Falling away.

I Jo 2:19: "They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us."

Scary verse! Scary letter, to be honest. Especially when the Apostle John is dealing, not with hypotheticals, but with actual people that lived with them, did life together with them, taught Sunday school, baby sat, horse pooled and gave ample evidence of what appeared to be genuine, saving faith for a period of time. My pastor has preached through I John a number of years ago and now we are going through the book of Hebrews, which seems to be even more blunt when it questions the genuineness of our faith. It is frightening to me that as we read the warnings in the pages of our Sacred literature, we see it happening in real life all around us. People that, once we had strong confidence about the estate of their souls, now live openly as unbelievers. My theology assumes wheat and tears growing together, but that makes it no less disheartening. Just this past weekend, Ray Boltz, acclaimed worship singer, went public about his homosexuality and said he plans to embrace that lifestyle. I have a dear friend, who at least wanted to be a Christian in years past, now openly rejecting the Bible and the Trinity, and the resurrection and the pursuit of holiness altogether. Another one, raised in church, good testimony for many years, now dangerously flirting with sin, cheating on Christ with somebody else.

How do we cope with this? How is a fellow Christian supposed to deal with such a crude reality? It is far too easy to play the "Holiness police" game, enumerate people's sins, point out their flaws and walk away. To go to bed at night after a whole day of pretending only others have issues, is less than fun and not a warm blanket for a cold soul. It is a clear evidence of pride when we act as if we have not fallen because we are better. Of course we, "humble" evangelicals, would never say "we are better", but that is precisely what we communicate when we are quick to talk about people's junk but slow to acknowledge that the reason we don't become Hitler is not our innate morality and goodness but the grace of Christ. If he were to remove His grace from us, we all would be gone. The beautiful thing in experiencing, realizing and cherishing Grace is that, ultimately, there is no pressure to perform, but a deep longing for this God who has redeemed, not a future, improved version of us, but who we are now, helpless sinners, and sanctifies us by His Spirit through His word daily.
To Him be all the glory and all the praise forever.
Amen.

Where is Mohler's new book?

Being a brand new preacher, in need of great help, keeps me always on the look out for new, , good resources on the subject of preaching. Just in the last year alone, I was able to, either come across, or to revisit some great materials put out by those who have labored on their own preaching for decades and have much to share. One of these people is brother Al Mohler, who I normally catch at townhall.com for his daily commentary and have seen both preaching and answering questions at conferences. Let me tell you, the man is a wealth of knowledge and wisdom. He, if I remember correctly, mentioned during the T4G '08, having a book on expositional preaching coming out in the fall of 2008. I know it's still summer but I am waiting for this one with great anticipation and I thought that, by now, we would be already hearing about it. In the meantime, let me share with you a few of the resources from which I benefited in the recent past on the subject of preaching.
Steven Lawson's " the 10 how to's of expository preaching.
Steven Lawson's book " The expository genius of John Calvin".
Steven Lawson's " What is expository preaching?".
Crawford Loritts and Ligon Duncan Q&A at the Gospel Coalition workshops
John Piper's " Preaching as worship".
Sermon preparation by Mark Dever
Here is a page of mp3 resources on preaching and ministry at monergism.com where I have found many of these resources.
Hope you enjoy them.

Should we ever make use of harsh language?

That seems to be a very difficult question in our days. In fact it is one on which yours truly has a less than perfect record. At one point on my journey, I realized that what what I called godliness, was in reality, very feminine traits. I was shocked with my discovery and made an heroic effort to snap out of it. Be a man! That was my daily self exhortation. What happened was that in many situations that actually called for gentleness, I started swinging for the fences at the sound of the first bell. True virtues, like meekness for example, were avoided by me like the plague, for being "signs of weakness". A few headaches and a couple of tears later, yes I did say tears, I find them to be very manly (won't ever admit to any but...) by the grace of God, I started seeing some things about being a masculine man specifically regarding the use of language. How should we communicate with people? Is there a place for shocking statements? Sarcasm perhaps? Am I allowed to make sure they feel the heat in my tone of voice? The Bible seems to present a few guys not being afraid to put the pedal to the metal on some issues. Some would say that even our Lord was harsh and at times, mocked the religious leaders. If He ever did it, it would be very hard to challenge the validity of such ways of communication. Brother Mark Driscoll seems to have an opinion about it and Dr. John Piper is willing to hear it. He has called Driscoll to preach on the subject during the DG Conference in September. With dear brothers like Sinclair Ferguson and Thabiti present, this should be a very interesting conference. I look forward to getting the audio as soon as DG Ministries releases it. Pray for the brothers as they prepare for, in my opinion, a very important conference.
Here is just a little video teaser DG has put out this week I also would like to recommend to you the short video of Mark Driscoll on the "chick-i-fied"church.
Be blessed.

PTW Conference: Interesting bunch.

