On Ability and Service

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4: 10-11

It is easy for one to be discouraged when observing those in the Church who seem to be so blessed by God in terms of gifts and abilities by which they then render unto Him or in service to His Bride. Perhaps in this day and age of near-instantaneous connectivity, where a preacher in the US is of greater access to me than my own pastor in my local church, one can be both incredibly blessed and yet evermore conscious of one's own terrible failings and weaknesses.

One thinks of men with great minds and intellect like Jonathan Edwards or D. A. Carson. One thinks of men who live or lived with such a passion for God that defies belief like Leonard Ravenhill, A. W. Tozer and Paul Washer. One thinks of men who gave up everything that they had on this Earth for service to the King like David Brainerd and George Muller. Then there are men like Ravi Zacharias and James White who, with their sharp minds, are able to defend the Faith ably against those who seek to dispute it. What more of others like Paris Reidhead, John Piper, David Wilkerson, the Puritans, Charles Spurgeon etc.... All of whom were extremely gifted and who used their gifts to bring much glory to His Name.

Even amongst those around me, I see those with sharper minds and intellects, those with more faith and assurance, those with great musical talents or oratory skills, those who are able to write much better, those who are more faithful, loving, self-sacrificial, etc.... What could one do then in service to the Lord when one is so lacking in ability?

I must confess that much of my disquiet and grumbling is simply due to pride and envy. The desire to be something great, to be well-known/accepted/loved. What great danger is there even in service to God! How subtle and insidious it is. Thomas Watson, in his book The Godly Man's Picture, writes of one characteristic in such a man as his love for the saints.

"We must love the saints though their graces outvie and surpass ours. We ought to bless God for the eminence of another's grace, because hereby religion is honoured. Pride is not quite slain in a believer. Saints themselves are apt to grudge and repine at each other's excellences. Is it not strange that the same person should hate one man for his sin and envy another for his virtue? Christians need to look to their hearts. Love is right and genuine when we can rejoice in the graces of others though they seem to eclipse ours."

- Thomas Watson

This is the number one cause for hesitation in my considerations of full-time ministry. How I fear what great disrepute I should bring to Him through my hypocritical service.

And what of one's lack of ability? I am persuaded that one's discontent over the lack of one's ability is born out of ingratitude and faithlessness.

Ingratitude, because one has denigrated one's own God-given abilities, no matter how small. Are you wiser than God? Are you able to give Him counsel? Surely He knows our innermost being and temperament and He gives us abilities as is appropriate and good to us. Shall He give His children things which would cause them to wander further away from Him? Surely not! Likewise, would He give those of us who are more prone to pride greater gifts and abilities, that we might be further tempted to boast in them and not in Christ? So all that He has given, He has given in His infinite wisdom and purpose and is suitable for our appointed station in life.

Faithlessness, because one does not believe that God is able to use the base things and little things of this world to confound the wise and to do His work. Moses spoke with a stutter and yet he led a nation out of captivity. David was the youngest and the least in his family and yet God made him king over Israel. The little boy who gave up his lunch had but five loaves of bread and two small fishes and yet Jesus used it to give a magnificent display of God's Providence to five thousand men. Many of the disciples who were called were unlearned men and yet they were given the incredible privilege of beings His Apostles. "A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out." (Matt. 12:20a) - How precious is that promise! It is little wonder then that the Apostle Paul should so write to the Corinthians,

"Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him."

- 1 Cor. 1: 26-29

That He should take what little that we have and use it for His great purposes. Should we not then rejoice, even in what little He may have given us, and give, as that poor widow who gave two small copper coins, all of it in service to Him, to His praise and glory. As it was quoted of a saint of old before she was martyred for her belief in Christ, "I cannot dispute for Christ, but I can burn for Him." Let him who serves serve in the strength that God supplies, so that in all things He may be glorified. Why then should I continue to grumble against Him?

There are no great men of God. There are only weak, feeble men of a great and merciful God.

- Paul Washer

Luke 5:8

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord."

Today

Today's sermon in church wasn't really theologically, in an academic sense, profound. It wasn't something that you can go away with merely thinking, "That's an interesting point he made." It wasn't some earth-shattering, ground-shaking, new revelation.

But as I ponder upon it I can only think of one word. Beautiful. Just beautiful.

John Piper recently preached a message to a group of Christian counselors and his opening statements are, to me, simply astounding. That the same sins he should be struggling with are so similar to mine. Surely apart from Grace we are all undone.

