"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...

33 Minutes that will rock your world!! What changed their minds...in seconds? Invite your friends to watch 180 at http://www.livingwaters.com/180movie/sendtofriends.php...

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  Free Will Is Not Biblical. The Will Is Enslaved. and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me. Jeremiah 16:12 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:13 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is a slave  to sin. 35 The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.John 8:34-36 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. John 15:16 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;11 no one understands; no one seeks for God.12 All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” Romans 3:10-12 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves,  you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Romans 6:16 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. Romans 6:20 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. Romans 6:22 And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will...

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...

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!...

I've written a book. It's been a few months in the working and it's finally done. You can purchase it on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/So-You-Call-Yourself-Christian/dp/1463786697/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313699811&sr=1-4 Here's the introduction to the book which explains why I wrote it. "I have met many, many people who profess to be Christians. I have also been burdened that the vast majority who claim to be Christians show very little, if any, evidence that they have truly had an encounter with the God of the Universe. Let me for a moment entertain you with an analogy I once heard that sums up the issue at hand. Imagine with me that you and I are scheduled to meet somewhere for lunch today. You arrive at the destination and look around and don’t see me anywhere. You take a seat and order something to drink and take a quick glance at your watch and wonder if everything is okay. A few minutes pass and you see me walking in. I take a seat, apologize to you, and begin to explain to you why I was running a little late. I explain that on the way to meet you today something in the road punctured my tire and gave me a flat and that I had to pull over and change the tire on the side of the highway. As I was changing the tire a few of the lug nuts fell out of my hand and rolled into the middle of the road. Without thinking I stepped out to grab them and instantly, twenty feet in front of me, there appeared a four ton logging truck going 95 mph and it ran me over completely – but I am here and I am fine. Thanks for waiting on me. You look at me with a wide-eyed, bewildered look. You think to yourself that I would have to be one of two things; either I would have to be a raving liar or I would have to be completely insane. You come to the conclusion that there is no way that I could have an encounter with something that...

And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. (Mark 1:17) Only by coming after Jesus can we obtain our heart's desire and be really useful to our fellow men. Oh, how we long to be successful fishers for Jesus! We would sacrifice our lives to win souls. But we are tempted to try methods which Jesus would never have tried. Shall we yield to this suggestion of the enemy? If so, we may splash the water, but we shall never take the fish. We must follow after Jesus if we would succeed. Sensational methods, entertainment, and so forth—are these coming after Jesus? Can we imagine the Lord Jesus drawing a congregation by such means as are now commonly used? What is the result of such expedients? The result is nothing which Jesus will count up at the last great day. We must keep to our preaching as our Master did, for by this means souls are saved. We must preach our Lord's doctrine and proclaim a full and free gospel, for this is the net in which souls are taken, We must preach with His gentleness, boldness, and love, for this is the secret of success with human hearts. We must work under divine anointing, depending upon the sacred Spirit. Thus, coming after Jesus, and not running before Him, not aside from Him, we shall be fishers of men. -C.H. Spurgeon...

This picture has become one of my favorites that we've taken over the years: That's my wife sharing the gospel with about 10 teens (some off camera) including a coach. It was a great conversation and the gospel was preached clearly and with conviction. I just love these kinds of encounters because they remind me that all this business about contextualization and making things "relevant" is simply for those who are too ashamed to stand on the truth of the gospel as it is and trust Christ with the results. God truly does draw His elect to hear. Praise Him for his wonderfully powerful grace....

