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already with her in his heart." Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things God sees you as a lying, thieving, blasphemous, adulterer at heart. The Bible warns that if you are guilty you will end up in Hell. That's not God's will. He sent His Son to suffer and die on the cross for you. Jesus took your punishment upon Himself – 'For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.' Then He rose from the dead and defeated death. Please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust in Jesus, and God will grant you everlasting life. Then read your Bible daily and obey it."

The tracts are also clearly marked on the front: "This bill is not legal tender."

Rudus says he won't be deterred from distributing the tracts in the future.

"Show me the law we're breaking," he told WND. "How can you counterfeit bills that do not exist?"

Rudus suspects the unknown lady in North Carolina didn't actually try to deposit the tract into her bank account.

"People drop these tracts for others to see and read," he explained. "That's the purpose of it. I have no way of knowing, but if I were going to guess, I would suggest this person just included the tract along with a deposit and someone got offended."

Witnessing & 'Open Air' in Canada!! You gotta check this out!

2006-06-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a few links to Canadian web sites who teach open air preaching and witnessing and offer opportunities for you to join them on their 'fishing trips'...please take time to check them out, you will be greatly encouraged!!

http://www.repentcanada.blogspot.com/

and

http://www.bythewayministries.ca/

and

The Canadian Christian Message Board can be found at:

http://btwm.proboards79.com/index.cgi

Go Serve Your King!!

By Grace Rid Yourself of Pride

2006-06-01T13:01:00.000-07:00

By Grace Rid Yourself of Pride

1. Ask God to illuminate your heart so you can begin to see the fruits of pride in your life. Ask friends to point out the fruits of pride in your life realizing your heart is exceedingly deceitful.

* You must meet the qualifications if you are to go on in God. Humility is the attitude upon which everything else is built.

2. Ask God to convict you point by point (Psalm 139:23-24) and trust that he will. You don't want or need general condemnation, only specific, godly conviction.

3. Confess your pride to God point by point and ask for his forgiveness. Just as importantly, ask him to cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

4. Don't ask God to humble you -- the Scriptures say to humble yourself (1 Peter 5:6). Humility isn't an emotion; it's a decision of the will to think and act differently. Vine's Expository Dictionary defines humble as "low lying." Ask yourself how you could be low lying or put others before yourself in various situations, and then do it.

* Respond to opportunities God gives you to humble yourself or honor others.

5. Confess your sins of pride to those you have effected and to your friends. They can help to hold you accountable and bring the on-going correction you will need.

* Be open, honest and transparent about your life and sins.

6. Ask God to give you a holy hatred for pride and its fruits in your life. Be continually on the alert. Don't allow pride to grow in your heart. Sow to the Spirit, not to the flesh.

7. Remember your war against pride is life-long. It is not a battle won in a day. Yet, as you faithfully put to death, pride, and put on, humility, you will experience greater freedom and more importantly greater conformity to image and likeness of Christ. In so doing, God will be glorified in your life!

-the Fifty fruits of pride can be found on the following site:

http://www.homegrownfamilies.com/free_downloads_available.cfm

Fifty Fruits of Pride-Part 2

2006-05-28T13:05:00.000-07:00

26. I have a know-it-all attitude. I am impressed by my own knowledge. I feel like there isn't much I can learn from other people, especially those less mature than me.

27. I have a hard time listening to ordinary people. I listen better to those I respect or people I want to leave with a good impression. I don't honestly listen when someone else is speaking because I am usually planning what I am going to say next.

28. I like to reveal my own mind. I have an answer for practically every situation. I feel compelled to balance everyone else out.

29. I interrupt people regularly. I don't let people finish what they are saying.

30. I feel compelled to stop people when they start to share something with me I already know.

31. I find it hard to admit it when I don't know something. When someone asks me something I don't know, I will make up an answer rather than admit I don't know.

32. I don't get much out of Bible teaching. I tend to evaluate the speaker rather than my own life. I grumble about hearing something a second time.

33. I listen to teaching with other people in mind. I constantly think of those folks who need to hear this teaching and wish they were here.

34. I'm not very open to input. I don't pursue correction for my life. I tend to be unteachable and slow to repent when corrected. I don't really see correction as a positive thing. I am offended when people probe the motivations of my heart or seek to adjust me.

35. I have a hard time admitting that I am wrong. I find myself covering up or excusing my sins. It is hard for me to confess my sins to others or to ask for forgiveness.

36. I view correction as an intrusion into my privacy rather than an instrument of God for my welfare. I can't identify anyone who would feel welcome to correct me.

37. I resent people who attempt to correct me. I don't respond with gratefulness and sincere appreciation for their input. Instead I am tempted to accuse them and dwell on their faults. I get bitter and withdraw.

38. When corrected, I become contentious and argumentative. I don't take people's observations seriously. I minimize and make excuses or give explanations.

39. I am easily angered and offended. I don't like being crossed or disagreed with. I find myself thinking, "I can't believe they did that to me." I often feel wronged.

40. I have "personality conflicts" with others. I have a hard time getting along with certain kinds of people.

41. I lack respect for other people. I don't think very highly of most people. I have a hard time encouraging and honoring others unless they really do something great.

42. I am a slanderer. I find myself either giving or receiving evil reports about others. I justify this by thinking the things I say or hear are simply true about them. I deceive myself by a lack of concern about the effect of slander on me because of my supposed maturity level. I think I can handle it. I convince myself I only share with others the things I really think they legitimately need to know. I don't tell all.

43. I am divisive. I tend to resist or resent authority. I don't like other people giving me orders or directions or even guidance and advise.

44. I like to demean or put others down. At times I think people need to be adjusted and put in their place. This includes leaders. I focus on the need for others to be humble and have a "sober" assessment of themselves.

45. I tend to be critical of others. I find myself feeling or talking negatively about people. I subtlety feel better about myself when I see how bad someone else is.

46. I am self-willed and stubborn. I have a hard time cooperating with others. I really prefer my own way and often insist on getting it.

47. I am independent and uncommitted. I don't really see why I need other people. I can easily separate myself from others. I don't get much out of the small group meetings in the church.

48. I am unaccountable. I don't ask others to hold me responsible to follow through on my commitments. I don't really need accountability for my words and actions.

49. I am unsubmissive. I don't like being under the authority of another person. I don't see submission as a good and necessary provision from God for my life. I have a hard time supporting and serving those over me. I don't "look up" to people and I like to be in charge. Other people may need leaders but I don't. It is important that my voice is heard.

50. I really appreciate somebody taking the time to put this paper together. It will really be a big help to my friends and family. However, I don't really need this because I think I'm pretty humble already.

Fifty Fruits of Pride-Part 1

2006-05-25T10:23:00.000-07:00

Fifty Fruits of Pride

1. I tend to be self sufficient in the way I live my life. I don't live with a constant awareness that my every breath is dependent upon the will of God. I tend to think I have enough strength, ability and wisdom to live and manage my life. My practice of the spiritual disciplines is inconsistent and superficial. I don't like to ask others for help.

2. I am often anxious about my life and the future. I tend not to trust God and rarely experience his abiding and transcendent peace in my soul. I have a hard time sleeping at night because of fearful thoughts and burdens I carry.

3. I am overly self-conscious. I tend to replay in my mind how I did, what I said, how I came across to others, etc. I am very concerned about what people think of me. I think about these things constantly.

4. I fear man more than God. I am afraid of others and make decisions about what I will say or do based upon this fear. I am afraid to take a stand for things that are right. I am concerned with how people will react to me or perceive my actions or words. I don't often think about God's opinion in a matter and rarely think there could be consequences for disobeying him. I primarily seek the approval of man and not of God.

5. I often feel insecure. I don't want to try new things or step out into uncomfortable situations because I'm afraid I'll fail or look foolish. I am easily embarrassed.

6. I regularly compare myself to others. I am performance oriented. I feel that I have greater worth if I do well.

7. I am self-critical. I tend to be a perfectionist. I can't stand for little things to be wrong because they reflect poorly on me. I have a hard time putting my mistakes behind me.

8. I desire to receive credit and recognition for what I do. I like people to see what I do and let me know that they noticed. I feel hurt or offended when they don't. I am overly concerned about my reputation and hate being misunderstood.

9. I want people to be impressed with me. I like to make my accomplishments known.

10. I tend to be deceptive about myself. I find myself lying to preserve my reputation. I find myself hiding the truth about myself, especially about sins, weaknesses, etc. I don't want people to know who I really am.

11. I am selfishly ambitious. I really want to get ahead. I like having a position or title. I far prefer leading to following.

12. I am overly competitive. I always want to win or come out on top and it bothers me when I don't.

13. I like to be the center of attention and will say or do things to draw attention to myself.

14. I like to talk, especially about myself or persons or things I am involved with. I want people to know what I am doing or thinking. I would rather speak than listen.

15. I am self-serving. When asked to do something, I find myself asking, "How will doing this help me, or will I be inconvenienced?"

16. I am not very excited about seeing or making others successful. I tend to feel envious, jealous or critical towards those who are doing well or being honored.

17. I feel special or superior because of what I have or do. For example: * my house * my neighborhood * my physical gifting * my spiritual giftings * my intellect * being a Christian * my position * my job * my education * my car * my salary * my looks

18. I think highly of myself. In relation to others I typically see myself as more mature and more gifted. In most situations, I have more to offer than others even though I may not say so. I don't consider myself average or ordinary.

19. I tend to give myself credit for who I am and what I accomplish. I only occasionally think about or recognize that all that I am or have comes from God.

20. I tend to be self-righteous. I can think that I really have something to offer God. I would never say so, but I think God did well to save me. I seldom think about or recognize my utter depravity and helplessness apart from God. I fail to realize that any goodness I have comes from God alone.

21. I feel deserving. I think I deserve what I have. In fact, I think I ought to have more considering how well I have lived or in light of all I have done.

22. I often feel ungrateful. I tend to grumble about what I have or my lot in life.

23. I find myself wallowing in self-pity. I am consumed with how I am treated by God and others. I tend to feel mistreated or misunderstood. I seldom recognize or sympathize with what's going on with others around me because I feel that I have it worse than they do.

24. I can be jealous or envious of others abilities, possessions, positions, or accomplishments. I want to be what others are or want to have what others have. I find it hard to rejoice with others when they are blessed by God.

25. I am pretty insensitive to others. I feel that some people just aren't worth caring about.

How to make your very own Jesus

2006-05-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

How to Make Your Very Own Jesus
by Daniel J. Phillips

For ages, people have found Jesus to be an uncomfortable figure. He claimed honors belonging properly only to God (John 5:22, 23), held Himself out as the only solution for sin (Matthew 20:28), and accepted worship as God (John 20:28). What’s even more threatening, He backed up these claims by a succession of unequaled miracles (John 15:24), climaxing in His own bodily resurrection (Matthew 12:39, 40).

Like many of Jesus’ other ideas, these claims are clearly "incorrect," politically and socially. Worse still, they’re unpopular!

Not to worry! If you don’t like the Jesus of the Bible, you can make your very own "Jesus." Here’s how to do it, in six easy steps.

