Our Great Honor

Our great honor lies in being just what Jesus was and is. To be accepted by those who accept Him, rejected by all who reject Him, loved by those who love Him and hated by everyone that hates Him. What greater glory could come to any man! - A.W. Tozer

That is something to ponder.

http://www.intouch.org/myintouch/mighty/portraits/aw_tozer_213610.html

http://www.sendrevival.com/pioneers/awtozer/short_biography.htm

Street Preaching

Before I let anyone start thinking I am normal or main stream I have another entry that will tell you I am not.

There is so much teaching today that talks of how the Christian must strive at building relationships before they even begin to think about sharing the gospel with someone.
My question is where do you see this in the Bible?
Is this a strategy taught in Scripture?
How long did Jesus and the woman at the well know eachother before He shared the Gospel with her?
If our teaching is not based on the Bible what are we basing it on?

What bothers me the most about this relational evangelism method taught by so many is that the people advocating it feel it necessary to come against people who have been called of God to proclaim the Gospel in the streets to complete strangers. I believe that the gospel should be proclaimed radically in the streets of America, and here is why.

"What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light, and what ye hear in the ear,that preach ye upon the housetops." Matthew 10:27

When Noah Webster defined the word "PREACH" this is what he said........"Preach" comes from a Latin word meaning to "proclaim publicly"… a message"urging acceptance or abandonment of an idea or course of action."

Jesus told us in Mark 16:15 to Go into all the world and PREACH the Gospel to every creature.
I truly do not mean to run down another persons ministry, but where do Christians get the idea that if some guy is Preaching on a street corner that he is way off base. The scriptures seem to be full of encouragement for us to do just that.

Here are a couple of verses in Proverbs chapter one that encourage people to Proclaim the Gospel as well as the counsel of God in the town square and the market places

Proverbs 1:20-21
20 Wisdom calls aloud outside; She raises her voice in the open squares.
21 She cries out in the chief concourses, At the openings of the gates in the city She speaks her words:

The next time you see a person in pulic, proclaiming the Gospel pray for God's anointing to be strong on him as he is ministering. It takes great courage to obey God in this way and most public preachers will testify to the hassle they get from other believers.

Old testament prophets often preached at the gates of the city. The gates were the busiest place in town and it was here that all kinds of activity took place:Preaching at the gate would reach large crowds without much expense.

AMOS WAS A "GATE" PREACHER:
"They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. (Amos 5:10)

ISAIAH WAS A "GATE" PREACHER:
They "lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate…" (Isaiah 29:21)

JEREMIAH WAS A "GATE" PREACHER:
"Thus said the Lord unto me, Go and stand in the GATE of the children of the people, whereby the kings of Judah come in, and by the which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem; and say unto them, Hear ye the word of the Lord, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem that enter in by these gates: Thus saith the Lord…" (Jeremiah 17:19-20)

These men of the Old Testament did not use nice gentle friendly approaches. There were no literature tables, tract distributions, invitations to religious meetings, traveling Gospel singing teams, puppet shows, barbecue's, motorcycle jumps or drama teams. They simply stood up publically with the clear message of God's mind and preached it!
Preaching the Gospel in Public to crowds who do not want to hear it and are even opposed to the message can be very easily supported using scripture. It makes me wonder why more Christians are not doing it.



Please Remember to pray for Afghanistan

Don't leave this out

“Some people do not like to hear much of repentance; but I think it is so necessary that if I should die in the pulpit, I would desire to die preaching repentance, and if out of the pulpit I would desire to die practicing it.” -Matthew Henry

REPENT

What is it about this 6 letter word that makes so many Christians uncomfortable.
Jesus started His three year public ministry with the words in Matthew Chapter 4:17 "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Many Christian ministers today avoid this topic, forgetting that those who followed Jesus went out and proclaimed the same message, "…they went out and preached that people should repent" Mark 6:12


Don't leave out Repentance when you are sharing the Gospel.
Luke 24
46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
47 "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Acts 3
19 "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

Acts 3
26 "To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities."

Acts 14
15 and saying, "Men, why are you doing these things? We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them,

Acts 17
30 "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent,
31 "because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead."

Acts 19
26 "Moreover you see and hear that not only at Ephesus, but throughout almost all Asia, this Paul has persuaded and turned away many people, saying that they are not gods which are made with hands.