Beholding Glory and Becoming Whole: Seeing and Savoring God as the Heart of Mental Health

So to spare you some analysis, I will tell you that you are listening to as sinner. A man

who must crucify the love of praise every day;
who struggles with the same adolescent fear at age 63 that he had at 15, the fear of looking foolish;
who is prone to feel self-pity and pout when he doesn’t get loved the way he wants;
who is almost never sure he has used his time in the best way and therefore struggles with guilt;
who is short on compassion and long on critical analysis;
who can freeze up emotionally when he’s tired, and feel instinctively that it’s someone else’s fault;
who loves to praise God in the great assembly and feels a constraint on his spirit in his own living room;
who has loved his wife of forty years imperfectly and spent with her over three of those years with a Christian counselor trying to become better images of Christ and the church;
and who never feels sure that his motives are pure, including right now, for why he is telling you all this.
At one level, I want you to be open to what I have to say, and I thought that being open with you might help you be open to me. At another level, a better one I hope, I want you to see why I love the grace of God. He has infinite warrant to throw me away. And he hasn’t done it. So the theme of this conference, Grace and Truth, is very precious to me. “The steadfast love of the Lord is better than life” (Psalm 63:3)

- John Piper

Something I've Been Thinking About

Legalism and the Christian School Movement (from SharperIron)

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

=================================
Scenario 1

You are just about to start your bible study lesson for a care group consisting of much younger believers than you. As the rest mill about waiting for things to get started, you notice one of the girls who had just come in wearing an outrageously low-cut top, which barely covers her cleavage. How would you deal with her?

A. Tell her expressly that she should never wear anything less than a dress that covers her completely from head to toe.
B. Tell her that such immodest clothes are unbecoming and that in future she should dress up.
C. During your bible study preach about lust, modest dressing and causing others to stumble.
D. Ignore it.

Scenario 2

You are a preacher in a local church and recently there has been shown on TV a wildly popular series that depicts loose sex, rebellion against authority, blasphemy, violence, etc..... Do you,

A. Rail against it and forbid all your members from watching TV ever.
B. Speak out against it and inform your members that they should not be watching said series.
C. Speak out against the acts themselves without mentioning the series.
D. Ignore it.

Now in considering both scenarios (and admittedly they could be refined further in so many ways), one could easily dismiss option A as over-reacting (though there are those who do choose that option). Choosing option D would probably constitute a dereliction of duty for any man called to shepherd God's flock. And so we're left with either option B or C.

The issue at hand is this. To what extent does God's Word govern our lives with regards to rules and regulations? To some, any mention of the words "Don't do ____" immediately results in cries of legalism. Granted, the dangers of falling into a legalistic spiral are all too real when one employs such language.

If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— "Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.

- Colossians 2: 20-23

And no doubt that there are some "rules" which the Apostle himself does not consider of much importance.

One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.

- Romans 14: 5-6

But what then should we make of "biblical" rules? No doubt the Bible itself does contain "rules" and "regulations" imposed upon men. One thinks of the ten commandments and it's prohibitions. One thinks of the many exhortations and instructions left by Paul in his epistles.

But sexual immorality and all impurity or covetousness must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints. Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking, which are out of place, but instead let there be thanksgiving.

- Ephesians 5: 3-4

Now some will say, "Oh these are but biblical guidelines. After all the Bible doesn't talk about drugs or smoking or internet pornography or racy TV programmes per se does it? We can't regulate these since there is no direct biblical basis against these." But surely there is enough biblical warrant to say that, while not dealing explicitly with such issues (especially since most weren't really invented till centuries later), such things are, in essence, evil or sins in the eyes of God.

I guess my current train of thought is this. How do we apply the biblical "guidelines" in our day and age? Are these applications then binding for all future ages? What then of past applications of these "guidelines"? When we decry the sex and violence in a certain TV show, and implore/persuade/tell others not to watch it, are we being legalistic? When we draw up a "list" of things which are not becoming/helpful/edifying for a believer (though what would be on that list would be highly contentious), are we then guilty of producing an "extra-biblical" set of rules? Or is it merely a personal list, dependent solely upon the whims and fancies of the individual (Watching this show is ok cause I can filter out mentally all the sexy bits). Should a pastor warn his flock of certain things or activities which would be harmful to them, or would that place a legalistic burden upon them?

