Idolatry and Sports by David Platt

This is from August, 2013 message "Idolatry and Sports" David Platt preached in his own pulpit at The Church of Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL.  It is only six minutes long.

Sunday Sermon, February 23, 2014 Ruth 1: 1-5

I began a new series of messages this past Sunday from the book of Ruth.  The series "Destiny: Getting to Where God Intends You to Be" began with this message "Believer, Don't Go There" from Ruth 1: 1-5.

Sermon notes may be found here.

Here is the audio:

Hello, My Name is Church

Hello my name is Church:

I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about me.
I have no shortage of critics.

Perhaps you have heard that I am

Boring
Shallow
Cheap
A waste of time

You’ve heard that I am full of

Hypocrites
Clowns
Greedy people
The self- righteous

Maybe you have visited me before and discovered

Horrible music
Passionless singing
Dry preaching
Rude congregants

Maybe you needed me and I was

Too busy
Too “righteous”
Too broke
Too blind

Maybe you joined me and found I was

Distant
Demanding
Dull
Preoccupied

Maybe you tried to serve in me but were caught off guard by

Business meetings
Committees
Teams
Bureaucracy

Maybe you left and were surprised that nobody

Called
Cared
Noticed
Invited you back

Perhaps your experience has driven you to

Speak negatively of me
Swear to never come back to me
Proclaim that no one needs me
Believe you’re better off without me

If this is true, I have something to say to you

I’m sorry
I was wrong
I blew it
I made a huge mistake

But remember, I never said my name was

Perfect
Flawless
Complete
Arrived

My name is Church. I welcome the

Hypocrite
Dry
Self-righteous
Shallow

I welcome the

Sincere
Passionate
Forgiving
Selfless

I cannot shut my doors to the people who make you

Angry
Uncomfortable
Impatient
Self-conscious

But I would remind you that we couldn’t always worship in the same room.

In the Old Testament there was a division between the

Gentile
Jew
Man
Woman

In order for us to all worship in the same room Christ was

Shamed
Beaten
Killed
Resurrected

Which is far worse than being

Bored
Uncomfortable
Embarrassed
Ignored

So why not come back to church and let all of these messed up people

Challenge you
Sharpen you
Strengthen you
Humble you

I can’t promise you that the people will be great

This is church
It’s not

Heaven
Paradise
Beulah Land
The Celestial city

Come back

God wants you here
The body needs you here
The world needs your witness here
You belong here

Hello, my name is Church

I miss you
I love you
I’m sorry
Can’t wait to see you

================

This poem is copyrighted by “Unappreciated Pastor.” All rights reserved.
For reprint permission/requirements, email sbctoday@gmail.com

The Next Great Move of God by Ronnie Floyd

I have a growing conviction that we are on the brink of the next great move of God in America. I do not proclaim to have any special insight on this, but I just sense in my heart that God is preparing His people to do something special.

Seasons and Moments

I do believe we have had seasons and moments when God was up to something big, but we walked away from it. Hundreds of thousands of people who are my age came to Christ during one of these great seasons called, The Jesus Movement. Countless thousands of us were called into ministry and missions due to this great move of God. Since the church did not embrace it fully, in time, the movement seemed to subside. Yet, many of the results of that great move of God have been long lasting and eternal for, perhaps, millions of people.

It appears to me, some twenty years later, there was another great surge of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Matters like prayer, fasting, and holiness seemed to emerge in the ranks of Christianity. Great men like Bill Bright began to lead conferences on prayer and fasting, and at the same time, a men’s movement called Promise Keepers seemed to be rising greatly. The status in the nation, along with this rising tide of the Spirit of God, seemed to move us to the brink of entering the land of that next great move of God.

I Will Never Forget

Due to God’s movement in my own life in a profound manner, I found myself, on October 4, 1997, preaching to 1.3 million men in the Washington D. C. Mall at a Promise Keepers national gathering for men called, “Stand in the Gap.” As I left Washington D.C. that evening, I thought we were about to cross over into the unknown territory of the next great move of God.

Yet, for some reason, it seemed it just did not happen. Some would say they know why, and perhaps they do. I will leave that up to historians to decide. Yet, one cannot deny the powerful movement of God that led up to that day in Washington. It was something far bigger than conferences on prayer and fasting, or Promise Keepers. But for some reason, by the year 2000, this rising tide seemed to go back out to the sea, yet to return.

