People who do not know the Lord ask why in the world we waste our lives as missionaries. They forget that they too are expending their lives . . . and when the bubble has burst they will have nothing of eternal significance to show for the years they have wasted.
– Nate Saint
1923 – 1956
According to a recent Harris Poll, the following people are the top ten most admired heroes in American:
10. Mother Teresa
09. Chesley Sullenberger
08. John F. Kennedy
07. John McCain
06. Abraham Lincoln
05. George W. Bush
04. Ronald Reagan
03. Martin Luther King Jr.
02. Jesus Christ
01. Barack Hussein Obama
Yes America, Barack Obama is bigger than the Beatles!
Keep deception and lies far from me,
Give me neither poverty nor riches;
Feed me with the food that is my portion,
That I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?”
Or that I not be in want and steal,
And profane the name of my God.
– Proverbs 30:8-9
If I see aright, the cross of popular evangelicalism is not the cross of the New Testament. It is, rather, a new bright ornament upon the bosom of a self-assured and carnal Christianity. The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it.
– A. W. Tozer
1897 – 1963
We distort and confuse the Gospel in people’s understanding when we try to present the Gospel using terminology which turns people’s attention to what they must do rather than outward to what God has done on their behalf. . . . “Accept Jesus into your heart.” “Give your heart to Jesus.” “Give your life to Jesus.” “Open the door of your heart to the Lord.” “Ask Jesus to wash away your sins.” “Make your decision for Christ.” “Ask Jesus to give you eternal life.” “Ask God to save you.” These modern and commonly-used phrases confuse people’s understanding of the Gospel.
– Trevor Mcllwain
The following is a heart-wrenching excerpt from Voddie Baucham’s book Family Driven Faith:
Over the years Coach and I have kept in contact. Every once in a while I pick up the phone and catch up with Coach. Recently I discovered that he had fallen on hard times. He had finally retired and didn’t know what to do with himself. What’s worse, his marriage of over twenty-five years had recently ended. At first I wondered what could possibly have gone wrong. Then it dawned on me. We saw a committed coach who arrived early every morning; his wife saw a man who was never home when she got up in the morning. We saw him as committed; she saw him as overextended. We saw him as a confidant who was always there for us; his children saw a man who was more of a father to strangers than he was to them. Now he spends his nights alone missing the woman who spent a quarter of a century missing him. He sits at home reminiscing about the house he was so committed to that he drove an hour to work every day rather than moving. He yearns for time with his kids, but that time is scarce because they are busy doing what he didn’t—spending time with their families. His days are spent with his elderly father, and occasionally he has a chance to watch his grandkids play ballgames, something I’m sure he wishes he had done more with his children. Every once in a while someone from the past calls and asks, “How’s it going, Coach?” A few minutes later the reminiscing is over, the voice from the past is gone, and Coach is alone with his memories. And all he has to show for it are a few trophies, a couple of pictures, and some patches on an old, faded jacket. I cried when I got off the phone that night. . . . All of the pictures came together, and I finally saw the truth that had been there all along. This man who had meant the world to me had sacrificed his family on the alter of his career, and I was oblivious to it. I considered it normal, even admirable. Suddenly, all these years later, I went from admiring Coach to feeling sorry for him. I saw the trade-off, and it wasn’t worth it. The occasional thanks of strangers will never dull the pain of years missed with your family. Needless to say, when I got off the phone with Coach, I spent some time with my kids. It turns out Coach still had lessons to teach.
This is another great film sure to increase your faith. This documentary explored the Exodus route taken by the Jews as they fled Egypt and it offers compelling archeological evidence to support the veracity of the Scriptures.
The Exodus Revealed is a good film for the whole family.
“The Search for the Red Sea Crossing. Did Israel’s flight from bondage really occur? This documentary video traces the footsteps of the Exodus… presenting a compelling arguement that the extraordinary events described in the Scriptures are more than just legend and myth. This is a MUST SEE!“
Your sermon of the week is Jesus’ Call to Silence by Don Green. This is one of those very important sermons especially for those in apologetics who contend for the faith. Don Green really lays it down as he explains when enough is enough and when we should stop casting our pearls before swine. A must-hear for readers of this blog.
Scripture is like a lion. Who ever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose; it will defend itself.
– C.H. Spurgeon
1834 – 1892
When I first became a Christian, I thought all Christians were sold-out, fire-breathing, truth-telling, water-walking followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. I also believed that I could trust anything that was written by a Christian author and published by a Christian publisher. I soon discovered that I was wrong.