A team of heavy weights of contemporary American evangelicalism will be gathering together in November at the Preach the Word Conference in Riverside, CA. The conference is aimed at pastors and lay leaders, Sunday school teachers and anybody who is called to bring the Word of God to our generation. An emphasis on preaching the Word to BELIEVERS is readily perceived in their info material. The conference is a Harvest Ministries initiative and it seems to be an effort similar to the T4G conference but with a more theologically mixed bag. It will interesting to see brothers like McDonald and Chuck Smith interacting in the same event, or Coy and MacArthur during Q&A. Laurie will probably come up with an impression of Begg's accent and, knowing Greg, it will be pretty funny. Above all, I look forward to see the fruit this gathering will bear in our midst as the brothers get together to impart knowledge and experience to each other and us on Preaching the Word.
Check it out and please remember the Laurie family who just had their beloved son, brother, husband, daddy and brother in Christ, gone home to be with the Lord.

Passing on bad reports?

I just read this post today on one of my almost daily destinations. Theologica.blogspot.com
Much needed for the church. Much needed for my own life.
Thanks to Tim Keller and David Powlison for producing it.Thanks to Justin Taylor for posting it.
May God bless all a y'all.
Here is the post:

Keller and Powlison: Should You Pass on Bad Reports?
Tim Keller and David Powlison recently collaborated to provide some biblical wisdom and guidelines on speech and relationships. Our thinking was that perhaps bloggers would want to adopt these and spread the word about them as a way, in Keller's words, to "spiritually season Christian conversation in cyberspace."So if this perspective resonates with you (and I hope it does), I'd encourage you to pass it along or post it on your blog.May the Lord help each of us to have truth-in-love speech that is always gracious, salt-seasoned, gentle, respectful, peaceful, and edifying (Col. 4:6; Eph. 4:15; 1 Pet. 3:15; Rom. 14:19)Should You Pass on Bad Reports? by Tim Keller & David Powlison One obvious genius of the internet is that it’s “viral.” Information explodes to the whole world. The old neighborhood grapevine and the postal service seem like ox-carts in a speed-of-light universe. (Do twenty-somethings even know what those antiquities once were? In the old days, people had to talk to each other or stick a stamp on an envelope.) Instantaneous transmission produces some wonderfully good things. Truth, like joy, is infectious. A great idea feeds into a million inboxes. But it also produces some disastrous evils. Lies, rumors, and disinformation travel just as far and just as fast. So what should you do when you hear “bad reports” about a person or church or ministry? We want to offer a few thoughts on how to remain constructive. To paraphrase Ephesians 4:29, “Let no unwholesome words come out of your computer, but only what is constructive, in order to meet the need of the moment, that what you communicate will give grace to everyone who ever reads it.” That Greek word translated “unwholesome” is sapros. It means something that is inedible, either devoid of nutritional value or rotten and even poisonous. It applies to thorny briars or to fish or fruit that’s gone bad. At best, it’s of no benefit to anyone. At worst, it’s sickening and destructive. Consider three things in how to stay constructive. What Does James Say about Passing Along Bad Reports?Humble yourselves before the Lord. Brothers, don’t slander or attack one another. (James 4:10-11) The verb “slander” simply means to “speak against” (Gk. kata-lalein). It is not necessarily a false report, just an “against-report.” The intent is to belittle another. To pour out contempt. To mock. To hurt. To harm. To destroy. To rejoice in purported evil. This can’t mean simple disagreement with ideas—that would mean that we could never have a debate over a point. This isn’t respectful disagreement with ideas. James warns against attacking a person’s motives and character, so that the listeners’ respect and love for the person is undermined. “As the north wind brings rain, so slander brings angry looks” (Prov. 25:23). Everybody gets upset at somebody else: slanderer, slanderee, slander-hearer. The link of slander to pride in James 4:10 shows that slander is not the humble evaluation of error or fault, which we must constantly be doing. Rather, in slander the speaker speaks as if he never would do the same thing himself. It acts self-righteous and superior toward one’s obviously idiotic inferiors. Non-slanderous evaluation is fair-minded, constructive, gentle, guarded, and always demonstrates that speakers sense how much they share the same frailty, humanity, and sinful nature with the one being criticized. It shows a profound awareness of your own sin. It is never “against-speaking.” James 5:9 adds a nuance: "Don’t grumble against one another." Literally, it means don’t moan and groan and roll your eyes. This refers to a kind of against-speaking that is not as specific as a focused slander or attack. It hints at others flaws, not only with words, but by body language and tone. In print, such attitudes are communicated by innuendo, guilt by association, sneering, pejorative vocabulary. In person, it means shaking your head, rolling your eyes, and re-enforcing the erosion of love and respect for someone else. For example, “You know how they do things around here. Yadda, yadda. What do you expect?” Such a “groan” accomplishes the same thing as outright slander. It brings “angry looks” to all concerned. Passing on negative stuff always undermines love and respect. It’s never nourishing, never constructive, never timely, never grace-giving. What Does the Book of Proverbs Say about Receiving Bad Reports? He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends. (Proverbs 17:9) The first thing to do when hearing or seeing something negative is to seek to “cover” the offense rather than speak about it to others. That is, rather than let a bad report “pass in” to your heart as truth, and then get “passed along” to others, you should seek to keep the matter from destroying your love and regard for a person. How? Start by remembering your own sinfulness. "All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord" (Prov. 16:2). To know this automatically keeps you from being too sure of your position and of speaking too strongly against people that you hear about or people on the other