God Is Preparing His People

My life was changed by the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the first movement I described, and I was involved actively in the second great movement. For the past ten to fifteen years, it seemed the tide would not roll in again. While the nation continues to fall into deeper depravity, the church seems to be losing ground greatly.

However, I am very hopeful! I sense God is rolling in the tide of the Holy Spirit in a fresh way. Yes, sin abounds in our nation; but grace abounds much more! While many churches seem powerless and others are dying, God is doing some mighty things in many churches across the land. While some may be closing their doors, others are entering into moments never before seen in the American church. 

Yes, I believe God is preparing His people.

Why I am Hopeful we are on the Brink of the Next Great Move of God

I choose to believe by faith that we are on the brink of the next great move of God for these reasons:

1. Desperation is growing. People are convicted, now more than I have seen in many years, God is our only hope. While desperation is growing, God is getting us ready! I believe all generations are desperate for God to do something great in our day.

2. Prayer is on the rise. I am hearing and sensing that prayer is on the rise in the church. People are beginning to cry out to God again. God always answers when His people cry out to Him in their desperation for Him to move. Extraordinary prayer always precedes the manifest presence of God. As desperation is growing, prayers are rising up from the people of God.

3. Leaders are ready. Everywhere I go and every spiritual leader I talk to is aware the need for a move of God is greater today than ever before in our generation. They know, with growing conviction, God is our only hope! Leaders appear to be more ready for this next great move of God than I have seen in years.

4. Church is the key. We hear continually that denominations and conventions are losing their meaningful influence they held in the past. Whether this is true or not, without question, even those in denominational or conventional gospel work, are aware the landscape has changed from even a decade ago. This places the church at center stage, just the way Jesus intended.

I believe this next great movement of God will fall upon a church that is experiencing:

• A return to the gospel. Not just receiving the gospel, but living out the gospel.
• A rising commitment to planting gospel churches nationally and globally.
• A revitalization and rebirth of vision and mission.
• A renewal towards compassion for the poor, the needy, the orphan, the widow, the broken, and the hurting; whether it has come from a person’s past, misfortune, or even a disaster, a renewal towards compassion is occurring.
• A release of people, dreams, and resources to the finishing of the task of making disciples of all the nations.

This is why I am hopeful we are on the brink of the next great move of God in our nation. The church is as ripe as I have ever seen it. If indeed the great outpouring of the Spirit happens in our generation, He will be poured out upon a church that is as ready as possible, and prayerfully desperate. When the church is prepared and prayerfully desperate, I believe we will cross on over into the land of that next great move of God and ultimately finish the task of making disciples of all the nations.

Yours for the Great Commission,

Ronnie W. Floyd

       

Surviving Our Present Culture by Charles Stanley

Surviving Our Present Culture Read | Hebrews 5:12-14 If we desire to survive our present culture, then the inspired, infallible Word of God must have a central place in our daily life. Through the Bible, God speaks to us about His truths and the world’s lies. To know if we have fallen victim to falsehood, we need to take an honest look at whether we are committed Christ-followers or worldly believers. Worldly Christians may have strong convictions about following the Lord but often find themselves compromising those principles. A weak understanding of God’s character and instructions will result in self-focused lives and susceptibility to the culture’s influences (Eph. 4:14). Worldliness is revealed in long-term inconsistency with regard to the Christian walk and in a focus on things that give pleasure or comfort. Minimal involvement in the local church also prevents growth in spiritual maturity. Do you recognize yourself in any part of this description? If so, be encouraged. Scripture stands as a beacon to guide us safely through cultural perils so we can become committed Christ-followers. The Bible and the Holy Spirit’s work will increasingly cause our lives to reflect God’s standard. Applying Scripture to our attitudes and actions will result in a growing passion for the Lord and greater obedience to Him. Then, as trust and dependence on Jesus Christ continue to increase, our whole life will take on a new perspective because we have aligned ourselves with His Word. What place does Scripture have in your decision making?

Hard Words to Swallow Lead to Revival - Part Two - Michael Catt

Murmuring in the church starts in subtle ways: “I’m not sure about this new building program. Shouldn’t we be giving the money to missions?” As if providing facilities in your community is less spiritual than providing a hut in Africa. This is not either/or; it’s both/and.