On Dreams and Idealism

I have a very bad habit. I love to daydream. In recent weeks, when I'm driving by myself from one place to another I've somehow managed to develop the ability to literally drive on autopilot by following the car in front while my mind wanders off in a number of different directions.

My second bad habit is this, and I have often been chided on this, and that is my tendency to plan, conceive or dream things with a view of perfection or of an ideal. In my younger days it was about building the perfect LEGO town, which soon graduated into building the perfect base in RTS games and executing that perfect assault so as to bring the match to an end.

In BB, the SOP for planning for any event would follow roughly this time line.

Conceive of plan ---> Plan out in minute detail ---> Sleepless the night before ---> Realize entire plan has fallen apart within the first hour ---> Try desperately to jury-rig a back-up plan ---> Squeak through the even by the skin of your teeth ---> Rinse and repeat for next event.

Time would fail me if I were to recount all the setbacks and failures that I have encountered throughout all the years I was there. The hikes which never seemed to go as planned because they were too long or the weather was bad, the camps where the camp programme basically implodes on the first day and you're left scrambling trying to salvage the wreckage. The BS lesson where everything seemed to be in place, but the moment you got up to speak your mouth just seemed to be filled with sawdust. And at the end of it all I was always so thoroughly disappointed with myself.

Furthermore, much could be said of my life in general. That dream job/career I had when I was in still serving NS, that led me to choose my major in NUS, and of which I now look back and wonder what the heck was I thinking then. The dream of being great in life. The dream of being greatly used by God, when recent events have shown much of it to be hollow and selfish and baseless. The dream of being a great spiritual man, which is nothing more than pride dressed up in religious garb.

So many failures. So many disappointments. Perhaps that is why I am often so pessimistic and cynical of many things in life. Kinda ironic is it not? To be pessimistic and cynical yet still constantly dreaming of "great" things and perfect scenarios?

But there is one dream, one thing I can wonder about with all idealism, that I know will be much greater than I can ever conceive. As I was pacing up and down the street outside my grandparent's house a few days ago, I looked up at the sky above and down to the ground upon which my feet rested. I looked up at the sky and realized that there will inevitably be a day when I will see my God face to face. I looked down at the ground and realized that just as certainly as I was walking upon that tarmac road and feeling the hardness of the ground, one day I will walk just as certainly upon a street paved with gold and feel the hardness of that street on my feet as I walk.

Oh what will it be like there? Surely the greatest things our mind can conceive are but still an infinitesimal part of that perfect reality. Joy unspeakable! No more pain, no more struggling with sin, no more sorrow, no more disappointments, no more strivings against the flesh. Eternal bliss, eternal peace, everlasting joy, unending love! Such thoughts make one desire all the more to be done with this life, to say "Take me away with you now oh Lord!"

And yet here I still remain. But of all things, on this I will still dream on.

On Assurance part 2

Now I hope to put forth a more personal account of my struggle on this question of assurance, and I pray that it would be of some edification to you dear reader. As I had posted earlier, it is a pressing question, even for many sincere believers, and so it was for me also.

In my younger(?) days, warnings of lost salvation were almost a constant fare in church and in school. I can scarcely remember the number of times I had lost my salvation one week, and then "regained" it the next through some altar call or in prayer after a group meeting in school. Even after my swing towards Reformed theology, for a time I struggled terribly with some of my pet sins (and still do to some extent today) that refused to die that caused me to question if I was even saved from the beginning.

How many times had I sinned, repented and asked the Lord for forgiveness, and then turned right back and committed the same sin the next week, if not the next day! Surely the Lord will not forgive me again after I had insulted His Grace and spat upon His Mercy. Daily was I tormented with the prospect that there was no more mercy for me.

Now let me at this point interject with an assertion. I have much suspicion that much worry over one's assurance is the product of one thing, self-preservation. Any sane rational creature would choose that which is good over that which is bad. Rarely would you find a person, who when given a choice, would choose to go to hell rather than heaven (of course the picture of heaven here would be akin to something Hollywood would produce). And much of my struggling with assurance, I must confess, stemmed from an innate desire to escape from hell.

I was afraid of hell. I was fearful of its torments as described in the Bible. My desire for heaven was not so much to be in God's presence, but rather to escape from eternal pain.