side of a conflict. You intuitively realize that you may not be seeing things right. Your motives are never as pure as you think they are. To know this acts to keep you from being too sure of the facts, too sure of your position, and of speaking too quickly and too negatively about other people. Knowing your own sinfulness helps you not make snap judgments that take what you hear too seriously. When you remember your sinfulness, remember God’s mercies. "Love covers all offenses" (Prov. 10:12). The God who is love has covered all your offenses. He knows everything about you (and the whole story about that other person). He has chosen to forgive you, and life-saving mercy cost Jesus his life. He could write you up with a 100% True Bad Report, but he has chosen to bury your sins in the depths of the ocean. That makes the life and death difference. If your sins are not buried in the ocean of his mercy, then you will be justly exposed and will justly perish. But when you’ve known mercy, then even when you hear report of grievous evil, an instinct toward mercy should arise within you. To savor the tasty morsels of gossip and bad reports is very different from grieving, caring, and wishing nothing less than the mercies of Christ upon all involved. And most bad reports are much more trivial. They are the stuff of busybodies and gossips going “tut-tut-tut.” Then remember that there is always another side. "The first to present his case seems right, till another comes forward and questions him" (Prov. 18:17). You never have all the facts. And you never have all the facts you need all at once. You are never in a position to see the whole picture, and therefore when you hear the first report, you should assume you have far too little information to draw an immediate conclusion. What you’ve heard from someone else is only “hear-say” evidence. It has no standing or validity unless it is confirmed in other ways. So when you hear a negative report about another, you must keep it from passing into your heart as though it were true. If you pass judgment based on hear-say, you are a fool. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t check out the facts. Go to the person. Hear other witnesses. If you’re far away from the scene, wait for more of the story to come out. Suspend judgment. Don’t get panicked or stampeded by mob-psychology and rumors. Be content not to know many things. You don’t need to have an opinion about everything and everyone. Third, what should you do if you are close enough to the situation to be involved AND you think the injustice or matter is too great or grievous for you to ignore? For starters, notice that you only really need to know something if it touches your sphere of life and relationships. In that case, you should do what will help you to express God’s call upon you to speak Ephesians 4:29 words of wise love. In Derek Kidner’s commentary on Prov. 25:7–10, he writes that when you think someone has done wrong you should remember, “One seldom knows the full facts (v.8) and one’s motives in spreading a story are seldom as pure as one pretends (v.10). To run to the law or to the neighbors is usually to run away from the duty of personal relationship.” See Christ’s clinching comment in Matthew 18:15: "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother." In short, if you feel the problem is too great and you can’t keep it from destroying your regard for the person, you must go personally before you go to anyone else. When Should You Go?Galatians 6:1 says we are to go when a person is caught in a trespass. That means there should be some kind of "pattern" or the unmistakeable exposure of a wrong. Don’t go the first time you hear a bad report about someone doing wrong. As we said above, there’s another side to most stories, and our motives are never totally pure when we get indignant. Go if the person seems caught—that is, trapped or stuck in a habit pattern of wrong behavior or falsehood. How Should You Go?Galatians 6:1 says we are to restore gently and in humility, bearing all the fruit of the Spirit. Beware of your own tendencies to be tempted—perhaps to the same sin, perhaps to reactive sins of self-righteousness or judgmentalism, perhaps to avoidance sins of cover-up and pretending. Galatians 6:2 goes on to say that we actually fulfill the law of Christ by bearing each other’s burdens. We become nothing less than lesser redeemers in the pattern of our Great Redeemer. Jesus in Matthew 18:15ff says we should also go persistently, and not give up in the process. Patience is one fruit of the Spirit because problems don’t always clear up quickly. There is a progression in efforts to get to the bottom of a bad report, to confirm the facts, and to work at bringing restoration. Who Should Go? Galatians 6 says you—plural—who are spiritual should go to the straying one. That both defines how you should go and it calls for multiple people to get involved. Similarly Matthew 18:15ff says to bring in other people if matters don’t resolve one to one. The right kind of checking out a bad report is always done in person and often will be done by involving multiple wise persons. Why Should You Go?In both Galatians 6 and Matthew 18 the goal is to restore the person and to re-establish sin-broken relationships. You are working to restore people both to God and to others. ConclusionIn summary, from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the principle is this. If you hear bad reports about other Christians you must either cover it with love or go to them personally before speaking of it to any others. • The first thing to do is to simply suspend judgment. Don’t pass on bad reports. • The second thing to do is “cover” it in love, reminding yourself that you don’t know all about the heart of the person who may have done evil—and you know your own frailty. Don’t allow bad reports to pass into your own heart. • The final thing to do is go and speak to them personally. What you should never do is rush to judgment, or withdraw from loving another, or pass on the negative report to others. This is challenge enough when you’re dealing with the local grapevine or slow-moving postal service. In a world of instant world-wide communication of information it’s an even bigger challenge, because you can do bigger damage more quickly. Whether the bad report offers true information, or partial information, or disinformation, or false information—it is even more important that you exercise great discretion, and that you take pains to maximize boots-on-the-ground interpersonal relationships.