Begin with demolition work. First, paint the Gospels as fundamentally unreliable, unhistorical, and biased. Now, this will mean rough going, for several reasons. If you are to pull this off, your audience has to be unaware of the last hundred years of New Testament (NT) studies. Otherwise, they will know that every attempt to discredit the NT has failed miserably. They will remember that archeological, linguistic, and historical studies have systematically shown the NT to be factually reliable in every testable area. If they know the facts, it could hurt your theories. So. . . .

Second, flash some impressive academic degrees. This might inspire people to reason thus: "He must be right — after all, he’s a [doctor, professor, what-have-you]!" Pull this off, and you can wave aside the Gospel histories as "biased." With your degree, your hearers will forget that you, too, are biased. They won’t wonder too loudly what your biases are. They won’t even note how neatly your conclusions match your biases.

Third, stress the fact that the NT writers were believers in Jesus, as if this consideration in itself totally disqualifies them as witnesses of history. With any luck, this will strengthen your case for "bias." Maybe only the lawyers will notice that your reasoning is akin to telling a defendant, "Now, you can only call witnesses who believe that you are guilty!" Besides, probably over half of your audience won’t remember that the NT writers did not, in fact, start out as believers. Therefore, they won't realize that these writers' minds were changed by the evidence. Maybe those who do remember will not throw back at you, "Then what you are saying is invalid, too, because you are a dis-believer! Bias is bias!"

Fourth, make a great deal of the fact that the Gospels were written after the events. Imply (against all evidence) that nobody in the first century ever took notes, or knew how to memorize. Your readers may be unaware that the hard evidence does not demand a date of final publication more than ten to forty years later than the resurrection. You go ahead and talk as if it were vast, yawning geological epochs later. Maybe no one will notice. So few actually read the Bible today, that they are unlikely to recall that the Gospels embody eyewitness testimony (Luke 1:1-4; John 21:24, 25). If someone brings this up, simply shout, "Are not, are not!" — and maybe wave your diploma again.

With luck, your hearers won’t reflect on the fact that they all implicitly trust in history-books written centuries, or even millennia after the events. With a lot of luck, they won’t point out that you yourself live a full two millennia after the gospel events, and that (even if true) fifty or sixty years is much closer than two thousand.

Fifth, claim to be using "the scientific method." Actually, it doesn’t much matter what method you employ; people are not too analytical these days. Dust off the radical whimsies of nineteenth-century Tübingen, or the fantasies of Rudolph Bultmann. Shred logic to confetti. Who thinks rationally or logically today, especially about religion? You can recycle negatively-biased methods and arguments that have already been answered decisively, dozens of times, in print, for decades — as the perpetrators of the Jesus Seminar and the book The Five Gospels just did! It doesn’t matter. Simply intone, reverently, "Science...science...science," tap your diploma meaningfully, and hope for the best.

Sixth, nuke all those nasty things Jesus said. Clear your throat and announce that He never claimed, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me" (John 14:6). Proclaim that Jesus never invited anyone to "come to Me, all who labor and are heavily-burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:26). Use a little verbal "white-out" on Jesus’ predictions that He would give His soul as a ransom-price for many (Mark 10:45), that He would be crucified and buried, and would rise again on the third day (Luke 9:22), and that He would physically return to set up His kingdom on earth (Matthew 24 — 25). Declare that Jesus never really said that the one who rejects Him as God incarnate will perish in his sins (John 8:24).

You see, this way you have taken that frightening, still-living character who treads through the Gospels, and whittled Him down to something much more bite-sized. Trash the facts, and you can make Jesus into whatever you want Him to be! "Discover" that He was really an environmentalist, and declare that He only made lovely little remarks about lilies, fig trees, and grape vines. "Learn" that Jesus was a social activist, and retain only the sections about poor people. Folks will love you for it! Publishers will actually print your notions! Without any icky facts in your way, you can play with Jesus like a lump of clay!

Isn’t that nifty? Think of it: when Jesus’ contemporaries wanted Him out of the way two millennia ago, they had to have Him actually put to death. (That worked out poorly, however, since He apparently did not coöperate by staying dead.) It’s so much less messy, now!

All we have to do today is snag a degree, and write a book.

[NOTE: written as an article for a daily newspaper, skewering "the Jesus Seminar," its pompous pronouncements, and its book The Five Gospels, by means of parody.]

Copyright © 1997 by Daniel J. Phillips; All Rights Reserved

Al Mohler to appear on O'Reilly Factor tonight...

2006-05-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Dr. Mohler is scheduled to appear tonight on Fox News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor.” Mohler will discuss controversial comments by the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia in which he said the Koran is riddled with “invocations to violence” and indicated that Islam is an intolerant religion.

“The O’Reilly Factor” airs at 8:00 PM (EST) on the Fox News Channel and repeats at 11:00 PM (EST).

Does God exist....A man breathing oxygen.

2006-05-07T04:40:00.000-07:00

"Imagine a man sanding in your front yard arguing oxygen doesn't exist. The man has to breathe in oxygen to even begin to argue that it doesn't exist. In the analogy, oxygen represents the existence of God. In order for a man to argue that the God of the Bible doesn't exist, he has to employ certain gifts that only God alone can account for. Namely reason and logic, and by doing so he's borrowing from the very one he's trying to prove doesn't exist."

-Greg Bohnson

Quoted on the radio show 'The Atheist Hour', aired Dec 18th 2005 by Pastor Gene Cook (can be found at www.unchainedradio.com )

For musicians who love Sovereign Grace stuff...

2006-04-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

Here ya go, the moment you've all been waiting for (At least I have for about 6 months). Sovereign Grace Ministries has published, in book form, the songs from their various CDs...heres the link in case your interested:

http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=B3605-00-11

Here is a teaser:

Twenty-one years of songwriting. 258 songs. Nearly every song Sovereign Grace has published from 1984 to the Worship God Live CD (released in 2005), including favorites such as Mark Altrogge’s “I Stand in Awe” and “I’m Forever Grateful,” and Vikki Cook’s “Before the Throne of God Above.” All in this two-volume Worship Songbook.

This songbook set contains more than 100 songs not included in our earlier songbook. Each song is presented in a 2-staff piano arrangement (suitable for moderately accomplished keyboard players) that incorporates lyrics and chord symbols. “Slash” chord symbols are used where appropriate, facilitating use by guitarists and bass players. In addition, each song is keyed to at least one Scripture reference, and some to as many as half a dozen. Comprehensive dual indexes at the back of each book aid in locating songs by title, first line, or Scripture reference.

Effective, biblical evangelism training in T.O.!!

2006-04-23T11:58:00.000-07:00

Be sure to check out this site :-)

Are you looking for a one day evangelistic mission trip for your church group, your youth group or just you and/or your family?
Are you looking for some hands-on, effective, biblical evangelism training?

Do you have a burden to see souls soundly saved in Christ?

Look no further !!!

http://log.on.ca/users/lockwood/share.html

Here is the mainpage for his site....How to Get A Burden For The Lost??

http://log.on.ca/users/lockwood/index.html

And for those who are not in Toronto, check out this site:

http://www.thegreatnews.com/contactleaders.html

AND

www.livingwaters.com

Go Serve your King!!!

The most dangerous parish in the world...

2006-04-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

The Times-UK

April 15, 2006

Faith makes for safety in Baghdad, the most dangerous parish in the world

Credo by Andrew White

MANY have said that my parish of Baghdad is the most dangerous in the world. I get there by military aircraft and helicopter. Since last Easter all of my lay leaders have been killed, a suicide bomber turned up in church, people have been killed at our church entrance, we have endured car bombs and been attacked and our church has been surrounded by concrete barricades. I will not even be allowed to take the services there this Easter, I will officiate instead in the Shia Muslim Prime Minister’s lecture theatre. Here is inter-religious relations at the cutting edge.

Yet there will be much rejoicing this Easter among Christians in Baghdad. They have not only one of the fastest-growing churches in the Anglican Communion but also a growing faith. Their resurrected Jesus is growing brighter as their surroundings become darker. For them, faith is all they have left, as everything else has disappeared.

I no longer consider this the most dangerous parish in the world. That portfolio probably belongs somewhere in British suburbia. Everything may be safe; there may be no risk of terrorist bombs or attacks on your church leaders. Yet, this Easter faith may also be bland and safe.

The first Easter did not take place in such environs. Jesus was taken, persecuted and slaughtered by the authorities. Yet the Easter story is one of triumph over death and destruction. On Easter Day we celebrate the destruction of death, as Jesus breaks its chains and shows us new life and new hope. This Easter in Baghdad we will celebrate the hope of this season that one day things will change because of their Easter experience.

The Anglican Church has faced many questions. Will the church divide or split? Is there really hope that the Church will grow? What will happen about the issue of homosexuality? In Baghdad these questions are irrelevant. My congregation will, too, have questions: Will their children return from school? Will there be food on the table tonight? Who will be the next to be killed or kidnapped? For the people in Baghdad there will be no questions about God, or faith or even the Church. The one thing that never changes will be their faith in the resurrected Jesus of Nazareth.

Here at 6am my other congregation will meet on the lawn of Saddam’s former palace in the international zone — or Green Zone — in Baghdad. They will put down their guns and body armour and worship a living God. They are not Iraqis but mainly American and British diplomats and soldiers. They also have questions, but the questions of the past now seem irrelevant, too. Their question is simple: will they survive today? In this environment Easter becomes real. It is not about rabbits, chicks and chocolate eggs; it is about a faith in a living God. For those of us in Baghdad, Easter is a time of rejoicing in the words of a Creed that many say every Sunday.

For our sake, He was crucified under Pontius Pilate, He suffered death and was buried. On the third day He rose again in accordance with the scriptures, He ascended into Heaven and is seated at the right of the Father.

Those of us in Iraq — whether Iraqi or Coalition members — are reliant on the grace of God and his resurrection power. Some may criticise us for bringing religion into a desperate situation but here on the ground there is no other choice or scenario. Our hope has become theological more than political. When we say the words of the Creed each Sunday and when at the Eucharist we say our acclamation of faith that Christ has died, Christ is risen and Christ will come again, we mean it. Here in Baghdad this Easter our faith will be our hope, our certainty and our future.

In the midst of darkness Jesus is our light and when we have lost everything we realise that the resurrected Jesus is, indeed, everything.

The Rev Canon Andrew White is an Anglican priest in Iraq and the chief executive of the Foundation for Reconciliation in the Middle East.

Let us continue to pray for such brothers who are persecuted and may God give us much courage to preach the good news!!

Go Serve your King!!

Let me dwell on Golgotha....

2006-04-14T15:26:00.000-07:00

Let me dwell on Golgotha,
Weep and love my life away!
While I see Him on the tree
Weep and bleed, and die for me!

That dear blood, for sinners spilt,
Shows my sin in all its guilt:
Ah, my soul, He bore thy load,
Thou hast slain the Lamb of God.

Hark! His dying words; “Forgive,
Father, let the sinner live;
Sinner, wipe thy tears away,
I thy ransom freely pay.”

While I hear this grace revealed,
And obtain a pardon sealed;
All my lost affections move,
Wakened by the force of love.

Farewell world, thy gold is dross,
Now I see the bleeding cross;
Jesus died to set me free
From the law, and sin, and thee!

