Jack Hager's Jots and Thoughts

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2012-01-26T09:09:00.000-06:00

"You can blame circumstances, but backsliding always begins in the heart." A W Tozer

Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than...

2012-01-26T09:00:00.003-06:00

All of this is profound, but I was particularly struck by the last sentence...

"When a man is speaking to God he is at his very acme. It is the highest activity of the human soul, and therefore it is at the same time the ultimate test of a man's true spiritual condition. There is nothing that tells the truth about us as Christian people so much as our prayer life. Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer." D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Convicting? Challenging? Convincing?

2012-01-24T13:31:00.001-06:00

"What is both surprising and depressing is the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church.

It is surprising, because it is out of step with the Bible that portrays what Christian living should be;

it is depressing, because it frequently coexists with abounding Christian activiity that somehow seems hollow, frivolous, and superficial."

D. A. Carson

The Only Thing

2012-01-17T09:59:00.002-06:00

"The only thing of our very own which we contribute to our salvation is the sin which makes it necessary."
William Temple

The Missing Ingredient in Far Too Many "Gospel" Presentations

2012-01-15T10:23:00.000-06:00

"You live in a world of cheating, imposition, and deception. Let no man deceive you about the necessity of repentance. Oh, that professing Christians would see, and know, and feel, more than they do—the necessity, the absolute necessity, of true repentance towards God! There are many things which are not needful. Riches are not needful. Health is not needful. Fine clothes are not needful. Noble friends are not needful. The favor of the world is not needful. Gifts and learning are not needful. Millions have reached heaven without these things. Thousands are reaching heaven every year without them. But no one ever reached heaven without "repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.""

~ J.C. Ryle

Don't Ignore Matt/Mark/Luke/John!

2012-01-13T03:48:00.000-06:00

Wise words of caution from J. I. Packer:

"[We can] correct woolliness of view as to what Christian commitment involves, by stressing the need for constant meditation on the four gospels, over and above the rest of our Bible reading: for gospel study enables us both to keep our Lord in clear view and to hold before our minds the relational frame of discipleship to him.

The doctrines on which our discipleship rests are clearest in the epistles, but the nature of discipleship itself is most vividly portrayed in the gospels.

Some Christians seem to prefer the epistles as if this were a mark of growing up spiritually; but really this attitude is a very bad sign, suggesting that we are more interested in theological notions than in fellowship with the Lord Jesus in person.

We should think, rather, of the theology of the epistles as preparing us to understand better the disciple relationship with Christ that is set forth in the gospels, and we should never let ourselves forget that the four gospels are, as has often and rightly been said, the most wonderful books on earth."

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2012-01-12T10:17:00.000-06:00

"As a man prays, so he is." A W Tozer

Love and Wrath

2012-01-11T16:31:00.002-06:00

"If the Father truly loved the Son, surely He would not have exposed Him to such horrific suffering. How can the Son be 'beloved' of the Father and yet also the object of His wrath and judgment?

Such is the glorious, soul-saving, redeptive mystery of penal substitutionary atonement.

It is possible because the Son and the Father are united in their love for the elect and together entered into a covenant to redeem them from their sins. This could only be accomplished by the Son's willingly and freely offering Himself as a substitute who would wholly absorb the wrath of the Father, which those for whom He died deserved."

Sam Storms, The Hope of Glory

Only Two "Religions"

2012-01-09T13:19:00.002-06:00

H.A. Ironside was approached by a student wondering how one could tell which of the "thousands" of religions was genuine.

Ironside replied:

"Well, before we can get into the question of which one is true, we need to clarify something. There are not thousands of religions. There are not even hundreds of religions. There are only two: one which tells you that salvation comes as a reward for what you have done, and one which tells you that salvation comes by what somebody else does for you. That’s Christianity. All the rest fit under the other. And if you think you can get your salvation by your own efforts, then Christianity has nothing to say to you. But if you know you need to be saved, then you are a candidate"

No Shortage of Lucys

2012-01-06T06:06:00.000-06:00

No comment:

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2012-01-05T13:00:00.000-06:00

Trying to be happy without a sense of God's presence is like trying to have a bright day without the sun."
A W Tozer

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2012-01-05T00:30:00.000-06:00

"The good news isn't that God is victorious. How can He not be victorious? The good news is we can be victorious, too!"
A W Tozer

Scripture Memory/Bible Quizzing...Cool?...Maybe

2012-01-04T05:52:00.000-06:00

The first Bible quiz for the new year is slated for this Saturday.

After over thirty years of being involved in Bible quizzing, it remains a highlight of the work/ministry to which the Lord has called me.

I love the fact that teens are hiding God's Word in their hearts...

But I hope it is much more than that...

As Frances Chan says in this brief video:

Francis Chan - Making Disciples from Verge Network on Vimeo.

Jesus Wants The Rose!

2012-01-01T04:08:00.000-06:00

It's a new year...maybe you've set some goals about sharing the gospel...let this serve as a reminder...not so gentle a reminder...that you (and I) share the gospel; not a twisted version of it; and that, as always, we watch out for the anti-gospel: legalism. This is less than four minutes as Matt Chandler tells of a pivotal point in his life and ministry...may be for you, also:

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-12-29T06:05:00.000-06:00

"A worshiper can work with an eternal quality in his work, but a worker who doesn't worship is only piling up wood." A W Tozer

The Hager Kids - CHRISTmas 2011 - "Formal"

2011-12-27T11:28:00.000-06:00

The Hager Kids - Hmm

2011-12-27T11:25:00.000-06:00

Sort of a Rhetorical Question, sort of?

