The Messiah

My favourite quotes by mother theresa

2006-11-26T20:46:00.000-08:00

1. It is poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish.

2. Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.

3. Love, to be real, must cost, it must hurt, it must empty us of self.

4. Somebody loves us, too -- God Himself. We have been created to love and to be loved.

5. We are all pencils in the hand of God.

6. The child is God's gift to the family. Each child is created in the special image and likeness of God for greater things; to love and to be loved.

7. The success of love is in the loving; it is not in the result of loving. Of course it is natural in love to want the best for the other person, but whether it turns out that way or not does not determine the value of what we have done.

8. There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through sharing together, praying together, suffering together, and working together.

9. I never will understand all the good that a simple smile can accomplish.

10. To show great love for God and our neighbor we need not do great things. It is how much love we put in the doing that makes our offering something beautiful for God.

11. We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

12. If you judge people, you have no time to love them.

13. Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat. We must find each other.

1 John 3:18 "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth."

1 John 4:7-12 "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."

I believe if most people really put these quotes into practice, the world would become a better place. To my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, just as how God saved us with His love, we too, need His love to save others.

Children's letters to God

2006-11-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

Kids say the darnest things. But sometimes, we should sit down and really hear what they say, after all, they have that child-like faith God delights in.

Dear GOD, Instead of letting people die and having to make new ones, why don't you just keep the ones you have? -Jane

Dear GOD, Maybe Cain and Abel would not kill each other so much if they had their own rooms. It works with my brother. -Larry

Dear GOD, If You watch me in church on Sunday, I'll show you my new shoes. -Mickey

Dear GOD, I bet it is very hard for you to love all of everybody in the whole world. There are only 4 people in our family and I can never do it. -Nan

Dear GOD, In school they told us what you do. Who does it when you are on vacation? -Jane

Dear GOD, I read the Bible. What does "beget" mean? Nobody will tell me. -Love, Alison

Dear GOD, Are you really invisible or is it just a trick? -Lucy

Dear GOD, Is it true my father won't get in Heaven if he uses his bowling words in the house? -Anita

Dear GOD, Did You mean for the giraffe to look like that or was it an accident? -Norma

Dear GOD, Who draws the lines around the countries? -Nan

Dear GOD, I went to this wedding and they kissed right in church. Is that okay? -Neil

Dear GOD, What does it mean you are a Jealous God? I thought you had everything. -Jane

Dear GOD, Did you really mean "do unto others as they do unto you"? Because if you did, then I'm going to fix my brother. -Darla

Dear GOD, Thank you for the baby brother, but what I prayed for was a puppy. -Joyce

Dear GOD, It rained for our whole vacation and is my father mad! He said some things about you that people are not supposed to say, but I hope you will not hurt him anyway. Your friend, (But I am not going to tell you who I am).

Dear GOD, Why is Sunday school on Sunday? I thought it was supposed to be our day of rest. -Tom L.

Dear GOD, Please send me a pony. I never asked for anything before. You can look it up. -Bruce
Dear GOD, If we come back as something - please don't let me be Mary Horton because I hate her. -Denise

Dear GOD, If you give me a genie like Aladdin, I will give you anything you want, except my money or my chess set. -Raphael

Dear GOD, You don't have to worry about me. I always look both ways. -Dean

Dear GOD, I think the stapler is one of your greatest inventions. -Ruth M.

Dear GOD, I think about you sometimes even when I'm not praying. -Elliott

Dear GOD, Of all the people who work for you I like Noah and David the best. -Rob

Dear GOD, My brother told me about being born but it doesn't sound right. They're just kidding, aren't they? -Marsha

Dear GOD, I would like to live 900 years like the guy in the Bible. -Love, Chris

Dear GOD, We read Thomas Edison made light. But in Sunday school they said you did it. So I bet he stole your idea. -Sincerely, Donna

Dear GOD, The bad people laughed at Noah - "You made an ark on dry land you fool." But he was smart, he stuck with you. That's what I would do. -Eddie

Dear GOD, I do not think anybody could be a better GOD. Well, I just want you to know but I am not just saying that because you are GOD already. -Charles

Dear GOD, I didn't think orange went with purple until I saw the sunset you made on Tuesday. That was cool. -Eugene

Have we no tears for revival?

2006-10-20T11:03:00.000-07:00

By Leonard Ravenhill

"They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." (Ps. 126:5). This is the divine edict. This is more than preaching with zeal. This is more than scholarly exposition. This is more than delivering sermons of exegetical exactitude and homiletical perfection. Such a man, whether preacher or pew dweller, is appalled at the shrinking authority of the Church in the present drama of cruelty in the world. And he cringes with sorrow that men turn a deaf ear to the Gospel and willingly risk eternal hell in the process. Under this complex burden, his heart is crushed to tears.

The true man of God is heartsick, grieved at the worldliness of the Church, grieved at the blindness of the Church, grieved at the corruption in the Church, grieved at the toleration of sin in the Church, grieved at the prayerlessness in the Church. He is disturbed that the corporate prayer of the Church no longer pulls down the strongholds of the devil. He is embarrassed that the Church folks no longer cry in their despair before a devil-ridden, sin-mad society, "Why could we not cast him out?" (Matt. 17:19).

Many of us have no heart-sickness for the former glory of the Church because we have never known what true revival is. We stagnate in the status quo and sleep easy at night while our generation moves swiftly to the eternal night of hell. Shame, shame on us! Jesus whipped some money changers out of the temple; but before He whipped them, He wept over them. He knew how near their judgment was The Apostle Paul sent a tear-stained letter to the Philippian saints, writing: "I have told you often and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ" (Phil. 3:18). Notice that he does not say they are enemies of Christ; they are, rather, the enemies of the cross of Christ. They deny or diminish the redemptive values of the cross. There are many like this today. The church of Rome does not stand as an enemy of Christ; it traces heavily on His holy name. Yet it denies the cross by saying that the Blessed Virgin is co-redemptive. If this is so, why was she not also crucified? The Mormons use the name of Christ, yet they are astray on the atonement. Have we tears for them? Shall we face them without a blush when they accuse us of inertia at the Judgment Seat saying that they were our neighbors and an offense to us, but not a burden because they were lost?

The Salvationists can scarcely read their flaming evangelical history without tears. Has the glory of the evangelical revival under Wesley ever gripped the hearts of the Methodists of today? Have they read of the fire-baptized men in Wesley's team? Men like John Nelson, Thomas Walsh, and a host of others whose names are written in the Book of Life; men persecuted and kicked in the streets when they held street meetings? Yet as their blood flowed from their wounds, their tears flowed from their eyes. Have the Holiness people set a guard at the door of the beauty parlors lest any sister should enter to get her hair curled, while a block away there is a string of prostitutes trying to sell their sin-wracked bodies with none to tell them of eternal love? Do the Pentecostals look back with shame as they remember when they dwelt across the theological tracks, but with the glory of the Lord in their midst? When they had a normal church life, which meant nights of prayers, followed by signs and wonders, and diverse miracles, and genuine gifts of the Holy Ghost? When they were not clock watchers, and their meetings lasted for hours, saturated with holy power? Have we no tears for these memories, or shame that our children know nothing of such power? Other denominations had their Glory Days of revival. Think of the mighty visitations to the Presbyterians in Korea. Remember the earth-shaking revival in Shantung. Are those days gone forever? Have we no tears for revival?

Who will you deny? Yourself or the Lord?

2006-10-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

By John Wesley
Edited By Joshua Chua

"If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me." - Luke 9:23

Denying ourselves and taking up our cross isn't a little side issue - it is absolutely necessary to becoming or continuing to be a disciple of Jesus. If we don't practice self-denial, we aren't His disciples. It's useless to try to follow the One who was crucified without taking up our own cross daily. Unless we deny ourselves, it will be impossible not to deny the Lord. But so many who have written about self-denial (some of them large volumes) don't seem to have an understanding of the subject. Either they couldn't explain it to others, or they didn't know how far to take it, or they didn't sense the absolute necessity of it. Others speak of it in such a dark, mystical way, that the average man can't understand what it's supposed to mean.

Still others speak very clearly on the necessity of self-denial, but they never get down to any specifics about what to do. And if some of them do get specific, they only talk about those things that hardly affect anyone, since they almost never occur in common life. They speak of things like enduring imprisonment or tortures, giving up houses or lands, husbands or wives, children, or even life itself. But most of us aren't likely to be called to endure things like these for the Gospel, unless God permits times of public persecution to return.

An Uphill Climb

What does it mean for a man to "deny himself, and take up his cross daily"? This is something which is so, so important to understand, because many powerful enemies oppose this Christian doctrine stronger than they oppose any other aspect of our spiritual lives. All of our natural feelings rise up against any kind of self-denial, and we immediately look for reasons to excuse ourselves from it. Those who love the world hate the very sound of it. And the great enemy of our souls, knowing full-well its importance, tries to roll every stone against it.

But this isn't all. Even people who have pretty much shaken off the yoke of the devil, and who've sensed the work of God in their hearts, don't seem to know much about this central doctrine of Christianity. Some are as deeply and totally ignorant about it as if there wasn't one word about it in the Bible. But self-denial is something that their Master insists on.

Others are even further off, having accepted a strong prejudice against it. They've gotten this idea from shallow "Christians" who like the easy things of life, and who don't want anything of godliness except the power.

It's not enough for a minister of the Gospel to not oppose the doctrine of self-denial. If he wants to be pure from the blood of all men, he must speak of it often, showing the necessity of it in the clearest and strongest way. Can you see how you're in constant danger of being fooled, cheated, or ridiculed out of this important command of Jesus, either by false teachers or false believers?
In the meantime, a good understanding of what self-denial really means is badly needed. And once you know what it means, you need to learn to practice it as a way of life.

All of the things that hold us back from being right with God or growing in the Lord can be boiled down to this: either we won't deny ourselves or we won't take up our cross. Let deep prayer go before, accompany, and follow what you are now about to read, that it may be written in your heart by the finger of God, never to be erased.

I. Self-Denial

What is self-denial? How do we deny ourselves? Why do we have to? Self-denial is simply denying or refusing to follow our own will, from a conviction that the will of God is the only right way.

The first reason that God should be totally in charge of our lives, instead of us, is because He made us. "It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves." (Psalm 100:3) It's only a natural result of the relationship between man and his Creator. If God's way is the right way in everything, big and small, it follows that we shouldn't go our own way in anything. Self-denial holds true for the angels of God in heaven as well as with man, innocent and holy, as he came out of the hands of his Creator.

The second reason that God should be totally in charge of our lives is because of the condition that all men are in since the fall. Our own will leans toward indulging our natural desires. But it's God's plan and desire that we resist and overcome that temptation, not at some times or in some things only, but in all times and in all things.

Let me illustrate this. The will of God is like a road leading straight to God. The will of man, which once ran parallel with it, is now another road, which runs in the opposite way. It leads away from God. If we walk on one, we have to leave the other. We can't walk on both at the same time. It's impossible for a man to follow his own will and follow the will of God. You have to choose one or the other - either denying God's will to follow your own, or denying yourself to follow the will of God.

Without a doubt, it's more pleasing, for a while, to follow our own will and desires. But by following our desires in anything, we strengthen the rebellion of our heart. So, by eating the food we enjoy, we often increase a bodily disease. It satisfies our taste, but it makes us sicker; it brings pleasure, but it also brings death.

On the whole, then, to deny ourselves, is to give up our own will, no matter how much we may want our own way, whenever it doesn't fall in line with the will of God. It's to deny ourselves any pleasure which doesn't come from, or lead to, God.

Taking Up Your Cross

In our daily lives what does it mean to take up your cross? We need to find out, because everyone that wants to follow Christ must not only deny himself, but take up his cross as well. Taking up our cross means doing anything that goes against what we would choose to do. So taking up our cross is a little harder than denying ourselves. It rises a little higher, and is more difficult to flesh and blood. Even though it may sometimes be hard to give up our own pleasure, it's easier to do that than to take up hardship and endure pain.

Now, in running "the race that is set before us" according to the will of God, many times there's a cross lying in the way. That cross is something which will not only bring no pleasure, but something that is a burden or a pain. Picking up our cross is not just denying ourselves something that is pleasurable, it is allowing something that is unpleasurable to enter into our lives. What do we do when we are faced with this? The choice is plain: either we take up our cross, or we turn aside from the way of God.

In order to bring our lives back in line with what the Lord originally intended us to be, it's often necessary to pluck out, so to speak, an eye, or to cut off a right hand. We're so attached to some habits of sin that we can never be separated from them without intense pain. The Lord then purifies the soul like a refiner's fire, to burn up all the impurity. It's painful all right, and it must be, because the soul cannot pass through the fire without pain.

The Good Doctor

If God puts us through any kind of pain, it's only in order to heal us. Jesus is our Great Physician and He cuts away what is infected or rotting, in order to preserve the healthy part. And if we would freely choose the loss of a limb, instead of letting our whole body perish, how much more should we choose, figuratively, to cut off a right hand, rather than to have our whole soul cast into hell!

When our Lord said to the rich young man, "go and sell al that you possess, and give it to the poor" (knowing this was the only way to heal his greed), the very thought of it gave that young man so much pain that "he went away grieved." (Mark 10:21-22) He chose to part with his hope of heaven, rather than part with his possessions on earth. This was a pain he would not agree to endure. A cross he would not take up. And in one way or another every follower of Christ will surely have to take up his cross daily.

Taking up our cross doesn't mean literally tearing our own flesh, wearing uncomfortable clothes, purposely exposing ourselves to extreme heat or cold, or anything else that would hurt our bodily health. It means embracing the will of God, even though it may be totally different from what we want. It means choosing the good, though it may be bitter medicine. It means freely accepting hardships, trials, and temporary pain of whatever kind, as we walk on the path of eternal life.

II. Self-Indulgence

Secondly I want to show that it's always because of lack of self-denial, or taking up his cross, that someone doesn't completely follow Christ and is not fully His disciple. Let me show you what I mean with a few examples:

Five Kinds Of People
1. The first kind of man hears the word which is able to save his soul. He likes what he hears, acknowledges the truth, and his heart is touched, yet he remains dead in sin, senseless and unawakened. Why is this? Because he won't part with the sin he loves, though he now knows it is utterly hated by the Lord. He came to hear, full of lust and unholy desire, and he leaves the same way because he will not deny himself these things. This man doesn't wake up, even though the trumpet is blown.

2. The second kind of person begins to wake up, and his eyes even open a little. He's convicted by the Spirit of God and receives the truth. But soon the conviction wears off and his eyes are closed again. Why does he again sink into the sleep of death? Because he continues to yield to the sin he loves. He drinks again of the pleasing poison. Although he begins to wake up, he has no deep conviction. Therefore it's impossible that any lasting work can be done in his life because he will not deny himself.

3. The third type of man has really woken up. The things God has shown him don't fade away. The impressions are deep and lasting. And yet, he never feels at peace with God, although he really desires it. Now, why is this? It's because he doesn't bring forth fruit in keeping with his repentance. He doesn't "cease to do evil" and "learn to do good" according to the grace he has received.These people don't completely let go of their sinful habits, or they continue to avoid doing the good they know they should do, because it's something they don't want to do. That is, they never come to a point of saving faith, because they won't deny themselves, or take up their cross.

4. The fourth person is someone who has tasted the heavenly gift and the powers of the age to come. The peace which passes all understanding ruled his heart and mind; and the love of God was poured out in his heart by the Holy Spirit - yet now he is weak. He again loves the things of the world and desires them more than the things that are not seen. The eye of his understanding is closed again, so that he can't see Him who is unseen. His love has grown cold, and the peace of God no longer rules in his heart. And no wonder, for he has again given a place to the devil, and grieved the Holy Spirit of God. He has turned again to some pleasing sin, if not in some outward act, yet in his heart. He has given a place to pride, or anger, or lust, to self-will, or stubbornness.Maybe he didn't stir up the gift of God which was in him - he gave way to spiritual laziness and wouldn't be bothered with the pains to "pray at all times...on the alert with all perseverance." (Eph 6:18). That is, he made shipwreck of his faith, for lack of self-denial and taking up his cross daily.

5. The fifth kind of man hasn't made a total ship-wreck of his faith. He still has a measure of the Spirit of adoption, which continues to witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. However, he's not "going on to perfection." He isn't, as he once was, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, as the deer pants after the water brook. Instead he's tired and worn out in his mind, wavering between life and death.And why is he this way? Because he has forgotten the Word of God. "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected." (James 2:21-22) That is, he isn't diligent in working the works of God. He doesn't continue in prayer, either personal or group prayer, in communicating with Jesus, meditating on the Word of God, fasting, and in staying in fellowship. And why doesn't he continue in prayer? Because in times of dryness it's a pain and bother to him.Or he isn't zealous in helping others. He doesn't fervently serve the Lord by doing good to men, in every way he can, to their souls as well as their bodies. He doesn't continue to yield to God at all opportunities, because he'd rather go to sleep, or it's just too cold outside, or dark, or rainy. Why can't he feed the hungry or clothe the naked? Because he might have to do it at the expense of his own clothes, or use cheaper and less pleasing food. Besides, visiting the sick or those in prison is surrounded with all kinds of uncomfortable circumstances. And so are most works of spiritual mercy, like correction, for example.He won't help his brother by correcting him because shame, sometimes fear, comes between. He may have to expose himself to ridicule or worse inconveniences. When he considers these and other things, he leaves out one or more, if not all, works of mercy and love. Therefore, his faith is not being perfected, and he can't mature in his faith, because he won't deny himself, and take up his cross daily. Tired of carrying his cross, he stops diligently pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Conclusion
We can see that it's always because a man will not deny himself or take up his cross that he doesn't completely follow his Lord. It's for this reason that he's not fully a disciple of Christ. This is the real reason why so many people who were once burning and shining lights have now lost both their light and heat. They didn't value self-denial according to its high importance, or take any pains in practicing it.

Lastly, see that you apply this, every one of you, to your own soul. Meditate on it when you're in secret. Consider it in your heart! Take care not only to understand it thoroughly, but to remember it to your life's end! Cry to the Strong for strength, that as soon as you understand, you will practice it! Don't put it off, but practice it on every one of the thousand occasions which occur in all circumstances of life! Practice it daily, without intermission, from the hour you first set your hand to the plow, and enduring to the end, until your spirit returns to God!

The Pure Gospel

2006-09-27T10:31:00.000-07:00

By Catherine Booth

ACTS 15-20.-"And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee; delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance."

There seems, now-a-days, in the Church and the world, as many different views of the Gospel as there are of secondary matters and of minor doctrines. One person has one notion of the Gospel, another has another, until there has come to be a fearful distraction in the minds of many who are constantly listening to what is called the Gospel.

And, firstly, let me try to define what is the Gospel. "Oh!" people say, "it is good news." Yes, thank God, it is good news, indeed--news without which we must all have been lost. It is the news of the free, measureless, undeserved, reconciling mercy of God, offered to me through the vicarious, infinite, glorious sacrifice of His Son, to the end that I may BE SAVED from sin here and from hell hereafter!! But this news involves a great deal. It is the news of a definite, practical end, involving conditions; for even good news to me involves certain conditions on my part, if I am to procure the good which the news brings. Then, secondly, I will try to explain the conditions on which the Gospel is available to me.

Let me illustrate this; and I am particularly anxious that you should all understand me.

Supposing that a province of this empire were in rebellion against our Sovereign. Supposing that the people of that province had trampled under foot our laws, and set up their own in opposition; and suppose the Queen, in her gracious clemency, desired not to destroy these rebels, but to save them, what would be the necessary and indispensable condition in the very nature of the case, in order for her to save them? Not merely a proclamation of pardon. That would be a glorious movement towards the result, but there would want something else; for a proclamation of pardon merely, whilst the rebels remained in an unchanged state, would only be giving them greater facilities for further rebellion. Evidently, in the nature of the case, it is a necessity that a change of mind should be produced in the rebels themselves, for the Queen not only wants to save them from destruction, but to restore them to allegiance and obedience to herself, and, unless she does this, they will never become dutiful and obedient subjects. There will never be anything but anarchy, confusion, and rebellion in that province unless those rebels undergo a change of mind. They must be brought back to allegiance and obedience to the Queen.
Just so with God's proclamation of salvation.

The mischief is in us. Take the illustration of the Prodigal Son. The mischief was all in him--not in his father. The father loved him before he went away, and the father loved him afterwards. The father's benevolent heart yearned over him all the time he was away, and many a time, perchance, he went to the roof of his house to look over the expanse of country over which the rebellious lad had gone and wondered whether he would ever come back. The father's heart was yearning over him all the time. How was it that he could not be reinstated in the father's love and in the family privileges? Because there needed a change of heart--a change of mind in him. If he had come back to the old homestead with the same rebellious spirit in him, the same desire to be free from the father's oversight, the same unwillingness to be put under the FATHER'S DOMINION and DISCIPLINE, he would still have been a rebel and a prodigal. In the very nature of the case, until there was the necessary change, a wise and righteous father could not pardon him; he must insist, though he loves him dearly, upon a certain change of mind before he can consistently pardon him.

Just so. The laws of mind are the same when operated upon by either God or man. This is not laying any necessity upon God any more than He has laid upon Himself. He has made us with a certain mental constitution, and therefore He must adapt the conditions and means of our salvation to that mental constitution, otherwise He would reflect upon His own wisdom in having given it to us at the first. Therefore when he purposes to save man He must save him as man--not as a beast or a machine!

He must save him as man, and he must propound such a scheme as will fit and adapt itself to man's nature. Just as the father might not pardon the prodigal, irrespective of the prodigal's state of mind and heart, so neither can God pardon the sinner irrespective of the state of his mind and heart.

I know, by personal contact with hundreds of souls, that there is an alarming amount of misunderstanding and of what I consider false apprehension of the Gospel of Christ at this point. Hence, you have speakers saying, without anything to guard or qualify their words, `Only believe, and you shall be saved.'

`Whosoever believeth hath everlasting life.' Blessed and glorious truth, when rightly applied, and applied to the right characters; but dangerous error, in my opinion, when applied indiscriminately to unawakened, unrepenting, rebellious sinners. I have met with disastrous consequences of this all over the land--so disastrous that I would not like to repeat them here. Now, I say, we should be careful to let the people understand what we mean by the Gospel: I dare not do any other. I am so satisfied of the thousands of souls that are deceived at this point, that, while God gives me voice to speak, I dare not but try to warn them, and show them their fatal mistake.

Returning to our illustration--you say, `The man is, so to speak, dead in trespasses and sins. How can he see his own error? How can he lay down the weapons of rebellion? How can he, by himself, come back to the Father?' Granted. Hence, God, in His wisdom and love, has provided for that incapacity which man has induced by his rebellion, by the gift of His Spirit. You say, `The parallel is not perfect between your illustration and the thing illustrated.' No, it is not in that point; because temporal rebels can find out by themselves the insanity and wickedness of their course. They can see where it will lead them. They can see the destructive consequences, and be sorry for the course they have taken. They can lay down their weapons of rebellion, and they can conform to the conditions on which the Queen issues her proclamation. You say, `Yes, that they can do, but this man cannot.' Of course, because he has so hardened his heart that even if he can, be never will without the Holy Spirit of God. Hence, God has taken compassion on us, and sent His Spirit into the world for this purpose--'To convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment.' Thus He opens our eyes, and shows us our lost estate. Having, by the Holy Ghost, made us realize our desperate condition, then comes the Gospel to meet us just where we are, on condition that we abandon our evil ways, and do the works meet for repentance, which we are able to do by the power of the Holy Spirit, as well as to lay down the weapons of our rebellion and accept of Christ, put our neck under his yoke, and pledge ourselves in heart to FOLLOW HIM ALL THE DAYS OF OUR LIFE.

These are the conditions involved, and this is the end the Gospel contemplates, and there you see the Gospel accomplishes its END in this case. The heart of the rebel is won back to its Lord, and the indispensable change has taken place in the being himself. He has come back to God. His eyes are opened to see the evil of sin, and the desperate state he is in. Tired of himself, and tired of his evil ways, as the Prodigal was of the swine-yard, he arises, leaves them and goes to his father.

But now I must stop to meet a difficulty which I know will arise in many sincere minds. I feel myself such a tender jealousy for the glory of God, that I do highly respect this feeling in others, and if anyone disagrees with my views, or my way of putting them, through a feeling of jealousy for the glory of God, they have my profound respect. You will say, "If we are able to abandon our evil courses, and lay down the weapons of rebellion, is that not saving ourselves?' No, dear friends; it is altogether different. You see it is the indispensable condition of salvation in everyone of the nine passages we read, and in many others--that we abandon our evil ways. Now, what does that mean? A gentleman in a letter to me said, `We cannot save ourselves from heart sins.' Granted; but we can will to be saved from them. Then, there is a great distinction between those sins of the heart, which are involuntary, and those deliberate transgressions of God's law, which unregenerate men commit. God requires me to abandon all that I CAN, as a condition of salvation, and then, when He saves, He will give me power to abandon all that I could; not before. The Prodigal had to come away from the swine-yard, the filth, and the husks, before he got into the father's house, and sat down at the fathers feast, but when he had done so, then the father said, `Come in,' and he brought the best robe and put it on him and killed the fatted calf, and put the ring of forgiveness upon his hand. Hence, as the old divines used to put it, "You must wait for the Lord in the path of His ordinances," the path of obedience, as far as is possible to you. And is there any other way? Can the drunkard wait for Him while he abides at his cup? Can the thief wait for Him while be continues in his diabolical trade? Can any man indulging in absolute open sin find the Lord? Must he not, as the Saviour says, cut off that right hand, and pluck out that right eye? He never can cleanse his guilt, but he CAN cut off his hand, and when he does that, then the Holy Spirit will come in and apply the Blood, and do the cleansing.

Therefore, you perceive, I take the Gospel to be aiming not merely at saving, but restoring us. If it were merely to save me without restoring me, what would it do for me? As a moral agent, if the Gospel fails to PUT ME RIGHT it will fail eternally to make me happy; and if you were to transplant me before the throne, and put me down in the inner circle of archangels with a sense of wrong in my heart, being morally out of harmony with the laws of God, and the moral laws of the universe, I should be as miserable as if I were in hell, and should want to get away. I must be MADE RIGHT, as well as treated as if I were right. I must be changed as well as justified. This is the Gospel put as clearly in our text as it could be, and also the Epistles written by the Apostle Paul, the great expounder of the doctrine of justification by faith. It was through the lips of the glorified Lord Himself, after He had risen, to the great Apostle of the Gentiles, after the Gospel dispensation was fully opened, that this most unmistakable commission was given, "Unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes." What to? Their sins. As Peter opened the eyes of the murderers of our Lord, on the Day of Pentecost, "Whom ye have crucified and slain," driving in the convicting truth of God until, in their agony, they cried out, "WHAT MUST WE DO?" He tore off the bandages which Satan had wrapped around them, and drove them as with the schoolmaster's lash, until he drove them to the Cross of the crucified One. "Open their eyes," that is the first thing. Oh! how my soul has often shrunk and wept under the sense of the awful responsibility this brings upon us Christians. The world is asleep. Yes, friends, your relations, your neighbours--they are asleep. They are preoccupied. They are full of the world, and the things of the world. They will not think--they will not see--they will not look into the Word of Life. Your responsibility comes here tenfold. GO AND WAKE THEM! You CAN DO IT! if you have the Holy Ghost in you!

Some people would have said to the Lord Jesus,
"What a great deal you are making of human agency, for, after all, Paul is but a man, and you are setting him to open the eyes of the unconverted, and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Are you not making too much of human effort?" But the Lord Jesus knew what He was about. He knew that Paul had a power in him which every really renewed child of God has--the Holy Ghost to equip him for this work; and He says,
"Unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes." Go and awake them to a sense of their danger. Take them, metaphorically speaking, by the collar and shake them and make them realize their peril, as you would if they were asleep in a burning house!! And then when you have awakened them, what are you to do? Leave them alone? No, no, for Christ's sake, no! Take hold of them by the mighty power of your moral suasion and zeal, and love, and energy, and turn them right round from sin and Satan unto God.

Jesus Christ set Paul to do this, and Paul did it. He says, "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." His was no meek and mild putting of the truth, and leaving people to do as they liked. "Knowing, therefore, the TERROR of the Lord, we PERSUADE men, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead;" and, oh! what success the Lord gave him in his desperate enterprise. What multitudes did he persuade, and succeed in turning round from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God! Turn them round! `Oh! but,' you say, `if they are turned round from darkness, which represents evil, to light, which represents righteousness, are they not saved?' No, not yet. This is only the change effected in their will, which is beautifully exemplified by Paul in Romans vii.--willing to keep the law, willing to obey God, willing to do His will, and follow Him; yea, struggling, but yet unable; though they are brought round from the voluntary choice or embrace of evil, and the voluntary service of the Devil, round to the voluntary choice and embrace of righteousness and the service of God, they are not yet able to do it.

Now, friends, don't say I said they were able. Don't misrepresent me, as some people do. I will try to be clear, and I say there is all the difference in the world between BEING WILLING TO LET JESUS CHRIST SAVE ME FROM MY SINS, AND SAVING MYSELF FROM THEM. It is exactly this change in the attitude of the will which God demands as a CONDITION OF THE EXERCISE OF HIS POWER. It is so in all the miracles. "Wilt thou be made whole?" He says to the man with the withered hand, "Stretch out thy hand." The man might have said, `Lord, what an unreasonable request. Are you come to mock me in my misery?' Oh! but Jesus Christ knew what He wanted in the man. He wanted the response of the MAN'S WILL. He wanted the man to say, `Yes, Lord;' and when He said that, the Lord put the strength into the shoulder-bone, and He stretched it out, and it was made whole. There are many souls just there--they will not say, `Yes, Lord,' to some condition which the Spirit puts upon them. I could give you some heartrending illustrations on this point. I am satisfied that this Gospel-enlightened England of ours is full of people just at this point, who come crying, and praying, and longing, as they call it, after God. They come up to Jesus Christ again and again. They try to believe; they want to follow Him, but they are kept back by the right hand and the right eye which the Holy Ghost has told them they must cut off and pluck out before He will receive them. They will not do it, and so they are ever learning, and never able to come to a knowledge of the truth. You must renounce evil in your will. You must will to "obey the truth." You must say, `Yes, Lord.'

I remember, on one occasion, in the West of England, I had been delivering week-day morning addresses. We had a blessed meeting on this particular day. We began at half-past ten, and the Lord was so with us that He supplied the want of refreshment till we had it at 5.30. He made up for the want of dinner or tea. A gentleman was there, with whose appearance I was struck. He was tall, and intelligent, a man of about forty or forty-five. He knelt down without any emotion, more than deep solemnity, at the end of the Communion rail. I had been talking about the reason people walked in darkness--controversy with the Holy Spirit. I said to him, `My dear sir, have you had a `controversy with the Holy Spirit?' `Yes,' he said. `I have had one for fifteen years. I am ashamed to say it, and it has eaten up all the joy and power of my Christian life, and I have been a useless cumberer of the ground.' I did not know till afterwards that he was a deacon of the church, and had come up there in the sight of all the congregation. I said, `Well, my dear sir, you know the Gospel as well as I do. It is of no use to preach faith to you until you are willing to renounce your idol.' He said, most emphatically, `I know it.' I said, `Are you willing?' Oh, with what tenacity the human heart holds on to its idols! Though he had come up to the rail in the face of that congregation, so deeply was he under the power of the Spirit, yet he hesitated. I said, `Well, my dear sir, you must make up your mind. In your case, it is between the choice of this, whatever it may be, and Christ;' and I retired under the pulpit pillars for a minute, and left him to himself and the Lord. I lifted up my heart to God for him, and then I went back, and said, `Will you renounce it?' and, lifting up his eyes to heaven, and, bringing his hand down upon the Communion rail, he said, `By the grace of God, I do,' and his whole frame heaved with agony, but he stepped into immediate liberty. His blessed Saviour was waiting with arms wide open. There was only this accursed thing which had stood between them, and when he trampled it under his feet, and was willing to forsake it, as a natural consequence, he sprang into the everlasting arms, and received the assurance of salvation. It was all over the town for the next fortnight. People remarked, `Did you ever see such a change come over a man, as has come over Mr. So-and-so; he is like a new man. He prays in the prayer-meeting with such fervour. He was at the chapel doors, speaking to the unconverted, and inviting them to come back. He is visiting up and down the town--why, he's a new man!' Was there any change in the Gospel? Had he received any fresh light? It was only the old story--only that he had put away the idol, and trampled under foot that which was keeping the life-power of God out of his soul.
Here is another case. At some services in the West of England, a gentleman, largely interested in an unlawful business, came every night for five weeks, and used to sit there, the picture of despair and wretchedness, till after ten o'clock. He went on in this way until his friends thought he would lose his reason. He was walking about his bedroom with his Bible open, kneeling down every now and then, struggling and wrestling and trying to believe; but every time he thought of this ungodly business which he could not give up, despair seized him, for he thought of his money--he thought of the consequences to his family; until at last he said, `Money or no money, I will settle it.' He gave it up, came out, and got saved at once.