He has dearly bought my soul
Lord, accept, and claim the whole!
To Thy will I all resign,
Now, no more my own, but Thine.
-John Newton

----------------------------------------

Spurgeon's Morning & Evening - March 23
Morning Devotional

"His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." - Luke 22:44

The mental pressure arising from our Lord's struggle with temptation, so forced his frame to an unnatural excitement, that his pores sent forth great drops of blood which fell down to the ground. This proves how tremendous must have been the weight of sin when it was able to crush the Saviour so that he distilled great drops of blood! This demonstrates the mighty power of his love. It is a very pretty observation of old Isaac Ambrose that the gum which exudes from the tree without cutting is always the best. This precious camphire-tree yielded most sweet spices when it was wounded under the knotty whips, and when it was pierced by the nails on the cross; but see, it giveth forth its best spice when there is no whip, no nail, no wound. This sets forth the voluntariness of Christ's sufferings, since without a lance the blood flowed freely. No need to put on the leech, or apply the knife; it flows spontaneously. No need for the rulers to cry, "Spring up, O well;" of itself it flows in crimson torrents. If men suffer great pain of mind apparently the blood rushes to the heart. The cheeks are pale; a fainting fit comes on; the blood has gone inward as if to nourish the inner man while passing through its trial. But see our Saviour in his agony; he is so utterly oblivious of self, that instead of his agony driving his blood to the heart to nourish himself, it drives it outward to bedew the earth. The agony of Christ, inasmuch as it pours him out upon the ground, pictures the fulness of the offering which he made for men.

Do we not perceive how intense must have been the wrestling through which he passed, and will we not hear its voice to us? "Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin." Behold the great Apostle and High Priest of our profession, and sweat even to blood rather than yield to the great tempter of your souls.

2006-04-09T04:44:00.000-07:00

The O'Reilly Factor - Wednesday, April 12

Kirk will be on The O'Reilly Factor on Wednesday April 12th. Please be in prayer for him. You can watch The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News at 8pm, 11pm, and 4am Eastern, 5pm, 8pm and 1am Pacific.

Unsearchable riches in Christ!!!

2006-04-07T14:27:00.000-07:00

"A great divine said on his deathbed, "we are all of us only half awake". The best Christian among us knows but little of his glorious Saviour, even after he has learned to believe. We see throught a glass darkly. We do not realize the "unsearchable riches" there are in Him. When we awake after His likeness in another world, we shall be amazed that we knew Him so imperfectly, and loved Him so little. Let us seek to know Him better now, and live in closer communion with Him. So living, we shall feel no need of human priests and earthly confessionals. We shall feel "I have all and abound: I want nothing more, Christ dying for me on the cross, Christ ever interceding for me at God's right hand, Christ dwelling in my heart by faith, Christ soon coming again to gather me and all His people together to part no more, Christ is enough for me, Having Christ, I have 'unsearchable riches".
-J.C. Ryle, Holiness,pg 348, 1877.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”
For from him and through him and to him are all things.

To him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:33-36

There is no love like his, neither earth nor heaven can match it. To know Christ and to be found in him-oh! this is life, this is joy, this is marrow and fatness, wine on the lees well refined.

My Master does not treat his servants churlishly; he gives to them as a king giveth to a king; he gives them two heavens-a heaven below in serving him here, and a heaven above in delighting in him for ever.

His unsearchable riches will be best known in eternity. He will give you on the way to heaven all you need; your place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks, your bread shall be given you, and your waters shall be sure; but it is there, THERE, where you shall hear the song of them that triumph, the shout of them that feast, and shall have a face-to-face view of the glorious and beloved One. The unsearchable riches of Christ! This is the tune for the minstrels of earth, and the song for the harpers of heaven. Lord, teach us more and more of Jesus, and we will tell out the good news to others.

-excerpt from Spurgeons' 'morning and evening', August, 22, evening devotional.

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The good I have is from His stores supplied,

The ill is only what He deems the best;

He for my friend, Im rich with nought beside,

And poor without Him, though of all possess'd;

Changes may come, I take or I resign,

Content while Im am His, and He is mine.

While here, alas! I know but half His love,

But half discern Him, and but half adore;

But when I meet Him in the realms above,

I hope to love Him better, praise Him more,

And feel, and tell, amid the choir divine,

How fully I am His and He is mine.

-Francis Quarles(1592-1644, "how long did I toil, and knew no earthly rest."

Emergent Weekend!!!

2006-04-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Pastor Paul Martin (from Grace Fellowship Church in Toronto) will be presenting a paper on the Emergent Church, which I cant wait to hear!

The following is an excerpt from his post found at:

http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/

-----------------------------------------------

I finished the first draft of my paper on Emergent last night. It was good to get it done and now have some time to refine it and think through the issues more fully. Writing is an excellent exercise - it forces you to hatch thoughts that have been incubating for a while. Some of them aren't nearly as amazing on paper as they seem in your brain! You also make some surprising discoveries along the way.

I invited Brian McLaren to join us on Monday once it dawned on me that the date change for SGPF/FRPS would coincide with his trip here to Toronto. Sadly, his flight is leaving Sunday night, so he won't be able to make it. It helped in writing the paper to think that Brian might be at its reading - there is always a temptation to overstate a case and misrepresent an author (it is quite easy to do actually). I think writing with the knowledge that this author might be there helped to keep things honest. (And no, I am not going to go back and change things now that I know he is not coming!)

Please do note the date change:

Meeting is at 10AM on Monday, April 10, 2006. [There is NO meeting on April 17!]

Location: Thistletown Baptist Church, Kipling Avenue, Toronto, [@ 2534 Kipling Ave. (Just north of Finch Ave. and Kipling Ave.)

Cost: Quite free and all are welcome.

Here is a teaser from the paper:

One of the skills of an excellent physician is the ability to quickly and accurately diagnose the illness. If EC has one skill, it is certainly this (with several caveats). If EC is nothing else, it is a reaction to sham Christianity and false spirituality. The examples of this are numerous, especially in McLaren. So, he can easily draw attention to artificial and schmaltzy church music; inattentive hearers of the Word that leave their pews to go back to living like the world; inauthentic Christian communities that breed fake and even destructive relationships; the cocooning of Christians into non-evangelistic lumps of selfishness; the false assumption that “Christian” means white-collar, suburb-dwelling Republican; and a revolting contentedness with surface answers to life’s most genuine and difficult questions.
-----------------------------------------------------------
This proves to be an interesting time together and I would encourage all who can make it to attend!!!

Now They Are Afraid of the Students -- The Intellectual Anxiety of the Evolutionists

2006-04-04T05:19:00.001-07:00

Now They Are Afraid of the Students -- The Intellectual Anxiety of the Evolutionists

Posted: Monday, April 03, 2006 at 3:18 am ET

Given the public bluster of the evolutionary establishment, one would think that these scientists and teachers of science would be up to any challenge to their cherished evolutionary orthodoxy. If they are so certain that their theory is correct and their worldview is superior, why are they so afraid to have the issues debated before the public?

Now, it appears that these teachers are even afraid of their students. The Los Angeles Times offers a report that, taken seriously, makes science teachers appear to be intimidated by a group of querulous adolescents.

From the article:

Two decades of political and legal maneuvering on evolution has spilled over into public schools, and biology teachers are struggling to respond. Loyal to the accounts they've learned in church, students are taking it upon themselves to wedge creationism into the classroom, sometimes with snide comments but also with sophisticated questions -- and a fervent faith. As sophomore Daniel Read put it: "I'm going to say as much about God as I can in school, even if the teachers can't." Such challenges have become so disruptive that some teachers dread the annual unit on evolution -- or skip it altogether. In response, the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science is distributing a 24-page guide to teaching the scientific principles behind evolution, starting in kindergarten. The group also has issued talking points for teachers flustered by demands to present "both sides."

Ah, yes. Those pesky teenagers just won't buy into the theory that they, and all their peers, are accidents produced by purely natural causes.

More:

About half of all Americans dismiss as preposterous the scientific consensus that life on Earth evolved from a common ancestor over millions of years. Some hold to a literal reading of Genesis: God created the universe about 6,000 years ago. Others accept an ancient cosmos but take the variety, complexity and beauty of Earth's creatures as proof that life was crafted by an intelligent designer. Religious accounts of life's origins have generally been kept out of the science classroom, sometimes by court order. But polls show a majority of Americans are unhappy with the evolution-only approach.

So?

"We're not going to roll over and take this," said Alan I. Leshner, the executive publisher of the journal Science. "These teachers are facing phenomenal pressure. They need help."

These evolutionists intend to ride to the defense of their compatriots. The circling of the wagons has begun.

-The above is taken from albertmohler.com and can be found at the following link:

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=589

'The Doctor' on audio :-)

2006-03-31T05:02:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody,

Here are a couple of links of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones on audio which you can take a listen to

:-)

http://www.praize.com/sermons/Martyn-LloydJones/

and

http://www.knoxtoronto.org/sermons/archive/index.html

Enjoy and keep delighting in Christ and studying your Bible!!!

Dr. John MacArthur on Way of the Master Radio!!!

2006-03-28T05:01:00.000-08:00

Dr. John MacArthur on my favorite radio show...Way of the Master Radio!!!! Its the March 27th episode!!! Check it out at the following link!!!

http://www.wotmradio.com/

Todd Friel interviews John Macarthur and discusses false gospels among other topics...be sure to give it a listen and sign up the for podcast :-)

Keep seeking Christ!!!!

Is the Word Preached Precious??

2006-03-23T13:59:00.000-08:00

In response to my brother posting on preaching at the following blog, I thought this quote may be somthing to ponder:

http://preacherthoughts.blogspot.com/

[Concerning the Word preached:] "Do we prize it in our judgments? Do we receive in into our hearts? Do we fear the loss of the Word preached more than the loss of peace and trade? Is it the removal of the ark that troubles us? Again, do we attend to the Word with reverential devotion? When the judge is giving the charge on the bench, all attend. When the Word is preached, the great God is giving us his charge. Do we listen to it as to a matter of life and death? This is a good sign that we love the Word.

THOMAS WATSON

The Tract Distributor....

2006-03-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

The Tract Distributor

On a rare Saturday visit to Swansea, which is the second largest city in Wales with a population of 150,000, I had another opportunity to visit Des Roberts at his workplace. Forty years ago he began his lifetime vocation of distributing tracts once a week in the main street. At first he stood outside a shop which sold electrical appliances and on one occasion the annoyed manager told him to move away as he was driving trade from him. Des is not easily intimidated, and told him to produce some figures from his financial accounts to prove that he was suffering because of Des's presence. The policewoman who had been called to the scene by the manager would do nothing as Des had broken no laws. So for years more he stayed there unconcerned with the manager's glares. Then the pattern of trade in Swansea began to change and a new Quadrant of shops and arcades opened up and Des moved to a new pitch under the shelter of the entrance to the famous Swansea market.

That is where we met and stood side by side on Saturday. He is easy to spot with his shock of white hair, and hooked nose. He rarely wears a tie and hates hot weather. He had put on his rubber overshoes and trousers as it had been raining. He held three or four tracts in his hands and offered them in an unintimidating manner to the passers-by. Young and old came across to him and took a tract. Modest Swansea women thanked him and put the tracts in their hand-bags. "Thank-you," he says to them. A little boy came up and said, "Please sir can I have three?" Des gave them to him with a quip, one tract for his mother and another for his brother. The woman soon came by, smiling and pushing a pram.