“I don’t like the new direction we are going.” Name the area: music, starting a new ministry to the community, actively seeking to integrate the church with people from every tribe and tongue, breaking down social and economic barriers (that always makes rich white people uncomfortable who want church to be a glorified country club).

It can take the form of attacks on other believers. A group gets together and begins to criticize the theology of other believers. They say they love the Lord, but their theological slants are more precious to them than the unity of the body. They may be doctrinally straight, but their hearts are cold. They talk their theology in their little Bible studies, but rarely practice their theology in the real world.

We don’t have to all agree on these things. Wesley and Whitefield were on opposite sides of some doctrinal issues, but God used both of them to bring revival and awakening. Lighten up folks, God didn’t die and make you king. No matter how well versed, well read, or well studied you are, there are mysteries in the Bible. You can’t and won’t know everything. Lighten up. Start acting like Jesus—it will make you more likeable and the Gospel more appealing.

I realize I’m all over the map here. There are hundreds of other areas. A staff change or someone took my seat, my parking space, my clas room. You can fill in your own blank. Here’s the truth: at the end of the day, murmuring begins in the heart of a person who thinks they know better than God. They do not and will not follow Scripture for reconciliation. They do not and will not forgive a brother or sister. They do not and will not believe the best about another person. They question everyone’s motives but their own. They want their agenda their way, and they will start a rumor or begin to murmur in their little circle.

The end result of murmuring is always the same. Good hearts in good people begin to question what’s going on. Why? Because the murmuring person couches everything in spiritual terms. But they are hypocrites at best and even possibly lost religious moralists. Good people don’t have to be naïve. People who murmur have an agenda. It’s always to undermine. It’s always them thinking they know better than those in leadership.

The sins of the tongue are as dangerous as drugs and alcohol. But some say the consequences aren’t as bad. Really? Are you kidding? What planet did you come from? How many families, friendships, churches, and ministries have been destroyed because no one had the nerve to confront the person who constantly questions and seeks to divide? (Just my humble and accurate opinion, which I highly respect.)

The person who whines, gripes, and murmurs about the budget typically isn’t giving. The person who leaves a church during a building program may say they are feeling “led elsewhere”. The reality is they are led to go somewhere where they aren’t asked to give. In the movie Field of Dreams, the famous line is, “If you build it, they will come.” In the average church, the line would better be stated, “If you build it, they will leave and come back when it’s finished.”

The person who says, “There are too many folks in this church,” has no heart for evangelism. The one who says, “We should give that money to the poor,” has the spirit of Judas who cared nothing for the poor. He just didn’t like the way Jesus did His business.

There are other mouthing-off sins. Lying, slander, gossip…you know the list. The reality is a church that
allows that kind of spirit can never taste the goodness of God or see revival. Sin must be called sin. Until church members begin to confess sin and stop excusing it, we will not see revival. God will not put truth in a potty mouth. He is not the author of blessing and cursing coming out of the same mouth. He does not smile on a church that screams about abortion, homosexuality, and adultery and sits silently concerning issues of lying, stealing the tithe, gossip, murmuring, causing dissension, and other matters just as sinful. In a revival culture we cannot be the whiney wimp believers who say, “I should have said something,” or, “I almost said something.” If someone is hindering the body, resisting the Spirit, or hindering the work of God, say something. Man up. Get a backbone. Stand on truth. Speak it in love, but speak it.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for the church to have the courage to practice a little church discipline. In an environment where there is evidence of the fear of God, mouths will be shut, knees will be bent, altars will be filled, tears will begin to flow, and then maybe God will be able to trust us with a revival.

What is it you need to confess today? What adjustments or apologies do you need to make? Who do you need to ask for forgiveness? In what group or setting do you need to admit you’ve been a hindrance or resistance to revival?

Hard Words to Swallow Lead to Revival - Part One - Michael Catt

There are many factors that limit revival. We must remember: revival is a church term. It’s a church need. Revival is different from awakening. Only after revival sweeps through the church will we see awakening sweep through the culture. God has an order in how He works. He doesn’t work in chaos or confusion; He works to create the atmosphere where men and women hunger for HIM.