Acts 20
20 "how I kept back nothing that was helpful, but proclaimed it to you, and taught you publicly and from house to house,
21 "testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.

Acts 26
20 "but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

The Gospels and the Book of Acts give us a clear History and mandate for the Preaching of Repentance. So I declare once again When we proclaim the Gospel we dare not leave out Repentance.

101

"But the soul renounced shall abide in the boundlessness of God's life. This is liberty, this is prosperity. The more we lose, the more we gain."
- Watchman Nee

The crucified life is little seen in the Christianity often lived out by those who call themselves believers in the USA. However the Bible speaks much about it. God help us to truly surrender to You and Your will for our lives.

Luke 9
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.

2 Timothy 2 4 No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier.

Luke 14 33 "So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.

Galatians 5
24 And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another

Galatians 6 14 But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

John 3 30 "He must increase, but I must decrease .

That is not a exhaustive list on the topic but is certainly a few verses that it would not hurt us to meditate on.
Father God Have mercy on us.


Please Remember to Pray for Afghanistan.

Expect and Attempt

"Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God." -William Carey


William Carey (August 17, 1761 – June 9, 1834) was an English missionary, known as the "father of modern missions." As a missionary in Serampore, India, he translated the Bible into Bengali, Sanskrit, and numerous other languages and dialects.
http://www.wholesomewords.org/missions/biocarey.html
http://chi.gospelcom.net/GLIMPSEF/Glimpses/glmps045.shtml

The Great Exchange

Jesus Is Risen!!! He came to die for our sins and was buried and in three days He rose from the Dead to make the great exchange. Let's Look at this.

2 Corinthians 5:21
For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Jesus became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus Died, was buried, and came back to life to take our sins upon Himself and give us His righteousness. That is awesome.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Bible is delcaring Here that Jesus did all this to exchange the Death you and I deserve for Eternal Life. Once again that is AMAZING!!

Galatians 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"),

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.

These two verses show me that what Jesus did on the cross was that he exchanged my curse for his blessing. He took my curse and gave me a blessing. That is so CRAZY. WOW!!!

Is it any wonder why I love RESSURECTION DAY.
Sing with me.....

I’m forgiven because you were forsaken
I’m accepted you were condemned
I’m alive and well Your Spirit lives within me
Because You died and Rose again

Amazing Love how can it be
That You my king would die for me
Amazing love I know it’s true
And it’s my joy to honor you
In all I do I honor You

You are my King Jesus
You are my King

Please Remember to pray for Afghanistan.

My Cross

Took my cross out yesterday morning, as I do every good friday and stood on the busiest corner in town. My daughter drove by and smiled at my friend Dave and I. The sun was out the weather was nice. Several friends stopped by to talk, Bob, Richard, Matthew, Rick and Walter just to name a few. Several people waved as they drove by and many gave us the thumbs up. Others just glared at us and still others actually gave us very negative hand gestures. But all and all it was a very profitable time.

Lord we pray for this city, we ask for mercy here and lord I know you love this city, O father draw them near.

The cross is an amazing thing.

Luke 9:23-24
23 Then He said to them all, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
24 "For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it.
25 "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost?

Matthew 10:38
"And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.

Philippians 1:21
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.




Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy Cross I cling.
-Toplady


Please Pray for Afghanistan Today

Becoming

Deuteronomy 27
9 Then Moses and the priests, the Levites, spoke to all Israel, saying, "Take heed and listen, O Israel: This day you have become the people of the LORD your God.
10 "Therefore you shall obey the voice of the LORD your God, and observe His commandments and His statutes which I command you today."

Leaving Egypt where the people of God were slaves for 400 years they had a slave mentality. These poor people had a hard time trusting God.
The next generation spent 40 years in the wilderness learning to trust this Awesome God who delivered them out of the hand of Pharoah. During this 40 year time period they learned to Trust God as he led them in the desert. some of the lessons were hard, but little by little they became the people of God.
When we turn from our sins toward Jesus and place our faith in Him "old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new." 2 Corinthians 5:17
Our sins are seperated from us as far as the east is from the west in an instant.
Spiritual transformation, that is reflected in our physical life, takes time. Don't be discouraged when you realize you have a long way to go. Just rejoice that God has brought you this far and know that He will not stop working with you to bring you into the very image of Jesus.