"I have just read Iain Murray's 'Evangelicalism Divided'," he said. "Enjoy it?" I asked. He looked perplexed at me as though that were a foolish question. "Yes," he nodded curtly. He has a magnificent library. Every inch of the walls of his bachelor home in 183 Long View Road is covered with book shelves. When his mother died the TV disappeared. He has recently read the three volumes of Wylie's 'History of Protestantism.' He lives in one of the toughest areas of Swansea. A few months ago he was disturbed at 3 a.m. by the sound of a robber moving around downstairs. He got up and switched the landing light on. "Who's there?" he shouted downstairs. "Sorry, mate. Wrong house," came the reply and the man disappeared through the back door. "How did he get in?" wondered Des. Then he saw the piece of glass cut out of the window and the catch opened. The police were there in five minutes but the man had gone. "He must have been surprised to see all those books," Des said drolly. The thief took nothing at all.

Des could give out about a thousand tracts every Saturday afternoon until ten or so years ago, but during the past decade the number has dropped to 750. We worked out that he has given away something like one and three-quarter million tracts in the last forty years. He showed me one particular tract which he was giving out. "This one costs thirty pounds for a thousand! Far too expensive. I wont be getting any more of these." He is an expert in size and cost as well as rigorously demanding about the actual content of the tract. He deplores decisionistic regeneration. He is now an old age pensioner and he depends for the finances to purchase these tracts on the gifts of friends. He has worshipped with the Open Brethren since he became a Christian, and is a fan of the writings of Arthur Pink. He believes in the Universal Command to preach the Gospel - God commands all men everywhere to repent - but hesitates at my affirming the Free Offer of the Gospel. We talk amicably of this terminology. His presence there and that hand stretched out to every sinner in Swansea with the word of life seems to me to be saying "Free Offer!" as I understand it. A stranger came on to him some time ago and introduced himself as a Christian. "What do you make of this hyper-Calvinism?" he said to Des. "Now what do you mean by hyper-Calvinism?" Des asked him, and as the man began to waffle, Des began to explain the Bible to him.

I stand in awe of such disciplined faithfulness. While he has strength in his body he will be at his post on Saturday afternoons. If he can spot a mere ten percent of his tracts discarded and scattered along the pavement at the end of the afternoon then he is assured that six hundred other tracts will have been taken and read. He is doing more good to men's souls from that one spot by his special ministry than most of the professing churches of his city put together.

GEOFF THOMAS, Banner of Truth article

If your looking for a great website to purchase tracts check out the following:

www.livingwaterscanada.com

and

www.livingwaters.com

Special Nightline edition of Way of the Master Radio show :-)

2006-03-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

My Favorite radio show (Way of the Master :-) Has broadcasted a special "Nightline edition" for those who are checking out the radio show/web site for the first time. Please take listen, its great!!! And please pray for Brian and his Mom and Sam the Barber....you gotta listen to find out :-)

http://www.wotmradio.com/

Its the March 18th edition....

If you havnt read your Bible yet, go read it, then listen :-)

Go Fish!!!

A Day in Hell....

2006-03-18T06:13:00.000-08:00

Imagine the person who has just entered hell--a neighbor, relative, co-worker, friend. After a roar of physical pain blasts him, he spends his first moments wailing and gnashing his teeth. But after a season, he grows accustomed to the pain, not that it's become tolerable, but that his capacity for it has enlarged to comprehend it yet not be consumed by it. Though he hurts, he is now able to think, and he instinctively looks about him. But as he looks, he sees only blackness.

In his past life he learned that if he looked long enough, a glow of light somewhere would yield definition to his surroundings. So he blinks and strains to focus his eyes, but his efforts yield only blackness. He turns and strains his eyes in another direction. He waits. He sees nothing but unyielding black ink. It clings to him, smothering and oppressing him.

Realizing that the darkness is not going to give way, he nervously begins to feel for something solid to get his bearings. He reaches for walls or rocks or trees or chairs; he stretches his legs to feel the ground and touches nothing. Hell is a "bottomless pit" (Rev. 20:1,2 KJV); however, the new occupant is slow to learn. In growing panic, he kicks his feet and waves his arms. He stretches and he lunges. But he finds nothing. After more feverish tries, he pauses from exhaustion, suspended in black. Suddenly with a scream he kicks, twists, and lunges until he is again too exhausted to move.

He hangs there, alone with his pain. Unable to touch a solid object or see a solitary thing, he begins to weep. His sobs choke through the darkness. They become weak, then lost in hell's roar.

As time passes, he begins to do what the rich man did--he starts to think. His first thoughts are of hope. You see, he still thinks as he did on earth, where he kept himself alive with hope. When things got bad, he always found a way out. If he felt pain, he took medicine. If he were hungry, he ate food. If he lost love, there was more love to be found. So he casts about in his mind for a plan to apply to the hope building in his chest. Of course, he thinks, Jesus, the God of love, can get me out of this. He cries out with a surge. "Jesus!Jesus! You were right! Help me! Get me out of this!" He waits, breathing hard with desperation. The sound of his voice slips into the darkness and is lost.

He tries again. "I believe, Jesus! I believe now! Save me from this!" Again the darkness smothers his words.

Our sinner is not unique. Everyone in hell believes. When he wearies of appeals, he does next what anyone would do--assesses his situation and attempts to adapt. But then it hits him--this is forever. Jesus made it very clear. He used the same words for "forever" to describe both heaven and hell. Forever, he thinks, and his mind labors through the blackness until he aches. "Forever!" he whispers in wonder. The idea deepens, widens, and towers over him.

The awful truth spreads before him like endless, overlapping slats: When I put in ten thousand centuries of time here, I will not have accomplished one thing, I will not have one second less to spend here.

As the rich man pleaded for a drop of water, so, too, our new occupant entertains a similar ambition. In life he learned that even bad things could be tolerated if one could find temporary relief. Perhaps even hell, if one could rest from time to time, would be more tolerable.He learns, though, that "the smoke of [his] torment goes up forever and ever; and [he has] no rest day and night" (Rev. 14:11 NASB). No rest day and night.
-author unknown

-------------------------------------------------------

...[in hell] thou shalt have none but a company of damned souls, with an innumerable company of devils, to keep company with thee. While thou art in this world, the very thoughts of the devils appearing to thee makes thy flesh to tremble, and thine hair ready to stand upright on thy head. But O! what wilt thou do, when not only the supposition of the devils appearing, but the real society of all the devils in hell will be with thee howling and roaring, screeching and roaring in such a hideous manner, that thou wilt be even at thy wits' end, and be ready to run stark mad again for anguish and torment?....[if after] ten thousand years, and so end, there would be ground of comfort, and hopes of deliverance; but here is thy misery, this is thy state for ever, here thou must be for ever: when thou lookest about thee, and seest what an innumerable company of howling devils thou art amongst, thou shalt think this again, this is my portion for ever. When thou hast been in hell so many thousand years as there are stars in the firmament, or drops in the sea, or sands on the sea-shore, yet thou hast to lie there for ever. O this one word EVER, how will it torment thy soul!
-John Bunyan

May God grant us much grace to seek and save the Lost!!!!

Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist

2006-03-17T20:59:00.000-08:00

Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist

Child Actor Finds Second Career Trying to Bring People to Christianity
By MARTIN BASHIR

March 17, 2006 — - As Mike Seaver, the eldest son in the smash hit sitcom "Growing Pains," actor Kirk Cameron could make audiences roll with laughter. But now he wants to bring them to the Lord. And he's deadly serious.

Watch "Nightline" tonight at 11:35 p.m. ET for Martin Bashir's full interview with Kirk Cameron.

The show, which began in 1985 , dominated the television ratings. Cameron joined the cast at the age of 14.

At first, he says, he was mesmerized by Hollywood and all the benefits that came from his newly acquired celebrity status. But soon he grew weary of signing autographs and a lifestyle that seemed entirely superficial.

The transition came about after Cameron reached his 16th birthday.
He sat in Beverly Hills in his newly purchased car and decided to pray. "I said, 'God if you're there, I want to know,'" he told Nightline. "'I don't want to be fooled or blinded by any sort of religion, but if you are real I need to know because I've completely ignored you my entire life. And if I die and find out that I am wrong about your existence, I've played the part of the biggest fool, and all of my money, popularity will not mean anything on that day.'"

Conflict on a Hit Sitcom
Soon, Cameron started attending church and began to deepen his own theological understanding and grasp of Christianity. This eventually led to a clash between his personal and professional interests.
"There was a scene where Mike Seaver was to be lying in bed with a girlfriend and as I wake up in the morning, Mike ... rolls over and just says, 'Hey babe, tell me again, what's your name?'"
He found the scene conflicted with the Christian values he had embraced.
"I'm faithful to my wife. I don't wake up in bed next to another girl because I know my children are going to learn by my actions, and I felt that was the responsibility of our show ... to portray real life but in a way that left people with something that would move them up higher morally."

At first he tried to reason with the show's producers.
"If something came up, I thought, let's find another way to say it, let's find another way of doing that. And of course when I would bring that up, then that suddenly became connected with the fact that I was now a Christian. That got spun into 'Kirk is trying to push his religious views onto the show.'"

After seven years, ABC decided to cancel the show. The end of the series gave Cameron an opportunity to resolve the tension he felt between the requirements of his profession and the demands of his faith. He started working on the popular Apocalyptic "Left Behind" film series and then met an itinerant preacher, Ray Comfort, who encouraged him to begin a second career -- as an evangelist.

Together they formed an organization called "The Way of the Master." Operating as a charitable trust, its intention is to educate and equip the church to preach the message of Christianity to unbelievers. Cameron says he is motivated by a literal fear of hell.

"I believe the Scriptures teach that there's a literal heaven and a literal hell, just like Jesus said," he explained. "And without forgiveness of sins that, yeah, the place of punishment is called hell."

In addition to creating teaching materials, books and a Web site, Cameron is now back on TV in a weekly cable program. "The Way of the Master" show features Cameron and Comfort speaking to strangers about Christianity. On occasions, things go badly wrong and the pair is attacked by members of the public.

Comfort recalled one incident, saying "While I was preaching the gospel a gentleman came up and he started spitting on me. And he spat quite a few times." He says he simply remained calm and moved on.
"My favorite Bible verse is where Jesus said, 'If you are persecuted in one city, flee to the next,'" Comfort said. "And that's what I did."
Cameron says that he is producing the show because he objects to the way many churches present the Christian faith. He believes that Christianity has become just another ideology that is used to indulge personal interests and contains little of the original message of repentance and faith.

"Much of the modern message seems to revolve around get what's yours in Christ today. They say, 'If you say this little prayer then all is well' and you'll know health, wealth, prosperity, everything you could ever want. That's not the truthful message of Christ."
Neither Comfort nor Cameron has theological degrees nor any kind of formal training. But Cameron says that he's convinced his new career is vitally important.

"The goal of me doing the 'Way of the Master' and doing this interview is not to convince you that I am an authority on the subject. I have no authority. I am simply trying to be faithful to the God who saved me, who changed me and who has commissioned me to tell you and those who are watching this interview ... about the gospel of Jesus Christ and that it has the power to change people's hearts."

