What the Church is For

Martyn Lloyd-Jones on what the church is for:

"The primary task of the Church is not to educate man, is not to heal him physically or psychologically.... I will go further; it is not even to make him good. These are things that accompany salvation; and when the Church performs her true task she does incidentally educate men and give them knowledge and information...she does make them good and better than they were. But my point is that those are not her primary objectives. Her primary purpose is not any of these; it is rather to put man into the right relationship with God, to reconcile man to God. (Preaching & Preachers, 30) "

Found at desiringGod.org

It's Your Walk, Not Your Words.

O soul, consider this deeply: it is the life of a Christian that carries more conviction and persuasion than his words. Even if you, like an angel, talk of Christ, of the gospel, of the doctrines of grace, and of heaven, yet if you indulge devilish tempers, and live under the power of any sinful lusts and passions, you will hereby harden others against the things of God and prevent their setting out in the ways of God. Study and pray to be a consistent walker in the ways of holiness; otherwise, all is but windy profession and airy talk. O, how much harm is done to Christ?s cause by the unholy walk of many professors!


John Bunyan

Found On: Slice of Laodicea

This Poisonous Virus!

(Arthur Pink, "The Word of Truth")

By nature, both writer and reader are liars. "The wicked are estranged from the womb, they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). No child has to be taught to lie--it comes naturally to him. Nor does he have to be corrupted by contact with others--he is born corrupt at the core of his being! This is the inevitable consequence of the Fall. Our first parents preferred the Devil's lie--to God's Truth, and all of their descendants inherit this poisonous virus.

In consequence "the whole world lies in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19) and he is "a liar--and the father of lies" (John 8:44). Thus by nature, we have no love for the Truth--but instead, we all have a strong antipathy and resistance against it. The unregenerate do not want to know the truth about themselves--no, they wish to be flattered and encouraged to entertain a good opinion of themselves. Hence, the Lord Jesus declared "Because I tell you the Truth--you do not believe" (John 8:45). Had He told them pleasant lies--they would have welcomed Him.

Since the whole world lies in the wicked one, and he is the arch-liar, we should not be surprised at the world being so full of pretense and deceit--and that the Truth of God is so bitterly hated. The fact is, that "Truth has fallen in the street!" (Isaiah 59:14) and is now being ruthlessly trampled on, on every side.


Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)

Truth vs. Lies

It's not a shock that the media would tell us something that isn't the truth. This article is a must read for anyone who is interested in the sanctity of LIFE.

Your Goliath lust

(Thomas Watson, "Christ All in All")

"Be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of His might." Ephesians 6:10

When you are to resist a temptation, or to mortify a corruption--do not go out in your own strength, but in the strength of Christ.

Some go out to duty in the strength of their abilities; and go out against sin in the strength of their resolutions--and they both come home foiled.

Alas! What are our resolutions, but like
the green cords which bound Samson! A sinful heart will soon break these!

Do as David when he was to go up against Goliath.
He said, "I come to you in the name of the Lord!"
So say to your Goliath lust, "I come to you in the name of Christ!" Then we conquer, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah marches before us!


Grace Gems (choice ELECTRONIC books, sermons & quotes)

Copy Cat

Wow! This stuff is happening so often that I can't even keep tabs on it anymore. Is this the new W.W.J.D. of evangelicalism? I mean did I miss the memo on this or something? Has Willow Creek or Saddle Back sent out a newsletter on "doing church" that I wasn't privy to? I'm really starting to feel left out here.

I'm not surprised. I mean this is typical of the modern day church. If something works well for one group, then exploit it and repackage it as your own. In a day and age where pastors are no longer writing their own sermons based on their own personal studies in the word it's not shocking to see this trend catching on. It's just a shame. It's a shame because people inside and outside of the church see this for exactly what it is. It's a marketing strategy. Not based on scripture, but instead based on attracting a crowd with the shock-jock style of attention grabbing.

I talked about this on our Radio show (10MAR09). For me, this isn't a reflection of a God-movement in the Church of America. Instead I see this as a judgement of God.

Your Thoughts?

Jason

Abandoned By God