Gospel Call Update #5

Ok, so I turned the camera.......please forgive me.

Other than that I thought this was a good snippet of what it's like to open-air preach on the streets of Boise.

Now, whether you are called to witness and proclaim the gospel on the streets or not, you are most definitely called to love the one doing it.

I am extremely elated in the Glory of God  having just returned from the streets with Shawn the Baptist! The above video is from just one hour ago as we tested out the BoDo's(Boise Downtown) area for Gospel preaching. Today we spoke with police in a meeting at the precinct and received clear instructions on what is lawful and what is not. We have amazing support from the local force who are largely Christian or liberty minded. They need our prayers. We ran into folks from Calvary chapel who were also evangelizing, and Marlin and Justin along with Calvary youth were quite a blessing. As we made our way through the nasty weather to an almost empty BoDos we were asked for a Bible from someone who had gotten a tract earlier. Once there, as I was preaching, a friend from a few years ago named Katie came up and actually asked me if she could use my phone.  I spoke with her on campus while we were preaching last Wednesday, and I believe God is speaking to her about some things and am praying that He would do a mighty work in her life. I can tell you that as my wife and I prepare for a wonderful morning of worship with The Well tomorrow, I cannot thank the Lord enough for His sovereignty in my life and what He is doing in my heart and and all around me. Praise Him!

God is doing amazing things in Boise and if we see a revival it will come from the street level as it always has at every point in history when it has been authentic. What Joy of Joys to be in the employ of Christ our King and be His mouthpiece!! Won't you pray for us? Pray that God would give us clear messages and clean hearts. Pray for the Lord of the Harvest to send more workers to assist us in the work of the Kingdom. The Great commission is not, "Go into the four walls of your church and proclaim the Gospel to the few poor creatures who come inside."  The Great Commission is "Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel!"

Oh friends, you must ask yourself if you are being a witness for Christ! Are you not just walking the talk, but

ARE YOU TALKING THE WALK?

The Word goes forth by it's proclamation and while we may not all be called to be preachers, we as Christians ARE all called to be theologians. Christ would have us know all things He taught.

15 Practice these things, immerse yourself in them,  so that all may see your progress. 16 Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. I Timothy 4:15-16

Let us come together and exhort one another to speak of the most profound truths we will ever know, those precious doctrines of God and His free Grace.

The more you desire these things the better you will become at presenting the gospel to anyone at anytime.

Study, Watch, Learn. then Go, Stand, Speak

Christian witness must always be forged anew in the fire of the question of truth. Otherwise it can in no case and at no time be a witness that is substantial and responsible, and consequently trustworthy and forceful.

Please, bow before your Lord and pray that He will give you a heart for the lost. We must be vigilant in these last days as the world crumbles down around us. Be like the preacher aboard the Titanic who ran to and fro preaching Christ till his dying breath. Be ready at all times to speak of your faith.

15 but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, 16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. 17 For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God's will, than for doing evil. I Peter 3:15-17

A Word in Favor of Mature, Not-So-Restless Reformers



A necessary dose of Spurgeon



The following excerpt is from "Ripe Fruit," a sermon preached on Sunday morning, 14 August 1870, at the Met Tab in London.

The church wants mature Christians very greatly, and especially when there are many fresh converts added to it. New converts furnish impetus to the church, but her backbone and substance must, under God, lie with the mature members.

We want mature Christians in the army of Christ, to play the part of veterans, to inspire the rest with coolness, courage, and steadfastness; for if the whole army is made up of raw recruits the tendency will be for them to waver when the onslaught is fiercer than usual. The old guard, the men who have breathed smoke and eaten fire before, do not waver when the battle rages like a tempest; they can die but they cannot surrender. When they hear the cry of "Forward," they may not rush to the front so nimbly as the younger soldiers, but they drag up the heavy artillery, and their advance once made is secure. They do not reel when the shots fly thick, but still hold their own, for they remember former fights when Jehovah covered their heads.



The church wants in these days of flimsiness and timeserving, more decided, thorough-going, well-instructed, and confirmed believers. We are assailed by all sorts of new doctrines. The old faith is attacked by so-called reformers, who would reform it all away. I expect to hear tidings of some new doctrine once a week.



So often as the moon changes, some prophet or other is moved to propound a new theory, and believe me, he will contend more valiantly for his novelty than ever he did for the gospel. The discoverer thinks himself a modern Luther, and of his doctrine he thinks as much as David of Goliath's sword, "There is none like it."



As Martin Luther said of certain in his day, these inventors of new doctrines stare at their discoveries like a cow at a new gate, as if there were nothing else in all the world but the one thing for them to stare at.