Noses in books

Ok. So I'm sitting outside of Real Food Daily (great vegan food. I mean great. I'm a meat lover but Real Food rocks) just hanging out, with my nose in my book when this real nice asian girl approached me: "Excuse me" she said. I go: Uhm?... She goes: " I write a blog about people reading in public. Do you mind if I talk to you a few minutes?" No problem. Have a seat.
She sits down, whips out a little paper pad and in the nicest, relaxed way starts a great 5 minute conversation with me. In the end, she snaps a couple of pics, gives me her blog address and proceeds to join her friend for lunch. It was a very fun experience and it got even better when I actualy read her blog, inadvertently for 40 minutes, right after she left me. It is a very fun read and made me wonder about divine providence, the sovereignty of God over every event at every level and how every level of every event in everybody's lives intertwine in a cause / effect relationship from creation to consumation always accomplishing His purposes down to the most minuscule details without ever having a headache over any of it. I got one just trying to word it out.
Anyway, I always thought a good interviewer can make any interview an interesting one. Liza confirmed that to me. It was an unexpect devotional that my father provided me with today and for that I'm grateful.
SDG!

Check out her post here.

D.A Carson's dad.

Last week at our home group my pastor was in a reading mood and I am so glad I was there. He shared with us a few portions of this book that, he says, has impacted him more than any other book in the last 5 months. The name of the book is: "Memoirs of an ordinary pastor" by D.A Carson. I was deeply moved by his fidelity to the text of Scripture and also by his loving confrontation of a preacher who was departing a bit from the meaning of texts. My pastor read only a few pages to us but it was definitely mouth watering. Hopefuly I'll read it right after I finish my "The expository genius of John Calvin" by Steven Lawson, which is a great little book by a great preacher.Lawson is as good in writting as he is behind the pulpit. It is a book that has opened my eyes and reminded me a few things about expository preaching. I actually already had the pleasure of putting some of it (or so I think) to practice, since I was graced with an opportunity to preach at my local church not long ago. Those are two books that definitely have a lot to offer to a pastor's soul. Check them out.
God bless.

Pastors bloggers

I just wanted to write a few lines about a blog entry I read from Abraham Piper where he gives his reasons why he thinks it is good that pastors blog. It was a very good read and although I am not a pastor, since I started this blog I have experienced much of what he talked about and I just want to add my voice to his cry. If you are a pastor, please blog. We want to know you in the written world as well.
Enjoy the read.

T4G '08: Piper

Once again. Dr. John Piper.

What can I say?

The Lord has gifted some of his children with a double portion. Dr. Piper is, up to this point, a clear example of it. He, once again, hit it outside of the park, or the camp, I should say.

"Let us go outside the camp and bear the reproach of Christ" is still echoing in my head.
Who wouldn't want that? He asks. Piper walked us through 6 passages in the book of Hebrews,showing us how the supremacy of Christ creates radical Christian sacrifice. He, with a God glorifying, Holy Spirit annointed smile on his face, persuaded us all about the joy of suffering for Christ. The unbreakable satisfaction of suffering with Him. It is a gift to us that Dr Piper's preaching is permeated by both a zeal for the glory of God and a solid theology of suffering.If you have gone through any kind of real suffering, you know how sweet the fellowship of the Lamb can be in those moments. To have a sound theology of suffering gives you hope through all the tears in life. It assures you that God will be glorified causing you to persevere looking to the reward, his Son who is greater than any turbulence you can go through. It assures you that not a hair of your head will perish. Contrast that with the stuff the world has to offer and I'm sure it won't be long before a holy smile break out and you too will ask together with Piper: Who wouldn't want that?
God bless as you go outside the camp and bear His reproach.

Listen to it, listen to it, listen to it, listen to it, listen, listen, listen,listen!