But, two things occurred that radically altered my perspective of my own assurance. I cannot recall exactly in what order they occurred chronologically, but they did happen pretty close to each other.

The first was this, as I look back at my life (as I so often tend to do), I can say with all sincerity that I would be a bald-faced liar to deny that God has been there, guiding and leading me, throughout my life. I remember the time when I nearly chose Scouts over BB in Primary school, or the time I was posted to SJI, but by His Grace I managed to appeal into ACS through a family connection. I remember of all the people whom God had placed in my life throughout my secondary and JC days, people, who despite of all of their (sometimes) wacky understandings of theology and God, were great blessings in keeping me close to the Faith. I think of my best friend, who if were not by losing a single bet (I kid you not!), I would never have met or learnt much of Christ through and from him. I think of His faithfulness to me during NS, even when I was so far away to the point of seriously considering giving up being a Christian and all things related to God. And yet He could use even the most innocuous of email passwords (yes it's true!) to remind me again of Him and literally pull me away from the precipice. I have chronicled elsewhere throughout this blog my testimony of God's Grace and faithfulness to me in my short 24 years here; His constant workings to expose my hidden sins and to conform me to Christ, but I must press on to the second thing.

The second thing dealt directly with my issue of self-preservation. I was listening to a couple of preachers and I shall quote both of them at length.

Dear friends, there’s only one reason - one reason for a sinner to repent: and that’s because Jesus Christ deserves the worship and adoration and the love and the obedience of his heart. Not because he’ll go to heaven. If the only reason you repented, dear friend, was to keep out of Hell, all you are is just a Levite serving for ten shekels and a shirt! That’s all! You’re trying to serve God because He’ll do you good! But a repentant heart is a heart that has seen something of the enormity of the crime of playing god and denying the just an righteous God the worship and obedience that He deserves!

Why should a sinner repent? Because God deserves the obedience and love that he’s refused to give Him! Not so that he’ll go to heaven. If the only reason he repents is so that he’ll go to heaven, it’s nothing but trying to make a deal or a bargain with God.

Why should a sinner give up all his sins? Why should he be challenged to do it? Why should he make restitution when he’s coming to Christ? Because God deserves the obedience that He demands!

I have talked with people that have no assurance that sins are forgiven. They want to feel safe, before they’re willing to commit themselves to Christ. But I believe that the only ones whom God actually witnesses by His Spirit and are born of Him, are the people, whether they say it or not, that come to Jesus Christ and say something like this, "Lord Jesus, I’m going to obey you, and love you, and serve you, and do what you want me to do, as long as I live, even if I go to Hell at the end of the road, simply because you are worthy to be loved, and obeyed and served, and I’m not trying to make a deal with you!"

Do you see the difference? Do you see the difference? Between a Levite serving for ten shekels and a shirt or a Micah building a chapel because God will do you good, and someone that repents for the glory of God.

Why should a person come to the cross? Why should a person embrace death with Christ? Why should a person be willing to go, in identification, down to the cross and into the tomb and up again? I’ll tell you why – because it’s the only way that God can get glory out of human being!

- Paris Reidhead (Ten Shekels and a Shirt)

You should believe in Jesus Christ. You should repent and you should serve Him even if He sends you to Hell because He is worthy of repentance and He is worthy of faith and He is worthy of service though you get nothing from it.

Do you understand this kind of Christianity? Where it's all about Him, and not about men.

- Paul Washer

Now some would be quite appalled at what I had just quoted. What kind of assurance is this? My friend, it is the assurance that the Judge of all the Earth will do right. You may disagree vehemently and regard it as something fatalistic and unchristian, but this revelation has brought me more peace after all my years of questioning than anything before or since. I will confess and repent of my sins because He is worthy. I will worship and pray because He is worthy. For our ambition is to please Him, and every beat of our heart is simply one more reason to worship Him and adore Him. Oh how worthy is He! Worthy of all praise and honour. Worthy of all Glory and Thanks. One day, and what a glorious day that will be, every knee will bow and declare that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Does this mean that I have never since struggled with assurance? Of course not. There have been nights since then when I have cowered in my bed in fear over the sins I have committed. The temptation daily is to either lapse into a over-confident presumption and belittling of sin or to fall back into a dread fear over one's eternal state.