He is to be first and foremost. Revival is about Jesus. It’s not about having a better church or a larger church; it’s not even about evangelism. Evangelism is the outgrowth of revival. The reason churches are dying and baptisms are down is because carnal church members could care less about lost people. Carnal people think nothing about their carnality or the fact that a carnal church is pushing people toward the gates of hell. Why would anyone want to give up their Sunday to go to a church that fusses and fights all the time?

Carnal church members must repent. That’s a hard word. It requires an admission of offense, error, neglect, or resistance. It’s admitting God’s right and I’m wrong. Not just wrong like “Oh, I’m sorry,” but wrong like dead wrong. Fatally wrong. Hindering the Spirit wrong. Grieving the Spirit kind of wrong. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

Christianity starts with repentance. D. Martyn-Lloyd Jones said, “You cannot drive repentance out of the teaching of Christ without destroying His teaching utterly and entirely.” Spurgeon wrote, “Repentance and faith are like Siamese twins. If one is sick, the other cannot be well, for they live but one life.”

Repentance does not allow for excuses, self-justification, or playing around the edges. Repentance is like surgery—it cuts to the problem and removes it, and then the healing begins. Repentance is hard. No one wants to repent. Our fallen nature and self will hate the thought of it.

Saul could never bring himself to repent. He blamed others for his own choices. He died tragically. David found that repentance was the only thing that could bring relief to his body, mind, and spirit. David was a greater sinner than Saul, but David was an even greater repenter. That’s why He is still known as a man after God’s own heart.

One of our “favorite” sins in the church is murmuring. Thomas Adams wrote, “The frog and the murmurer, both of them are bred of the mud.” Thomas Brooks wrote, “It is better to be mute than to murmur.”

We must repent of murmuring. Murmuring cost a few folks their lives in the wilderness. It led to leprosy. God hates it. It is a work of the flesh, which means a person who murmurs is on the opposite side of an issue with the Holy Spirit. Again, they are grieving, hindering, and resisting the Spirit.

Murmuring is subtle. We let people get away with it. The church in Acts had power for miracles and evangelism because they were one. When a couple in the church decided to lie about their giving, God killed them. No, they weren’t killed for murmuring, but just think this one through. There would have been murmuring in the church because someone, somewhere would have known the truth about their lies and would have started talking about it.

Any leader can tell you that murmuring never accomplished anything. You hear murmuring everywhere. For instance, sports events. Out of shape, overweight inebriated fans who never even attended the university curse and complain about the coaches’ calls. They think playing a video game and watching ESPN makes them an expert on play calling, recruiting, and game strategies. Murmuring sometimes happens under the guise of second guessing the decisions of a leader.

The problem is that the people who murmur don’t have the guts to say it out loud, for they know they will be shot down for their pettiness. So, they resort to murmuring, trying to pull a few folks into their cancerous accusations in hopes that people will agree with them. The way to kill murmuring is to pretend those people are dead – they don’t count, they have no voice, and they certainly aren’t representing the Lord, the cause of Christ, the focus of the mission, or the good of the team.

When there was a major decision to make in the church, James, the pastor, said, “It seems good to us and the Holy Spirit.” Anyone who would have argued with that decision would have been guilty of murmuring. If a church is not in one accord—on the same page, committed to the same thing—it will have murmuring. It will not have the manifest presence of God.