T4G '08: Mark Dever

The content of Mark Dever's message is very timely.
The distinction between all Christian things and the gospel is very much needed in our days.
He blessed us by pointing out that there are many, many good things that, we as Christians, could (maybe even should) be involved in, but they are not the gospel.
While the Pro Life issue is a righteous cause, it is not the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It is possible to believe the person and work of Christ, be saved and be utterly confused about abortion.
There are many other examples I could use but what I was really glad about, was the debunking of the political temptation. I have to confess, the fact that, in our christian culture today, we have to theologically accept everybody, from Benny Hinn to RC Sproul and everything in between, as Christians and dare not to criticize anyone lest you'd be judgemental but at the same time, heaven forbid you are a democrat (or a republican for that matter) is a tool for my sanctification in the hands of the Lord.
Dever's message, inevitably leads us to conclude that we can differ and debate and be charitable regarding many matters, but when it comes to the Gospel, there is nothing negotiable.

I wish more christian leaders would make this distinction and impact our American evangelicalism.
I pray that, as our pastors focus on the gospel of Jesus Christ, all other things fall on their right places in our list of priorities.

Can't wait for 2010.

T4G '08: Ligon Duncan

Here is what I posted at http://www.challies.com/ (An almost daily destination for me)
"Duncan preached a great message. It was beautiful to see how Piper’s 2006 message affected him. His manner communicated his message just as well as his words. I was deeply impacted."

In my opinion, Duncan presented a very strong defense of Doctrine and Systematic Theology in the pastoral ministry and not only that but in the living out of the christian life as well. By arguing, quite powerfully, that Doctrine is for marriage, he encouraged pastors to devote themselves to the preaching of doctrine unashamedly because those who hear it, cannot help but be encouraged to love their wives better. By saying that doctrine is for assurance he definitely impacted the personal lives of all kinds of Christians, including pastors. Sinners like me, rejoiced as they were reminded that their salvation doesn't rest ultimately on them but in the Sovereign, gracious Election of God.
It was also very helpful to hear in detail how those who criticize the practice of Systematic Theology, do it without even knowing it. When a church member after the sermon asks you "what does the Bible say about angels?", your answer is nothing short of Systematic Theology. He showed that the apostle Paul and Jesus both employed Systematic Theology in their interaction with people.

I am deeply grateful for that sermon. It impacted my life as a sinner being saved, bringing me conviction and comfort. It made me rejoice to know that many of those attending the conference are possibly still trapped or recovering from the doctrine that doctrine is evil (it is meant to be oxymoronic) and The Holy Spirit through Duncan was breaking chains.

SDG

T4G '08: Kindness of the locals.

It was absolutely fantastic!
The Lord was gracious enough to cause us to arrive a day earlier so we could recover from a very uncomfortable flight from L.A to Cincinatti. Check in time at our hotel was 3pm but they were very kind and allowed us to go in earlier. Actually, this is worth a remark. The people in Louisville are very hospitable. Everybody we crossed paths with, showed their kindness to us in some way. Cab drivers, bus driver, waiters, "Information Brett" (who started a conversation with us out of thin air, telling us where the strip club was.) front desk persons and even a couple of doctors my friend unfortunately had to see. Might I add that most of them, including "Information Brett", patiently listened to us as we explained to them their need for a savior and who that Savior was.
On behalf of my crew, I want to say thank you to Louisville.
We love y'all.

See you in 2010.

Great quotes

I am one of those that gets really impacted by the ability some people have to make witty, inteligent comments or to state things in a concise, memorable way. I'm going to post a few now, but this is a post that I plan to keep coming back to and adding every great quote I come across. Here is a few of my favorites:


"Christianity: A life of painful joy" (sermon title)
Pastor Joe Lamay


"We are in the business of feeding sheep, not entertaining goats."
Charles H. Spurgeon


"Loves Thee too little he who loves anything together with Thee that he loves not for Thy sake."
Augustine.


"I am too busy NOT TO pray."
Martin Luther


"Bad preaching gets applause. Good preaching gets questions." (Sermon Title) (This is the statement that prompted me to post this. I, as of now, haven't heard the sermon though.)
Pastor Tim Conway

"Soft preaching produces hard people, hard preaching produces soft people."
John MacArthur, T4G '08. The sinner: Neither willing nor able.

Till the next quote.

TOGETHER FOR THE GOSPEL CONFERENCE.

Hi.
I just wanted to let y'all know that I cannot wait to go to this conference. We are just a few days away and there is great antecipation. I was fortunate enough to go in 2006 and right away I decided that if the Lord allowed me, I would come back. The time has arrived ! We all have our plane tickets, hotel reservation and the registration has already been paid and confirmed. if you're not familiar with the conference, go here. if you are, you know why I'm feeling this way.
Here is what I posted at a "John Piper" online community right after the conference in 2006. Hope you enjoy

"Conference was absolutely awesome. It was great to be encouraged in many ways by a band of brothers that stand together for the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fellowship was great. The preaching was superb. I tell you, THE THUNDER FELL... Hearing the Word of God preached to you by Sproul in the afternoon and Piper in the evening is quite an experience. Hear the sound of almost 3.000 men singing "A Mighty Fortress" from the top of their lungs brought me to tears. The glory of God was displayed all around. I came back very encouraged. The Church of God WILL prevail! The Lord reigns. Let the earth rejoice."

