Who is driving the "verbs" in your life? Jesus or you?

Here's some great nuggets from an article by Todd Wilken called "A Listener's Guide to the Pulpit":

“A sermon that mentions Jesus but still has you driving the verbs is still about you, not Jesus. The Gospel is all about what Jesus does for you. A sermon about what you do for Jesus isn’t the Gospel. For the Gospel to be preached, Jesus must be driving the verbs.” (Ask) ‘Who is driving the verbs?’ Is Jesus active or passive? Is Jesus doing the action or is He being acted upon? There is a difference between a sermon that says ‘I love Jesus,’ and a sermon that says ‘Jesus love me.’ One is talking about you, the other is talking about Jesus. There is a difference between, ‘Give your life to Jesus,’ and ‘Jesus gave His life for you.’”

“The Gospel isn’t Jesus your example, educator, life-coach or therapist. The Gospel is Jesus, your crucified and risen Savior from sin and death. So, listen for the Scriptural verbs of salvation: The Jesus Who lived for you, suffered for you, was crucified for you, died for you, and rose again for you. The Jesus Who forgives you, redeems you, reconciles you and has mercy on you.”

“A sermon that doesn’t mention Jesus isn’t about Jesus. Since you can’t preach the Gospel without mentioning Jesus, a Jesus-less sermon is a Gospel-less sermon.”

“Often, the difference between good preaching and bad preaching is not in what is said, but in what is left unsaid. More often, what is left unsaid is the Gospel itself.”

Party in the MIA - for Saints fans!!!

Proverb of the Day

Postmodern Thinking

The following is taken from Ravi Zacharias as he tells it in "The Truth Project."

I remember lecturing at Ohio State University, one of the largest universities in this country. I was minutes away from beginning my lecture, and my host was driving me past a new building called the Wexner Center for the Performing Arts.

He said, “This is America’s first postmodern building.”

I was startled for a moment and I said, “What is a postmodern building?”

He said, “Well, the architect said that he designed this building with no design in mind. When the architect was asked, ‘Why?’ he said, ‘If life itself is capricious, why should our buildings have any design and any meaning?’ So he has pillars that have no purpose. He has stairways that go nowhere. He has a senseless building built and somebody has paid for it.”

I said, “So his argument was that if life has no purpose and design, why should the building have any design?”

He said, “That is correct.”

I said, “Did he do the same with the foundation?”

All of a sudden there was silence.

You see, you and I can fool with the infrastructure as much as we would like, but we dare not fool with the foundation because it will call our bluff in a hurry.

Sermon Notes from Sunday, January 24, 2010

Here are the sermon notes from yesterday:

"The Prayer of the Ages" Daniel 9 - Part III

"The Spiritual DNA of a Church" The Remember Series #4

Tebow Super Bowl Ad Ignites Uproar

This article appeared today written by Todd Starnes who is a reporter for FOX News and a best-selling author. Let us all pray that this will be aired during the Super Bowl.

Former Florida Gators quarterback Tim Tebow will star in a pro-life television commercial that is expected to air during the Super Bowl. CBS has given preliminary approval for the ad paid for by Focus on the Family.

Tebow, an outspoken evangelical Christian, has a unique take on the abortion issue. His mother, Pam, contracted amoebic dysentery during her pregnancy with Tim in 1987. The advice from doctors — abort the baby — but she refused and later gave birth to the future Heisman Trophy winner.

“I’m here because my mom was a very courageous woman,” Tebow told The Palm Beach Post. His mother will also appear in the ad and they will share their story.

“Tim and Pam share our respect for life and our passion for helping families thrive,” said Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family. He said the Tebows message is uplifting and “comes at the right moment in the culture because families need to be inspired.”

The proposed ad has generated widespread outrage. Several thousand people have joined a Facebook page urging CBS to pull the ad.

The issues-based ad is already generating controversy among pro-choice bloggers and some sports writers who argue the Super Bowl is no place for political commentary.

Gregg Doyel, whose column appears online for CBS, said Super Bowl Sunday is “not a day to discuss abortion. For it, against it, I don’t care what you are.”

Critics on Huffington Post labeled Tebow a “Jesus freak,” self-righteous and a religious nut. A blogger on BeliefNet called the advertisement distasteful. And yet another said it was “offensive.”