Now, should every believer come or desire to come to a full assurance of their salvation in Christ? Indeed there is much precious comfort that comes from such an assurance, especially during times of trials and temptations. But such assurance itself is a gift from God and can come only from God. Many have sought their assurance from other men, and I fear many are deceived and lulled into a false assurance by a christianity that promotes little of self-examination and much of self-esteem and self-confidence. A christianity that does not warn, but tickles the ears of its hearers. A christianity that preaches much about grace for justification, but precious little on sanctification or of a holiness "without which no one will see the Lord." (Heb. 12:14)

I end with one of the greatest texts on assurance ever found in the Bible.

And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

- Romans 8: 27-30

On Assurance part 1

The question of the assurance of one's salvation is something I highly suspect is of much vexing interest to many believers. And surely any person would be completely justified in being concerned for his eternal destination would he not?

I was raised and immersed in a (almost) completely Wesleyan/Arminian heritage since I was young, though my theology and soteriology has taken quite a decisive swing to a more Reformed/Calvinistic position in recent years. However, the question of assurance remains as pertinent to both the Arminian and the Calvinist. While both may disagree on the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, both still grapple with the question, "How do I know if I am (truly) saved?" And both do come to similar, but not identical, conclusions.

The Calvinist says he is saved based upon the eternal electing decree and unconditional Love of God and His effectual calling evidenced by continuing faith and fruitfulness in his life, whilst the Arminian would say that he is saved for now by his responding, out of his own free will, to God's offer of salvation and his present ongoing faith and fruitfulness in his life. Now one would of course soon realize the fundamental difference in both statements though their latter ends may be identical. One bases his security fundamentally upon God's Sovereign and Eternal decree for His elect, while the other bases it upon his conditional obedience to God and His Word. However, I hope not to digress into a debate upon this doctrine, but rather, I hope to focus on that portion of similarity and of which is the topic of this post.

Now ultimately, as my friend once put it, both positions lead to the same conclusion in answering the question, "How do/can I know if I am (truly) saved?" Whether one is a Calvinist or an Arminian, one would be led to answer it is by the evidence of good works, increasing Christ-likeness, fruits of the Spirit, etc... Now such evidence is the logical outworking of what is described in the Bible as the new birth or, to put it in a more theological term, the doctrine of regeneration.

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it.....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. For one who has died has been set free from sin.

- Romans 6: 1-2, 6-7

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

- 2 Corinthians 5:17

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

- Ezekiel 36: 25-27

Now of course there is a third position (becoming increasing popular here I suspect) that simply dismisses the question of assurance by labelling any call for self-examination or searching of spiritual fruit in one's life as a legalistic add-on to a gospel of grace. "Just believe in your heart and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and you shall be saved!" is their reassuring cry. Now is that statement true? Yes. Do I believe it? Most definitely! Is it the full story? Not quite. To simply focus on this one verse and build your entire theology upon it, while ignoring the rest of Scripture is a sure recipe for spiritual ship-wreck. One would be wise to remember our Saviour's own words in Matthew 7.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'"

-Matthew 7:21-23

Surely this should give us sufficient warning against spurious professions of faith. Was it not said, men are justified by faith alone, but true faith is never alone? Now one should never ever confuse the work of Justification and the work of Sanctification. However, one cannot also claim the work of one without the evidence of the other. For those whom God justifies, He also sanctifies.

But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.

- Romans 6:22

Let us beware, lest we presume upon the Grace and Love of God (cf. Rom. 2:4) and let us heed the Apostles' exhortations.

Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall.

- 2 Peter 1:10

Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!

- 2 Corinthians 13:5

The Old Cross and The New

Chapter 13 of Tozer's book "The Radical Cross"

All unannounced and mostly undetected there has come in modern times a new cross into popular evangelical circles. It is like the old cross, but different: the likenesses are superficial; the differences fundamental.

From this new cross has sprung a new philosophy of the Christian life, and from that new philosophy has come a new evangelical technique - a new type of meeting and a new kind of preaching. This new evangelism employs the same language as the old, but its content is not the same and its emphasis not as before.

The old cross would have no association with the world. For Adam's proud flesh it meant the end of the journey. It carried into effect the sentence imposed by the law of Sinai. The new cross is not opposed to the human race; rather it is a friendly pal and, if understood aright, it is the source of oceans of good clean fun and innocent enjoyment. It lets Adam live without interference. His life motivation is unchanged; he still lives for his own pleasure, only now he takes delight in singing choruses and watching religious movies instead of singing bawdy songs and drinking hard liquor. The accent is still on enjoyment, though the fun is now on a higher place morally if not intellectually.

