Spurgeon Still Speaks

I know of no surer way of a people's perishing than by being led by one who does not speak out straight, and honestly denounce evil. If the minister halts between two opinions, do you wonder that the congregation is undecided? If the preacher trims and twists to please all parties, can you expect his people to be honest? If I wink at your inconsistencies will you not soon be hardened in them?

Like priest, like people. A cowardly preacher suits hardened sinners. Those who are afraid to rebuke sin, or to probe the conscience, will have much to answer for. May God save you from being led into the ditch by a blind guide.

And yet is not a mingle-mangle of Christ and Belial the common religion of the day? Is not worldly piety, or pious worldliness, the current religion of England? (America?) They live among godly people, and God chastens them, and they therefore fear him, but not enough to give their hearts to him. They seek out a trimming teacher who is not too precise and plain-spoken, and they settle down comfortably to a mongrel faith, half truth, half error, and a mongrel worship half dead form, and half orthodoxy.

God have mercy upon men, and bring them out from the world; for he will not have a compound of world and grace. "Come ye out from among them," saith he, "be ye separate: touch not the unclean thing." "If God be God, serve him: if Baal be God, serve him." There can be no alliance between the two. Jehovah and Baal can never be friends. "Ye cannot serve God and Mammon." "No man can serve two masters." All attempts at compromise or comprehensiveness in matters of truth and purity are founded on falsehood, and falsehood is all that can come of them. May God save us from such hateful doublemindedness.

C.H. Spurgeon

Prayer Needs

Please pray for:

Our friend Nina, that her recovery will be unhindered by any set backs and that she regain her strength in a timely manner.

My Mom isn't feeling well and seems to have a virus of some sort. Is taking antibiotics and resting. That alone tells me she is sick.

Debbie, a lady who was taken to the hospital this morning with a severe headache. She's been experiencing them for a month and doctor's don't know the cause.

For safety for all our children and grandchildren as they go to work and school tomorrow.

Helen, the owner of Me-Maw's Restaurant. We learned yesterday that she's having financial difficulty.

Blessings my friends.

Prayer Needs

Dear Ones, would you please say a prayer for the following ladies ...


Jenny (My Mom's cousin) ... isn't doing well mentally and physically.

Jenny's daughter Bess .... needs the Lord

Dana ... a young friend of Jenny's .... she's had both breasts removed because of cancer and is now facing bone cancer.


I thank you!

Blessings.

I finished the book "Who Are You To Judge" this morning and my thoughts are even stronger than when I first opened its pages. Every Christian needs to read this book.

Here are more quotes:

"False teachers are driven by their desires and by their greed. People want to hear what pleases them; they will not want to have their sin exposed, but will listen only to those with whom their desires agree. They will set themselves up as their own standard and then find someone to validate them." Page 60

"We are so afraid of being accused of discrimination that we have forgotten that we are to be discriminating."

"Today the enemy is within our gates." Page 61 for both these quotes

"Let it be clearly said that if we want to find the devil in America we must begin by looking behind the pulpits of America; it is in the church and not in the world that the devil does his most deceptive work. Truth mixed with error is sometimes more deadly than errror all by itself." Page 68

"We must keep in mind that the Jesus we want is not necessarily the Jesus we need......
How do we detect this 'other Jesus'? " As you watch and listen to a pastor, evangelist, or prophet, ask: Is the preaching of the Cross central to his ministry? Does he emphasize the need for repentance, holiness and submission to God? Does he preach a Jesus who calls us to suffer, with the promise that He will walk with us through the suffering? Or does he present a Jesus whose primary function is to give us the blessing of heaven right now?" Page 94

"Paul's message and authority came from God; those of his detractors came from Satan. He argued that the marks of a true prophet are suffering and hardship, not health and wealth. Even Jesus did not change the world through miracles but through His suffering." Page 107

"I have often wished that faith healers would look into the television cameras and say to their audience, It is better to be holy than to be healed."