Now I think these illustrations make clear what I mean, by the abandonment, the turning from the embrace of evil to the embrace of righteousness as an indispensable condition of forgiveness. Hence the Holy Ghost has carefully maintained this order `to open their eyes and to turn them (round) from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me.' You see what a different thing this is to presenting Christ to people just as they are, where they are, doing what they like. You see what a different Gospel it comes to, insisting upon a thorough renouncement and abandonment of evil as a condition of Jesus Christ receiving the sinner. This was Paul's Gospel. Will you give me any other definition of it? Can you explain it in any other way? Paul goes on to show us, how he understood: Whereupon, Oh! King Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision, but shewed first unto them of Damascus and at Jerusalem and then to the Gentiles, they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance." Was this like saying, "Only believe?" without respect to any antecedent change of mind? Can anybody show me anything here in the slightest degree approximating to the Antinomian Gospel which has been grafted on to some other of Paul's utterances? And yet surely the Apostle could not contradict himself. His writings about faith must be in harmony with this most unmistakable putting of the Gospel to both Jews and Gentiles. Moreover, did he tell Agrippa and Festus to believe? No, he left them trembling at his words, because they were not willing to abandon their sins and put away the accursed thing; but to the Philippian gaoler, who said, "Men and brethren, what must I do?" and who brought them out and began to wash their stripes, thus doing works meet for repentance at once, he said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Ah; my friend, you may try to get hold of Christ to your dying hour and at the last be lost, while you are holding on to your idols. If he could have saved us after that fashion, we needed no Christ, we could have gone into heaven without a Saviour; but He came to save His people from their sins, and while you are in love with your sins, you may struggle and tremble as Agrippa and Felix did, and as the young Ruler did, and you will meet a similar fate. You must let go your idols and be willing that Jesus should come and save you; not down among the dirt and mud of sin, but lift you out of it; wash you, make you clean, and keep you clean: circumcise your hearts; and put His law in them; and then you shall know the gladness of His salvation!

I have some people writing to me in this condition. If they are here this afternoon, let me say to them--This is what you have to do--let go your idols and say as the gentleman said of whom I have told you, `Poverty or no poverty, business or no business, position or no position, suffering or prosperity; never mind--Christ, Christ, I let go all for Thee!'

Have you forsaken evil? Have you cut off the right hand? Have you plucked out the right eye? I have people coming to me in services of this character, groaning and sometimes worn to skeletons. They tell me they are in distress, they have got into bondage, they want the joy of the Lord and His daily fellowship; and when I ask the reason, they generally say, `Well, I don't know, but it seems to be want of faith.' Now, I say to such people:

'Now let us see what this want of faith arises from.' There must be a cause. I am afraid that sin lieth at the door, and when we come to close quarters, we generally find there is some idol, some course of conduct, or some doubtful conduct which keeps God out of the soul, and when this is confessed and renounced people get the presence of God and go away rejoicing in Him. It is so in nearly every case. God does not arbitrarily withdraw Himself from His people. He wants to dwell with them. We are His proper abode. He has promised to come and abide with his people, and if He does not, depend upon it there is something in the temple offensive to Him, something with which he will not dwell. Will you put that away, and consecrate your hearts this day unto the Lord to be His temple, His temple only, and leave consequences with Him? He will be able to look after His own.

Then, lastly, when you have come to this decision, then look and live; take the final leap into the arms of a crucified Saviour. With some souls who have been the subjects of the drawings of the Spirit for years, the difficulty is in the surrendering of their wills. They have learned to reason with God; they have lost the little children's way; they are afraid to take the final leap, and there they stand before the Cross, not conscious of anything between them and Christ. What are you to do? What Paul told the Philippian gaoler to do: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ;" and you say, "What is that, and how am I to believe?" Wonderful how it has got mystified! Believe what? That He just means what He says; and that when you come, He does receive--not He will tomorrow, nor He did yesterday, but that He does now, this moment. When did He receive the sinners who came to Him on earth? When they came. Just the same will He receive you. `Oh, but,' you say, `I do not feel right.' No, of course not. Do you not see, you are to be saved by faith. If you are to be saved by faith, you must exercise faith before you will be saved. If it is by faith you are to be saved, you must believe first, and be saved afterwards; if it is only the next second! `But,' you say, `I do not feel it.' No, but you will feel it when you have got it. You must believe it before you get it, on the testimony of His Word, "I will in no wise cast you out;" "Him that cometh;" `Now I come, Lord, I come. I have put away my idols; I have put away everything that consciously stood between me and Thee. I will to serve Thee, I will to follow Thee, I will to put my neck under Thy yoke for ever, asking no more questions, but being willing for Thee to lead me whithersoever Thou wilt. Now, Lord, I come--Thou dost receive.' Leap off the poor old stranded wreck of your own effort, or your own righteousness, or your own sinfulness, or your own unworthiness, or anything else of your own, into the glorious lifeboat. It is on the top of the wave this afternoon--another step, and you will be in--one bound, and you will feel the loving arms of your Saviour around you. Faith is trust, TRUST. He will do for you what He promised. Believe that God does now accept you wholly for the sake of the sacrifice of His blessed Son; that He justifies you freely from all things from which you could not be justified by the law. You stand a condemned, guilty, hell-bound criminal, and nothing but His free, sovereign mercy can save you. Throw yourself upon this, and the moment you do so in real faith you will be saved. Perhaps you will say, as a curate of the Church of England, writing to me last week said, `I refuse to be saved by logic.' Amen, amen. So did I, and I struggled for six weeks because I refused to be saved by logic--because I would have a living, personal Christ. I admire your decision, my brother, if you are here, but let this logic help you: nevertheless, Jesus Christ has promised, if I come, that He will receive me--then, I do come, and He does receive me, for He cannot lie. Let that help you. Faith is not logic, but logic may help faith.

Oh! how I should rejoice if some of you were to launch into the arms of Jesus this afternoon. It often happens that while I am speaking souls do get into the ark of God's mercy, and come, or write to tell me afterwards that the Spirit has come, and he is crying "Abba Father," and now they KNOW they have passed from death unto life. They don't want logic then. It is a matter of demonstration with them. When you have come up to the place where saving faith is possible to you, you have no more to do, no more to suffer, no more to pay. By simple trust we are saved. This is the way every saint on earth was saved. This is the way every saint in glory was saved. This is the way we are kept saved too, by LIVING DAILY, OBEDIENT FAITH. The Lord help you just now. Let the idol go. Put away the ungodly companion. Give up the unlawful business, or the worldly conformity. Put away whatever has stood between you and Jesus. Trample it under foot and press through the crowd of difficulties as the woman did, and go right up and touch Him with this touch of faith, and you shall LIVE and KNOW THAT YOU ARE HEALED. Then this Gospel will be good news indeed to you, and Jesus will be the author of eternal salvation to you, because you OBEY HIM!

POPULAR CHRISTIANITY: ITS COWARDLY SERVICE vs. THE REAL WARFARE

2006-09-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

By Catherine Booth

THE subject for this afternoon is The Cowardly Service of Popular Christianity in contrast with the Real Warfare which Christ demands of His People.

I should like to say before I commence, that I hope, nay, I believe, that many of my audience will give me credit for speaking the truth in love; that although some things I may have to say may sound cutting, and will be cutting, as all truth when it comes in contact with error must be&emdash;it would cease to be truth if it were not&emdash;yet that I do not speak these things censoriously. If I know anything of my own heart and experience, I can say I do not speak these things harshly, but painfully and reluctantly. But they have been burnt into my soul during twenty-one years of public work, by absolute personal contact with the evils of which I speak. I have forborne long, hoping that some one more able would take up this sword, until I sometimes fear that I have been guilty of withholding my sword from blood&emdash;God knows not for my own sake, for since I came to the crucifixion of myself I have not cared much what men might say of me; but I have forborne sometimes under a mistaken notion of dealing gently with, and of hiding, the sins of professed Christians for fear of hurting the kingdom. But some three or four years ago the Lord took me to task, more especially on this matter, and showed me that I had no more right to palliate a wrong state of things in His professing people than in open sinners&emdash;that we ought to examine ourselves, judge ourselves, and reprove ourselves and each other, so that we might redeem His name from the awful effects of our inconsistency, and of our coming so far short of the standard which Christ has set up for us. Therefore what I say this afternoon, and in my following lectures, please to bear in mind I only say because I MUST, and because I could not die in peace if I had not said it. That I shall be criticised and condemned I fully expect, and that in exact proportion to the force with which the truths shall be demonstrated in every man's conscience. But be assured that this effort has cost me many a tear and prayer, and much thought and self-abandonment. I think I can say to those persons here who may be cut the most severely, and to those who are not here to whom my words refer, I could gladly go down at their feet and wash them with my tears, if I could thus bring about a better state of things.

I want to remark first, that Jesus Christ came to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth; that He intended this kingdom to be a literal kingdom, that is, as truly a kingdom as any of the kingdoms of this world; that He intended it to be a holy kingdom, a kingdom of righteousness, and consequently separate from, and above, all other kingdoms; that Christ continually spoke of His followers as a community, existing in the midst of another kingdom or community, having its own laws and principles and aims entirely distinct and separate from the world. He not only made it separate, but He ordained that it should be kept separate, and He did not fail to give the most emphatic cautions and prohibitions against any amalgamation whatever between the forces of His kingdom and the forces of the kingdom of Satan, in the midst of which His kingdom was established.

Further, He put forth the claim, as the King and Sovereign of this kingdom, to the highest affection, allegiance, and homage of the hearts of His subjects, representing Himself as a King in a sense entirely beyond and above all earthly sovereigns. He represented Himself as reigning not by virtue of outward power, but by virtue of the inward love, devotion, and adoration of His subjects; and thus more perfectly and completely over their outward lives than any earthly king could pretend to do. Further, the avowed purpose of Jesus Christ was to propagate and extend this kingdom over the whole earth.

In this respect only was He the originator of a new dispensation, for God had already a kingdom in the earth, although it was of a national and sectarian character. Jesus Christ came to break down the walls of partition between Jew and Gentile, and to let out, so to speak, the mercy, goodness, and grace of God to the whole race. Henceforth there was to be "neither Greek nor Jew, . . . barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free; but Christ is all, and in all."

But as in Adam all had died, so in Christ should all be made alive; as all men had lost their souls in Adam, so all should have the opportunity, subject to that free choice without which either salvation or damnation would be a mere figure of speech, and without which a man would be no more capable of salvation than an ox, subject only to such choice, every son and daughter of Adam should have the provision in Christ of eternal salvation.

Then, further, Jesus Christ ordained and arranged that this kingdom of His should be propagated in the world by human instrumentality. Why, we do not know. There might be many reasons, but the main one probably was that the human being, himself transformed, restored to God and to His image, and inspired with His love, would be the most effectual ambassador that God could send.

Another reason might be that Christ chose to put this honour on His own brethren after the Spirit&emdash;those whom He has redeemed from amongst men, and who have chosen Him as their Sovereign, with His cross and its consequences, in preference to the pleasures, riches, or honours of this world.

Or, third, it might be that no other instrumentality would be so calculated to bring glory to His Father, the weakness of the human agent exhibiting most perfectly the excellency of the Divine power.

Note further, that the establishment of this kingdom over all the earth means, of course, resistance and opposition from those nations already in possession.

And here is a wonderful analogy between the establishment of the kingdom of Christ and the subjugation of Canaan to the Israelites. God had promised that land to Abraham long years before, and spoke of it as already belonging to his descendants; nevertheless they had to go and conquer it in His strength. So God has given the kingdoms of this earth to His Son.

In the end the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our God and of His Christ; but we have to go and conquer them, just as the Israelites had to conquer Canaan, in the faith, and by the strength, of our God. It has only been for want of faith that the world has not been conquered long ago. Oh, what a delusion many Christians labour under with respect to the extension of the kingdom of God! They have a notion that the kingdom is to take the world by stealth; that men are to be turned to God without any connection of means with the event; that it is going to be done by a sort of internal miracle, and the Church has been waiting for this miracle for 1800 years. Consequently the work is not done, because this notion is in direct opposition to the orders and ordination of the King. If ever the world is subdued, it will be by His servants carrying out their Lord's instructions, and setting themselves to subdue it. It will be by bringing all the wisdom, skill, and force of their humanity, allied with divinity, as the early disciples did, and turning that force upon the rebel world. It will be done by hard, desperate fighting, if the great fundamental principles laid down in this Bible are to be relied on, and in no other way, because the nations in possession will never let you subdue them and take them for God without opposition. Christ systematically foretold and depicted this opposition, and gave His disciples to understand that they would have to wage WAR with all the power of those who were possessed of evil, and who were profiting by evil, and that it would be no easy conquest.

He told them they would have to go and subdue this evil by good, this unrighteousness by righteousness. The spirit of the devil would have to be driven out of man by the power of the Spirit of God dwelling in them. This He taught as plainly and persistently as He taught anything. If we wanted an illustration of the continuance of this spirit of opposition in the earth, we might find it in the events that have lately transpired in Switzerland. A little force of godly people, without any of the peculiarities about which there has been such a hue and cry in England, without an instrument of music, without a banner or flag, or procession, or open-air service, without even a uniform, had only to commence to live Jesus Christ over again, and to carry out His orders in thrusting His claims on their fellow-men, when wicked rulers combined with those who profit by the vilest kinds of vice to mob them, drive them out, put them down, or kill them, as the case might be. Why? Because the instinct of the evil one recognised the Spirit of Jesus Christ. The devil always knows where the Spirit of Jesus Christ is, and he knows something else; he knows where it is not, and where it is not he lets well alone.

"Oh!" people say, "the world is different in these days from what it was in the days of Jesus Christ and Paul." Is it? Try it on the same lines, and you will soon find out how far different it is. The very essence of the spirit of evil is antagonistic to the spirit of good. Good and evil are as diametrically opposed to each other as ever; therefore they can never be brought into contact without conflict, without war, and sometimes of the most deadly kind, ending in the death and martyrdom of the saints. I was amused with the exemplification of this some weeks ago. As one of our female officers was walking up Clapton, a band of lads were hooting after her, "Hallelujah!" "Jesus Christ!" "Salvation!" and other beautiful names; for in whatever voice they be hissed out, they cannot make such words ugly. They were hissing these names after her as she walked meekly and quietly along. At length she turned suddenly to them and said, "What are you doing this for? I have never done you any harm. I am walking peaceably along the road; why are you shouting after me?" They were all so taken aback that they stood breathless for a moment, then one of them, I suppose a little bolder than the rest, and at least an honest lad, said, "It is because you are good and we are bad." Ah! that was the truth for once. That was the expression, in his rough way, of the eternal principle, that there must be conflict between good and evil; and the greater good you bring in conflict with evil, the more the evil will rage and try for the mastery. Hence, the world treated Him who was the very personification of the Father's holiness, worse than it ever treated any other human being, because He was the concentration of goodness, and therefore the devil did his worst on Him; and just as we approximate to His character will the devil do his worst on us.

Further, Christ taught His soldiers to expect the opposition of devils.

I suppose most of you believe in evil spirits who have access to the human mind. I wish, if you do not, you could have some of the experience of the Salvation Army; I think you would then. If there are evil spirits, if they have access to this world, and if they are interested in circumventing the plans of God, it only stands to sense that they should influence their servants to fight in opposition to the servants of God. This opposition was foretold by Christ, and His servants were warned against it, and provided for it. He said to His apostles when He commissioned them, "Behold, I send you forth as sheep among wolves, but lo, I am with you always." And again to Paul, I will be with thee, "delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee." Why? Because He knew the opposition which their mission would provoke. He said, "Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Wherever the true Christ appears, there must the sword come to the dividing asunder of everything evil, and there must also come the sword of provocation. Even the nearest and dearest relatives rise up to persecute those who truly follow the Christ. This must continue to be so while good and evil continue in contact, and the fact that modern Christianity has ceased, as a rule, to provoke opposition, is one of the deadliest signs of its effeteness. As a rule, the world and modern Christianity go comfortably on together. They are so actuated by one common principle, and walk so amicably on one common pathway, that you see very little collision between them. The world has very little to complain of and so it lets them alone. May God help, and quickly mend or end it.

Further, I want you to note, that, notwithstanding all the danger involved in this deadly warfare, which Jesus Christ represented it to be, for He did not deceive them, but told them plainly that all men would hate them, that they would probably have to follow Him to martyrdom and death, nevertheless, they accepted the mission. I grant that they were a little time in coming to comprehend it, I grant that it took some time to free them from their national and sectarian prejudices. Peter had to receive his lesson through the vision of the sheet let down from heaven, before he understood the true genus of his mission. But when he and the other apostles did comprehend it, and that was the difference between them and modern apostles, when they saw the work to which the Master called them, they joyfully embraced it. They did not stop to confer with flesh and blood, or to reason what it would cost them, to ask about salaries, or houses, or friends; they embraced the mission and went, and carried it out with their lives in their hands; and oh, how magnificently they succeeded! What a large portion of the world they subdued in comparison with their numbers and facilities, for, remember, there were no railways in those days to speed them from town to town, and city to city; there were no telegraphs to fly before them with their announcements; no printing presses to herald their coming with posters and handbills and all manner of notices: they had none of the facilities which we possess in these days for quickening their speed, or how gladly would they have availed themselves of them! What gigantic success they attained, because they carried out their mission on the lines which Jesus Christ had laid down. Is it not true that just in proportion as their successors have followed in their steps, they have been successful in propagating the gospel? We all know that the stars in the heavenly firmament, the men and women whose names stand out with extra brilliancy on the page of history, as having been successful in pushing this glorious warfare, have been the men and women who took their lives in their hands, and followed their Master without respect to consequences; who came out straight and clear from the world and set themselves to their work, irrespective of what men might say or do to them. And we know what mighty conquests some of them achieved, and therefore we may reason that if all Christ's professed disciples had followed in the same track, a million times greater results would have been attained.

Let me put a practical question here. How many are there here who have comprehended the task? How many are there to whom the Spirit of God has said in unmistakable language, "Come out from amongst the ungodly or the half-hearted, and be separate, and I will touch your lips with a live coal from off My altar, and will make you fishers of men?" Did you embrace the mission? Have you gone forth following your Master, carrying His cross and seeking the souls of men? If not, what will you say to Him in the great day of account?

Further, in looking at the requirements of the King, and at the history of the early apostles and disciples, I charge it on modern Christianity, that its professors do not even comprehend the first principles of this warfare, much less do they set themselves to carry it on to the ends of the earth.

The service rendered to the King and to the kingdom in these days is, alas, with few exceptions, of a very milk-and-watery type, of a very short-weight character, and the great effort of the majority of its teachers, judging from their writings, and from what we see and know of their public services and of their private lives, seems to be intended to make things comfortable all round. "Peace, peace," is the continual cry, when there is no peace. As one of the bishops said a little while ago, "We hear a great deal about Church defence; we ought to be hearing about Church aggression." Yes, alas! In the great mass of instances when these modern Christians do fight, it is over opinions and ceremonies with their own children, inside their own walls, instead of with the enemy outside. They are far more valiant in defending some ceremonial of the Church, than they are in defending the cross of Christ in the presence of its adversaries. They are far more concerned in propagating their "I ism" than the kingdom of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Alas, that it should be so; but such is the fact, and it is patent to every enlightened observer.

Jesus Christ did not call us to fight each other, but He called us to present one bold front to the enemy. He bade us go and take captive the hearts and souls of men, and not merely to change their opinions. Get a man's heart right, and his opinions will soon follow. But you may be tinkering at his intellect till the hour of his death, and he will not be a whit nearer heaven, but perchance nearer hell, than if he had been let alone.

Further, these modern Christians, as a rule, do not see any NEED for the fight.

They hide themselves under some vain, false notions of the sovereignty of God. Oh, how often they have made my heart ache when I have been trying to arouse them to do something for the kingdom. They say, "God is a sovereign, and He will accomplish His purposes out of all this sin and ruin;" and so they sit comfortably down and let things drift; and they have drifted to some purpose, have they not? In this so-called Christian country, in this nineteenth century, they have drifted to about as near perdition as they well could, without absolutely bringing hell on the earth. They have drifted socially as well as spiritually. Look at the state of the nation. Look at the godlessness, the injustice, the falseness, the blasphemy, the uncleanness and the debauchery everywhere. Do you ever look at the condition of things close to your doors and your churches? the worse than heathen beastliness into which thousands of our neglected neighbours, rich and poor alike, have sunk? If only half the professing Christians of London had followed in their Master's steps for one twelve months, such things would have been impossible, utterly impossible!

I repeat, Jesus Christ has ordained and provided that His people are to set themselves to stem these torrents of moral and social pollution; they are to go and beard the lion in his den; to face the slaves of sin, open their eyes, and bring them down to His feet, just as much as were His early followers; and never till we do it shall we realize a better state of things. All the legislation, education, or provision of better dwellings, as I shall hereafter try to demonstrate, won't touch the moral cancer, the spring of all this wickedness and misery; nothing will do it until the Christians rise up to do their Master's bidding. But I say, they do not see any need for it, and they try to quiet us who do. You have to prove, and argue, and drive, and almost show them damnation before you can get a bit of service of any sort out of them. They have no heart for the fight. They do not feel these things. As God said of the fallen and false prophets of the Jews, "They lay not these things to their hearts." They lay their own business to their hearts. You see it depicted on the countenances of these Christian men if the balance is on the wrong side; if bankruptcy stares them in the face, you soon find that out. These Christian women lay the welfare of their own families to their hearts; you soon find out when a child is sick, or in any kind of disgrace or danger. But these same men and women can walk about the walls and see the desolations of Zion without any of these marks of distress or apprehension, without any such tears or groans.

They will manifest more anger against the people who urge them to fight than they will against the enemy. A great many of them hate the Salvation Army for this more than for any other thing. They say, "You are always at us: let us alone, we want peace." They want to be quiet and comfortable, and to have their religion in a snug, back-parlour fashion. Fight! they hate the name of fighting. Going out to face a mob! oh dear no, that is out of all question. How could you ever think of such a thing? Being mocked, and spit upon, and kicked, and buffetted, and perchance killed for Christ! they would think you were clean gone mad. Some of these modern Christians have tried to put two or three of our people into asylums for nothing else. The moment anybody attempts really to obey Jesus Christ, they cry, "Mad! mad! away with such a fellow, he is not fit to live."

What a veritable laughing-stock to hell such professed Christians make themselves. The devil says, "All right; let them alone. Let them go to their sanctuaries, let them have their creeds and ceremonies, let them sing their sweet hymns, and amuse themselves with their religious entertainments and their Bible classes; do not disturb them whatever you do, they are amongst my best and most successful allies." Oh, may God show us these things, and help us to set to work to awaken every backslidden, lazy professor within reach of us.

Many of these latter day Christians are most zealous in building the sepulchres of the prophets, that is, of the saints&emdash;the spiritual warriors of bygone times. They are often great at lectures on these ancient worthies&emdash;Luther, George Fox, Wesley, and others, and they will listen most interestedly to a dissertation on their heroism, just as they would listen to a lecture on Shakespeare or Milton; but as to imitating their deeds of valour, it never enters their minds any more than if they had been inhabitants of another sphere. They simply go, in the great mass of instances, to have their intellects amused, their feelings tickled. It never dawns on them that they are to go and imitate the example of these heroes. They do not perceive that it ought equally to be the absorbing interest of their own lives, and that they are equally called to brave men and devils in propagating the kingdom of Christ in the earth. They go home and live the coming week exactly as they lived the week that preceded it. They admire the men who laid down their lives for the King a hundred or three hundred years ago, and will perhaps put up a monument to their memory, but as to doing so themselves, or allowing themselves to come into the same circumstances of persecution, they would sooner almost go to hell. I speak the things I know and have witnessed till my heart is sick.

Farther, I charge it on popular Christianity that its professors are ashamed of their colours in the presence of the enemy.

They shrink from any open, straightforward confession of Christ before men. I maintain that it is not confessing Him to go to church or chapel once a week amongst those who go the same way with you. They do not confess Him on the exchange, in the bank, or in the streets of the city. Where do you see any one, or only one in a million, who comes out with any thorough-going, straightforward confession of Christ before the world? Where? There are a few Roman Catholic or high Church monastics, and whatever I may think of their errors and their mummeries, I always feel a measure of reverence when I pass them. I feel there is a man or woman who is willing to acknowledge his God before men, and who is not ashamed to come out and condemn the world, by being separate from it, and entering a protest against its fashions and its follies.
How many professing Christians are there of this day who would go through the city of London in any attire, or with any kind of badge, that said to men and women, "I am a saint and a soldier of Jesus Christ?" And yet the soldiers of the queen are proud to do this in an enemy's country! I repeat, who is there that dare do it for Christ, except we fanatics of the Salvation Army?
I understand that a popular minister said the other day, speaking of the Salvation Army, that we were "playing at soldiers!" I will engage to say that if that minister will come with us for a single day, we will give him such a dose of fighting as he never had in his life before. We will send him home at night quite convinced that it is no playing at soldiers on our part. If he does not get his head broken, we will guarantee that his coat will be torn, or covered with mud or ochre, or something worse!

Playing at soldiers indeed! let him doff his kid gloves, his gentleman's attire, and lay aside his cigar, and come with our lasses into the public-houses with the War Cry or a Bible under his arm, or anything else that tells the inmates what he has come for, and he will find out whether we are playing at soldiers or not. I would like to put that man alongside one of our dear little female captains in a certain jail just now, and see whether such an experience, even for twenty-four hours, would not change his opinion. Such cruel stabs from professed Christian ministers are worse than the cruel, mockings and scourgings of the enemy. "May the Lord not lay this sin to their charge." But to return to this shamefacedness in the Master's cause: it is time we had done with it; it is time we proclaimed ourselves; for we speak to numbers by our appearance to whom we can never speak by our words, and unless we confess Christ in our appearance in such instances, we cannot confess Him at all. Besides, why should we be ashamed of it? Why, the other day when I was driving through a low thoroughfare of London, and the little urchins were crying after me, one "Jesus!" another, "Hallelujah!" and a third, "There goes the Salvation Army!" I felt my soul glow with holy joy as I thought of the words, "The reproaches of them that reproached Thee fell on me."

I do not care what kind of a garb or a badge you wear, that is not the point, but there ought to be a badge which says to every man and woman, "I belong to Jesus Christ, and I am not ashamed of my colours."

Any profession of Jesus Christ which brings no cross is all nonsense; it is not confession at all. There are plenty of Christians very brave inside their churches in the presence of their friends, or on parade.

They sing:
"Am I a soldier of the cross?" or,
"Hold the fort, for I am coming."

I was once in a large congregation where they were singing this with the greatest gusto:

"Wave the answer back to heaven, `
By Thy grace we will.'"

I was sitting beside a warrior of the cross, one who carried the marks of many a desperate battle on his worn face. I whispered, "What should you think this people's conception of holding the fort is?" and he whispered back, "A seven-and-sixpenny pew!" Alas, how true, in hundreds of instances. Are there any ministers here? If so, I ask you, Is it not true of three parts of your congregations? What do the people in your pews mean by holding the fort? What fort do they hold? They hold the fort valiantly on the stock exchange, in the bank, at the office, or behind the counter. Let anybody go and try to get the better of them there, and they will hold that fort valiantly enough; but what fort are they holding for Jesus Christ? Here are two men, one is a professing Christian, the other an honourable man of the world. They are both, we will suppose, in the same business. Take their lives from day to day, and what is the difference between them? The one goes to church or chapel once or twice on Sunday. On the week day he gets up in the morning and has his breakfast, and perhaps he reads prayers out of a book, or perhaps not; this done and away he rushes to the city, to the business, where he works and thinks and plans with untiring energy till evening to make money. This is what he does six days in the week, without giving one hour per day to any kind of service to God or humanity, or even to the affairs of his own or his children's souls. The other man does just the same, only he does not go to church on Sunday, or read prayers. If you look into the lives of these two men at the end of the week, you can't find that the professed Christian has done one iota for the kingdom of God more than the other. You can't find that he has spoken to any one about his soul: he would think it out of season to talk about religion in the shop, the counting house, or on the exchange. He has never button-holed any of his acquaintances or friends in his own house; he has never knelt down by the side of any poor wandering brother or sister, never visited any sick one or prayed with the dying; he has not done a thing for the Lord Jesus, and yet he will go to chapel and sing, "Hold the fort" on Sunday, as though he had been living the life of a saint all the week. I ask, Why should such a man be called a Christian any more than his neighbour over the way?

Oh, friends, it is time we wiped away this reproach, and put it out of the power of infidels and atheists to wag their heads and say, "What do ye more than others?" It is time we drummed out of the professed armies of our Lord all such renegades or hypocrites!

Further, the great mass of these modern Christians cannot enter into this fight because they REFUSE TO BEAR THE CONSEQUENCES.

Fighting is hard work, whatever sort of fighting it is. You cannot fight without wounds of body, heart, or soul. You cannot be a soldier without "enduring hardness," and genteel Christians don't like hardness&emdash;they won't have the consequences.

First, they won't lose their reputation; they won't be counted fools and fanatics. I was thinking the other day, if we could have a list of the names of every person, high and low, rich and poor, who has ever been to the meetings of the Salvation Army, and who has received light and truth, and been called and claimed by God for this war, but who has gone back into the wilderness, what a list that would be! And more than half of this drawing back has been because people have been ashamed to own where they got their blessing, or where they might have had it. Friends, the recording angel keeps such a list! A gentleman answered the other day, when bewailing his miserable spiritual condition, and one of our friends asked him to go to a holiness meeting, "Not in my own town." If he had been in London, and could have crept in with the crowd into the great Congress Hall, where nobody would have recognised him, he would have gone, but not in his own town. That reveals the secret of thousands of people having resisted the light, and lost the blessing they might have had. It was the same spirit of false shame which prompted the question of the Pharisees, "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?"
My brother, my sister, listen: while you care what any man or woman on earth thinks about you, or the instruments used of God to bless you, never expect to keep your blessing, for you never will. That man will go blundering on in his present lean and skeleton condition to the grave, and probably into hell, unless he repents, and finds out his mistake, and does his first works. Ashamed! Won't be thought fanatical or weak, won't be mixed up with these common people. "Not in my own town, not in my own family," too proud to confess that I am not just what I should be, and that I am going amongst those poor people to be made better. Oh, dear no, not if heaven depended upon it. Listen! "Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of Me and of My words, of him also shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in the glory of His Father with the holy angels."

Then, further, these modern Christians refuse to give their substance to carry on the war.
You see war is impossible without money. I wish it were not so, but I cannot help it. This war is as impossible as any other, without money. Men and women must eat to live, however little they may manage with. And travelling expenses, rent of buildings, announcements, working expenses, prosecutions, breakdowns through sickness, etc., etc., must be met. This war, I say, must have money, AND THE MORE WAR THE MORE MONEY IS WANTED. How many of these mongrel Christians, when faced with the needs of the war-chest, exclaim, "Money again! always begging." Now contrast the feelings of these same people when there is any great popular national war on foot. Then, what do they say in their newspapers, in their public meetings? They say to their statesmen: "You must ask for grants; you must not stick fast for money. We must win. John Bull must not be beaten for the sake of a few millions!" Ah, ah! their hearts are in this warfare! The women would sell their ornaments, and the men would hand over their balances, rather than England's freedom or greatness should be sacrificed. Now then, I say that if the Christians of this London and this England of ours had the true war spirit, the spirit which says, "I want the world for Christ Jesus: I want my King to reign over the hearts of men: He shall win, be it at the cost of money or blood, or all else." If this spirit possessed them, instead of begrudging and reckoning how little they could give, and how much would save appearances, they would try how far they could deny themselves, and how much they could give. Oh! is this not true? Can you contradict it? Then, what am I to think of a band of professed soldiers who are always grumbling about having to give their money to extend the reign of their king, whom they profess to love more than all else besides! I do not propose to dwell on the beggarly subterfuges for getting money which these Christians resort to; it would make my cheeks crimson with shame. I said to a lady a little while ago, who was working an elaborate piece of embroidery for a bazaar, "Why don't you give the money, and use your time for something better?" She answered, "This will sell for more than it costs." "Then reckon what it will sell for, and give the money; don't sit at home making other people's finery, instead of visiting the sick and seeking to save the lost!" It makes me burn with shame to think how money is raised for so-called religious purposes by semi-worldly concerts, entertainments, penny readings, and bazaars, at which there is frequently positive gambling to raise money for Jesus Christ, whom they say they love more than fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, houses or lands, or anything else on earth! And these are the people who accuse the Salvation Army of want of reverence! I have sometimes talked to ladies when they have been expensively dressed, and they have said, "Really, I do not care for these things." "Then," I have said, "it is passing strange you should be willing to spend your money for them. People generally care for the things they pay for." If Christians really cared for the reign of Jesus Christ over the hearts of men, if their hearts were set on His kingdom and on doing all they possibly could to extend it, if it were the highest ambition of their souls, the waking and sleeping idea of their minds, do you think they would grudge to pay for it? Oh no; any child knows they would not. Such professed concern is a mockery!

Further, these modern Christians refuse to give themselves or their children to the propagation of the kingdom.