The New York Times wondered if viewers would “take issue with issue advertising during the Super Bowl.”

Tebow said he’s not surprised by the outcry.

“I know some people won’t agree with it, but I think they can at least respect that I stand up for what I believe, and I’m never shy about that,” Tebow told The Palm Beach Post. “I don’t feel like I’m very preachy about it, but I do stand up for what I believe. Unfortunately, in today’s society not many athletes tend to do that. So I’m just standing up for something.”

The 30-second ad, believed to have cost Focus as much as $2.8 million, was paid for by “very generous and committed friends.”

Wrong Reasons to Love the Church

On this Sunday as we go to the place where we have committed our lives to worship and serve, I thought it would be to share this blog with you from Josh Harris. This is really good.

Do you love the church? Romans 12:10 tells Christians to "Love one another with brotherly affection."

The affection and love we're to have for fellow-Christians is to be based on the work of Jesus Christ for us. It's not about elitism, it's not because Christians are better than anyone else, it certainly isn't because Christians are necessarily more lovable. We love the church because we love the Savior who redeemed the church.

Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus obtained the church with his own blood. Is this what your love for the church is based on? If it's anything less than it won't last.

• Don't love the church because of what it does for you. Because sooner or later it won't do enough.
• Don't love the church because of a leader. Because human leaders are fallible and will let you down.
• Don't love the church because of a program or a building or activities because all those things get old.
• Don't love the church because of a certain group of friends because friendships change and people move.

Love the church because of who shed his blood to obtain the church. Love the church because of who the church belongs to. Love the church because of who the church worships. Love the church because you love Jesus Christ and his glory. Love the church because Jesus is worthy and faithful and true. Love the church because Jesus loves the church.

Proverb of the Day

Powerful Testimony of Reconciliation

I just finished watching a video of Michael Oh speaking at Urbana. Here’s the official description of the video: “Michael Oh uses his own history of anger toward the Japanese to explain that reconciliation begins with a personal conviction of sin. As a Korean-American pastor and missionary to Japan, he has learned that we who are loved undeservedly must love unreservedly.”

I found this video so powerful that it literally took my breath away at several points. It’s 12 minutes long, but if you find the time to watch it, I think you’ll find that it’s worth every minute.

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Michael Oh from Urbana 09 on Vimeo.

Guard the Unity, Peace and Purity of the Church

The blog by the same title of this blog was written by Tullian Tchividjian, who is now Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. (He is also the grandson of Billy Graham). This blog (as posted below) was written when his then current church (New City Church) was merging with Coral Ridge. This is good, practical stuff for any church.

All week long I’ve had to remind myself that when God makes big moves we should expect big opposition. Sadly, I have had to spent a portion of my week (which was partly spent in Dallas) trying to put out fires that have started as a result of misinformation and God-defaming rumors. I guess I shouldn’t have been taken by surprise, but in my naivete, I was. So, I thought it might be a good idea to remind everybody of something I wrote in my forthcoming book Unfashionable, about the very nature and necessity of Christian unity.

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God intends his people to be a visual model of the gospel. He wants us to live our lives together in such a way that we demonstrate the good news of reconciliation before the watching world.

When new members join New City Church, they promise “to promote the unity, purity, and peace of the Church.” One of the quickest ways to break this vow is to gossip—to “chatter idly about others.” This seemingly innocent activity can cause a world of hurt. The corrective is found in the Ninth Commandment, as the Heidelberg Catechism explains:

God’s will is that I never give false testimony against anyone, twist no one’s words, not gossip or slander, nor join in condemning anyone without a hearing or without a just cause. Rather, in court and everywhere else, I should avoid lying and deceit of every kind; these are devices the devil himself uses, and they would call down on me God’s intense anger. I should love the truth, speak it candidly, and openly acknowledge it. And I should do what I can to guard and advance my neighbor’s good name.

I’m convinced that most divisions in the church would never happen if we kept this one commandment. When we sin against our brother or sister, what we fail to realize is that, in Christ, we are united. A sin (such as slander) against any one of us is a sin against all of us. When we sin against a brother or sister, we sin against ourselves. It’s like shooting ourselves in the foot, only much worse.

