Marching Forth!

Ever wondered how God can be completely just and yet forgive sinners? Tozer lays it down right and proper with this one: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=823071654412 Click on the green "play" button to listen to the message by this anointed preacher.

We are in the midst of Vacation Bible School at Calvary Chapel El Cajon. Colorful balloons are tied daily to the handrail leading from the upper to lower hallway. In the morning when I come in to work, most of the balloons are laying on the ground, their limp ribbons bowed under the weight. Every day, however, a couple of the helium filled balloons are still in the air. By early afternoon all the balloons are smaller and on the ground. "There's a sermon here Ben," Pastor Dale remarked. So I thought about it awhile. The only reason the balloon lifts from the ground is because the helium gas that filled it is lighter than air. The balloon in itself is inert and incapable of doing anything. A lot of our activities at VBS involve water balloons. My dad says, "It's amazing the fun you can have with a little water in a balloon." Again, the enjoyment that we find in balloons is due to the virtue of what we fill them with. Sometimes we find enjoyment of...

Saturday our youth group had one of our favorite events, the "Thrift Store Dinner." We team up and rush off to neighboring thrift stores to find clothes that likely would never be sold unless there was a global time warp to the 1980's. We then wear these clothes to Souplantation, a local buffet-style restaurant. Some of our most memorable experiences together as a youth group have spawned from this event, and this year was no exception. As we visited the Salvation Army Thriftstore looking for accessories (wigs, jewelry, ties, headgear), a baseball glove buried among helmets and cheap trinkets caught my eye. Could it be? No way! It was a genuine "Heart of the Hide" Rawlings Gold Glove Pro88. This is what I called a "six-finger" glove as a kid and was a symbol of status and skills. I looked at the price tag and my eyes lit up like I was 12 years old: $2.50. It is a glove that sells for $200 online at a fraction of the value. I laughed to mysel...

One of the things that stood out for me in Brainerd's diary is that salvation never seemed to come easily. People would sit under preaching unaffected for some time and then the Spirit would quicken them to great concern for their souls. For months and even years they would labor under the weight of their sin before surrender to Christ. After this season of wrestling, there is hardly a single instance of backsliding mentioned. A.W. Tozer once said that he loves a man to be stubborn in coming to Christ: if he can be easily be persuaded to follow Christ he will likely be easily disuaded to abandon Him. Jesus entreats a man to count the cost of following Him: it will cost you your life. Here is a quote from the diary that I am compelled to agree with, and amazing that it was written in 1745! " Could not but think, as I have often remarked to others, that much more of true religion consists in deep humility, brokenness of heart, and as abasing sense of barrenness and want ...