They studiously bring up their children from three or four years of age to eighteen or twenty, grinding it into them every day of their lives, for six and eight hours a day, how to get on and up in this world; but when Jesus Christ wants one of them&emdash;especially if he or she happens to be clever&emdash;to do any unpopular, or, in the eyes of the world, vulgar work for Him&emdash;any work that will bring a cross&emdash;they consider it absolutely throwing that child away. All the ordinary silly, sickly circles of gossip, and croquet, and drawing-room occupations, are considered most respectable and satisfactory in the case of young girls, alongside of any one of them giving herself up to seek and to save the lost. I heard a young lady say of a large circle of Christian friends: "While I was in frivolity and sin they all let me alone; I never had a letter, that I remember, from any of them about my soul; but as soon as they found that I had given myself to work amongst the poor and the lost, then they all woke up to a deep concern about my future, and I was flooded with letters from these Christian friends!" Oh! what do you think Jesus Christ would say to such people? Would He not say, as He said of their representatives, the Pharisees, "Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." Why should that daughter be thought thrown away who comes out and chooses a voluntary poverty and humility, and becomes a salvation officer to win poor lost men and women, for whom you say Jesus Christ shed His blood? If they were worth His blood, surely they are worth your daughter's respectability! Then why, because she chooses to sacrifice it, should she be put at a disadvantage compared with her elder or younger sisters, who spend their time in the frivolities of the world? Answer all ye parents, professed followers of the despised Nazarene!
Oh, the stories I could unfold, the dozens of letters that could be produced, pleading with young men and women whose hearts God has touched with pity for the perishing multitudes; bringing all the considerations of family ties, worldly position, future prospects, wealthy alliances, and I know not what else, in order to induce them to turn aside from the path of self-sacrifice and whole-hearted abandonment to the interests of the kingdom. I sometimes wonder that Christian parents and friends dare utter such words or pen such letters. I wonder that the ink does not turn red as they write, and that their accusing consciences do not force them to sign their letters "Judas."

What a different spirit parents and friends manifest with respect to their children and wards when the war-fever seizes the nation! Mothers give their sons&emdash;it may be with tears and heartaches&emdash;nevertheless ungrudgingly, to face the horrors of foreign warfare, in the shape of loneliness, toil, long marchings, exposure, privation, fever, dysentery, and a desolate death; and in other instances to wounds, loss of limbs, enfeebled constitutions, or violent death. Nay, women themselves have gone to such a war with the bravery of men, making bandages, nursing the wounded, and inspiring the weak or wavering, and even working the guns; and as one rank has fallen, others have rushed in to fill up the bleeding gaps. But is it so in this warfare? It used to be. No grander enthusiasm, no more heroic self-sacrifice, no more determined abandonment, has ever fired human souls than has been exhibited in the cause of Jesus Christ; but alas! It is a long while ago. The Christians of this age, as a rule, want all their time, strength, and ability, and that of their children also, to enable them to climb up the ladder of this world's social position; to get UP; UP, from whence God&emdash;if Christ's teaching means anything&emdash;will say, "Thou fool!" and hurl them down to perdition when they have done.

Friends, is it not true? If so, we ought to go down on our faces and weep, and have a confession service&emdash;first, for those who feel that this truth applies to themselves; and second, for those who, although their own consciences acquit them, know that it applies to thousands round about us. Like the prophets of old did, let us humble ourselves for the sins of our people. Let us take their iniquities on our hearts as far as we may, weep over them, confess for them, and pray for them, and then set ourselves to try to arouse them up to a sense of their responsibility and danger.

Further, I charge it on the professors of popular Christianity that they have no valour in the fight for truth and for God.

They hold not fast the faith once delivered to the saints, but surrender first one point and then another of God's revelation to any sceptical heathen who may see fit to attack it. They bid God speed alike to all professed prophets and creeds, simply because it is a matter of indifference with them whether truth or error shall prevail; in fact, they are most tolerant of false teachers because they propound the easiest doctrine, often patronising the most monstrous contradictions and shameless caricatures of the gospel. There can be no doubt that millions of souls are being sacrificed to the godless, senseless antinomian gospels of the present day, gospels which have been hacked and hewed worse than any poor vivisected animal. The very standards and landmarks of goodness, truth, honesty, chastity, and godliness are broken down, and the people are taught that they have nothing to do, to sacrifice, or to suffer, in order to be saved and to get into heaven; in fact, that they can get there as easily by the broad road as by the narrow way; and all who preach the truth as Christ preached it are stigmatized as legal&emdash;as workmongers, as antichrists and papists.

Further, these modern Christians lack all enthusiasm in the warfare.

Look at their poor, gasping, half-hearted, uncertain profession of personal religion. They condemn anybody who dares get up and tell out any definite change that God has wrought in them, or of any glowing experience of the love, sufficiency, and power of Christ to save. They characterise all such testimony as self-exaltation and vainglory, whereas they ought to know that one of the main purposes of Christ in establishing a kingdom on the earth was that His servants might be His witnesses&emdash;not witnesses merely of His existence, but of His power to save from sin and its consequences. They should also study the writings of Paul, whom they claim as their great apostle, and note his bold, comprehensive, and persistent expression of his own personal experience, which occupies so large a share of his epistles.

Look at the cold, stiff, stilted public service of these modern Christians; note how they pray, sitting looking about, without reverence or decency, while their ministers pray for them by proxy; listen to their songs, mostly sung by a few dressed-up dolls perched in an organ-loft or singing-pew, doing their praises for them, perhaps with a profane or drunken leader at so much a year. Listen to the preaching, as a rule, cold dissertations and abstractions or platitudes, "moving not a hair of the polished divine" who utters them, nor of the people who listen. An amen or hallelujah would sound almost as much out of place as it would be on the gallows! Who would ever imagine that such a minister and such worshippers were professedly serving Him of whom it was said, "He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire?" Alas, alas! Such worshippers have nothing to be enthusiastic about. They have no personal participation in the Spirit or purposes of their professed Lord, no realization of His presence, and no glowing anticipation of His predicted triumphs. But watch the change when the time for dismissal comes; see the rush of acquaintances at the church or chapel doors to shake hands with one another; listen to the rush of tongues; there is plenty of enthusiasm now! Frank's prizes at school or honours at college, Harry's promotion in the killing army, Gertrude's recent engagement, or Lizzie's new baby, these are topics in which the heart is interested, and so the tongue is inspired, and the soul comes forth from its lethargy! Alas for the little children who watch the altered countenances and listen to the interested tone and manner of mother and father during the progress of these congratulations! No wonder if they conclude that this is the reality, and what they have been witnessing in the church or chapel is a sham. No wonder such a Christianity cannot hold its own against the forces of the enemy; no cause is so hopeless as one without enthusiasm. People who do not care much are sure to go to the wall.

Further, I charge these modern Christians with a lack of missionary enterprise.

No wonder, if they reason from the value and effect of their religion on their own characters and lives, that they do not see the importance of sending it to the heathen; and from all accounts it does no more for the heathen abroad than for the Christians at home. Alas, alas! On all these points popular Christianity must be confessed, when weighed in the balances of the sanctuary, to be found lamentably wanting. Friends, what about yours?

THE REAL WARFARE.
We will now glance at two or three of the main characteristics of that warfare to which Christ has called His soldiers.

FIRST: CHRIST'S SOLDIERS MUST BE IMBUED WITH THE SPIRIT OF THE WAR.

Love to the King and concern for His interests must be the master passion of the soul. All outward effort, even that which springs from a sense of duty, will fail without this. The hardship and suffering involved in real spiritual warfare are too great for any motive but that of love. It is said that one of the soldiers of Napoleon, when being operated upon for the extraction of a bullet, exclaimed, "Cut a little deeper and you will find my general's name," meaning that it was engraven on his heart. So must the image and glory of Christ be engraven on the heart of every successful soldier of Christ. It must be the all-subduing passion of his life to bring the reign of Jesus Christ over the hearts and souls of men.

A little child who has this spirit will subjugate others to his King, while the most talented and learned and active, without it, will accomplish comparatively little. If the hearts of the Christians of this generation were inspired with this spirit, and set on winning the world for God, we should soon see nations shaken to their centre, and millions of souls translated into the kingdom.

SECONDLY: THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST MUST BE ABANDONED TO THE WAR.

They must be thoroughly committed to God's side: there can be no neutrals in this warfare. When the soldier enlists and takes the queen's shilling, he ceases to be his own property, but becomes the property of his country, must go where he is sent, stand at any post to which he is assigned, even if it be at the cannon's mouth. He gives up the ways and comforts of civilians, and goes forth with his life in his hand, in obedience to the will of his sovereign.

If I understand it, that is just what Jesus Christ demands of every one of His soldiers, and nothing less.

Some one may ask, "But we cannot all be ministers, or missionaries, or officers in the Salvation Army; must we not attend to the avocations of this life, and work for the bread that perisheth for ourselves and our families?" Certainly, but the great end in all we do must be the promotion of the kingdom. A man may work in order that he may eat, but he must eat to live, not to himself or for the promotion of his own purposes, but for his King, and for the advancement of His interests; and if his heart is really set on this, he will have no desire to work at his secular calling longer than is absolutely necessary to promote this object. When the necessary amount of work is done, he will gladly lay aside his implements of husbandry or handicraft for the sword of the Spirit, and for the conflict with ignorance, vice, and misery. Instead of spending his evenings in ease and self-indulgence, he will betake himself to the streets or other places of resort for the people, and will spend what would have been his leisure hours in pressing on them the claims of God and of His truth. There will be no running away, no forsaking of the cross, no shrinking from the hard places of the field; but a determined pushing of the battle to the gate, even amid weariness, opposition, and sometimes in the face of dire defeat. I ask, Was it any less a devotion than this which actuated the martyrs and confessors of old? Have I depicted an abandonment greater than that which they understood to be their duty and privilege? If they might have drawn back, why did they persevere, many of them, through long years of conflict and persecution, culminating in stripes, imprisonment, and death? It is evident that they understood fidelity to Christ to involve the most perfect self-abandonment, both in life and in death.

THIRD: CHRIST'S SOLDIERS MUST UNDERSTAND THE TACTICS OF WAR.

In order to do this, they must make it a subject of earnest and prayerful study how to make the most of their time, talents, money, or any other resources which God may have placed at their command for the advancement of the kingdom. They must think and scheme how best to attack the enemy. Only think of the time, trouble, skill, and money that are expended by great killing armies in planning for stratagem and manoeuvre in order to surprise and overcome their enemies. Some of you will remember reading, in the records of the last German and French war, that the German officers were better acquainted with the geography of France than the French themselves; they knew every road, by-way, and field, likely to be available for their purposes. Think of the time and trouble that must have been expended in becoming thus familiar with a foreign country, and compare this with the haphazard, rule-of-thumb kind of way in which spiritual warfare is for the most part conducted. Think of the undigested schemes and abortive plans, throwing away both labour and money, embarked in by professed Christian soldiers, who have never, perhaps, spent a day's anxious thought and prayer over them in their lives. Think also of the shameful indifference&emdash;which cannot be characterised as warfare at all&emdash;of the ordinary services and arrangements of the churches. It often makes my heart ache as I pass some stately, closed-up church or chapel, with its antiquated board with a shame-faced, insignificant announcement that the "Reverend So-and-so will preach," or a "Gospel address will be delivered" at such a time on such a day; in which it is evident nothing is contemplated beyond securing the eye and attention of those who already have a liking for going to churches and chapels. And as I sometimes read the lists of meetings connected with ordinary churches, I say to myself, "As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be," is evidently the creed of the originators of this programme, not with respect, perhaps, to the doctrines they preach, but with respect to the old-fashioned, effete methods by which they continue to publish them. Oh, is it not time that the professed children of light should learn, as the great Captain of our salvation exhorted them, wisdom by contrast with the children of darkness?
As I heard some friends talking the other day about the rescue of Gordon, and listened to their calculations as to the probable cost being some millions of money, and perhaps thousands of lives, I could not help thinking, yes, and I suppose all England (the Christians included) will think this quite a legitimate expenditure of both money and life to rescue this one man and the little band who is with him; and yet, if we were to ask for a few millions of money, and propose to sacrifice a few hundreds of lives in the rescue of millions of the human race from a bondage of misery and destruction ten thousand times more appalling than that which threatens General Gordon, they would call us mad enthusiasts and senseless fanatics. Alas, alas! We may well ask, Where is the zeal of the Christians of this generation for the Lord of hosts?, How much do they care about His reign over the hearts of their fellow-men? What is their appreciation of the present and eternal benefits embraced in His salvation; or what is their estimate of the "crown of life" which He promises to give to every one of His conquering soldiers?

FOURTH: THE SOLDIERS OF CHRIST MUST BELIEVE IN VICTORY.

Faith in victory is an indispensable condition to successful warfare of any kind. It is universally recognised by generals of killing armies, that if the enthusiasm of expected conquest be destroyed, and their troops imbued with fear and doubt as to the ultimate result, defeat is all but certain. This is equally true with respect to spiritual warfare, hence the repeated and comprehensive assurance and promises of victory from the great Captain of our salvation.
The true soldier of Christ, who has the spirit of the war and who is abandoned to its interests, has an earnest in his soul of coming victory. He knows it is only a question of time, and time is nothing to love! As he is lying in the trenches, or taking long marches, or suffering for the want of common necessaries, or enduring the sharpest bayonets or heaviest fire of the enemy, or lying wounded, overcome by fatigue, pressed by discouragement, realizing the greatness of the conflict in contrast with his own weakness&emdash;in the very darkest hours and severest straits, he has the herald of coming victory sounding in his ears. The faithful soldier knows that he shall win, and that his King will ultimately reign, not only over a few, but over all the kingdoms of this earth, and that He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet. This faith inspires him to endure hardship and to suffer loss, to hold on. He never thinks of turning his back to the foe, or shirking the cross, or turning the stones into bread, or of trying to shorten the march. He never thinks of withdrawing from the thick of the fight, but goes on through perils by land, by sea, by his own countrymen, by the heathen, by false brethren at home and abroad. He looks onward through the dark clouds to the proud moment when the King will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" He listens, and above the din of the earthly conflict he hears the words, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life!"

Worldly Amusement and Chrisitanity

2006-08-29T10:14:00.001-07:00

By Catherine Booth

WE are constantly meeting with people who are troubled about how far they may participate in worldly amusements without compromising their Christian profession. Many confess having been for years in controversy on the subject of attending or assisting at concerts, penny readings, and gatherings of a similar though more private and social character, and quite a lot of people have admitted having suffered spiritual loss and decline through being mixed up with such entertainments. On this question there seems to be among the Lord's professing people a sad indefiniteness of view. Indeed, many appear to have no settled convictions on the subject. Hence, we fear, arises much of the abounding worldliness that prevails in the Church, and hence the loss of the demarcation line between so many thousands of the professing Christians of our day and the ungodly crowds around them.

We propose briefly in this paper to consider, First, is it lawful and secondly, is it expedient (advisable, beneficial, useful, profitable) for CHRISTIANS either to provide or attend such entertainments as penny readings, concerts, private theatricals, and the like?

I -- Is it lawful?
To the law and to the testimony - what do the Scriptures say?

For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.(Deut. 7. 6.)

You are to be holy to me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own. (Lev. 20. 26.)

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Rom. 12. 2.)

If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. (John 15. 19.)

For everything in the world -- the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does -- comes not from the Father but from the world. (1 John 2. 16.)

Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty. (2 Cor. 6. 17-18)

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4. 4.)

We presume that all Christians attach SOME meaning to such passages as these, but one person will say that they do not apply to this worldly custom, and another person will say they do not apply to that, until, as in the case of the Mahometan pig, the whole lot is swallowed, and every worldly-minded professing Christian manages to get the piece of the world he likes best, or which appears most to his interest. Thus the law of Christ is frittered away, and the whole body of his professing Church given over to the god of this world.

What then is the conformity to, and friendship with the world, which these and a host of similar passages in the Bible prohibit? In other words, what is worldliness?

We reply:
1st. We take to be worldly that which calls itself worldly. Neither men nor things are, as a rule, better than what they claim to be.

2nd. We take that to be worldly which, in sentiment and spirit, the people of the world love, esteem, and enjoy.

3rd. We count whatever has no reference to God, righteousness or eternity, which do not have in mind the things of God, (Matt 16. 23) as worldly.

4th. Everything that is adverse in spirit to the dignity, seriousness, and usefulness of the Christian character we regard as worldly.

It seems to us that these propositions are so self-evident, that no thoughtful Christian can deny them. Some professing Christians seem to regard nothing as worldly which is not absolutely devilish, such as profanity, blasphemy, or obscenity. But the Scriptures carefully and clearly distinguish between the two. They prohibit Christians conforming to the world in all the habits and usages of daily life.

Speech:
Christians are not to talk like the world, in the way of coarse joking (Eph. 5. 4), boastful words, (2 Pete 2. 18.), insincere speech, and so on. But, on the contrary, their conversation is to be always full of grace, seasoned with salt. (Col 4. 6.) It is to be pure, proceeding from a good (not a doubtful) conscience. (1 Tim 1. 5.) It is to be in heaven, from whence we look for the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Clothes:
The Scriptures prohibit Christians dressing like the world.
Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as braided hair and the wearing of gold jewellery and fine clothes. (1 Peter 3. 3.)

I also want women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. (1 Tim. 2. 9, 10.)

The LORD says, ‘The women of Zion are haughty, walking along with outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps, with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the LORD will make their scalps bald.’ (Isa. 3. 16, 17.)
We commend this whole third chapter of Isaiah to the consideration of everyone, and we would suggest that as the Lord Jehovah regarded the dress of those Israelite women as a sign of their backslidden condition, and thought it sufficiently important to be recorded by His holy prophet, it may be well for us to consider how far the same signs are evident among us in our day.

Music:
The Scriptures prohibit Christians singing the songs of the world, for they expressly command that when they are merry or glad they are to sing psalms and make melody in their heart UNTO THE LORD.

Friends and Companions:
The Scriptures prohibit Christians from joining in the amusements of the world, forbidding any fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, commanding us to abstain from the very appearance of evil, and TO COME OUT FROM AMONGST THE UNGODLY AND BE SEPARATE. And our Lord declared that his real disciples were not of the world, even as he was not of the world.

Now in light of these Scriptures, and of the propositions we have laid down, let us examine the character of some of the entertainments so popular with many professing Christians.

We find that it is a fairly common thing for entertainments to be held in private drawing-rooms and in rooms connected with churches and chapels, with ministers and leading men in churches in charge of them, at which Shakespearian readings are given, with extracts from the works of the most popular and worldly novelists, and the same songs sung as are echoed and applauded in the public bar and the dancing-room.

Now, viewed in the light of the Scriptures we have quoted and tried by the propositions we have drawn from them, how do these practices strike you, Christian reader?

1st. Are they not professedly worldly? Do they not taste of the world, all of the world, and of the world only? Were not the authors of the things said and sung at such entertainments thoroughly Christless men, and some of them professed atheists, agnostics, non-Christian unbelievers?

2nd. Aren’t they the songs and sentiments which the people of the world have always claimed as their own? Are they not sung in their ball-rooms, [night clubs, radio stations], theatres, [cinemas, MTV], and casinoes? And is not this proof enough that they are pleasing to their tastes, and in keeping with their spirit?

3rd. Such songs, recitations, and performances have no reference whatever to God, righteousness, or eternity. God is not only not in all their thoughts, (Psalm 10. 4.), but he is not in any of them, therefore they must be thoroughly worldly.

4th. The spirit of such amusements is obviously adverse to the dignity, seriousness, and usefulness of the Christian character. What are its effects? Frivolity, foolish joking, a false estimate of human pleasures, leading away from spiritual things, and frequently uproarious merriment and godless mirth.

We put it to any Christian who has ever allowed himself to take part in such amusements whether these are not their inevitable and bitter outcome, and whether he has not found their spirit to be utterly antagonistic to the spirit of Christ? We have heard many backsliders in heart attribute their spiritual decline to mingling in such scenes of folly and frivolity, and we never met with one whom we had reason to believe had been renewed in the spirit of his mind who could say he could enter into them without condemnation.

Doubtless there are thousands of professing Christians who live in perpetual strife with their consciences and with the Holy Spirit on this subject, and no doubt they have their reward. Trying to hold Christ in one hand and the world in the other, they lose both. They have no joy in their godless amusements, nor do they have any joy in the Lord. All is darkness, condemnation, and death. You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. (James 4. 4.)

The testimony of the Word is too explicit, and the voice of the Spirit too clear, for any child of God to be led astray because of lack of spiritual light if he will but listen to his Divine counsellor, the Holy Spirit. But, alas! Too many seek to silence His voice by useless and worldly reasoning, lowering the standard that He has given them because somebody else does so. They do not hear him saying, What is that to you? You must follow me. (John 21. 22) Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)

Not only is the testimony of the Word and of the Spirit against these amusements, but the testimony and example of the most devoted and intelligent Christians of all ages has been against them. The following are a few extracts bearing on the subject:

There is no earthly pleasure which does not have the unavoidable consequence of grief -- following it as closely as Jacob came after Esau. Indeed, worldly delight is but a shadow, and when we catch it, all that we grasp is substantial sorrow in its place. Honey is not so very sweet when the bee-sting is so nearby. Alleine.

If there is any sorceress upon the earth it is Pleasure, which so enchants the minds of men, and disturbs our peace with such secret delight, that foolish men mistake this lack of tranquillity for happiness. Pleasure turns men into swine with such sweet charms, that they feel no compulsion to change their brutish nature for their former sanity. Bishop Hall.

Consider, this is not a time to be occupied with pleasures! The apostle James lays it as a great condemnation upon many people in his time, that they lived in pleasure on the earth. This is the time to do the great business for which we were born. Ambrose.

How often shall it be protested to the Christian world, by men of the greatest seriousness and devotion, that it is useless to dream of entering the kingdom of heaven in the next life, unless the kingdom of heaven enters into their souls in this life? How long shall the Son of God --who came into the world to be the most glorious example of purity, self-denial, and mortification-- how long shall He lie by in His Word as an outdated pattern, only put into practice in the age of the apostles, and only suited to some few gloomy and melancholy men? How can we even pretend to say that we experience true religion, or say that we have a genuine acquaintance with God and the things of his kingdom, while the continual bleatings and lowings of our souls after human pleasures show the truth about us so plainly, and proclaim before all the world, that the beast, the brutish life, is still so powerful within us? Shaw.

I hope that you would use this world rather than abuse it, that you should be crucified to the world, and the world to you, (Gal. 6. 14), that you should declare plainly that you seek a better country - a heavenly one. (Heb 11. 16.) Ah! My dear brethren, I beseech you regard yourselves as pilgrims and strangers, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against your soul; FOR WHAT HAVE WE TO DO with the customs and fashions of this world, we who are strangers in it? Be contented with travellers' lots; don’t you know that you are in a strange land? Joseph Alleine's Letters.

I would dissuade you from the unnecessary company of ungodly men, and unprofitable companions, even though they be not so obviously ungodly. It is not only the openly profane, the swearer, and the drunkard that will prove hurtful to us, but the dead-hearted formalists, or persons merely civil and moral, or whose conversation is empty, unsavoury, and barren, may much divert our thoughts from heaven. As mere idleness and forgetting God will keep a soul as certainly from heaven as a profane licentious life, so also will useless company as surely keep our hearts from heaven--Baxter.

In speaking of the laws and limits of recreation, observe generally, that whatever is offensive to God, whatever is injurious to others, whatever is hurtful, whether at a distance or near-by to our own soul or body, is evil; to be avoided in ourselves and to be condemned in others. The principles involved in the foregoing remarks will answer the queries so frequently put: Is it right to frequent a theatre? [watch movies, videos] -- to attend the ball-room? [dances, night clubs] -- to sit at the card table? [play poker machines] --to mingle indiscriminately in fashionable society? The study of the Bible quotations so largely made will furnish a reply. Read and you will know.--Samuel Martin.

I said farewell for ever,' she says, 'to assemblies which I had visited, to plays and diversions, dancing, unprofitable walks, and parties of pleasure. The amusements and pleasures, so much prized and esteemed by the world, now appeared to me dull and insipid -- so much so, that I wondered how I ever could have enjoyed them.--Madame Guyon.

If space permitted we could give hundreds of quotations of similar bearing by such writers as Augustine, Thomas a'Kempis, Luther, Knox, Howe, Leighton, Newton, Cecil, Henry, Locke, Bunyan, Whitfield, Wesley, Clarke, Barnes, Steir, Doddridge, Young, and others. But our space prevents the calling of these witnesses. Christian reader, let those we have quoted above be enough to convince you.

As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: "Be holy, because I am holy. (1 Peter 1. 14 – 16.)

II. We come now to the question of expediency (usefulness, suitability).

The principal arguments brought forward by Christians in favour of providing and attending worldly amusements are --

1st. Seeing that our young people will have amusement, it is better to provide them with that which is moral and comparatively innocent, than to drive them to that which is positively vicious.

2nd. Seeing that we cannot get hold of the unconverted by the Gospel, it is better to meet them half way, and try, as it were, to catch them in a cunning way.
These arguments look very plausible: let us honestly consider them in the light of Scripture and actual experience.

1st. On whose behalf are they urged? Are the young people referred to the children of Christian parents, or the children of those who love this world? If the latter, we reply that Christians are nowhere taught, either directly or indirectly, that it is any part of their duty to provide amusement for the children of this world. On the contrary, the direct teaching and the whole tenor of Scripture go to prove that it is their duty to seek to alarm and convict them. There is not a line in the whole Bible on which an argument can be built for amusing and entertaining people who are still in their sins. The Scriptures ever represent the unconverted as under condemnation, in imminent danger, ready to be destroyed, a state rendering them far more as objects deserving out pity, concern, and earnest Christian effort than for being entertained. To keep them amused and self-satisfied is just what Satan desires, and all the better for his purpose if he can get it done by people who profess to be Christians.

Well, but, say some of our expediency friends, if by getting unconverted young people to attend our penny readings, moral concerts, and private parties where dancing, charades, and such like pastimes are practised, we can show them that religion is not such an unhappy thing as they have imagined, and that to become Christians need not exclude them from such recreations, may we not hope so to induce them to attend our churches, and thus get them converted by our more direct Christian means? We answer, IF you could thus promote good by doing evil, the end would fail to justify the means, for God says, to obey is better than sacrifice; but there is the “if” still to be dealt with. We ask, does this worldly policy succeed? Do your evening parties, your miniature pantomimes, dancing, and song singing, lead to the conversion of "Our young people?" Do the hodge-podge mixtures of Christ and Shakespeare, Paul and Dickens, [the Gospel and secular movies and secular music] of our times, serve to fill our churches, and bring the people to Jesus? On the contrary, indeed, the crowds who will go fast enough to hear their favourite songs and flippant lyrics played on the instruments of the church on the week night, remorselessly leave those who have stooped to pander to their taste to chant the songs of the church to empty pews on the Sunday.

But supposing that in some instances worldlings are won by these means, what about all the mischief that is done? These amusements are pleaded for on the ground that they will save our young people from those of a vicious and immoral character, but we contend that they are quite as likely, in many instances, to pave the way to the vicious, as in others to save from it. They will do this:
1st. By appearing to sanctify that which is purely sensuous and godless and therefore sinful, by virtue of the association with Christ and religion.

2nd. By lowering the standard of the purity and sanctity of the Christian character.

3rd. By destroying the respect and awe with which many of the unconverted have regarded Christianity and Christian Ministers.

4th. By fostering a sense of security in their sinful lives, leading them to say, We cannot be so very far wrong, or these Christians would not associate with us, and find pleasure in our amusements. There is not so much difference between us after all.

We fear that by these and similar means, the half-awakened conscience of many a young man and woman has been silenced, and their hearts hardened; and instead of being won from vice, they have been driven faster into it. Alas, who can tell the convictions that are stifled, the serious impressions that are lost, the good resolutions that are scattered, and the heavenly aspirations that are blasted in these religious pantomimes, these Christian-Belial festivities! Many sad stories come out, but eternity alone will reveal their full and awful consequences.

But the argument of expediency is not only urged on behalf of our unconverted young people, but (O tell it not in Gath! 2 Sam 1. 20) also on behalf of the children of professing Christians! "What are we to do?" say some professedly Christian parents. Our children must have recreation and amusement, and unless we allow them to mingle to some extent in fashionable society, and attend such parties as you refer to, [go to dances and night clubs and movies], we must needs keep them out of society altogether, and make recluses of them, for all our Christian friends go to such entertainments, and consider them innocent and lawful. If this be true, we reply, that it reveals more clearly than anything we could say, the backslidden and awful state of the professing Church, and calls loudly for some attempt to stem the tide of worldly conformity, while there remains a spark of spiritual life in her midst.

Alas, and has it come to pass that there are no strictly Christian social meetings and enjoyment? Have the topics of our glorious Christianity become so stale and uninteresting? Have the themes of Gospel enterprise and individual effort lost all their inspiration? Have the songs of the church lost their enchanting and inspiriting influence? Has the voice of the prayer meeting become quite silent? Has every spark of real enthusiasm in religion gone out, that when Christians want to find INTEREST and ENJOYMENT, they must seek it in themes and things peculiarly belonging to the god of this world, and his servants? Has it come to pass that Christians have so little confidence in the God of the Bible, and the religion of Jesus, that they must seek an alliance between Christ and the world in order to interest their children and save them from open reckless living and vice? If so, how does this reflect on themselves? What sort of training does it imply? Have they trained their sons and daughters so truly in the spirit of the world, under the appearance of a religious profession, that nothing but the most sensuous amusements of worldlings (who make any pretence to morality) will satisfy them? Has it come to pass that the children of CHRISTIANS must dress like prostitutes, -- dance, sing songs, read novels, [watch movies, watch TV shows], attend concerts, [listen to secular CDs, listen to secular radio stations] where worldly and even comic songs are sung, evoking uproarious laughter and coarse joking? And all this for their amusement, their parents, and even ministers, looking on, and striving by the most blind and wicked perversion of the word of God, to justify their worldliness and ease their consciences? ALAS, IT HAS COME TO THIS! Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people. (Jer 9. 1.)

Well, I think I hear some Christian say, What is to be done? Done?! Let every one who has any convictions on this subject ACT ON THEM. Half the mischief has resulted from Christians turning away from the simple teachings of the Word in order to pander to one another, measuring themselves by themselves, (2 Cor 10. 12), instead of measuring themselves by the standard of the Word. We have heard them say, Well, I never felt quite satisfied that such things were right or consistent with being a Christian, but then, many far higher in Christian attainments than I am allow them. And it seems like condemning others, and making one's self to be holier than they. Thus the voice of individual conscience has been stifled, and the standard gradually lowered, until Christ and Shakespeare are openly coupled together, and Paul and Dickens bracketed together as equal benefactors of their race.

But what am I to do? is the still recurring cry of some timid Christian mother or father. Must I keep my children out of society altogether? Yes, indeed, if you cannot find any truly Christian group for them. Humble yourself deeply before God for having trained your children with worldly tastes and associations, and set yourself, as far as possible, to remedy the evil. Get more spirituality, more real life, and you will find your religion astonishingly more interesting both to yourself and to your children. Well, but my children must have companions. Oh no, there is no must in the case. Better to live without companions than to have companions that might lead them away from God, and into friendship with the world. If you have not yet learnt this, I fear you have never realised your responsibility to God for your children's souls. Do you regard your children as your own or the Lord's? If you think of them as your own, then you will train them on worldly principles. But if you understand that they are the Lord's, you will surely train them for Him, that they may serve their generation according to HIS WILL. You are not to be concerned about consequences - it is your duty just to obey. God will take care of His own. Act on your convictions of duty. If it happens that you then stand alone in your family, your circle of friends, your church, never mind. ACT for yourself, since you must give account to God for yourself. Perhaps, if you set an example, somebody else will follow. Somebody must begin - somebody must make a stand, why not you? You say, I am so uninfluential, so weak, and the cross will be so heavy. All the more blessing in carrying it. And He who chooses the weak things will bless your testimony, and use it for His glory. Only honour God, and He will honour you.

Now I must hasten to consider the second argument urged in support of this expediency Christianity. Seeing that the Gospel fails to attract our young people, it is better to meet them half-way, and try, as it were, to catch them by stealth.

We reply, 1st, Is the success of the Gospel dependent on worldly expediency or on spiritual power? If on the former, we can see the force of this argument; but if on the latter, it is utterly irrelevant. There are but two kinds of influence or power in operation in the Church: the material and the spiritual. Jesus Christ utterly and continually denounced the material as being of any value in His kingdom. He systematically ignored, both by example and precept, all the influence of mere learning, traditional religion, wealth, position, worldly power and policy, and steadily maintained that, His kingdom was not of this world. He solemnly denounced all other kinds of influence or power except for that of the DIVINE, and He laboured incessantly to imbue His disciples with the conviction that nothing short of this endowment could empower them for their work. (Acts 1. 4,5; Luke 24. 48, 49; John 15.)

We all know how completely Paul and his fellow apostles learnt this lesson, and how they continually gloried in the testimony that it was not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord, (Zech 4. 6.) that they did all their wonderful works. While the early Christians were true to the example and teaching of their Master, we never find them bemoaning their lack of ability to attract or to convert the people. So mighty was their influence, though comparatively few in number, and insignificant in social position, that wherever they went they were said to have turned the world upside down, and large and flourishing churches sprang up in all directions. THEY did not feel the necessity for any half-way meeting place between themselves and the world; they did not lower the tone of their Christian standards and morality in order to meet the corrupt and heathenish notions of those around them; neither did they renounce their spirituality lest it should disgust them. On the contrary, the apostles and early Christians seem to have had the conviction that the more complete their devotion to their Master, the more separate from the world, the more truly spiritual and divine they were, the greater would be their influence for God, and the greater their success in winning men to Christ. It never seems to have entered into their minds to descend from the high vantage ground on which their Lord had placed them, to fight the enemy with his own weapons, and to try to cast him out by a partial conformity to his darling lusts (1 John 2. 16). The source of their power was DIVINE, therefore they needed no additions of human policy, or of worldly expedience. They were mighty THROUGH GOD, and could well dispense with the heathen poets and fashionable novelists of their times. Their preaching was with the demonstration of the SPIRIT and of POWER; consequently, multitudes listened, believed, and turned to the Lord.