Copyright © 2006 ABC News Internet Ventures

Dr. Al Mohler tonight-Fox News Channel’s 'O’Reilly Factor'

2006-03-17T12:35:00.001-08:00

MEDIA APPEARANCE

R. Albert Mohler Jr.
President, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary
Host, The Albert Mohler Program (a daily, nationally syndicated radio show with the Salem Radio Network)

Dr. Mohler is scheduled to appear tonight on Fox News Channel’s “O’Reilly Factor.” Mohler will discuss how evangelical Christians should talk about and relate to Islam, in light of recent comments by evangelist Franklin Graham. In an interview, Graham stood by an earlier statement that Islam is an “evil and wicked religion.” Graham’s comments sparked controversy in the national media, but Mohler has said that Christians have no choice but to speak the truth about other religions, including Islam, which he has said represents a false gospel, a false god and a false salvation.

“The O’Reilly Factor” airs at 8:00 PM (EST) on the Fox News Channel and repeats at 11:00 PM (EST).
-----------------------------
Let us all pray that Dr. Mohler will speak well for Christ and that people will come to Christ as a result!!!

Kirk and Ray on ABC's Nightline - Friday!!

2006-03-16T12:59:00.000-08:00

From the Way of the Master Newsletter:

Kirk and Ray on ABC's Nightline - Friday

A producer from ABC's Nightline called last month and said that he had seen our TV show and wanted to do an interview with Kirk and Ray. A week later a full camera crew showed up, and ABC flew over a producer and Martin Bashir from New York. Martin Bashir is the hard-hitting reporter who interviewed Princess Diana and conducted the 2003 interview with Michael Jackson. After a spirited, two hour interview we are very excited about its potential for the gospel and for the ministry in general.

We've just been notified that the segment featuring the ministry is scheduled to air this Friday, March 17 at 11:35 pm PST. Please note that Nightline may come on earlier or later in your time zone. Check your local listings. (To check local listings online you can visit AOL Television Listing pages [http://television.aol.com/listings/main.adp], select your area, and then type in "Nightline" in the search box. From there you should easily be able to see when Nightline comes on in your time zone.)

An Introduction To John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress

2006-03-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to a great introduction to Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress...a great read(both the book and the article)....

http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/articles/article_detail.php?876

AND

http://www.banneroftruth.org/pages/articles/article_detail.php?303

Have at it!!!

P.S. Heres a bit to whet your appitite :-)

"The story of Christian's dangerous journey illustrates the perseverance of every true Christian. The Christian life is a series of battles which must be fought in the strength of Christ. There will be failures - just as Christian fell into the Slough of Despond, sinfully listened to Mr Worldly-Wiseman, was wounded by Apollyon, and locked in Doubting Castle. But just like Bunyan's pilgrim, each obstacle is eventually overcome and 'progress' is made in one's journey to the Celestial City.

A strange scene in the Interpreter's house well illustrates the truth of perseverance. Christian sees a fire burning against a wall, and one standing by it always, casting much water upon it to quench it. Yet did the fire burn higher and hotter.

Again, he asks Interpreter, 'What means this?' Interpreter answers: 'The fire is the work of grace that is wrought in the heart; he that casts water upon it to extinguish and put it out is the Devil'. Then Interpreter takes him to the back side of the wall to show him why the fire burns higher and hotter, rather than going out. There Christian sees a man with a vessel of oil which he continually, but secretly, casts on the fire. The Interpreter says:

'This is Christ, who continually, with the oil of his grace, maintains the work already begun in the heart, by means of which, notwithstanding what the Devil can do, the souls of his people prove gracious still. '

What a beautiful picture of God's work to keep us persevering! Let us read this wonderful book. Read it more than once. Read it prayerfully and search intently for the rich spiritual lessons it contains. Use it to examine your own heart and to encourage you in your spiritual pilgrimage. For those not used to seventeenth-century language, it may in places be tough going, but it will be worth it to those who have a taste for spiritual things."

Lookin' for a Tonne o' online books???

2006-03-14T21:27:00.000-08:00

Here ya go...a huge bunch o' links to various online books, be sure to check it out!!

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/books/onlinebooks.html

Keep reading the Word!!

How to know when your watching too much tv....

2006-03-13T19:18:00.000-08:00

How to know when your watching too much tv??? When this song runs through your mind(I aplogise if you are offended by satire..I think this is what this is??):

the tv song

tv loves me this i know
the tv guide it tells me so
little minds to it belong
they are weak but the signals strong

yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
the guide it tells me so

families out and gay is in
loving god is now a sin
occult worship is devine
tv loves me, trains my mind

yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
norman lear he tells me so

movie murders with an axe
really helped me to relax
tv guide upon my knee
makes me wish that i could read

NBC loves me
CBS loves me
ABC loves me
Elvira tells me so

comfort me most every night
bathe me in your blueish light
when im tuned in im feeling fine
as i kneel before my little shrine

prophets of the picture tube
sally, oprah and donahue
tells me how things ought to be
pre-digested thoughts for me

dan rather loves me
tom brokoff loves me
dave brinkley loves me
heraldo tells me so

football games and reebok ads
nordic track and weight loss fads
Mezmerize my captive mind
while i sit on my fat behind

yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
yes tv loves me
the beer ads tell me so

illusions pour from my tv
electroneclabotamy
the truth i found out in the end
from the one who died and rose again

yes jesus loves me
yes jesus loves me
yes jesus loves me
the bible tells me so
-author unknown

Lets read good books!!

Meditations by Bradstreet and Newton...

2006-03-03T12:11:00.000-08:00

Romans 11:33-36:

"Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord,or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen."

-------------------------------

Meditation by Anne Bradstreet

Edited by Jeannine Hensley

My soul, rejoice thou in thy God,

Boast of Him all the day,

Walk in His law, and kiss His rod

Cleave close to Him alway.

What though thy outward man decay,

Thy inward shall wax strong.

Thy body vile it shall be changed,

And glorious made erelong.

With angel's wings thy soul shall mount

To bliss unseen by eye,

And drink at unexhausted fount

Of joy unto eternity.

Thy tears shall all be dried up,

Thy sorrows all shall fly,

Thy sins shall ne'er be summoned up

Nor come in memory.

Then shall I know what

Thou hast done For me, unworthy me,

And praise Thee shall ev'n as I ought

For wonders that I see.

Base world, I trample on thy face,

Thy glory I despise,

No gain I find in ought below,

For God hath made me wise.

Come Jesus quickly, Blessed Lord.

Thy face when shall I see?

O let me count each hour a day

'Till I dissolved be.

The World

By John Newton

1 See, the world for youth prepares,

Harlot-like, her gaudy snares!

Pleasures round her seem to wait,

But 'tis all a painted cheat.

2 Rash and unsuspecting youth

Thinks to find thee always smooth,

Always kind, till better taught,

By experience dearly bought.

3 So the calm, but faithless sea

(Lively emblem, world, of thee)

Tempts the shepherd from the shore

Foreign regions to explore.

4 While no wrinkled wave is seen,

While the sky remains serene,

Fill'd with hopes, and golden schemes

Of a storm he little dreams.

5 But ere long the tempest raves,

Then he trembles at the waves;

Wishes then he had been wise,

But too late—he sinks and dies.

6 Hapless thus, are they, vain world,

Soon on rocks of ruin hurl'd,

Who admiring thee, untry'd,

Court thy pleasure. wealth, or pride.

7 Such a shipwreck had been mine,

Had not Jesus (name divine!)

Sav'd me with a mighty hand,

And restor'd my soul to land.

8 Now, with gratitude I raise

Ebenezers to his praise;

Now my rash pursuits are o'er,

I can trust thee, world, no more.

How to Get the Most from Reading your Bible by Thomas Watson

2006-03-02T16:01:00.000-08:00

How to Get the Most from Reading your Bible

by Thomas Watson (Abridged and Modernised by Matthew Vogan)

1. Remove hindrances. (a) remove the love of every sin (b) remove the distracting concerns of this world, especially covetousness [Matt. 13:22] (c) Don't make jokes with and out of Scripture.

2. Prepare your heart. [1 Sam. 7:3] Do this by: (a) collecting your thoughts (b) purging unclean affections and desires (c) not coming to it rashly or carelessly.

3. Read it with reverence, considering that each line is God speaking directly to you.

4. Read the books of the Bible in order.

5. Get a true understanding of Scripture. [Ps. 119:73] This is best achieved by comparing relevant parts of Scripture with each other.

6. Read with seriousness. [Deut. 32:47] The Christian life is to be taken seriously since it requires striving [Luke 13:24] and not falling short [Heb. 4:1].

7. Persevere in remembering what you read. [Ps. 119:52] Don't let it be stolen from you [Matt. 13:4,19]. If it doesn't stay in your memory it is unlikely to be much benefit to you.

8. Meditate on what you read. [Ps. 119:15] The Hebrew word for meditate' means to be intense in the mind'. Meditation without reading is wrong and bound to err; reading without meditation is barren and fruitless. It means to stir the affections, to be warmed by the fire of meditation [Ps. 39:3].

9. Read with a humble heart. Acknowledge that you are unworthy that God should reveal himself to you [James 4:6]

10. Believe it all to be God's Holy Word. [2 Tim 3:16] We know that no sinner could have written it because of the way it describes sin. No saint could blaspheme God by pretending his own Word was God's. No angel could have written it for the same reason. [Heb 4:2]

11. Prize the Bible highly. [Ps. 119:72] It is your lifeline; you were born by it [James 1:18] you need to grow by it [1 Pet 2:2] [cf. Job 23:12].

12. Love the Bible ardently [Ps. 119:159].

13. Come to read it with an honest heart. [Luke 8:15] (a) Willing to know the entire and complete will of God (b) reading in order to be changed and made better by it [John 17:17].

14. Apply to yourself everything that you read, take every word as spoken to yourself. Its condemnation of sins as the condemnation of your own sin; the duty that it requires as the duty God would require from you [2 Kings 22:11].

15. Pay close attention to the commands of the Word as much as the promises. Think of how you need direction just as much as you need comfort.

16. Don't get carried away with the minor details, rather make sure to pay closest attention to the great things [Hosea 8:12].

17. Compare yourself with the Word. How do you compare? Is your heart something of a transcript of it, or not?

18. Pay special attention to those passages that speak to your individual, particular and present situation. e.g. (a) Affliction -- [Heb. 12:7, Isaiah 27:9, John 16:20, 2 Cor 4:17. (b) Sense of Christ's presence and smile withdrawn -- [Isaiah 54:8, Isaiah 57:16, Ps. 97:11] (c) Sin -- [Gal 5:24, James 1:15, 1 Peter 2:11, Prov 7:10&22-23, Prov 22:14] (d) Unbelief -- [Isaiah 26:3, 2 Sam 22:31, John 3:15, 1 John 5:10, John 3:36]

19. Pay special attention to the examples and lives of people in the Bible as living sermons. (a) Punishments [Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, Num 25:3-4&9, 1 Kings 14:9-10, Acts 5:5,10, 1 Cor 10:11, Jude 7] (b) mercies and deliverances [Daniel, Jeremiah, the 3 youths in the fiery furnace]

20. Don't stop reading the Bible until you find your heart warmed. [Ps 119:93] Let it not only inform you but also inflame you [Jer 23:29, Luke 24:32].