We need to maintain the unity we have in Christ by ridding ourselves of “all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord.” Lacking love for the body (and for any individuals in the body) shows a lack of love for the Head of the body. If we love Christ, we will love one another. This is what inspired these lines of John Newton:

May we abide in union with each other and the Lord,
and possess in sweet communion joys which earth cannot afford.

In Chuck Colson’s book The Faith, he writes, “Reconciliation within the church requires a surrender of pride and a willingness to put God’s interests over our own interests. Peacemaking within the congregation should be a high priority.”

Francis Schaeffer once noted that bitter divisions among Christians give the world the justification they’re looking for to disbelieve the gospel. But when reconciliation, peacemaking, and unity are on display inside the church, that becomes a powerful witness to this fractured world. “Just as I have loved you,” Jesus commanded, “you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35).

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Brothers and sisters, please do what you can do put divisive rumors out and kindly rebuke those who are continuing to perpetuate them. As members we took a vow to guard “the unity, peace, and purity of the church.” Those who are being divisive and undiscerning are breaking their vows. And that is serious because it hurts the Body of Christ as a whole.

The world needs Churches that demonstrate wisdom, discernment, unity, and sacrifice. Let’s give them that kind of witness!

News on Haiti from our International Mission Board

January 20 , 2010 News Video message from IMB missionary in Haiti Watch a video message from Mark Rutledge, IMB missionary to the Haitians, who traveled with a media team into Haiti following last week’s quake. Find options in the viewer to download and share this video in your church. With IMB’s video viewer, you can also embed this video to use live on your own church’s Web site, blogs and other social networking sites. IMB missionaries, Dominican Baptists provide aid, counseling to quake survivors As Southern Baptist disaster relief officials were heading to Haiti Jan. 19 to assess needs, IMB missionaries in neighboring Dominican Republic were providing immediate relief supplies, medical aid and spiritual counseling to survivors of the earthquake that rocked Haiti the week before. “We have asked almost all of our IMB missionaries in the Dominican Republic to set the majority of their other work aside and focus on the Haiti response,” said Adam Hammond, the IMB’s strategy leader for Central America and the Caribbean. Haitian congregation perseveres after loss of four church leaders A few dozen families from Shiloh Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are living under a tarp attached to what’s left of their church building. They lost their pastor and three other leaders in the Jan. 12 earthquake. Out of 2,000 members, they can account for only about 100 so far. “We don’t know where our future leaders will come from,” said one member. But those gathered under the tarp are holding services every day. Read more on the death of a leading Haitian Baptist pastor in Port-au-Prince, Give Give to Haiti relief Financial contributions for the Haiti relief efforts should be sent through the IMB’s Haiti Response Fund or through gobgr.org. Contributions will go 100 percent toward relief efforts. Baptist Global Response (BGR) is a Southern Baptist relief and development organization working with other Southern Baptist entities to coordinate disaster relief efforts. Go Vast need for short-term volunteers helping Haiti Southern Baptists interested in volunteering in the Haiti relief effort — in medical care or other ways — are urged to send an e-mail tohaitiresponse@imb.org. Indicate your name and contact information, what skills you have and when you are available. Southern Baptists interested in donating supplies or offering other assistance also can send an e-mail to this address. Those interested in helping also should contact their state convention disaster relief office for more opportunities. News report, 'heart for Haitians' motivates Southern Baptist to help Tim Dortch already had a love for Haitians. The bivocational pastor of a Baptist church in Camden, Miss., he’d traveled in and out of the country for 15 years, ministering and sharing Christ with Haitians. So when news of the earthquake hit, he began looking for some way to help. Then he saw a news report of a missionary working with two orphanages that desperately needed food, medical supplies and fuel for generators. A plan began to develop. Pray Ways to pray for Haiti Find ways to pray for the people of Haiti and those who are helping provide relief and counseling: CompassionNet: Watch for daily prayer updates. Twitter: To watch for latest updates from Haiti follow@IMBconnecting. Use #haitiprayer for your updates and prayers. Blog: Join those adding their prayers to the IMB Prayer Director blog. ------- You are currently subscribed to Haiti Response 2010 as:david@crbcshoals.org. If you do not wish to receive further updates click unsubscribe. -------

R.C. Sproul on Death

There has been an interview with R.C. Sproul on His Latest Book Surprised by Suffering: The Role of Pain and Death in the Christian Life. You can read the full interview here. Here was one of the questions and his response.