It was not until the primitive Christians began to admit worldly principles of action, and to substitute the material for the spiritual, that their influence began to decrease, and their testimony to lose its power. It was the gradual substitution of the human for the divine, the material for the spiritual, that spread over Christendom for ages with papal darkness and death. During that long night of error and suffering, however, God raised up many witnesses to the sufficiency of the Holy Ghost to attract and convert men, many making long pilgrimages, and suffering great hardships, in order to visit and converse with those endued with this Divine Gift. And when at length the light of the Reformation broke over the nations, this one great lesson was again engraved on the hearts of God's chosen instruments: It is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD Almighty. (Zech 4. 6.) Thus, after the lapse of ages, we find the Gospel, when preached with the old power, the same mighty instrumentality, both for attracting the multitudes and converting the soul.

From the Reformation down to the present time, we find that wherever the same Gospel has been preached with the same accompanying power, the same results have followed, even when the preacher has been held captive to a false creed, or beset with hosts of opposing influences from earth and hell. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there spiritual miracles are wrought, and wherever miracles are wrought, the people will congregate - be it by the river-side, in the temple, in kirk, church, chapel, theatre, meeting-house, attic, or cellar. There is no quicker detective of the presence of the Spirit of Jesus than the spirit that works in the hearts of the children of disobedience. But He has always been more than a match for would-be exorcists. Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are you? (Acts 19. 15.)

You will perceive, Christian reader, that we regard this plea, that the Gospel fails to attract, as a very suspicious one. We ask those who urge it, in the light of the foregoing summary of facts, to tell us, WHY IT FAILS? We have no hesitation in saying ONLY for want of the HOLY GHOST. The great need in connection with all our organisations, societies, churches, agencies, and instrumentalities, is LIFE! LIFE!! LIFE!!! The people want a LIVING GOSPEL, preached by LIVING SPIRIT-BAPTIZED SOULS. Dare we, in the light of the past, instead of this Divine bread, give them the stone of materialism? If so we must prepare for the consequences.

You're going too fast!

2006-08-29T10:14:00.000-07:00

By William Booth

They say we go too fast! This accusation comes from all directions. Our enemies do not like our speed and our friends are afraid of it. What do they mean? If they had complained that we did not go fast enough, I could understand them. If our enemies had argued that after all we say about the evils of sin, the terrors of the Judgment Day, and the damnation of hell, we do not believe in these things ourselves, I could understand that, and feel humbled under their indictment.

If our friends came together and said, "Why don't you increase the speed? Look at the dying millions at home and abroad. You have evidently got a wonderful way of reaching the masses. You have accomplished what no other organization has. You can adapt yourselves to all peoples and countries and climates. Why don't you push on faster? Why don’t you train more cadets-send out more officers-hunt up more criminals, drunkards and fallen women? Go faster; get up more steam!” Now, this seems to me would be the natural way of talking for both foes and friends. But no! The cry is not "Go faster” but "You go too fast!" What do they mean?

Speed is a good thing, and, if combined with safety, the faster the better. It is reckoned good in traveling. I don’t know of any train that goes fast enough for me. Time is so precious that unless it can be spent in sleeping or working, every minute of it is begrudged. My feeling whenever I am in a train is, "Now, engine driver, do your best, and fly away!"

Speed is reckoned a good thing in money-making. Who would complain if we were an Investment Company developing a profitable gold mine? The same people who complain of our speed in spreading salvation and saving men would all want to buy shares, become our partners or buy us out.

If we were a killing army, no one would complain of our going too fast on the line of victory, slaughtering Arabs, or Afghans, or Zulus, or anybody else who did not live on our side of the sea. If we killed plenty of them, burnt plenty of houses, took plenty of spoil, we should fascinate the world again as Napoleon did with the speed of his successes. Painters and poets and newspapermen would fill the whole earth with our fame.

But because God has given us a little success in saving men and women from endless damnation, and extending the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, there is a great outcry–especially from those who every morning pray "Thy Kingdom come!” -that we are going too fast; they say we are ambitious and seeking great things.

Can we go too fast, my comrades in saving souls? I will not attempt to answer that question. No soldier in the Salvation Army would ask such a question. It is an insult to the Bible–to the teachers of Christianity. I refuse to reply to it.

If anyone still wants a reply, let him ask the lost souls in Hell whose brothers and sisters are following them there. Let him go and ask the blood-washed throng in Heaven, whose eyes are wide open at last to the value of salvation. Let him anticipate the Judgment Day, and in spirit stand before the Throne and propose, if he dares, the question to God Almighty. I think from Hell, Heaven and the Great White Throne, the answer would come back; “More speed! Go faster!" If it should entail the stopping of legislature, pleasure, business, and all the employments and occupations of time, push forwards! Hurry onwards! Save the world!

Some warn us, “but there is danger with great speed”. Perhaps there is, but that is not certain; and even if so, I refuse to abate the speed to avoid the risk. If this thing is worth doing, let us do it with all our might. They say, "but if you go on at this pace a smash will come”. Well, perhaps it will. Perhaps God will let the devil and those who help him smash The Salvation. Army. They smashed Jesus Christ. There were slanders and riots and injuries terminating with the Crucifixion. Then a great number looked on and said, "I told you so!" If they smash The Salvation Army, there will also be a great number looking on and telling them to do it, and saying the same thing. However, there are no evident signs of this terrible danger. For twenty years we have gone on paying our debts, breaking up and taking possession of new ground, and holding it when occupied; and, thank God! We are more closely bound together-more wrapped up in the spirit of sympathy and unity today than ever we were before.

Is our speed really too great after all? Is not all this talk a delusion? Speed is a relative thing, and the accuracy of the estimate depends upon the standard you measure it by. The coach is a rapid vehicle compared with the old carrier's cart, but it is very slow when put alongside a royal express train. What do our objectors measure us by? Anyhow, I object to be measured by the standard of the carrier's cart.

Does salvation travel as fast as sin? See how wickedness spreads. Talk about a prairie fire – it devours everything before it. Does Salvation keep pace with our ever-growing population? Make the calculation in your most favored Christian cities, and you will find we are terribly behind in the race. Do we keep pace with the devils in energy and untiring labor? Do we go as fast as death? Oh, say no more! We'll close our ears to this cold, unfeeling, stony-hearted utterance of unbelief.

LET US GO FASTER! We must increase the speed if we are to keep pace with the yearnings of the Almighty Heart of Love that would have all men to be saved. We must go faster if we are to have a hand in the fulfillment of the prophecies. Read the sixtieth chapter of Isaiah, and think of the speed that must be reached before all that comes true. We must go faster if we would wipe out the reproach and taunts of the mocking infidels who are ever asking for living proof of God's existence. We must increase our pace before our own prayers are answered, our own expectations realized, our own relations converted, and our own consistency proved.

My comrades, the General issues the command to every country, and to every division, and to every corps, and to every soldier-to advance. The pace of the past is to be no standard for the future. We must go faster. Obstacles, difficulties, and enemies shall be swept before us, and the mouths of those who condemn us shall be forever stopped before the Lord.

Fellowship of the Unashamed

2006-08-16T22:38:00.000-07:00

I am part of the "Fellowship of the Unashamed."

I have Holy Spirit power.

The die has been cast.I've stepped over the line. The decision has been made.

I am a disciple of His.I won't look back, let up, slow down, back away, or be still.

My past is redeemed, my present makes sense, and my future is secure.

I am finished and one with low living, sight walking, small planning,smooth knees,colorless dreams,tame visions, mundane talking , chintzy giving, and dwarfed goals!

I no longer need preeminence, prosperity,position, promotions, plaudits, or popularity.

I don't have to be right, first, tops, recognized, praised,regarded, or rewarded. I now live by presence, learn by faith,love by patience, live by prayer, and labor by power.

My face is set, my gait is fast, my goal is heaven, my road is narrow,my way is rough, my companions few, my guide reliable, my mission clear.

I cannot be bought, compromised, detoured,lured away, turned back, diluted, or delayed.

I will not flinch in the face of sacrifice, hesitate in the presence of adversity, negotiate at the table of the enemy,ponder at the pool of popularity, or meander in the maze of mediocrity.

I am a disciple of Jesus.

I Won't give up, Shut up, Let go, Slow up until I've preached up, Prayed up, Paid up, Stored up, and Stayed up for the cause of Christ.

I must go till He comes, give till I drop, preach till all know,and work till He stops.And when He comes to get His own,

He'll have no problems recognizing me...my colors will be clear.

O Let My Heart Thy Love Constrain

2006-07-24T18:00:00.000-07:00

By Charles Wesley

"Would Jesus have the sinner die?
Why hangs He then on yonder tree?
What means that strange expiring cry?
Sinner He prays for you and me,
'Forgive them Father. O forgive.
They know not, that by Me they live.'

Thou loving all atoning Lamb
Thee - by Thy painful agony,
Thy blood, Thy sweat, Thy grief, Thy shame,
Thy cross and passion on the tree,
Thy precious death and life - I pray
Take all, take all my sins away!"

"Oh, let me kiss Thy bleeding feet.
And bathe and wash them with my tears,
The story of Thy love repeat,
In every drooping sinner's ears,
That all mankind with me may prove,
Thy sovereign everlasting love.

"Oh, let Thy love my heart constrain,
Thy Love for every sinner free,
That every fallen soul of man
May taste the grace that found out me,
That all mankind with me may prove,
Thy sovereign, everlasting love."

John Wesley and his love for the bible

2006-07-17T18:47:00.000-07:00

To candid and reasonable men I am not afraid to lay open what have been the inmost thoughts of my heart.

I have thought, I am a creature of a day, passing through life as an arrow through the air.

I am a spirit come from God, and returning to God; just hovering over the great gulf; till a few moments hence I am no more seen; I drop into an unchangeable eternity!

I want to know one thing – the way to heaven; how to land safe on that happy shore.

God Himself has condescended to teach the way; for this very end He came from heaven.

He hath written it down in a book.

O give me that book!

At any price, give me that book of God!

I have it: here is knowledge enough for me.

Let me be homo unius libri.

Here then I am, far from the busy ways of men.

I sit down alone: only God is here.

In His presence I open, I read His book; for this end, to find the way to heaven.

... And what I thus learn, that I teach.

Here I am: I and my Bible.

I will not, I dare not, vary from this book,either in great things or small.

I have no power to dispense with one jot or tittleof what is contained therein.

I am determined to be a Bible Christian,not almost, but altogether.

Who will meet me on this ground?

Join me on this, or not at all.

Transfiguring prayer

2006-07-16T05:02:00.000-07:00

By leonard ravenhill

There's nothing more transfiguring than prayer.

People often ask, "Why do you insist on prayer so much?" The answer is very simple - because Jesus did.

You could change the title of the Gospel according to St. Luke to the Gospel of Prayer. It's the prayer life of Jesus. The other evangelists say that Jesus was in the Jordan and the Spirit descended on Him as a dove - Luke says it was while He was praying that the Spirit descended on Him.

The other evangelists say that Jesus chose 12 disciples - Luke says it was after He spent a night in prayer that He chose 12 disciples.

The other evangelists say that Jesus died on a cross - Luke says that even when He was dying Jesus was praying for those who persecuted Him.

The other evangelists say Jesus went on a mount and He was transfigured - Luke says it was while He was praying that He was transfigured.

The Scriptures say that the disciples went to bed, but Jesus went to pray - as was His custom. It was His custom to pray. Now Jesus was the Son of God - He was definitely anointed for His ministry. If Jesus needed all that time in prayer; don't you and I need time in prayer? If Jesus needed it in every crisis, don't you and I need it in every crisis?

DESPERATE PRAYER

God makes all His best people in loneliness. Do you know what the secret of praying is? Praying in secret. "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door..." (Matt. 6.6) You can't show off when the door's shut and nobody's there. You can't display your gifts. You can impress others, but you can't impress God.

I Samuel 1:1-15 gives an account of the yearly trip Elkanah and his wife, Hannah, made to Shiloh to worship and sacrifice to the Lord. During this time, Hannah had been distressed that she was not able to bear a son for her husband. This passage of Scripture gives quite a descriptive account of her time in prayer concerning the barrenness of her womb. It says that Hannah wept. More than this, she wept until she was sore. She poured out her soul before the Lord. Her heart was grieving; she was bitter of soul, provoked, and of a sorrowful spirit.

Now that's a pretty good list of afflictions - sorrow, hardship, and everything else that came upon this woman. But the key to the whole situation is that she was a praying woman. In verse 20 it says that she reaped her reward. "And it came about in due time, after Hannah had conceived, that she gave birth to a son; and she named him Samuel, saying, 'Because I have asked him of the Lord.'"

Now I say very often - and people don't like it - that God doesn't answer prayer. He answers desperate prayer! Your prayer life denotes how much you depend on your own ability, and how much you really believe in your heart when you sing, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling..." The more self-confidence you have, the less you pray. The less self-confidence you have, the more you have to pray.

What does the Scripture say? It says that God takes the lowly, the things that are not. Paul says in I Corinthians 1:28 that God takes the things that are not to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no flesh should glory in His presence. We need a bunch of "are nots" today.

GET UP AND PRAY

One day I was at a conference with Dr. V. Raymond Edman of Wheaton College, one of the greatest Christian educators in this country. He told us of an experience he had while he was in Ecuador as a missionary. He hadn't been there long before he was sick and dying. He was so near death that they had already dug his grave. He had great beads of sweat on his brow and there was a death rattle in his throat. But suddenly he sat straight up in bed and said to his wife, "Bring me my clothes!" Nobody knew what had happened.

Many years later he was retelling the story in Boston. Afterward, a little old lady with a small, dog-eared, beaten-up book, approached him and asked, "What day did you say you were dying? What time was it in Ecuador? What time would it be in Boston?" When he answered her, her wrinkled face lit up. Pointing to her book, she said, "There it is, you see? At 2 a.m. God said to get up and pray - the devil's trying to kill Raymond Edman in Ecuador." And she'd gotten up and prayed.

Duncan Campbell told the story of hearing a farmer in his field who was praying. He was praying about Greece. Afterward, he asked him why he was praying. The man said, "I don't know. I had a burden in the spirit and God said, 'You pray, there's someone in Greece that is in a bad situation.' I prayed until I got a release." Two or three years later the farmer was in a meeting listening to a missionary. The man described a time when he was working in Greece. He had been in serious trouble. The time? Two or three years ago. The men compared notes and discovered that it was the very same day that God had burdened a farmer, on a little island off the coast of Scotland, to pray for a man in Greece whose name he didn't even know.

It may seem the Lord gives you strange things. I don't care. If the Lord tells you something, carry on with what the Lord tells you.

WHO ASCEND UNTO THE HILL OF THE LORD

There's another experience Duncan Campbell told about when he was working in Scotland.
"I couldn't preach," he said. "I couldn't get through to God. The heavens were solid. It was as though there was a 10 ft. ceiling of steel." So he quit trying to preach. He asked a young man named John Cameron to pray. The boy stood up and said, "What's the use of praying if we're not right with God?" He quoted the 24th Psalm, "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord?"

You can't approach God unless your hands are clean, which means your relationships with others are clean and your heart is clean. "Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? He who has clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:3-4)

After the boy recited Psalm 24 he began to pray. He prayed 10, 15, 20 minutes. Then he suddenly said, "Excuse me, Lord, while I resist the devil." He turned around and began to tell the devil where to go and how to get there. He fought for all he was worth. You talk about having on the armor of God and resisting the devil! When he finished resisting the devil, he finished his prayer. He prayed for 45 minutes! When he finished praying it was just as though God had pulled a little switch in heaven. The Spirit of God came down on that church, that community, on the dance hall at the other end of town, and the tavern on this end of town. Revival was born in that prayer!

At the end of Malachi it says, "And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly (that's the word I like, suddenly) come to His temple." (Malachi 3:1) Remember what it says about the shepherds? They were watching their flocks by night when suddenly there was the sound of the heavenly host. Do you remember a bunch of men that had been waiting in the upper room? Suddenly the Holy Spirit came on them in that room.

There's a date in history that I love very much. It was Wednesday, August 13, 1737. A little group of people in Moravia were waiting in a prayer meeting. At 11:00 suddenly the Holy Spirit came. Do you know what happened? The prayer meeting that began at 11:00 lasted 100 years! That's right. That prayer room was not empty for a century! It's the longest prayer among men and women that I know of. Even children six and seven years old travailed in prayer for countries the names of which they couldn't even spell.

WHY WE DON"T HAVE REVIVAL

In an old town in Ireland they'll show you with reverence a place where four young men met night after night after night praying for revival. In Wales, there's a place in the hills where three or four young men only 18 or 19 years old met and prayed night after night. They wouldn't let God go; they would not take no for an answer. As far as humanly possible they prayed a revival into birth. If you're thinking of revival at your church without any inconvenience, forget it. Revival costs a lot.

I can give you one simple reason why we don't have revival in America. Because we're content to live without it. We're not seeking God we're seeking miracles, we're seeking big crusades, we're seeking blessings. In Numbers 11, Moses said to God, "You're asking me to carry a burden I can't handle. Do something or kill me!" Do you love America enough to say, "God, send revival or kill me"? Do you think it's time we changed Patrick Henry's prayer from, "Give me liberty or give me death," to "Give me revival or let me die"?

People say, "I'm filled with the Holy Spirit." If the coming of the Spirit didn't revolutionize your prayer life, you'd better check on it. I'm not so sure you got what God wanted you to get.

We've said that prayer changes things. No! Prayer doesn't change things. Prayer changes people and they change things. We all want Gabriel to do the job. God says do it yourself - with My sufficiency and My strength.

We need to get like this woman, Hannah. What did she do? She wept, she was grieved, she said she had a complaint, she fasted - and she prayed.

Jesus, the anointed of God, made prayer His custom. Paul, with his background and intellect, depended on prayer because he said he was weak. David, the king, called himself a poor man and cried to the Lord. Hannah prayed for a son and gave birth to a prophet. The prayers of a handful of young men sparked revival.

Once again, there's nothing more transfiguring than prayer.

Will You sign this form?

2006-07-04T17:18:00.000-07:00

John Wesley's Covenant Form

John Wesley's Form For Such As Would Enter Into Or Renew Their Covenant With God

I am no longer my own, but Thine. Put me to what Thou wilt, rank me with whom Thou wilt; put me to doing, put me to suffering; let me be employed for Thee or laid aside for Thee, exalted for Thee or brought low for Thee; let me be full, let me be empty; let me have all things, let me have nothing; I freely and heartily yield all things to Thy pleasure and disposal. And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Thou art mine, and I am Thine. So be it. And the Covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven.

Signature ____________________________________

The kind of christian the world needs right now

2006-06-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

A worldchanger is someone who is committed to do just that, change the world. A worldchanger is not someone who blends in. A worldchanger sticks out!

A Worldchanger stands up ready to make a difference. A worldchanger goes beyond the usual expectations of Christianity. A worldchanger finds the most intense demands that Jesus places on Christians and doesn't shy away but goes after then passionately and does whatever it takes to get the job done!

She is not just doing it because her parents make her or because the youth pastor bribes her. A worldchanger has been radically, completely, and totally changed by a relationship with God!
Christianity is not some boring thing that a person halfheartedly commits to just because they have been in church their whole lives. You are not hanging on to your parents Christianity.

A worldchanger had found Jesus for them-- not just for mom and dad or just for the pastor. And because Jesus died for them, they are ready to give their lives for him. Christianity. is not just lip service.

Worldchangers have a fervor to seek God with all of their hearts, and to do everything they can to let the world know that God is real and that he is alive! Worldchangers are not stuck in a bunch of boring rules and regulations, but they have the fire of the living God burning inside them! And they just can't keep it inside of them.

Worldchangers are serious about learning the word of God and then taking that word and applying it to their lives. Worldchangers are constantly changing and becoming more and more like Jesus.

Worldchangers develop a vision for their community and do everything they can to take the living Christ to a lost and dying world!

Worldchangers are sick and tired of a watered down, namby-pamby Christianity.! They want the real thing and don't care how hard it hits them or what parts of their lives they have to change.

They are sick and tired of the attitude that lukewarm Christians bring into the church, and they are ready to do something about it! They are especially ready to attack attitudes in their own lives!

A Worldchanger loves the Lord with all of his/her heart, soul, mind, and strength and loves his neighbor as himself.

Reading the bible

2006-05-10T09:52:00.000-07:00

If you desire to read the scripture in such a manner as may most effectually answer this end, would it not be advisable,

1. To set apart a little time, if you can, every morning and evening for that purpose?

2. At each time if you have leisure, to read a chapter out of the Old, and one out of the New Testament: if you cannot do this, to take a single chapter, or a part of one?

3. To read this with a single eye, to know the whole will of God, and a fixt resolution to do it? In order to know his will, you should,

4. Have a constant eye to the analogy of faith; the connexion and harmony there is between those grand, fundamental doctrines, Original Sin, Justification by Faith, the New Birth, Inward and Outward Holiness.

5. Serious and earnest prayer should be constantly used, before we consult the oracles of God, seeing "scripture can only be understood thro' the same Spirit whereby it was given." Our reading should likewise be closed with prayer, that what we read may be written on our hearts.

6. It might also be of use, if while we read, we were frequently to pause, and examine ourselves by what we read, both with regard to our hearts, and lives. This would furnish us with matter of praise, where we found God had enabled us to conform to his blessed will, and matter of humiliation and prayer, where we were conscious of having fallen short.

And whatever light you then receive, should be used to the uttermost, and that immediately. Let there be no delay. Whatever you resolve, begin to execute the first moment you can. So shall you find this word to be indeed the power of God unto present and eternal salvation.

John Wesley
Preface to Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament
EDINBURGH, April 25, 1765.

God overanswers prayer!

2006-05-05T10:38:00.000-07:00

By david wilkerson
Paraphrased by joshua chua

One of the most often-heard phrases in the church is, "God answers prayer!" Yet that is only half the truth. The whole truth is, "God overanswers prayer!"

I want to act now as a lawyer before you. I'm going to build a case that will prove to you that in every generation - all through the Bible and continuing to the present day - God always overanswers the prayers of His children. He continually gives much more than we ask for - and often things we wouldn't think to request!

I'll go straight to the biblical record to make my case. It is built on precedent after precedent in history - all proving God overanswers prayer!

1. God over-answered Israel in Hosea 14!

Hosea 14:2 "Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto Him, take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves of our lips."

Their prayer was simple. All Israel asked God to do was to take away their sin and receive them graciously. "Lord, have mercy. Cleanse us - receive us back into Your grace."

Yet God not only forgave their iniquities - He not only cleansed them and received them back graciously - He also added blessings beyond imagination!

Hosea 14:4-7 ""I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him. I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine: the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon."

All they asked for was mercy, forgiveness and acceptance. But instead, God opened the windows of heaven and poured on them blessings they dared not even hope for! God largely overanswered their prayer!

Beloved, God has done the same for you! When you repented, all you asked God for was a clean heart, forgiveness and peace. Yet look at how He has overanswered you: He gave you a hungering heart - a thirst for more and more of Jesus! He gave you eyes to see and ears to hear. He gave you a love for His body.

He has put in you a hatred for sin. He has protected you from a raging, mad devil. He has flooded your soul with hope, joy and gladness!

Jesus has become as your morning dew! He waters your soul daily with His Word. And you are growing - you're not dead or dying, but very much alive in Him!

You asked only to be saved and cleansed. But God has poured out blessing upon blessing to you! He has overanswered you!

2. God overanswered solomon's prayer!

Now, when the Lord asked solomon for the one thing he wanted in 1 Kings 3, he answered:

1 Kings 3:9 "Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?"

It was a simple, direct request. He asked for wisdom to lead God's people.

But God answered Solomon's prayer in an incredible way:

1 Kings 3:11-12 "And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee."

Here we see how anxious God is to overanswer unselfish prayers! Solomon asked only for an understanding heart of discernment. But God not only gave him the heart he asked for - He also promised to make him wiser than anyone else in the history of mankind!

Yet God didn't stop there. He told Solomon:

1 Kings 3:13-14 "And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days."

Another prayer greatly overanswered!

3. God overanswered Israel regarding the Ammonites!

Ammon had been used by God to correct Israel's sins. And now their army was marching toward Israel! God's people were perplexed and downcast - and they began to confess their sins:

They were so haunted by their sin, they couldn't conceive of asking God for anything more than just to spare them. Theirs was the simplest of prayers: "Lord, deliver us just this one time! Don't let us be defeated or overrun by our enemy!"

They prayed for a single victory. But God had something more in mind, and He overanswered their prayer mightily! Not only did Israel get protection - they got the upper hand! They totally subdued the Ammonites!

Judges 11:32-33 "So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon to fight against them; and the Lord delivered them into his hands. And he smote them from Aroer, even till thou come to Minnith, even twenty cities... Thus the children of Ammon were subdued before the children of Israel"

That is just how God wants to overanswer His people today! Most Christians pray, "Lord, just give me victory in this one battle." But the Lord responds, "I'll give you that - yet I have much more in store for you! I want to subdue your enemy so you won't have to get just one victory at a time. I want you to have a total victory!"

Beloved, He wants to give you power not just to overcome - but to subdue every enemy! He wants you not just to conquer sin - but to be more than a conqueror! Not just to have life but life more abundantly! Not just to have joy - but joy unspeakable and full of glory! Not to be free of fear just for a day, a week or a month but all the days of your life!

4. Let us look at the new testament

Consider these examples:

A. What about the man, sick with palsy, who was brought to Jesus on a bed? (Matthew 9:2)

This paralyzed man sought Jesus for healing - but Jesus overanswered his prayer! "Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee... (Then saith He to the sick of palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house" (verse 6).

The sick man asked for healing - but Jesus gave him much more. He added the greatest gift He could possibly give! The man got his healing - but even better, he received forgiveness, eternal life, and good cheer to replace his years of sadness!

Jesus had known all along what He was going to do; He knew this man would walk again. But He said, "First, I want to bless you - I want to overanswer you. Yes, I'll heal your body - but I'll also heal your soul and your mind, Now take up your bed and go home!"

B. What about the thief on the cross?

The thief who hung next to Christ asked only one thing of Him: "Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom" (Luke 23:42). His request was simple: "Think about me."

Jesus truly overanswered this man's request: "And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise" (verse 43). He said, "I'll remember you - because you're coming with Me!"

Talk about an overanswered prayer! This evil thief could not even conceive of being saved. But he was told he would be waking up in a few hours in paradise - beside Jesus!

C. What about the crippled beggar who asked aims of Peter and John as they entered the temple?

Acts 3:2-3 "A certain lame man...seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked an alms" Again, a simple request - just a little money. Yet what a glorious answer this beggar got!

Look at what peter said.

Acts 3: 6-8 "Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk...and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. And he leaping up stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God"

Instead of money, the beggar got something all the money in the world couldn't buy- a new body!

__________________________________________________________________

Are you utterly convinced that God truly overanswers prayer?

Look at the next verse.

Ephesians 3:20 "Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..."

DO you know we grieve God, even anger Him by not asking?

Over and over in the bible, God asks us to ask Him. "Ask and ye shall receive, you have not because you ask not, Ask the Father in My name and He will give it to you...."

But we dont have the faith to ask!

God is speaking to us in this generation, in this time, to seek His face and ask Him to be the only one to meet our needs, to provide and protect, to do everything that He wants to accomplish through us! God is saying: "How long are you going to keep disgusting me because you're afraid to stand on My word? When will you ever learn that I have everything you need - that I will take care of you because I'm King and Lord?"

ASK FOR BIG THINGS BECAUSE HE IS A BIG GOD!
ASK FOR GREAT THINGS BECAUSE HE IS A GREAT GOD!

HALLELUJAH!

Dear saint, when you go to your secret closet, remember

Hebrews 11:6 ""...he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that dilligently seek Him"

Always quote that verse - work it into your system, praying: "I come to You, Jesus, because I know You are God Almighty. You have all the resources I'll ever need. You are beyond my comprehension in greatness - but i believe You reward those who diligently seek You!"

Get this statement into your head!

God overanswers prayer!

A famous quote by john wesley

2006-05-02T05:34:00.000-07:00

“I am not afraid that the people called Methodists should ever cease to exist either in Europe or America. But I am afraid lest they should only exist as a dead sect, having the form of religion without the power. And this undoubtedly will be the case unless they hold fast both the doctrine, spirit, and discipline with which they first set out.”

The general rules of the early methodist church

2006-04-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

First,

By doing no harm, by avoiding evil in every kind especially that which is most generally practised. Such is

The taking the name of God in vain:

The profaning the day of the Lord, either by doing ordinary work thereon, or by buying or selling:

Drunkenness ; buying or selling spirituous liquors, or drinking them, unless in cases of extreme necessity:

Fighting, quarrelling, brawling; brother going to law with brother; returning evil for evil, or railing for railing; the using many words in buying or selling

The buying or selling uncustomed goods

The giving or taking thinqs on usury that is unlawful interest :

Uncharitable- or unprofitable conversation ; particularly speaking evil of Magistrates or of Ministers:

Doing to others as we would not they should do unto us:

Doing what we know is not for the glory of God; as,

The putting on of gold or costly apparel;

The taking such diversions as cannot be used in the name of the Lord. Jesus ;

The singing those songs, or reading those books, which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God

Softness, and needless self-indulgence

Laying up treasures upon earth :

Borrowing without a probability of paying; or taking up goods without a probability of paying for them.

Secondly,

By doing good, by being in every kind merciful after their power, when they have opportunity; doing good of every possible sort and as far as is possible, to all men:

To their bodies, of the ability that God giveth, by giving food to the hungry, by clothing the naked, by visiting or helping them that are sick or in prison:

To their souls; by instructing, reproaching, or exhorting all they have any intercourse with ; trampling under foot that enthusiatic doctrine of devils, that " we are not to do good, unless our heart be free to it."

By doing good especially to them that are of the household of faith, or groaning so to be; employing them preferably to others, buying one of another, helping each other in business; and so much the more, because the world will love its own, and them only.

By all possible diligence and frugality, that the Gospel be not blamed.

By running with patience the race that is set before them, denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily; submitting to bear the reproach of Christ; to be as the filth and offseouring of the world ; and looking that men should say all manner of evil of them falsely, for the Lord's sake.

Thirdly,

By attending upon all the ordinances of God: such are,

The public worship of God;

The ministry of the word, either read or expounded

The supper of the Lord;

Family and private prayer;

Searching the Scriptures ;

and Fasting or abstinence.

*Sad to say, i only have 3 of the 12 methodist rules. If anyone has any knowledge of the 12 methods, kindly share with me. I will be really blessed and grateful. Thank you*

satan's worldwide convention

2006-04-25T09:41:00.000-07:00

Satan called a worldwide convention. In his opening address to his evil angels, he said, "We can't keep the Christians from going to church.

We can't keep then from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from conservative values. But we can do something else. We can keep them from forming an intimate, abiding experience in Christ.

If they gain that connection with Jesus, our power over them is broken. So let them go to church, let them have their conservative lifestyles, but steal their time, so they can't gain that experience in Jesus Christ. This is what I want you to do, angels. Distract them from gaining hold of their Savior and maintaining that vital connection throughout their day."

"How shall we do this?", shouted his angels.

"Keep them busy in the non-essentials of life and invent unnumbered schemes to occupy their minds," he answered.

"Tempt them to spend, spend, spend, then, borrow, borrow, borrow. Convince the wives to go to work and the husbands to work 6 or 7 days a week, 10-12 hrs. a day, so they can afford their lifestyles. Keep them from spending time with their children. As their family fragments, soon, their homes will offer no escape from the pressures of work."

"Over stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still small voice. Entice them to play the radio or cassette player whenever they drive, to keep the TV, the VCR, and their CD's going constantly in their homes.

And see to it that every store and restaurant in the world plays music constantly. This will jam their minds and break that union with Christ."

"Fill their coffee tables with magazines and newspapers. Pound their minds with the news 24 hours a day. Invade their driving moments with billboards. Flood their mailboxes with junk mail, sweepstakes, mail order catalogues, and every kind of newsletter and promotional offering, free products, services, and false hopes."

"Even in their recreation, let them be excessive. Have them return from their recreation exhausted, disquieted and unprepared for the coming week. Don't let them go out in nature. Send them to amusement parks, sporting events, concerts and movies instead. And when they meet for spiritual fellowship, involve them in gossip and small talk so that they leave with troubled consciences and unsettled emotion."

"Let them be involved in soul-winning. But crowd their lives with so many good causes they have no time to seek power from Christ. Soon they will be working in their own strength, sacrificing their health and family unity for the good of the cause."

It was quite a convention in the end. And the evil angels went eagerly to their assignments causing Christians everywhere to get busy, busy, busy and rush here and there.
Has the devil been successful at his scheme? You be the judge.