"We are never more like the devil than when we lie." Page 245

Folks, I encourage you once again to get this book, read it prayerfully and see for yourself how much we need discernment in the body of Christ.

May the Lord bless you as we journey toward Home.

Blessings!

Good Friday

As many were astonished at you– his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind.(Isaiah 52:14 ESV)

Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–every one–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:1-6 ESV)

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.(Isaiah 53:7-9 ESV)

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.(Isaiah 53:10-12 ESV)

Who Are You To Judge?

Began a new book today .... "You Are You to Judge?" by Erwin Lutzer. I highly recommend it.

Here are some excerpts from the first chapter:

"We as Christians have settled down to a comfortable kind of Christianity that demands very little and therefore, in turn, makes very little difference in the wider culture. When the world takes a step in our direction, we embrace it without a twinge of conscience. But a church that has made its peace with the world is incapable of changing it."

"By and large the world of today has a favorable opinion of Christ only because it misinterprets Him. Remember this axiom: The better the world understand the purpose of Jesus' coming, the more it hates Him. What the world values, Christ despises, what He loves, it hates. Years ago, F.B. Meyer wrote, "Between such irreconcilable opposites as the church and the world, there cannot be but antagonism and strife. Each treasures and seeks what the other rejects as worthless. Each is devoted to ends that are inimical to the dearest interests of the other." And yet, just think, most Christians think it is possible to follow Jesus without turning their backs on the world!"

"Older Christians, who knew their hearts better than we knew our own, warned that if we began to tolerate worldliness, however it was defined, we would trip a series of dominoes and the day would come when the church would be filled with "worldly believers". That day is here."

"Why do we find it so difficult to say that some religious views are wrong? Or that some kinds of behavior are sinful? Why do we allow so much of Hollywood into our homes, pretending that we and our families are not influenced by the entertainment industry? Why do we allow false teachers and prophets to flourish without warning the people of God?"

"Truth has disappeared, and few have noticed."

"Mark this well: The love within the church attracts the world; the holiness within the church convicts the world. In the early church, great fear came upon the people when they saw the church committed to discipline and holy living. Unfortunately, as the world observes the church today it might see a commitment to love (which it views as tolerance), but I doubt that it sees a commitment to holy living. Yet we are called to both."

"If the call to holiness is to be obeyed, we must have discernment. To be set apart for God means that we identify the world's values and that we choose to live to the beat of a different drummer. To be in the world but not of it is the challenge before us."

This book should be read by every Christian. Please, please get it and read it prayerfully to uncover the truths we've abandoned. We are to be Holy, because our God is Holy. We are to be set apart for His use, not our own, and not that of the world. We are called out of darkness into marvelous light! We are to BE salt and light to a dying world. This book covers the following:

When You Judge Doctrine

When You Judge False Prophets

When You Judge Miracles

When You Judge Entertainment

When You Judge Appearances

When You Judge Neopaganism

When You Judge Ghosts, Angels, and Shrines

When You Judge Conduct

When You Judge Character

This book can be purchased at http://www.amazon.com/ or http://www.alibris.com/ (both offer discount prices for used books ... I paid about $5.00 for the hardback copy I received yesterday).

The Wonderful Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain, I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.

See from His head, His hands, His feet
Sorrow and love mingled down
Did ever such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Oh the wonderful cross,
Oh the wonderful cross!
All who gather here by grace
Draw near and bless Your Name.

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were an offering far too small
Love so amazing, so devine
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Oh the wonderful cross,
Oh the wonderful cross!
Bids me come and die and find
That I may truly live.

Oh the wonderful cross,
Oh the wonderful cross!
All who gather here by grace
Draw near and bless Your Name.

Life so amazing, so devine
Demands my soul, my life, my all
And the beauty and the shame
In the glory of His Name
Oh, the wonderful cross!

Oh the wonderful cross,
Oh the wonderful cross,
Bids me come and die and find
That I may truly live.

Oh the wonderful cross,
Oh the wonderful cross!
All who gather here by grace
Draw near and bless Your Name.

written by
chris tomlin, jd walt, jesse reeves