SOLI DEO GLORIA.

Hope to see you there.

Self esteem. What is there to be esteemed?

It's been a while since I posted last and this subject has been brewing in my mind for even longer. It is good to be back.



It is always interesting to me when I hear professing believers talking about self esteem. Often I hear things like "so and so needs more self esteem" or " I need to do something about my self esteem. It is so very low right now" or even in christian counseling, people saying "you need to realize that you are a beautiful person and see yourself that way and then go and do what you need to do". I actually heard a man once saying to an unbeliever that he (the unbeliever) was irresistible to God and that is why Jesus died for him.



What to do with such statements? Believe them? Dismiss them as sentimentalism? Heresy? How we answer these questions will determine how we deal with those who hold such beliefs. It is important to remind ourselves that behind all beliefs there are broken sinners with real emotions and circumstances in life that are deeply affected by what they believe. If we love our neighbor and as Christians, love one another it is important that we examine what we believe in light of the Scriptures so we can accurately overflow the love of God (from and for) into each other's lives. If that isn't the motivation, we would have little chance if any to glorify God, therefore rendering our effort useless.



I'm not really a doom and gloom type of guy but in regards to the self esteem issue, I'm afraid there isn't much to be esteemed in ourselves. The Holy Spirit has quite a few things to say about man on the pages of the Bible but one verse that immediately comes to my mind is (Isaiah 2:22 ) which sort of summarizes my meditation on this subject with one rhetorical question. The sad truth is that human beings are fallen and as such, we are enemies of God (Rm 5:10), followers of the Devil (Eph 2:2), altogether useless (Rom. 3:12) have a deceitful and wicked heart (Jer.17:9) that is inclined ONLY to evil (Gen. 6:5 ), love darkness rather than light because our deeds are evil (Jhn 3:19). The psalmist sees all this and boldly declares: " I have no good apart from You. (Psa. 16:2). There are many more texts talking about our sinful state. This is not an exhaustive list about humanity's condition but it does give us a general ideal about it.



After encountering these very straight forward verses, one must ask himself:

What is there to be esteemed?

The answer is: NOTHING!

Just read those Scriptures and praise God that He has redeemed you. If you feel like a wretch, it is because you are and only a God rich in mercy would freely choose to rescue someone in our condition. The Bible gloriously states that " ...while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Isn't our God magnified when you see and internalize the truth of our ugly condition? Also, when you don't have an accurate understanding of your sinfulness, you will be tempted to be a lover of yourself, delighting in you a lot more than in God. The Lord commands you to love Him with all your mind, body, soul and strength and I want to submit to you today that seeking after self esteem will undoubtedly make your endeavor to obey this commandment a heck of a lot harder and snatch the joy you are to have in Him out of your life eventually. Friend, it is important that He increases and you decrease.

There is great hope for those who acknowledge their sickness and run to the One who never rejects a broken and contrite heart.

They surely shall find rest in the arms of the one who says:

Come to me all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.



God bless.

Using the Law to evangelize the lost.

Be sensitive! That seems to be the order of the day when it comes to evangelism. Of course there are other things we should do as well, lest we weaken our evangelism. Things like, be aware of their (felt) needs or don't scare them away with theology, build a relationship, let them see your life and when they are drawn to you, then you talk about Jesus but don't forget: Whatever it takes, do not offend them.
In the midst of so much advice on evangelism, one cannot help but notice the true, genuine love and care for the lost that is demonstrated by brothers of all kinds of christian denominations, through the time, money and effort spent on that endeavor. If you start reading the multitude of books written on the subject in the last 35 years, it does not take long before questions start arising:
Is not the Gospel undoubtedly offensive to the lost?

How is it that those who are enemies of God (Rom 5:10) , blinded by Satan (II Cor 4:4) and lovers of darkness because their deeds are evil (Jo 3:19) are not going to be offended by the light of the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ?

If and when I tell them the truth (and they get offended) does that mean I'm insensitive?

And yes, Am I the only one who gets nervous substituting the proclamation of the Gospel with "let them look at my life" even if it is for a short periood of time?

Those are serious questions about a very serious matter and we all should examine ourselves and be convinced by the Holy Scriptures on how to reach those who are perishing. After all,

we all want to further the Kingdom right?

We are all saddened by the fact that an untold number of people everyday take the plunge into a hopeless eternity and above all,

it is disheartening to know that God is not worshipped as He should all over the earth by everything that has breath.

