I had made a brief comment in this post a while back that our fuel for evangelism is the holiness of God. I was talking with my pastor a while back about his trip to the Together For The Gospel conference and he mentioned that I needed to listen to David Platt's message on missions. He said that it was the best missions message he'd ever heard. That's saying a lot because he's been a Christian for about 30+ years. Here's that message: ...

And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came up to him and said to him, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.” And he said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” Mark 10:35-40 Sometimes the will of God is like a diamond; the more you turn it in the light of Jesus Christ the more prisms you see. One of the things that God has said to grant to us, on top of believing in Christ, is suffering. Philippians 1:29 says exactly that, "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake." Sometimes suffering, depression, and the like can be a faceless, nameless thing. It comes like a cold wind and you try to grab hold of it and it passes right through your fingers. I've often wondered about those moments in my life and I've tried to live with them in the view that God was working all things for good for the one who loves Him. I recently ran across this excerpt from Charles Spurgeon about suffering and thought it would be something worth sharing with you to remind you about one "prism" of your suffering as a Christian. Chapter 9 of The Soul Winner entitled "The Cost of Being A Soul Winner"...

"praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, and also for me, that words may be given to me in opening my mouth boldly to proclaim the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may declare it boldly, as I ought to speak." Ephesians 6:18-20 I recently finished up a verse by verse study in the book of Ephesians and one of the next to last lessons was on a piece of the armor of God that many Christians neglect and some might not even know is actually a part of the armor of God; and that piece of armor is prayer. But that's not what this blog is about. I wanted to share with you my findings on a rather interesting word that the Apostle Paul uses to describe our attitude toward the gospel. It's the word ought. Here's a piece of the transcript from my sermon. If the notes seem sparse know that I use them as a guide and not verbatim. Sometimes it's a bit extemporaneous and there are things said that just aren't in here. I pray you are prodded and provoked to think about these things. I want us in closing to notice two very important things in these last two verses - boldness and oughtness (which probably isn't a word, but that's OK). It's interesting again to see Paul asking the saints on his behalf to pray for boldness. In Acts 14:12 Paul and Barnabas were equated to Greek gods by those in Lystra. They called Paul Hermes because he was the chief speaker. So obviously he had some kind of authority when he spoke. Paul had boldness. Fear hinders our boldness to open our mouth to proclaim the mystery of the gospel. Prayer for one another to the Father aids us to be bold to speak. It really does. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, "God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore...

"No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 2 Timothy 2:4-6 I've caught a glimpse of him a few times now on my way to church. Early in the morning. Full gear. Wide open. Strange though, there was no fire. There was no alarm. There was no one in danger. The station was calm and the fire trucks were in the bay. What was this guy doing? He was acting in a way that was consistent with his belief. That's what he was doing. What did he believe? He believed that one day someones life would be on the line and he would have to be ready to act. He couldn't be weak. He couldn't afford to put it off another day. It wasn't if there was going to be a fire, but when. He truly believed in fire. He truly believed fire kills. He truly believed life was precious. He truly believed that if he stayed behind in the station that those lives would perish. More than all of those he believed that the mandate of the fire station and its captain was to be honored, because those mandates were and always will be good. He had a sincere devotion to the captain and his mandate. Therefore he moved. I would like to share with you a fictitious story to illustrate a point. An experienced firefighter was recently charged with grave neglect of duty. Prosecutors maintained that he had abandoned his responsibility when he failed to release rescue equipment. This resulted in the needless and tragic deaths of a family of five. Eyewitnesses were sickened when they discovered that the reason the firefighter remained locked in the emergency vehicle was simply because he was testing a new, hi-tech, CD player which, he maintained, he had bought as a gift...

The second half of a sermon preached by Spurgeon on Lord's-day Morning, March 24th, 1866. He addressed two types of people in the sermon. The first group he called "THOSE WHO ARE AVOWEDLY DISOBEDIENT TO GOD" and the second group he called "THE DECEPTIVELY SUBMISSIVE." This is well worth the read. I pray it challenge you. Here is the text of his sermon. "But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard. He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went. And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not. Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you. For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterward, that ye might believe him."—Matthew 21:28-32. Bear with me a little time while I speak to the second character, THE DECEPTIVELY SUBMISSIVE, by far the most numerous everywhere in England, probably the most numerous in this assembly. Oh! you, my own regular hearers, you who have heard my voice these thirteen years many of you are in this class. You have said to the Great Father, "I go, sir!" but you have not gone. Let me sorrowfully sketch your portraits: you have regularly frequented a place of worship, and you would shudder to waste a single Sunday in an excursion, or in any form of Sabbath breaking. Outwardly you have said," I go, sir." When the hymn is given out, you stand up and sing, and yet you do not sing with the heart. When I say, "Let us pray!" you cover your faces, but you do not pray with real prayer. You utter a polite, respectful...

If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me? declares the LORD. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights, and see! Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come; yet you have the forehead of a whore; you refuse to be ashamed. -Jeremiah 3:1-3 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. -Jeremiah 6:15 Friday, November 17th, 2011 marks one of those very rare times in my life. It was one of those times when proclaiming Christ a particular event happened, and when it did, I knew it was going to stick with me like a traumatic event I just couldn't shake. You never forget the atmosphere. You never forget the place. You never forget your feelings. You never forget the faces. Never the faces. You know, I talk to a lot of people about Christ and I get a lot of different reactions. Everything on the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual scale you can think of I believe I've seen. Some are more frequent than others. Reactions of apathy, self-righteousness, plain 'ole unbelief, and anger are run of the mill in the south. But this one reaction Friday night was a rare one. I can only think of a handful of times this has happened and I bet out of a line of 500 people I could pick those same people out 10 years from now. Their faces are stuck in my brain. Those moments have been etched there and I've often asked God why. It was a normal Friday night outreach and the night began for me with refuting basically a whole church youth group and older woman from...