The Real Meaning of Unconditional Love by Emerson Eggerichs

The Real Meaning of Unconditional Love by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs from Love & Respect in the Family If you only love the lovable, do you expect a pat on the back? Run-of-the-mill sinners do that. --Luke 6:32 (The Message) There is no condition that causes me to be unloving or disrespectful. In other words, if I am unloving or disrespectful, it is not because of certain circumstances caused by others that make me react unlovingly or disrespectfully. I choose to be harsh, independent of the circumstances. As one parent admitted to me: “We tend to be Christlike when the kids are behaving and harsh when they are disobedient.” Most of us can identify, but we know this is a long way from unconditional love; in fact it is the precise opposite. We cannot say, “I would unconditionally love my kids if they would just behave!” This is not about demanding that our kids be deserving of love and respect by being lovable and respectable. If we continue in this fashion, we will always love or respect our kids conditionally, depending on how they act. It is simple enough to make them scapegoats for our display of anger or impatience. But all this irresponsibility on our part lasts only so long. Eventually, the kids grow up, and the tables turn. As adults, our children can blame us for all their problems. Sadly, they make their case against us, as we did against them. So where does that leave us with trying to love them unconditionally? To love unconditionally, we obey God’s command to put on love or respect despite the circumstances (Romans 12:10; 1 Peter 2:17). If we refuse to obey this command, we end up rationalizing (telling ourselves “rational lies”) and believing others have caused us to be harsh and rude. We tell others, in various ways, they made us react the way we did. As parents we look to Jesus for motivation to love as He loves us — unconditionally. There is nothing we can do to get Him to loathe or despise us after we sin — nothing (Romans 8:1–2). However, though He loves us no matter what we do wrong, what we do wrong still matters to Him. This is why He disciplines us (Hebrews 12:5–11). In the same way, as parents, loving and respecting our kids unconditionally does not mean we remove all requirements and permissively give them license to do whatever. We confront their failure to obey, and we discipline them by correcting their disrespectful attitude with a loving attitude. Unconditional love, then, means we give our children the gift of a loving and respectful demeanor when they do not deserve it. This is not about what they are failing to be; it is about what God is calling us to be. From personal experience and from dealing with thousands of spouses and parents, I know loving unconditionally is impossible to do perfectly. I had to learn (more accurately, I am still learning) to love my children unconditionally; it does not come automatically. As I reflect on the years when our children were younger, I realize how often I did not even think of Jesus during a flare-up with the kids. There was a huge disconnect between my parenting and Christ. Instead of trying to imitate His unconditional love for me, I would be angry before I even thought of the Lord. Later, often with Sarah’s urging, I would confess my sin to Him and apologize to my kids. I would start again, and again, and again — trying to be more like Christ. I would try to remind myself that the Lord was present in my parenting and that He stood, so to speak, just beyond the shoulders of my children. I knew I had an audience of One to please and the kids were really secondary. I also knew the Lord was always willing to help me as I asked for His help with my irritation, presumption, preoccupation, sense of self-importance, anger, and defeats. While I was turned off in great part by the poor example my own father set with his rage and loss of temper, nonetheless, his negative example came back to haunt me. I was seldom openly angry. Instead, it would boil within me as I felt my father’s unwanted influence, which I had to counter. We all know the power of our “family of origin,” as psychologists call it. Due to these issues, some of us struggle more in the parenting process than others. Yet we have the opportunity to receive help from the Holy Helper. Hear the testimony of Larry, a professor friend of mine and a man of great intellect, who discovered that family living is not a matter of right knowing but right doing: I know I cannot achieve this on my own and that this won’t be easy. I have seen some aspects of my father rise up in me from time to time (when that happens, I stop and experience a “psychological vomit” because I am so repulsed). But relying on the Holy Spirit, I have experienced some of the fruits that God wants to come out of my life as detailed in Galatians 5:22–23. Ultimately, I know that to break this cycle I must rely on God’s resources and not my own. I can will myself to change, but this lasts only for a short period of time, then I fall back to my old habits. As a friend once told me, Galatians 5:22–23 describes the fruits of the Spirit, not the fruits of Larry. And a mother wrote of her struggles: I have been having immense struggles with obedience with