All that being true, Christians must ask the question: How should we evangelize the lost? I believe that the answer might not be as complicated as it may seem. To proclaim the gospel of salvation to the world, one must first know what the gospel is. In our day and age, many things are called gospel that are no Gospel at all. The Gospel is the good news of God. Sinners can be saved! But for the good news to be GOOD, or to make any sense at all, you have to understand that you are in danger. You are under the just condemnation of the Almighty God. It makes little sense to offer medicine to those who think they are healthy. If you convince them that they are terminally ill, it will make all the sense in the world and the chance that the medicine now will not only be accepted but also applied is much greater. In the same way, to ask people to accept Jesus in their heart without them knowing the horror of their sin against God is not evangelizing at all. You see, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not "He is at the door of your heart knocking and if you let Him, He will come in" or "Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life". The glorious Gospel is that Christ Jesus came in to the world to save sinners, lived perfectly without sin, died on the cross receiving the punishment of God on behalf of sinners, was buried and rose again on the third day for our justification. All who trust in Him for eternal life are adopted by the father and become co heirs with Christ and are bound for a life of eternal joy. All who reject Him are already condemned. (I Ti 1:15; I Cor 15:3,4; Rom 4:25; Eph. 1:5 Jo 3:15 - 19)

But how do you approach the "sin subject" without the Law? It is simple, you don't! For the apostle Paul says "...through the law comes knowledge of sin."(Rom. 3:20) The 10 commandments are an indispensable component of evangelism. Your hearers must come to the knowledge of their sin before coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. If they don't think they are guilty, there is NOTHING to be saved from. Also, the Law reveals the character of God, which is utterly important because without a Holy God, there is NOBODY to be saved from. Didn't our Lord talk about the Law with the young ruler? (Lk 18:18 -23) Didn't it become evident that the rich young ruler had another god before God? His idolatry was exposed by the commandments. Jesus also employed the Law in John 4 with the samaritan woman, showing to her that she had repeatedly broken the 7th commandment by having had 5 husbands, in fact she was presently living with a man that wasn't even her husband. It seems that the Law brought about enough conviction in her heart that the Lord revealed himself to her on verse 26 and shortly after that she was already telling people about Jesus.

The apostles also employed the Law in soul winning quite often. Peter in Acts 2 charges the Jews with murder and by the end of the day 3000 were baptized; Paul exposes the idolatry of the men of Athens saying that "... we ought not to think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of man." Acts 17:29 and on the very next verse he says that God commands every man everywhere to repent of it all.

Much more could be said I suppose, but I am persuaded of one thing: If the use of the Law is good for the Lord and His Apostles, it is certainly good for me. I have no right, nor business really, in substituting the use Law for faithless pragmatism to reach those who are perishing. Only God saves and He does it through His Word and if we love and trust Him we should proclaim it boldly and faithfully and let the chips fall where they may for He is faithfull and His Word will not return to Him without accomplishing the purpose for which it was sent.

May the Lord of the harvest bless you as you reach the lost for the glory of Christ leading people to His Gospel through His perfect Law.

Coming up...

What's up everybody?? I am swamped with work these days not really having a lot of time to post anything, but I just wanna let you know what is coming. I have a few things brewing: "The use of the law evangelizing the lost", " Self esteem: What is there to be esteemed?" and also I'm working on something that might be called " Fear: A legitimate means of coming to Christ? So check back soon and always let me know what you think.
Cheers.

What do you mean, God is not gonna judge the world by the 10 commandments???

My wife recently realized the importance of using the Law in evangelism. Since then she puts it in practice whenever she can. A few days ago she had an interesting exchange with her sister about the Judgment Day. My wife was arguing that we are all bad, really have nothing on God and that He is already gracious enough to let us breathe when we really don't deserve it. Her sister replied: Hold on. I'm not evil !?! I'm innocent! My wife went on to ask her a few questions: Ever used the name of God in vain? Lied? Ever stolen something? Looked at a man with lust? Yes! Yees! I got it, I got it ok. My wife wrapped it all up with one last question: So, by your own admission you are an adulterous, lying, blaspheming thief. On the day of judgment upon your own confession, where should God send you? Heaven or Hell? The answer was obvious, the subject was changed and she left the room first chance she had. A couple of days later my wife's sister's husband fell in my wife's evangelistic claws and in no time she was taking her, now normal, evangelistic route when he quickly replied: I don't believe God is going to judge the world based on the 10 commandments . My wife said " ok then" and let the conversation die just to admit to me later that she didn't know how to keep it going. Before I go on with this post, I want to point out that her sister clearly talked to hubby about the conversation she had with my wife and I would venture to say that it had the same effect on him because he was ready to avoid the "Law questions" at all cost even before they started coming. I do have a vague idea on how I would keep that dialogue going. Here's my honest try:

- What do you mean God won't judge the world by the 10 commandments? Let's take a look at them. Stealing for example: Are thieves welcome in heaven? Think about people who steal money from charitable organizations leaving thousands hungry in 3rd world countries. God is not going to punish that? How about coveting the neighbor's wife. Some guy tells you drooling: "Your wife looks fantastic. I'd love to spend a night with her." God is gonna let it slide? Murdering: Hittler murdered 6 million jews. What is God gonna do if He is not going to judge that? My guess is that he would answer yes to all the questions (especially the wife one) de bunking therefore his own previous statement thus bringing us back to where we started. Namely his guilt before a holy God who is a righteous judge. The issue is, you are guilty my dear friend. What are you gonna do about it? Eternity is one heck of a long time and it is closing in every day.

