Jesus Died – Paul Washer...

The text here is a partially transcribed excerpt from a message spoken by Paul Washer.  I am uncertain as to the the source of the entire message from which this excerpt is derived… most likely you can find it at www.sermonindex.net.  If you find it, please let me know.

He died.  The Father gave His Son.  When you say things like, Jesus died.  Shouldn’t you stop for a moment, or something.  I mean, He died.  He really died.  And it was His blood shed on that tree that’s the only reason the black filth of your sin can be washed away.

That blood on that tree… the slaughter of the Son of God.  And that man, that God, that man Christ Jesus rose again from the dead.  And on the 40th day He ascended up to the right hand of His father and for the first time in all the history of history a man walked up to the doors of heaven and cried out what we find here in verse 7: "Lift up your heads O gates and be lifted up O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in.  And all of heaven behind those doors are in utter shock in silence and wonder.

Finally a brave one lifts his head and begins to speak: "Who is this King of Gory?  Who dares speak to these doors.  No man has ever dared come this far or lay his hand to the latch of this wall.  Who is this King of Glory?  And then all of a sudden the Lord, the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God, the Man for us cries out: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.  Lift up your heads O gates, lift up your heads, lift them up O ancient doors that the King of Glory may come in."  And in the first time of all time, those doors opened for a man, and He walked through those doors and everything that has ever been made fell on its face.  "All hail the power of Jesus name let angels prostrate fall.  Bring forth the royal diadem and crown Him Lord of all.  Crown Him with many crowns, this Lamb upon the throne."  And I can just see Him now, walking up to His Father… bold, it was His right.  Climbing the steps of this throne that would make Solomon’s throne look like paper machet… and sits down without even asking permission.  And looks at His Father, not as a question, but as an affirmation, and says: "Father, it is finished."  And the Father says: "Son, it is finished indeed."  This Jesus Whom you crucified, God has made Him both Lord and Christ of all.

Don’t think I will even ask you to make Jesus Lord of your life, that’s the most preposterous thing I could ever tell you to do.  Jesus Christ is Lord of your life. Whether your serve Him or not, whether you bless Him, curse Him, hate Him or love Him… He is the Lord of your life because God has given Him a name that is above every name so that at the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow and tongue shall confess that He is Lord.

Some of you will bow out of the grace that has been given to you and others will bow because your knee caps will be broken by the One who rules the nations with a rod of iron.

You Will Suffer – John Piper...

The text here is a partially transcribed excerpt from a message spoken by John Piper.  Consider listening to the entirety of the message from which this excerpt is derived… entitled “How Our Suffering Glorifies the Greatness of the Grace of God.”

The purpose of God in creating the universe is to display the greatness of the glory of His grace supremely in the suffering of His Son.  That’s yesterday.  Today, the summons.  Will you join the Son in displaying the supreme satisfaction of the glory of grace in joining Him on the Calvary road of suffering because there is no other way the world is going to see the supreme glory of Christ today except that we break free from the Disney Land of America and begin to live lifestyles of missionary sacrifice that looks to the world like our treasure is in heaven and not on earth; it’s the only way.

The prosperity gospel will not make anybody praise Jesus.  It will make people praise prosperity.  Of course I’ll have a jesus who will give me a car.  Who wouldn’t want a jesus who gives me health, a car, a fine marriage… I’ll take your jesus if the payoff is right.

When It’s All Been Said and Done...

Time is the most precious, and yet often ignored, commodity on earth.  I spoke with a man recently who was admittedly not a born again Christian.  When I asked of his life’s ambition he replied:  “To be wealthy so that I can be secured and be in a position to help others.”  Sounds like a relatively noble aspiration.  My reply: “What would you profit if you gained the whole world and yet lost your own soul?  An interesting conversation ensued.

The question is for us.  What are our goals and pursuits?  How do we spend our time?  What really matters when it’s all been said and done?

What is the nature of your life? You are [really] but a wisp of vapor (a puff of smoke, a mist) that is visible for a little while and then disappears [into thin air]. – James 4:1 (AMP)

When It’s All Been Said and Done
Words and music by Jim Cowan (singer: Robin Mark)

When it’s all been said and done
There is just one thing that matters
Did I do my best to live for truth
Did I live my life for You

When it’s all been said and done
All my treasures will mean nothing
Only what I’ve done for love’s Reward
Will stand the test of time

Lord Your mercy is so great
That You look beyond our Weakness
And find purest gold in miry clay
Making sinners into saints

I will always sing Your praise
Here on earth and ever after
For You’ve shown me Heaven’s my true home
When it’s all been said and done
You’re my life when life is gone

Lord I’ll live my life for You

The Seeking Life — Jim Elliot...