Hebrews 12
1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

1 Corinthians 9
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

Philippians 3
13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead,
14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

"A pharisee is hard on others and easy on himself,
but a spiritual man is easy on others and hard on himself."
-A.W. Tozer,

Please Pray for Afghanistan today

ONLY JESUS SAVES

John 14:6
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus,

Acts 4:12
"Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."

On the Authority of God's own word, Only JESUS can save you from the judgment to come. Not Mohammed, Not Buhda, Not The Watchtower Tract Society, Not Joseph Smith or Brigham Young, Not good deeds or religious sacrements. Only Jesus can seperate your sins from you as far as the east is from the west.

I want to say it Loud and Clear "THE CHOICE IS YOURS JESUS OR HELL"

Go today and warn your loved ones that they must turn to Jesus and give Him their lives.

"If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one GO there UNWARNED and UNPRAYED for." - Charles Spurgeon

"Upon a life I did not live, upon a death I did not die; another’s life, another’s death, I stake my whole eternity." - Horatius Bonar

It is all about Jesus and not about us at all. Praise God I hope you to will put your eternity in His hands. Only Jesus Can Save You.

Quote

"Answering a student's question,
'Will the heathen who have not heard the Gospel be saved?' thus, 'It is more a question with me whether we, who have the Gospel and fail to give it to those who have not, can be saved." -Charles Spurgeon


ouch.

If Cats Wore T-shirts

I have not had a humorous blog yet but thought some of these were funny.
If Cats Wore Tee-shirts . . .
. . .here's what they would say . . .
Purrrrfection Cannot Be Improved
If you don't like my attitude, you should see my owner!!
Take my advice........ I'm not using it.
I'd like to help you out......... Which way did you come in?
Cats know how we feel......... They don't care, but they know.
Dogs Have Owners........ Cats Have Staff.
As a house pet, I'm overqualified.

That about sums it up have a great weekend.
We are celebrating PASSOVER Sunday night. I know it is not until thursday but this is what works for us we will probably have 50 people there. What a great Holiday.
We put the door out today doesn't it look great.

God Bless You

Christians Go to Jail II

Christians Go to Jail II

Acts 5
18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

Acts 8
3 As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison.

Acts 12
1 Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church.
2 Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword.
3 And because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread.
4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover.

As I stated in a earlier Post "Christians go to Jail."
This is certainly not something many people in the church want to talk about, however it is true. Our brothers and sisters all around the globe are being persecuted and thrown into jail simply for being followers of Jesus, our Lord.

This persecution and the people of God has happened from the beginning, when Cain persecuted, and actually martyred his brother Abel, because Abel offered his offering in faith and pleased God.

Today I want to present a story for you to think about and pray for. This story comes to us via Compass Direct.

Cuba- Church leader marks 40 days in jail.
March 31 (Compass Direct) – Today marks 40 days of imprisonment without charge for the Rev. Carlos Lamelas, an evangelical pastor in Cuba jailed on February 20 for allegedly aiding refugees who sought to emigrate illegally. “A [police appointed] ‘instructor’ is supposed to show up to explain the charges to Carlos and his lawyer,” a source close to the Lamelas family said. Some observers believe Lamelas was targeted for harassment because he challenged the government on religious rights issues while serving as national president of his church. He told his wife, Uramis, during a 15-minute visit on Monday at the Villa Marita Detention Center in Havana, that he was “pretty discouraged” because the legal case is not moving forward.
The evangelical minister is being held at the Villa Marita Detention Center in the Havana borough of Arroyo Naranjo.
Authorities have allowed Lamelas’s defense attorney only one five-minute interview with him since the arrest.

To read more about this story go to...
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newslongen.php?idelement=4280


Please Remember to Pray for Carlos Lamelas his family and the people of Cuba.

This kind of information and much more can be found at a few different web sites.

Voice of the Martyrs
http://www.persecution.com/

Compass Direct
http://www.compassdirect.org/en/index.phpI

International Christian Concern
http://www.persecution.org/newsite/index.php

Open Doors
http://www.opendoorsusa.org/Display.asp?Page=home

Something to think about

Here is something to think about.

The man who is seriously convinced that he deserves to go to hell is not likely to go there, while the man who believes that he is worthy of heaven will certainly never enter that blessed place. - A.W. Tozer, Man: the Dwelling Place of God