How deep the Father's love for us

2006-04-15T08:17:00.000-07:00

How deep the Father's love for us
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
And make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the Chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon his cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

I love you Jesus.

God, make my life a prayer

2006-04-10T16:40:00.000-07:00

By john wesley

God's command to "pray without ceasing" is founded on the necessity we have of his grace to preserve the life of God in the soul, which can no more subsist one moment without it, than the body can without air.

Whether we think of; or speak to, God, whether we act or suffer for him, all is prayer, when we have no other object than his love, and the desire of pleasing him.

All that a Christian does, even in eating and sleeping, is prayer, when it is done in simplicity, according to the order of God, without either adding to or diminishing from it by his own choice.

Prayer continues in the desire of the heart, though the understanding be employed on outward things.

In souls filled with love, the desire to please God is a continual prayer.

As the furious hate which the devil bears us is termed the roaring of a lion, so our vehement love may be termed crying after God.

God only requires of his adult children, that their hearts be truly purified, and that they offer him continually the wishes and vows that naturally spring from perfect love. For these desires, being the genuine fruits of love, are the most perfect prayers that can spring from it.

My first ever personal post...

2006-04-10T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is my first ever personal post on my blog... I'm not someone who blogs about myself but i feel this is necessary and i should be responsible for my actions.

1). I was very wrong to be spreading a doctrine about television. I now realise that unless guided by the Spirit of God to preach to people about seperation, I will encourage and exhalt my brothers and sisters to seek God and read His word. As our relationships with God grow closer and more intimate, i believe the Holy Spirit will reveal to us the areas in our lives that God wants us to change.

Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

2). I foresee, because of my past actions, i need to set myself as a testimony.

Get this clear, I'm not perfect. No one is, but God. By telling people to be seperated from this world doesnt make me or anyone righteous. No, we are sinners saved by grace and not works. Therefore, asking people to abandon worldly pleasures and the lust of the flesh doesnt make me any holier.

There are many more areas in my life that needs to be changed before i can stand blameless before God. On this part, i am very balanced. As christians, we care very much for our brothers and sisters but let us not neglect our own soul. When i care so much about saints getting sanctified, i care also about souls getting saved. In this area, i totally agree with the pastors that we are to live balanced lives.

Therefore, since i have stumbled many people, i would like to apologise to every single one of you. If i could ever stand in the pulpit in evangel to speak to you what i have written here, i would do so.

I am aware that my actions have caused some people to get confused and disoriented. I beseech you to approach me if you find any wrong in me that needs to be corrected. I was very disappointed the other day where sam told me about the incident. Praise the Lord, I'm better now. But i know there are other people who are also stumbled by me. So feel free to contact me. I'll be waiting for your calls...

There is no other scripture that i can find that is better than this verse for this particular situation-

Psalm 141:5 "Let the righteous smite me; it shall be a kindness: and let him reprove me; it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not break my head: for yet my prayer also shall be in their calamities. "

3).Finally to the pastors, especially pastor lim. I heard at tuesday prayer meeting that he was disappointed with me for my wrong attitude. Again, i apologise. I have never intended to hurt anyone nor bring about any negative results. I'm truly sorry.

Please know this, that i love all of you. Thank you for taking care of me and helping me grow in the Lord. What you all have done for me, i can never repay. May God continue to bless evangel family church and use it for His glory. Amen.

Christian Perfection

2006-03-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

Inspired by John Wesley

I believe Christians can become perfect before they go to heaven.

No, i'm not talking about the perfect state of the angels in heaven or the perfect condition which Adam was in before he disobeyed God. No, because man is of sinful nature, we cannot avoid falling into innumerable mistakes, neither can he always speak, act and think right. Man cannot acheive angelic or adamic perfection.

Again, I believe Christians can be perfected in love before death. We as humans can never be free of our sinful nature, we cannot escape errors and mistakes but we can be complete in love of God, neighbour and self. No one is without sin in his lifetime but we can get rid of sin in our lifetime.

Hebrews 6:1 "......... let us go unto perfection........."

So, what is the highest level of perfection a christian can ever achieve?

1). If i can sum up perfection of our christian life with one word, it would be LOVE.

Mark 12:30 "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength"

And if you love God, you will also love your neighbour. Mark 12:31 "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"

Christ said this "On these 2 commandments hang the law of the prophets".

2). We become perfect when we have Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 4:24 "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness."

Colossians 3:10 "And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him"

We see that the moral image of God is righteousness and true holiness. And if God created man in His image, then we are perfect. Yet, our sin destroys this perfection.And we never can recover it, till we are "created anew in Christ Jesus." And this is perfection.

3). You know about the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

Galatians 5: 22 " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, against such there is no law"

What a glorious constellation of graces is here! Now, suppose all these to be knit together in one, to be united together in the soul of a believer, this is Christian perfection.

4). Perfection comes from a hunger and great desire to be like God and asking for perfection in prayer.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24"And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it"

5). Perfection comes as we have a heart so consumed with God that we continously offer up every thought, word and work, as a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to God through Christ.

Romans 12:1 -2"I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God"

This is the doctrine preached by John Wesley in the early days of the methodist church. Indeed, by viewing it in every point of light, and comparing it again and again with the word of God on the one hand, and the experience of the children of God on the other, they saw farther into the nature and properties of Christian perfection.

Our first conception of it was, It is to have "the mind which was in Christ," and to "walk as He walked;" to have all the mind that was in Him, and always to walk as he walked: In other words, to be inwardly and outwardly devoted to God; all devoted in heart and life. And we have the same conception of it now, without either addition or diminution.

John Wesley: "Christian perfection is holiness of heart and life"

How to preach without results

2006-03-21T23:26:00.000-08:00

Let your supreme motive be to increase your own popularity - then, of course, your preaching will be suited for that purpose, and not to convert souls to Christ.

Avoid preaching doctrines that are offensive to the carnal mind, lest they should say to you, as they did of Christ, "This is a hard saying, who can hear it?" (John 6:60)

Make no distinct points, and do not disturb the consciences of your hearers, lest they become alarmed about their souls.

Avoid all illustrations, repetitions, and emphatic sentences that may compel your people to remember what you say.

Avoid all heat and earnestness in your delivery, lest you make the impression that you really believe what you say.

Address the emotions, and not the conscience, of your hearers.

Be careful not to testify from your own personal experience of the power of the Gospel, lest you should produce the conviction upon your hearers that you have something which they need.

Do not awaken uncomfortable memories by reminding your hearers of their past sins.

Denounce sin in general, but make no reference to the specific sins of your present audience.

Do not make the impression that God commands your listeners here and now to obey the truth.

Do not let them think that you expect them to commit themselves right on the spot to give their hearts to God.

Leave the impression that they are expected to go away in their sins, and to consider the matter at their convenience.

Dwell much upon their inability to obey, and leave the impression that they must wait for God to change their natures.

Preach salvation by grace, but ignore the condemned and lost condition of the sinner, lest he should understand what you mean by grace, and feel his need of it.

Preach the Gospel as a remedy, but conceal or ignore the fatal disease of the sinner.

Do not speak of the spirituality of God's holy law (by which comes the knowledge of sin - Romans 3:20), lest the sinner should see his lost condition and flee from the wrath to come.

Make no appeals to the fears of sinners, but leave the impression that they have no reason to fear.

Preach Christ as an infinitely amiable and good-natured being, but ignore those scathing rebukes of sinners and hypocrites which so often made His hearers tremble.

Encourage lots of church socials, and attend them yourself.

Make it your great aim to be personally popular with all classes of your hearers.

Aim to make your hearers pleased with themselves and pleased with you, and be careful especially not to wound the feelings of anyone.

Especially avoid preaching to those who are present. Preach about sinners, but not to them. Say "they," and not "you," lest anyone should take your subject personally, and apply it to their own life, securing the salvation of their soul.

a Christless pentecost

2006-03-08T09:40:00.000-08:00

extracted by david wilkerson
edited by joshua chua

Is Jesus becoming a stranger to us?

Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Jesus can be in our midst, but as a stranger!Ignored, unrecognised like the jews who gathered in the synagogue to speak of His name. They spoke of the Messiah with awe and reverence. Yet, when He walked among them, they didnt knew Him.

The danger of a Christless Pentecost is very real today. I say to you it is possible to gather Spirit-filled people in one place, praising and lifting up their hands - and still have Christ walking among them as a stranger!

There are 3 reasons where we make Christ a stranger to us. May the Holy Spirit take away our spiritual blindness so we can once again see Him as He really is - LORD OF ALL!

I. We Make Christ A Stranger - By Giving The Holy Spirit Pre-Eminence Over Him!

The upper room must never overshadow the cross. We dare not think of Christ as simply the one who sent the Holy Spirit. In other words, "Thank You, Jesus, for sending someone better."
Instead, the Holy Spirit was sent to exalt Christ.

Acts 1:8 "But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost Is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me... unto the uttermost part of the earth..."

Jesus made it clear that when the Spirit comes He will not draw attention to Himself, but will focus on Christ's words. He will exalt Christ.

John 16:13-15 "...when He, the Spirit of truth, is come... He shall not speak of Himself... He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you. All things that the Father hath are Mine: therefore said I, that He shall take of Mine, and shall show It unto you."

The fullness of the Spirit is the fullness of Christ If you do not have a consuming love for Christ, you do not have a Holy Ghost baptism! The blessed Holy Spirit will be grieved, and finally withdraw, the moment men try to exalt Him above the Son of God! He will not permit His power to be abused by those who want only the gift and not Christ, the Giver!

II. Christ Is Made A Stranger When People Praise Him, But Will Not Pray To Him!

We praise a Christ to whom we will not pray! We have become a praising people, but not a praying people. in the past, the church confessed its sins. Now, it confessed its rights!

How many of us would serve Him if He offered nothing but Himself? No healing. No success. No prosperity. No worldly blessings. No miracles, signs, or wonders. What if - once again we had to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods? What if - instead of clear sailing and problem-free living, we faced shipwreck, fears within and fightings without? What if - instead of painless living, we suffered cruel mockings, stoning, bloodshed - being sawn asunder? What if - instead of our beautiful homes and cars, we had to wander about in deserts in sheepskins, hiding in dens and caves? What if - instead of prosperity, we were destitute, afflicted, and tormented? And the only better thing provided for us was Christ?

Very few of God's people pray anymore! They are too busy working for Jesus to talk to Him! Ministers especially have become so busy doing kingdom work, they have little or no time left to pray. There is time to visit, to build, to travel, time to vacation, to attend meetings, time for recreation, reading, counseling - but no time to pray!

Preachers who do not pray become promoters. They become frustrated building contractors. When they lose touch with God, they lose touch with their people and their needs. Preachers who don't pray have egos that spin out of control. They want their own way. They substitute sweat for unction (anointing).

Evangelists who do not pray become stars, storytellers. They lack humility, so they manipulate crowds through emotional gimmicks. The cry of many pastors is, "Oh, God, where can I find an evangelist who doesn't care about money, or who is not promoting something? One who can bring heaven down and make Christ real! Oh, God - give me a praying man to bring my congregation to its knees!" The shame of this generation is that we have too many talented men of God and only a few who have touched God in prayer.

I am weary of hearing people say, "This is such a busy age - I have no time to pray. I'd like to, but I don't have time." No! It's not lack of time; it is a lack of desire. We make time for what we really want to do. We have time to watch movies, soccer, american idol. We have time to play our favourite video games. We have time to meet up for fellowshipping with our friends... But no time for praying! no time for fellowshipping with Jesus?

Our Savior, who has the care and concern for multiplied universes, has the time to pray just for you! He takes the time to intercede for you before the throne of God (Heb. 7:25), and you say you do not have time to pray to Him!

III. Christ Is Made a Stranger In Our Midst - When We Want His Power More Than His Purity!

Acts 15:8-9 "God...giving them the Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us...purifying their hearts by faith..."

Who is the man or woman of God who has power? Is it the one who can heal the sick and raise the dead? Is it the one who can best talk in tongues and prophesy? Is it the one who draws the most people and builds the greatest church? No! The one with the power - is the one with the purity! Proverbs 28:1 "...the righteous are bold as a lion..."

Are we truly ready for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ?

right now, this is the question we should be asking ourselves. Instead of "what will my faith get me" or "what miracle will God do for me" but "how can i stand before Him pure and holy" and "can i make it in the judgement day".

Is Christ becoming a stranger in our midst?
You decide

The day Jesus got mad

2006-03-05T23:20:00.000-08:00

Extracted from fresh wind fresh fire by jim cymbala
Edited by joshua chua

Throughout the bible, we see our Lord Jesus Christ as a gentle and compassionate person. Look at baby Jesus in the manger, Christ feeding the hungry multitudes, Christ performing healing and other miracles, Christ teaching His disciples...

Yet, there is one portion of scripture in the gospel books that show us another side of Jesus.

Mark 11:15-17 "And they came to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
And would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple.
And He taught, saying unto them, Is it not written, My house shall be called of all nations the house of prayer? but ye have made it a den of thieves. "

Jesus was so angry that He overturned tables, blocking people from going in and drove all the merchants and business people away. Everyone, including His 12 disciples were stunned and shocked. What happened to the loving Jesus? Surely someone who got so irate and physical must not be walking in the Spirit. But this was Jesus Christ. His anger was godly anger and it was justified.

You see, Jesus loved His Father's house. And His house was being prosituted for purposes other than what it was intended for.

So why could Jesus not be angry?

Let's see... the merchants were jsut doing their job right? in fact, they were selling livestock and other items for sacrifice. They were providing service to the worshippers who traveled long distances. Why did they receive a terrible scolding from our Saviour?

You see, Jesus isn't interested in religious commercialism. He is not only concerned whether we are doing God's work and how and why we are doing it. At the judgement seat of Christ, His main question for us would be why and how you did God's will.

If you are a pastor, it's not how many members but in what spirit did you lead the church and how you pastored that church.
If you're in the music or vide ministry, you hitting the note or displaying the correct camera angle is going to matter compared to why you are singing or filming at all.
If you teach, are you doing it because you have a heart filled with God's love for His children or because of some other reason?
And if you're hosting a christian concert or crusade, if people went back saying "isn't God good", instead of "wow! did you see that drummer just now", you have fulfilled your purpose.
___________________________________________________________________

Search the bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Does any portion say "My house is to be called a house of preaching?" or "My house is to be called a house of music?"

But the bible says "My house is to called a house of prayer for all nations"

Hebrews 4:16 "Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need."

It doesnt say "Let us come to the sermon" but to the throne of grace! and the only way you can ever do that is by prayer. If you are a pastor or singer, God will ask you "Did you bring souls to the throne of grace or did you just tickle their ears and entertained them. If you did the latter, woe unto you"

Don't get me wrong. Worship and the word of God is extremely important but it should never override the primary defining mark of God's dwelling. The honest truth is that i have seen God do more in people's lives in 10 minutes of prayer compared to 10 sermons.

Look at the troubled world today. If the church is ever going to change and create an impact, preaching alone is not enough, money for missions is going to suffice. Only turning God's house into a house of fervent prayer will reverse the evil we see today.

2 Corinthians 10:4 "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds."

I have more scripture verses to show you that prayer is the most important in God's house.

1 timothy 2:1 "I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men"

1 timothy 2:8 "I will therefore that men pray every where, lifting up holy hands"

Revelation 5:8 "And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints."

Here are the lyrics to the favourite hymm "what a friend we have in Jesus"

Oh, what peace we often forfeit
Oh, what needless pain we bear
All because we do not carry
Everything to God in prayer
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If God asks you right now, if I can only give you one thing, what would you choose?

what is the one and only goal you want in life that you will spend the rest of your life seeking to obtain?
what is the greatest desire that summarises your life?

If you had to lose everything you had and can only keep one thing, what would it be?

This would be my answer.

Psalm 27:4 "One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple."

God has given us many tasks to do... winning souls, going to church, growing and fellowshipping, serving Him...

But the most precious thing to me is to dwell in the house of the Lord and spend all the days of my life with Him in prayer.

I close with one sentence that can be found in billy graham's new book: "God does everything through prayer and nothing without it!"

Amen!

THE TRUE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

2006-03-01T00:35:00.000-08:00

In this modern times, i have seen that many churches preach the gospel, their own gospel. Today, christian tend to sell christianity as a product- "come, believe in Jesus and you will get blessed". I hear this very disturbing statement-"all you have to do is believe in Jesus, that He came and died for you, accept Him as your saviour and you'll be saved"

Do you see anything wrong with this kind of statements?

I do. Whatever happened to repentance?

"Wow! There are so many that came forward for salvation tonight!" (The multitude applauds.) "Now, it is very simple. You just repeat this little prayer after Me, and then you're a Christian! Now it doesn't really matter whether you fully understand the prayer . . . it works just the same. Now ready? Repeat after Me... 'Dear Jesus... Come into my heart...'"and so on ...

You bring your friend to church, and he gets saved. He prays the sinner's prayer (without a single mention of the word sin) and he goes home, believing he is a new creation and God is going to watch over Him, God is going to bless him.

3 weeks later, he gets dumped by his girlfriend and starts to wonder "is God for real?" His life hasn't really changed.

As you can see, when we try to picture Jesus Himself using our modern methods of evangelism, it seems completely foolish. I think this is a very good test for any method. "Could I see Jesus doing this?" or "Could I see Jesus preaching or teaching this?" Since the Bible tells us, "Walk in the manner that He walked" (I John 2:6), we should always try to compare our actions and message to the Master's.

Jesus gave us the great commission. Mark 16:15 "Go ye into the world, and preach the gospel to every creature"

Before people believe in Jesus, which is the only way to be saved, they need the gospel preached to them.

And what is this gospel Jesus is referring to? the gospel of repentance!

Think about it — what was the first message Jesus delivered, after he emerged from the temptation in the wilderness? Scripture says, in matthew 4:17 "From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"

Jesus called people to repent before he even called them to believe! Mark writes, "…Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:14-15).

Elsewhere Jesus says of his mission, "…I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" (Matthew 9:13). And he told the Galileans, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

Jesus' gospel was all about repentance!
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John the baptist also preached repentance to prepare Israel for the coming for the Messiah

Matthew 3:1-2 "In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"

Simon Peter, the disciple of Jesus Christ, also preached repentance!

Acts 2:37-38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"

Paul the apostle told the pagans Athenians, and in the presence of king agrippa about repentance.

Acts 17:30 "now commandeth all men every where to repent"

Acts 26:19-20 "I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision: but shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance"

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The gospel of repentance is the true, life-changing gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Without repentance, how can sinners realise that they need Christ? That they need to turn to Jesus as their Saviour?

Right now, i see many christians getting "saved". I may get stoned but i can bravely say that they are not genuinely saved at all!

just like how Joshua told the israelites in Joshua 24:19 "You are not able to serve the Lord", I, Joshua Chua also tell you that if we do not repent before God of our sins, we cannot serve Him!!!

Christians only change and become like Christ when they realise their sins and want to change (repent) and they give their life to God.

2 Corinthians 7:10 "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death."

Let us preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ, one that includes repentance!!!

Why you should go to the mission field-Part 1 "Reasons"

2006-02-26T07:53:00.000-08:00

This is the greatest evangelistic sermon for missions preached by the late keith green. *Please take into account that this sermon was preached in the early 80s and certain calculations will be outdated now. Yet the figures can help you all understand my point*
I hope it will bless you as much as it blessed me.
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Why should you go to the mission field?

1). Because the Lord has told you to go.

Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to all creation."

This Great Commission was given to every believer and follower of Christ. If you are a disciple of Jesus, then you are included in the great commission! There are no such things as 1st class, 2nd class or 3rd class christians. Jesus' command is definite and clear - it is His great mandate, His "Great Commission" to the soldiers in His holy army. We must go, because our great General has commanded us to go.

2). You should go because the need is so great.

Matthew 9:37-38 "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into His harvest."

Remember hell is not just for the weekend! More people are alive today, and more souls are at stake , than the total number of people who have ever lived in the face of the earth in all of human history!

There are over 2,700,000,000 people who have never heard the Gospel at all, and there are only 5,000 to 7,000 missionaries worldwide. If we do our math, it means 1 missionary to 450,000 people! An estimate of 80,000 people perish everyday without the gospel which is 55 people a minute!!!!
Does it matter to you? Do these figures move you?

3). God gives special anointing and grace to those who leave their own land, people, and culture to do God's will and spread the Gospel.

Genesis 12:1-3 "And the Lord said to Abram, 'Go forth from your country and from your relatives, and from your father's house...and I will bless you and make your name great; and so you shall also be a blessing; and I will bless those that bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed."

Abram ( later to be renamed Abraham by God ) is only one of the many people in the Bible who God used mightily only after he left his own people, his own land, and his own culture. Look at the travels and ministries of people like Jacob and Moses - both of whom had to go into other lands to learn from God and be used by Him.

No matter where you look in the Bible, God always gave a great anointing a and blessing to those who served Him in a foreign land. Look at Joseph and Daniel. They were the only two men in the Bible who God raised up as successful, secular officials in foreign and heathen cultures - and they remained faithful witnesses and servants of God to the very end, and often at the risk of their very lives!

What about Jonah? He was a good example of someone who didn't want to go to the mission field and preach to heathens! Stubborn, rebellious, and selfish - and yet God "made him an offer he couldn't refuse." ( I pray that God would freely move like that in all our lives, "helping" us to make the right decisions about going.)

And then there's the apostle Paul - who had such a burden for his own people and country, Israel. Oh , how he would have loved a ministry among the Jews! But what did God say? "Go! For I will send you far away to the Gentiles." (Acts 22:21) That's what God commanded, and "go" he did. Never was there a missionary like Paul. Take a look at II Corinthians 11 if you'd like to see a list of his qualifications: beatings, imprisonment's, stonings, mobs, shipwrecks, the list goes on and on - and so did Paul, obeying his Master who bought him.

Remember Jesus' words about this subject, "A prophet is not without honor except in his home town, "(Matt. 13:57)

4). Oswald J. Smith said "No one has a right to hear the gospel twice, while there remains someone who has not heard it once"

2 Corinthians 4:3-4 "But if our Gospel be hidden, it is hidden to them that are lost: in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, that they might not see the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God."

Has it occurred to you that Jesus wants every creature to hear the Gospel? If you had 20 children to feed and plenty of food to feed them all with, do you think it would be right to give 3 of the children 10 meals, 7 children only 1 meal, and the remaining nothing - causing them to die of starvation? That's exactly what we're doing with the Gospel in the world today!

Because we believers are so deaf to God's call to go into all nations, we keep most of God's resources to ourselves! We keep feeding and reaching the same people over and over again. I am not saying there should be no Gospel preached in America, I am saying that there needs to be a spreading out of the soldiers of God, to fight the enemy where his greatest strongholds are - "where Christ is not already named"!

5). Time is short. More and more countries are closing their doors to missionaries and the Gospel, and we must go now.

John 9:4 "We must work the works of Him who sent me, as long as it is day; night is coming, when no man can work."

In the past, missionaries were welcome to various countries and lands to preach the gospel, but now doors are closed to them.Though it is true that many Christians can still go to be subtle witnesses as doctors, teachers, engineers, etc., the Gospel can no longer be openly preached in many lands.

6). God desires every creature in the world to hear the gospel preached to them and the gospel published in every nation. Unless you get directly involved, there is no hope of that ever happening in our generation!

Acts 1:8 "...And you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth."
Matthew 24:14 "And this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole world for a witness to all the nations, and then the end shall come. "
2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is...patient toward you, not wishing for you to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Is there any doubt in your mind that God wants everyone to be saved? If you believe this, and you really love Jesus, then WHY are you so timid about getting involved in this great thrust to bring the Gospel to all the nations? Do you think that while you're reading this, God isn't grieved that His Church is being so lazy and disobedient about fulfilling his commission? He knows that you agree with the Scriptures, and He's listening to every excuse you're turning over in your mind like, "Yes, I know that more people need to go...but He just couldn't mean ME! I'm...just not the 'missionary-type'..."

In Part 2 of "Why YOU Should Go To The Mission Field,"we will look at the mostly common excuses ever told and we will see what "type" of Christian you really are...

Feasting in the presence of your enemies

2006-02-23T06:31:00.000-08:00

---preached by David Wilkerson---
---paraphrased by Joshua Chua---

Psalm 23:5 "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over"

In this verse, we see God setting a table for us, spreading wonderful food and serving us a feast. And He does it, all in front of your enemies.

And there's only one guest at the feast-you. God does this wondrous work of preparing, waiting and serving for every individual who loves Jesus and calls himself by His name.

Furthermore, to set the atmosphere, God declares that this feast is a time for laughter, joy and singing. He tells you, "Eat, drink - rejoice and be glad." Ecclesiastes 10:19 "A feast is made for laughter and wine maketh merry"

Then, as you dine on the sumptuous foods, God anoints your head with the oil of gladness. Psalm 23:5 "Thou annoinst my head with oil."

Meanwhile, as God is preparing and serving your feast, he makes your enemies sit on the outer fringe of the scene and watch everything unfold. They see the Lord himself spreading your table with food, escorting you to your seat and waiting on you. Then they watch as you fill up your soul with heaven's delightful fare. I tell you, no demon power, including the devil himself, could ever comprehend this kind of love, mercy and grace.

Jesus tells us that the father does this for all his children: Luke 12:37 "Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them"

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God spreads this table for you not just in your times of victory, but especially your times of failure.

Genuine born-again believers of Jesus Christ yearn to do good and seek to be more like Him. Yet, there are times we fail, there are times we fall. Something overcomes us-a old lust or old habit that we thought we have conquered and we are ashamed of ourselves.

Thats when satan, the accuser pounces on us. Know that he is a liar and nothing he says is ever true. Even when he brings to you bible verses relating to God's hatred for sin and His displeasure with those who fell in the old testament.

It's true that God hates sin and never condones it. But He loves the sinner!

1 john 1:19 "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive out sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Beloved, satan's greatest fear is that you will run straight to the throne of God asking for His mercy and forgiveness!

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One of my favourite set of scriptue is the parable of the prodigal son. It shows me God's attitude towards sin.

Luke 15:22-23"The father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry"

Here, in Jesus' own words, we see the heavenly father's attitude toward his children: Immediately after we fail, our Lord serves us a feast and anoints us with the oil of gladness. You see, God looks on the heart - and the very moment he hears our heart cry out for forgiveness, he spreads the table for us. He tells us, "Don't run from me. Don't wallow in the devil's pigpen, accepting his lies. I love you - now, come and see what I have prepared for you."

Guess what is the first dish on the menu? A big fresh plate of unconditonal forgiveness!!!

Once we have accepted the father's forgiveness, he invites us to feast on every item listed on his menu: grace, mercy, kindness, tenderheartedness, compassion, unmerited love, peace, rest, joy, happiness, fresh springs of Holy Ghost renewal.

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All in all, God looks at our hearts. Without true repentance on our part, without genuine desire to turn away from our sins, we can not be forgiven.

But when we have this desire, then dont listen to the devil's lies, go straight to God!!! And sit at the feast He has prepared for you, in the presence of your enemies.

Salvation and healing are twins!

2006-02-13T10:11:00.002-08:00

--21 Church Growth International--

Matthew 9:6 "But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority of earth to forgive sins.." Then He said to the paralytic "Get up, take your mat and go home"

In this portion of scripture, we see salvation and healing together. Jesus forgave this man and healed him.

In the church today, people struggle to get healed. People attend healing crusades and services and the pastors pray for them. Why dont christians claim that healing themselves? Every believer has the power to call upon God for healing.

Salvation and healing always come together. They are twins!

Sicknesses was never a part of God's plan for his people. It is a result of sin, of the devil. If you are a child of God, sickness and disease are illegal in your body!!!

1 John 3:8 "The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work"

Every believer ought to experience physical healing. Whenever we partake of the Holy communion, we partake of the body and blood of Christ. Let us look at Christ on the cross. The front of the cross is salvation but the back of it is healing.

Isaiah 53: 5 "But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him" That's salvation. "and with his stripes we are healed." That's healing.

The blood of Jesus was shed to forgive our sins but His body was broken for our healing!

Psalm 103: 2-3 "Bless the Lord, all my soul, and forget not His benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, (Salvation) who healeth all thy diseases(Healing)"
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The power of salvation and healing is in Jesus Christ and no other!

Acts 4:10 "then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed."

Acts 4:12 "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved"

When we come to the Father in Jesus's name, we ought to expect both forgiveness of sin and healing.
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The cross revealed in the old testament

Exodus 15:26 "For I am the Lord that heals you" Before God said this, He showed moses a tree in verse 25. That's the cross.

Numbers 16:46 "Take a censer and put fire in it from the altar, put incense on it, and take it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for the people"

Numbers 21:8 "Make a bronze serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.”

All this were signs and indications of the cross of Jesus Christ to come! Look at numbers 21:8. The people looked at the pole and they were healed. All we have to do is look! Look at the cross!
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Dont listen to lies!

Matthew 20:30-31 "Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!" The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"

Whenever you cry to God for healing, the devil will tell you to be quiet. You ought to shout louder and go after Jesus! receive your healing!
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In isaiah 53:5, it doesnt say "by His stripes, they are healed". If thats the case, healing is for someone else. But it says "by His stripes, we are healed". It belongs to us christians!!!

So pray and ask God to heal you... It is your legal right!

Something we should learn from the communists

2006-02-02T20:35:00.001-08:00

Extracted from "ONE HOLY FIRE" by Nicky Cruz

An eighteen year-old boy from Russia wrote this letter. In it, he explains his love and devotion to the communist party during the cold war years. It's sad that a young heart can be manipulated and misguided. Yet, the passion he exudes is something that every follower of Christ should long for:

We communists have a high casualty rate. We are the ones that get shot, hung, riducled, fired from our jobs, and made as uncomfortable as possible. We live in virtual poverty. We keep track of every cent we make, and we spend only what is absolutely necessary to keep ourselves alive. We have been described as fanatics. We are fanatics!!! Our lives are dominated by one great overwhelming factor-the struggle of world communism. It is my life, it is my people, my religion, my habit, my sweetheart, my wife, my mistress, my bread, and my meat. I work for it in the daytime, i dream of it at night. I cannot carry a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without relating to the force that both guides and drives my life.

This is the kind of passion and purpose that drove the communist ideology from a small band of a few thousand followers of Lenin in the early twentieh century to eventual control over one third of the world's population.

People didnt simply believe in this misguided philisophy- they completely gave themselves over to it.

Lenin once said "Give me a handful of dedicated people and i will take the world

"What about the christians??? Do we have this kind of passion, this kind of desire, this kind of heartbeat?

Genesis 30: 1 "When Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob any children, she became jealous of her sister. so she said to jacob, "give me children, or i will die!"

Let this be our cry to God.
"God, give us spiritual children or we will die!!!"
"God, help us to be obessed with souls!!!"

Aggressive Christianity

2006-01-31T09:26:00.001-08:00

Article written by catherine booth
Paraphrased by MGF

Mark 16:15 "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation"

Look at this statement. I wonder if this generation has really fathomed the full meaning of this divine commission. Would it occur to you that it really meant " Go and build chapels and churches, invite the people to come in and if they dont want to, just leave them alone?

NO! Look at the Bible verse!!! GO! to whom? ALL CREATION! where am i to get them? WHERE THEY ARE! all creation- when you see someone who has a soul, you have to go and preach the gospel to him! That should be the extent of our commission. Seek them out, run after them and do whatever you can to get them.

In another commission to Paul, God says "...I am sending you to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God." (Acts 26:17-18)

They are asleep - go and wake them up. They do not see their danger. If they did, there would be no need for you to run after them

2 corinthians 5:11 "we persuade man"
Do not be content with just putting it before them, giving them gentle invitations, and then leaving them alone. Paul ran after the poor souls, and pulled them out of the fire. Do the same! Take the blindfold off their eyes which Satan has bound them with; knock and hammer and burn your words into their poor, hardened, darkened hearts with the fire of the Holy Ghost, until they begin to realize that they are IN DANGER! Go after them.

Brothers and sisters, we invite people to join us for church services, we do outreach.. but when they refuse, when they decline.. what is our response?

Jesus said "Go after them"
Luke 14:23 "Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, that My house may be filled."

the word compel means force, constrain, arouse irresistability. go and compel them to come.

Oh! People say you must be very cautious. You must not push religion down people's throats. What! Should I wait until an unconverted, godless man wants to be saved before I try to save him? Am I to let my unconverted friends and acquaintances go quietly down to damnation, and never tell them about their souls until they ask, "If you please, I want you to preach to me!" Is this anything like the spirit of early Christianity?

No! Therefore we must make them look, and if they run away from you in one place, meet them in another, and let them have no peace until they submit to God. This is what Christianity ought to be doing in this land, and there are plenty of Christians around to do it. Why, we might give the world such a time of it, that they would get saved in self-defense - if we were only aggressive enough and determined that they should have no peace in their sins.

An example

Supposed a plague hit Singapore and everyone got hit by the disease. They were going to die. The Board of Health has approriated the hospitals and clinics for treatment. Best of all, this treatment was free and it is 100% guaranteed to heal the people. Now what if the people were so blind to their own well-being, so indifferent and uncaring, that they refused to come, and consequently the plague increased and thousands were dying. What would you say? 'Well, the Board of Health has done all they could, and if the people will not go to be healed, they deserve to perish - let them alone!' What? Let the whole land be depopulated? No! If the people will not come to them, they must go to the people and make sure that everyone had the necessary treatment to be saved from the plague."

