I would like to direct your attention to the word of God in Paul’s missionary letter to the Romans (15:7-24). And within this text you may want to alert yourself as we read to three things: the model, the mission and the miracle of Paul’s life as a missionary.
Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God. For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the Jews on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs so that the Gentiles may glorify God for his mercy, as it is written:
For this reason I will praise you among the Gentiles;
I will sing hymns to your name.
Again, it says,
Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.
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Tags: John Piper, Piper
Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily the message of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ, with everything in Scripture before the cross pointing to God’s redemptive work and everything after the cross–including our sanctification–flowing from that work.
There is an element of truth in this statement, however, and the Holy Spirit used it to help me to see that the Bible is not to be read just to gain knowledge. It is, indeed, to be obeyed and practically applied in our daily lives. As James says, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22).
With my new insight, I prayed that God would use the Bible to guide my conduct. Then I began diligently to seek to obey it. I had never heard the phrase “the pursuit of holiness,” but that became my primary goal in life. Unfortunately, I made two mistakes. First, I assumed the Bible was something of a rulebook and that all I needed to do was to learn what it says and go do it. I knew nothing of the necessity of depending on the Holy Spirit for his guidance and enablement.
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Tags: Jerry Bridges
“For the love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that if One died for all, then were all dead.” 2 Corinthians 5:14.
The Apostle and his brethren were unselfish in all that they did. He could say of himself and of his brethren that when they varied their modes of action they always had the same objective in view—they lived only to promote the cause of Christ and to bless the souls of men. He says, “Whether we are beside ourselves, it is to God: or whether we are sober, it is for your cause.” Some may have said that Paul was too excitable and expressed himself too strongly. “Well,” he said, “if it is so, it is to God.” Others may have noticed the reasoning faculty to be exceedingly strong in Paul and may, perhaps, have thought him to be too coolly argumentative. “But,” said Paul, “if we are sober, it is for your cause.” Viewed from some points the Apostle and his co-laborers must have appeared to be raving fanatics, engaged upon a Quixotic enterprise and almost, if not quite, out of their minds.
One who had heard the Apostle tell the story of his conversion exclaimed, “Paul, you are beside yourself; much learning does make you mad,” and no doubt many who saw the singular change in his conduct and knew what he had given up and what he endured for his new faith had come to the same conclusion. Paul would not be at all offended by this judgment, for he would remember that his Lord and Master had been charged with madness and that even our Lord’s relatives had said, “He is beside Himself.” To Festus he had replied, “I am not mad, most noble Festus; but speak forth the words of truth and soberness.”
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Tags: C.H. Spurgeon, Charles Spurgeon, Spurgeon
How much “strange fire” there is in the religious world today, far more so than is generally realized. Fire which has not been authorized by God: fire which has not been kindled by a coal from off His altar: fire which is not sustained by the oil of the Spirit. And therefore is it “strange fire.” It is the energy of the flesh turned into a religious channel: the same energy which moves the enthusiastic amateur-politician to seek votes for his party, only directed to another end. It is the expenditure of earnest zeal, yet a zeal which is not according to knowledge. It is the enthusiasm of youth, prompting them to run without being Divinely sent. It is the engaging in “Christian service” to which God has not called them, for they have no “Thus saith the Lord” to warrant them.
When we turn to the Holy Scriptures we are at once struck by the vivid contrast between that which was ordained of God and that which now obtains so widely in Christendom. Those who are familiar with the contents of the Pentateuch must be impressed with the fullness of instruction which was given to Moses for the ordering of Divine worship and service in Israel. Nothing was unprovided for, nothing was left to the choice of the people. The Lord Himself made known His will and gave commandment accordingly. He appointed those who were to serve, He specified their particular duties, He endowed with wisdom for special tasks. Down to the minutest detail everything was to be carried out as God had bidden. None were to obtrude themselves into any sacred office: none were to usurp authority: none were to undertake duties assigned unto others. Nothing less than death awaited those who dared to introduce confusion into the Divine arrangements.
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Tags: A.W. Pink, Pink
Charlotte Digges "Lottie" Moon was a Southern Baptist missionary to China who spent nearly forty years living and working in China.
Introduction
Lottie Moon was born Charlotte (Lottie) Diggs Moon on December 12, 1840, in Albemarie County, Virginia. She entered the world as a part of Southern aristocracy prior to the Civil War, a war that would devastate her family’s fortunes. Her family’s wealth was 1/40 of its pre-war value after the war ended. She would die on December 24, 1912, aboard a ship in the Japanese harbor of Kobe. She was frail, weak, and nearly starved having just passed her seventy-second birthday. She weighed no more than fifty pounds.1
Lottie served our Lord for thirty-nine years on the mission field, mostly in China. “Best estimates” say that this mighty, little woman towered all of four feet, three inches. It was never said that she was beautiful, but this little lady had a certain attractiveness about her and a powerful personality that would be essential in her service on the mission field. She taught in schools for girls and made many evangelist trips into China’s interior to share the gospel with women and girls. She would even preach, against her wishes, to men, because then as now there were not enough men on the mission field.
I have no doubt, having spent many months in her biography and letters, that Miss Lottie would be both amazed and embarrassed at all the fuss that is made about her each year by Southern Baptists. She knew that in 1888 Southern Baptists, at her request, raised $3,315.00, enough to send three new women missionaries to China. She, however, could never have imagined, that: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Daniel Akin, Lottie Moon
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.” Romans 1:16–17
Verse 16 says that “the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” Back on June 21 I argued that what this means is not that the gospel is God’s power to convert people to faith (although that is indeed true!), but that it means the gospel is God’s power to bring those who keep on believing to everlasting safety and joy in the presence of God.
Our Ultimate Problem: The Wrath of God
One of the things we did not make plain in that message was why we need salvation. Salvation from what? What’s the problem? The answer in the book of Romans is resoundingly this: We need to be saved from the wrath of God. Look at Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” This is given as the reason why we need saving. God is very angry at our unrighteousness and the way we suppress and distort the truth to justify ourselves.
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Tags: John Piper, Piper
Jay Dharan is the theological editor at ROE, and also the founding contributor at Beacon of Truth, an Evangelical ministry aimed at promoting the supremacy and sufficiency of the gospel.
In an introduction to one of his sermons preached in 1967 [1], renowned Anglican theologian J.I Packer, well known for his passion for the Puritans, gives 5 essential characteristics of Puritan preaching as follows :
1. Preaching in the Puritan style is preaching that is expository.
The Puritans sought to be expositors first and last. Opening texts was their phrase for it, bringing out the treasures hidden in the various texts of the Word of God.
2 .Preaching in the Puritan style is preaching that is doctrinal.
The Puritans believed that texts teach truths and the preacher’s business is to find those truths and display them so that people may learn them.
Tags: Jay Dharan, Jay M Nair
Early in my Christian life I heard someone say, “The Bible was not given to increase your knowledge but to guide your conduct.” Later I came to realize that this statement was simplistic at best and erroneous at worst. The Bible is far more than a rulebook to follow. It is primarily the message of God’s saving grace through Jesus Christ, with everything in Scripture before the cross pointing to God’s redemptive work and everything after the cross–including our sanctification–flowing from that work.
