The Plodding Preacher

 What is the point of preaching the Gospel?  Well one might say, "I preach the Gospel so that people might be saved."  For years I would have said the same thing.  The Gospel is the starting place for the life of Christ and once a person receives Christ the Gospel is left behind for the deeper truths of the Scriptures.  Only in recent years has my attitude changed.  The Gospel is not the just the beginning, but also the middle and the end of the Christian life.  As a result, I preach the Gospel to myself each and every day.  This not with the goal being saved again and again and again.  Rather, I preach the Gospel to keep my life centred on that Gospel.  I would suggest that preaching the Gospel to our selves daily is important for several reasons. 1.  Preaching the Gospel to myself daily results in daily praise to my wonderful God and Saviour.  The old cliché says that familiarity breeds contempt.  I might not go that f...

How Deep the Father's Love for Us This unique presentation of this modern hymn is striking.  However, I would encourage you to just listen to the words and contemplate the absolutely amazing love of our gracious heavenly Father. 

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”   ―   Charles H. Spurgeon

Mentoring is one of today's hot words.  Growing up I never heard the word. Yet, ironically, there was a great deal of mentoring going on in my life back then, and there seems to be a dearth of mentoring in peoples' lives today.  I am not even sure that the people who mentored me would have even been able to put a name or a description to what they were doing - they were just living out the Christian life as they understood it from Scripture.  There were the pastors such as Gordon Rendle and Victor Cornish, who gave me and other young men opportunities for service.  There was Les and Ruthann Snook who took me along as a teenager to speak at their nursing home service each month.  There were the dear senior ladies like Miss Schrag, Mrs. Erb and Mrs. Eckstein who supported and prayed for me in summer missions enterprises.  There were innumerable others - Sunday School teachers, Boys' Brigade leaders, church friends - who each encouraged, challenged, and someti...

"The will of God is not something you add to your life. It’s a course you choose. You either line yourself up with the Son of God…or you capitulate to the principle which governs the rest of the world." ― Elisabeth Elliot

Wretched Radio, formerly known as Way of the Master Radio, broadcasts a daily 2 hour program over the internet and on Sirius satellite radio.  The program runs from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday and each day's program repeats continuously until the next days program begins.  Todd Friel is the host of the program and each day he covers a wide variety of topics ranging from contemporary news items to deep theological issues.  The discussion is relevant, current and often witty and humourous.  Each Wednesday's program is called "Witness Wednesdays" is devoted to live witness encounters as Todd and others try to share their faith. This is my favourite online radio program.  It is one of the few programs I have encountered that make the real issues of the faith a central topic of discussion.  While being serious about the issues, the hosts don't take themselves too seriously.  The result is a program that is willing to honestly wrestle with the issues of c...

Isaiah 53:6 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We deeply want a revival of family religion.  The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint on growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline.  How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?  Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach!  Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves "holiness unto the Lord"; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us. Charles H. Spurgeon Our first mission field is our own home.  Our first ministry is our own family.

Today at our Ladies' Coffee Hour at the church, a policewoman is coming in to discuss with the ladies the very real danger of identity theft.  It is frightening to see how quickly our personal information can be stolen and used to fleece us.  It go me thinking how the same thing is true spiritually.  The Words of an old Imperials song came to my mind: Now Satan is a liar And he wants to make us think That we are paupers When he Knows himself We're children of the King. The enemy is constantly whispering in our ears that we are less than we are IN CHRIST.  One of the stories I love in Scripture is found in Zechariah 3.  In that passage, Joshua the high priest, dressed in filthy rags, is standing before the Angel of the Lord (personally I understand the Angel to be Jesus).  Satan is doing his hateful work of accusing - pointing out Joshua's sins and failings.  However, instead of listening to Satan, Jesus says that Joshua is a brand plucked ...

We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon. Adrian Rogers

Thank you for the reminder ChurchPastorcom on Facebook!

