vassal of the King

Yesterday in the church planting class I'm taking Alexander Strauch taught on conflict resolution in the local church . It was superb. The outline of his latest book If you bite and devour one another served as the outline for our discussion yesterday. Here are some helpful points he mentioned: Knowing that there WOULD be conflict, Jesus said… 1. Go to the brother to whom you have offended -- Matt 5:23-24 2. Go to the brother who has sinned against you -- Matt 18:15-17 **You take the initiative. When someone has hurt you, YOU take care of it. Lessons from the Church at Corinth : THEME: Act in Love! The pastor and the church leadership can and will set the attitude of the Church. How do you make sure you set the correct attitude? Set the attitude of your church by: 1. By teaching 2. By your own attitude 3. By confronting the sinful attitudes straight up -- talk to people. Lessons from the Church at Philippi: Theme: Act in Humility, NOT Pride Lessons from the Earliest Jewish Chu

A great example from David Brainerd: I cared not where or how I lived, or what hardships I went through, so that I could but gain souls for Christ. While I was asleep I dreamed of these things, and when I awoke the first thing I thought of was this great work. All my desire was for the conversion of the heathen, and all my hope was in God . I want that to be my passion today —and every day.

After preaching two 50-minute sermons last night at the Santa Monica 3rd St. promenade — Luke 19 on Zaccheus and Titus 3 on the gospel — I have (re)learned some valuable lessons: 1. We must not look for physical results to gauge our effectiveness . If so, I would have quit long ago. But I go with the promises of Scripture that God goes with the faithful proclamation of His word to accomplish His sovereign purposes. God promises to use it, so I must be faithful to herald the Word. 2. We must proclaim the full gospel fearlessly . It is easy to shrink back when floods of people (strangers!) are walking at you. It's easy to omit the sin part, the hell part, the judgment part, the holiness of God part, the repentance part, the discipleship and obedience to Christ part, etc. But this would be unfaithful to the Word of God and this would not be the biblical gospel of Christ if I eliminated these elements from my preaching to make it more palatable. 3. We must let the scoffers scoff knowin

Tonight I'm preaching Luke 19:1-10 on the conversion of Zaccheus and have been consumed with the free and saving grace of Christ as revealed in the saving of such a sinner like Zaccheus—and me. Whitefield also preached on this text and he said this: Here then, as through a glass, we may see the doctrine of free grace evidently exemplified before us. Here was not fitness in Zaccheus. He was a Publican, chief among the Publicans; not only so, but rich, and came to see Christ only out of curiosity: but sovereign grace triumphs over all. And if we do God justice, and are effectually wrought upon, we must acknowledge there was no more fitness in us than in Zaccheus; and, had not Christ prevented us by his call, we had remained dead in trespasses and sins, and alienated from the divine life, even as others. "Jesus looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zaccheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide at thy house." Thus it is the great God brings home his chil

“Repentance is the vomit of the soul.” —Thomas Brooks

A favorite song of mine from Aaron Keyes. Taken from the words of Psalm 62. Find Rest O My Soul in God Alone My soul finds rest in God alone, My Rock and my salvation, A fortress strong against my foes, And I will not be shaken. Though lips may bless and hearts may curse, And lies like arrows pierce me, I’ll fix my heart on righteousness, I’ll look to Him who hears me. O praise Him, hallelujah, My Delight and my Reward; Everlasting, never failing, My Redeemer, my God. Find rest, my soul, in God alone Amid the world’s temptations; When evil seeks to take a hold I’ll cling to my salvation. Though riches come and riches go, Don’t set your heart upon them; The fields of hope in which I sow Are harvested in heaven. I’ll set my gaze on God alone, And trust in Him completely; With every day pour out my soul, And He will prove His mercy. Though life is but a fleeting breath, A sigh too brief to measure, My King has crushed the curse of death And I am His forever. O praise Him, O praise Him, ha

The difference between hell and sin. God made hell. God did not make sin. Sin is the devil’s creature. Remember just how vile and wicked sin is. Every sin is shameful and reproaches the name of God. From the lest of the sins, to the most hidden of all sins, to the most inconsequential of sins, to the most common of all sins, and to the most culturally acceptable of all sins, let us remember that sin is falling short of God’s glory. The devil is the father of sin. Yet remember that God made and created hell. God owns hell. God is present in hell to personally crush those who disbelieve in Jesus Christ. Remember, the torments of hell are only a burden to the sinner, not to God. God made hell. The torments of hell are only a burden to the sinner but sin is a burden to God. Let us remind ourselves as believers to be holy men and women in all we do. Let us hate our sin and strive to mortify it with everything we’ve got. Recall what a Christian of old once said: Sin is the most hateful thing