2011-12-27T08:50:00.002-06:00

Good Observation from Linus

2011-12-25T10:43:00.002-06:00

CHRISTmas eve Prayer

2011-12-24T17:04:00.000-06:00

Another great one from SCOTTY SMITH

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.Gal. 4:4-7

Dear Lord Jesus, the details surrounding your birth seem quite happenstance, even tragic. It’s easy to criticize innkeepers for gross inhospitality, pity Mary for the birthing room she had to endure, and judge Jerusalem for missing their moment. Yet everything happened just as you, our Father, and the Holy Spirit planned.

“Doing all things well” (Mark 7:37) didn’t start happening after your resurrection. “Working all things after the counsel of your will” (Eph. 1:11) includes the delightful and the most difficult things in life. Just as you could have called down 12 legions of angels to rescue you at your arrest (Matt. 26:53), so you could have arranged a palatial circumstance for your birth. Lord, please give me greater grace and faith to accept this liberating, if complex truth. You reign… you rule over all things.

“When the time had fully come” you came, Lord Jesus, not a day early and not a day late. And as humbling as it was to be born under the ceiling of a stable, being born under the weight of the law was a far greater burden. Yet that’s exactly why you came into the world—to be born under God’s law to redeem us from our sin and rebellion… to rescue me from my unwillingness and inability to love God as he deserves

There’s no way I could have ever fulfilled the demands of God’s righteous, perfect, and holy law. Only you could do so and only you did so. I worship, praise, and adore you, Lord Jesus. I must not see the manger without seeing your cross.

Jesus, because you lived in my place and died in my place, I’m no longer a slave to sin but a son of God. This self-indulgent prodigal and self-righteous man, has been robed in your perfect righteousness. And as surely as he sent you into the world, so God has sent his Spirit to live in my heart—by whom I cry with glee, “Abba, Father!” My future looks quite amazing as well, for I will co-inherit the new heaven and new earth with you, Lord Jesus. How can I possibly keep from singing and shouting, “Hallelujah, what a Savior! Hallelujah, what a salvation!” I will not judge innkeepers, but I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. So very Amen I pray, in your merciful and matchless name.

Stunning Sentences

2011-12-23T09:24:00.005-06:00

In the original, this was all one paragraph. I broke it up to sentences, and thought/prayed/thanked about each one...perhaps a good exercise for you, also? Merry CHRISTmas!

The Word became flesh!

God became human!

The invisible became visible!

The untouchable became touchable!

Eternal life experienced temporal death!

The transcendent one descended and drew near!

The unlimited became limited!

The infinite became finite!

The immutable became mutable!

The unbreakable became fragile!

Spirit became matter!

Eternity entered time!

The independent became dependent!

The almighty became weak!

The loved became hated!

The exalted was humbled!

Glory was subjected to shame!

Fame turned into obscurity!

From inexpressible joy to tears of unimaginable grief!

From a throne to a cross!

From ruler to being ruled!

From power to weakness!

Sam Storms

Staggering Mystery

2011-12-22T22:19:00.000-06:00

“The supreme mystery with which the gospel confronts us

lies not in the Good Friday message of atonement, nor in the Easter message of resurrection, but in the Christmas message of incarnation.

The really staggering Christian claim is that Jesus of Nazareth was God made man – that the second person of the Godhead became the ‘second man’ (1 Cor. 15:47), determining human destiny, the second representative head of the race, and that He took humanity without loss of deity, so that Jesus of Nazareth was as truly and fully divine as He was human.

Here are two mysteries for the price of one - the plurality of persons within the unity of God, and the union of Godhead and manhood in the person of Jesus. It is here, the thing that happened at the first Christmas, that the profoundest and most unfathomable depths of the Christian revelation lie. ’The Word was made flesh’ (John 1:14); God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child. And there was no illusion or deception in this: the babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets.”

J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove, 1973), pages 45-46.

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-12-22T06:09:00.000-06:00

"A Pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself, but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself." A W. Tozer

Don't Forget This!

2011-12-21T12:08:00.003-06:00

Important Reminder from J I Packer:

"Our business is to present the Christian faith clothed in modern terms, not to propagate modern thought clothed in Christian terms.

Our business is to interpret and criticize modern thought by the gospel, not vice versa.

Confusion here is fatal."

"Fundamentalism and the Word of God (Eerdmans, 1958), pg 136

Christmas Cheer?

2011-12-17T18:56:00.000-06:00

Longtime friend (and pastor) Johnny Williams directs God's Mountain Camp, where son Josiah works full-time, Janelle lifeguards summers, and Jane helps when she can...they had their staff get together, with obligatory, ah, unique clothing...Josiah won the prize for tackiest "sweater"

Janelle and Sarah Williams

Janelle...

Josiah and his winning creation:

The Whole Gang

Only One!

2011-12-16T10:05:00.001-06:00

Professed atheist Christopher Hitchens died yesterday. Did he die an atheist? I don't know, nor do you. He had heard the gospel from many; perhaps he came to Christ near deaths end.

Here are some sane comments on "death bed conversion":

"It cannot be too often, or too loudly, or too solemnly repeated that the Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion - one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume."
Thomas Guthrie (1803-1873), Scottish preacher

God's Greatest Gifts

2011-12-15T12:01:00.002-06:00

"When God planned the great work of saving sinners, he provided two gifts.

He gave his Son and he gave his Spirit.

In fact each person of the Trinity was involved in the great work of salvation.

The love, grace and wisdom of the Father planned it; the love, grace and humility of

the Son purchased it; and the love, grace and power of the Holy Spirit enabled

sinners to believe and receive it.

The first great truth in this work of salvation is that God sent his Son to take our

nature on him and to suffer for us in it. The second great truth is that God gave his

Spirit to bring sinners to faith in Christ and so be saved."

John Owen

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-12-15T06:32:00.000-06:00

"When men turn to Him, the same enemies that crucified Him will try to crucify them." A W Tozer

I Wish Holy Spirit was Named Herb

2011-12-13T12:00:00.000-06:00

God the Father.

God the Son.