"Now I do beseech all who read this message to beware of this undecided state of mind in religion. It is a pestilence which walks in darkness, and a destruction that kills in noonday. It is a lazy, idle frame of soul which, doubtless, saves men the trouble of thought and investigation; but it is a frame of soul for which there is no warrant in the Bible, nor yet in the Articles or Prayer Book of the Church of England. For your own soul’s sake dare to make up your mind what you believe, and dare to have positive distinct views of truth and error. Never, never be afraid to hold decided doctrinal opinions; and let no fear of man and no morbid dread of being thought party–spirited, narrow or controversial, make you rest contented with a bloodless, boneless, tasteless, colorless, lukewarm, undogmatic Christianity. Mark what I say. If you want to do good in these times, you must throw aside indecision, and take up a distinct, sharply cut, doctrinal religion. If you believe little, those to whom you try to do good will believe nothing. The victories of Christianity, wherever they have been won, have been won by distinct doctrinal theology, by telling men roundly of Christ’s vicarious death and sacrifice, by showing them Christ’s substitution on the cross and His precious blood, by teaching them justification by faith and bidding them believe on a crucified Savior, by preaching ruin by sin, redemption by Christ, regeneration by the Spirit, by lifting up the bronze serpent, by telling men to look and live, to believe, repent and be converted. This, this is the only teaching which for eighteen centuries God has honored with success, and is honoring at the present day both at home and abroad. Let the clever advocates of a broad and undogmatic theology—the preachers of the gospel of earnestness and sincerity and cold morality—let them, I say, show us at this day any English village or parish or city or town or district, which has been evangelized without "dogma," by their principles. They cannot do it, and...

The following excerpt is from "Our Manifesto," a message given to an assembly of ministers of the gospel, on Friday Morning, 25 April 1890. "My dear Brethren, do not try to make the gospel tasteful to carnal minds. Hide not the offense of the cross, lest you make it of none effect. The angles and corners of the gospel are its strength: to pare them off is to deprive it of power. Toning down is not the increase of strength, but the death of it. Why, even among the sects, you must have noticed that their distinguishing points are the horns of their power; and when these are practically omitted, the sect is effete. Learn, then, that if you take Christ out of Christianity, Christianity is dead. If you remove grace out of the gospel, the gospel is gone. If the people do not like the doctrine of grace, give them all the more of it. Whenever its enemies rail at a certain kind of gun, a wise military power will provide more of such artillery. A great general, going in before his king, stumbled over his own sword. "I see," said the king, "your sword in is the way." The warrior answered, "Your majesty's enemies have often felt the same." That our gospel offends the King's enemies is no regret to us." -C.H. Spurgeon Repost: http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2010/09/on-offense-of-cross.html...

I've often heard minsters say that the most important thing that someone can have is a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. I would like to submit to you that everyone who has ever lived has always, at all times, in all places, had a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The scripture clearly says you are either an enemy of God [Romans 5:10] or a friend of God [James 2:23]. I would say that's a pretty personal relationship either way. You either personally hate Him or personally love Him. Let's drop this squishy language and in love speak Biblically....

UPDATE: 9-2-2010 Good news. Praise the Lord. Bezeugen Tract Club has publically repented of their tract. We should all thank them for their diligence, humility and care in this matter. Here is the post on their blog: http://bezeugentractclub.org/?p=266. Email them and encourage them for this. Christ was glorified in this we are sure. Proverbs 27:5, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love." ...

An excerpt from the book Holiness by J.C. Ryle that I want to brand on my heart! "I am afraid that many who profess Christ in our day have lost sight of our Lord’s person. They talk more about salvation than about their only Savior, and more about redemption than the one true Redeemer, and more about Christ’s work than Christ Himself. This is a great fault, one that accounts for the dry and shriveled spirit that infuses the religious lives of many who profess faith. As ever you would grow in grace, and have joy and peace in believing, beware of falling into this error. Cease to regard the Gospel as a mere collection of dry doctrines. Look at it rather as the revelation of a mighty living Being in whose sight you are daily to live. Cease to regard it as a mere set of abstract propositions and abstruse principles and rules. Look at it as the introduction to a glorious personal Friend. This is the kind of Gospel that the apostles preached. They did not go about the world telling men of love and mercy and pardon in the abstract. The leading subject of all their sermons was the loving heart of an actual living Christ. This is the kind of Gospel which is most calculated to promote sanctification and fitness for glory. Nothing, surely, is so likely to prepare us for that heaven where Christ’s personal presence will be all, and that glory where we shall meet Christ face to face, as to realize communion with Christ, as an actual living Person here on earth. There is all the difference in the world between an idea and a person."...