QUESTION: You observe in the book that death is a vocation. Can you explain what you mean by that?

SPROUL: What I mean by vocation is that it’s a “calling.” During my life I can be productive as a teacher of the Word of God. But there may come a time where I’m incapacitated. I may contract a terminal illness, and at that point I have a new calling, and that is to die, and to die in faith. The Bible speaks about two ways of dying. A person can die in sin, or die in faith. It’s important for Christians that we die in the faith. If we look at our deaths and our illnesses as simple accidents of nature, or the fickle finger of fate, then it’s difficult to summon the courage and the joy to persevere in the midst of that affliction. But if we realize that it is of God that we are in this situation and that He has called us to bear this at this time, it makes all the difference in the world in terms of how we’re able to handle the difficulties attached to the suffering.

Sermon Notes from Sunday, January 17, 2010

This past Sunday was an unusual day in the house of the Lord at CrossRoads. We are in the midst of our 21 days of fasting, and Sunday morning was evident of that renewed close walking with the Lord. I did not preach so there are no sermon notes from Sunday morning.

Sunday night I continued our series on Remember speaking on "The Power of Crying Out." See notes here.

What is the Anointing of the Spirit for the Preacher? The Unction

Preaching with the anointing of the Spirit is one of the greatest experiences I have ever had. There have been too many times I'm afraid I didn't; but when it is there - it is both a blessing to the preacher and the listener. "The Anointing" is difficult to explain, but as one African-American preacher said, "You may not be able to define it, but you know when you have." Aman.

This is what Charles Spurgeon dubbed “the sacred anointing.” It is power from on high.

I like the following "definition" of it by Tony Sargent in this book on the preaching of Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, The Sacred Annointing, He writes:

[Unction] is the afflatus of the Spirit resting on the speaker. It is the preacher gliding on eagles’ wings, soaring high, swooping low, carrying and being carried along by a dynamic other than his own. His consciousness of what is happening is not obliterated. He is not in a trance. He is being worked on but is aware that he is still working. He is being spoken through but he knows he is still speaking. The words are his but the facility with which they come compels him to realise that the source is beyond himself. The man is overwhelmed. He is on fire.

Update on Matt Chandler

Regular readers of this blog know that I gave a summary of Pastor Matt Chandler's brain tumor and recovery. See the previous summary here. Yesterday, he gave this update. Especially listen to this video through the reading of the Puritans about a "broken reed" at the 2:00 mark. Continue to pray for him.

Spred his Fame

Wow. This is worth multiple viewings to get the beauty of the lyrics. It’s Shai Linne at Grace Evangelical Free Church in La Mirada, CA.

Praise God for gifting poets to express some of the wonder of his glorious wisdom and grace!

Video below, followed by the lyrics:

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Shai Linne with “Spread His Fame.” from Grace EV Free on Vimeo.

All praise to the name of the savior who reigns.
He’s taken our blame, embraced all our shame,
He’s raised from the grave so his fame we proclaim.
Salvation by grace through faith in his name.

All praise to the name of the savior who reigns.
He’s taken our blame, embraced all our shame,
He’s raised from the grave so his fame we proclaim.
Salvation by grace through faith in his name.

Jesus, the beautiful and blessed Son,
Immutable, majestic one
Who was resurrected from the grave
for the depraved.
He paved the path for some
Place faith in His passion, son
Be saved from the wrath to come.

He’s fabulous, His status is immaculate
I’m lacking the vernacular to adequately capture His glory.
Incomparable, unconquerable, all powerful, unstoppable
Absolutely phenomenal.

No obstacle He can’t navigate.
He’s God and so He fascinates.
With Him it’s impossible to exaggerate.

Lord of all continents,
Source of all consciousness,
His compliments are the consequence of His accomplishments
Every sphere of life, He’s the Lord of it
And every other power is either fraudulent or subordinate.

At first we snubbed Him,
Now His vessels of mercy love Him.
Your highest thought is infinitely unworthy of Him.
Beyond vocabulary His actions vary,
His wrath is scary
All His adversaries are imaginary.