God the Spirit.

Blessed three-in-one.

Not gonna try to "explain" the trinity.

But I do sort-of wish Holy Spirit was named Herb...or Fred...or Tom.

We try to and should stress Spirit is a "person" just as the Father and the Son are...but it is sometimes difficult.

Holy Spirit is just hard to relate to...He seems like a "what" as opposed to a "who" or "whom" (all Bible quizzers grin).

I pray to the Father through the Son by the Spirit.

I am everlastingly glad the Father planned the gospel; the Son paid for the gospel, the Spirit proclaimed and applied the gospel.

But I still, sometimes, wish He was named Herb...

Yeah, Snoopy, I Relate...too often

2011-12-12T06:46:00.000-06:00

Near Demonic

2011-12-11T01:13:00.000-06:00

Mike Mosiman, my overall boss at Midland Ministries, enjoys CHRISTmas and holiday decorations.

He has this inflatable snowman displayed in our auditorium.

I find it scary, near-satanic, and something-in-need-of-a-burger (as in cheesy).

But Mike likes it.

And thus he attached a note, just for me.

A Favorite First Testament Passage

2011-12-10T07:06:00.000-06:00

I try to reference the "Old Testament" as the First Testament, simply because too many, at least subconsciously, feel "Old" is unimportant...though we know that all Scripture is inspired by God..

Anyway, this is one of my favorite passages in the First Testament:

"Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and You are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand are power and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank You, our God, and praise Your glorious Name." (1 Chronicles 29.11-13)

Go back through the passage and look at the context of the four "all"s, and be encouraged.

Legalism versus Licentiousness

2011-12-09T06:54:00.000-06:00

“When we misunderstand the relationship between law and

gospel, it leads to two opposite but equally destructive errors:

legalism and license. Legalists continue to live under the law,

believing that God’s approval is somehow dependent on their

right conduct.

Licentious people dismiss the law, believing that since they are

“under grace,” God’s rules don’t matter much. These two

errors have been around since the days of the apostles.

The book of Galatians is written to combat the error of

legalism: “Are you so foolish? Afer beginning with the Spirit,

are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?” (Gal.

3:3).

The book of Romans addresses the error of license: “What

then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under

grace?”(Rom. 6:15).

Both legalism and license are destructive to the gospel. To

avoid these pitfalls, we must understand the biblical

relationship between law and gospel. In a nutshell, here’s how

God designed it to work: the law drives us to the gospel and

the gospel frees us to obey the law.

Realizing all that God expects of us should drive us in

despair to Christ. And once we are united with Christ, the

indwelling Holy Spirit causes us to delight in God’s law and

gives us power to obey it.”

— Bob Thune and Will Walker, The Gospel Centered Life

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-12-08T08:58:00.000-06:00

"The resurrection and the judgment will demonstrate before all worlds who won and who lost. We can wait." A. W. Tozer

Losing Blessings?

2011-12-04T08:48:00.001-06:00

"Let us not dictate to God. Many a blessing has been lost by Christians not believing it to be a blessing, because it did not come in the particular shape which they had conceived to be proper and right. To some the divine work is nothing, unless it assumes the form which their prejudice has selected."

Jeremiah Lanphier, Alone with Jesus (London, 1872)

Losing Heart? Read This

2011-12-02T11:00:00.001-06:00

SCOTTY SMITH does such a phenomenal job. The following comes off his blog and ministered greatly to me...perhaps you also...

A Prayer of Hope for Those on the Verge of Losing Heart

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Cor. 4:16-18

Heavenly Father, once again we praise you for the relevance, realness and rawness of the Scriptures. For there are times when we feel exactly like Paul felt. We are tempted to lose heart. We know ourselves to be wasting away—emotionally, mentally, physically… not metaphorically, but in reality.

Broken people, complex stories, strained relationships, old hurts bearing current pain… these things are sometimes far more visible to us than anything else. We go through seasons when our troubles neither feel light nor momentary, but “too much” and always.

Father, thank you that we don’t have to pretend otherwise. Thank you that we don’t have to mute our emotions, window-dress our stories, or doing anything to get ready for grace. Grace is for sinners, not for the competent. Mercy is for messes, not for the manicured. Strength comes to the weak, not to the promising. Hope is for the heartless, not the hardy.

So we come… we come to you today, asking you to do what you did for Shepherds long ago. Simply show up, Father. We don’t need an angelic visitation. We don’t need another star. We don’t need another manger scene. We just need to be taken “farther up and farther in” into the once-and-for-all manger.

You promised the Messiah, and you delivered… not only in Bethlehem, but also at Calvary. You have never lied to us, Father, never. We can trust you in the midst of our heartaches and heartbreaks. We can trust you with our angst and anger, our fears and failures, our brokenness and our bitterness. We can trust you for things we can barely see with the eye of faith.

Send your Spirit and open the eyes of our hearts. Today and tomorrow and the next day… throughout this whole Advent season… give us a fresh vision of the hope to which you have called us, the inheritance you have secured for us and the power you have given us in Jesus (Eph. 1:15-23).

When our thinking runs awry, bring us back to gospel sanity. When our emotions run amuck, lasso them in with cords of your love. When we want to run away, run ahead of us, turn around and let us collide into your welcoming embrace. You are so very good, Father, and so very in control. Hallelujah several times over. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.

Blessed Burden Bearer

2011-12-02T07:12:00.000-06:00

“Jesus is the great Burden-Bearer of His people. No other arm, and no other heart, in heaven or upon earth, were strong enough, or loving enough, to bear these burdens but His! He who bore the weight of our sin and curse and shame in His obedience and death — bore it along all the avenues of His weary pilgrimage, from Bethlehem to Calvary — is He who now stretches forth His Divine arm, and makes bare a Brother’s heart to take your burden of care and of grief, dear saint of God, upon Himself.”
— Octavius Winslow

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-12-01T08:56:00.000-06:00

"we are called to an everlasting preoccupation with God." A W Tozer

Upon Further Review...

