He Is Risen!!!

Joh 20:1-16  The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher.  (2)  Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.  (3)  Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher.  (4)  So they ran both together: and the other disciple did outrun Peter and came first to the sepulcher.  (5)  And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.  (6)  Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie,  (7)  And the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.  (8)  Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed.  (9)  For as yet they knew not the Scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.  (10)  Then the disciples went away again unto their own home.  (11)  But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher,  (12)  And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.  (13)  And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.  (14)  And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus.  (15)  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.  (16)  Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

A Call To Prayer

We live in days of abounding religious profession. There are more places of public worship than there ever was before. There are more people attending them than there ever was before. And yet in spite of all this public religion, I believe there is a vast neglect of private prayer. It is one of those private transcripts between God and our souls which no eye sees, and therefore one which people are tempted to pass over and leave undone.

I believe that hundreds of thousands never utter a word of prayer at all. They eat. They drink. They sleep. They rise. They go forth to their work. They return to their homes. They breathe God’s air. They travel on God’s earth. They enjoy God’s mercies. They have dying bodies. They have judgment and eternity before them. But they never speak to God. They live like the animals that perish. They behave like creatures without souls. They have not one word to say to Him in whose hand are their life and breath, and all things, and from whose mouth they must one day receive their everlasting sentence. How dreadful this seems; but if the secrets of people, were daily known, how common.

The above quote was written by J.C. Ryle over 100 years ago, and it is, I believe, more true today than ever before. I hope that it will encourage us to pray more and pray harder for God’s Will to be accomplished. After all isn’t that the ultimate aim of prayer, to make God’s Will a reality in our lives here on Earth.

Quotes To Take Note Of

Recreation to a minister must be as whetting is with the mower—that is, to be used only so far as is necessary for his work. May a physician in plague-time take any more relaxation or recreation than is necessary for his life, when so many are expecting his help in a case of life and death? Will you stand by and see sinners gasping under the pangs of death, and say: “God doth not require me to make myself a drudge to save them?” Is this the voice of ministerial or Christian compassion or rather of sensual laziness and diabolical cruelty.—Richard Baxter

Misemployment of time is injurious to the mind. In illness I have looked back with self-reproach on days spent in y study; I was wading through history and poetry and monthly journals, but I was in my study! Another man’s trifling is notorious to all observers, but what am I doing? Nothing, perhaps, that has reference to the spiritual good of my congregation. Be much in retirement and prayer. Study the honor and glory of your Master.—Richard Cecil

Why Plant Churches In America?

1. Jesus Christ Commands It – “Go Ye . . .”
2. The Population Growth Begs for It
3. Our Disintegrating Society Clamors for It
4. Cultic Growth Will Replace It
5. Closing and Shrinking Churches Require it
6. Ineffective Existing Churches Cry for It
7. Compromising Churches Demand It
8. New Church Effectiveness Energizes It
9. World Missions Will Be Supplied by It

What We Must Do?
1. Cry Out to the Lord for Revival
2. Pastors Must Lead Their Own Churches Toward Evangelism
3. Revived and Evangelistic Churches Must Be Involved in Planting Churches
4. Churches and Individuals Must Financially Support Church Planting

Top Reasons To Home School Your Children

1. Studies show that home-schooled children average between the 80th and 90th percentile, regardless of the socio-economic background, or educational level of the parents.
2.  Great student teacher ratio.
3.  Very good communication between the student, teacher and parents.
4.  The student can’t lie about their homework.
5.  With a class size of one, they can’t copy anybody else’s work.
6.  The curriculum is in perfect agreement with the values of the parents.
7.  The children will not bring bad habits home from school.
8.  The pace of learning will be geared to the ability of each child, not the lowest common denominator.
9.  You don’t have to fix lunch in the morning.
10.  Children will be better adjusted socially if they don’t learn social skills from the street gangs.
11.  Without peer pressure, they learn to think for themselves, not just parrot what the “group wants to hear”.
12.  Every educator agrees that parental involvement is the key to success in a child’s education. How could one be more involved?
13. Your child will never be “just a number” in the classroom. 

A Great Post

I read this post and wanted to share it with you. It is on the blog Slice of Laodicea authored by Ingrid Schlueter. I thought it was a great post, so relevant to today.

Wanted: An Old-fashioned Church

To Whom it May Concern:

I’m looking for a good Christian church. I don’t want to sing songs off a wall, the same five notes, over and over and over and over again while I am lightheaded from standing so long. There’s a record of the hymns of God’s people that spans 2000 years. Why are we so arrogant as to think we don’t need those wonderful songs any longer? Have we gone through more suffering, more affliction, more pain for Jesus than those who wrote these enduring hymns? Does a semi-secular song writer in Nashville with a multi-million dollar music contract have more to say to us about God and the Christian life than the 17th-century hymn writer who lost four children and his wife during the 30 years War?

I don’t want to have my eardrums bashed in by the three kids in the “worship band” who can’t be bothered to bathe, shave, dress or comb their hair on Sunday morning. If it’s really all about the God that Scripture describes as ineffably holy, shouldn’t that be reflected in attitude and dress for those who serve in church music?

