Each Sunday we post a short classic piece from someone signally used by God down through the history of the church. Today we look to a classic sermon preached by Dwight L. Moody (1837-1889).

Qualifications for Soul Winning

by Dwight L. Moody

God had no children too weak, but a great many too strong to make use of. God stands in no need of our strength or wisdom, but of our ignorance, of our weakness; let us but give these to Him, and He can make use of us in winning souls.

“And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” Daniel 12:3.

Now we all want to shine; the mother wishes it for her boy, when she sends him to school, the father for his lad, when he goes off to college; and here God tells us who are to shine – not statesmen, or warriors, or such like, that shine but for a season – but such as will shine for ever and ever; those, namely, who win souls to Christ; the little boy even who persuades one to come to Christ.

Speaking of this, Paul counts up five things (1 Cor. 1:27-29) that God makes use of – the weak things, the foolish things, the base things, the despised things, and the things which are not, and for this purpose, that no flesh might glory in his sight – all five being just such as we should despise. He can and will use us, just when we are willing to be humble for Christ’s sake, and so for six thousand years God has been teaching men; so with an ass’s jawbone Samson slew his thousands (Judges 15:15), so at the blowing of rams’ horns the walls of Jericho fell (Joshua 6:20). Let God work in His own way, and with His own instruments; let us all rejoice that He should, and let us too get into the position in which God can use us.

There is much mourning to-day over false “isms,” infidelity, and the like, but sum them all up, and I do not fear them one half so much as that dead and cold formalism that has crept into the Church of God. The unbelieving world, and these skeptics holding out their false lights, are watching you and me: when Jacob put away his idols, he could go up to Bethel and get strength and the blessing – so will it be with the Church of God. A viper fixes upon the hand of the shipwrecked Paul; immediately he is judged by the barbarians some criminal unfit to live; but he shakes it off into the fire, and suffers no harm, and now they are ready to worship him, and ready too to hear and receive his message: the Church of God must shake off the vipers that have fastened on hand and heart too, ere men will hear. Where one ungodly man reads this Bible, a hundred read you and me: and if they find nothing in us, they set the whole thing aside as a myth.

Again, a man who has found out what his true work is, winning souls to Christ, and does it, such is the happiest man. Not the richest are this – least of all those who have just got converted for themselves, and into the Church – lost what pleasure the world could give, and found none other. Job’s captivity turned away when he began praying for his friends; and so will all who thus work for others shine not in heaven alone and hereafter, but here as well, and now.

But you say “I haven’t got the ability.” Well, God doesn’t call you to do Dr. Bonar’s work, or Dr. Duff’s work, else He had given you their ability, their talent. The word is, “To every man his work.” I have a work to do, laid out for me in the secret counsels of eternity; no other can do it. If I neglect it, it is not true that some other will do it; it will remain undone. And if, for the work laid upon us, we feel we have not the ability or talent necessary, then we have a throne of grace; and God never sends, unless that He is willing to give the strength and wisdom. The instruments He often uses may seem all unlikely, yet when did they fail? – when once? and why not? Because He had fitted them out as well.

He sent Moses to Egypt to deliver His people – not an eloquent, but a stuttering man. He refuses a while, at last he went; and no man once sent by God ever did break down.

So was Elisha a most unlikely man to be a successor to the great prophet Elijah. Men would have chosen some famous man, some professor in the school of the prophets. God took one from the plough; but He gave him what was needed. Elisha had but to keep by his master to the end; and he received even a double portion of the Spirit. And if we want to get it, we too must keep by the Lord, nor ever lose sight of Him, should He, as Elijah Elisha, in one way or another try our faith.

And further, we must be ready to do little things for God; many are willing to do the great things. I dare say hundreds would have been ready to occupy this pulpit to-day. How many of them would be as willing to teach a dirty class in the ragged school?

I remember, one afternoon I was preaching, observing a young lady from the house I was staying at, in the audience. I had heard she taught in the Sabbath-school, which I knew was at the same hour; and so I asked her, after service, how she came to be there? “Oh,” said she, “my class is but five little boys, and I thought it did not matter for them.” And yet among these there might have been, who knows, a Luther or a Knox, the beginning of a stream of blessing, that would have gone on widening and ever widening; and besides, one soul is worth all the kingdoms of the earth.