2011-11-24T20:56:00.001-06:00

No, not talking about football. (I did watch most of the first two games, and was pulling for Miami....)

But I saw this posted on another blog. The blog just had the painting, and no copy other than "A Day for Thanksgiving."

My first thought was, "Hey, this is the ten lepers from Luke 17...but the one looking back looks like a woman...weren't they all men?"

So I grabbed the Word and looked it up...nope, not listed as men...but the one who did turn back is described not only as a Samaritan, but as a male.

Which does not make me any less impressed with the painting...

And, upon even further review...just looking back doesn't mean this was the leper that went back. Maybe this one had a temporary fixation on going back, but decides not to; while another does, in fact, decide to go back.

Don't know.

Interesting, though. I had always "assumed" they were all men.

Ah, the dangers of assumption...in so many areas of life...

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-11-24T01:47:00.000-06:00

“Salvation is from our side a choice, from the divine side it is a seizing upon, an apprehending, a conquest by the Most High God. Our “accepting” and “willing” are reactions rather than actions. The right of determination must always remain with God.”

What Does The Cross Reveal?

2011-11-23T08:48:00.001-06:00

"The cross ultimately points not to the greatness of our worth but to the greatness of our sin...The cross sets us free from the misguided self-love to passionately love the One who redeemed us." Bob Kauflin

Reflections 48 years later

2011-11-22T10:04:00.001-06:00

Forty-eight years ago I was in a classroom at William S. Hart High School in Newhall, California.

Can't remember what the class was...

But I do recall a fellow student, Lloyd, rushing in the classroom shouting, "The President's been shot!"

My response?

"What's the punchline?"

But it was not a joke...and we soon learned John F. Kennedy died.

We were soon dismissed, and I and thousands of others ended up on Hollywood Blvd trying to turn tragedy into a party.

I was not a believer at the time...not a believer in anything. I was shocked at his death, but didn't feel it was the end of the world.

But from this vantage point can't help but wonder...

Not wonder if there was a "conspiracy."

Not wonder if Oswald was the lone gunman.

But wonder what would have happened had the assassination not occurred?

What if Camelot had continued?

Where would America be...what would have happened in Vietnam?

And wonder about the "what ifs" of Martin Luther King, Jr and Bobby Kennedy a few years later...

But all the "what ifs" are of little, if any value.

God is sovereign in the affairs of man.

Nothing catches Him by surprise.

The biggest "what if"? What if the Spirit of God had not convicted me of my sin and of the reality of salvation in Christ in 1974?

So I blow off the "what if" in the assurance of God's salvation, planned by the Father, purchased by the Son, applied by the Spirit...

And though I have no clue what will happen tomorrow...I know He is already there...and He is in control...and He is good...and He is wise.

And for that I am thankful.

Stormy Reminder

2011-11-21T08:33:00.001-06:00

"Your trials may be many and great. Your cross may be very heavy. But the business of your soul is all conducted according to an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. All things are working togethr for your good. Your sorrows are only purifying your soul for glory;; your bereavements are only fashioning you as a polished stone for the temple above, made without hands. From whatever quarter the storms blow, they only drive you nearer to heaven! Whatever weather you may go through it is only ripening you for the garner of God. Your best things are quite safe."
J. C. Ryle

Goofy Bros

2011-11-20T16:02:00.001-06:00

Was great to have the whole Hager clan together for a few days, but, alas, today Joel headed back; but should be home again just before CHRISTmas...after church we all ate at Chipoltes, and Jacob gave Joel a uniquely-adoring-sort-of-look:

Cross Ignored?

2011-11-18T20:21:00.001-06:00

"All heaven is interested in the cross of Christ; all hell terribly afraid of it; while men are the only beings who more or less ignore its meaning." Iowa Chambers

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-11-17T01:44:00.000-06:00

“We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit. “No man can come to me,” said our Lord, “except the Father which hath sent me draw him,” and it is by this very prevenient drawing that God takes from us every vestige of credit for the act of coming. The impulse to pursue God originates with God, but the out working of that impulse is our following hard after Him; and all the time we are pursuing Him we are already in His hand: “Thy right hand upholdeth me.”

Knit

2011-11-15T08:26:00.001-06:00

"...knit together in love..." (Col 2.2)

I have long been intrigued with those words. Paul wanted his readers "hearts to be encouraged, being knit together in love..."

In Colossians 3.14 Paul states, "And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony."

Knitting and binding...

I couldn't sew to save my life, but when I think of knitting I think of threads going around and through each other, and thus forming a flexible strength...

And I recognize that I need to "go around" some things that I disagree with among brothers and sisters in Christ. These "things" are not worth fighting about, arguing about, debating about.

I need to go "around" lots of stuff while still holding hands with the family of God.

We who have been redeemed are brothers and sisters in Christ, but not identical twins. We may not always see eye-to-eye, but we can...and should..walk hand-in-hand...

Man Pondereth the Outside Appearance...

2011-11-12T14:39:00.000-06:00

Only God knows the heart...as I chuckled at this cartoon I wondered how many people tell me "doing good" in response to my "How you doing?" and are, well, lying...for whatever reason...

Cowboy Jacob

2011-11-12T14:12:00.001-06:00

Jane and Janelle headed south yesterday to board their birthday cruiseship (along with Pam and Sarah Williams)...Jacob and I headed to a restored cabin for a look back at Missouri history...here are a few pics:

Costumed Jacob taking care of corn

It was windy and chilly, so Jacob and I wondered about this guy:

A rope swing and a 9-year-old = fun

The Verse I Love to Quote - To Others

2011-11-12T09:33:00.000-06:00

Scotty Smith writes (or rather prays) about Romans 8.28:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. Rom. 8:28 ESV

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Rom. 8:28 NIV

Heavenly Father, perhaps right after John 3:16, this is one of the first verses we, your children, were taught to memorize, cherish and claim. But in reality, we don’t claim this Scripture, it claims us—it completely reorders how we think about you, our circumstances, our struggles and our future. Today we return, once again, to the homeroom of Romans 8:28.