We are all expected to go mad for their fashions, and march to their piping. To whom we give place; no, not for an hour. They may muster a troop of raw recruits, and lead them whither they would, but for confirmed believers they sound their bugles in vain. Children run after every new toy; any little performance in the street, and the boys are all agog, gaping at it; but their fathers have work to do abroad, and their mothers have other matters at home; your drum and whistle will not draw them out.



For the solidity of the church, for her steadfastness in the faith, for her defense against the constantly recurring attacks of heretics and infidels, and for her permanent advance and the seizing of fresh provinces for Christ, we want not only your young, hot blood, which may God always send to us, for it is of immense service, and we cannot do without it, but we need also the cool, steady, well-disciplined, deeply-experienced hearts of men who know by experience the truth of God, and hold fast what they have learned in the school of Christ.



May the Lord our God therefore send us many such; they are wanted.

                                                                                                             

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Gospel Call Update #4

                      The Lord is so gracious and He gives freely of His amazing gifts. The Bible says He will give you what you most desire when you take joy in Him.
Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Psalm 37:4
When God raises a man from spiritual death, He gives that man a new heart and therefore new desires. Then, when that man prays for grace from God, the saved man's desires are actually God's desires.
 And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh
Ezekiel 11:19
 My desire has been to evangelize and preach out in the open air. I have been making my way down to the streets of Boise to tell people about the Gospel for the last 5 years. I have had on my heart a great desire to open-air preach, but up until this past weekend have only evangelized  in conversational style with individuals and groups alike. So last Friday, I get a text from Shawn Holes and he says, "Let's go proclaim the gospel brother!"  I was glad he had returned. He and many others had just finished a several month long tour around the nation to 17 different Universities and respective cities, delivering the message of salvation. Now he was excited to do the same at Boise State and I had an open invitation.

                           Friday at about noon I showed up to the BSU campus to see Shawn and two other brothers proclaiming the gospel and sharing Christ with several students. Their signs hailed the Lordship of Christ as well as pointed out certain false religions like Mormonism, Islam, and Evolutionism. When the students see these kinds of signs and witness the bold preaching they are extremely stirred to a variety of emotions. A college student sees the campus as his own, and therefore is offended when someone dares to speak aloud about a singular truth which is declared to be true for everyone. Whether or not the student will admit that he believes truth is relative, it is very clear that to many it is taboo to presume to tell anyone that your perception of truth is the only correct one. Doubting truth and trusting in oneself is to them the essence of humility. It is our job as Christians to point out that it is indeed the very opposite, it is the height of arrogance. Truth, by its very definition is absolute and therefore true for everyone. We must not trust in ourselves to be our personal source of truth for we will be very disappointed. Truth is outside of us and defines how we believe, our belief does not determine truth.

As Jesse preached the precious truth of Christ our King, another showed up with his own sign revealing his rebellion.

Striking up conversations with those students passing by, I found myself walking briskly beside a few students who sought to reject the gospel. They were annoyed that I was talking to them, however they revealed more of their unbelief as I pressed them with questions. Their responses were things like, "The Bible is fiction", "God is not real", "Philosophy destroys Religion", and "I don't need God".

Returning to the group, there began to be quite a crowd growing as Shawn and my two new brothers in Christ, Jesse and Ken, preached the full gospel. Someone had gotten offended because Shawn said that all LGBT people were hellbound just like every other sinner who is not under the covering of Christ. The police showed up, but did not tell us to leave. During the course of the 5 hours of preaching and teaching the police were called to the site three times. Each time was due to the outrage and anger from those present because of the gentle nudging and outright offense of the gospel. We were careful not to be offensive as we evangelized, however the gospel in its entirety is quite offensive to those who are perishing. The Bible says it is a stench in their nostrils. One girl asked Shawn if he knew that BSU is a secular campus. He said yes, to which she responded by asking why in the world he felt it necessary to preach there as no one was receiving the Message well. Shawn asked why wouldn't he want to! It is the Greatest News. We will proclaim it in the highways and the byways with vigor, gusto, and unending joy. When it goes forth it will do what God has ordained it to do. Whether those who hear stumble over it or are humbled by it, it is only the job of the preacher to preach. For truly, at the end of the day when the person lays his head down to sleep, he has heard the gospel and he is without excuse.

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
Romans 1:20

They severely disliked us, but we kept on preaching.