Unfortunately in many parts of the modern church, the sermon each Sunday contains two predictable points.  Point #1, "Get right with God."  Point #2, "Go make a difference in the world."  In one form or another, this is what we hear week after week.  It is not that these messages are wrong, but rather that they are incomplete.  We need a more radical, Bible-driven call for discipleship.  Get right with God by grace alone through faith alone!  Get right with your spouse!  Get right with your children!  Get right with your local church!  Now together with your family  and with your brothers and sisters in Christ, go make a difference in the world! Limited Church: Unlimited Kingdom by Rob Rienow, pg. 182.  Randall House 2013.

A lifetime ago, back in Bible College days, we would joke about finding a killer illustration. Now all we had to do was find a text to go with it. Our vigilant professors rightly used every tool at their disposal to beat this tendency out of us. Such an approach too easily leads to the mangling of the Biblical text in order to fit the illustration. I believe this age-old danger has only intensified in the intervening years. Today "the story" has become the focus of many preachers. The ability to tell a compelling story has been highly elevated among those who fill the pulpit. There are many masters of the art of story-telling. However, the burning question must still be, "Does the story rule the text or does the text rule the story?" As I listen to many story-tellers, I am afraid that they are so enamoured with the eloquence of their own words that they could care less about what text they corrupt - so long as it supports their brilliance. Story can be a powerful ...

Is prayer your steering wheel or your spare tire? Corrie Ten Boom

We have been talking a lot about music these last few weeks in church.  Personally I like a wide variety of music and many different styles can be used to worship the Lord.  My confession, however, is that I don't think you can do much better than this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFh0OsZvU94

Today I attended a funeral for the sister of a man from our church.  The word that best describes my response to this service is "bittersweet." The funeral had its bitter moments.  The pastor faithfully reminded us that all death is the result of Adam's fall.  All death is a consequence of sin - and death is bitter.  It is the last enemy.  Barring the return of Jesus, its pain is inevitable for each and every one of us.  The one who was loved has been snatched beyond the reach of those who loved her.  Hence, tears were shed. However, this funeral was also sweet.  She was a loving child of God.  She had placed her trust in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour.  He had already died in her place.  Her confidence was that being absent from the body meant being present with the Lord.  Her Master is the Resurrection and the Life.  He has conquered death.  He has risen from the grave and is the First-fruits of all who tr...

Yesterday on my Facebook page I posted an article from churchpastor.com entitled "8 Tips for Surviving Ministry." I was a little bit surprised when a friend posted as a comment that "if you feel that you have to have a survival kit for being a pastor. . .you're probably in the wrong profession."  She went on to suggest that it should not be a burden to be a pastor or a stressor. Now I know what she was attempting to say in her response.  It is an awesome privilege to serve the King of kings.  There are tremendous rewards and satisfaction in fulfilling the task through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit of God.  There is an opportunity to develop spiritually in a way that few others possess.  However, I would beg to differ with her conclusions.  Ministry is an incredible burden, and if you do not feel the stress of the burden of ministry then you really do not have a true understanding of ministry. Five Reasons Pastoral Ministry is an Incredibl...

For forty years Jeremiah proclaimed God's message that Jerusalem would be destroyed because of Judah's idolatry. By chapter 44 God has fulfilled the threat and the remnant have fled to Egypt. The misery of the people is directly related to their idolatry and disobedience to God. However, now that they are in Egypt the people have once more turned to idolatry. Here is their logic. When we were worshiping idols in Jerusalem we had peace and plenty. When we stopped worshiping idols, Nebuchadnezzar attacked us. Therefore, we are going back to worshiping idols. Instead of attributing the destruction to God's judgment of idolatry, they attribute it to their last minute attempt to placate Jehovah by putting aside their idols in the final months of Nebuchadnezzar's seige. This is like a bank robber who is in prison being asked what he will do when he is released. "Oh I'm going to rob banks again. Because when I was robbing banks before I had lots of money. Since I st...

Maybe the truly handicapped people are the ones that don't need God so much. Joni Eareckson Tada