Marching Forth!

Today I recalled to mind a season when my wife struggled with rejection.  We had arrived in Australia on a visa which prohibited me from working but allowed her to seek employment.  She industriously submitted resumes and applications only to be disappointed by "rejection letters."  The letters of rejection did not work to encourage her to increase her efforts but instead did the opposite:  discouragement made her not even want to try.  We all know how that feels and it is not fun.  Ironically, a time came when she had submitted so many applications without a response that she began to appreciate the rejection letters because at least they responded! I thought about how this relates to the rejection of the message of the Gospel.  When we open our mouths to share the Gospel, it is likely many of the people we encounter will not respond positively.  It is not a rejection to be taken personally but a rejection of Christ and the message of the Gospe...

Have you ever read something that seems to encapsulate your thoughts and express them in a way far superior to your best effort?  I came across such a passage today in G. Campbell Morgan's sermon titled, "Christ's Knowledge of Men."  My thoughts were, "Well said!  Now I don't have to write that - not that I could have anyway!"  Allow me to share his concluding thoughts with you: You come not merely for perfect understanding, faithful dealing, but for certain salvation.  Demonstrate to me that He cannot save you and I quit preaching.  Prove to me that your case is beyond the power of Christ and the evangel breaks down.  But you cannot prove it.  Oh that there may come to us sooner or later a great baptism of passionate honesty.  Witnesses are everywhere here, men and women who know His power; who could not, but can; who were fast bound in sin and nature's night, but who awoke as a ray of light came into the dungeon from his presence, whose c...

Here's a question for those who read and study your Bibles, listen to sermons, or even preach on Sundays:   what effect has your recent study had on your life? Instead of asking “What have I learned?” it is a far more profitable question to ask, “How has my life changed?” We have the tendency as we study to think we do so for the primary purpose of gleaning information and facts. While the truth and the facts of scripture are important, trivia mastery is not the primary end for which God has established for His Word. The purpose of revealing Himself through His Word is so our lives – the way we think, what we believe, and how we live – will be transformed according to God’s will. Calling to mind facts might seem useful, but unless your life is governed and dictated by God’s Word the facts are impotent knowledge. God’s Word must be practiced and practical in my life or is practically worthless. If God's Word isn't changing us, we need to change the way we approach th...

One of the things I have been musing about for a while is the fact God nor His Word has changed from the beginning.  But from books I have read, sermons I have heard, and conversations I have shared I have observed it seems the view of God by His people has changed greatly even in the last hundred years.  Perhaps the depiction of God from the pulpit has changed.  Maybe the truth of God's Word has been watered down like gulag gruel.  The fearsome aspects of God's character have been carefully glossed over:  His terror, ferocity, and infinite power.  It was in 1741 when Jonathan Edwards delivered the masterful and incredibly fruitful sermon titled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."  The views of many in the church today struggle futilely to reconcile an angry God with one of love.  Yet this is exactly how the Bible describes Him.  If I cannot see God the way scripture reveals Him, then I must admit I do not know God as I ought. The thou...

" Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire comes, it is a tree of life ."   Proverbs 13:12 Waiting is a facet of life few people enjoy.  The western culture of today is under-girded with the idea that quicker is better.   We don't feel like waiting and we don't believe we should have to.  Yet in the Christian life we find that God is not in a hurry.  I would like to take short-cuts concerning my sanctification, but God is pleased with what appears to us to be the long, often very long way.  Waiting provides opportunity to trust.  How many times in scripture do we see God reveal something divinely to His people and then wait years to bring it to fulfillment? Moses believed while he lived in Pharaoh's house that God would use him to deliver the Israelites from slavery.  It was not until he fled Egypt and tended his father-in-law's flocks for 40 years that God gave him directives from the burning bush.  Even after he obeyed...

Have you ever watched the show "Deal or No Deal?"  At the beginning of the show, a contestant picks a case without knowing the contents.  Hidden within the case is an undisclosed amount of money.  To play the game, other cases must one by one be opened.  The "bank" will make offers to buy the case the person has chosen.  If revealed cases contain large amounts of money, the offer will be very small.  Conversely, if the large amounts remain the offers from the bank become more and more lucrative.  The whole game hinges on the fact the contestant does not know the amount contained within his case.  If he knew that little bit of information it would completely dictate his every decision.  There would be no stress or hard decisions to make.  If you knew your case contained $200,000, you would never entertain an offer for less.  It would be relaxing to play the game because you know how it will end! There is no shortage of people in th...

Do you ever sit back in awe of the things God has done in your life?  I remember going to a youth camp and pastor Chuck Smith led us all in a song that I learned over the course of the days we spent there:  " Hasn't the LORD been good to us?  Hasn't the LORD been good?  He's done all the things that He said He would.  Hasn't the LORD been good?  So love God, hate sin, reckon the old man dead.  Love God, hate sin, and by His Spirit be led ."  I want to testify that God is good and has been so good towards me.  He has been true to His Word and has never left or forsaken me.  As I think back through the long road we have traveled together, I am absolutely amazed and struck with how awesome God is. God has done things in my life that I never imagined.  Even ten years ago I would never have imagined God would have called me to be a pastor, took me out of my trade, brought me into the ministry, led me and my family to sell our home, and...