Let us see what you see and know what is knowable. Help us trust you in the hard places; wait for you in the stressful seasons; and love you—not to get something from you, but because of everything we’ve already received in Jesus.

Hallelujah! You are a God at work. You are presently working in all things for your glory and for our good. Nothing in our past has marked us as a “Plan B” people; nothing in our present contradicts the promise of your care or the pledge of your presence; nothing in our future will separate us from the wonders of your love or alter the completion of your plan.

Hallelujah! You are a God at work in all things for our good, not merely for our liking. We praise you for not giving us everything we want, because we often ask for things that will simply make life easier, rather than trust you for things that will make us like Jesus.

Father, our foolish hearts often call good things evil and evil things good. Thank you for your patience. Our demanding hearts often treat you like Sugar Daddy, rather than Abba, Father. Thank you for not giving into our whining and spirit of entitlement. Our impatient hearts would settle for the fool’s gold of immediate relief, rather than wait for the lasting treasure of eternal inheritance. Thank you for your wisdom and “big picture” Fathering.

By the truth of the gospel, help us love you today with everything we have and are. By the power of your Spirit, enable us to surrender to your purpose, rather than stress over our plans. For the glory of your name, free us to live as a called people, excited about our future; rather than as a driven people, fearful of this day. So very Amen we pray, in Jesus’ tender and triumphant name.

Veteran's Day Thoughts

2011-11-11T08:53:00.000-06:00

I served four years in the Army. Enlisted right out of high school. Long before Jesus captured me.

Did a couple years in Korea...discovered kimchi! Was in Korea when the "Pueblo" was snatched by the North Koreans. Never thought we'd sell those guys out. We did. Most reading this never heard of the incident...

From Korea to Germany. Was there when the Russians invaded Czechlosvakia. Sent my unit out to the Czech border several days before it happened. Did we have a hunch? Duh.

Then went to Vietnam (with the 11th Armored Cavalry) for the remainder of my enlistment.

Army was a lot like prison. Learned a lot there; don't wanna go back.

But the dumb decisions I made after the military were not Vietnams fault...or the Armys fault...or even the devils fault.

The decisions were influenced by all those things, and more; but the decisions were not dictated by those things.

I made my choices, my choices made me. It's called personal responsibility.

The most disgusting phrase in English? "It's not my fault." Well, yeah, it is.

We may have a lot of "excuses," but to paraphrase a military saying, "Excuses are like elbows; everyone has a couple."

And our God did not send His Son to die for excuses, but for sins. "There is a way that seems right to a man..."

I'm thankful the Lord sent His Spirit to invade my life in a Texas jail cell in 1974...and that His mercies are new every morning.

Gospel or Discipleship?

2011-11-10T08:37:00.000-06:00

What do you think about this:

“Contrary to what some might think, discipleship is not the engine of the church. The gospel is. Without the gospel, both discipleship and church fail. Without the driving force of the gospel, discipleship devolves into self-help religiosity motivated by conservative pietism. The church is reduced to a glorified non-profit in which people lose interest. But the gospel reactivates both church and discipleship!

The good news that Jesus has defeated sin, death, and evil through his own death and resurrection and is making all things new, even us, changes everything! In the gospel, God in Christ welcomes sinners and sends out disciples. The gospel, not discipleship, is central to the church. If we make discipleship the engine of the church, we’ll run quickly out of gas. But when the gospel is central, the church gets traction and disciples get depth.”

— Jonathan Dobson

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-11-10T01:43:00.000-06:00

“God works in you to will, but you are to work with God in working it out. God works in you – that is, God is always previous. God is the aggressor. God saw you in the rut and wanted you to get out it. He thought of it first, not you. The impuse to know God came from Him and not from you. God works first, and because God works we are to work with Him.”

Neat Gospel Presentation

2011-11-09T06:25:00.000-06:00

Such A Vital Message for Girls and Women

2011-11-08T06:15:00.000-06:00

Yeah, the song has been around for a while; but the message is so, so important...watch/pray/share:

Linus' Observation of Paul's Letters

2011-11-06T07:15:00.000-06:00

My Little Girl is 17?

2011-11-04T09:02:00.002-05:00

Seventeen years ago November 4 my daughter, Janelle, was born to a young girl we met at a camp a year before.

After camp the girl stayed in touch, made some mistakes, found herself pregnant, contacted us; after prayer and consideration we started the proceedings to adopt Janelle at birth.

The birthmom was 13 when she got pregnant; 14 when she delivered. There were tense moments of wondering if the adoption would go through, but on that miraculous morning our daughter was born.

Seventeen years have, as all parents know, flown by. As she is my only daughter, of course Janelle frequently refers to herself as "Dad's favorite daughter." Which is, of course, true.

Adoption teaches us so much...and will teach us more. We are so thankful our Heavenly Father did not "have" to adopt us as His children; but He did...and though the financial cost to us for Janelle was enormous; the price God the Father paid as Jesus Christ became our substitute is unfathomable.

Janelle has brought far more warmth into our lives than this picture portrays:

And this photo depicts her utilizing one of her giftings...loving on little kids:

Don't Slam Me!

2011-11-03T12:15:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know the world will never be "as one" as long as there is sin, Satan, and the kingdom of self...I know the UN is problematic in so many ways; but I still love this ongoing concept of recording street musicians from all over the world...reminding me how big the world is, how small that I am...and that causes me to reflect on the gospel....how it has and does effect me, and my responsibility to pass it on...