Dignity of love

Some people will say... is there any dignity we have when we do this? we are bringing to people this image of uncivilised and undignified christians...

Was it very dignified to die on a cross between 2 thieves? The Pharisees spat on Him and some shouted "He can save others but He cannot save himself" Ah.. you see, Jesus was intent on saving others!!!

That was the dignity of everlasting, unquenchable love, baring its bosom to suffer in the place of its rebellious creature - man. It was incarnate God, standing in the place of condemned man - the dignity of LOVE!

Are we doing enough?

Brothers and sisters... it is undeniable that there has already been a great deal done. But it's like a drop in an ocean compared to what God can really use us to do if we have this spirit of aggressive Christianity

Holy Spirit, ignite our souls!!

Someone needs your love

2006-01-24T07:24:00.006-08:00

In the mid 80's, this teenager named Brian Warner began to go to a youth group. He was sort of an awkward kid, and no one really wanted to talk to him. The youth pastor would go over to him, and like do the usual pastor thing, you know, how are you, that's good, and then talk to the other more popular kids.

One day they went to an amusement park, and the pastor wanted them to be in pairs, but no one wanted to pair with Brian, so he walked the park by himself. The pastor didn't think he really need to talk to Brian because he went to a Christian academy all his life up to 8th grade, and was raised in the church. Brian was at church for about 3 1/2 months, and one day he just stopped coming.

Later on about a few years later, the youth pastor had become leader of a seminary, and one of his students was now a youth pastor, and he called him up. He asked his former pastor if he remembered a kid named Brian Warner. The pastor kinda remembered the name, but after a bit of description he knew who he was. The guy asked his pastor, do you know who he is now?

The former pastor said no. The guy gave him a hint, "He doesn't go by Brian anymore." The pastor was stumped. He replied, "Brian Warner is now Marilyn Manson."

Information gathered: Marilyn Manson cross dressed at his wife's funeral. He removed 2 ribs so he could suck his organs. He urinated on the bible at his concert.

Can we blame him? What he has turned out to be is partially the christians' fault.

This is a true story. As you can tell, the boy in this story, Brian, was shunned by the "Christians" in this youth group. If you think hard enough, if he had been accepted into the group, he might not be what he is today.

He is a hurt man. Regardless of his actions, he still has feelings, and truly believes that that is what Christianity is all about. If some could reach him, maybe, just maybe, he could be able to bring millions of teenagers into Heaven, instead of leading down the road to hell. He could be another nicky cruz, who can impact many many lives...

Brothers and sisters in Christ... the things we do can impact people drastically if we are not careful...

Romans 12:10 "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves"

Galatians 5:13 "Serve one another in love"

Hebrews 10:24 "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds."

1 Peter 3:8 "live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble."

Let us pray for marilyn manson aka brian wagner to repent and turn back to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The stupid crane

2006-01-24T07:24:00.005-08:00

There is an old legend of a swan and a crane. A beautiful swan alighted by the banks of the water in which a crane was wading about seeking snails.

For a few moments the crane viewed the swan in stupid wonder and then inquired: "Where do you come from?"

"I come from heaven!" replied the swan.

"And where is heaven?" asked the crane.

"Heaven!" said the swan, "Heaven! Have you never heard of heaven?" And the beautiful bird went on to describe the grandeur of the Eternal City. She told of streets of gold, and the gates and walls made of precious stones; of the river of life, pure as crystal, upon whose banks is the tree whose leaves shall be for the healing of the nations. In eloquent terms the swan sought to describe the hosts who live in the other world, but without arousing the slightest interest on the part of the crane.

Finally the crane asked: "Are there any snails there?"

"Snails!" repeated the swan; "no! Of course there are not."

"Then," said the crane, as it continued its search along the slimy banks of the pool, "you can have your heaven. I want snails!"

Why do we hold on so tightly to what can only last temporary? The things of heaven are so much superior; but we would hate to give up our "snails."

Why are people crazy over animation cartoons? japanese,korean dramas? tv serials? this celebrity and that celebrity?
Materialism, plastic surgery, drugs, even money!

Colossians 3:1-2 "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth."

A torch for battle

2006-01-24T07:24:00.003-08:00

Scripture often refer to the Holy Spirit as comforter. Centuries ago, the english word comfort was used by kings to inspire their military. It's a term of war that includes the meaning "to push towards battle"

Pslams 23:4 "thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me"
- david wasn;t asking God to remove the evil. He was asking to be pushed into battle, to be forced to face the enemy.

1 Thessalonians 4:18 "comfort one another with these words"
- what paul really was saying was to push each other in the battle against the evil one"

When Jesus said that His Spirit was coming, it was an annoucement of war.The Holy Spirit would inspire and empower His disciples towards front-line spiritual warfare.

If you wanna feel satan's wrath, spend some time on his turf talking to the people he keeps in bondage and tell them about Jesus. He might intimidate you, mock and attack but he can never succeed against the power of God. If you hear demons and negative spirits speaking to you, tell them to SHUT UP.

Nicky cruz was a thief before he got saved. Today he is still a thief. He's a thief for God, he shoplifts souls right out under satan's nose.

And the best part is, the devil cant do anything about it!

Luke 10:19
"Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you."

The question is... are we willing to take this power? do we desire to accept this great promise of God? or are we letting the devil decieve and manipulate us until we are so blinded to see God and what He wants us to be doing?

Are we willing to step out of our comfort zones, to reevaluate the way we think and believe, to forsake the things of this world and trust in God's promise of provision?

Well... if you are truly born again... you will live to do God's will and not your own.
Galatians 5:25 "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit"
We will do what the Spirit wants us to do and not what our flesh, no matter the cost.

Brothers and Sisters in the Lord's army... through the years, we have seen satan turn this world upside down. It's time to turn this world the right side up. As the children of God... we should be influencing our generation, impacting our friends and families and impart the Good news... We are going to take this nation for GOD!!!

satan has had his fun. It's time to take control. would you wage spiritual warfare against the evil one and claim the victory? or do you still want to remain the unproductive and defeated person you are?

YOU DECIDE

The devils's beatitudes

2006-01-04T08:27:00.006-08:00

1. Blessed are those who are too tired, too busy, too distracted to spend an hour once a week with their fellow Christians -- they are my best workers.

2. Blessed are those Christians who wait to be asked and expect to be thanked -- I can use them.

3. Blessed are the touchy who stop going to church -- they are my missionaries.

4. Blessed are the trouble makers -- they shall be called my children.

5. Blessed are the complainers -- I'm all ears to them.

6. Blessed are those who are bored with the minister's mannerisms and mistakes -- for they get nothing out of his sermons.

7. Blessed is the church member who expects to be invited to his own church -- for he is a part of the problem instead of the solution.

8. Blessed are those who gossip -- for they shall cause strife and divisions that please me.

9. Blessed are those who are easily offended -- for they will soon get angry and quit.

10. Blessed are those who do not give their offering to carry on God's work -- for they are my helpers.

11. Blessed is he who professes to love God but hates his brother and sister -- for he shall be with me forever.

Which set of beatitudes do you want to follow? Where do you want to end up for eternity?

Don't be selfish!

2006-01-04T08:27:00.004-08:00

You stand before God with sweaty palms and a racing heart. He's asking you only one question: Do you know and have you accepted My Son?

You reply confidently: Yes.

Finally, He has granted you entry into heaven.

As you are about to enter the golden gates, your friend at school -- whom you've known for quite sometime -- quickly yells something at you. You know that person isn't a Christian and a deep sorrow sweeps over you as you remember how you tried to just get enough courage to speak to him/her about Christ.

But, now it is too late. You look into the eyes of this friend you've known and can't help to feel some pity for them. You know what's going to happen. You try to ignore the feeling of guilt and sadness. Besides, you're going to heaven -- why dwell the past? You strain your ears to hear what he/she is trying to say. Finally, you understand. Your friend is asking you one simple question:
"Why didn't you tell me?"

Isaiah 43:8 -- Lead out those who have eyes but are blind, who have ears but are deaf

The ant and the grasshopper

2006-01-04T08:27:00.003-08:00

A mother of a 9 year old boy, Mark, received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son's school. "Mrs. Smith, something unusual happened today in your son's third grade class. Your son did something that surprised me so much that I thought you should know about it immediately."

Mother's seldom want to hear from their child's teacher in the middle of the day. The mother was uneasy and nervous by such a beginning to a phone call. "What now?" the mother wondered. The teacher continued, "I have been teaching for many years and nothing like this has happened until now. This morning I was teaching a lesson on creative writing.

And as I always do, I tell the story of the ant and the grasshopper. The ant works hard all summer and stores up plenty of food. But the grasshopper plays all summer and does no work. Then winter comes. The grasshopper begins to starve because he has no food. So he hops to the ants house and begins to beg. 'Please Mr. Ant, you have much food please let me eat, too.' Now boys and girls your job is to write the ending to the story.

Your son, Mark, raised his hand. "Teacher, may I draw a picture?" "Well, yes, Mark, if you like, you may draw a picture. But first you must write the ending to the story." The papers came in. As in all the years past, most of the students said that the ant shared his food through the winter and both the ant and the grasshopper lived.

As always, a few children said, 'The ant said, "No, Mr. Grasshopper. You should have worked in the summer and not played. Now, I have just enough food for myself." So the ant lived and the grasshopper died.

But your son ended the story in a way different from any other child, ever. He wrote, "So the ant gave all of his food to the grasshopper; the grasshopper lived through the winter. But the ant died." And the picture? At the bottom of the page, Mark had drawn three crosses. "Jesus gave up his life so that we might live eternally."

What do children know?

2006-01-04T08:27:00.002-08:00

2006-01-04T08:27:00.001-08:00

Have you ever stopped to wonder
Why they called Good Friday "good"?
It seems to me that sad, black day
Could be misunderstood.

How His Father must have anguished
As He watched His dear Son die,
And not for crimes that He had done,
But for sinners such as I.

What kind of love could be so great,
To suffer willingly
The penalty for someone else;
His blood was shed for me.

But then when Sunday came around
And death had lost its sting,
That glorious morn' was victory
For Jesus Christ, the King!

Now He's alive for evermore.
The Father's will was done.
Forgiveness, pardon, full and free,
By trusting in God's Son.

It was a "good" Good Friday
For the thief who died there too;
He took his place in Heaven
When that long, dark day was through.

I am grateful to my Saviour:
My life to Him I owe.
I'll serve and love Him always,
Because He loved me so.

Searching for a minister

2006-01-04T08:27:00.000-08:00

One of the toughest tasks a church faces is choosing a good minister. A member of an official board undergoing this painful process finally lost patience. He'd just witnessed the Pastoral Relations Committee reject applicant after applicant for some minor fault - real or imagined. It was time for a bit of soul-searching on the part of the committee. So he stood up and read this letter purporting to be from another applicant.

Gentlemen: Understanding your pulpit is vacant, I should like to apply for the position. I have many qualifications. I've been a preacher with much success and also had some success as a writer. Some say I'm a good organizer. I've been a leader most places I've been.

I'm over 50 years of age and have never preached in one place for more than three years. In some places, I have left town after my work caused riots and disturbances. I must admit I have been in jail three or four times, but not because of any real wrong doing.

My health is not too good, though I still accomplish a great deal. The churches I have preached in have been small, though located in several large cities.

I've not gotten along well with religious leaders in the towns where I have preached. In fact, some have threatened me, and even attacked me physically. I am not too good at keeping records. I have been known to forget whom I have baptized.

However, if you can use me, I promise to do my best for you.

The board member turned to the committee and said, "Well, what do you think? Shall we call him?"

The good church folks were appalled! Consider a sickly, trouble- making, absent-minded ex-jailbird? Was the board member crazy? Who signed the application? Who had such colossal nerve?

The board member eyed them all keenly before he replied, "It's signed, 'The Apostle Paul.'"

The best offering you can give to God

2005-12-22T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here is a true story about a nine-year-old boy who lived in a rural town in Louisiana. His house was in a poor area of the community. A church had a bus ministry that came knocking on his door one Saturday afternoon.

The kid came to answer the door and greeted the bus pastor. The bus pastor asked if his parents were home and the small boy told him that his parents take off every weekend and leave him at home to take careof his little brother. The bus pastor couldn't believe what the kid saidand asked him to repeat it. The youngster gave the same answer and the buspastor asked to come in and talk with him.They went into the living room and sat down on an old couch with the foamand springs exposed.

The bus pastor asked the kid, "Where do you go to church?"The young boy surprised the visitor by replying, "I've never been to church in my whole life."The bus pastor thought to himself about the fact that his church was lessthan three miles from the child's house. "Are you sure you have neverbeen to church?" he asked again."I sure haven't", came his answer.Then the bus pastor said, "Well, son, more important than going to church,have you ever heard the greatest love story ever told? "And then he proceeded to share the Gospel with this little nine-year-old boy.The young lad's heart began to be tenderized and at the end of the bus pastor's story the bus pastor asked if the boy wanted to receive this free gift from God. The youngster exclaimed, "You Bet! The kid and the buspastor got on their knees and the lad invited Jesus into his little heartand received the free gift of salvation.

They both stood up and the bus pastor asked if he could pick the kid up for church the next morning."Sure," the nine year old replied. The bus pastor got to the house early the next morning and found thelights off. He let himself in and snaked his way through the house andfound the little boy asleep in his bed. He woke up the little boy and hisbrother and helped get them dressed.

They got on the bus and ate a donut for breakfast on their way to church. Keep in mind that this boy had never been to church before. The church was a real big one.The little kid just sat there, clueless of what was going on. A fewminutes into the service these tall unhappy guys walked down to the frontand picked up some wooden plates. One of the men prayed and the kid withutter fascination watched them walk up and down the aisles. He still didn't know what was going on. All of a sudden like a bolt of lightning it hit the kid what was takingplace. These people must be giving money to Jesus.

He then reflected on the free gift of life he had received just twenty-four hours earlier. Heimmediately searched his pockets, front and back, and couldn't find a thing to give Jesus. By this time the offering plate was being passed down his aisle andwith a broken heart he just grabbed the plate and held on to it. Hefinally let go and watched it pass on down the aisle. He turned around tosee it passed down the aisle behind him. And then his eyes remained glued on the plate as it was passed back and forth, back and forth all the way to the rear of the sanctuary.

Then he had an idea. This little nine-year-old boy, in front of God and everybody, got up out of his seat. He walked about eight rows back,grabbed the usher by the coat and asked to hold the plate one more time.Then he did the most astounding thing I have ever heard of. He took theplate, sat it on the carpeted church floor and stepped into the center of it.As he stood there, he lifted his little head up and said, "Jesus, I don'thave anything to give you today, but just me. I give you me!"

Romans 12:1 "i beseech you brethren, present your bodies as living sacrifices to God, holy and acceptable which is your reasonable service,"

Memo from God

2005-12-01T08:01:00.000-08:00

To: YOU
Date: TODAY
From: THE BOSS
Subject: YOURSELF
Reference: LIFE I am God.

Today I will be handling all of your problems.
Please remember that I do not need your help.

If life happens to deliver a situation to you that you cannot handle, do not attempt to resolve it.Kindly put it in the SFGTD (something for God to do) box. It will be addressed in My time, not yours.

Once the matter is placed into the box, do not hold on to it.

If you find yourself stuck in traffic; Don't despair.There are people in this world for whom driving is an unheard of priviledge.

Should you have a bad day at work;Think of the man who has been out of work for years.

Should you despair over a relationship gone bad;Think of the person who has never known what it's like to love and be loved in return.

Should you grieve the passing of another weekend;Think of the woman in dire straits,working twelve hours a day, seven days a week to feed her children.

Should your car break down, leaving you miles away from assistance;Think of the paraplegic who would love theopportunity to take that walk.

Should you notice a new gray hair in the mirror;Think of the cancer patient in chemo whowishes she had hair to examine.

Should you find yourself at a loss andpondering what is life all about, asking what is my purpose?Be thankful. There are those who didn't live long enough to get the opportunity.

Should you find yourself the victim ofother people's bitterness, ignorance, smallness or insecurities; Remember, things could be worse. You could be them!!!!

The Best korean love story..

2005-11-25T19:42:00.000-08:00

It was a quiet morning in Korea. In a small valley, there was a little wooden building with a corrugated steel roof. It was an orphanage that housed many young children who had lost their parents in the war.
Suddenly, the quiet of the morning was shattered when a mortar shell fell and landed squarely on top of the orphanage. The roof was ripped apart by the blast and pieces of steel roofing were blasted all through the orphanage wounding many of the children. One little girl was hit in the leg by the flying metal and her leg was immediately amputated just below her knee. She was laying in the rubble of the orphanage quietly when they found her. A tourniquet was immediately applied and a runner was sent to the MASH hospital to fetch medical help for the children.
When the doctors and nurses arrived, they begin to triage the wounded children. When the doctor saw the little girl, he realized that her greatest need at the moment was blood. He immediately called for records from the orphanage to find someone with her blood type. A nurse who could read and speak Korean began to call out the names of all the children with the same blood type as the little girl.
After a few minutes there was a group of wide eyed children assembled. The doctor spoke to the group and the nurse translated, "Would one of you be willing to give this little girl your blood?" The children looked shocked, but no one said a word. Again the doctor pleaded, "Please will one of you give her your blood, because if you don't, she is going to die!" Finally a boy in the back raised his hand and the nurse laid him down on a bed to prepare him for the taking of his blood.
When the nurse ask for his arm in order to sterilize the skin, the boy began to whimper. "Relax", she said, "It won't hurt." When the doctor took his arm and inserted the needle, he began to cry. "Does it hurt?", the doctor asked. But the boy only cried louder. "I'm hurting him!", the doctor thought and he tried to ease his pain and comfort him, but to no avail. Finally, after what seemed like a long time, the blood was drawn and the needle was removed. The little boy just laid and sobbed for a few minutes.
After the blood was given to the wounded girl and her condition was stabilized, the doctor was curious. He took the Korean speaking nurse back over to the little boy and told the nurse to ask him, "Did it hurt?"
The boy said, "No, it did not hurt."
"Then why were you crying?", the doctor asked.
"Because I was afraid of dying", the boy said. The doctor was stunned! "Why did you think you would die?" With tears in his eyes the boy replied, "Because I thought that in order to save her you would have to take all of my blood!" The doctor didn't know what to say! Then he asked, "But if you thought that you were going to die, why did you offer to give her your blood?" With tears streaming down his face, he said, "Because she was my friend and I loved her!"

John 15:13 "Greater love has no one than this, than he lay down his life for his friends"

you say...

2005-11-12T05:53:00.001-08:00

You say: "It's impossible." God says: All things are possible. (Luke 8:27)

You say: "I'm too tired." God says: I will give you rest. (Matthew 1:28-30)

You say: "Nobody really loves me." God says: I love you. (John 3:16 & John 13:34)

You say: "I can't go on." God says: My grace is sufficient. (II Corinthians 12:9 & Psalms 91:15)

You say: "I can't figure things out." God says: I will direct your steps. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

You say: "I can't do it." God says: You can do all things. (Philippians 4:13)

You say: "I'm not able." God says: I am able. (II Corinthians 9:8)

You say: "I'm not worth it. God says: It will be worth it. (Romans 8:28)

You say: "I can't forgive myself." God says: I FORGIVE YOU. (I John 1:9 & Romans 8:1)

You say: "I can't manage." God says: I will supply all your needs. (Philippians 4:19)

You say: "I'm afraid." God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear. (II Timothy 1:7)

You say: "I'm always worried and frustrated." God says: Cast all your cares on ME. (I Peter 5:7)
You say: "I don't have enough faith." God says: I've given everyone a measure of faith (Romans 12:3)

You say: "I'm not smart enough." God says: I give you wisdom. (I Corinthians 1:30)

You say: "I feel all alone." God says: I will never leave you or forsake you. (Hebrews 13:5)

God's power in our weaknesses

2005-11-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

2 corinthians 12:9 " and He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness"

Is anybody in this world perfect? i dont think so. All of us have weaknesses.

For christians, you are blessed to have a perfect God to use you, despite your weaknesses.

Take this analogy (it was real by the way)

In a certain part of the world a few years back, there was this town. The pride of this town was the 4000 year old tree and they always boasted to other towns about their magnificent tree.One day, a hurricane swept across and wiped out that area. Everything was in a mess. After a few hours, when the rampage died down, the people were relieved that the tree was still in place. Upon a closer look, they noticed a single straw that pierced the tree deeply and they could not remove the straw.

See, it wasnt the power of the straw. It was the tremedous force of the great hurricane then propelled the straw and caused it to plunge into the tree.

In life, we will go through storms. But who said we will be alone?

we have a God who does the impossible.
we have a God that uses weak things to shame the proud.

the devil tries to deceive us by using out weakness to shame us... but look at the next few lines.

Moses stuttered.
Jacob was a liar.
David had an affair.
Solomon was too rich.
Abraham was too old.
Timothy had ulcers.
Peter was afraid of death.
Lazarus was dead.
John was self-righteous.
Jesus was too poor.
Naomi was a widow.
Paul was a murderer.
So was Moses.
Jonah ran from God.
Miriam was a gossip.
Gideon and Thomas both doubted.
Jeremiah was depressed and suicidal.
Elijah was burned out.
John the Baptist was a loudmouth.
Martha was a worrywart.
Mary was lazy.
Samson had long hair.
Noah got drunk.

What makes you think God doesnt want you?

Satan says, "You're not worthy."

Jesus says, "So what? I AM."

as it is said in scripture, we are weak but He is strong. Hallelujah!

Ever wondered why your prayers are not answered?

2005-11-07T07:11:00.000-08:00

Is your faith weak? Are you perplexed because your faith doesn't seem to get results? Have you diligently prayed about a request and believed for it with all your heart-and it didn't happen? Even worse, the very opposite happened? A loved one was not healed. The desire of your heart was not granted - at least, not to your satisfaction. The miracle you needed has not yet come. Time drags on, and the problems are still there.

The worst part of it all is that the Word of God tries you in such times. You read all the glorious promises: “All things are possible to them that believe.” “Ask, nothing wavering, and it shall be done.” “All things whatsoever you shall ask in faith, believing, you shall have them.” You set out to claim those promises. You know God is not a liar, and He would not tease you with unreachable goals. Yet, try as you may to believe - really, truly believe - you often are left confused, because the answer is either delayed or not in view.

According to the theology of some, there are only two reasons why you did not get what you asked for. Either your faith is faulty or there is sin in your life. You are made to believe that God had to withhold the answer until your faith improved enough to satisfy Him. Either the quality or quantity of your faith did not come up to God's criteria for answered prayer.
My friends, that kind of theology is silly, and it's a slap in the face of an intelligent, loving Heavenly Father.

Lesson 1:
God is not motivated to act for us as a result of our faith alone. God is love, and that is what motivates Him to act.

Suppose my son Greg was caught in a bear trap in the woods near our home. I hear his cry for help. He is hurt, bleeding, and calls for me with all his might. As his father, do I stop first to analyze the quality of his faith? Do I ask myself the question, “I wonder if Greg believes I'll answer him? Does he have faith enough in me - trusting I'll come to his rescue?”

No! A thousand times no! I run to my boy's side - no questions asked - no faith involved - because I am motivated by a father's love for a hurting child. His faith doesn't motivate me. It is not anything he does at all. It is simply my love for him.

What kind of an earthly father would leave a child bleeding and hurt in some forsaken woods - simply because the child didn't voice some kind of faith in him? And God will never leave one of His children to suffer alone. He will never shut His ear to their cry - simply because their faith in Him is weak.

Lesson 2:
A right confession is no guarantee of an answer - a wrong confession alone does not hinder an answer!

Job's wife confessed the world's worst confession. She said to Job, “Curse God and die!” Yet, in spite of it, she participated in the very same blessings of her faithful husband. One theologian asked, “Why didn't God take his wife, since He took everything else from Job?” Read almost any commentary and you detect that same kind of disrespect for Job's wife. But lately I've had a new appreciation for that suffering woman. I think we've been too hard on her. After all, those ten children who were killed were hers, too. In her human sorrow, she could not fathom what was happening. All she knew was that all was lost. She thought there was nothing left to live for. And that is why she suggested Job commit suicide and abandon his faith in God.

Did God hold a grudge against her? After the troubles passed and Job was healed, did God hold her wrong confession against her? Did He hold back any blessing from her because of her very human outburst of fear? No! God blessed that lady! I believe God understood her. He knew she didn't mean what she said! He looked beyond her frailty and saw the cry of her heart - and He blessed her in spite of herself.

Don't ever be condemned by the things you said in haste or in fear. We serve a Father who forgives and forgets every doubting, fearful word that has been spoken in despair. Be honest with God. Job's wife was. Don't fake it. If you can't understand why your prayers aren't answered, or why you have to suffer - if your heart is full of questions, fears, and confusion - tell it to God! Spill out your innermost feelings, negative or not. Our Father will let you cry it all out, listen patiently to your complaints and fears, and not once will He condemn you for it.

All you need do is turn to Him in love and cry out, “Now Lord, heal my unbelief. Take away my fears and confusion. Show me Your love, now that I need it so. Help me submit.”

The God I serve holds no grudges.

Lesson 3
I hear it said, “You have sin in your life; therefore God is hiding from you.” What a clever satanic tool to keep God's people in fear and bondage! And surprisingly, multitudes of God's dear children have convinced themselves that God is either mad at them, hiding from them, or at least holding back answers to prayer - because of sin.

Doesn't the Bible say, “Your sins have separated you from God, and caused Him to hide His face from you”? Yes it does! In the Old Testament, before the Cross, before the shedding of Christ's blood for the free remission of all sins of the world.

How can God hide from sins already paid for by the blood of His own Son? And, if any man sins, Christ the advocate will forgive all those sins and cleanse from all unrighteousness.

If you have truly confessed the sins of yesterday, they are forgiven, under the blood, and no longer counted against you!

Conclusion

1. If you can't give God perfect faith, give Him perfect love. “Perfect love casts out all fear."
Not perfect faith - but perfect love. Perfect love is the rest God has for His people. He wants us to rest in His love, trusting that He will always come to our aid as a father to a hurting child - in spite of our inadequate faith.

Stop evaluating or grading your faith. Quit trying to figure out faith. The Bible says, “But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love…” (I Cor.13:13; 14:1)

If you are going to "specialize" in anything - make it love. The Bible says, “Faith works by love." Without love, all faith is in vain.

2. If God does not answer certain of our prayers, you can he sure He has some great eternal reason for not doing so.

It boils down to this: God has all power and can do anything. Nothing is impossible to Him. He has promised to answer every prayer in Christ's name. So we must ask, in full assurance of faith - expecting an answer. But - should God delay that answer or choose another path for us - He must have a mighty good reason for it all. And we must believe that whatever God permits in our lives - it will one day all work to our good.

“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." (Rom. 8:28)

Our Heavenly Father knows exactly where we are going, what we need, and He will give us what is best - in proper Holy Ghost timing.

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, `My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust!' For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence. He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge. His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark. You will not be afraid of the terror by night, or of the arrow that flies by day; of the pestilence that stalks in darkness, or of the destruction that lays waste at noon.
“`Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him, and honor him. With a long life I will satisfy him, and let him behold My salvation.'” (Psalm 91:1-6, 14-16)

Jesus is in the house!

2005-11-04T09:59:00.000-08:00

One day he decided to invite the Lord to come home and stay with him. When the Lord arrived, this young man offered him the very best room in the house. The room was upstairs and at the end of the hall. "This room is yours, Jesus! Stay as long as you like and you can do whatever you want to in this room, remember Jesus, its all yours."

That evening after he had retired for the night there came a loud knocking at the front door. The young man pulled on his robe and made his way downstairs. When he opened the door he found that the devil had sent three of his demons to attack the man. He quickly tried to close the door but one of the demons kept sticking his foot in. Sometime later, after a great struggle, he managed to slam the door shut and returned to his room totally exhausted.

Can you believe that," the man thought. Jesus is upstairs in my very best room sleeping while I am down here battling demons. Oh, well, maybe he just didn't hear. He slept fitfully that night. The next day thing went along as normal and, being tired as he was, the young man retired early that evening. Along about midnight, there came such a terrible ruckus at the front door that the young man was sure that whatever it was would tear the door down. He stumbled down the stairs once again and opened the door to find that were dozens of demons now trying to get into his beautiful home. For more than three hours he fought and struggled against the demons from hell, and finally overtook them enough to shut the door against their attack.

All energy seemed to fail him. He really didn't understand this at all. Why won't the Lord come to my rescue? Why does he allow me to fight all by myself? I feel so alone. Troubled, he found his way to the sofa and fell into a restless sleep. The next morning he decided to inquire of the Lord about the happenings of the last two evenings. Quietly he made his way to the elegant bedroom where he had left Jesus. "Jesus," he called as he tapped at the door. "Lord, I don't understand what is happening. For the last two nights I have had to fight the demons away from my door while you laid up here sleeping. Don't you care about me? Did I not give you the very best room in the house?"

He could see the tears building in Jesus' eyes but continued on, "I just don't understand, I really thought that once I invited you in to live with me that you would take care of me and I gave you the best room in my house and everything. What more can I do?" "My precious child," Jesus spoke so softly. "I do love and care for you. I protect all that you have released into my care. But, when you invited me to come here and stay, you brought me to this lovely room and you shut the door to the rest of your house. I am Lord of this room but I am not Master of this house. I have protected this room and no demon may enter here."

"Oh, Lord, please forgive me. Take all of my house -- it is yours. I am so sorry that I never offered you all to begin with. I want you to have control of everything." With this he flung open the bedroom door and knelt at Jesus' feet. "Please forgive me Lord for being so selfish." Jesus smiled and told him that He had already forgiven him and that He would take care of things from now on. That night as the young man prepared for bed he thought, I wonder if those demons will return, I am so tired of fighting them each and every night. But, he knew that Jesus said that he would take care of things from now on. Along about midnight the banging on the door was frightening.

The young man slipped out of his room in time to see Jesus going down the stairs. He watched in awe as Jesus swung open the door, no need to be afraid. Satan stood at the door, this time demanding to be let in. "What do you want, Satan?" the Lord asked. The devil bowed low in the presence of the Lord, "So sorry, I seem to have gotten the wrong address." And with that, he and the demons all ran away.

There is a moral to this tale. Jesus wants all of you, not just a part. He will take all that you give Him, but nothing more. How much of your heart have you given to the Lord? Are you keeping a portion of it away from Him? Perhaps the attacks are coming more and more each day. Why not let the Lord fight the battles for you? He is always victorious. I have found that God made man simple, all of man's complexities are of his own devising.

Remember... God wants all of you... do not only put Him first... He wants to be 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th.......

God bless.

Let go.Let God

2005-11-01T08:49:00.000-08:00

The Lord said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go." - Exodus 4:21

Have you ever had a boss tell you to do something only to have him sabotage your ability to complete the task? Nothing is more frustrating than to begin to carry out a task and have your superior thwart your effort to do what he asked you to do.Moses must have felt this way after

God told him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release the people of Israel. He said, "I am going to give you the power to release the children of Israel by the miracles I will do through you." Yet at the same time, He told Moses they would not be released because He was going to put a hard heart in Pharaoh. How do we reconcile this?

God wanted to demonstrate His power in such a way that generations would be able to hear the story of their deliverance from their ancestors. God wanted greater glory from the situation. God also wanted to deal with Egypt by sending specific plagues. Finally, the very process built character in Moses and tested Moses to see if he would stay the course.There is a time for everything.

If God has called you to some endeavor and you are frustrated that it has not manifested, know that times of preparation and simmering are required before the vision can be achieved. Seldom does God call and manifest something at the same time. There is preparation. There is testing. There is relationship building between you and God that must take place. Once this is complete, you will see the vision materialize.

Let go of that problem, that hurt. And Let God take over.

The world map

2005-10-30T07:47:00.000-08:00

A father wanted to read the paper, but was being bothered by his little daughter, Vanessa. Finally, he tore a sheet out of his magazine, on which was printed the map of the world. Tearing it into small pieces, he gave it to Vanessa, and said, "Go into the other room and see if you can put this together."After a few minutes, Vanessa returned and handed him the map correctly fitted together. The father was surprised and asked how she had finished so quickly. "Oh," she said, "on the other side of the paper was a picture of Jesus. When I got Jesus in His place, then the world came out all right."

Golf

2005-10-19T12:11:00.000-07:00

Moses and Jesus are playing golf. Moses tees off first and his ball heads straight for the water trap. So he parts the water, the ball rolls right through, and he gets his ball onto the green, 10 feet from the cup. Jesus says, "Nice shot, Moses!"
Next, Jesus tees off. His ball also heads straight for the water trap. He makes the ball skip right across the top of the water, and he gets his ball onto the green, 5 feet from the cup. Moses says, "Terrific shot, Jesus !"
Meanwhile, an old man has been watching them tee off and asks if he could try. "Sure" they say, and he tees off as well.
His ball heads straight for the water trap and suddenly a squirrel runs out of the brush and picks up the ball and runs for some trees.
But then, out of nowhere, a hawk swoops down, picks up the running squirrel, and flies towards the golf green. Just as the hawk flies over the green, the squirrel lets go of the golf ball and it lands neatly in the cup. Jesus rolls his eyes and says to Moses, "Dad's such a show off!"