my seven-year-old son. I have been burdened with a dislike for him as we engage in this Family Crazy Cycle. I don’t want to be a part of it, but raising seven children ages thirteen to four months, with a husband that travels at times, I start to lose my purpose in serving the Lord. Your message today was so freeing... I was at my end, exhausted from my inability to break this cycle. I am going to look beyond him and see Christ. I am going to reflect on Scripture to show Jesus’ love for him. I am going to let God do the work to mold him... I have been focusing on a few of his strengths and trying not to get wrapped up in a negative cycle of thoughts and anger... I keep my voice calm and focus on the correction to guide him. There have even been times when the Spirit has prompted me to just give him a big hug. I have seen some major changes within our relationship. A hurting father confessed: In the heat of the moment, in the face of volatile defiance, everything goes out the window . . . I’m simply trying to survive the situation without saying anything that I will regret forever. My child has several variations of manipulative, defiant, disrespectful insolence toward us as parents, which causes us the desire to strike him. He is a really sweet kid with a kind and even overly sensitive heart, but who can, in a matter of fifteen minutes, infuriate us to the point where we just want to lock him in a room and run away from home. It can seem like Jekyll and Hyde . . . I no longer have much hope that when I meet the Lord I will hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” I just hope He doesn’t say, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoer.” We hear the pain and fear in this dad’s words. Some of us can relate to his feelings of inadequacy. When we feel disrespected, it is not natural to love or feel much love. However, it could be that God intends to use our kids to influence our lives more than He uses us to influence theirs. Parenting is not a one-way street. When that truth hit me, it changed the way I related to my kids. Sarah and I found great encouragement from the fact that the Holy Spirit is called the Helper for a reason. God intends to help us because we need His help. It is okay — in fact, it is absolutely necessary — to admit that we are powerless to love perfectly a disrespectful and disobedient child. Many times in prayer Sarah and I expressed our powerlessness to parent His way. Instead of running from the feelings of inadequacy, we brought those feelings to the Lord. As the apostle Peter urged, we cast our anxiety on Him because we knew He cares for us (1 Peter 5:7). Sarah and I did this kind of casting continually. In fact, Sarah says frequently, “I thought I was serious about growing spiritually until I had children. Then, after I had children, I really saw how much growing I had to do.” In other words... Children bring us to a point where we realize we do not have all the inner strength and wisdom in our spirit to be the kind of person we should be. At such moments, we can justify ourselves and blame our children, or we can acknowledge we need God. And along with this we need to realize that God is using our children in our lives, not just vice versa. As we admitted our limitations and weaknesses, we discovered what Paul meant in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. Sarah and I tried to apply this principle by bringing our weaknesses before Christ and asking for His gracious power to help us parent His way. We kept seeking to improve. Yet in our deepest hearts we recognized that we needed God first. We knew that God intended to use our children in our lives. Sarah gives testimony that she went deeper in faith and obedience as she learned how to give thanks in the face of things that she could not control. Sarah learned to praise and worship God during times of trial, and she had plenty of opportunities! “Thanksgiving became my lifeline to the Lord,” she says. “Giving thanks centers me on what God is able to do, keeps my prayers more positive, causes me to look to God for a solution rather than fixate on the problem, and brings a peace. Truly, I have peace in the waiting.” May I invite you and your spouse to acknowledge before the Lord that you, too, need His help? Perhaps you have been remiss in surrendering your family over to Christ more regularly. You have not prayed with any pattern, “Lord, not my will but Yours be done in this family.” It is one thing to dedicate your children to the Lord in a service at church, an important event that many of us have done, but it is all too easy to forget to offer our kids to the Lord continually. Maybe you are trying too hard on your own. Perhaps the well-known expression, “Let God be God,” applies especially to you right now. Memorize Zechariah 4:6, and pray it often as you go through your day with your children: “‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” And here is a bonus: as we look to Christ for help, we can encourage our children to do the same. As we display our dependency on the Lord we can cultivate such faith in our kids. This is the way to build our homes. Already Jonathan and his wife have taught our two-year-old grandson, Jackson, Psalm 118:7: “Yes, the Lord is for me; He will help me”. * * *