The new cross encourages a new entirely different evangelistic approach. The evangelist does not demand abnegation of the old life before a new life can be received. He preaches not contrasts but similarities. He seeks to key into public interest by showing that Christianity makes no unpleasant demands; rather, it offers the same thing the world does, only on a higher level. Whatever the sin-mad world happens to be clamoring after at the moment is cleverly shown to be the very thing the gospel offers, only the religious product is better.

The new cross does not slay the sinner, it redirects him. It gears him into a cleaner and jollier way of living and saves his self-respect. To the self-assertive it says, "Come and assert yourself for Christ." To the egotist it says, "Come and do your boasting in the Lord." To the thrill seeker it says, "Come and enjoy the thrill of Christian fellowship." The Christian message is slanted in the direction of the current vogue in order to make it acceptable to the public.

The philosophy back of this kind of thing may be sincere but its sincerity does not save it from being false. It is false because it is blind. It misses completely the whole meaning of the cross.

The old cross is a symbol of death. It stands for the abrupt, violent end of a human being. The man in Roman times who took up his cross and started down the road had already said good-bye to his friends. He was not coming back. He was going out to have it ended. The cross made no compromise, modified nothing, spared nothing; it slew all of a man, completely and for good. It did not try to keep on good terms with its victim. It struck cruel and hard, and when it had finished its work, the man was no more.

The race of Adam is under death sentence. There is no commutation and no escape. God cannot approve any of the fruits of sin, however innocent they may appear or beautiful to the eyes of men., God salvages the individual by liquidating him and then raising him again to newness of life.

That evangelism which draws friendly parallels between the ways of God and the ways of men is false to the Bible and cruel to the souls of its hearers. The faith of Christ does not parallel the world, it intersects it. In coming to Christ we do not bring our old life onto a higher place; we leave it at the cross. The kernel of wheat must fall into the ground and die.

We who preach the gospel must not think ourselves as public relations agents sent to establish good will between Christ and the world. We must not imagine ourselves commissioned to make Christ acceptable to big business, the press, the world of sports or modern education. We are not diplomats but prophets, and our message is not a compromise but an ultimatum.

God offers life, but not an improved old life. The life He offers is life out of death. It stands always on the far side of the cross. Whoever would possess it must pass under the rod. He must repudiate himself and concur in God's just sentence against him.

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Dare we, the heirs of such a legacy of power, tamper with the truth? Dare we with our stubby pencils erase the lines of the blueprint or alter the pattern shown us in the Mount? May God forbid. Let us preach the old cross and we will know the old power.

- A. W. Tozer

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

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7 The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.
8 Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
10 As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
11 whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

1 Peter 4: 7-10 (Bold mine)

It's All About Christ

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead."

- Acts 17: 30-31

I ask you this day, —"What think ye of Christ?"

What others think about Him is not the question now. Their mistakes are no excuse for you.—Their correct views will not save your soul. The point you have before you is simply this,—"What do you think yourself?"

- J. C. Ryle

You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.

- Isaiah 26: 3-4

Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of REFRESHING may come from the PRESENCE of the Lord

- Acts 2:19

You are made to find your ultimate joy not in being significant but in knowing the infinitely significant one.

- John Piper

Here in the silence I say a prayer
Though I've never seen you somehow I know you're there
You're in the faces of the people that I meet
You're as silent as the Earth beneath my feet
So if I should complain that all I have is not enough
Forgive me, I've been given so much

And I am blessed, every time I look into my baby's eyes
I think of all the friends who've touched my life
I realise in a world where some have more and some have less
I have love and I am blessed

So many changes this world can put you through
Sometimes it's hard to find a way if a heart can get confused
But then I hold you and it all falls into place
You've given me what time cannot erase
So when I'm feeling down or feel sorry for myself
I look around and it's easy to tell

That I am blessed, every time I look into my baby's eyes
I think of all the friends who touched my life
I realise in a world where some have more and some have less
I have love and I am blessed

Every time I look into my baby's eyes

I realise I think of all the friends who touched my life

And I am blessed (I am blessed)
Every time I look into my baby's eyes (I look into your eyes)
I think of all the friends who have touched my life
I realise (I realise) you've given me such peace and happiness
In this world where some have more and some have less
I am loved
And I am blessed