Away in America, a young lady was sent to a boarding-school, and was there led to Christ; not only so, but taught that she ought to work for Him, By-and-by she goes home, and now she seeks, in one way and another, to work for Him, but without finding how. She asks for a class in her church Sunday-school, but the superintendent is obliged to tell her that he has already more than enough of teachers. One day, going along the street, she sees a little boy struck by his companion, and crying bitterly. She goes up and speaks to him; asks him what the trouble is? The boy thinks she is mocking him, and replies sullenly. She speaks kindly, tries to persuade him to school. He does not want to learn. She coaxes him to come and hear her and the rest singing there; and so next Sunday he comes with her. She gets a corner in the school of well-dressed scholars for herself and her charge. He sits and listens, full of wonder. On going home, he tells his mother he has been among the angels. At first at a loss, she becomes angry, when a question or two brings out that he has been to a Protestant Sunday-school; and the father, on coming home, forbids his going back, on pain of flogging. Next Sunday, however, he goes, and is flogged, and so again, and yet again, till one Sunday, he begs to be flogged before going, that he may not be kept thinking of it all the time. The father relents a little, and promises him a holiday every Saturday afternoon, if he will not go to Sunday-school. The lad agrees, sees his teacher, who offers to teach him then. How many wealthy young folks would give up their Saturdays to train one poor ragged urchin in the way of salvation? Some time after, at his work, the lad is on one of the railway cars. The train starts suddenly; he slips through, and the wheels pass over his legs; he asks the doctor if he will live to get home; it is impossible. “Then,” says he, “tell father and mother that I am going to heaven, and want to meet them there.” Will the work she did seem little now to the young lady? Or is it nothing that even one thus grateful waits her yonder?

Another thing we want is, to be of good courage. Three or four times this comes out in the first chapter of Joshua; and I have observed that God never uses a man that is always looking on the dark side of things: what we do for Him let us do cheerfully, not because it is our duty – not that we should sweep away the word but because it is our privilege. What would my wife or children say if I spoke of loving them because it was my duty to do so? And my mother – if I go to see her once a year, and were to say – “Mother, I am come all this way to discharge what feel to be my duty in visiting you;” might she not rightly reply – “My son, if this is all that has brought you, you might have spared coming at all!” and go down in broken-hearted sorrow to the grave?

A London minister, a friend of mine, lately pointed out a family of seven, all of whom he was just receiving into the Church. Their story was this: going to church, he had to pass by a window, looking up at which one day, he saw a baby looking out; he smiled – the baby smiled again. Next time he passes he looks up again, smiles, and the baby smiles back. A third time going by, he looks up, and seeing the baby, throws it a kiss – which the baby returns to him. Time after time he has to pass the window, and now cannot refrain from looking up each time: and each time there are more faces to receive his smiling greeting; till by-and-by he sees the whole family grouped at the window – father, mother, and all. The father conjectures the happy, smiling stranger must be a minister, and so, next Sunday morning, after they have received at the window the usual greeting, two of the children, ready dressed, are sent out to follow him: they enter his church, hear him preach, and carry back to their parents the report that they never heard such preaching; and what preaching could equal that of one who had so smiled on them? Soon the rest come to the church too, and are brought in – all by a smile. Let us not go about, hanging our heads like a bulrush; if Christ gives joy, let us live it! The whole world is in all matters for the very best thing – you always want to get the best possible thing for your money; let us show, then, that our religion is the very best thing: men with long, gloomy faces are never wise in the winning of souls.

I was preaching in Jacksonville, and, at the house in which I stayed, my attention was attracted by a little boy, who bore a different name from the household, and yet was in all things and in all respects treated as one of themselves; to the other children he was “brother,” and they were “brothers” and “sisters” to him, and with them he came up to the mother for the same good-night kiss.

By-and-by I asked the lady of the house who it was. She told me the father of the boy was a missionary out in India; some years before, father and mother had come home with their five children to have them educated. After being home a short time, the father resolved to return to India; wishing to leave the mother with the children till their education should be finished. She wanted to go back with him; he opposed to it, saying it was hard enough for him to leave them, for her it must be impossible. Still she wished to go – she had received and been some blessing in India, and she would give up even all for Christ.