Wherever you are, be all there.  Live to the hilt every situation you believe to be the will of God — Jim Elliot

The life and death of Jim Elliot was a testimony of a man committed to the will of God. He sought God’s will, pleaded for it, waited for it, and—most importantly—obeyed it.

His martyrdom at age twenty-eight and subsequent books on his life by his former wife, Elisabeth Elliot, have been the catalyst for sending thousands into the mission fields and stoking the fires of a heart for God. He was an intense Christian, bent on pleasing God alone and not man.

[He makes] His ministers a flame of fire," Elliot wrote while a student at Wheaton College. "Am I ignitable? God deliver me from the dread asbestos of ‘other things.’ Saturate me with the oil of the Spirit that I may be aflame. But flame is transient, often short-lived. Canst thou bear this my soul—short life? In me there dwells the spirit of the Great Short-Lived, whose zeal for God’s house consumed Him.

Elliot was a gifted writer, speaker, and teacher. He had a commanding presence while a student at Wheaton, even starring on the wrestling mat where he became a champion.

Many of his friends were convinced Elliot’s spiritual giftedness should be concentrated on building up the church in America.

Elliot, however, wanted God’s will, not man’s. After many protracted and solitary prayer sessions, Elliot sensed God’s call to a foreign field, specifically South America. "Why should some hear twice," he said, "when others have not heard [the gospel] once?"

Correspondence with a former missionary to Ecuador and hearing of a tribe—the Aucas—that was never reached with the news of Christ’s redemption set his course.

In the winter of 1952, Elliot and a friend who shared his vision set sail on a freighter, the Santa Juana, for the jungles of South America.

Focused On Obedience

Elliot’s focus on obedience to God’s will led to a disciplined and slightly unorthodox courtship of Betty Howard, whom he met at Wheaton. They longed to be husband and wife, but Elliot would not agree to the marriage yoke until he was certain of God’s plan.

Elisabeth and Jim both were called to Ecuador as missionaries. Almost one year after arriving, they were finally engaged. On October 8, 1953, they were married in a civil ceremony in Quito, Ecuador.

After their wedding, Elliot continued his work among the Quichua Indians and formulated plans to reach the Aucas.

In the Autumn of 1955, missionary pilot Nate Saint spotted an Auca village. During the ensuing months, Elliot and several fellow missionaries dropped gifts from a plane, attempting to befriend the hostile tribe.

In January of 1956, Elliot and four companions landed on a beach of the Curaray River in eastern Ecuador. They had several friendly contacts with the fierce tribe that had previously killed several Shell Oil company employees.

Two days later, on January 8, 1956, all five men were speared and hacked to death by warriors from the Auca tribe. Life magazine featured a ten-page article on their mission and death.

"They learned about the Aucas as they and their wives were ministering to the Quichua-speaking and Jivaro Indians. The Aucas had killed all strangers for centuries.

Other Indians fear them but the missionaries were determined to reach them. Said Elliot: ‘Our orders are: the Gospel to every creature.’

The Good Will Of God

Elliot wanted God’s will. It ended in his death, but it was a death whose seed still brings forth fruit for the gospel’s sake.

Many Aucas eventually came to accept Christ as Savior when Elisabeth Elliot bravely returned to share Christ with those who killed her husband. Her books, Shadow of the Almighty and Through Gates of Splendor, speak passionately of the power, majesty, and sovereignty of God while chronicling the life of her husband.

You may or may not be called to the mission field, but each Christian is called to the delightful adventure of knowing and doing the will of God. This is the thrill of the Christian life – to experience God at the center of all you do, think, and say.

Are you seeking God’s will for your life? It is the root of all blessings – for your family, your finances, your work, your relationships, your service, your life. God’s will is His best.

The process is not always easy, but God is willing to reveal His plan to those men and women who desire Him above all else and delight in Him. It means setting aside your agenda and asking God to "will and to work for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).

There is usually a season of sifting, of waiting on God for His timing. The Elliots waited five years before sensing God’s time was ripe for a marital union.