21. Put into practice what you read [Ps 119:66, Ps 119:105, Deut 17:19].

22. Christ is for us Prophet, Priest and King. Make use of His office as a Prophet [Rev 5:5, John 8:12, Ps 119:102-103]. Get Christ not only to open the Scriptures up to you, but to open up your mind and understanding [Luke 24:45]

23. Make sure to put yourself under a true ministry of the Word,
faithfully and thoroughly expounding the Word [Prov 8:34] be earnest and eager in waiting on it.

24. Pray that you will profit from reading [Isaiah 48:17, Ps 119:18, Nehemiah 9:20].

Natural obstacles You may still be able to profit from reading even though:

1. You don't seem to profit as much as others do. Remember the different yields [Matt 13:8] though the yield isn't as much as others it is still a true and fruitful yield.

2. You may feel slow of understanding [Luke 9:45, Heb 5:11].

3. Your memory is bad (a) remember you are still able to have a good heart despite this (b) you may still remember the most important things even if you cannot remember everything, be encouraged by John 14:26.

In case your in an accident..dont get out of your car!

2006-02-25T06:15:00.001-08:00

In case you get in an accident dont get out of your car...This poor guy did and listen to what happened to him...

http://graphics1.snopes.com/autos/audio/jackbox.mp3

If your having a difficult day this will give you somthing to ponder!

Keep reading your Bible!

Jesus, Superman and your pets' rights....

2006-02-24T05:17:00.000-08:00

Is it a bird, is it an RE teacher? Superman called on to help in the classroom
By Liz Lightfoot, Education Correspondent

After three decades battling to save the Earth from invaders, Superman has a new mission. This time he must brighten up religious education as a modern-day model of Jesus Christ. RE teachers are being urged to make use of the fictional hero to give children an insight into morality and religious thinking.

Research has shown that the use of films, including Star Wars, Saving Private Ryan and The Matrix, increases pupils' motivation and helps them to a better understanding of abstract concepts, says Helen Cook, of Sheffield Hallam University.

"Teenagers visit the cinema and see films on television and DVDs so it's hardly surprising that their assessments of what is heroic and what is evil, possible or impossible, are partly based on what they watch," says Miss Cook, the head of post-graduate teacher training in RE. She sees many parallels between Superman and Jesus:

• Both arrive on Earth in unusual circumstances after being sent by their fathers
• Both move from relative obscurity to a prominent adulthood

• Both are able to help the humans they are sent to live with

• Both struggle to stand up for truth against injustice and evil

Miss Cook, a former RE teacher in Lincolnshire, says children who were not interested before become enthusiastic once they are given a point of reference. "Children aren't brought up to go to Sunday School any more and find it difficult to think about abstract concepts such as God and pre-destination and films give them an insight," she says.

In some schools the use of cartoon and film figures might be considered a sacrilege and teachers have to use them sensitively, she adds.

The Rev Dr John Gay, the Church of England's spokesman on religious education, said analogies could be a highly effective teaching technique as long as they are used carefully. "They go right back to the parables."

Taken from http://www.telegraph.co.uk
--------------------------

Government guidelines will tell owners exactly how they must care for their pets

CATS, dogs and other family pets are to have five statutory “freedoms” enshrined in law — and owners who flout the regulations could face jail or a fine of up to Ј5,000 after a visit from the “pet police”. The Times has learnt that Margaret Beckett, the Environment Secretary, is to produce detailed codes of conduct telling pet owners how to feed their animals and where they should go to the toilet, along with ways of providing “mental stimulation”. Owners of “sociable” pets should provide them with playmates, the codes will say. Every domesticated animal will have a code of conduct tailored to their species, each of which is expected to run into dozens of pages. This will form part of the Animal Welfare Bill, expected to clear Parliament in the next few months.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will inform the owners of Britain’s ten million cats, eight million dogs and one million rabbits of their new obligations in a series of pamphlets distributed to vets, pet shops, kennels and over the internet. The first code of conduct, produced for cat owners, has been obtained by The Times. The 18-page A4 document, drafted for MPs scrutinising the Bill, warns cat owners of the dangers of dogs.

It reads: “Dogs should be introduced to cats very carefully. The dog should be on a lead at first so that it cannot chase the cat.” Although any breach of these codes is not an offence in itself, failure to observe elements of the code will count against defendants in court. The five freedoms laid down by the Animal Welfare Bill are: appropriate diet, suitable living conditions, companionship or solitude as appropriate, monitoring for abnormal behaviour and protection from pain, suffering, injury and disease. The law will be enforced by “pet police”; council employees with powers to enter property and seize animals. This is a significant shift from the present situation, where prosecutors have to prove a domestic animal is being mistreated.

The Bill, which has crossparty support and is expected to return to the floor of the Commons in March, also bans the docking of dogs’ tails and pets being won as prizes by anyone aged under 16. Bill Wiggin, the Shadow Agriculture Minister who is seeing the Bill through committee stage, wants the legislation amended so that first-time offenders get a written warning. “There will be a lot of information in these codes of conduct and people who don’t read them properly may fall foul of the law,” he said. Janet Nunn, chief executive of the Pet Care Trust, said that owners should keep all vets’ bills and other documentation to prove that they were looking after the animal properly. Ben Bradshaw, the Animal Welfare Minister, said: “The vast majority of pet owners have nothing to fear from this legislation.” The Bill increases the time in which a prosecutor can bring a case from six months to three years.

Pet shops may bring in a register of animals sold, with customers signing to signify they are above the age of 16 and have been given care advice. The Bill applies to all vertebrates, but a code of conduct for invertebrates, such as lobsters, may follow. The Government has said it is an “enabling” Bill, which allows further rules to be drawn up under secondary legislation.

THE CODE OF CONDUCT
The 18-page draft code tells cat owners that they should:

Keep cats indoors at night to protect them and the local wildlife

Neuter cats at four months old. Females can produce up to 18 kittens a year, the code says, and “motherhood takes a lot out of a cat”. Cats advertise their availability by screeching, fighting and wandering off, it adds

Provide areas where cats can hide, such as an enclosed bed or box, or a high ledge where they can escape from children and other pets

Ensure that cats have enough “mental stimulation” so that they do not become bored or frustrated

Use lightweight rolling balls, or toys that stimulate “catching behaviour”, such as fishing rods Make sure that cats do not become overweight, and know their ideal weight at every stage of their life

Ensure that cats’ preference for privacy is met by giving them a hidden away place with cat litter to relieve themselves. This advice forms part of a nine-point guide for “going to the toilet”

-taken from the following web site: http://www.cavyrescue.co.uk/cgi-bin/news.pl?record=23

Movie reviews from a Conservative Perspective!

2006-02-21T12:51:00.002-08:00

Hey Everybody, Here are a couple of links that review movies from an objective, conservative perspective and give details as to the content. I find it a helpful resource to know what Im going to see (with regards to violence, language, sexual content etc) and can therefore make an informed decision before viewing. Here ya go:

http://www.kids-in-mind.com/

and

http://www.capalert.com/capreports/index.htm

Movie reviews from a Conservative Perspective!

2006-02-21T12:51:00.001-08:00

The Urgency of Preaching!!

2006-02-18T06:53:00.000-08:00

The Urgency of Preaching
by R. Albert Mohler, Jr.
The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

And how will they hear without a preacher?Romans 10:14

Has preaching fallen on hard times? An open debate is now being waged over the character and centrality of preaching in the church. At stake is nothing less than the integrity of Christian worship and proclamation.

How did this happen? Given the central place of preaching in the New Testament church, it would seem that the priority of biblical preaching should be uncontested. After all, as John A. Broadus--one of Southern Seminary's founding faculty--famously remarked, "Preaching is characteristic of Christianity. No other religion has made the regular and frequent assembling of groups of people, to hear religious instruction and exhortation, an integral part of Christian worship."

Yet, numerous influential voices within evangelicalism suggest that the age of the expository sermon is now past. In its place, some contemporary preachers now substitute messages intentionally designed to reach secular or superficial congregations--messages which avoid preaching a biblical text, and thus avoid a potentially embarrassing confrontation with biblical truth.

A subtle shift visible at the onset of the twentieth century has become a great divide as the century ends. The shift from expository preaching to more topical and human-centered approaches has grown into a debate over the place of Scripture in preaching, and the nature of preaching itself.

Two famous statements about preaching illustrate this growing divide. Reflecting poetically on the urgency and centrality of preaching, the Puritan pastor Richard Baxter once remarked, "I preach as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men." With vivid expression and a sense of gospel gravity, Baxter understood that preaching is literally a life or death affair. Eternity hangs in the balance as the preacher proclaims the Word.

Contrast that statement to the words of Harry Emerson Fosdick, perhaps the most famous (or infamous) preacher of this century's early decades. Fosdick, pastor of the Riverside Church in New York City, provides an instructive contrast to the venerable Baxter. "Preaching," he explained, "is personal counseling on a group basis."

These two statements about preaching reveal the contours of the contemporary debate. For Baxter, the promise of heaven and the horrors of hell frame the preacher's consuming burden. For Fosdick, the preacher is a kindly counselor offering helpful advice and encouragement.
The current debate over preaching is most commonly explained as a argument about the focus and shape of the sermon. Should the preacher seek to preach a biblical text through an expository sermon? Or, should the preacher direct the sermon to the "felt needs" and perceived concerns of the hearers?

Clearly, many evangelicals now favor the second approach. Urged on by devotees of "needs-based preaching," many evangelicals have abandoned the text without recognizing that they have done so. These preachers may eventually get to the text in the course of the sermon, but the text does not set the agenda or establish the shape of the message.

Focusing on so-called "perceived needs" and allowing these needs to set the preaching agenda inevitably leads to a loss of biblical authority and biblical content in the sermon. Yet, this pattern is increasingly the norm in many evangelical pulpits. Fosdick must be smiling from the grave.

Earlier evangelicals recognized Fosdick's approach as a rejection of biblical preaching. An out-of-the-closet theological liberal, Fosdick paraded his rejection of biblical inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility--and rejected other doctrines central to the Christian faith. Enamored with trends in psychological theory, Fosdick became liberal Protestantism's happy pulpit therapist. The goal of his preaching was well captured by the title of one of his many books, On Being a Real Person.

Shockingly, this is now the approach evident in many evangelical pulpits. The sacred desk has become an advice center and the pew has become the therapist's couch. Psychological and practical concerns have displaced theological exegesis and the preacher directs his sermon to the congregation's perceived needs.

The problem is, of course, that the sinner does not know what his most urgent need is. She is blind to her need for redemption and reconciliation with God, and focuses on potentially real but temporal needs such as personal fulfillment, financial security, family peace, and career advancement. Too many sermons settle for answering these expressed needs and concerns, and fail to proclaim the Word of Truth.

Without doubt, few preachers following this popular trend intend to depart from the Bible. But under the guise of an intention to reach modern secular men and women "where they are," the sermon has been transformed into a success seminar. Some verses of Scripture may be added to the mix, but for a sermon to be genuinely biblical, the text must set the agenda as the foundation of the message--not as an authority cited for spiritual footnoting.

Charles Spurgeon confronted the very same pattern of wavering pulpits in his own day. Some of the most fashionable and well-attended London churches featured pulpiteers who were the precursors to modern needs-based preachers. Spurgeon--who managed to draw a few hearers despite his insistence on biblical preaching--confessed that "The true ambassador for Christ feels that he himself stands before God and has to deal with souls in God's stead as God's servant, and stands in a solemn place--a place in which unfaithfulness is inhumanity to man as well as treason to God."