Ultimately it was arranged that the children should be received into various families – treated as part of them – and that father and mother together should return. So with the boy the mother came to this friend’s and stayed a few days along with him. The night before she had leave, sitting with the lady of the house, she told her how anxious she was that her boy should receive the impression that his mother had for Christ’s sake cheerfully left him behind, and that for this end she wished to leave him without a tear at parting. The struggle this would cost the lady well knew, especially as the boy was of a peculiarly amiable disposition.

Next morning, passing the door of the mother’s room, the lady overheard a sobbing, struggling prayer for strength to do what was on her heart to do. In a short time the mother came down with smiling, cheerful face; and looking so, she took leave of her boy, to go by rail some miles further on to bid a like farewell to another of her family. She went with her husband to India.

A short year after, a still, quiet voice came to her, to come up to meet her Saviour. And would not a welcome await her there, who had so loved Him here, and so cheerfully served Him?

“They that be wise shall shine, as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.” (Daniel 12:3). The Lord help us as humbly, devoutly, and cheerfully to abound in His work!

Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899) was an American evangelist who founded the Northfield Schools in Massachusetts, Moody Church and Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and the Colportage Association. Ira Sankey was solo singer/music director for their evangelistic campaigns in both the United States and Great Britain.

Moody is, in part, the inspiration for The S.O.S. 31 Day Challenge which we are planning for the month of October. You can READ THE STORY HERE of his pledge to the Lord that he would never go a day without personally sharing the gospel with at least one person. Such was his passion for souls. Our S.O.S. Challenge is basically as simple as that of D.L. Moody’s, and it is nothing more than basic Christian obedience. JOIN US!

Why don’t so many Christians get it so plainly?

As I listen to him I’m reminded of the often told story about the young Englishman who was condemned to be hanged to death, and when he was being led out to the gallows a chaplain walked alongside him reading from the Bible about eternity, and the judgment that awaits those who do not repent and trust Christ.  But he was reading the passages in a monotone, without any emotion, just as though he’d read them a thousand times before.  Until finally, the young prisoner stopped him, and asked “Do you really believe what you are reading there?”  The Chaplain replied that he certainly did.  To which the young man said, “If I believed what you say you do about the flames of hell, that such a place existed, then I would crawl across the length and breadth of England on my hands and knees over broken glass just to save one person from ever going there.”

What are you and I prepared to do?

Phil

The S.O.S. 31 Day Challenge

We are issuing a special challenge to all our church family at First Assembly, and to anyone else who will join us. Throughout the month of October will you commit yourself to not allow one day to go by without giving the gospel to at least one person – either by a personal witnessing conversation, or giving them a clear gospel tract.   We want this to be a great way for people to make a start in a life of personal evangelism. It doesn’t have to be terrifying – check out this post for full details. 

Join the Challenge on Facebook

CLICK HERE to go to the S.O.S. Event Page on Facebook.  Help us spread the word … “Like” it, “Share” it, and invite your Facebook friends.

What’s in a day?  Have you ever really thought about it?  What did we do with the time we were given by the Lord yesterday?  We all were allocated the same amount; 24 hours, 1,440 minutes, 86,400 seconds, and in that time we needed to take care of sleeping, working, eating, shopping, etc.  Oh yeah, and 150,000 people will have to take care of dying today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the next, well, you get the idea.  That boils down to about 104 per minute!   

What can WE do about it?  It is a shocking reality that most of those who went off into eternity yesterday went down the broad road to destruction.  We can’t stop the onward march of souls that perish, but we can do something about where they go to spend eternity when they perish.  We can follow the example of one the great evangelists in American history …   

D.L. Moody made a covenant with God that he would witness for Christ to at least one person each day.  One night, about ten o’clock, he realized that he had not yet witnessed; so he got out of bed, got dressed, and in the Chicago snow, went out in to the street and spoke to a man standing by a lamppost, asking him, “Are you a Christian?”  The man flew into a violent rage and threatened to knock Moody into the gutter.  Later, that same man went to an elder in the church and complained that Moody was “doing more harm in Chicago than ten men were doing good.”  The elder begged Moody to temper his zeal with knowledge.   