You are a dangerous generation

2005-10-19T10:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen a movie where people keep trying to kill someone... only that person doesn't realize someone is after them? Strange things keep happening. Near misses, so-called accidents, explosions they barely escape, etc. The audience knows what's going on. They keep anxiously hoping that person will realize someone is trying to take them out. That they are a target.
But it takes this "target" over half the movie to figure it out. When they finally do, they start fighting back. Getting smart. Avoiding danger. Dodging bullets. Planning counter attacks. Winning.

But even after they figure out they're a target, it's usually near the end of the movie before they can figure out WHY someone is after them. WHY they are a target. Finally they realize it's something they have, or know... or perhaps just who they are... that makes them so important to destroy.

So it is with your generation.

Sometimes you have to recognize the intensity of the enemy's attack before you understand just how much of a threat your are... how dangerous you are.

Your generation is a big threat to the enemy. Why? Because you have a huge call on your lives. A big, intense anointing that God is going to lay on you once you realize WHO you are in Him. You are like no other generation before you. It is the last days anointing—of healing the sick, raising the dead, and seeing multitudes come into the Kingdom through your witness and ministry. There is a powerful call on your whole generation.

That is why the enemy wants to take you out. That is why he has laid so many traps for you.
Think about it.

First, there's drugs. Lots of them. A few generations ago there was pot and acid and some hard stuff. Now there are so many more kinds of drugs. And they are way stronger than they used to be—and lots easier to get, too. Who can fulfill their destiny with a foggy, confused mind?

Then there's sex. Well, there's always been sex. But now with AIDS and various STD's you can die from having sex... even just once. Can't fulfill your destiny if you're sick... or dead.

There's lots of sexual abuse, too. A huge percentage of you have been sexually abused, raped, molested. What used to happen once in awhile now happens all the time... and most of it happens right in your own homes by your parents, brothers, sisters, relatives... or someone else you should have been able to trust.

There's a lot more physical and emotional abuse too... stuff that degrades you and makes you feel like you are nothing. Nobody. Like dying. Like giving up before you even begin.
These are all things that hurt your heart and can ruin your life if you are left on your own and never turn to Jesus. It's hard to think about fulfilling your destiny when you are dealing with so much personal heartbreak.

And to top it off, the enemy has made sure that your generation gets it daily dose of violence, evil doings, and callousness towards those who are smaller, weaker and not as good looking or smart. He says it's OK to snicker and not care when some someone else is hurt... or even when you are hurt. You just need to act like you don't care. Pretty soon you think you really don't.

It's just one big ugly cycle.

Today there's a lot more to be angry about, confused about, betrayed about.... and so many messages out there just tell you to harden your heart, join tougher gangs, get bigger guns, take harder drugs, have more sex... anything to make your mind and heart number than it's ever been because the pain is so great. Because reality is so unbearable. And he tells some of you to ease some of your emotional pain by hurting others, or even to cause yourselves some genuine physical pain. Some of you know exactly what I mean.

And then there is the big one. The biggest attack on your generation ever.

Do you know that the enemy thinks your generation is so dangerous that he probably tried to kill you before you were even born? If you are alive and reading this right now—and you are in your mid-twenties or younger—you are a survivor of the biggest war in human history. It's called abortion—and the enemy has already murdered over 20 million of your classmates before they even saw the light of day. And that's just in America. Think of the brothers, sisters, cousins, and good friends you might have had if abortion hadn't been legalized. The numbers are staggering and the abortion war rages on today. Some of you have even avoided being parents in this way—which has most likely plagued you with guilt. Who can fulfill their destiny when they are full of guilt?

Do you think all of this would be happening if you were not such a threat to the enemy? There must be something about you that makes satan hate you so much... that makes him so afraid of you surviving, being of sound mind, and fulfilling your destiny in God. And it is simply this:
You are a chosen generation. Chosen by God to do mighty exploits in His name.

Satan knows if he can't get you into his clutches that you will turn against him with a vengeance. He knows you have within you a God given concern for the weak and the lost. That you have a strong sense of justice and fairness. That when you fully get ahold of God's heart you will be devastating to him. That is why he has tried to pervert the call on your lives, and stop you before you begin. That's why the enemy has tried to take you out at the earliest possible moment. And if he can't take you out, he wants to ruin you in some way... or cause you to do such horrible things that you will believe that God could never forgive you. Or use you. Or want you. Which is all one big fat LIE.

It is never too late to turn to Jesus. Never too late to ask for forgivness. Never too late pay back the enemy for all he has done to you—and caused you to do to others. As long as you have a breath left in your body, you can use it to call on the name of the Lord. He WILL come and save you.

In truth, the lies of the enemy have been exposed. You don't have to be destroyed. In fact, if you want to, you can do incredible things for God. And the hard things you have been through, and even the wrong or evil things you have done, are all going to give you a greater heart for those who are still trapped in satans web. You are going to understand why they have done some of things they have done. You are also going to be able to give them hope. You will have great faith that their lives can be turned around for God, because your life has been turned around for God.

What satan planned for evil, God will use for good. If you will let Him.

It is time for your generation to give satan his due. That's why it is imperative for you to walk with God. To be HIS servant, and not a servant of the enemy. When you walk with God, you will not only receive what He has for you, but an impartation of all He has allotted for your generation—in this time and this season.

The world will be shaken when they see you move in Holy Spirit power. When they see your compassion and your love—and the favor God has given you.

Quit playing into the enemy's hand. Turn the tables on him. You are dangerous. You are a threat to his evil plan. And with Jesus, you will win. You might lose a few battles along the way. But ultimately, in the end, you will win bigtime.

You are a dangerous generation.God will help you outsmart the enemy.You just have to decide you want to.

It depends on whose hands it's in.

2005-10-18T09:43:00.000-07:00

It depends whose hands it's in.
A basketball in my hands is worth about $19.
A basketball in Michael Jordan's hands is worth about $33 million.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A baseball in my hands is worth about $6.
A baseball in Mark McGuire's hands is worth $19 million.
It depends on whose hands it's in.

A tennis racket is useless in my hands.
A tennis racket in Venus Williams' hands is a championship winning.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A rod in my hands will keep away a wild animal.
A rod in Moses' hands will part the mighty sea.
It depends whose hands it's in.

A sling shot in my hands is a kid's toy.
A sling shot in David's hand is a mighty weapon.
It depends whose hands it's in.

Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in my hands is a couple of fish sandwiches.
Two fish and 5 loaves of bread in God's hands will feed thousands.

It depends whose hands it's in.
Nails in my hands might produce a birdhouse.
Nails in Jesus Christ's hands will produce salvation for the entire world.
It depends whose hands it's in.

As you see now it depends whose hands it's in. So put your concerns, your worries, your fears, your hopes, your dreams, your families and your relationships in God's hands because... It depends whose hands it's in.

The Holy Bible VS The tv guide

2005-10-16T08:04:00.000-07:00

They lie on the table side by side
The Holy Bible and the T.V. Guide
One is well worn and cherished with pride,
Not the Bible, but the T.V. Guide

One is used daily to help folks decide
No, not the Bible, but the T.V.Guide
As the pages are turned, what shall they see
Oh, what does it matter, turn on the T.V.

So they open the book in which they confide
No, not the Bible, but the T.V. Guide
The Word of God is seldom read
Maybe a verse before they fall into bed.

Exhausted and sleepy and tired as can be
Not from reading the Bible, from watching T.V.
so then back to the table side by side,
Lie the Holy Bible and the T.V. Guide.
No time for prayer, no time for the Word,
The plan of Salvation is seldom heard.
But forgiveness of sin, so full and free,
Is found in the Bible, not on T.V.

Knowing God's will

2005-10-11T05:36:00.000-07:00

"How can I know the will of God?" If you haven't asked this question openly or secretly you are probably not a Christian.

Walk through the halls of time and you will see the men of God who changed history. Look at them carefully. They were not special men. You will not often find the naturally gifted among their ranks. But all had one thing in common - they knew and did the will of God in their generation, and God did a work through them to shape the course of history. Those that God used in the past were just ordinary people with an extraordinary Master. They were not all champions of great faith, but little people who saw their own need, and put their small faith in a great God. The driving force in their lives was the sure conviction that God had called them to His work - and that as long as they were faithful to that call, He would work with them and through them against impossible odds to victory. They KNEW His will! Living in His purpose, they could be natural and let Him be supernatural.

Scripture Is a record of common people who found the will of God. Jacob met an angel Joseph with his multi-colored coat had a dream. Paul saw a blinding light. Samuel heard a voice. John had a vision. God is wholly involved with us as human beings! He spoke to men then, and He has not changed. At every point of history, He waits to show the way.

God is looking for willing hearts - those who whole-heartedly decide to do the will of God. (II Chron.16:9) You can know God's will! God has no favorites. You do not have to be special, but you have to be available. You do not have to be clever, but you must be willing to learn from Him. You do not have to be talented, but you must be willing to obey whatever He commands. You do not have to possess much, but you must give everything you have.

Has the "will of God" been a mystery to you? Have you longed to know what He wants for you, but somehow never found the way? Then read on. If you will faithfully apply these Biblical principles of guidance to your life, you can know the voice of God and do His will as surely as any man or woman of God that ever lived.

GOAL AND PLAN
God's will for your life is a GOAL, not a blue-print. His one ultimate goal, or purpose, is for you to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. God's goal NEVER changes. A goal is the point you are trying to get to - it sets your direction. While on your way to this ultimate goal, you will encounter many smaller goals and purposes along the way.

Guidance is a lifelong process. God will reveal goals, help you reach them, then set new, higher ones. Therefore, knowing God's will for your life is a continued discovery of the present most effective plan to help you eventually reach (through a series of sub-stages) His ultimate goal for you. Should you miss God and make a wrong decision at one of these sub-stages, all is not lost.

However, many times there are consequences to pay. Sometimes you may miss an opportunity that may never again come your way... and many times good years that belong to God are simply wasted. But the moment our self-dependence or mistakes are confessed to God, and His pardon obtained, He will take you where you are at and work with you, daily pointing out the best course to take in order for you to reach His ultimate goal for you - to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus.

CONDITIONS
You cannot expect to hear from God until you are fulfilling these essential conditions for knowing His will. Check your life against these before you ask for guidance:

1. A DESIRE TO KNOW AND DO ALL THE WILL OF GOD. Don't ASK for guidance unless you are prepared to ACT on it! God is always willing to make His purpose known. If you "cannot" find an answer, it may be that you have some secret reservation in your heart. God will not show you His will if you are merely considering doing it. Unless you are prepared to trust His wisdom and love, and DO what He shows you, don't ask Him. Many say they can't get God's guidance, when they really mean they wish He would show them an easier way. God promises to show us only if we are ready to act on His revelation. (John 7:17)

2. BE A LOVE-SLAVE. God guides the meek, or those with yielded wills. If we have unyielded rights or stubborn wills, we cannot expect His guidance. A love-slave lives to serve, not be served. He owns nothing of power, possessions, or personal rights. He has no plans of his own that are not subject to the command of his Master. God does not guide those who want to run their own life. He only guides those who admit their need of His direction and rely on
His wisdom. (Matt. 10:24,37-39; Phil.2:58; Psalm 25:9)

3. A WILLINGNESS TO BE COUNTED A FOOL. Doing God's will often conflicts with what's going on in our surrounding selfish world. Some Christians don't really do anything for the Lord, excusing themselves by saying they are "not sure of God's will." We need not always expect a voice from the sky when the path of service is clear. God gave us common sense, and He expects us to use it. Most of the time, His will makes sense to our reason and intelligence. God's will is usually an area of general direction, within which He leaves us relatively free to work for Him. (Proverbs 6:20-22,11:3) However, sometimes His direction cuts across all human reason, and even goes totally contrary to it! When the inner voice of God speaks clearly, obedience may be counted as madness in the eyes of the world. But if you are willing to be God's fool, then you will see His power. (Matt.11:25; Acts26:24-25; Mark 3:21; 1 Cor. 3:18-20)

4. A CLEAN CONSCIENCE FROM THE PAST. Guidance will always be hindered or misunderstood if there are still sinful things in your life that God has urged you to get right. How can He show you more if you have not obeyed the things He has already shown you?(Luke16:10) Every time you kneel to pray, the finger of His Spirit will point back to that thing He wants you to get right. A clear conscience is absolutely essential for distinguishing between the voice of God and the voice of the enemy. Unconfessed sin is a prime reason why many do not know God's will. It is the "pure in heart" who will see Him. (Matt. 5:8,23-24; Psalm 24:3-6)

5. REGULAR TIME OF PRAYER AND READING THE WORD OF GOD. God's will is expressly revealed in His Word. It is indeed a foolish and inexcusable thing to neglect the Scriptures if you have access to them. Bible study shows us what God expects in daily living. No guidance will ever go against Scriptural principle. Prayer teaches us by experience what the presence of God is like, and how His voice sounds. Many do not recognize the call of God simply because they have never taken the time to really talk with Him long enough to know what He is like. It is not enough to know about Him - you must know HIM! (Proverbs 6:23; Isaiah 58:9-11; John 17:3)

METHODS
God speaks and has spoken in many different ways. Guidance breaks down into three basic categories - personal, corporeal, and supernatural. Study the following examples in Scripture.

I. PERSONAL (Individual Direct Guidance)

1. THE WORD OF GOD - The Holy Scriptures, the foundation of all guidance.
A. Regular Bible Reading - The "jigsaw" principle. You fill in a portion of a "puzzle" each time you read a section of the Bible. A key piece fitted in will suddenly reveal a whole picture.
B. Open Page Method - Definitely not to be abused! Ask God in faith to guide you to the right Scripture for your need. Open the Bible, trusting Him to speak to you from it.
C. Mental Suggestion - In prayer God will sometimes bring to mind a verse, a chapter, or a book of the Bible. Turn to the place and begin to read until God speaks to you.
D. Recalled Memory Verse - Often, during a time of temptation or difficulty, God will bring to your mind a verse of Scripture that will give clear instruction. It is to your benefit to know and memorize parts of the Word of God. (Psalm 119:9-11,15-16, 33-35, 65-68, 97-l05; Proverbs 2:1-20, 3:1-6, 4:1-13; II Tim.3:14-17)

2. THE WITNESS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - An inner voice known by all true children of God.
The Holy Spirit is able to "check" you inside as to whether or not something is of God. You must NEVER act on a doubtful impression, especially if it is accompanied by haste. God leads, not pushes! Rushed urgings are usually of the enemy. There is never a feeling of worry or fear with the voice of the Good Shepherd. His Voice is gentle, familiar-sounding, loving, and leaves you with a sense of spiritual uplift and rejoicing, never fright (John10:3-5,14-16,27-28) Test all of your spiritual leadings by the Word of God, especially whenever you feel a sense of uneasiness or fear. (Rom. 8:14-16; John 14:16-17; 1 John 2:27, 4:1-3,13; Col.1:9-11)

3. WAITING ON GOD - Listening to Him in prayer and getting to know His voice.
God has three answers in guidance - (1)"Yes" (2) "No" and (3) "Wait". We cannot have a demanding attitude towards God. Sometimes there must be delays. Our lives are bound up with others, and many times God has to wait until they are ready (or until we are), before giving us the go-ahead. "Wait" is the most difficult of all answers, but sometimes it's the most necessary. Here is the test of a love-slave.(Psalm 62:1,5, 33:20, 25:5, 27:14, 40:1, 130:5, 37:7; Isaiah 40:31, 49:23; Hosea 12:6; 1 Chron.28:9)

II. CORPOREAL (Other Christians)
Although God greatly desires to speak to each of us personally, He also likes to use other members of the Body of Christ to pass on needed pieces of the "puzzle" to us. This helps teach us gratitude for His work in the lives of others, and the needed lesson that none of us are a law or light to ourselves. We can learn a lot from other Christians, although in the end, we are responsible to no one but Him.

1. GODLY MEN AND WOMEN - The advice of experienced Christians sought as confirmation.
Counsel from those who are known to have a pure and trustworthy walk with God is often of great value when seeking further light on some major decision. This counsel should be more in the area of principles, not pronouncements. Carefully concerned and loving suggestions aren't necessarily final or direct statements from the Lord. True godly counsel will of course always line up with the Word of God and Scriptural principles.(Proverbs 15:22, 12:15, 13:10, 11:14, 24:6; 1 Thess.2:11-15)

2. GOD'S SERVANTS IN THE MINISTRY - Preaching under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Sometimes God will use a message or sermon anointed by the Holy Spirit to bring needed light when you are facing a difficult decision. Perhaps the word you need to help give you direction is waiting for you at the next meeting! (Exodus 4:10-12; 1 Samuel 3:10-21, Isaiah 6:8-9; Rom.10:14-15; I Cor. 2:1-2; 1 Pet. 4:11)

3. THE GIFTS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - In line with previous leadings from the Lord and the Word of God.

Scripture records incidents where God has confirmed direction through such gifts in His Body as prophesy, words of knowledge, and words of wisdom. Study their function in Scripture. Such words are simply spiritual parallels to individual godly counsel and preached messages, and should not be looked on with more authority than any of the other means the Lord chooses to use. Never act solely on a "word" given to you by another.

Remember, the key is individual responsibility for our own actions, and it is you that must make the final decision, and not someone else for you. (Rom. 12:6-8; I Cor. 12:1-12, 27-31, 14:12,26-33,39-40; Eph. 4:8-11; II Tim.1:6)

III. SUPERNATURAL
The instances of "supernatural" guidance, or special Divine Intervention in our lives are more rarely recorded. These cases are rare, but not because there are only a few who ever reach the "exalted height" of such direct contact. In fact, God may sometimes choose to act in this way because those on the receiving end are so spiritually insensitive and dull that they might otherwise never hear or understand! Although it is not wise to generalize principles from such occasional interventions, it is certainly clear through Scripture and history that men and women have received authentic direction from such Divine channels of contact.

1. THE AUDIBLE VOICE OF GOD. God can and has spoken to people audibly. I know a very trustworthy person who became a Christian as a result of God answering his prayer for help in this way. He described the voice like this: "Like everyone I had ever loved in my life all rolled up into one, like someone I had known all my life, yet I knew I had never met" As in the case of Saul and the crowd that witnessed the Lord's baptism, it is apparently a real sound and not just a mental impression. Examples: Samuel (I Samuel 3:1-10); Elijah (I Kings19:9-13); Saul (Acts 9:1-7); the Lord Jesus and the multitude (John 12:2730).

2. VISIONS AND DREAMS. The early Church gave much more attention to this subject than do most Christians today. A dream is like a spiritual TV commercial - short, easy to understand, and given at the time when our whole attention is undistracted. Visions, on the other hand, are superimposed over the normal visual reality around us, and do not have to happen when we are asleep. If you believe that God may be trying to speak to you in this way, prayerfully consider the details of your dream or vision, remembering that they may represent symbols or principles - not necessarily absolutes. And finally, talk it over with a trusted and mature friend in Christ. Both dreams and visions, when inspired by the Holy Spirit, can be powerful means by which God speaks to His people. Examples: Peter (Acts10:9-16); Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-8); Daniel (Daniel 8:1-27, 7:1-28,10:1-9); John (Rev. 1-20); Elihu (Job 33:14-18); Joseph (Matt. 1:19-21).

3. VISITATION. It appears that angels in Scripture do not "guide" in the same way as the Holy Spirit Himself does, but they have been sent to warn believers of danger, as well as provide for their physical needs and safety. They also have made significant announcements, as in the case of Mary. Many believers throughout history have had authentic vision or visitations - and many numbers of Christians have seen either Jesus or ministering angels at their deathbeds. Examples: Abraham (Genesis 18:1-33); Moses (Exodus33:19-23); Joshua (Joshua 5:13-15); Jacob (Genesis 32:24-30); Manoah (Judges 13:2-23); Zacherias(Luke 1:8-20); Mary (Luke 1:26-38).

A WORD OF WARNING before we leave this area. Young Christians can easily become fascinated with the "special cases," and exalt these above the more simple and ordinary daily ways God uses to speak to us. To deliberately seek or glorify any form of guidance Is an outright invitation to spiritual deception, We are not to seek or specify how God should speak, but only seek Him in any way that He wishes to make Himself known. And as previously mentioned, for God to have to use such methods is no guarantee at all of our superior spiritually - it may instead be an indication of spiritual Immaturity.

STEPS
The following method of receiving guidance combines most guidance principles into three basic steps:
1. GIVE UP YOUR OWN DESIRES. Take your own desires to God in prayer and place them aside for the Lord to crucify. In prayer, give your desires to Him, and ask Him to give you His desires. Tell Him that you are willing to "die" to the things you want most to do, in order to do the things He has for you.

2. RESIST THE DEVIL. Be on guard against the tactics of the enemy, and the temptations that may come your way. Each child of God has been given power over sin through Christ. Standing in His authority, drive back the enemy's voice. As Jesus did in the wilderness, you can quote an appropriate Scripture, and like the thrust of a sword, it will force the enemy to retreat. Do it simply and clearly, trusting that the power of Christ will back you up. (Proverbs 18:10; Eph.1:17-23; James 4:5-10; I John 3:78; I Pet.5:6-9)

3. LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF GOD.
The Lord wants to speak to you - He doesn't want to hide or make you play guessing games. If you have fulfilled His conditions, the lines of communication between you are open. Ask God to show you, in faith, expecting Him to answer. Look for an immediate, definite impression. Do what He tells you to do. If nothing comes immediately - thank God for His answer of "wait". Be faithful to what the Lord has shown you, and patient as you wait for further guidance. If you are being tempted, cry out to the Lord, for it is through Him that you will find your strength to stand firm in righteousness.

YOUR MOVE
Ahead of you is a generation that desperately needs a voice of authority. Men are tired of the constant failure of human wisdom - what they need most of all is to hear from Heaven. Can you be His vessel to proclaim "Thus saith the Lord!" to a lost and dying world? Dare YOU be guided by God? Will you accept the challenge to hear HIs voice and do His will

have you checked in?

2005-10-08T04:45:00.000-07:00

A minister passing through his church inthe middle of the day,Decided to pause by the altar and see whohad come to pray.Just then the back door opened, a man camedown the aisle,The minister frowned as he saw the man hadn't shaved in a while.His shirt was kinda' shabby and his coatwas worn and frayed.

The man knelt, he bowed his head, thenrose and walked away.In the days that followed, each noon timecame this chap,Each time he knelt just for a moment, alunch pail in his lap.Well, the minister's suspicions grew, withrobbery a main fear,He decided to stop the man and ask him,"Watcha' doin' here?"

The old man, said he worked down the road.Lunch was half an hour.Lunchtime was his prayer time, for findingstrength and power."I stay only moments, see, 'cause thefactory is so far away;As I kneel here talking' to the Lord, thisis kinda' what I say:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOWHAPPY I'VE BEEN,SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP ANDYOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT ITHINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.SO, JESUS, THIS IS JIM CHECKIN' IN."

The minister feeling foolish, told Jim,that was fine.He told the man he was welcome to come andpray just anytime.Time to go, Jim smiled, said "Thanks." He hurried to the door.The minister knelt at the altar, he'd never done it before.His cold heart melted, warmed with love,met with Jesus there.As the tears flowed, in his heart, he repeated old Jim's prayer:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, LORD, HOWHAPPY I'VE BEEN,SINCE WE FOUND EACH OTHER'S FRIENDSHIP ANDYOU TOOK AWAY MY SIN.I DON'T KNOW MUCH OF HOW TO PRAY, BUT ITHINK ABOUT YOU EVERYDAY.SO, JESUS, THIS IS ME CHECKIN' IN."

Past noon one day, the minister noticed that old Jim hadn't come.As more days passed without Jim, he beganto worry some.At the factory, he asked about him,learning he was ill.The hospital staff was worried, but he'dgiven them a thrill.The week that Jim was with them, brought changes in the ward.His smiles, a joy contagious. Changed people, his reward.The head nurse couldn't understand why.

Looking surprised, old Jim spoke up andwith a winsome smile;"The nurse is wrong, she couldn't know,that all the while Everyday at noon He's here, a dear friend of mine, you see,He sits right down, takes my hand, leansover and says to me:

"I JUST CAME AGAIN TO TELL YOU, JIM, HOWHAPPY I HAVE BEEN,SINCE WE FOUND THIS FRIENDSHIP, AND I TOOK AWAY YOUR SIN.I ALWAYS LOVE TO HEAR YOU PRAY, I THINKABOUT YOU EACH DAY,AND SO JIM, THIS IS JESUS CHECKIN' IN."

When I say I'm a christian

2005-10-04T13:10:00.000-07:00

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I am saved"
I'm whispering "I was lost"
That is why I chose this way.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing that I stumble
And need someone to be my guide.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing that I'm weak
And pray for strength to carry on.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting I have failed
And cannot ever pay the debt.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are all too visible,
But God believes I'm worth it.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain
I have my share of heartaches
Which is why I speak His name.

When I say..."I am a Christian"
I do not wish to judge.
I have no authority.
I only know I'm loved.

Psalms 23.. so what if you know it?

2005-10-03T08:56:00.000-07:00

There was once a Shakespearean actor who was known everywhere for his one-man show of readings and recitations from the classics. He would always end his performance with a dramatic reading of Psalm 23. Each night, without exception, as the actor began his recitation-- "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want"-- the crowd would listen attentively. And then, at the conclusion of the psalm, they would rise in thunderous applause in appreciation of the actor's incredible ability to bring the verse to life.But one night, just before the actor was to offer his customary recital of Psalm 23, a young man from the audience spoke up.

"Sir, do you mind, if tonight, I recite Psalm 23?"

The actor was quite taken aback by this unusual request, but he allowed the young man to come forward and to stand front and center on the stage to recite the psalm, knowing that the ability of this unskilled youth would be no match for his own talent.

With a soft voice, the young man began to recite the words of the psalm. When he was finished, there was no applause. There was no standing ovation as on other nights. All that could be heard was the sound of weeping. The audience had been so moved by the young man's recitation that every eye was full of tears.

Amazed by what he had heard, the actor said to the youth,
"I don't understand. I have been performing Psalm 23 for years. I have a lifetime of experience and training, but I have never been able to move an audience as you have tonight. Tell me, what is your secret?"

The young man humbly replied,
"Well, sir, you know the psalm... but I know the Shepherd."

True love

2005-09-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

1st John 4:7-8 "Dear friends, let us love each other, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God for God is love."

I am sure many christians love their brothers and sisters in Christ.
It is nothing great if you love those who love you. Even unbelievers practise that. That's why as christians, we are called to love our enemies too.

1st John 4: 20-21 "If anyone says "i love God" yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother who he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."

I've seen in friendster or those personal pages of individuals... who put

loves: God, Jesus....

BUT AT THE SAME TIME,

hates: backstabbers, betrayers, gamblers, liars, cheaters, ....................................

the list goes on.

According to 1st John 4:20-21, these people are liars...

Hope some people who read this will change their profiles... thank you for listening.. God bless you all!

The Eagle VS The Wolf

2005-09-26T06:35:00.000-07:00

There is a great battle that rages inside me.

One side is the soaring eagle. Everything the eagle stands for is good and true and beautiful, and it soars above the clouds. Even though it dips down into the valleys, it lays its eggs on the mountaintops.

The other side of me is the howling wolf. And that raging, howling wolf represents the worst that's in me. He eats upon my downfalls and justifies himself by his presence in the pack.

Who wins this great battle?

The one I feed.

It's between you and God

2005-09-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

I cannot pray

2005-09-23T10:22:00.000-07:00

I cannot say OUR if my relationship with God has no room for others and their needs.

I cannot say FATHER if I do not demonstrate this relationship
in my daily life.

I cannot say WHO ART IN HEAVEN if all my interests and
pursuits are in earthly things.

I cannot say HALLOWED BE THY NAME if I, who am called
by his name am not holy.

I cannot say THY KINGDOM COME if I am unwilling to give up
my own sovereignty and accept the righteous reign of God.
I cannot say THY WILL BE DONE if I am unwilling or resentful
of having it in my life.

I cannot say ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN unless I am truly
ready to give myself to his service here and now.

I cannot say GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD without expending
honest effort for it or by ignoring the genuine needs of my fellowmen.

I cannot say FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES AS WE FORGIVE
THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US if I continue to
harbor a grudge against anyone.

I cannot say LEAD US NOT INTO TEMPTATION if I deliberately choose to remain in a sitution where I am likely to be tempted.

I cannot say DELIVER US FROM EVIL if I am not prepared to fight
in the spiritual realm with the weapon of prayer.

I cannot say THINE IS THE KINGDOM if I do not give the King the disciplined obedience of a loyal subject.

I cannot say THINE IS THE POWER if I fear what my
neighbors and friends may say or do.

I cannot say THINE IS THE GLORY if I am seeking my own glory first.

I cannot say FOREVER if I am too anxious about each day's affairs.

I cannot say AMEN unless I honestly say, "Cost what it may,
this is my prayer."

Are you really baptised by the Holy Spirit?

2005-09-19T07:02:00.000-07:00

Matthew 3:11 ""I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire"

This is just one of the verses that show that christians can be baptised by the Holy Spirit.

But...

1 John 4:1 "Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are God"

In this area of being baptised by the Holy Spirit, there are many types of people:
1). Those that are genuinely filled and baptised.
2). Those that fake baptism to impress others and act as a pharisee.
3). Those that are not baptised.

Testing to see if you are baptised in the Holy Spirit.

1). A genuine baptism causes us to love, magnify and glorify God more than before.

Romans 5:5 "God has poured His love into our hears by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us"

If any baptism draws you away from God to adore and worship anything else, the baptism is not from God.

2). A genuine baptism in the Holy Spirit will increase the conciousness of our relationship with the Father.

Romans 8:15 " For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear but you received the spirit of sonship. And by Him, we cry "Abba, Father"

3). A genuine baptism in the Holy Spirit will cause you to love and appreciate God's word more.

John 8:31 " If you hold on to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

4). A geunine baptism will deepen our love and concern for fellow believers.

1 John 4:21 "Whoever loves God must also love his brother"

5). A genuine baptism in the Holy Spirit must precede by our turning from sin and faithfully obeying Christ.

Acts 2:38 "Repent and be baptised. Everyone in the name of Jesus Christ,for the forgiveness of your sin. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."

6). Genuine baptism of the Holy Spirit will intensify displeasure for godless pleasures and earthly riches.

1 John 2:15 " Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

7). Real baptism will give us greater desire and power to witness the saving work of Jesus Christ.

Luke 4:18 " The spirit of the Lord is on me, because He has annointed me to preach good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight to blind, to release the oppressed and to proclaim of His favour.:

8). Genuine baptism will cause receptiveness to the Spirit's operations with God's kingdom.

Galatians 3:5 "Does God give you His Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law or because you believe what you heard?"

This are just some pointers on how you know you are really filled with the Holy Ghost.

I want to say that baptism in the Holy Spirit can only be substained by your faith and your continuity to live a sanctified life, one that is not of the world but pleasing to God.

Lets see.. If you watch tv (which is one of the most worldly thing), you go out and party with your friends when you really should be praying and seeking God, when your greatest desire is to win a badge, to attend a course, to get a promotion, you expect the Holy Spirit to do a work in your life? Who are you kidding?

For those people who are faking your baptism and speaking in tongues that you invented, you
are drawing judgement unto yourself. I have seen people speak in one set of tongues in church and another set of tongues outside church, these are pharisees.... whose punishment is worse than most people....

People, God is calling people that are sanctified and Christ-like to do His will. He's not going to send an army.. He's going to look for christians that set themselves apart for God and are devoted to live for Him and not themselves. The only thing that can impact this world is not a christian, but a Spiritual Nazarithe that is completely seperated from the world. Because only a spiritual nazarithe has the fullness and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

Amen.

The trouble with common sense

2005-09-16T11:16:00.000-07:00

Joshua 9

Not all senses are common. People have different ways and methods of doing certain things, of running certain events.

In chapter 9 of the book of joshua, we learn 3 very important lessons.

1). The lack of wisdom of God in israel

Joshua 9:4-5,12-13 The Gibeonites came with tangible evidence that the people of israel were fooled.

Only with divine insight will w ebe able to decipher what is right and wrong. With human vision, it is impossible to detect any false intentions.

We live in a world where nothing is real anymore. What you see may not be what you get. For example, "You see a very beautiful girl" Think again.. she may not be a girl.

To differentiate between faith and flattery, to resist people's bootlicking and apple polishing. we must have compassion accompanied with wisdom.

The israelites were not sloppy but neither were they alert.
The israelites did think but they did not pray.
They did not ask God.

Know how to discern what is right from wrong.

Remember, when we fail to seek God, we fail.

We not only need the power of God to overwhelm our obvious enemies but also the wisdom of God to detect subtle enemies. Sadly, the church today is obessed with God's power and neglect His wisdom.

Power without wisdom is folly.

2). The concern over the honour of God.
When joshua and the elders learnt that the gibeonites had deceived them, they could not kill them for they had already made an oath. They were concerned over the glory and honour of God.

To break our oath would dishonour God. If we break our oath which we made in the name of the Lord, it goes to show that God cannot be trusted. Therefore, never establish a covenant with God if you have no intention of fulfilling it.

We must therefore, be faithful to God in our mistakes.

3). The hope under the people of God.