He has no competitors.
Ask Nebuchadnezzar, bro
He’ll mess you up, have you eating grass,
You can bet He’s amazing.

He takes in blatant, flagrant vagrants, breaks them, remakes them, and shapes them
to hate sin.

Jesus!
There’s no better name!
That’ll never change and He’ll forever reign while we spread His fame.

So all praise to the name of the Savior who reigns
He’s taken our blame
Embraced all our shame
He’s raised from the grave so His fame we proclaim
Salvation by grace through faith in His name!

All praise to the name of the Savior who reigns
He’s taken our blame
Embraced all our shame
He’s raised from the grave so His fame we proclaim
Salvation by grace through faith in His name!

What does it look like for the church to love one another?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss does it again this morning with a very practical word about the church and how we are to love.

What would it look like for the members of a church to really love each other? The book of 1 Corinthians addresses that.

Paul writes that when there’s sin in the body of Christ, those who truly love are grieved. When necessary, they even exercise church discipline. They love the sinner so much that they want him to be restored.

Paul writes that a loving church won’t have sexual immorality. Love leads to purity. Husbands and wives fully give themselves to their mates. They stay committed for life, even if their mate is an unbeliever.

And Paul says that when we’re walking in the way of love, we speak well of other believers. We affirm them instead of being critical.

Do these things describe your church? Ask God to help your fellowship be characterized by true, godly love.

With Seeking Him, I’m Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

Dr. Al Mohler on "Does God Hate Haiti?"

Albert Mohler’s comments are worth quoting at length:

Does God hate Haiti? That is the conclusion reached by many, who point to the earthquake as a sign of God’s direct and observable judgment.

God does judge the nations — all of them — and God will judge the nations. His judgment is perfect and his justice is sure. He rules over all the nations and his sovereign will is demonstrated in the rising and falling of nations and empires and peoples. Every molecule of matter obeys his command, and the earthquakes reveal his reign — as do the tides of relief and assistance flowing into Haiti right now.

A faithful Christian cannot accept the claim that God is a bystander in world events. The Bible clearly claims the sovereign rule of God over all his creation, all of the time. We have no right to claim that God was surprised by the earthquake in Haiti, or to allow that God could not have prevented it from happening.

God’s rule over creation involves both direct and indirect acts, but his rule is constant. The universe, even after the consequences of the Fall, still demonstrates the character of God in all its dimensions, objects, and occurrences. And yet, we have no right to claim that we know why a disaster like the earthquake in Haiti happened at just that place and at just that moment.

The arrogance of human presumption is a real and present danger. We can trace the effects of a drunk driver to a car accident, but we cannot trace the effects of voodoo to an earthquake — at least not so directly. Will God judge Haiti for its spiritual darkness? Of course. Is the judgment of God something we can claim to understand in this sense — in the present? No, we are not given that knowledge. Jesus himself warned his disciples against this kind of presumption.

Why did no earthquake shake Nazi Germany? Why did no tsunami swallow up the killing fields of Cambodia? Why did Hurricane Katrina destroy far more evangelical churches than casinos? Why do so many murderous dictators live to old age while many missionaries die young?

Does God hate Haiti? God hates sin, and will punish both individual sinners and nations. But that means that every individual and every nation will be found guilty when measured by the standard of God’s perfect righteousness. God does hate sin, but if God merely hated Haiti, there would be no missionaries there; there would be no aid streaming to the nation; there would be no rescue efforts — there would be no hope.

The earthquake in Haiti, like every other earthly disaster, reminds us that creation groans under the weight of sin and the judgment of God. This is true for every cell in our bodies, even as it is for the crust of the earth at every point on the globe. The entire cosmos awaits the revelation of the glory of the coming Lord. Creation cries out for the hope of the New Creation.

In other words, the earthquake reminds us that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the only real message of hope. The cross of Christ declares that Jesus loves Haiti — and the Haitian people are the objects of his love. Christ would have us show the Haitian nation his love, and share his Gospel. In the midst of this unspeakable tragedy, Christ would have us rush to aid the suffering people of Haiti, and rush to tell the Haitian people of his love, his cross, and salvation in his name alone.