Three months later, Moody was awakened at the YMCA by a man knocking at the door.  It was the man he had witnessed to.  “I want to talk to you about my soul,” he said to Moody.  He apologized for the way he had treated Moody and said that he had had no peace ever since that night on Lake Street when Moody witnessed to him.  Moody led the man to Christ and he became a zealous worker in the Sunday school.    

Can you make that same covenant?  After all, you and I have the same 86,400 seconds every that Moody had.  Just to note his busy schedule, he preached six sermons a day just the month before he died.  In spite of that, he shared the gospel personally with someone every day.   

Can we do that?  Can we share the gospel with someone every day?  If we cannot verbally share the gospel with a precious soul that is perishing, going into the everlasting punishment of the Lake of Fire, can we at the very least, and it IS the very least, place a gospel tract in someone’s hand every day?    

Think about it!  If just the adults who attend First Assembly regularly did that each day, in one year, 91,250 people will have received the gospel in our community. It is not so much whether we are capable of doing that, but, are we WILLING to do that.    

What will YOU do with this plea?  Will you allow the Lord to lead you to a person whose heart is prepared for the Gospel by the Holy Spirit?  Will you let Him use you to fulfill Jesus last command to the church?   

And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15 NKJV)    

During the 4 minutes it took you to read this, over 400 people went out into eternity, most of them to the Hell.  Think about it!   

Pastor Al   

Never heard of it.

On the other hand, if I say “Titanic” there is immediate recognition.  Probably the most famous, or infamous, ship in history. What if I told you that the story of the Titanic can never be fully told without talking about the Carpathia?

Come back with me to that fateful night when the Titanic, the ship that had been claimed “unsinkable”, went down in the freezing waters of the Atlantic Ocean. April 14th, 1912 …

There were two other large ships in the vicinity of where the Titanic sank.  They were the S.S. Californian and the R.M.S. Carpathia.  The closer of the two was the Californian.  She was close enough at hand at the time of the sinking to see the distress rockets, but the wireless operator had quit his post and so they never received the Titanic’s radio S.O.S calls. Captain Lord had retired and was awakened from sleep by a crewmember with a report of five white flares from a ship where the Titanic was known to be. But they thought it was just a party going on with fireworks, so the Captain merely instructed them to signal the other ship with their morse light, and never even thought to rouse their radioman. The Captain himself went back to his sleep.

Here’s what was determined in the investigation later: had the Californian responded to any of the distress calls or signals, ALL of Titanic’s passengers and crew might have been evacuated before they froze to death in the water.

Then there was this other ship, the Carpathia.  It was much further away from the Titanic, but it’s wireless operator was alert and heard her distress call.  He notified the Captain, who IMMEDIATELY gave the order to turn around and sail to the Titanic at full steam.  Being further away it took the Carpathia several hours to get there, and many people had perished in the meantime – but EVERY survivor who was saved that night was picked up by the Carpathia.  The diligence of that Captain and crew is the only reason ANYONE was saved at all.

How many Christians, how many churches, are like that first ship, the Californian?  The world is foundering – about to be lost for eternity – but we sail on our way somehow oblivious.  Blinded to their condition, they don’t even know to signal S.O.S., and so the Lord who loves them has done it on their behalf – calling to His people to go.

Every church should be like the Carpathia.  Every believer should be like THAT crew – we should leave everything to go immediately to rescue the perishing before it’s too late.

The S.O.S. 31 Day Challenge

Yesterday I wrote about the challenge we are issuing to all our church family at First Assembly, and to anyone else who will join us. Throughout the month of October will you commit yourself to not allow one day to go by without giving the gospel to at least one person – either by a personal witnessing conversation, or giving them a clear gospel tract.

We want this to be a great way for people to make a start in a life of personal evangelism. It doesn’t have to be terrifying – check out yesterday’s post for full details.

California or Carpathia? Which will you be?

Phil

What’s it all about?

Every Christian knows that we have been commissioned by Jesus to go and preach the gospel as the main calling and priority of our lives (Matthew 28:18-20).  Jesus sent the Holy Spirit specifically to empower us for this one task (Acts 1:8).  And yet the percentage of professing Christians who actually share their faith on a regular basis is pitifully low.