Joshua 9:22-27

The gibeonites lived under a curse although their lives were spared.

BUT, because they lived under the people of God's people, some of God's blessings rubbed off onto them.

God brings light out of darkness. He brings grace out of curses. God is a merciful God.

Today, there are many people living under our blessings.. Yet they deserve so much more... We can pour out God's blessings...

The trouble with common sense? knowledge is nothing without wisdom.

Your body in heaven

2005-09-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

Who today trembles at the Word of God? It seems to me that there are but few who really live with a passion for God - especially a passion just to be with Him. Today there is such a noise coming up before the throne of the Most High - the clamor of so - called praise, singing, and joyful shouting. But I wonder if the same people who love to sing and shout, loudly exclaiming the praises of God, really have such an intense glory in their secret life with the Lord. When the meeting's over and there's no one there to listen except the only One who matters, do you still have that same passionate joy in your spirit, just to be alone with the Living God?

If your heart takes more pleasure in reading novels, or watching TV, or going to the movies, or talking to friends, rather than just sitting alone with God and embracing Him, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever and ever in His presence with no TV, movies, or singles' retreats? You'd be bored to tears in heaven, if you're not ecstatic about God now!

How could God invite you to heaven, where the most exciting thing to do all day is gaze upon His glorious face, if you're not in heaven right here on earth when you're alone with Him? Do you think that after you die, suddenly you'll be in heaven and "presto!" all at once you're not going to like worldly things anymore? All of a sudden you'll love more than anything else just to hang out with God, when you couldn't stand being alone with Him even 20 minutes a day?

What God seeks for today is a Church full of dead men and women. Dead to themselves, that is - and alive to their Beloved!

Let me pose you this question.. If you suddenly found out that you only have 3 days left in the world, what will you do? How will you spend the remaining times on earth? After you find out, Live that life everyday....

True worship is not going to church, is not singing songs, is not shouting Halleljah... But its how you live your life to please God and seek His will, not yours.

The cracked pot (so what if you're different?)

2005-09-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

A water bearer in India had two large pots, one hung on each end of a pole which, he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, but the other pot was perfect, and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, while the cracked pot arrived only half full.

For a full two years this went on daily, with the bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his master's house. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, perfect to the end for which it was made. But the poor cracked pot was very ashamed of its imperfection, and was miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do -- or so it thought.

The cracked pot, after two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am very ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." "Why?" asked the water bearer. "What are you ashamed of?" "For the past two years, I have only been able to deliver half of my real capacity, because this crack in my side allows water to leak out all the way back to the master's house.

Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don't get full value from your efforts," the cracked pot said. The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and compassionately said, "As we return to the master's house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path." As they went up the hill, the old cracked pot did notice the sun shining on the beautiful wild flowers growing along his side of the path, and this cheered it some.

However, at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had again leaked out half its load, and so it apologized to the water bearer for its failure. The bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and put it to good use. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path (for the return trip), and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them.

For over two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. If you weren't the way you are, he wouldn't have the flowers for his house." Each of us has our own unique flaws.

We're all cracked pots. But if we will allow Him, the Lord will use us, in spite of our flaws, to grace His Father's table in some way. In God's great economy, nothing goes to waste. So as we seek ways to minister, and as God calls you to the job He has appointed for you, don't be afraid of your flaws. Acknowledge them, and allow Him to use them, so you too can help add beauty along the pathways He has chosen for you

Dont be a hypocrite!

2005-09-11T07:34:00.000-07:00

Many christians say... "one day in the house of God is better than a thousand days in the world"

then why are people indulging in worldly pleasures and collecting worldly possessions?
then why are people watching televison and going to cinemas?

Its so hypocritical.

If you are a cult or a false prophet reading this, let me tell you that you are nothing but white washed tombs, clean and neat outside but containing decayed and rotting bones...

The world needs more christians that are seperated from the patterns of this world to reach out for the Kingdom of God and do more for His glory!

Don't be a hypocrite, be a social hazard!!!

Don't cut your cross!!!

2005-09-10T09:16:00.000-07:00

As Christians and followers of Christ, we are to carry our cross and follow Him.

Sadly, many christians today compromise. They want to follow God, but on their own terms. They love to worship God, but by their own ways. Some christians serve God but they omit certain things they dont like.

For example, the bible commands us to abstain from anything that is evil. But today, some of these "christians" may read harry potter books, go to magic shows, play games involving witchcraft and violence....

How can you be a follower of Christ and the world... your heart is only with one side..

Something to be aware about.. You will be cutting your crosses if you compromise and indulge i worldly pleasures!

Picture this scene....

You have been carrying your cross faithfully together with your brothers and sisters in Christ... but you start to compromise.. your cross gets cut and it becomes shorter...

Eventually, all of you all reach a cliff... you need to cross to the other side to continue your journey here on Earth.. perhaps spiritual maturity, blessings...

But because you have cut your cross, it is too short and you cant cross to the other side...

YOU WILL BE LEFT BEHIND!!!!

Just like the rapture... if you are a worldly and compromising christian, if you do not carry your cross for Christ, you will be left behind during the rapture...

Don't cut your cross...
Don't compromise!

I am third!

2005-09-09T10:49:00.000-07:00

There was a boy who was very popular among others his age. He was an excellent leader in his school groups.

One of his friends visited him and saw a homemade plaque in his room with the words "I Am Third" on it.

His friend asked him what it meant and he replied,

"It is the motto I try to use in my life. It means "God is first, Others are second, and I am Third.'"

The driving force in our lives should be trying to please God.

Secondly, we should take into consideration the needs and pleasures of others.

With our own pleasures subordinated, we will truly be the humble servants of God.

The sandbox

2005-09-07T10:30:00.000-07:00

A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel. In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox.
The lad dug around the rock, managing to dislodge it from the dirt. With no little bit of struggle, he pushed and nudged the rock across the sandbox by using his feet. (He was a very small boy and the rock was very huge).

When the boy got the rock to the edge of the sandbox, however, he found that he couldn't roll it up and over the wall.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox.
The little boy grunted, struggled, pushed and shoved. But his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers.

Finally he burst into tears of frustration. All this time the boy's father watched from his living room window as the drama unfolded. At the moment the tears fell, a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox. It was the boy's father.

Gently but firmly he said, "Son, why didn't you use all the strength that you had available?

Defeated, the boy sobbed back, "But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!"

"No, son," corrected the father kindly. "You didn't use all the strength you had. You didn't ask me."

With that the father reached down, picked up the rock, and removed it from the sandbox.

Push the rock...

2005-09-05T23:40:00.000-07:00

The Lord appeared to this man one night. The Lord told the man he had work for him to do and showed him a large rock in front of his cabin. The Lord explained that the man was to push against the rock with all his might.

This the man did, day after day. For many days he toiled from sun up to sun down, his shoulders set squarely against the cold, massive surface of the unmoving rock, pushing with all his might. Each night the man returned to his cabin sore and worn out, feeling that his whole day had been spent in vain.

One night, he decided to pray."Lord," he said, "I have labored long and hard in your service, putting all my strength to do that which you have asked. Yet, after all this time, I have not even budged that rock by half a millimeter. What is wrong? Why am I failing?"

To this the Lord responded compassionately, "My friend, when I asked you to serve me and you accepted, I told you that your task was to push against the rock with all your strength, which you have done. Never once did I mention to you that I expected you to move it. Your task was to push. And now you come to me, with your strength spent, thinking that you have failed. But, is that really so? Look at yourself. Your arms are strong and muscled, your back sinewed and brown, your hands are callused from constant pressure, and your legs have become massive and hard. Through opposition you have grown much and your abilities now surpass that which you used to have. Yet you haven't moved the rock. But your calling was to be obedient and to push and to exercise your faith and trust in My wisdom. This you have done.

At times when we hear a word from God, we tend to use our own intellect to decipher what he wants, when actually what God wants is just simple obedience and faith in him...

By all means, exercise the faith that moves mountains, but it is still God who moves the mountains.

What will you do?

2005-09-05T08:09:00.000-07:00

1 John 2:6

"Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did"

Rev Robin Oliver said this "A christian is a little Christ"

As God's children, we are called to be like Jesus.. to live like Him and be like Him.

Jesus said in revelations 22:12 "Behold, I am coming soon!"

We must live our lives in anticipation of the Lord's return. For many people in church learn that Jesus is coming back but they dont live their lives in the way that they know Jesus is coming back soon.

2 Peter 3:11-12 " You ought to live Holy and Godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming."

Will Jesus go with you to the cinema? Will He be playing computer games with you?
Or
Will He be praying and reading the bible?

Will Jesus be talking about the latest fashions? the results of soccer matches?
Or
Will He be talking about God and His glory?

What if you were watching tv and Jesus came? What if you were busy listening to your secular songs at a concert when Jesus returns? Will you be ready to receive Him??? NO!!!

Ask yourselves before doing anything... "Does this glorify God?", "Will Jesus do this?"
Proverbs 3: 6 " In all your ways, acknowledge Him and He shall make your paths straight"

Let us be like Jesus who throughout this life on earth, manifested the glory of God and seeked to do the work of the Father. Let us not be distracted by the world and the devil..

Because we were planned for God's pleasure, we should live to please Him and to offer up our lives as a living sacrifice.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 "It is God's will that you should be sanctified"
Colossians 3:12 " As God's chosen people, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindess, humility , gentleness and patience. "

In other words, live your life following the 2 greatest commandments.

1. Love the Lord with ALL your heart, ALL your mind and ALL your soul.
2. Love your neighbour as yourself.

Christians.. do not conform to the pattern of this world but seek to do the will of the Father..

2 Corinthians 6:18 "Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you and you shall be my sons and daughters."

In conclusion, let us be like Jesus in john 17:4 " I have glorified You on earth. I have finished the work which You have sent me to do"

Live For HIM.

I am a soldier for the Lord

2005-09-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

I am a soldier in the army of my God.
The Lord Jesus Christ is my commanding officer.
The Holy Bible is my code of conduct.
Faith, prayer, and the Word are my weapons of warfare.
I have been taught by the Holy Spirit, trained by experience, tried by adversity and tested by fire.
I am a volunteer in this army, and I am enlisted for eternity.
I will either retire in this army at the Rapture or die in this army; but I will not get out, sell out, be talked out, or pushed out.
I am faithful, reliable, capable and dependable.
If my God needs me, I am there.
I am in place, saluting my King, obeying His orders, praising His name, and building His kingdom!
No one has to send me flowers, gifts, food, cards, candy or give me handouts.
I am committed.
I cannot have my feelings hurt bad enough to turn me around.
I cannot be discouraged enough to turn me aside.
I cannot lose enough to cause me to quit.

When Jesus called me into this army, I had nothing.
If I end up with nothing, I will still come out ahead.
I will win.
God has and will continue to supply all of my needs.
I am more than a conqueror.
I will always triumph.
I can do all things through Christ. Devils cannot defeat me.
People cannot disillusion me.
Weather cannot weary me.
Sickness cannot stop me.
Battles cannot beat me.
Money cannot buy me.
Governments cannot silence me and hell cannot handle me.
I am a soldier.
Even death cannot destroy me.

For when my commander calls me from this battlefield, He will promote me to Captain and then allow me to rule with Him.
I am a soldier in the army, and I'm marching claiming victory.
I will not give up. I will not turn around.
I am a soldier, marching heaven bound. Here I stand!
Will you stand with me?
Guess what?
If you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior you're already enlisted...

The greatest leader of all History...

2005-08-31T09:32:00.000-07:00

My classmates and I had a discussion about who was the greatest leader in all of history...

"Adolf Hitler!" said one guy.. " Everyone feared him.. he was so powerful!!!!"

"Emperor Qin!" said a chinese. " He conquered 7 different nations and unified them into 1.. he was the 1st emperor of China and he was greatly feared!!"

More names came out... Alexander the great, general Yamashita, Gengkis Ghan, etc.

It was my turn to speak...

"The greatest leader of all was and is Jesus Christ" I told them.." All the leaders that you all have mentioned bulit up their kingdom out of fear and force but Jesus bulit His kingdom out of love.."

Hallelujah..

Candy cane

2005-08-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

A candy maker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would be a witness, so he made the Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, the foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises of God.

The candy maker made the candy in the form of a "J" to represent the precious name of Jesus, who came to earth as our Savior. It could also represent the staff of the "Good Shepherd" with which He reaches down into the ditches of the world to lift out the fallen lambs who, like all sheep, have gone astray.

The candy maker then stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes to show the stripes of the scourging Jesus received. The large red stripe was for the blood shed by Christ on the cross so that we could have the promise of eternal life.

However, the candy became known as a Candy Cane - a meaningless decoration seen at Christmas time. But the meaning is still there for those who "have eyes to see and ears to hear." I pray that this symbol will again be used to witness to The Wonder of Jesus and His Great Love that came down at Christmas and remains the ultimate and dominant force in the universe today...

Brownies with a difference..

2005-08-29T09:52:00.000-07:00

Whenever christians compromise, saying it's just a little bit.. just a little bit... this story is for you...

These group of teenagers wanted to go to watch this R21 movie badly... It had their favorite actors. Everyone else was seeing it. It was only rated R21 because of the suggestion of sex. They never really showed it. The language was pretty good. They only used the Lord's name in vain three times in the whole movie. The video effects were fabulous and the plot was action packed. Yes, there was the scene where a building and a bunch of people got blown up, but the violence was just the normal stuff. It wasn't very bad.

Even with all these explanations for the rating, the father wouldn't give in. He didn't even give them a satisfying explanation for saying, "No." He just said, "No."

"But dad... its just a little bit.. a little bit only.."

It was a little bit later that evening, that this same father asked his teens if they would like some brownies he had prepared. He explained that he had taken the families favorite recipe and added something new. They asked what it was. He calmly replied that he had added dog poop. He stated that it was only a little bit. All the ingredients were gourmet quality. He had taken great care to bake it at the precise temperature for the exact time. He was sure the brownies would be superb.

Even with all the explanations of the perfect attributes of the brownies, the teens would not take one.
The father acted surprised. There was only one little element that would have caused them to act so stubbornly. He assured them that they would hardly notice it if at all. They all held firm and would not try the brownies.

"What's the matter? Its just a little bit.. little bit" the father replied.

Today.. if your christian life has compromise, I hope this story will really benefit you.. God bless.

The Computer contest

2005-08-27T07:11:00.000-07:00

Jesus and Satan were having an ongoing argument about who was better on their computer. They had been going at it for what seemed like an eternity.

Finally God said, "Cool it you two, I will conduct a contest that will last 2 hours, and I will judge who does the best job.

So Satan and Jesus sat down at their keyboards and went at it.

They typed.
They moused.
They did spreadsheets.
They wrote reports.
They sent faxes.
They sent e-mails.
They sent attachments.
They downloaded.
They made cards.
They did every known job that a computer could do.

But 5 minutes before their time was up, lightning suddenly flashed across the sky, thunder clapped, the rain poured, and of course the electricity went off. Satan stared at his blank screen and screamed every curse word known in hell. Jesus just sighed.

The electricity flicked and then came back on.

They both restarted their computers. Satan started searching frantically and screamed, "It's gone. It's all gone. I lost everything when the power went off."

Meanwhile, Jesus quietly started printing out all of the files from the past 2 hours. Satan observed this and become irate.

"Wait! He cheated! How did he do it?"

God shrugged and said, "Jesus saves."

John F Kennedy and Jesus Christ

2005-08-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

Years ago.. when John. F Kennedy, the president of the united states was murdered, it took only 2 hours for the news to spread and everyone in the world knew who killed John. F Kennedy...

BUT>>

2000 years ago... Jesus Christ died on the cross for the world's sins.... Yet, about one quarter of the world doesnt know Him....

Why?

Because you and I are not reaching out..
Because you and I are not evangelising...
Because you and I are not preaching the gospel...

it's that simple...

time is running out for the unchurched. it is our responsibility to go out and reach the lost...

Jesus said " Go.. preach the word to all the nations.. to the ends of these earth"

John 3:16 "WHO SO EVER believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.."
that includes the elderly, uneducated, tribal, poor, mentally challenged. Whoever is lost, we must reach out.

Amen. May the peace of God be with you all

The irony of christians today

2005-08-23T02:48:00.000-07:00

This implies to most but not all christians...

Christians today are righteous on sunday and turn back to their own ways the rest of the week..

Christians today can spend 2 hours watching a movie but not 2o minutes praying...

Christians today can spend hundreds and thousands and the things they want and hesitate when the tithe and offerings are collected...

Christians today read all kinds of books.. Science fiction, romance, comedy... but they neglect the only book that is alive....

Christians today wear a cross around their neck but they do not carry it...

Christians today claim that they love God so much.. but when a girl or boy they likes backslides, you dont see them around in church too...

Christians today worship God with all their strength.. they buy cds and go to concerts (jump jump jump), but their life is not one of worship..

Christians today claim that they are hungry for God.. yet they have a problem waking up to come to church..

Christians today listen to their friends and buddies.. but they are rebellious to their family...

Christians today judge people... Yet they cant see their own flaws...

Christians today love God.. yet they are indulged in worldly pleasures...

Christians today learn that Jesus is coming back soon.. Yet, they do not live their life as though Jesus is returning!

Christians today are called christians, but they are not in a genuine relationship with the father..

The Quality of our Faith

2005-08-22T09:10:00.000-07:00

God is an awesome God... On sunday morning... I was waiting for the cab to come and pick me when i started praying... Again and again, I asked God to speak to my heart and to revive me...

Well, during the chinese service, pastor lim preached about the 3rd key step of revival- A purified church..

And during the english service, pastor dale preached about the quality of our faith... And during the altar call, God said... " You wanted your revival. there it is..." Praise God... I've just reached a new peak in my christian life and I'm glad to have overcome the past trial when God was "absent" from me...

The quality of our faith

The word faith is now so commonly used in the world... people are named faith.... song lyrics contain faith...

As church people, our faith is more than just a "religion"... but belief in the Almighty God!!!Unchurched people see christians as unbelievers of God...

But it is not enough to believe in God!
James 2:19 " Even demons believe in God! and tremble!"
It is no big deal if you believe in God..

That's why the quality of our faith is so important..

*The quality of our faith is measured by our trust in God*
Genesis 12. God called Abram to go to the land of canaan for He will make him a great nation there...
Abram simply obeyed. Together with his entire household (family+300 servants) left for canaan.

Many a times, by our refusal to move in God's direction for our lives, we dig a grave of spiritual death for ourselves.

In this world, trusting God is the only thing that has a 0% risk.

*The quality of our faith is substained by communion with God*
Genesis 12:8. Abram bulit an altar for the Lord. There, he constantly spent time with God. He talks with Him, he listens to Him, he laughs with Him, he cries out to Him, he even questions Him....

*The quality of our faith is substained by being steadfast to our calling*
Genesis. Abram lived in the land of canaan.

Sometimes when God called us to a certain place, a certain task... how long can we fufill His calling when we start to question God? when we start asking God " sure or not?"

*The quality of our faith is guarded by our conviction*
Genesis 19:18-23.

It is not enough to pay homepage to righteousness on sunday and for the rest of the week, our convictions are swallowed up by our convictions.

*Our quality of faith is strengthened when it is tested*
Abram had to go through the test of famine, the test of patience and of course, the test of sacrifice...

Look at this and ponder... After a long long long wait.... Abram finally got his son Issac... He was going to be the father of all nations.. "at last" He thought God's plan for his life will surely be fulfilled....

But God wanted him to offer issac as a burnt offering!!! Abraham would have been questioning God.. " God! What are you trying to do!"

But he offered Issac as an sacrifice.. (God did the same)

You know.. if God told jacob he was to be the father of all nations that would have been more believable... he had 12 sons... so it could be marked as the start of a nation...

*The quality of our faith is found by the promise of the eternal city*
Hebrews 11:8-10. God brought Abraham to the land that he didn't see... After a long long wait...

Genesis 15:6

Abramham pleased God with his faith that God credited him with righteousness... Without righteousness, it is impossible to stand before God... But because of His grace and our faith, we will be deemed as righteous in His eyes...

Amen...

God's grace

2005-08-20T08:47:00.000-07:00

A man died and went to heaven.

There he met the Almighty God and He said to him... You need 1000 points to enter heaven... tell Me what you did in your life and I shall give you points according to your deeds..

The man said " I am a pastor who pastored a certain church.. I led my people to repentance and saved many souls"

God said" Well done my faithful servant.. for that I give you 4 points!"

"4 points!" The man continued." I have been a faithful and loving husband to my wife and a good father to my kids".

God said" Okay... I give you another 2 points"

"what!" exclaimed the man. " If this goes on, the only way I can enter heaven is by God's grace!"

Amen! We inherit the kingdom of God not by works.. but by grace! through faith...

Would you like to meet the King?

2005-08-19T11:00:00.000-07:00

There once was a little boy who wanted to meet the king. He set off, walking across the beautiful countryside towards the king's castle. He walked and walked, thinking of all the wonderful things that he and the king would talk about, and he imagined how beautiful the castle was. He was just a little boy, and wanted so much just to talk to the king and be in his presence.
Finally, after many long days of walking, the king's castle came into view. It was even more majestic than the boy had imagined! He couldn't wait to tell the king how beautiful everything was and how much he had enjoyed his walk across the countryside. The boy began to run towards the castle!
However, as the boy drew closer to the outside of the castle, he noticed guards. Watchtowers were bristling with firepower, and the guards had mean looks on their faces. The boy slowed down...then stopped. The guards noticed him, and drew their weapons, striking menacing postures. They looked right at him!
"I just want to see the king...." the little boy began in a halting voice.
"Get out of here!" growled the guards.
Well, the little boy didn't have to be told twice. After all that walking, after all that thinking, after all that wishing and hoping, he turned...and ran, scared beyond measure.
He began to cry. All he wanted to do was tell the king wonderful things, and see all the beautiful things in the king's house. But he couldn't even get near the castle! The boy finally stopped running and sat down and cried.
A young man happened to be coming down the path at that very moment. He was carrying a sack of groceries and whistling a pretty tune. He saw the little boy and stopped.
"What's wrong, young man? Why so sad?" he asked.
"Sir, I walked and walked and walked just to see the king and there were these guards and I was scared and I wanted to tell the king how lovely everything is and see all the neat things in his castle and play and just tell the king that I just wanted to see him!!" wailed the little boy.
"Whoa! Slow down a little. Sounds like you've had a rough time today." With that, the man set down his grocery sack and began to rummage through it. "Would you like some apple juice?" asked the man.
"Yes, thanks. I don't think I'll ever go back there!"
The man looked at the little boy thoughtfully. "Look, why don't you try again. I'll come with you this time."
"Hey look mister, you haven't seen these guards. They're big! And mean! They yelled at me!"
The man smiled at the little boy, who was obviously concerned for his (the man's) safety. He stood up and dusted himself off.
"C'mon with me. Maybe we can find something to eat along the way." the man said, holding out his hand.
The little boy looked up at the man, and looked in the direction of the castle. He was so close! Well, he reasoned, even if I can't see the king, maybe I can get something to eat before I begin my walk home.
With that, the little boy got up and took the man's hand. He gripped the man's hand tighter and tighter as they got closer to the king's castle. Finally, the king's guards spotted them: one very frightened boy holding the hand of a man with a sack of groceries. As they drew close, the little boy could stand it no more.
"Look, mister, we don't have to do this...I don't want you to get hurt. I'll just be on my way. It was nice of you to stop...thanks for the juice...we can just turn around now..." the boy began to babble again.
The man held the little boy's hand firmly and said, "Child, you've come this far...how about trusting me a little longer? Let's just see what happens."
"OK...."
The pair came closer to the castle and the guards watched them approach. The man looked down and winked at the boy. The boy really thought the man might be crazy...until he looked back up at the guards. They were smiling now!! The two that looked the toughest and meanest grinned fit to split! They even lowered the drawbridge to the castle. The little boy was amazed!
"Who are you?" asked the little boy in astonishment.
"Why, I'm the King's Son. By placing your trust and faith in Me, you can enter the Castle and be with the King," said the man.
The little boy broke into a huge smile.
"Can I go home and tell my parents about You?" asked the little boy. "Then they can come to visit, too!"
Jesus smiled. He thought that was the best thing that anyone could do.
Would you like to see the King? Let me introduce you to His Son....

The Light

2005-08-17T08:45:00.000-07:00

Long ago, or maybe not so long ago, there was a tribe in a dark, cold cavern. The cave dwellers would huddle together and cry against the chill. Loud and long they wailed. It was all they did. It was all they knew to do. The sounds in the cave were mournful, but the people didn't know it, for they had never known joy. The spirit in the cave was death, but the people didn't know it, for they had never known life.
But then, one day, they heard a different voice. "I have heard your cries," it announced. "I have felt your chill and seen your darkness. I have come to help."
The cave people grew quiet. They had never heard this voice. hope sounded strange to their ears. "How can we know you have come to help?"
"Trust me," he answered. "I have what you need."
The cave people peered through the darkness at the figure of the stranger. He was stacking something, then stooping and stacking more.
"What are you doing?" one cried, nervous.
The stranger didn't answer.
"What are you making?" one shouted even louder.
Still no response.
"Tell us!" demanded a third.
The visitor stood and spoke in the direction of the voices. "I have what you need." With that he turned to the pile at his feet and lit it. Wood ignited, flames erupted, and light filled the cavern.
The cave people turned away in fear. "Put it out!" they cried. "It hurts to see it."
"Light always hurts before it helps," he answered. "Step closer. The pain will soon pass."
"Not I," declared a voice.
"Nor I," agreed a second.
"Only a fool would risk exposing his eyes to such light."
The stranger stood next to the fire. "Would you prefer the darkness? Would you prefer the cold? Don't consult your fears. Take a step of faith"
For a long time no one spoke. The people hovered in groups covering their eyes. The fire builder stood next to the fire. "It's warm here," he invited.
"He's right," one from behind him announced. "It's warmer." The stranger turned a saw a figure slowly stepping toward the fire. "I can open my eyes now," she proclaimed. "I can see."
"Come closer," invited the fire builder.
She did. She stepped into the ring of light.
"It's so warm!" she extended her hands and sighed as her chill began to pass.
"Come, everyone! Feel the warmth," she invited.
"Silence, woman!" cried one of the cave dwellers. "Dare you lead us into your folly? Leave us. Leave us and take your light with you."
She turned to the stranger. "Why won't they come?"
"They choose the chill, for though it's cold, it's what they know. They'd rather be cold than change."
"And live in the dark?"
"And live in the dark."
The now-warm woman stood silent. Looking first at the dark, then at the man.
"Will you leave the fire?" he asked.
She paused, then answered, "I cannot. I cannot bear the cold." Then she spoke again. "But nor can I bear the thought of my people in darkness."
"You don't have to," he responded, reaching into the fire and removing a stick. "Carry this to your people. Tell them the light is here, and the light is warm. Tell them the light is for all who desire it."
And so she took the small flame and stepped into the shadows.

Godless chatter...

2005-08-16T10:00:00.001-07:00

When we become Christians, we give up the "biggies" like lying, stealing, drinking, cheating, drugs, and fornication. We start spending time with our new-found friends, talking about the Lord, our lives, and what's going on around us in general. Harmless stuff ... or so we think. But let's take a closer look. Many times these conversations are full of judgments, rumors, and hearsay ... all tucked neatly away behind a concerned Christian smile.

Gossiping and talking about worldly and ungodly topics are Godless chatter.

Gossiping is something God really hates. It is said in scripture...
In proverbs 8:13 "the Lord despises evil speech"
In Leviticus 19:16 "do not go about spreading slander"
In pslams 101:5 "he who slanders his neighbour in secret, I will put to silence"

Gossiping can be in many forms.. talking, spreading, listening... It is the devil's tool to destroy your christian life slowly and gradually that you dont realise it... Eventually, it brings you further and further away from God...

Secondly, talking about unnecessary and earthly topics are very common today. Even in my church. People talking about worldly songs and singers, games, tv shows... does it contribute to their christian life? Worse... I've met christians that speech contains dirty content, abusive and vulgar language... words like "you suck man" and "shit you"....

I rebuke you because you are not glorifying our Father in heaven... Think of the unchurched looking at you... what will they think?

Yet, I myself am not worthy to judge... But I am being sanctified everyday and I am becoming more and more perfect in my speech...
James 3:2 " If anyone is never at fault in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to keep his body in check."

Young as a christian you may be but there is no excuse... Keep yourselves in check and reflect everday.. We are to grow in the Lord.. to shed more of ourselves so that we can be more like Him...

Paul warned the christians to avoid godless chatter for they will become more and more ungodly...

Pardon me for my harsh message. But i care for you and i want to get rid of all useless speech in the world... The Holy Spirit has made me into a harsh and passionate preacher... This is my style of preaching... I'm sorry if you don't like it... But I hope you will benefit from this message.. God bless...

What are we doing?

2005-08-15T09:06:00.000-07:00

I was in a cab passing by my house at 11pm last night. Scenes of people burning incense and paper stuff were everywhere. The Holy Spirit spoke to me to speak this message, to convict both christians and unbelievers to do something...

Its the 7th month of the lunar new year... The month where the gates of hell would be opened and the spirits would roam in the earth... People would be sacrificing and offering to these ghosts and spirits...

Personally, I think that's crap. You think hell is a chalet? You can go there and enjoy.. party hardy with your friends... My friend said he prefered to go to hell because in heaven there are rules and regulations to follow but in hell he can do anything he wants..

My friend's mother told his whole family that this is the 7th month.. be careful of what you say and don't go out so late.... My friend told me that I shouldn't put my chopsticks vertically into my food because it resembles joss sticks and incense...

This is just one small part of what the world is like nowadays... In this case, ignorance is NOT bliss. Ignorance is present in this world... People don't see the meaningless of their lives, they don't know the truth...

Why?
Because we christians are not creating an impact!
I am so sick of routines that christians follow..
I am so sick of churches preaching prosperous messages...
I am so sick of worldly christians...
I am so sick of people rejecting the gospel...
I am so sick of christians that go to church, raise their hands when worshipping God but go out of church and remain unchanged.
I am so sick of people who can tell lies and lies without blinking...
I am so sick of my friends being persecuted and not being able to overcome...
I am so sick of the devil controlling this world

We need a revival in this land!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you tell me to be patient and God's plan will be fulfilled, let me ask you, how can God's plan be fulfilled when the earth is like that? I know sometimes God places us in difficult situations but we can be sick of those situations.. We can pray for deliverance and hate our situation.. Who loves being persecuted?

We can be a much more powerful generation than it's current state. But why not?

Because christians do not pray or they do not pray enough.
Because christians don't live their lives the way they should.
Because christians are caught up with their own pleasures that they neglect the world.
Because christians are not firm in the word of God.
Because christians think that their christian life is all about going to church.

I myself am not doing enough for God. I can be winning more souls. I can be praying more. I can be better in my speech, actions, behaviour and character. But I am not ignorant of these. I am aware and I am praying again and again and again and again for God to change more of me and to do more for His glory....

Let us be aware of our lives and let us shine more for God... Ask ourselves... What are we doing? But a greater question... What should we be doing?

Striking a prayer balance

2005-08-14T09:06:00.000-07:00

Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that seperated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues as the Holy Spirit enabled them.

God has blessed us with a great privellege and that is to come before Him and pray. You know in Singapore, it is very hard to get the prime minister's number... they will ask you who are you? But Heaven has a 24 hour hotline and you can pray wherever and whenever you want.. God will hear you....

What do you pray for? Necessities? Career? Marriage? Children's education? Healing?
Finance? In different stages of our lives, we pray for different things.

But how long, how much have you spent praying for souls? Praying for others?

Different people have different needs but the common point of a christian's prayer is for souls to be saved!!!

Prayer was so important that Jesus taught His disciples how to pray. See Matthew 5:9.

Imagine the church as a car. To operate the car, won;t we need a key? The key to our church is PRAYER!
Even if you have the biggest or the most beautiful church, without prayer, its useless...

YOU THINK PEOPLE ARE PRAYING?
Luke 22:46 " Why are you sleeping? Get up and pray!"

Prayer can make us successful evangelists...
1). Because of prayer, God's annointing will come upon you.

Before Jesus's cruxifiction, weren't the disciples cowardly and of little faith? But after they prayed, the Holy Spirit enabled them to speak in tongues! and gave them courage to do God's work!

2). Because of prayer, God's heart will become your heart.

Today.. who will think souls are precious? Who will go all out to win souls?

Years ago, a famous evangelist, Hartson Taylor was traveling in a boat. One man fell into the sea. Everyone on the boat looked at the man and stared. No one lifted a finger to help. But hartson, who couldnt swim, went around asking people to save him. But no one wanted to. Hartson took out a 5 dollar bill ( all that he had) and offered it to a man. But the man hassled over the price!!!! 30 dollars!!!!

Today, people don;t see the pricelessness of souls because they do not have God's heart... they dont pray...

Let us pray everyday... that God will empower us with His spirit with His love ... so that we can win souls for His kingdom! Amen.

The Dirt is Mine!

2005-08-12T09:20:00.000-07:00

A group of scientists, after inventing a machine to create human beings challenged God to a contest.

"God, didn't You create man from dirt? We will prove to You that we can too." said the scientists.

One of the scientist proceeded to pick up a handful of dirt. He was about to put it into the machine when God said...

"Hey.. that dirt is Mine... go get yours and leave mine alone!"