Many people in the crowd who were professing Christians and upset by the preaching were moved to decry the preacher in obvious guilt at their own lack of zeal for the Word of God. It is very clear that those who are angry at the preacher all the while saying they are saved, can only be very upset at themselves for not having told their friends about the saving grace of God for fear of offending someone; or of course they are just another one of the millions of false converts created by a watered down gospel. As a young girl got very angry, I was later able to talk to her and exhort her by the Word of God that open-air preaching is quite Biblical and showing her that Jesus and the apostles all did it. After a very good conversation with this girl I believe she showed true signs of life in Christ as she immediately calmed down and listened very intently, clearly processing what I was saying. She was quite thankful for talking to me and told me so. She actually left our little gathering happy and in peace with gospel tract and contact information in hand.

Folks listen to me. That young girl was a victory. When she or any other student attends class they are being taught by what is predominantly an humanistic, evolutionist board of professors. It matters little if their professor is a professing Christian as far as academics go. Their books and the entire system as a whole is designed to deceive and dumb down with a plurality of truths so that we are left with not a University but a Plural-versity.

The people who attend are subjected to the rantings of lunatics all day without speaking out against lies, and then when the beautiful gospel is preached to them they are compelled to disagree. We must not waver in our delivery of the gospel. I had several volatile discussions with students about Homosexuality, Islam, and the validity of scripture. They were not easy discussions and I am very aware of areas in which I can improve, but the Word of God is powerful and alive, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder soul from spirit, bone from marrow. We must not compromise when it comes to absolutes and lovingly reveal to those who are perishing that there is no unity worth the sacrifice of truth.

Truth is important, whether you think so or not, and unity without Christ is tyranny

We finished and I had some amazing fellowship with my three brothers in Christ inside the Student Union building drinking coffee and eating Chik-Fil-A. As we spoke I learned of Jesse's heart for mission work and his current project of translating and printing a new Bible for the people of Nepal. He explained that they have a grossly mis-translated one where it is apparent it has been manipulated by the Roman Catholic Church. It is a fine work indeed that he is doing. Ken is a Reformed brother and it was a pleasure to get to know him and very interesting to hear from him what is happening in his homestate as he spelled out the disaster in Deerborne, MI where they have implemented full on Sharia Law. Shawn Holes is a dear brother in Christ who has been a friend to me and my live introduction to open-air preaching. He has travelled the country as well as the globe delivering the Word of God and by the amazing grace of God, he has recently made Boise, Idaho his homebase. Please remember to pray for these men as they are doing the work of the Lord many times in a very thankless environment.

Well, we all went home and the next day made our way back to the campus only this time to the entrance to then football stadium to await the crowds for the last BSU game of the year. This day was to be my first day of open-air preaching and I was thoroughly looking forward to it. The day before, after we had finished at the campus, Shawn had told me that I would be going first to preach to the masses. With a short sermon in mind I preached through a PA system about Law and Grace, Judgement and Forgiveness using the Ten Commandments, the coming of Christ, and the urgency of repentance and bowing before Him now before it is too late. What an amazing feeling to preach the greatest news that has ever come to my ears! What joy to witness the power of Christ to others! I am dedicated to study and worship as the Lord disciples me through so many ways to be properly fitted for this important work.

This is me preaching before the crowds really got there. However, there were a number of groups tailgating directly across from us and they were doing a fair share of heckling while I preached. After awhile of this the head of campus security showed up and told us that we could not do what we were doing and asked us to move out to the sidewalk. We told him no and we said we wanted to abide by the law, but that we were going to preach where the people were.

The man talking to us was head of campus security. He was adamant that we leave, and told us to go out to the sidewalk. We then realized that the band was marching their way over to us. They stopped right in front of us and began to play. I am not sure if that is standard for them or they were actually responding to our preaching, but it certainly drowned us out briefly, and it was difficult to even hear the person right next to you.  The security guy continued to tell us to leave and said "let's go, let's go guys!" He then thanked us for moving and walked a little distance away.

However, we did not leave. He came back over and said he was giving us 5 minutes and then "taking it to the next level". We stayed and before long the police showed up, but not before the band had left and we  resumed preaching. The officer was a man named Tony and God showed us a great deal of grace through him. At first he asked us if we had cleared anything through BSU and we told him no it was not required for public property. He then talked with Shawn at length and we were allowed to stay as long as we stayed out of the main thoroughfare. We ceased using the PA and just preached Christ continuously to all those who were filing in to worship the god of statism and the god of football.

