Quote Worth Noting

"So God's ethical guidance of his people does not add any new sentences to the cannon of Scripture. But neither is it necessarily an intellectual process. God deals with us personally, even inwardly. His operations within us are mysterious, not to be simply described or categorized. He can work through the subconscious, through dreams, through memory and intuition, as well as through what we usually call the intellect."

John Frame, The Doctrine of the Christian Life (Phillipsburg, NJ: P & R, 2008), 360.
This quote is borrowed from the blog of Ryan Golias. Thanks Ryan :)

Fastest Growing Religion

"In a number of respects, Islam actually isgrowing faster than Christianity. Islam's growth rate of 2.15 percent annually does exceed Christianity's rate of 1.45 percent. It is worth pointing out, however, that 96 percent of the growth of Islam is attributable to biological growthchildren born into Muslim families. Islam is flourishing in parts of the world where population growth is high. Christianity, increasingly decentralized, has its traditional base in parts of the world where population growth is quite slow or has come to a standstill. Thus, the overall trends do show Islam growing faster than Christianity."

by Woodberry and Shubin-- "Why I Chose Jesus"

Missions Frontiers--March 2001(read more here)

Dr. David Platt (Days 1 and 2)

Day 1:

The Presence of God... There is much to be sai don this topic but those that most profoundly struck me were these:

• The Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, our Great High Priest, Wonderful Counselor, Creator, Sustainer, the Suthor and Sustainer of Life... These are but a glimpse of Jesus Christ and we have reduced Him to a puny saviour who waits eagerly -- yea, even yearns for our acceptance? Jesus Christ does NOT need any of us!
• Everytime Moses would leave the camp and go to the tent of meeting all of the people would stand at the entrances of their tents and watch as he passed by. When he entered the tent and the cloud of smoke would descend upon the tent all the people would bow in worship. Today, we need no person to go for us and plead our case because Jesus has torn the curtain in two and now we are able to enter and meet with God ourselves.
• What struck me so severly was this: We are now the tent. The Holy Spirit of the Living God dwells in us! How amazing! How grieving...! How can we, who have the Spirit allow ourselves to ever willingly or knowingly engage in sin?! How can we so defile that dwelling place? While sin is inevitable in this life, it should so much more motivate us to flee from it at every turn...

Day 2:

The Power of God... most specifically in the church and individuals pertaining to the Discipleship and witness:

• He is worthy of our worship but not only this. He is worthy or THEIR worship! This should be the primary thrust of missions and outreach. The evangelical church is missing the mark. The point is NOT:

To rush the return of Christ (because He can only return when all the nations have been reached).

To make good citizens who live peacefully.

To meet the social needs of the world.

• THE REASON WE DO MISSIONS IS BECAUSE GOD IS WORTHY OF EVERY MAN'S WORSHIP!
• Are we teaching to create listeners or reproducers? (Are we being taught for our own gain of knowledge and wellbeing OR do we listen so that we can in turn teach what we have heard and learned to others so that they may do the same and so on?)
• The key to reaching the masses is NOT by reaching the masses but rather by investing in the few so that they too can invest in a few and so on. That is Christ's model and that is essentially discipleship.
• Are we discipling or DISINFECTING Christians?

• "Disinfecting isolates a Christian in a spiritual safety deposit box called the church building and teaches him or her to be good."
• "Discipling propels a Christina into the world to risk his or her life for the sake of others."
• "Compassion is not selective!" We don't only minister to Christians here or abroad. We minister where we are as effectively as we can for as long as we have. The question has nothing to do with be called to foreign missions.

The "Bad" News

Many of you know that I have had a rough past semester. The reasons are many but I don't think anything has caused as much prayer nor as many tears as the illness of my home pastor. I haven't been very vocal about it but now I am ready to write. I have been wondering what is best to say but I think this says it all. It is not by me but it gets the point across. I think there will be more to come.

--Laura--



"It’s a nice warm day in the Downriver by Sunday morning the lilacs
will have burst into bloom here at the church. While spring is
bursting into life around us it seems that we have been visited with
dying of late. On the way home from the church to Granville Cottage
there is a cemetery. There are at least a half dozen fresh mounds
there. It’s good to be alive, but it is better to know that in Christ
we will never, never die.

Dan Cummings is a pastor friend who I admire in so many ways. He is one of the finest preachers in the state. He is a marathoner. He is a good dad and a fine husband. He is a leader of men. I admire him more than I can say and often listen to his preaching on my iPod.

A few weeks ago it was announced that he has inoperable cancer. If God does not choose to intervene in a miracle, he will not live. He is trying to write and preach to the glory of God while he is dying. He is writing and preaching through his affliction. This is his blog.
There are links to his preaching, too.

We often quote Richard Baxter who said; I preach as a dying man to dying men. We all preach as dying men to dying men. In light of Dan’s condition the reality of that is very sharp now. May God give Dan grace to die if that is what He has chosen for him. May he give each of us grace to live and die.

May each of us seize every moment of life we are given for the Glory
of God and for things eternal that will never pass away. It’s good to
be alive but it is much better to know that in Christ we will never,
never die."

Pastor Ken Pierpont
The Study
Evangel Baptist Church
May 2, 2008

The Lure of Sin

"The human mind is never more resourceful than when it is involved in self-justification."

- Jean Garton

What is Enough?

"All of You
Is more than enough for
All of me
For every thirst and
Every need
You satisfy me
With Your love
And all I have in You
Is more than enough."
(Barlow Girl)


Is that true?

Then why am I struggling with contentment?

Christ must be all --
ALONE
Before He will be all,
in addition to anything else.
Can you honestly say
"Christ is my all"
?

Thou wouldst keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on Thee...

Spurgeon

But, especially for Christ’s own sake, imitate his example.
Christian, lovest thou thy Saviour? Is his name precious to thee?
Is his cause dear to thee?
Wouldst thou see the kingdoms of the world become his?
Is it thy desire that he should be glorified?
Art thou longing that souls should be won to him?
If so, imitate Jesus; be an “epistle of Christ, known and read of all men.”

Shakespeare Said It Best

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments; Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
Oh no! It is an ever fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken...


exerpt from a Sonnet (117?)