I ran across a blog a few months back entitled How is an Andy Griffith Church going to reach a Lady Gaga World? and I've been trying to find the time to write a response. I feel like a response to this question is fitting for our heavily pragmatic church age. I think this question opens up the door to some very core issues dealing with the nature of man, the nature of God, and power of the gospel and the authority of scripture. What prompted a response from me was the fact of the pastors ending to the blog. He said he just didn't know the answer to this question. I was shocked; shocked mainly because this is a fundamental issue at the core of the gospel and this shepherd of souls doesn't know which way to turn. Well, I've found the time and I wanted to write a reply. The blog might go a bit long, but I think it will be worth sitting down and thinking through. You just can't expect to answer critical questions like this in a five minute snippet. I think if we take a little time to answer three basic questions we can have an answer for all ages, cultures and situations. Those three questions are: What is the nature of God? What is the nature of man? What is nature of scripture and the gospel? I believe that if we get answers to these three questions, the question posed by the blog mentioned above can be put to rest eternally because we will be giving a finite question an answer rooted in the eternal Word and that answer should never change. Here's the thing. Before we get started, if you aren't willing to research the scripture, pray over them and dig through this scripture by scripture then stop right here. Go no further. You aren't willing to seek truth. So close the browser page already. If, on the other hand, you are willing to dig, search, pray and learn then let's move forward with the Spirit of Christ and His Word as our guide. May He meet...

"Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness..." -Ephesians 5:11 There are a great many people who would "Amen" this verse and try to live it out in a God honoring way. The will abstain for all forms of wickedness, constantly examine their associations and analyze each choice as to honor their Lord. We have no problem abstaining from things the Lord calls wicked. However, that's not the whole verse. It's the second part of the verse that many simply ignore. The rest of the verse goes like this: "...but instead expose them." Here I think is the wisdom and challenge of the Lord. It's one thing to abstain from things, but very rarely (if at all) will you ever find in scripture a command to abstain from something without replacing it with a positive faith filled response. It's takes no faith to sit in your house with your opinion about the world. It takes faith (and might I add "actually caring") to lift up your voice like a trumpet and show the people their transgressions. I want to point you to three resources for fighting the The New Holocaust. Make copies or buy these resources and hand them out to friends, family and strangers. Resource # 1 - A new movie by Living Waters Publications called "180" is available for download absolutely free. Here is the link. Download it, burn it to DVD and pass it out. It's high quality and very captivating. Watch the entire movie online for free. Resource # 2 - Ligonier Ministries, the teach ministry of R.C. Sproul, has published a book on abortion. Purchase it here for someone you know. Resource # 3 - Butch Rumble preached one of many great sermons on abortion at our churches annual Sanctity of Life Sunday. Download the sermon here. Burn it to a CD and pass it out. God bless you in your fight to take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness AND exposing them....

Brethren, the whole ruin and current, and tenor and spirit of the gospel influences us to compassion. Ye are debtors, for what were ye if compassion had not come to your rescue? Divine compassion, all undeserved and free, has redeemed you from your vain conversation. Surely those who receive mercy should show mercy; those who owe all they have to the pity of God, should not be pitiless to their brethren. The Savior never for a moment tolerates the self-righteous isolation which would make you despise the prodigal, and cavil at his restoration, much less the Cainite spirit which cries, "Am I my brother's keeper?" No doctrine is rightly received by you if it freezes the genial current of your Christian compassion. You may know the truth of the doctrine, but you do not know the doctrine in truth if it makes you gaze on the wrath to come without emotions of pity for immortal souls. You shall find everywhere throughout the gospel that it rings of brotherly love, tender mercy, and weeping pity. If you have indeed received it in its power, the love of Christ will melt your spirit to compassion for those who are despising Christ, and sealing their own destruction. Let me beseech you to believe that it is needful as well as justifiable that you should feel compassion for the sons of men. You all desire to glorify Christ by becoming soul-winners—I hope you do—and be it remembered that, other things being equal, he is the fittest in God's hand to win souls who pities souls most. I believe he preaches best who loves best, and in the Sunday-school and in private life each soul-seeker shall have the blessing very much in proportion to his yearning for it. Paul becomes a savior of many because his heart's desire and prayer to God is that they may be saved. If you can live without souls being converted, you shall live without their being converted; but if your soul breaketh for the longing that it hath towards Christ's glory and the conversion of the ungodly, if like her...

I am excited to announce that the Kindle eBook version of So You Call Yourself A Christian is now available for purchase for $1. If you'd like to know a little about the book before you purchase go here. You can purchase the Kindle eBook version here: http://www.amazon.com/You-Call-Yourself-Christian-ebook/dp/B005NE8CVC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1316177033&sr=8-3 Some quick info for you: If you would like an eBook reader for your PC you can download the Amazon Kindle application. Obviously if you have a smartphone you can download the Kindle app from your app store. This eBook is available to share with friends for 14 days. You can lend the book to others for a short period of time if you would like. If you purchase the Kindle version you can actually begin reading the book in about a minute or so literally. If you don't like the idea of digital books or are just confused about the whole thing you can purchase a paperback copy here. God bless!...