   So many people come to unleash a stream of praises and show unabashed excitement for something that will fail them and will certainly never save them(quite the contrary), but they are ashamed of the gospel and become offended and withdrawn when the most glorious News anyone can ever hear is preached, which is Christ and His perfect gospel. Why? Who ever said that we must not speak of the most critical issue you will ever face, your eternal salvation? How is it that the greatest joy ever known, that of Christ our King, is so easily forgotten for the rotting decay of fleshly pleasures? It is because the true gospel is not preached! For the last 100 years the gospel of Jesus Christ has been misused and misrepresented so that today we have a meely-mouthed presentation of a self-fulfilling, self-glorifying disaster of gnostic ideas, the consequences of which will be the very rending of the fabric of our nation. Many people will admit there is something wrong with the visible church, however they differ on the root causes. The cause of the effect of apostasy today is a man-centered view of scripture and of God. God does not have to save anyone. We do not deserve salvation. Man is totally depraved and under the curse of original sin. Man is dead in his trespasses and sin and completely unable to please God without first being resurrected from the dead by the decree of Almighty God through the power of Christ by the moving of the Holy Spirit. This will not happen without the "foolishness of preaching.." as ordained by God to be the ordinary and primary way in which His Word is ministered to the lost. This means delivering God's Word in its entirety, not structuring His Word to fit into a specific mold so that it can be "more relevant to culture". Heretics like Rob Bell, Joel Osteen, Brian McLaren, Todd Hunter, N.T. Wright, Joyce Meyer, and Rick Warren have contributed a great deal to the turning away from the gospel by not only the world, but professing Christians alike. Trashy Bible translations like the NIV, the Amplified Bible, The "Massage" by Peterson, and the vile "Word on the Street" have helped to persuade the minds of men already in love with themselves that it is man who is at the center of God's purposes, nothing less than a 180 degree turn from His actual purpose which is His own glory.

...contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.  For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jude 3-4

   If God glorifies Himself then we get the ultimate joy, for He is God. He will always get the glory no matter if we serve Him or hate Him. So despite these false teachers and warped translations of His Word, His Word will still go forth and transform those who would otherwise conform to their own way of thinking. Indeed, I have benefited from the NIV, but knowing what I know about it I would counsel anyone who is using it to leave it alone. The other translations I mentioned are more blatantly obvious hoaxes to an authentic Christian.

So we preached until most had gone inside the stadium. We handed out tracts and spoke with many about the Truth of Christ. I even spoke with a young man named Josh who had been in a youth group I was helping to shepherd back at my old church. He and his girlfriend actually appreciated what we were doing and before they left they had been exhorted to give me the gospel in two minutes as well as had tracts and contact information in hand.

That night, Saturday night, we travelled downtown to preach Christ to Boise's nightlife(one of my favorite things to do), and we were located at 8th and Idaho, right outside the gay bar, the Balcony. As we preached and witnessed, people were mostly unreceptive, however I did meet some young people who said they had felt called to Boise from out of state to hold Bible studies and teach people how to study the Bible. That is good, however when I asked them about hermeneutics they had no idea what I was talking about. No surprise there, but they did understand that private interpretation was wrong. They indeed had a high view of the free will of man and I simply pointed out the many verses that point to our depravity and deadness and that we cannot please God without Him first regenerating us. They invited me to their Bible study so that will be fun. 

We experienced an extremely vile and confrontive man come down from the Balcony and yell and scream at us so as to attempt to drown out the preaching. All he did was serve to bring quite a crowd up to see what was going on, to whom Shawn promptly preached the full gospel as the police eventually showed up and required the wicked man to leave. Praise God for the amazing grace that was shown to us through pleasant and obviously irritated cops alike! 

Before I left, two people were attempting to draw a large pentagram on the street in front of us using boxes of salt. They declared they not only disbelieved Jesus but Satan as well and would show us. They ran out of salt and could not complete the foul symbol which caused us to preach all the louder.

From our preaching and evangelizing we had many blessed harvests. A young Romanian man from the campus named Stephan came to my church on Sunday and brought his brother and sister. What a pleasure they were to have at service as we enjoyed the graces of God together and fellowshipped in the brotherhood of Christ. Stephan and I will be meeting for coffee. I talked with a man whom Michael and I had already evangelized at length some weeks ago and he was encouraged as he is struggling and grappling with the Word of God and its validity.  I also met a man named Kelly who was very taken  by our street ministry and has already called me to meet and talk about what we can do together for the glory of Christ!

Give God the glory for this wonderful weekend of proclaiming the Good News of His precious salvation! For without it this blessed gift of God's sovereign free grace, certainly not a one of us would ever have a hope of escaping His terrible wrath. He is God, and we are not. He has given us a life with a will enough to lead ourselves straight to hell. We get to do exactly as we please, and all we please to do is willfully sin against a Holy God. If you are not saved or you are a professing Christian who thinks you can play around with sin and doctrines of demons, please know that the invisible church, the Bride of Christ is chaste, holy, righteous, beautiful, and waiting in pure joy with lamp full and wick trimmed for the triumphant return of her glorious King when He splits the Eastern sky for all to see and all to bow. What will you say when He asks you why He should not kill you where you stand for all your curses against Him? What will you say when when you stand before His blazing eyes and realize your unbelief has been nothing but pure hatred for a God revealed in your conscience and all around you?