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-11-03T01:41:00.000-05:00

“We must do something about the cross, and one of two things only we can do – flee it or die upon it. And if we should be so foolhardy as to flee we shall by that act put away the faith of our fathers and make of Christianity something other than it is …

“If we are wise we will do what Jesus did: endure the cross and despise its shame for the joy that is set before us … The cross will cut into our lives where it hurts worst, sparing neither us nor our carefully cultivated reputations. It will defeat us and bring our selfish lives to an end. Only then can we rise in fullness of life to establish a pattern of living wholly new and free and full of good works.

“The changed attitude toward the cross that we see … proves not that God has changed, nor that Christ has eased up on His demand that we carry the cross; it means rather that current Christianity has moved away from the standards of the New Testament. So far have we moved indeed that it may take nothing short of a new reformation to restore the cross to its right place in the theology and life of the Church.”

- A.W. Tozer, The Root of The Righteous

Joyous Janelle

2011-10-31T08:37:00.001-05:00

So hard for me to fathom that my daughter, Janelle, will be 17 Friday...she helped watch youngsters while adults watched a movie at church last night...here's a shot:

Linus Example

2011-10-30T08:46:00.001-05:00

Hmmm...wish I more consistently lived like I needed Jesus and the gospel as much as Linus needs his blanket:

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-10-27T01:46:00.000-05:00

Knowledge without humility is vanity.

Deaf Group

2011-10-26T11:33:00.000-05:00

I've more than a casual interest in the deaf since Jane's Mom is deaf and thus Jane (and my kids to varying degrees) know sign language. Here's a brief video featuring a Mars Hill (Mark Driscoll) deaf small group with some staggering statistics included:

Living Out the Gospel without Words: The Story of a Deaf Community Group from Mars Hill Church on Vimeo.

4 Word Gospel...

2011-10-25T17:14:00.000-05:00

“‘Come unto me,’ he says, ‘and I will give you.’ You say, ‘Lord, I cannot give you anything.’ He does not want anything. Come to Jesus, and he says, ‘I will give you.’ Not what you give to God, but what he gives to you, will be your salvation. ‘I will give you‘ — that is the gospel in four words.

Will you come and have it? It lies open before you.”

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, 1950), I:175. Italics original.

(THANKS TO RAY ORTLUND FOR THIS)

Great Verse - To Quote to Others!

2011-10-25T08:30:00.003-05:00

Romans 8.28 is, of course, a great verse; because all of the Word is great. Yet it is far easier, for me at least, to quote "all things work together for good" to someone else; a tad tougher to take when it is a timely reminder to me.

R C Sproul offers this, "If God is able to make everything that happens to us work together for our good, then ultimately everything that happens to us is good. We must be careful to use the word ultimately. On the earthly plane things that happen to us may indeed be evil… Yet God in His goodness transcends all these things and works them out to our good. For the Christian, ultimately, there are no tragedies."

Got four minutes? Bathe in clear teaching about trinity

2011-10-22T06:21:00.000-05:00

Jacob Attacked!

2011-10-21T08:40:00.000-05:00

Poor son Jacob....after Wednesday church he was attacked by a group of young women!

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-10-20T04:57:00.008-05:00

"How many Christians really harbor within their own spirit the daily expectation of God's presence?

Amazing Metamorphosis

2011-10-18T11:11:00.002-05:00

Stunning stuff:

Sobering Sixty-two Seconds...

2011-10-17T15:15:00.000-05:00

Did You Know? from WRPC on Vimeo.

Fall Visitor

2011-10-16T08:36:00.000-05:00

Kermit Learns Truth

2011-10-15T12:52:00.001-05:00

Thanks for JOSHUA HARRIS for pointing this out:

God Loves The Sinner?

2011-10-15T10:19:00.002-05:00

Important insights into what is to some a sacred cow from D. A. Carson:

"One evangelical cliché has it that God hates the sin but loves the sinner. There is a small element of truth in these words: God has nothing but hate for the sin, but it would be wrong to conclude that God has nothing but hate for the sinner. A difference must be maintained between God’s view of sin and his view of the sinner. Nevertheless the cliché (God hates the sin but loves the sinner) is false on the face of it and should be abandoned. Fourteen times in the first fifty psalms alone, we are told that God hates the sinner, his wrath is on the liar, and so forth. In the Bible, the wrath of God rests both on the sin (Rom. 1:18ff.) and on the sinner (John 3:36).

Our problem, in part, is that in human experience wrath and love normally abide in mutually exclusive compartments. Love drives wrath out, or wrath drives love out. We come closest to bringing them together, perhaps, in our responses to a wayward act by one of our children, but normally we do not think that a wrathful person is loving.

But this is not the way it is with God. God’s wrath is not an implacable, blind rage. However emotional it may be, it is an entirely reasonable and willed response to offenses against his holiness. But his love, as we saw in the last chapter, wells up amidst his perfections and is not generated by the loveliness of the loved. Thus there is nothing intrinsically impossible about wrath and love being directed toward the same individual or people at the same time. God in his perfections must be wrathful against his rebel image-bearers, for they have offended him; God in his perfections must be loving toward his rebel image-bearers, for he is that kind of God."

May the Story NEVER Get Old!

2011-10-14T06:35:00.000-05:00

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-10-13T06:56:00.007-05:00

"Christians often try to put God in a box. The God who fits in a box isn't the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

If I do say so myself...

2011-10-12T16:10:00.002-05:00

I took this photo near summer's end in New York. Used my phone with no frills and no editing...and I just rather like it and thus share it:

Power of "No"

2011-10-12T06:45:00.002-05:00

Good stuff from RON EDMONDSON

The more experience I get in life the more I learn the importance of personal development. And, one of the most important aspects of personal development I have learned is the unique and rare skill of being able to say “No”.