Regarding holiness of life... "It is beyond all question that this eminent piety is before everything else in preparation for the duties of the sacred office. It is before talents, or learning, or study, or favorable circumstances, or skill in working, or power in sermonizing. It is needed to give character and tone and strength to all these, and to every other part of the work. Without this elevated spirituality nothing else will be of much account in producing a permanent and satisfactory ministry. All else will be like erecting a building without a foundation. . . . Oh that at the very beginning this could be deeply impressed upon the hearts of young ministers! . . . Without it success in the holy office is not to be expected." -- Thomas Murphy

I posted this a while ago, but I found it again on my computer and felt it was worthy of a "re-post": We have fallen prey to Decisionism: “Evangelical Bultmannism” A key evangelical belief is that people must be called to make a decision concerning the claims of Christ. Thus when people decide that Jesus Christ has indeed lived and died for them, they are often said to have made a decision for Christ. There are plenty of biblical grounds for challenging people to repent and believe the gospel. That is not in dispute. The important thing is that the decision should be a decision to place one’s trust alone in the Christ who has done all that is necessary for us to be accepted by God and to inherit eternal life. So, what is my problem with decisions, and why am I so provocative as to refer to decisionism as ‘evangelical Bultmannism’? I do this because I have experienced and witnessed the effects of calls ‘to decide for Jesus’ that have been made when almost no reason has been gi

The proper starting point for humility begins outside ourselves. Humility is forged in the fires of an unmistakably clear vision of God, a biblically rich and abiding perspective of the cross, and a robust sense of man's desperate sin-condition. —Jerry Wragg

From David Livingstone's journal as he traveled (on foot!) across Africa: "I place no value on anything I have or may possess, except in relation to the kingdom of Christ. If anything will advance the interests of the kingdom, it shall be given away or kept, only as by giving or keeping it I shall most promote the glory of him to whom I owe all my hopes in time and eternity . "

Listen to this sermon on Psalm 109 — "How to deal with slander and verbal accusations in a God-glorifying way" here .

Just got back from preaching four times at the Santa Clarita Men’s Retreat up in N. California. We had a wonderful time of fellowship, white-water rafting down the American river, fellowship, camping, and teaching around God’s Word. They called me to preach four sermons. Here they are with the audio links below: 1. Be a man who knows who your God is — Psalm 99 2. Be a man who really knows how to repent — Psalm 51 3. Be a man who leads at home — Psalm 78 4. Be a man of integrity — Psalm 101 May God continue to use His Word to challenge and change His men and conform us more into the image of Christ.

Pray for me as I preach God's Word four times at the SCBC men's conference. My four sermon topics include: 1. Be a man who knows God — Psalm 99 2. Be a man who knows how to repent — Psalm 51 3. Be a man who knows how to lead in the home — Psalm 78 4. Be a man who knows how to live with integrity — Psalm 101 I covet your prayers.

From George Whitefield as he proclaimed the gospel of Christ to the unsaved. If you laugh at me, I know Jesus smiles. I cannot force a cry when I will; the Lord Jesus Christ be praised, "I am free from the blood of you all": if you are damned for want of conversion, remember you are not damned for want of warning. Thousands that have not the gospel preached to them, may say, Lord, we never heard what conversion is; but you are gospel-proof; and if there is any deeper place in hell than other, God will order a gospel despising Methodist to be put there. You will have dreadful torments; to whom so much is given, much will be required. How dreadful to have minister after minister, preacher after preacher, say, "Lord God, I preached, but they would not hear." Think of this, professors, and God make you possessors.

From an old hymn: Lay your deadly 'doing' down, Down at Jesus' feet. Stand in Him, in Him alone, Gloriously complete ! Have you laid your 'deadly doing' down?

Here is a link to a sermon titled: the glory of God in missions by Paul Washer. It marvelously weaves the utter sovereignty of God in "making His Name great among the nations" and the responsibility that we have to go and proclaim the glories of Christ among the nations so that God receives all glory. Download Paul Washer's sermon here .