What will you say when He asks you why He should take you with Him?

Forgive... to Live

Why do we as Christians so easily succumb to replacing the glory of God with some earthly trinket that satisfies for but a moment? Do you ever think about it? I mean it doesn't have to be the worse sin imaginable, just the simple things or emotions of our lives, like movies, activities, other people, rest, pre-occupation, texting, e-mail, or pride. For me it seems the worst right after church. You know, I'm just out of Sunday service and am well aware of the last few hours of the weekend to do with whatever I wish before the next work week begins. Instead of studying the sermon further or just reading the Word together with my wife in prayer, I begin wondering what entertainment I could make of all this personal free time. While we could dive deep into this particular topic exploring issues such as consumerism, post-modernism, and lack of spiritual discernment, I want to look at another possible and perhaps more misunderstood cause of this effect of neglect and supplanting God's glory and it's subsequent healthy benefits.
                                         

                                              Forgiveness.

That's right, forgiveness or rather, the lack thereof. Did you know that it is the least preached upon topic in all of the historical, post-apostolic church? Why is that?  Is it because it is viewed as unimportant? That should not be surprising with the rampant neglect of sound, Biblical doctrine as it is. Is it because the enemy keeps his guns directed most on it? It would seem so, if it is so suppressed. The fact is, scripture speaks directly to forgiveness being that which restores us to foundational life in Christ Jesus, both in what He does for us and how we react to Him and to others.

“Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”  Colossians 3:13

We even see Christ say something so astounding as to try the intellect of many a theologian.

 "And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers,  until he should pay all his debt.  So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:34-35

Hmm..seems that if there is no evident forgiveness from us toward others it raises serious questions about even our own salvation. This should give us cause to dwell long and hard upon what God says about forgiveness and meditate on those places in Holy Writ which expound the doctrine of forgiveness.


Dare I say that it might be because of a lack of forgiveness in your life that the very glory of God is being obscured from your view. Could it be that unforgiveness is causing you to find substitutes for God and thereby robbing you of the unimaginable joy that comes from simply taking joy in Christ's joy? Certainly, if you harbor unforgiveness or perhaps are unforgiven, then you will seek to placate your conscience with stimulation that blinds you from God. It is not that watching a movie, busying yourself about the house, or taking pride in something is necessarily bad, it is that you are doing these things NOT unto the glory of God, but in fact in an attempt to satiate your soul.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31

Call me crazy, but I am convinced we are unable to do things unto the Glory of God if there are feelings of unforgiveness in our hearts or even in the hearts of those around us directed at us. Recently, I have had my own encounters with forgiveness. I ashamedly laid a heavy burden upon someone whom I hold very dear. It was unnecessary and revealed my sin nature. This precious person chose to forgive me. The conviction and motivation toward Godliness that this generated was extremely powerful. I cherish what God has done through this trial.
On the flipside, there is a certain history involving financial disagreements and a broken friendship that God has been bringing me to deal with these last few weeks. There is no question that I am liable, the disagreement is how much. There is no question that matters should be resolved, however the other party has shown his carnal nature in the way he has handled it. It has been difficult and stressful indeed to even think on this matter as well as see a professing Christian acting un-Christlike toward me. While I am a party to the problem, he was a friend and now harbors unforgiveness toward me, and while this will weigh most heavily on his own heart, it certainly makes for unpleasant and downright depressing feelings in mine. My utmost desire is to handle the matter as much like Christ as possible as I pray it is his as well.
Big issues aside, even the smallest thing can cause upset. Just getting mad at your spouse and letting it go on unchecked can easily become a mountain of problems. What a relief it is to just say, "I forgive you." Even if it is in your own heart before the other even knows you are mad....in fact that is the best time! In truth, there are no words sweeter than, "I forgive you."  Do you mean it? Yes, I forgive you.

Does forgiveness mean that we let people off the hook? Sometimes, but not always, and certainly never in the eternal sense... I mean it certainly does where God is concerned. When He forgives sin it is a complete absolution of the debt. Does forgiveness mean that we throw reason and truth out the window? Never.

It does mean that we will reap huge harvests of benefits in our own lives and in the lives of those around us.

The love of God compels us to forgive others and to love them in truth and spirit. Forgiving them does not mean you absolve them of guilt, just as loving them in spirit and truth does not mean sacrificing truth for the sake of unity.