Draw near to God. Confess and repent of sin. Put your heart and spirit in neutral, telling God you wish only to be an instrument in His hands. Wait for His response through circumstance, His Word, or the counsel of other mature believers. He will show you what He wants you to do because He loves you.

You can live "to the hilt" as you seek and obey the good and acceptable will of God.

Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian, were killed along with Jim Elliot in 1956 while serving the Lord in the jungles of Ecuador.

No Greater Honor...

Source: FAITHFUL UNTO DEATH, by Myron S. Augsburger

On June 10, 1535, a special proclamation was made, giving the decree that anyone who had baptized others and refused to recant would be put to death by fire. And any who aided the Anabaptists with hospitality would beheaded, or in the case of women, drowned… all of this to the end desire that the Anabaptists might be exterminated. And so, hundreds were being burned, beheaded and/or drowned.

One day a 14 year old lad joined a crowd who were watching an Anabaptist being executed at the stake. The man was chained, but he had an obvious expression of peace, if not actual joy, on his face. With a clear voice he affirmed his faith in Christ; and as the tormentors were about to light the fire, the man prayed:

"O Father and LORD, endue me with thy Spirit for this trial. Do not punish these who mistreat me today, but bring them also to the faith of Christ. Accept me now in thy grace." — And so, he died a martyr for Christ.

As the 14 year old lad left that scene, he was awed by the man’s faith.  Not long afterwards, this lad, Cornelis Aertsz de Man, found a gathering of the Anabaptists and he joined them for evening Bible Study. "Their witness of faith, their serious study of the Word of God, their joy in life, and their concern for love and moral integrity, all excited him."   Soon, Cornelis was converted to Christ. His family was alarmed; but soon they could only admire his gracious disposition, the love and purity of his life, His diligence in studying the Scriptures and the joy with which he shared his new relationship with Christ.

By age 17, Cornelis’s faith was so strong that the religious authorities of the Roman Catholic institution felt they had to stop him. So, he was arrested. And they sought diligently to get him to recant and return to Catholicism. On a particular day, the Roman Catholic leaders lined the courtroom and promised Cornelis future position and honor if he would renounce the simple Bible-based faith of the Anabaptists.  Calmly, Cornelis replied:

"There is no higher position than to be a child of God and no greater honor than to be a voice for Him."

Ultimately, they tortured young Cornelis to the extreme and finally at age 21, he was burned.

Paul Washer: What Modern Day Evangelism Doesn̵...

Now see, here’s what modern day evangelism doesn’t understand: “you can only take a man so far.”  Don’t you see that?  And you can’t substitute the work of the Spirit of God with some little method of taking a verse out of context, getting them to pray a prayer, and then  popeishly declaring them to be safe.  Don’t you see that?

Ravi Zacharias Tells the Story of David Livingston...

The text here is a partially transcribed excerpt from a message spoken  by Dr. Ravi Zacharias.  The entirety of the message can be found at www.rzim.org.

David Livingstone was born in Blantyre Scotland in 1813.  He was born into a home where his father used to put him on his knee and read to him stories of great missionary exploits.  One particularly, Karl Gutzlaff, the Dutch Missionary, who doubled up as a medical missionary too.  And young David used to look into his father’s eyes and say: "you know daddy, one day I’m going to be a man like that.  I want to be a missionary, I want to be a doctor, I want to serve God."

So David Livingstone, in his young life, got on his knees one day, and he prayed this prayer… he said: "Send me anywhere, only go with me.  Lay any burden on me, only sustain me.  Sever any ties but the ties that bind me to Your service and to Your heart."  And he said through it all the words of God came to me: "Lo, I’m with you always, even to the end of the age."

He packed his bags and he went off to Africa.  And when he took one glimpse of Africa from a distance he penned, in his journal, these words.  "The haunting specter of the smoke of a thousand villages in the morning sun has burned within my heart." "The haunting specter of the smoke of a thousand villages in the morning sun has burned within my heart."

He married a woman of the famous Moffat family, Mary was her name.  Her father had been a great missionary.  But David Livingstone’s life was one of an explorer, and he would move from place to place and his only goal was Jesus in the hearts and lives of men and women, thousands of them.  Finally, his wife and his young family couldn’t keep up with him anymore.  Some of his children were dying out of sickness and disease and he said: Mary, why don’t you take them back home and I will see you shortly and spend some more time with you.  It’s too dangerous for us to go on.