There are many reasons for this (none of them very good). Busyness, distraction, lack of resources or training. But when it comes down to it, the underlying reason – the real reason – is mostly fear. The fear of man (Proverbs 29:25).

Well, at some point you just have to decide that no excuse is good enough, and you need to say “Fear or no fear, I’m going to start obeying Jesus – the one I keep singing about as my ‘Lord’.”

We understand that if you haven’t done much personal witnessing it can be intimidating to get started. Here’s where the “S.O.S. 31 Day Challenge” comes in.  This is a campaign to get your feet wet in evangelism at a level that will dare you and stretch you, but starting out at a level that you CAN reach for.  If you want to plunge in headfirst in the deep end, so to speak – you can do that. But if you’re someone who likes to put your toe in the water first, then an ankle and so on, you can do that too.

“Your mission, if you accept it …”

•   For the 31 days of October, we challenge you to EITHER (1) give a good gospel tract to at least one different person every day, OR (2) actually speak to at least one person every day about the gospel.

•   Modified version: If you really have the “just-can’t-bring-myself-to-do-it” jitters, start by leaving a good gospel tract somewhere very conspicuous every single day. This can be a lot of fun actually – on restaurant tables, at gas pumps, in the pages of popular books at bookstores. The possibilities are endless.

•   Start at a level you can reach for, and ramp it up. Maybe you’ll start by leaving tracts around, and then get the courage to hand one to someone personally, and eventually start a conversation.  But if ALL you do is leave tracts in strategic places, you’ll have taken an important step.

•   September should be your ”get-ready month”. Get your tract supplies ready. If you come to First Assembly and you sign up, we’ll be giving them to you. If you’re from elsewhere you’ll need to order some. GET GOOD TRACTS that present the gospel accurately and strikingly.  We highly recommend the tracts produced by Living Waters, and especially the Million Dollar Bill Tracts.  If you can’t afford to buy them, email us at phil@philmorgan.org and we’ll gladly send you a packet.

•   The other thing about getting ready ahead of time is to be praying and asking the Lord to help you, and to prepare the way ahead. Believe that God will specifically ordain opportunities, and pray that those hearts will be prepared to receive.

•   Another thing you might consider is to take some training. You don’t need a college degree in missiology — just a few basic pointers can be really helpful. We recommend you go watch the 4 videos on this page.  This training is a boiled-down, abbreviated version of all the materials we’ve used for training in our church the past couple of years, and it will give you a great start. (TIP: There’s loads more great material on that website: Way of the Master. But start with the 4 training videos.)

A word to pastors and leaders: If we can help you with more information on training and promotion materials for your church, please get in touch with us. It would be our honor.

WATCH THIS SPACE

Over the next few days and weeks, leading up the S.O.S. Challenge launch on October 1st, I’ll continue to post information and inspiration to help us all.  Watch out for: (1) “The Lesson of the RMS Carpathia”, (2) “D.L. Moody’s Pledge”, and “Interview With an Atheist” (COMING SOON), and more.

Join the Challenge on Facebook

CLICK HERE to go to the S.O.S. Event Page on Facebook.  Help us spread the word … “Like” it, “Share” it, and invite your Facebook friends.

One more really important thing …

To make sure you don’t miss anything, SIGN UP FOR MY EMAIL LIST.  Once each week (occasionally twice) you’ll get the whole roundup of what’s going on with the campaign (and other stuff).

Phil

After a lengthy break we return to Dead Guy University. Sundays I post a short classic piece from someone signally used by God down through the history of the church. Today we’ll look to Oswald J. Smith (1889-1986).  

What follows is actually an extract from a longer, quite famous sermon Smith preached called “The Madhouse of the Universe”. It is a stunning read; an evangelistic sermon on the subject of hell. The imagery is vivid and compelling. If you enjoy the following insert, you can download the entire sermon from my download page.

Who Are the Insane?

by Oswald J. Smith

Now who are the insane? That is the important question; and I want to make four suggestions, if I may, so that you can decide whether or not you are insane:

First of all, the man is insane who prepares for the present and not for the future.