                                                                                 
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
Ephesians 1:7-10

We can and indeed must be truthful when we forgive or receive forgiveness. Letting go of ill will toward others and remaining true to God is evidence of His Lordship in your life. Only God alone will preserve within you the truth and life God Himself has provided. At the same time, it is ecstasy indescribable that propels you to fight and stand for the principles and Godly valor laid before you and in so doing keeps you within the veil of God's good grace. It is the way that He has orchestrated things that forgiveness is the balm that heals and the plan that provides for us the foundation of life. Anything else is just show tunes.The most important thing to realize is that all of it is for the Glory of God, and if it is for His Glory then you will get the most extreme joy and pleasure because God is the most supreme being in existence and when He glorifies Himself, His children reap an unending abundance of joy!


A younger brother in the Lord, Jacob, said this,
"The true heart of Man (i.e. the Image of God) and therefore the true heart of the Christian (i.e. the redeemed Image of God) is eager expectation of joy and glory around every corner of this life- in spite of it's corruption. The man in love with God is too happy to fold under "the fall", but rather- as if spitting in the face of Sin- rises triumphantly after every blow, to passionately continue the adventure."

That is an amazing quote. I have to ask myself, am I harboring unforgiveness enough to blind me from my one true love of Christ Jesus? Is there anything at all that hinders me from day to day that is a deeper cause of all my supposed symptoms, and if so is there anything more foul than unforgiveness? What in my life needs to be given to God and left at His feet so that I may experience the true heart of Man and the true heart of the Christian, spitting in the face of sin and rising triumphant to press onward toward the goal?

Oh Christian, do not be deceived. There lies in our hearts dark spots of ill will toward men because we are sinful by nature and totally depraved. Target these places I say, and throw off the smothering vines of complacency! Be about your Father's business ,and obey His wise commands! Rejoice in the joy of Christ, and rise to fight for that very joy!

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord!

2 O Lord, hear my voice!

Let your ears be attentive

to the voice of my pleas for mercy!

3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

O Lord, who could stand?

4 But with you there is forgiveness,

that you may be feared.

5 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,

and in his word I hope;

6 my soul waits for the Lord

more than watchmen for the morning,

more than watchmen for the morning.

Psalm 130:1-6

A Warning about Academic Hubris

A necessary dose of Spurgeon

In the Christian church there is, I am afraid, at this moment too much exaltation of talent and dependence upon education, I mean especially in reference to ministers.

I do not believe that a man of God who is called constantly to preach to the same people can be too thoroughly educated, neither do I believe that the highest degree of mental culture should be any injury to the Christian minister, but rather should be very helpful to him. By all means let the religious teacher intermeddle with all knowledge, let him give himself unto reading and be able mentally as well as spiritually to take the lead, but, O church of God, never set thou up human learning in the place of the Eternal Spirit, for "it is not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."

The great wonders of apostolic times were mainly wrought by men who were illiterate in the world's judgment; they had been taught of Christ and so had received the noblest education, but in classical studies and in philosophical speculations they were but little versed, with the exception of the apostle Paul, and he came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom. Yet the apostles and their followers preached with such power, that the world soon felt their presence.

On the slabs of stone which mark the burial places of the early Christians in the catacombs of Rome, the inscriptions are nearly all ill spelt, many of them have here a letter in Greek and there a letter in Latin, grammar is forgotten, and orthography is violated, a proof that the early Christians who thus commemorated the martyred dead were many of them uneducated persons: but for all that they crushed the wisdom of the sages and smote the gods of classic lands. They smote Jupiter and Saturn, until they were broken in pieces, and Venus and Diana fell from their seats of power. Their conquests were not by the, learning of the schools; that hindered them—the Gnostic heresy, the heresy of pretended knowledge hindered but never helped the church of God.

Even thus at this hour the culture so much vaunted in certain places is opposed to the simplicity of the gospel. Therefore I say we do not despise true learning, but we dare not depend upon it. We believe that God can bless and does bless thousands by very simple and humble testimonies; we are none of us to hold our tongues for Christ, because we cannot speak as the learned; we are none of us to refuse the Lord's message to ourselves because it is spoken by an unlettered messenger.

We are not to select our pastors simply because of their talents and acquirements; we must regard their unction, we must look at their call, and see whether the Spirit of God is with them; if not, we shall make learning to be our brazen serpent, and it will need to be broken in pieces.