I don’t want a vampy “praise and worship” leader who is flaunting her wares at every male within view as she does her worship moves on “stage”. If we are to worship God in spirit and in truth, as Scripture tells us, than what’s all the flesh about? Can we no longer discern the difference?

I don’t want to see people in beach attire with their backsides peeping out of their shorts because they think that God isn’t worth their best efforts at dressing. “God doesn’t care about clothes, only man”, they say. But the real reason is that it’s just plain easier to cruise into church in jeans or whatever is still lying on the floor from the night before. Dressing up for worship of the Lord would cost them something, however little, and they don’t want to pay it.

I also don’t want to see all the variations on lovers’ back rubs where Chuck and Sue take turns massaging each other’s neck and shoulders during the sermon so everyone behind them is completely distracted. Behavior affects other people. Are Christians so self-absorbed that they never think about the people behind them trying to hear the message?

I don’t want to hear announcements during “worship” about the youth group pizza blast and laser tag event next Tuesday night, the need for grills for the upcoming church fun fest or jokes about how Bill burned the wieners last summer at the church picnic. Why can this not be put at the end after our “worship” is completed?

I don’t want Christian karaoke for “special music”. Screeching females trying to imitate their favorite pop stars belong at the local bar, not a house of prayer.

Let me tell you what I am looking for in corporate worship of believers.

I’m looking for a spirit of reverence among God’s people, a sense that we have come to join in with the company of angels, archangels, and the church triumphant who gather before God’s throne in that never ending heavenly worship.

I’m looking for a service that is founded upon and completely focused on God and His Word. I want to begin the worship with an entrance Psalm, to be reminded that in worship we enter heaven’s gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. I want to hear the name of God invoked at the beginning, opening the worship in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, without which Spirit, we worship in vain.

I need to confess my sins, receive the comforting assurance that God has forgiven me, and I want to corporately confess my faith with my fellow believers. I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our LORD…

I need to sing of God’s holiness, His attributes and His greatness through the hymns of the faith that have been handed down through the ages from the pens and the lips of those who have gone before us. Why? Because God is truly “Immortal, Invisible, God only Wise, in light inaccessible, hid from our eyes”. Because God is “Holy, Holy Holy,” our Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. Because it is right and fitting that our souls should praise the King of Heaven. He is worthy of all our praise because He is “Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor”. To discard this canon of music of Christ’s church down through time is to turn our backs on our family in the faith. In 21st Century America, we truly do not know better than they.

I need to hear the Scriptures read out—as much of it as possible. Three Scripture lessons are hardly enough. How often has a passage of Scripture read out spoken to my heart about something? Why is Scripture so often limited to the text of a message, if it’s there at all now? The Old Testament Lesson. The New Testament Lesson. The Gospel Lesson. I need all the lessons that God’s holy Word can provide.

I need to hear the Scriptures preached from a man of God, who is a man of prayer and personal holiness and who takes seriously his office of under-shepherd. Why do I want preaching? Because faith comes by hearing, the Bible says, and hearing by God’s Word. I need conviction of the Holy Spirit in my own heart and life. I want to be reminded who God is and my duty before Him. I don’t want a pastor who spews vulgarities and crude talk to show how “real” he is, or who feeds on Hollywood so that the only thing that comes out of his mouth is foolishness in his pathetic attempts at cultural relevance. God’s Word is eternally relevant. I can tell where the pastor gets his life food from. It always, always shows. Any pastor who is not a man of the Word and of prayer is no pastor at all.

I want a pastor who prays for his sheep, who understands that we are in a spiritual battle, and that Satan hates us and will do anything he can to try to take our faith from us. I want elders who lead by example with their families. No family is ever perfect. That’s why we need the forgiveness of our Savior daily. But elders should be leading lives that are Christ-honoring in their marriages and in their leadership and training of their children. When the children of an elder are worldly and carnal and disrespectful, it is plain that they are not keeping their homes in order. This kind of leadership no church needs because how will the members learn how to run their own homes and families if no godly example is in view? We are sheep. We need leaders.

I want a time of serious prayer in church, seeking God for His help and wisdom in these dark times, for the needs of the congregation and for the witness of the fellowship in the community. As we kneel, we’re reminded of our utter helplessness without the Lord.

I want a benediction at the end of the worship, where the pastor tells us to go in peace, because we have been washed in the blood of the Lamb, have been forgiven for our sins, and have the joyful assurance that God is with us and will take care of us.

This kind of old-fashioned church might meet in a rented room, a home, a gymnasium, a new, modern building, a vine-covered, old brick traditional church, a little white frame building or anywhere else. It is not the location that matters, it is the content and focus of the worship, and the heart of the leaders of the church.

Outside of the corporate worship, I want a church that believes in evangelism and outreach. Doctrinal clubs that sit smugly complacent are actually mausoleums. Who wants to worship in a tomb? There is a world out there that needs the message of the Gospel. It is our responsibility to take it to them, and churches should facilitate and train members for this critical mission. Truly saved believers have a burning heart to share it with others. I want to be part of a church that has this burning heart. I want to be part of a church where the young people are not just going on mission trips because they get to have fun in cool places, but because they get to share with those who have never heard the truth that Jesus saves. Social work is fine, but the Gospel message of Jesus must be heard loud and clear in the midst of it.