You remember the rich fool. He stored up his grain in his barns; he made abundant provision for the present; he felt satisfied that he had all that he needed for the rest of his life, and yet God pronounced him a fool; God called him a lunatic, and told him that that very night his soul would be required of him. Why was he insane? Not because he was wealthy, not because he had worked hard, not because he had saved; but because he had made no preparation for the future. The preparation he made was for the present. He gave no thought to his soul. His only thought was for his body. Hence God pronounced him a lunatic. That man was headed for the asylum – the Madhouse of the Universe.

Second, the man is insane who thinks he can sin and get away with it.

God has said, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” No man can sin and escape punishment. “The soul that sinneth, it shall die.” That is what God says. “The wages of sin is death.” This again is God’s pronouncement. Hence for a man to think that he can go on sinning and get away with it at last is insanity in itself. That man is a lunatic and is headed for the Madhouse of the Universe. Are you that man? I leave you to answer the question.

Third, the man is insane who rejects God’s plan and manufactures one of his own.

God has provided for man’s salvation. There is no other way of escape. God gave His Son to die on Calvary’s cross and to bear your sins in order that you might not have to bear them. If you reject God’s plan and manufacture one of your own, whether it be one of works or religion, or anything else, you are most assuredly insane. Why not accept the God-provided plan? Why try to invent one of your own?

Fourth, the man is insane who puts off his salvation until his death-bed.

I know the thief was saved on the cross just before he died but may I point out that the other thief was not? Therefore you are taking a terrible chance. I do not believe the thief ever had another chance. Probably the first time he met the Lord Jesus Christ was when he saw Him hanging by his side on the accursed tree. But you have heard the message again and again. Time after time God’s servants have pleaded with you to be reconciled to God and yet you have gone on in your rebellion and rejection, refusing God’s offer of mercy.

You have an idea that you can accept Jesus Christ on your death-bed. I would not take that chance for all the world. It has been my privilege to visit a great many of my parishioners who have passed on into the other life, and I want to bear testimony to the fact that in most cases they were far too weak at the end to even think about making a decision for the Lord Jesus Christ. Many who are dying are kept under drugs; their minds are confused; they cannot think aright. How, then, can they make such a momentous decision?

My friend, any moment you may be cut off. Little did the rich fool think that he would be called to an account that very night. On every side we are surrounded by accidents. In this mechanized world the newspaper is simply filled with reports of accidental deaths. Are you going to take a chance? You are insane if you do; and if you should be cut off without warning, remember- you will go to the Madhouse of the Universe.

These, then, are the men and the women who are insane; and if they are insane now, and if they die in their insanity, what can God do but assign them to His asylum, where all must go who are spiritually insane? It would be impossible for God to allow them to associate with those who are spiritually sane. They would have nothing in common with them. Hence he has to separate them, and the only plan He has is to send them to Gehenna, the place we call hell, where the devil and his angles are to be consigned, there to be eternally separated from those who have accepted Jesus Christ and are therefore sane in the sight of God.

CLICK HERE to download the entire sermon “The Madhouse of the Universe”, of which the above is an extract.

Let’s put this in perspective for a moment, it was falsely reported that this is a “megachurch” when in reality Sunday morning attendance seems to be somewhere around 30 members. The truth is it’s a small independent church. 30 people should not be seen as being in any way reflecting the voice of 650 million Evangelical Christians worldwide. Again one has to question the media’s choices as to what is newsworthy.

Before I suggest why burning copies of the Qur’an is such a bad idea, let me make clear that this is not about Christians recognizing, or giving credence to, the Qur’an.

The Qur’an is just a book.  We do not accept it as being divinely inspired nor authoritative.  It cannot contain the truth, because it’s message flatly contradicts the teaching of the Bible, and both cannot be correct. In fact it is a book of deception that is responsible for leading multiplied millions of people away from the Savior Jesus Christ, and therefore to hell.  This may not be a politically correct statement, but it is one that all consistent, Bible-believing Christians must believe.

Neither is the Qur’an a noble book. Over 100 times it commands faithful muslims to kill “infidels” (if you’re not a muslim, that means you). Contrast that with the Bible which teaches Christians to love even those who persecute us (Matthew 5:44).

However, having said all of that, Pastor Jones’s actions are wrong because they fly in the face of the teaching of the Christian Scriptures. 2 Corinthians 10:4 says, “The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (‘fleshly’, ‘of this world’) but they are mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds.”