                                                                                                            















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Gospel Call Update #3

Last night, Thursday the 4th of November, Michael and I were blessed to be able to walk the campus grounds of BSU and share the precious gospel. This beautiful fall season is a great time to do so, because there is lots of activity and the brisk air keeps conversations lively. We were only two strong, but that is enough and is also the least we have decided to go with. We spoke of going it completely alone and how we would rather not. There is something about proclaiming the gospel along with fellow believers that stir eternal passions within. There is a point where you realize that this is what you were designed to do. As we walked we commented on the Biblical mandate to the seventy to go by twos. Being able to hit the streets with the gospel is a priviledge, and we also spoke of the recent video we had watched where brothers in Christ in India are getting beat literally to death. We prayed while we walked, resolving to take nothing for granted, and to let the joy within us overflow.

We passed out a number of tracts on our way to the center of campus without conversation. Michael held out a tract as a very tall skateboarder sped past us in the opposite direction and deftly took the hand-off. As we walked we stopped and talked with a young girl sitting on a bench. She was in a happy mood and appeared to be waiting for someone. She told us that she was a Christian. As Michael asked her a few questions she actually stated that we can't know the Bible is true because there is no proof. Wow. The influence of high-minded professors who's great desire is to undermine scripture is very pervading. I then began to press her for answers about the field she was studying, Exercise Science. As she provided answers I asked her how she knew they were correct. She stammered and thought about it but could not answer. I asked if it might be because things like 'protein makes muscle' might be absolute and unchanging. She said yes. As I began to relate these things to gospel truth she got a phone-call and excused herself, but not before thanking us for the talk and encouraging us to keep it up.

From there as we walked it became apparent that there was an air of hostility toward the gospel. Most people I encountered were very offended and wanted nothing to do with me. There was an event on campus and many were just in a hurry, however as I walked briskly alongside them and pressed the gospel I found atheists, agnostics, Mormons, and New Agers alike. Walking and talking I found myself engaging in bullet point fashion with people who scoffed at absolute truth. Indeed, the atheist man I prodded who was around 67 years old excalimed that he did not believe in absolute truth. I then asked him if he realized that to make the very statement that 'there is no absolute truth' is in itself an absolute. He was a little taken aback and said that was very interesting. He then went on a rant about the Bible being a fairy tale and men just declaring truth based on their experiences. I followed him all the way to the door and exhorted him to "Crack open a Bible and look again!" Many other quick encounters happened including a young man who was angry and spoke of philosophy trumping scripture; another man who walked with me for some time answering questions about Christianity quite Biblically. Only when he talked about 'returning to God' did I determinehe he was a Mormon. I pointed to the contradictions between the Doctrines and Covenants and not only the Bible but his own Book of Mormon. He did not argue and actually thanked me for the information and we parted.

During this time Michael had stopped to speak witha a muslim woman for the duration of the hour. She actually asked him to give her the gospel. She then stated emphatically that Christ was not the Son of God. Michael told her that quite simply if a person does not believe that Jesus is God in flesh then that person is damned to hell. She countered without wavering and asked him who the last prophet was. He said Jesus, and she said no, Mohammed was. Michael told her that in fact Mohammed was not a prophet, but only an unsaved sinner. Michael engaged her with absolute truth as well whenever she began playing the culture card and how we belive what we are raised to believe. Before they parted company she had a copy of the New Testament n her hand. Praise God.

As the evening finished up I had a wonderful converstaion with a young Christian woman from California named Monesha. She professed Christianity and indeed came up to me to ask for a tract. She is studying to be a social worker with emphasis on sign language. She is planning on starting a non-profit for the deaf. I was able to expound on Isaiah where God says our righteousness is as filthy rags. She was very intent and asked alot of great questions. We spoke of Christian hip-hop like Tedashi and LeCrae, and spoken word Christian poetry like P4C and Blair Wingo. She stated that she attends a small disciple group on campus on Monday nights called Focus but no church body except having attended Agape a few times. I exhorted her to get in a gospel-centered church and gave her information on my church, The Well. As Michael joined me we talked further and then we bowed our heads and I had the priviledge of praying for this young woman and her protection in a secular culture.

As a side note, Dan Barker, the president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation is speaking tonight at 6:00pm. Advertisements for the event had been chaulked into the side-walk, and as Michael and I stood over one we had quite a conversation with twin brothers on their way to a campus Bible study. How badly do you think I would like to be preaching outside this event tonight? I hope in the Lord's prepatory work in my brothers and myself and look forward to the time when we are ready. For now, we take confidence that despite ex-preachers turned atheist like Dan Barker, who are perverting the minds of so many, the Word's of our Lord will remain eternal as He has told us they will.
"Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away."
Matthew 24:35


Please remember to lift this ministry up in prayer and ask God what He would have you do to participate. Please pray that hearts would be cultivated by the gospel, and that the tracts we hand out would be effective in the lives of those who read. Pray for these people who God brings into our path that the shining glory of God would be seen in their lives.
Post Tenebras Lux