Our Thoughts by Charles Stanley

Our Thoughts Read | Romans 12:1-2 The mind is the control tower of life. Your thoughts greatly influence not only your successes, failures, and choices but also your relationship with the Lord and others. Godliness comes from thinking the way God does. Yet there are several problems that can negatively impact your thought life. One of the most persistent is the influence of your past. When you were saved, God gave you a new spirit and a new life.  However, in letting you start over, He did not blot the past from your mind. The Father wants you to be able to draw from your good and bad experiences when ministering to others. He also wants you to appreciate His grace and knows it is important for you to remember what He rescued you from. Another problem is unsuitable input. Though we may think we are immune to the effect of harmful influences, what we allow into our minds does greatly impact our thinking. Unrighteous input creates an acceptance of and desire for worldly things. It can also lead to internal conflict: our godly thoughts are at odds with our ungodly appetites, which creates feelings of tension and guilt. As we begin to edit God from various parts of our lives, we allow Satan to gain a toehold. That’s why God tells us, “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things” (Phil. 4:8). He knows that properly programming our mind can protect us from the Devil’s traps.

The Single Greatest Event in History by John MacArthur

The Single Greatest Event in History by John MacArthur from The Jesus Answer Book The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is so foundational to Christianity that no one who denies it can be a true Christian. Without resurrection there is no Christian faith, no salvation, and no hope. “If there is no resurrection of the dead,” Paul explained, “then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty” (1 Corinthians 15:13–14). A person who believes in a Christ who was not raised believes in a powerless Christ, a dead Christ. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then no redemption was accomplished at the cross. “Your faith is futile; you are still in your sins!” (1 Corinthians 15:17). It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the first sermon on the day the church was born focused on the resurrection of Christ. After charging his hearers with Jesus’ death, Peter declared,  “Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it” (Acts 2:24). The resurrection stands as a central theme in Paul’s epistles as well. He declared that Christ “was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:4). Salvation belongs only to those who believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who confess Him as Lord and Savior, and who thereby identify themselves with Him. * * *

R.A. Torrey - "What God Used R.A. Torry" written by SBC Today

On February 5, 1837, there was born of poor parents in a humble farmhouse in Northfield, Massachusetts, a little baby who was to become the greatest man, as I believe, of his generation or of his century — Dwight L. Moody. After our great generals, great statesmen, great scientists and great men of letters have passed away and been forgotten, and their work and its helpful influence has come to an end, the work of D. L. Moody will go on and its saving influence continue and increase, bringing blessing not only to every state in the Union but to every nation on earth. Yes, it will continue throughout the ages of eternity.

My subject is “Why God Used D. L. Moody,” and I can think of no subject upon which I would rather speak. For I shall not seek to glorify Mr. Moody, but the God who by His grace, His entirely unmerited favor, used him so mightily, and the Christ who saved him by His atoning death and resurrection life, and the Holy Spirit who lived in him and wrought through him and who alone made him the mighty power that he was to this world. Furthermore: I hope to make it clear that the God who used D. L. Moody in his day is just as ready to use you and me, in this day, if we, on our part, do what D. L. Moody did, which was what made it possible for God to so abundantly use him.

The whole secret of why D. L. Moody was such a mightily used man you will find in Psalm 62:11: “God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that POWER BELONGETH UNTO GOD.” I am glad it does. I am glad that power did not belong to D. L. Moody; I am glad that it did not belong to Charles G. Finney; I am glad that it did not belong to Martin Luther; I am glad that it did not belong to any other Christian man whom God has greatly used in this world’s history. Power belongs to God. If D. L. Moody had any power, and he had great power, he got it from God.

But God does not give His power arbitrarily. It is true that He gives it to whomsoever He will, but He wills to give it on certain conditions, which are clearly revealed in His Word; and D. L. Moody met those conditions and God made him the most wonderful preacher of his generation; yes, I think the most wonderful man of his generation.

But how was it that D. L. Moody had that power of God so wonderfully manifested in his life? Pondering this question it seemed to me that there were seven things in the life of D. L. Moody that accounted for God’s using him so largely as He did.

1. A Fully Surrendered Man

2. A Man of Prayer

3. A Deep and Practical Student of the Bible

4. A Humble Man

5. His Entire Freedom from the Love of Money

6. His Consuming Passion for the Salvation of the Lost

7. Definitely Endued with Power from on High

To read the content of each of the above seven points, click HERE.

Originial post of this blog HERE

When Fear Grips Us by Charles Stanley

Jan 30, 2014 When Fear Grips Us Read | Isaiah 41:10 All throughout the Scriptures, the Lord encourages us not to be afraid or anxious. As His children, we have no basis for fear. Of course, there are reasons for us to be extremely cautious about what we do and where we go, but God’s people are not to live in a state of anxiety. If you think about it, you can identify at least six anxieties that are basic to all mankind. They are the fear of criticism, illness, old age, death, poverty, and losing a loved one. Although these are universal worries, they are in reality symptoms of something deep inside that feeds our fears. Some of the root causes are: A basic sense of inadequacy. Because of distorted thinking, we frequently feel incompetent to tackle certain challenges or tasks that should be possible for us to accomplish. The tendency to set unrealistic standards for ourselves. We can go through life trying to measure up to lofty expectations that are self-imposed rather than goals set by God. An innate sense of unworthiness. It’s amazing how many people will not succeed in life because they just don’t feel they deserve it. In the midst of our fears and anxieties, we need to remember God’s promise in today’s passage. He reassures us, “Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.” It is important that we look up at Him and not around at our circumstances.