Everything about the tragedy in Haiti points to our need for redemption. This tragedy may lead to a new openness to the Gospel among the Haitian people. That will be to the glory of God. In the meantime, Christ’s people must do everything we can to alleviate the suffering, bind up the wounded, and comfort the grieving. If Christ’s people are called to do this, how can we say that God hates Haiti?

If you have any doubts about this, take your Bible and turn to John 3:16. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. That is God’s message to Haiti.

Let the Bible Get Through You

Here is the morning thought from Nancy Leigh DeMoss. The reason I am posting this is last night at church I mentioned that God did not lead me to ask our church to go through "The Bible in One Year" but instead to concentrate on portions of God's Word. Even testimonies were given of God leading members to Exodus, Matthew and Titus. I encouraged our church to follow John MacArthur's advice of spending 30 days in one book or portion of a book and after those 30 days, you will know that book. In light of that, here is Nancy Leigh DeMoss's devotional thought:

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: The old-time evangelist Gipsy Smith said something important about the way we approach the Bible.

Gipsy Smith: What makes the difference is not how many times you have been through the Bible, but how many times the Bible has been through you.

Nancy: We can read all we want, but if God’s Word isn’t changing us, it’s not doing much good.

James makes the same point when he says, “Do not merely listen to the Word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

The next time you read the Bible, be sure to think through how you need to respond. Here are some questions to help get your thinking going:

• How does this truth apply to my situation?
• What is a practical step I can take to apply this truth?
• Do any changes need to be made in my life?

Don’t just go through the Bible; let the Bible get through you!

With Seeking Him, I'm Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

How to Help Haiti from the International Mission Board

This has just been released from the International Mission Board: Help Haiti: Baptist Global Response offers several financial giving opportunities for Haiti relief Click here.

Or here is the article from the Alabama Baptist State Convention. click here

Sermon Notes from Sunday, January 10, 2010

Here are the sermon notes from this Sunday, January 10, 2010

Daniel Series - "The Prayer of the Ages" Part II Daniel 9

Remember Series - "Worship: Passion of God for God" Sunday night sermon

Sermon notes from Sunday, January 3, 2010

Here are the sermon notes from this Sunday, January 3 2010

Daniel Series - "The Prayer of the Ages" Part I Daniel 9

Remember Series - "The 22 Principle" Sunday night sermon

Reaching Your Potential

Dr. Charles Stanley recently wrote in the Preaching magazine (Jan/Feb 2010) sharing five key principles about your potential. Let me share them:

1. Every person has potential no matter how much you may have achieved already, and no matter how old you are. There's still more God has for you to be and do!

2. Every person has been created by God to bring Him glory.

3. No one can reach his or her potential without the Father's help or apart from our God-given talents and gifts.

4. No one can reach his or her potential without factoring in the spiritual dimension associated with potential. Part of your potential lies in who God made you to be, not only what He created you to do.

5. Only God knows the limits of your potential.

You can read the full message here.

Advice to pastors from Chuck Colson

I was going through some old papers last week (cleaning up for a new year, I guess) and found an interview done by Preaching magazine in the July/August 2008 edition with Chuck Colson, President of Prison Fellowship. In response to a question for "words of counsel to pastors," he responded:

"The principle thing I have to say to them - but you'd also have to say it to their lay-leadership - is to worry more about spiritual depth than church growth. There's too much recruitment going on just to get people in the church. And I think pastors most often suffer because they're under pressure from their own leadership, their deacons, and elders. It's the people who want the biggest church in town more than the pastor. So I would simply say: focus on making disciples, transforming them.

"I think there's a real sense of unease in the church today that we've got lots of numbers, but we don't have people who are really change agents and who are really witnesses of transformed lives.

"Transformational discipleship is a buzz-word that I would love to see the church pick up. My advice to any pastor would be to work on spiritual depth. Growth will come, but depth has to be the most important thing." (page 26)

more from Charles' Stanley's book on the Spirit-filled life

Over the last two weeks, I have read Charles Stanley's The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life. Over these last days of 2009, I am using this blog to share some of the actual comments from the book.