You Learn Something New Every Day

Did your dad or grandpa ever tell you that you learn something new every day? Mine did. I remember it well, and I also remember my dad commenting on Roy Rogers, who said that he never met a man he didn't learn something from. God has made it very apparent to me as I live life; these pithy little sayings are quite true. I mean, think about it. Every day some new piece of information enters our world even if it seems miniscule. Learning from every man holds true as well. When you meet someone who is so very irritating and seems to be in possession of the same amount of wit as a an 'ol jersey cow, how beneficial is it, instead of ridiculing them, to realize that you are actually learning from them? As a Christian, you really should be striving to hear God and perceive His glory in all things. If you are not a Christian, you are still glorifying Him in your unbelief. Life is far more stress free when we lean on God's understanding and ask Him what He is saying to us through each person we meet. Certainly, it is good to reflect on how longsuffering God is when it comes to dealing with our own self, and how often we are bovine in our stubborn sin nature in God's eyes.

Applications aside, I would like to bring to your attention something new I've learned. For the last three or four years God has wrought changes in me. They have been painful, exhilirating, and foundational. Through these changes He has been gracious to show me many things which I have never known; things about Him and how He works in this world, and in the lives of men that have transformed everything I have ever been taught about God. The very title of this blog reveals the cry of my heart as I have been embraced by sound, Biblical, pre-destinarian faith. Last Sunday was Reformation Day, celebrating liberty and freedom from the bondage of man-centered theology. During set-up before the service, my pastor alerted me to something special.

In our service we use graphic slides during preaching to provide the verse addresses, accomodate the points made, and give quotes from respected authors. As I set up and adjusted the over-head projector, pastor Matt showed me an additional last slide he had made. The picture was of the peircing white light of a sun just creeping around the edge of a black planet in deep dark space illuminating the phrase...

POST TENEBRAS LUX

                                                                                        
This is Latin for,

OUT OF DARKNESS, LIGHT

Wow. Now that would make a good blog title. More importantly, the battle cry of the Reformers should ring loud in your ear. It sure did in mine last Sunday as Matt explained it to me. This was their motto as they strove for reform in an apostate church and eventually seperated from evil for good. I had not yet heard it physically, but maybe my soul had heard it before. Who has not heard of the God who outshines all the rest? A look down through the corridors of accurate, historical record will show a blazing white light forging a trail through the bleakest, blackest of nights. In every time in history, as destruction seeks to consume the land, there is always a small point of light that is preserved and perseveres to victory. Hopelessness can be so pervading that it masquerades as the only reality, until hope breaks forth like the morning sunrise in victory to reveal that the high-mindedness of self-seeking men who have decreed hope a crutch for the weak, have in the end only been grasping at straws.

Job of the Bible learned that God is faithful. In one of the most gripping dramas of all time, a man who loved God was cursed. However, out of his darkness came light. He called damnation down on the day he was born, but he refused to damn God. Through unimaginable suffering, he experienced communion with God that few men have ever experienced before or since. God revealed Himself to Job in he midst of pure blackness. God was faithful to Job, because God is faithful to Himself. All things come from God. Evil is a corruption of a thing. God allowed certain things to happen so that He would be glorified as He shows what hope is and what it does.
No man can thwart the will of God.

Learning comes today in so many forms that we oftentimes miss what we could learn from the stranger in real time. God uses so many ways to speak to us. I am convinced there is a blight on our nation and a storm coming the likes of which we have never seen. I am hesitant to speak of the details in mixed company. My pastor gave me a peice of gold in the statement
"POST TENEBRAS LUX".
In learning this statement and it's meaning for the first time, I was starkly reminded of how God works! What a joy and a blessing to know that through the most dark, desperate, heinous of times our God chooses to shine the brightest! Like a trillion diamonds reflecting the white light of the sun, so it is that a few priviledged souls will reflect the glory of God in blinding contrast to the demonic wars assuaging them at all angles; and as so many of the deceived call for submission and blood, O, how precious is the sight of men and women called to proclaim the victorious standard by which all others are measured.

Look around you. What is happening to the world you once knew? What are you learning? Put down your post-modern philosophy, leave off your death grip on self-will, turn off the television, put down your shallow books on non-sensical issues that serve only to distract from the real war at hand.
O Christian, what are you learning?
You will love what you look at and look at what you love.
Hear the cry of men who stood against tyranny!
Hear the soul-rending sobs of painful victory!
POST TENEBRAS LUX!
POST TENEBRAS LUX!
POST TENEBRAS LUX! ........................

OUT OF DARKNESS, LIGHT