If you know of such a church in my area, would you please contact me at the earliest convenience. I would be grateful.

Sincerely,

A Christian

There are many who crave the kind of church I have described in my letter. They are weary of the things that go on in churches today where the careless, thoughtless and vacuous man-centered services leave them empty and longing for real worship and real food. For those who have nothing resembling this in their area, pray whether God might ask you to begin such a fellowship. Reverence, God-centeredness, Scripture reading, prayer, Psalms, hymns, a message from the Word—these things can be done even in your living room with like-minded fellow believers.

To the many Disney-fied/emerging church refugees, you may need to consider this if you have exhausted other possibilities. Perhaps the church comes full circle today. What began in the homes of believers 2,000 years ago may return there as the corrupt institutional churches and denominations grow ever worse. May the Lord lead us all to worship Him in reverence and awe, in spirit and in Truth. He is worthy of all our praise, now and through eternal ages. Praise the Lord.

And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.

And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.

–Revelation 5:11-14

Let’s Not Be Average

I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works,” Ps. 9:1.

Don’t be another average Christian. Sometimes, I feel like ninety percent of most Christians currently warming a pew on Sunday mornings should probably just stay home (some of them I would just like to shoot). Most people would be shocked if you knew what I know, as a pastor, goes on in many Christian’s homes. Not that all of it is ungodly or wicked, but many of them do absolutely nothing when it come to the things of God. Many of these people are in leadership positions. They have no true burden for the lost. They may say they do, but the next time you see them out in public, ask them if they have any gospel tracts on them. Nine out of ten won’t. That is why the churches don’t have an impact in the community. They may try to blame the church, the pastor, or the other members, but the truth is that THEY are just lazy and cold.

Their lack of passion and lack of desire is a result of their carnal lifestyle. Many of them do not walk daily with God, much less for God. Be different! Stay on fire! Get excited and do more than others are willing to do. You must work harder then everyone else. I issued a challenge a few years back to several churches in the Southeast, in GA, NC, TN, FL, LA, SC, and KY. I told them they should never leave home without tracts. We don’t go to the grocery store to get groceries, we go to witness for Christ and we pick up some groceries while we are there. I told these churches that if they caught me out in public without tracts on my person, I would give them $25.oo. That offer still stands.

The truth is, it is not that hard to be better than average!

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself,” Luke 10:27.

Accomplishment, Ours or His?

Have you ever stopped to think about all that Jesus accomplished in the few short years of His ministry. With limited time, limited resources, and limited workers (from and earthly standpoint), in 3 1/2 years, He completed the entire plan of redemption. At the end of His earthly ministry He was able to say, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:4)

Think about that statement. He said He had finished the work that God had given Him to do. How could He say that He was finished. I mean, there were still people to be healed, the disciple still wanted Him to overthrow the Roman government and set up His kingdom. But, you see, He had finished what God had sent Him to do.

Now for the application. How much of what we plan to accomplish each day is what God would have us to do?

We need to realize that we can’t do it all, but we can do something. What has God set before you to accomplish? Are your dreams and goals interfering with His? When we make plans for our great accomplishments, are they ours or His?

Tithing, Law, and Grace

Tithing by A.W. Pink (1886-1952)

Tithing is even more obligatory on the saints of the New Testament than it was upon God’s people in Old Testament days—not equally binding, but more binding, and that for two reasons: first, on the principle of “unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required” (Luke 12:48). The obligations of God’s saints today are much greater than the obligations of the saints in Old Testament times, because our privileges and our blessings are greater. As grace is more potent than law, as love is more constraining than fear, as the Holy Spirit is more powerful than the flesh, so our obligations to tithe are greater, for we have a deeper incentive to do that which is pleasing to God.

Many people believe that because we are under grace that we have a free pass to live and do anything we want. They say we are not under the law anymore. What they fail to realize is that grace requires more than the law.

The law says don’t commit adultery, grace says that if we look with lust we are guilty. The law says don’t kill, grace says that if we hate we are guilty of murder.

How true it is, to whom much is given much is required.

What have you been given? What are you giving back?

Are You Guilty of Omission of the Commission?

And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mar 16:15)

Have you no wish for others to be saved? Then you are not saved yourself. Be sure of that. – Charles H. Spurgeon

Young men and old men, and sisters of all ages, if you love the Lord, get a passion for souls. Do you not see them? They are going down to hell by the thousands. – Charles H. Spurgeon

If you do not make it a matter of study, how you may successfully act in building up the kingdom of Christ, you are acting a very wicked and absurd part as a Christian. – Charles Finney

Oh my friend, we are loaded down with countless church activities, while the real work of the church, that of evangelizing the world and winning the lost, is almost entirely neglected! – Oswald J. Smith

And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luk 6:46)

Let’s get back to the task at hand, the task of sharing the saving gospel with a lost and dying world. If you don’t have a burden for lost souls, then pray that God would give you a burden. If you do have a burden, pray that God would give you a greater burden. That we would not let any opportunity to share the gospel pass us by.