"For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:3-7 Two Questions To Ask Yourself- If faith is a righteous act able to be performed prior to regeneration, then how do you explain Titus 3:3-7? If it is not a righteous act then what basis would God have for accepting it?...

Faith + Works = Justification <--- Roman Catholic Faith = Justification - Works <--- Antinomianism Faith = Justification + Works <--- Biblical Christianity Get 'em right or you get the gospel wrong....

Do not believe that the common Christianity of the present age will carry anybody to heaven. It is a counterfeit and a sham. It does not make men to differ from their fellows, it pretends to faith and has none, talks about love and does not show it, brags of truth and evaporates it into thin air in its latitudinarian charity. God give us back the real thing—stimuli, strong belief in the gospel, real faith in Jesus, real prayer to him, real spiritual power. Then again there will be persecution, but it will only blow away the chaff and leave the pure wheat! The world likes us better because we like the world better; it calls us friends because we doff our colors and sheathe our swords and play the craven; but if we preach and live the gospel in the old apostolic way, we shall soon have the devil roaring round the camp and the seed of the serpent hissing on all sides, but we fear not, for "the Lord of Hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge." --C.H. Spurgeon...

God meant to have a speaking church: not a church that would fight with the sword—with that weapon we have nought to do—but a church that should have a sword proceeding out of its mouth, whose one weapon should be the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I should think from what I know of some preachers that when they had their Pentecost the influence put upon them in the form of tongues of flowers; but the apostolic Pentecost knew not flowers, but flames. What fine preaching we have nowadays! What new thoughts, and poetical turns! This is not the style of the Holy Ghost. Soft and gentle is the flow of smooth speech which tells of the dignity of man, the grandeur of the century, the toning down of all punishment for sin, and the probable restoration of all lost spirits, including the arch-fiend himself. This is the Satanic ministry, subtle as the serpent, bland as his seducing words to Eve. The Holy Ghost calls us not to this mode of speech. Fire, intensity, zeal, passion as much as you will, but as for aiming at effect by polished phrases and brilliant periods—these are fitter for those who would deceive men than for those who would tell them the message of the Most High. The style of the Holy Ghost is one which conveys the truth to the mind in the most forcible manner,—it is plain but flaming, simple but consuming. The Holy Spirit has never written a cold period throughout the whole Bible, and never did he speak by a man a lifeless word, but evermore he gives and blesses the tongue of fire. --CH Spurgeon...

Two Good Blog's On Street Preaching: Is There A Biblical Mandate For Street Preaching? Documentary: The Forgotten Power Of The Public Proclamation Of The Gospel  ...

Remember how your fathers, in times gone by, defended God's truth, and blush, ye cowards, who are afraid to maintain it!Remember that our Bible is a blood-stained book; the blood of martyrs is on the Bible, the blood of translators and confessors. The pool of holy baptism, in which many of you have been baptized, is a blood-stained pool: full many have had to die for the vindication of that baptism which is "the answer of a good conscience toward God."The doctrines which we preach to you are doctrines that have been baptized in blood,—swords have been drawn to slay the confessors of them; and there is not a truth which has not been sealed by them at the stake, or the block, or far away on the lofty mountains, where they have been slain by hundreds. It is but a little duty we have to discharge compared with theirs. They were called to maintain the truth when they had to die for it; you only have to maintain the truth when taunt and jeer, ignominious names and contemptuous epithets are all you have to endure for it.What! do you expect easy lives? While some have led through seas of blood, and have fought to win the prize, are you wearied with a slight skirmish on dry land? What would you do if God should suffer persecuting days to overtake you? O craven spirits, ye would flee away, and disown your profession!Be ye the pillar and ground of the truth. Let the blood of martyrs, let the voices of confessors, speak to you. Remember how they held fast the truth, how they preserved it, and handed it down to us from generation to generation; and by their noble example, I beseech you, be steadfast and faithful, tread valiantly and firmly in their steps, acquit yourselves like men,—like men of God, I implore you!Shall we not have some champions, in these times, who will deal sternly with heresies for the love of the truth,—men who will stand like rocks in the center of the sea, so that, when all others shake, they...