Spurgeon and Baxter understood the dangerous mandate of the preacher, and were therefore driven to the Bible as their only authority and message. They left their pulpits trembling with urgent concern for the souls of their hearers and fully aware of their accountability to God for preaching His Word, and His Word alone. Their sermons were measured by power; Fosdick's by popularity.

The current debate over preaching may well shake congregations, denominations, and the evangelical movement. But know this: The recovery and renewal of the church in this generation will come only when from pulpit to pulpit the herald preaches as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.

© R. Albert Mohler, Jr. - All Rights Reserved

JESUS IS MY SUPERHERO?...Wheres that verse in the Bible???

2006-02-17T12:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, now its your turn! Is there anything wrong with the following song?? Both of these songs are written for children...my question is, what are we teaching in the following two songs? What do we want our children to understand about God, themselves and Jesus Christ? I find the first song seriously lacking in theological depth as well as I have a few other concerns (one of which is calling Jesus a Superhero...is that the best we can do? Umm...no, no its not...What about speaking of God as holy, or being created by God, talking of the cross etc...come on, really! We CAN do better!!) but I will leave most of the critiquing to you :-) Let us sing to the Glory of God well!! I am thankful to God for great songs of the faith that give glory to God and talk of the cross of Christ! Do you smell somthing? I think I just opened up 'a can of worms'...well lets' dive in, here we go!!:

JESUS IS MY SUPERHERO- Hillsong Kids.
he's the one who makes the sun shine
he's the one who puts the moon in the sky
he's the one who hung the stars, one by one
he's the one who made the birds sing
he's the one who makes the trees so high
he's the one who makes me smile, day by day
jesus youre my superhero
you're my star
my best friend x2.
better than spiderman..better than superman..better than batman..better than anyone.

As compared with....

MIGHTY, MIGHTY SAVIOR

No one is good
No one is holy before God
I need someone to cleanse me
No one is pure
No one is righteous in Your sight
I need someone to save me
But I’m so glad You died and rose again
For helpless sinners like me

What a mighty, mighty Savior You are
What a mighty, mighty Savior You are
You can wash away my sin
You can change my heart within
What a mighty, mighty Savior You are

Sin is too strong
For me to conquer on my own
I need someone to help me
I am too weak
I cannot change my evil heart
I need someone to save me
But I’m so glad You died and rose again
For helpless sinners like me
© 2004 Sovereign Grace Praise

So what on your brain???

Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Authority in Preaching

2006-02-14T14:13:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday our pastor preached on Romans 10:14-15 and the sermon can be found at:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/source_detail.asp?sourceid=gfcto

I thought I would post an article by Iain Murray on the authority of Preaching, enjoy!

Dr. Lloyd-Jones and Authority in Preaching

[The Summary of an Address given by Iain Murray at the Carey Conference 2001 at Swanwick.]

During the Second World War a Scot who was in the services and visiting London went to Westminster Chapel but the Chapel was closed,damaged by bombing, but on a piece of paper visitors were directed to a nearby hall. He described a 'thin man' wearing a tie calling the people to worship. He thought the man was a church officer, and he appreciated his prayer, but then the man began to preach, beginning quietly enough. "This must be Lloyd-Jones," he thought. But for the next 40 minutes he was unconscious of anything else in the world, hearing only this man's words. He had been caught up in the mystery of preaching. That man later became a well known Church of Scotland minister called Tom Allen.

When he left that service Tom Allen was taken up with the message, not the preacher. DMLJ would have thought little of conferences addresses like this one about himself. He thought messages about contemporary men had done great injury especially during the Victorian period. With man-centredness being the terrible bane of today's church there is a danger in drawing attention to personalities. DMLJ would quote the words of God, "My servant Moses is dead so arise and go over Jordan." DMLJ prevented several would-be biographers writing anything, and reluctantly consented to Iain Murray's official biography if only something could be written which would encourage those who were entering the gospel ministry.

DMLJ believed that God was the God of tomorrow who would raise up servants who would enjoy blessings that he himself had not known. Frequently when he prayed it was particularly for a recovery of authority and power in preaching.

One must add another observation, that preaching was not DMLJ's exclusive concern. He was concerned with the church fellowship, prayer meetings, and the promotion of foreign missionaries, but he was convinced that the spiritual health of the church depended on the state of the pulpit. On behalf of Christ the true preacher speaks and the Lord himself is building his church in his sovereign way. So DMLJ was conscious of what he spoke of as the romance of preaching. The preacher is but an instrument in the Lord's hands: the preacher is not in control. Preaching is the highest and most glorious calling to which anyone could be called.
So when we come to the subject of authority in preaching there are a number of ways this could be addressed and the New Testament terminology on this theme should be studied, e.g. that 'Jesus spoke with authority', the phrase 'the word came with power', and the word 'boldness' which is surprisingly frequent in the NT. Iain Murray's approach was to take the characteristics of preaching with power.

1. It always is attended by a consciousness of the presence of God.
Though a worshipper may be meeting in the midst of a large congregation of people when the preaching is with authority the individual forgets the person he has come with, and the building they are sitting in, and even the one who is preaching. He is conscious that he is being spoken to by the living God. Thus it was in Acts 2. A remarkable illustration of this is the spiritualist woman in Sandfields, drawn to hear DMLJ and conscious that she was surrounded by 'clean' power. For the first time she was conscious she was in the presence of God. Thomas Hooker had such a sense of God about him that it was said that he could have put a king in his pocket.

2. There is no problem of holding the attention of the people.
It is a problem to keep people's attention. The preacher has his chain of thought, and all the people also may have theirs which are all very different so that they are taking in very little from the preaching. But authoritative preaching gets inside people because it speaks to the heart, conscience and will. Skillful oratory cannot come anywhere near to that preaching. It made a moral and emotional earthquake in those who heard the word at Thessalonica. The well-remembered ship builder who built ships in his mind during Sundays' sermon could not lay the first plank when he was listening to George Whitefield preach. Conviction of sin and the reality of the living God became far more important to him than his business.

One Friday night in his series of lectures on theology DMLJ was preaching from Revelation on the final judgment on Babylon and listening to that exultant message it would have been impossible to have been occupied with any other subject, the great reality was such that awareness of anything else disappeared. The very date of that occasion was accurately quoted, easily memorable to the speaker because the next day he was getting married, but all thoughts of that were gone as he saw the overthrow of great Babylon.

3. Even children can understand it.
There is a mistake in thinking that preaching is chiefly to address the intellect, and thus the will. Rather preaching is to address the heart and soul of men and women. Preaching which accomplishes that can arrest a child as easily as a grown-up. Children did listen to DMLJ because of the character of the preaching and the sense of God about it.

4. It is preaching that results in a change in those who listen.
It may be repentance; it may be restoration, or reconciliation; it may be strength given for those in the midst of trials, but powerful preaching brings that change. Sometimes they went away indignant and some of them were later converted. You cannot be apathetic under true preaching. Felix trembled. There was no certainty of conversions but there was a degree of certainty that there will be power in that preaching. In Mrs Bethan Lloyd-Jones' book on Sandfields there is a reference to a professor of law at Liverpool who said that there were two men who kept the country from communism - Aneurin Bevan and DMLJ. His preaching affected communities. On November 15 1967 he was preaching in Aberfan a year after the disaster. His text was Romans 8:18 "the sufferings of the present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory to be revealed in us." It had a great impact on the perplexed little religious community in the Taff valley.

What is Necessary for Powerful Preaching? What elements produce it?

1. Sermons will not be marked by authority and power unless they are marked by truth that the Holy Spirit can honour. The word of God is to be exegeted and explained. That has to be the heart of the sermon. There is a real danger that we become over concerned about such things as delivery, while the New Testament is insistent on the content: "let him speak as the oracles of God." The authority of the preaching comes from the text of Scripture. It is God- given power which honours his own word.

Dr Lloyd-Jones grew up in a vague sentimental era with churches fascinated with the personalities and quirks of famous men. DMLJ as a man was absorbed with the glory and the greatness of the truth. A preacher lives in the truth. DMLJ expected the preacher to go through the whole Bible in his personal devotions once each year. He expected him to continue to read theology as long as he lived. The more he read the better. Preaching is theology coming through a man who is on fire.

In the latter part of his ministry there was a change in emphasis. In the first 30 years there was a stress on the importance of the historic faith, and then in the last decades a new emphasis emerged, not now on the recovery of truth but with the accompanying need of power to proclaim it.

2. The man himself is a part of the message. He can read all the best books and give out a whole rounded exegesis of the text, but somehow the man himself has not become a part of the truth. The less we say of ourselves in preaching the better, but the Holy Spirit does not work in preaching except through the man, and so, inevitably, not only does the message compel attention but the man himself. The man becomes a part of the message. What does that mean?

A] The preacher must know the power of the message he is bringing to others. When DMLJ was 25 and at the cross-roads of his life, he became engaged to Bethan Philips, and she became conscious that her future husband was considering becoming a preacher. She was very concerned because she had never heard him preach. At that point a letter came from a missionary society inviting them to become medical missionaries in India. She was challenged by this invitation but DMLJ had no interest at all. Bethan said to him, "But how do you know that you can preach?" "I know I can preach to myself" he replied. He knew the power of the truth in his own heart.

When he was preaching on Ephesians 2 on fulfilling the lusts of the flesh and the mind he raised the question what they were? He interjected that "as I was preparing this sermon it filled me with a loathing and hatred of myself. I look back and I think of the hours I have wasted in mere talk and argumentation. And it was with one end only, simply to gain my point and to show how clever I was" ("God's Way of Reconciliation" p.65). So DMLJ was preaching to himself before he spoke to others.

B] The Holy Spirit must produce the feelings in the preacher's heart that must be in harmony with what the Spirit has breathed out. Paul writes, "Knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men." Again he speaks of some "with tears" that they are enemies of the cross. One finds phrases like, "I tell you weeping ...I am glad and rejoice with you all." There was something in the way these preachers used by God spoke - "I preached what I smartingly did feel," said Bunyan. A most important part of preaching is exhortation. In preaching we move people to do what they are listening to, and to this end there has to be a felt consciousness in the preacher of the truth of what he is saying. We have to bring our feelings into harmony with the stupendous nature of what we are saying. The men most used of God in their pulpits are those who know they had fallen far short of the wonder that should characterise the preaching.

C] The more he becomes part of his message then the more he forgets himself. What is the main feeling in the preacher? It should be love - to God and to man. It is the very opposite of self-centredness. Love seeks not her own. The needs of the people spoken to take over. We forget ourselves. A baptism of Holy Spirit love gives us a love for people.

Preaching Under the Influence of the Holy Spirit.

There is a total insufficiency in ourselves or in anyone else in the world, so that we cannot preach without the Holy Spirit. I Cor 2:3 - is the key text, "And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling." God makes us weak and so enables us to become true preachers. Real authority always comes out of felt weakens, and then God uses us. The preacher is the last person to be praised. To be clapped when he had finished would have horrified him.