In fact, learning to say no may be the most important personal, professional or leadership development tool one can have.

We have lots of opportunities to say yes. The old saying, whether it’s doctrinally true or not is fully practically true. “If Satan can’t make you bad he’ll make you busy”. I’ve seen throughout my life, especially with my personality wiring for achievement, that if I’m not careful I will say yes to things God has never planned for me to do and often I’m not capable or the best person to do them. Does that ever happen to you?

Saying no, as hard as it is for some of us, comes with great reward:

Saying no is the power to help resist temptation…
Saying no keeps you from the stress of overcommitting…
Saying no protects family life…
Saying no provides adequate time for what matters most…
Saying no preserves energy levels for prioritized work…
Saying no allows others opportunities they wouldn’t have if you always say yes…
Saying no permits you to control your schedule for an ultimate good…

The value of learning when to say no, and actually practicing it, is immeasurable. (I’m sure you could add even more values to my list., but I’m kind of stuck on the number 7 )

I highly encourage learning the power of “No”.

Guidance from "The African Queen"

2011-10-11T06:57:00.011-05:00

Confession..I have never seen the movie

.

But I read a while ago that it contains this brief conversation:

Rose: "Don't be worried, Mr. Alnut."

Alnut: "Oh, I ain't worried, miss. I gave myself up for dead back when we started."

Tim's Request to Worship Leaders

2011-10-10T12:08:00.000-05:00

Pretty hilarious stuff...bearing in mind that jest often contains kernels of truth:

A Letter to Steve Jobs

2011-10-06T12:59:00.000-05:00

Good thoughts from MIKE ANDERSON

Dear Steve,
Some of my earliest memories are drawing pictures on a Mac. In fact, as a young boy my dad was a consultant for Apple. You probably didn’t know him, but he was pushing your ideas. I remember taking road trips with him and watching him teach rooms full of people about how Macintosh computers can revolutionize education. Schools all over adopted them.
It revolutionized my education.
I probably would not have had the skills to work on the Resurgence if you hadn’t built the Apple.

Common Grace

God allowed you to build machines that have been used for tremendous good. Through Mars Hill, Acts29, and the Resurgence, God has used Macs to help compile and share gospel-centered theology to literally millions of people around the world. Without the tools you built, I don’t know how the team could have done all that work. God used what you did for good. Here’s a photo of three pastors and three seminary presidents that have preached to and trained millions of people together about Jesus—they are all benefiting from the tool you made:

God gave you a lot of grace to do the amazing things you did in this life.

The Tragedy of Death

Steve, your death is sad to me because I’ve read everything you’ve written and watched as many interviews as I could—this quote really broke my heart:

No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

—

Steve Jobs, Stanford Commencement Speech

Steve, you were wrong. So wrong.
Death isn’t natural. It wasn’t meant to be that way. Death is the worst thing that happened, not the best. Paul tells us in Romans 6:23 that death is the result of sin.
Death isn’t the end. You’re not “cleared away” as you say. You’re still around—you’re a soul that God created.

Hope

In that same chapter in Romans, Paul tells the people who believed in Christ:

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. - Romans 6:4-6Steve, I genuinely hope that Jesus grabbed you out of the path you’d been walking down all of these years. I hope that he softened your heart and made you his son.

Faith

God is a good God. I trust him more than anything in the whole world. Steve, I hope that your death will embolden many not to sit on their hands and wait to tell those whom they love and respect about the great and glorious gospel of Jesus.

Sincerely,
Mike Anderson

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-10-06T01:55:00.001-05:00

"Faith is not a conclusion you reach..it's a journey you live." A. W. Tozer

Let Scripture Speak

2011-10-04T12:45:00.000-05:00

There are still a lot of ding-a-ling "thoughts" going on about the subject of hell. JUSTIN TAYLOR shares important scriptures concerning the subject:

Ten Foundational Verses for Eternal Punishment in Hell

In his contribution to the book in Two Views of Hell, Robert Peterson sets forth ten passages that as part of the “overwhelming evidence” to support the historical interpretation of hell as everlasting punishment. I agree with Peterson’s citation of Augustine, “who cautions us against following the example of those who, ‘while not slighting the authority of the sacred Scriptures, . . . nevertheless interpret them wrongly and suppose that what is to happen will not be what the Scriptures speak of, but what they themselves would like to happen” (City of God 21.27). I find myself facing the same temptation, so it is helpful to keep God’s Word front and center when constructing our theology.

1. Undying Worm and Unquenchable Fire (OT)

Isaiah 66:22-24

For as the new heavens and the new earth
that I make
shall remain before me, says the LORD,
so shall your offspring and your name remain.
From new moon to new moon,
and from Sabbath to Sabbath,
all flesh shall come to worship before me,
declares the LORD.

And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.

2. Everlasting Life/Everlasting Contempt

Daniel 12:1-2

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some toeverlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

3. Eternal Fire/The Fire of Hell

Matthew 18:6-9

Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.

4. Eternal Punishment/Eternal Life

Matthew 25:31-46

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” . . . Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

5. Undying Worm and Unquenchable Fire (NT)

Mark 9:42-48

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

6. Everlasting Destruction

2 Thessalonians 1:5-10

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction,away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed.

7. The Punishment of Eternal Fire

Jude 7

Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing apunishment of eternal fire.

8. Blackest Darkness Reserved Forever

Jude 13

[These people are] wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.

9. The Smoke of Their Torment Rises for Ever and Ever

Revelation 14:9-11

If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

10. The Lake of Fire

Revelation 20:10, 14-15

And the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. . . . Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Reminder - Be Still

2011-10-03T13:43:00.000-05:00

I needed and need this reminder from PETE WILSON

I’m a doer, an activator, a leader. Like many of you it’s in my blood to be as productive as I possibly can. It’s why I need to lean into this verse more than ever before.

Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”

The Hebrew word for “Be still” literally means “let go of your grip.”

Cease striving at the level of human effort.

Be still and let go of your own understanding.
Be still and let go of your own human effort.
Be still and let go of your desire to control what others think of you.
Be still and let go of your need to control outcomes.

Be still.

Be still and be reminded that you are finite. God is infinite.

Be still and let God be God in the most intimate places of your life which, in the end, is the only thing that will change anything.

Slow Start Better Than No-Start

2011-10-02T06:19:00.000-05:00

I begin five days of special meetings at the First Baptist Church of Stanberry, Mo this morning. These are not designed as "evangelistic" meetings, but as exhortations and encouragements to Christians to cooperate with the Spirit as we "continue to become what we already are." (if you don't grasp those last seven words; think/pray about them for a while).

Many of us beat ourselves up because our growth in the "grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3.18) is slow. Though many factors may well be involved and are worthy of examination (self-examination; not examining others); slow growth is spectacularly better than no growth...

Those thoughts ran through my head as I read this:

Rooted and Grounded

2011-09-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

Setting up for Bible quizzing today; actual competition tomorrow. Lots of work for lots of staff and volunteers. Why done? Over 200 teenagers are memorizing consecutive chunks of God's Word...God's living, active, powerful, life-giving Word. As they ingest the living Word the Spirit of God works within...not necessarily in immediately tangible ways, but the work continues...

And over time many are rooted and grounded in the written Word to the glory of the living Word.

Because, as observed in the following strip, 'tis better to be a tree than a leaf!

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-09-29T06:35:00.007-05:00

"Keep one compartment of your life back from the Holy Spirit and it grieves Him that He cannot go any further."

Take a Few Minutes to be Spiritually Refreshed

2011-09-28T23:14:00.001-05:00

So Important to Remember, Reflect, Refocus

2011-09-28T07:22:00.000-05:00

Why False Teachers Have Such a Large Audience

2011-09-25T08:55:00.000-05:00

J. C. Ryle died in 1900. His observations remain contemporary:

What is the best safe-guard against false teaching? Beyond all doubt the regular study of the word of God, with prayer for the teaching of the Holy Spirit. The Bible was given to be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psalm. 119:105.) The man who reads it aright will never be allowed greatly to err. It is neglect of the Bible which makes so many a prey to the first false teacher whom they hear. They would have us believe that "they are not learned, and do not pretend to have decided opinions." The plain truth is that they are lazy and idle about reading the Bible, and do not like the trouble of thinking for themselves. Nothing supplies false prophets with followers so much as spiritual sloth under a cloak of humility.

~ J.C. Ryle

When All Else Fails?

2011-09-24T09:52:00.000-05:00

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-09-22T06:39:00.002-05:00

"An honest man with an open Bible and a pad and pencil is sure to find out what is wrong with him very quickly." AW Tozer

Creation Testifies

2011-09-20T19:41:00.000-05:00

Jane's flowers outside of our front porch are beautiful, and a particular type has started drawing butterflies like crazy...here's a few that visited tonight
:

Every Moment

2011-09-19T12:23:00.000-05:00

“It’s no wonder that self-help books top the charts in Christian publishing and that counseling offices are overwhelmed. Our pride and our neglect of the gospel force us to run from seminar to seminar, book to book, counselor to counselor, always seeking but never finding some secret to holy living.

Most of us have never really understood that Christianity is not a self-help religion meant to enable moral people to become more moral. We don’t need a self-help book; we need a Savior. We don’t need to get our collective act together; we need death and resurrection and the life-transforming truths of the gospel.

And we don’t need them just once, at the beginning of our Christian life; we need them every moment of every day.”

- Elyse Fitzpatrick and Dennis Johnson

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-09-15T06:09:00.000-05:00

So sadly true...all too often in my case...

In an effort to get the work of the Lord done, we often lose contact with the Lord of the work. —A.W. Tozer

And I am Sure Many of Them Are (Sincere)

2011-09-13T01:15:00.000-05:00

Too Much Truth Sang in Jest

2011-09-12T09:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my buddy Kent Ottot for pointing me to this:

Why Did God Allow This To Happen?

2011-09-11T07:34:00.000-05:00

Whatever "this" is; the following quote is worth chewing on:

"If the children of God were always saved from floods like believing Noah and his family; if every time somebody pointed a gun at a Christian, the gun just turned to salami; if we really had a money-back guarantee against hatred, disease, and the acts of terrorists, then of course we wouldn't have to worry about church growth. Our churches would fill with people attracted to the faith for secondary reasons. These are people who want an insurance agent, not a church."

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr

Appropriate for this Date

2011-09-10T16:36:00.000-05:00

Don't know if this is legit or photoshopped; don't care; is appropriate:

The Freaky Four-Letter Word

2011-09-09T14:44:00.000-05:00

No, not that word.

The four-letter-word to which I refer freaks out Christians more than what most would label as obscenities.

That four-letter-word?

W O R K

As in "work out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

I think as part of the reformation and beyond those who wanted to leave the "saved by works" crowd behind got paranoid about the four-letter-word.

And that is a huge reason why there are so many baptized pagans in the church today.

They "go forward." They "raise their hands." They "pray the prayer."

And there is zero difference in their lives.

And they are told that they are "saved by grace and that not of works."

They are, all too often, not told that we are "created in Christ Jesus to bring forth good works, which God has before ordained that we should practice them."

And if one ever refers to another's lack of "good works" one is attacked as being judgmental. (the unforgiveable contemporary 'sin')

Or could it be the main reason we are so freaked out by the word is because there are so few examples of "ordained work" in our own lives?

Thursday Tozer Tidbit of Truth

2011-09-08T06:22:00.000-05:00

"Only after all the noise has spent itself do we begin to hear in the silence of our hearts the voice of God." A W Tozer