"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...

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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!...

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...

By Stephanie Autry Friday night (May 6th 2011) I went with my husband, Scott, and a few other brothers in Christ to share the gospel at a small local fair.  I was unnerved that evening because we were informed by someone in management that we could not take our backpack of tracts past the entrance gate because police suspected some type of gang related violence to take place. We had our newborn son with us. I don't think I have seen so many policemen collected at an event like this before.  So with that in mind, we agreed that God is control of everything and proceeded forth.  I was passing out tracts to different people with Scott when I spotted three young ladies talking. I was compelled to approach them because of one girl in particular was dressed quite provocative. I didn't plan on speaking to them, just to passing out a tract and keep moving to the next person.  This young girl, Alyssa, began crying after I gave her the tract. Concerned, I asked her if she was okay. She said she was upset because of the question that was on this tract I gave her, " How old will you be when you die?" I asked why that upset her because I had never had a response like that.  She said it made her think about death and that she didn't want to think about death. I told her it was a tract about Jesus Christ and then asked her, "Who is Jesus?"  She said it was complicated to explain to me who He is. I was taken back by her response because earlier two young men told me with all seriousness that they did not know who Jesus was. My heart sank to pit of my stomach. I knew I could not walk away without explaining to this girl who Christ is. During the conversation I tried to keep my composure. I tried not to cry with her. My heart was breaking from the things she shared. She admitted sinning and she admitted that she would not be pardoned but enter into...

"But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain." 1 Cor. 15:10 God, I am in this struggle. I could say that there are very many things that define who I am, but none so much as Christ; still I don't have the measure of the character of Him that I would like. But I am in this struggle. I understand that what is sown does not come to life unless it dies. But I am in this struggle. Your word says in 1 Cor. 15:51-55, "We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”“O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” "So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable." 1 Cor. 15:42 But I am in this struggle. I'm not who I was  but I'm not who I need to be  but by your grace I am what I am. The struggle is bitter and sweet at the same time. Bitter because the more I draw near to you the more I see my wretchedness. Sweet because the more I draw near to you the more I feel I am where I need to be. My sould sometimes, Lord, feels like its bursting out of my skin towards you. But I am in this struggle. I am longing for this caterpillar to become a butterfly of grace. Come forth! Lazarus come forth! The stone has been rolled away,It's resurrection day.We shall be changed. Even so come Lord Jesus!...

PROMISCUOUS, a. [L.promiscuus; pro and misceo, to mix.] Common; indiscriminate; not restricted to an individual; as promiscuous love or intercourse. Ephesians 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. 28 In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church. 33 However, let each one of you love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband. What I am about to say could very well be "massaged out" and explained in much more depth. There are so many things to pull out of this text. I, however, am writing a blog not a book. Maybe this will get your gears turning. So cherish the brevity and dig in further if you'd like. In scripture we learn about two types of love and grace that God has for humanity. The first type of love and grace we learn about is what is called common love or common grace. Simply put this love is common to all of humanity, wicked and righteous (Matthew 5:43-48). The second kind of love we learn about is His love for His covenant people (Ephesians 1:4-5). This special and particular love and grace He only gives to His chosen ones and is rooted in the good pleasure of His will alone. So, what's the deal with Ephesians 5? Well, as I was studying the scriptural teaching...