Bethan Lloyd-Jones once listed to some men speaking about her husband and she interjected, "No one will understand my husband who does not realise that he was first an evangelist and a man of prayer." DMLJ loved the hymn of Oswald Allen, "Today thy mercy calls us..." especially these final lines:

When all things seem against us,

To drive us to despair,

We know one gate is open,

One ear will hear our prayer

That is what he believed. His public pastoral prayer lifted many burdens long before the preaching began. He rested ultimately on the Holy Spirit being given to them that ask him. The real preacher is a mere voice sounding in the wilderness. DMLJ was criticised for being too dogmatic and authoritarian. If we are preaching from God then that has to be delivered with faith and confidence that we knows what God is saying. You have to believe definite truths in order to be saved. Men have to know that they are condemned before they can be saved. There is the utter certainty of a preacher in what he is preaching. Paul says, "We have the same spirit of faith ... we also believe and we speak." That is the fundamental thing. We are going against all that the natural man believes.

DMLJ's faith came out in what he preached, that man was under the wrath of God, depraved and lost. He preached this with absolute conviction, and he followed it up with the cross, week by week. That authority was given by the Holy Spirit. It influenced DMLJ's whole way of looking at things. He was a man who stood alone for most of his life and one reason was that he was conscious that the problem with man was far deeper than people in the church were prepared to acknowledge They were thinking of 'communication to the modern man' etc. DMLJ believed that we face not the problem of communication but what was wrong in the church itself. One of the reasons that he did not take part in the big crusades was because there was something wrong in the churches themselves. He quietly stood aside, God having kept him in the way he did, he preached evangelistically each Sunday.

The test of the presence of the Holy Spirit's work is the presence of Christ himself in the assembly and known by the congregation. A maid worked in a Manse and there was great anticipation for the coming of the powerful preacher, Mr Cook. One maid was not enthusiastic, and she told the butcher she was fed up, "with all this fuss you would think Jesus Christ himself was coming." Mr Cook duly came and preached and as she heard him something happened in her life. The butcher said to her with a grin on the following Tuesday, "Did Jesus Christ come?" "Yes, he did come," she said seriously.

William Williams of Pantycelyn said, "Love is the greatest thing in religion, and without it religion is nothing." DMLJ often quoted those words. Love has to lead the way. He thought the people were not ready to hear extended series of systematic expository sermons for the first 20 years he was in the ministry. The needs of the people were paramount because love is in our hearts.

By Iain H. Murray

Being Mocked....

2006-02-11T04:37:00.000-08:00

Being mocked

It’s the essence of Christ’s work, not Muhammad’s John Piper

We saw last week in the Islamic demonstrations over Danish cartoons of Muhammad another vivid depiction of the difference between Muhammad and Christ, and what it means to follow each. Not all Muslims approve the violence. But a deep lesson remains: The work of Muhammad is based on being honored and the work of Christ is based on being insulted. This produces two very different reactions to mockery.

If Christ had not been insulted, there would be no salvation. This was His saving work: to be insulted and die to rescue sinners from the wrath of God. Already in the Psalms the path of mockery was promised: "All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads" (Psalm 22:7). "He was despised and rejected by men . . . as one from whom men hide their faces . . . and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).

When it actually happened it was worse than expected. "They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. . . . And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' And they spit on him" (Matthew 27:28-29). His response to all this was patient endurance. This was the work he came to do. "Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth" (Isaiah 53:7).

This was not true of Muhammad. And Muslims do not believe it is true of Jesus. Most Muslims have been taught that Jesus was not crucified. One Sunni Muslim writes, "Muslims believe that Allah saved the Messiah from the ignominy of crucifixion." Another adds, "We honor [Jesus] more than you [Christians] do. . . . We refuse to believe that God would permit him to suffer death on the cross." An essential Muslim impulse is to avoid the "ignominy" of the cross.

That's the most basic difference between Christ and Muhammad and between a Muslim and a follower of Christ. For Christ, enduring the mockery of the cross was the essence of his mission. For a true follower of Christ, enduring suffering patiently for the glory of Christ is the essence of obedience. "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account" (Matthew 5:11). During his life on earth Jesus was called a bastard (John 8:41), a drunkard (Matthew 11:19), a blasphemer (Matthew 26:65), a devil (Matthew 10:25); and he promised his followers the same: "If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household" (Matthew 10:25).

The caricature and mockery of Christ has continued to this day. Martin Scorsese portrayed Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ as wracked with doubt and beset with sexual lust. Andres Serrano used National Endowment for the Arts funding to portray Jesus on a cross sunk in a bottle of urine. The Da Vinci Code portrays Jesus as a mere mortal who married and fathered children.

How should his followers respond? On the one hand, we are grieved and angered. On the other hand, we identify with Christ, embrace his suffering, rejoice in our afflictions, and say with the apostle Paul that vengeance belongs to the Lord, let us love our enemies and win them with the gospel. If Christ did his work by being insulted, we must do ours likewise.

When Muhammad was portrayed in 12 cartoons in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, the uproar among Muslims was intense and sometimes violent: They burned flags, torched embassies, and stoned at least one Christian church. The cartoonists went into hiding in fear for their lives, like Salman Rushdie before them. What does this mean?

It means that a religion with no insulted Savior will not endure insults to win the scoffers. It means that Islam is destined to bear the impossible load of upholding the honor of one who did not die and rise again to make that possible. It means that Jesus Christ is still the only hope of peace with God and peace with man. And it means that his followers must be willing to "share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death" (Philippians 3:10).

Copyright © 2006 WORLD MagazineFebruary 18, 2006, Vol. 21, No. 7

Thoughts On Evangelism....

2006-02-09T05:12:00.000-08:00

Someone asked Will the heathen who have never heard the Gospel be saved? It is more a question with me whether we -- who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not -- can be saved. -- Charles Spurgeon

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshippers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose." -- John Piper

"The salvation of a single soul is more important than the production or preservation of all the epics and tragedies in the world. "
C. S. Lewis

“If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees.Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for.”
C. H. Spurgeon

Richard Baxter, the Puritan preacher of the 17th century conveys the urgency, the zeal of Christian witness when he said, "I preached as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men!"

Stop Poor Sinner, Stop

Stop, poor sinner! stop and think

Before you farther go!

Will you sport upon the brink

Of everlasting woe?

Once again I charge you, stop!

For, unless you warning take,

Ere you are aware, you drop

Into the burning lake!

Say, have you an arm like God,

That you His will oppose?

Fear you not that iron rod

With which He breaks His foes?

Can you stand in that dread day,

When He judgment shall proclaim,

And the earth shall melt away

Like wax before the flame?

Pale faced death will quickly come

To drag you to His bar;

Then to hear your awful doom

Will fill you with despair:

All your sins will round you crowd,

Sins of a blood-crimson dye;

Each for vengeance crying loud,

And what can you reply?

Though your heart be made of steel,

Your forehead lined with brass,

God at length will make you feel,

He will not let you pass:

Sinners then in vain will call,

Though they now despise His grace,

“Rocks and mountains on us fall,

And hide us from His face!”

But as yet there is a hope

You may His mercy know;

Though His arm is lifted up

He still forbears the blow:

?Twas for sinners Jesus died,

Sinners He invites to come;

None who come shall be denied,

He says, “There still is room.”

-John Newton

World Magazine & Blog...

2006-02-02T06:38:00.001-08:00

Recently, I have been looking for a web site that reports news written from a Christian perspective. After looking around for a while I came across this weekly magazine (linked from Al Mohlers' web site) and thought Id post a link to it, as well as to their blog.

Here is a excerpt from their web site:

"WORLD is a weekly newsmagazine, published 50 times a year. WORLD includes sharp, full-color photographs and offers complete coverage of national and international news, all written from a Christian perspective."

"WORLD Mission Statement: To report, interpret, and illustrate the news in a timely, accurate, enjoyable, and arresting fashion from a perspective committed to the Bible as the inerrant Word of God."

COLUMNISTS:

Joel Belz
Janie B. Cheaney
Hugh Hewitt
Dr. Albert Mohler
Marvin Olasky
John Piper
Andree Seu
Gene Edward Veith
Paul Weyrich

Here is the link for those who are interested:

http://www.worldmag.com/

And here is a link to their blog:

http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/

Keep delighting in Christ (and, as my favorite radio show [wayofthemasterradio.com] states...) "Go serve your King!"

Newton and Baxter....

2006-02-02T06:10:00.000-08:00

Bitter and Sweet
by John Newton

1 Kindle, Saviour, in my heart,
A flame of love divine;
Hear, for mine I trust thou art,
And sure I would be thine;
If my soul has felt thy grace,
If to me thy name is known;
Why should trifles fill the place
Due to thyself alone?

2 'Tis a strange mysterious life
I live from day to day;
Light and darkness, peace and strife,
Bear an alternate sway:
When I think the battle won,
I have to fight it o'er again;
When I say I'm overthrown,
Relief I soon obtain.

3 Often at the mercy-seat,
While calling on thy name,
Swarms of evil thoughts I meet,
Which fill my soul with shame.
Agitated in my mind,
Like a feather in the air,
Can I thus a blessing find?
My soul, can this be pray'r?

4 But when Christ, my Lord and Friend,
Is pleas'd to show his pow'r
All at once my troubles end,
And I've a golden hour;
Then I see his smiling face,
Feel the pledge of joys to come:
Often, Lord, repeat this grace
Till thou shalt call me home.

A Psalm of Praise
by Richard Baxter (Excerpts)

Ye holy Angels bright,

Which stand before God's throne,

And dwell in glorious light,

Praise ye the Lord each one.

You there so nigh

Are much more meet

Than we the feet,

For things so high.

You blessed souls at rest

That see your Saviour's face,

Whose glory, even the least,

Is far above our grace;

God's praises sound,

As in his sight

With sweet delight

You do abound.

All nations of the earth,

Extol the world's great King;

With melody and mirth

His glorious praises sing.

For he still reigns;

And will bring low

The proudest foe

That him disdains.

Sing forth Jehovah's praise,

Ye saints that on him call;

Magnify him always;

His holy churches all

In him rejoice;

And there proclaim

His Holy Name

With sounding voice.

My soul, bear thou thy part!

Triumph in God above!

With a well-tuned heart

Sing thou the songs of love.

Thou art his own

Whose precious blood,

Shed for thy good,

His love made known.

Though human help depart

And flesh draw near to dust,

Let Faith keep up my heart

To love God true and just;

And all my days

Let no disease

Cause me to cease

His joyful praise.

Though sin would make me doubt,

And fill my soul with fears,

Though God seem to shut out

My daily cries and tears,

By no such frost

Of sad delays

Let thy sweet praise

Be nipped and lost.

Away, distrustful care!

I have thy promise, Lord.

To banish all despair,

I have thy oath and word.

And therefore I

Shall see thy face,

And there thy grace

Shall magnify.

Though sin and death conspire

To rob thee of thy praise,

Still towards thee I'll aspire,

And thou dull hearts canst raise.

Open thy door;

And when grim death

Shall stop this breath

I'll praise thee more.

With thy triumphant flock

Then I shall numbered be;

Built on the eternal rock

His glory we shall see.

The heavens so high

With praise shall ring.

And all shall sing

In harmony.

The sun is but a spark

From the eternal light;

Its brightest beams are dark

To that most glorious sight.

There the whole Chore

With one accord

Shall praise the Lord

For evermore.