God has chosen the weak...

"The road must be trod, but it will be very hard………….. This quest may be attempted by the weak with as much hope as the strong. Yet such is oft the course of deeds that move the wheels of the world: small hands do them because they must, while the eyes of the great are elsewhere."

J. R.R. Tolkien "The Fellowship of the Ring" , 1985, George & Allen & Urwin Pub LTD (Chapter 3 The Council of Elrond Page 352)

Is Your Church Cumbering the Ground?

There is . . . no place today for a Church that is not aflame with the Spirit who is the Lord and Giver of life, nor any value in a theology; which is not passionately missionary. If there throbs through the Church the vitality of a living union with Christ—and apart from this the Church has no claim to exist, no right to preach, it is merely cumbering the ground—if the Church can indeed say "It is not I who live, it is Christ who lives in me," then the dark demonic forces of the age have met their match, and the thrust of life is stronger than the drift of death. A Church that knows its Lord and is possessed by its Gospel cannot but propagate creatively the life that is has found. A Christian who is taking his faith seriously cannot but evangelize.

("A Faith to Proclaim”, James S. Stewart, p. 11,12 Regent College Publishing , 2002)

Get Your Affections in Line

"God is pursuing with omnipotent passion a worldwide purpose of gathering joyful worshipers for Himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. He has an inexhaustible enthusiasm for the supremacy of His name among the nations. Therefore, let us bring our affections into line with His, and, for the sake of His name, let us renounce the quest for worldly comforts and join His global purpose."

John Piper

Back to the Basics

In our day there is a great need for the followers of Jesus Christ to get back to the Bible and the truth contained therein. This is a call to return to Biblical Christianity...

Biblical Christianity is the law convicting of sin. It’s God using men and women of great faith to impact the world for eternity. It’s God becoming flesh and living among us, so we could behold His glory. It was a hill called Golgotha and a Savior beaten beyond recognition being nailed to the cross; the sinless Lamb of God being sacrificed for sinful humanity. It’s an empty grave and a risen Lord! It’s His ascension back to the Father and the promise He will return again in like manner. It’s His last command to teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. It’s Paul on the road to Damascus being totally changed. It’s Steven preaching the gospel to those that hated him so much that they stoned him, as he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father. It’s a counsel held in Jerusalem to straighten out the legalist teachers. It’s Peter, John, Phillip and Steven preaching to the Jews. It’s Paul, Barnabas, Silas, Mark, Timothy and Luke going into the Gentile world. It’s getting the gospel from Jerusalem into Judea, Samaria and the uttermost. It’s the number being added to daily such as should be saved. It’s the number of saved being multiplied and then the number of churches growing exponentially. It’s teams of early followers risking their lives, being beaten with rods and whipped and stoned and thrown out of town, all for the sake of the glorious gospel! It’s going to Paphos, Antioch, Iconium and Lystra. It’s the Macedonian call to Troas, Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea, Athens and Corinth. It’s writing the new churches in Thessalonica from Athens to confirm foundational truths, exhort them to be holy and to comfort them. It’s letters of rebuke and return visits to straighten out “new” issues among believers. It’s committing the gospel to faithful men, who will be able to teach others and encourage them in their ministries. It’s looking forward to the soon return of Christ but not failing to preach the word; being instant in season and out of season. It’s reproving, rebuking and exhorting with all longsuffering and doctrine. It is a trail of suffering and bloodshed that began at the cross and has followed every true believer throughout history. It is men and women willing to give their all for the one that gave His only begotten Son, the precious Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!

Topics like sacrifice, bloodshed, beatings, suffering cold and hunger for the sake of the gospel don’t play to well with the average Christian in the States today. It’s not the kind of message that will draw a crowd. The crowd wants to see Jesus do another miracle, they want a healing or to be fed. Jesus lost a lot of followers when His preaching turned to denying oneself, and taking up your cross, and following me, or when he said to go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and come and follow me. It’s not the inspirational message most "Christians" want to hear, but it, and only it, is the kind of Biblical Christianity that will get the gospel to the ends of the earth in 54 AD or 2006 AD.