My response to a hoax petition e-mail

"CBS discontinued 'Touched by an Angel' for using the word God in every program. "

That was the title of the very serious e-mail. The text went on to tell us how doomed we were because now they were discontinuing christian shows because they mention God's name. What's next now? Discrimination hits a new high and many will die from this ruthless persecution. Ok, I am exagerating a bit. The e-mail went on to ask for our e-signature for this petition against such enormous cruelty. The following is my reply to a dear friend who sent me that e-mail:

Jane Doe:

I obviously fully agree w/ the petition but I wanna look at it from a different angle though. I think that the issue isn't really the atheist lady or her organization. I think WE are the problem. I mean, think about it. Look at the tv show in question, Touched by an angel is theologicaly flawed. According to it, the only requirement to go to heaven is to die. Christianity is portrayed as a mode of behavior instead of faith in a jewish rabbi that lived, died and rose again two millenia ago and on and on it goes. The problem is that the true Gospel is not proclaimed. The same christians who display great outrage about having the 10 commandments monument removed from that building do not know what the 10 commandments are. They fought because the commandments are out of our schools but they are not able to enumerate them. We kick and scream because public prayer is outlawed while private prayer is admitedly neglected day in and day out. In my view, the problem is mainly behind our pulpits consequently in our pews. If that doesn't change, it matters very little wether "touched by an angel" is on the air or not, if public prayer is allowed or even if the 10 commandments are painted on every wall in the nation. But again, I'm just a raving fanatic anyway.
Y tu, que opinas?

The "you don't really KNOW" rhetoric.

So, I was talking to this guy at my office about politics. He really enjoys talking about it but, either I'm a little slow or he doesn't pay much attention to what he says because I don't seem to really get what he is saying half of the time. For the sake of this article (and my ego's I guess), I'll just assume that the latter is true. At a certain point in our conversation I subtly changed the subject to the Gospel of our Lord. I told him that politics is about man trying to create an utopia on earth. I assured him that it isn't going to happen on this side of eternity because of sin. I told him about Genesis 3, The Fall of man, God's punishment, the cursing of the ground and how all of us had rebelled against a Holy, Just God being therefore under His righteous Wrath and our only hope was Jesus Christ who died for sins and was raised again and all those who trust in him now are received by Him with open arms and do not have to fear death because God had overcome it for them. His eyes were jumping out of his face after this subtle change of subject. He said he had a religious background and "knew" all that stuff but showed himself to be a little puzzled by "the great exchange"(see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_imputation) I told him that I couldn't fully understand how was it that God would accept one paying for the sins of another but it was the overwhelming testimony of Scripture. He then posed an objection: He said over and over that I didn't KNOW if that was true. He affirmed repeatedly that it was a matter of faith and we couldn't really KNOW if the Gospel was true.

HOW I DEALT WITH THE " YOU DON'T REALLY KNOW" OBJECTION.

As he was talking to me, I'm thinking: He is making it sound like this is a shot in the dark, just a matter of personal preference and even worse, blind faith. My forehead was throbbing! I could feel the smoke in my nostrils, good thing evangelism is Holy Spirit empowered. I agreed with him to a certain degree that I didn't KNOW it but that there was enough evidence to make me very comfortable trusting Christ and just like he does everyday I put my trust on something / somebody I didn't really KNOW. He protested: I don't do that! I went on to point out to him that he took analgesics not KNOWING what the content of the bottle was but there are enough laws and penalties enforced by the FDA for him to feel confident that his bottle of painkillers actually contains painkillers. Or the airplane he boarded the other day, he can't really know if the pilot is drunk or if there will be an engine faillure but what he knew was enough to gain his trust, therefore he boarded the plane. Likewise there is enough evidence to the truthfulness of the Gospel and he was rejecting it not because of the lack of evidence but because of the hardness of his heart. I wrapped it up telling him how I would really be unloving to him if I didn't give him the truth. He thanked me and a few minutes later he left. It's been a few days and we did talk several times after that but nothing about the Lord. I hope we talk about Christ soon and in the meantime I'll intercede for him before the throne.

May God bless you as you go out there and give them heaven.