– Voddie Baucham
Your sermon of the week is part seven of a fantastic thirteen-part series on the doctrines of grace. Sola Fide – The Supremacy of God in Salvation by Brian Borgman is from his series Introduction to the Reformed Faith.
Thou art my hope in the day of evil (Jeremiah 17:17)
The path of the Christian is not always bright with sunshine; he has his seasons of darkness and of storm. True, it is written in God’s Word, “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace;” and it is a great truth, that religion is calculated to give a man happiness below as well as bliss above; but experience tells us that if the course of the just be “As the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day,” yet sometimes that light is eclipsed. At certain periods clouds cover the believer’s sun, and he walks in darkness and sees no light. There are many who have rejoiced in the presence of God for a season; they have basked in the sunshine in the earlier stages of their Christian career; they have walked along the “green pastures” by the side of the “still waters”, but suddenly they find the glorious sky is clouded; instead of the Land of Goshen they have to tread the sandy desert; in the place of sweet waters, they find troubled streams, bitter to their taste, and they say, “Surely, if I were a child of God, this would not happen.” Oh! Say not so, thou who are walking in darkness. The best of God’s saints must drink the wormwood; the dearest of His children must bear the cross. No Christian has enjoyed perpetual prosperity; no believer can always keep his harp from the willows. Perhaps the Lord allotted you at first a smooth and unclouded path, because you were weak and timid. He tempered the wind to the shorn lamb, but now that you are stronger in the spiritual life, you must enter upon the riper and rougher experience of God’s full-grown children. We need winds and tempests to exercise our faith, to tear off the rotton bough of self-dependence, and to root us more firmly in Christ. The day of evil reveals to us the value of our glorious hope.
– C.H. Spurgeon
The faith which has not a sanctifying influence on the character is no better than the faith of devils. It is a “dead faith, because it is alone.”
– J.C. Ryle
1816 – 1900
Recently the Subway sandwich chain offered this contest to kids in public, private, and parochial schools but excluded those kids that are home schooled, saying: “Home schools not eligible.” You can read more about this at American Thinker.
This discrimination obviously caused a stir and especially so in the Blog World (and critics still say bloggers are wasting their time). Subway has since retracted their stance on home schooled kids by apologizing and indicating that they plan on holding another contest in which home schoolers will be welcome.
The picture in this post is a fictitious fabrication that I found here and is not/was not found on the Subway website.
The well-read, well-studied Bible?
(Click on thumbnail to enlarge picture – Source: Fish With Trish)
(Click on the thumbnail to watch video)
(Click on thumbnail to watch video)
For those who can’t afford the Erasable Bible there’s always this much cheaper alternative:
Thank you Albert Mohler for standing up for truth in an age when so many other “Christian” leaders cower on Larry King (like in this post).
Faith vs Works (Part 1): The introduction.
I’m in a rather unique position with this blog. I get hit from both sides of the Faith vs Works debate. On the one side are the Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses who claim that faith itself is insufficient without man working for his salvation (funny how these three groups tend to have so much in common). On the other side are the cheap-grace, easy-believism, lukewarm crowd who love to label me judgmental and a legalist when I say that there is not only a Biblical mandate for the law, holiness, and good works, but that these will be evident in the life of a true Believer.
Scripture is crystal clear on this issue, that we are indeed saved by faith apart from works and the law. This is commonly known as “alone.” To deny Scripture’s clear teaching on Sola Fide takes an unwillingness to part from former presuppositions and religious indoctrination.
With that said, I thought I’d cite numerous texts that deal directly with our salvation being through faith alone (Part 2); what the Bible says about those who rely on the law and their good works for salvation (Part 3); what place the Law and “good works” play in our faith (Part 4); and my conclusion (Part 5).
I am not posting this five-part series in an attempt to win any arguments or even to create more (although some will be inclined to do so). I will let the Scriptures speak for themselves with minimal commentary on my part. If you have reservations about their context, I encourage you to research each one for yourselves.
If I can win 1,000 arguments but not change one mind, heart, and soul, I have done nothing. I am hoping that with the following posts I can put to rest the issue some may be struggling with when it comes to Faith vs Works. Thank you for your faithful readership and as always, your comments are welcome.
(All scriptures are quoted from the New American Standard Bible).
PART ONE
Christ Alone Wyoming 