We don't need more full-time Christian workers in the church. We need more full-time Christian workers in the marketplace with the people who need to hear the truth. Please don't use church work as an excuse to escape from the ministry God has chosen for you. Some people you rub shoulders with every day will never darken the door of a church. You are their only link with the truth. Humanly speaking, you are their only hope. And that is why God put you there. Typing reports, filing records, selling widgets - it's all God's work. Your attitude and excellence on the job are the bridge to someone's heart. (page 143)

The Holy Spirit is sufficient for you no matter what you are forced to put up with. (page 143)

The Holy Spirit does not speak on His own. "He will not speak on His own initiative." God has chosen to communicate to His children through the Holy Spirit. He is God's mouthpiece to believers. When God chooses to speak directly to you, it will be through the Holy Spirit. (page 167)

When you think about it, this really makes perfect sense. After all, where does the Holy Spirit reside? In you! And in me! Therefore, He is the perfect candidate for communicating God's will to Christians. Living inside us, He has direct access to our minds, emotions,and consciences. (page 167)

The absence or presence of peace is often the first indication that the Holy Spirit is up to something. Inner peace is a difficult concept to define, but it is easy to identify its absence. Peace is the ability to lie in bed at night, look up at the ceiling, and know everything is going to be all right when everything really isn't all right. Peace is an inner settledness. (Page 183)

My comment: I've already said that "peace is God's signature and joy is His calling card."

more from Charles' Stanley's book on the Spirit-filled life

Over the last two weeks, I have read Charles Stanley's The Wonderful Spirit-Filled Life. Over these last days of 2009, I am using this blog to share some of the actual comments from the book.

It's no wonder we have so much division in our churches. As long as talent and giftedness are the primary considerations in choosing our leaders, we are asking for trouble. Think about it. Have you ever heard of a church having problems because it didn't have enough talented and gifted people? I haven't. The church problems I hear about involve people with lots of talent but very little fruit. Many churches are suffering from a fruit shortage. This will continue to be the case until fruit - not talent or giftedness - becomes the number one criterion for leadership. Remember, "you will know them by their fruits." He many be a great communicator. She may be a marvelous soloist. Her books may have changed your life. But are they kind? Do they exercise self-control? Do they love those around them? Are they patient? Don't be fooled. And don't fool yourself. Resist the urge to hold up the measuring stick of performance. (page 106)

The fruit of the Spirit is the most effective evangelistic tool we have. Nothing is more powerful than the life characterized by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The most powerful sermon in the world can't match the power of a fruit-filled life. Why? Because unbelievers are not nearly as impressed with what we believe and preach as they are with how we act, especially under pressure. (page 118)

Our light is not primarily in the words we say. It is in the life we live. A life filled with the fruit of the Spirit is the most powerful sermon anyone can preach. It is a sermon that leaves critics dumbfounded. (page 118_

The life characterized by the fruit of the Spirit cannot help be noticed. It stands out like a candle in a dark room. It draws attention. It makes some people uncomfortable. It makes others mad. But it will consistently capture the curiosity of a few. There will always be a handful who say, "There's something different about you. What is it?" (page 119)

Happy New Year 2010

Welcome 2010!! God has been speaking to me recently about "remembering." I am even doing a series of messages beginning Sunday night on this theme (see here).

As I begin this new year, I want to remember a few things:

1. I want to remember that God is always aware of me, my circumstances and all that involves my life. Deuteronomy 11:12 "The eyes of the Lord your God are always on the land, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year."

2. I want to remember that God never changes. I am changing and life is changing; but God never does.

3. I want to remember that God has forgotten my sins and that they are under His blood. This is so hard because of a mind that permits me to remember the bad easier than the good and Satan that "buffets" that; but I need to remember that God has chosen "not to remember" my sins against me anymore. Isaiah 43:25 "I will not remember your sins." Jeremiah 31:34

4. I want to remember that I have forgotten wrongs done to me. Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. One day, someone asked her about an especially cruel thing done to her years before. Miss Barton seemed not to recall the incident. "Don't you remember?" the person asked. "No," said Miss Barton, "I distinctly remember forgetting that incident."

5. I want to remember that God has chosen me to be His son, His servant and His smiling face (grace) is always toward me. No matter what happens, it is always more than I deserve due to being His son, His servant and the object of His smile.

I love the old song by Dottie Rambo that says, "Roll back the curtains of memories, now and then; show me where you brought me from; and where I could have been; Lord, I'm human, and humans forget; so remind me, remind me, dear Lord."