Jones and his congregation (presuming they support him) are clearly trying to fight a spiritual battle with a display of human retaliation. It’s nothing but “carnal” means.

He says he wants to “send a message”, but what IS that message? That the Christian gospel is weak and pathetic like that of other philosophies or religions? That the Church of Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, has to resort to getting down in the dirt and mudslinging with those who hold up banners saying “death to the infidels” and burn Bibles in the streets?

I have far more confidence in the power of the Christian gospel than that. My Bible tells me that one day very soon EVERY knee, without exception, shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10).  The prophet Isaiah declared that “the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9). The Lord Jesus will reign forever and ever, and He will bring every terrorist, and every murderer and all their violence, along with all liars and immoral people, to account for their deeds.

Muslims should not be the target of our rage and retaliation, but of our compassion and love that urgently proclaims to them the saving gospel, which is their only hope as it is ours.

Christians may be grieved over actions like 9/11, but we ought not to be beside ourselves with perplexity and frustration. The world may reel, but Christians must demonstrate the poise that comes from knowing God is in sovereign control. He saw fit to allow 9/11. We denounce it as evil and cowardly, just as He does. But such actions do not affect the outcome of God’s predestined eternal plan for one moment or by one degree.

Pastor Jones, I charge you to heed the words of James 1:20, “The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”  No matter how sincere or justified you feel your actions are, they are NOT the godly way.

Christians need to get ourselves back to our true weaponry: (1) Prayer and (2) preaching the whole gospel of Jesus Christ to the whole world. No other religion of man, no other book, not even the devils of hell can stop the Lord building His Church and fulfilling all His purposes.

Soli Deo Gloria,

Phil

This is a great opportunity for local friends to hear Dr. Zacharias. We’re planning on taking a group from our church down on the Saturday evening. Admission is free, but space is limited, so I’d like to call ahead and make sure we’ll be able to get seats.  If you’re interested in joining us, leave a comment here or give me a call / email.

Folks who were with us for Study Hall on Wednesday nights earlier this year will remember the excellent series “Deliver Us from Evil” which featured the teaching of Dr. Zacharias.

Phil

Understand this – God created this Universe. He holds it in the palm of His hand.

As I watched the video I was reminded of some words of Charles Spurgeon. When he was just 21 years old he opened a sermon on the Immutability of God with the following words …

There is something exceedingly improving to the mind in a contemplation of the Divinity. It is a subject so vast, that all our thoughts are lost in its immensity; so deep, that our pride is drowned in its infinity. Other subjects we can compass and grapple with; in them we feel a kind of self-content, and go our way with the thought, “Behold I am wise.” But when we come to this master-science, finding that our plumb-line cannot sound its depth, and that our eagle eye cannot see its height, we turn away with the thought, that vain man would be wise, but he is like a wild ass’s colt; and with the solemn exclamation, “I am but of yesterday, and know nothing.” No subject of contemplation will tend more to humble the mind, than thoughts of God.

We are so prone to forgetting God and becoming consumed with our own importance. It’s good for us to be brought back regularly to face the reality about God’s greatness and our own minuteness. You might want to watch the video again, and then go find a quiet place to be by yourself and worship your Creator.

Phil

This Sunday, May 30th, at our 10.45am service, First Assembly will be hosting a very special event for Memorial Day.

Our Special Guest speaker for the morning, Col. Joseph Batluck (US Army, Ret.), spoke to the News Times last week and said, “I am going to be calling the people to service as Americans, as patriots, and in service of God.”

Our own Bill Kanych will also be speaking. Bill is a Yonkers, NY, Rescue Firefighter who was injured in the line of duty late last year when he and two fellow firefighters had to leap from the third storey of a burning building. One of his partners was tragically killed, and the other also badly injured. Bill’s story is of God’s great faithfulness through a harrowing time.

I want to encourage all the First Assembly church family to do 3 things this week:

1. Pray for this event, especially for those who will be speaking and participating in other ways.

2. Invite a friend. (Offer to pick them up and bring them!) All are warmly welcome, and we will be especially acknowledging all who have served in the various services.

3. Come early and get to service ahead of time and be seated before 10.45am. The service will start with a great opening that you don’t want to miss.

See you there!

Phil