So he sent his dear wife Mary back home and letters would take months to exchange but some of the fondest letters of love and romance were exchanged between he and Mary, and do you  know when he saw her the next time?  Not five weeks, not five months, five years…

Please watch the video for the rest of the story…

The Martyr’s Oath...

Oaths such as this are common in some lands where Christians face death on a regular basis. In the past few years, versions of the Martyr’s Oath have appeared in Persian and Arab countries, usually scrawled in hurried handwriting.

It is not uncommon to hear of Christians even incorporating it in their wedding vows, as they begin their lives together as evangelists and church planters in lands where conversion to Jesus as Lord is a capital offense.

In some bible schools in India, graduating students must take the Martyr’s Oath publicly during the commencement, or they will not receive their diploma.

At the climax of the ceremony, these graduates rise to their feet, raise their hand, and repeat similar words to these:

TODAY, I stand as a dead man. I declare that in Jesus Christ, I am saved by His blood, and thus I am dead to sin, and no longer dead in my sin. TODAY, I stand and declare that I surrender my will and my life, to His will and His life.

I shall go where He sends me, without asking questions. I shall go to whomever He sends me, without seeking fame. I shall preach to everyone, even if they hate me. I am an Ambassador of the Cross, and must deliver the Message. I shall pour my life out to reach my family, my friends, my neighbors, and my city.

I embrace the shame of the Cross, and I fear nothing but God. I welcome suffering, shame, persecution, beatings, imprisonment and death, but I will not be silenced.

If I am killed,  I  pray that my blood should be a harvest for souls. This is my city. I dare not do less.

Following their being graduated, each student is given three items, and only three items. As they walk across the stage and receive their diploma following their oath, each graduate takes into his possession:

• a new bible
• a new bicycle
• and a one-way train ticket to their field of service

They have no “Plan B.”

The Mystery of Divine Personality...

God’s revelation of Himself to mankind is perfect.  When we see Jesus, we see the Father (John 14:8-9).  He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature… (Hebrews 1:3).  For in Him (Jesus) the whole fullness of Deity (the Godhead) continues to dwell in bodily form [giving complete expression of the divine nature] (Colossians 2:9 AMP).

Though His revelation of Himself is complete, God remains very mysterious.  As a diamond is multifaceted, so is God’s personality.   It is a dangerous error to ignore the contrasts of personality that God has demonstrated exist in His holy character.  To present God as only One who loves, without revealing His love with His holy justice, is to present a false God.

Equally errant is the man I know that insisted that Hurricane Katrina was strictly the revelation of God’s divine judgment.  Was God judging? I am certain He was.  Yet was He not also being merciful, bringing people to know Him?  Was He not also growing and molding His people into His image through trial?  God is always up to more than we see.

He was the meekest and lowliest of all the sons of men, yet he spoke of coming on the clouds of heaven with the glory of God. He was so austere that evil spirits and demons cried out in terror at his coming, yet he was so genial and winsome and approachable that the children loved to play with him, and the little ones nestled in his arms. His presence at the innocent gaiety of a village wedding was like the presence of sunshine.

No one was half so compassionate to sinners, yet no one ever spoke such red hot scorching words about sin. A bruised reed he would not break, his whole life was love, yet on one occasion he demanded of the Pharisees how they ever expected to escape the damnation of hell. He was a dreamer of dreams and a seer of visions, yet for sheer stark realism He has all of our stark realists soundly beaten. He was a servant of all, washing the disciples feet, yet masterfully He strode into the temple, and the hucksters and moneychangers fell over one another to get away from the mad rush and the fire they saw blazing in His eyes.

He saved others, yet at the last Himself He did not save. There is nothing in history like the union of contrasts which confronts us in the gospels. The mystery of Jesus is the mystery of divine personality.

– James Stewart, Scottish theologian

The only reason that Paul could say that he was innocent of the blood of all men, is because he declared the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:26-27).  Paul spoke of Him as Savior and Judge.  As loving and severe.  As just and the Justifier.  He declared the love and mercy of God alongside the justice and wrath of God.  He spoke of us as sinners, and Jesus as the Savior.

When you speak of God to others, honor the mystery of His complexity.  Do not speak of His love without contextualizing it with His holiness.  As RC Sproul has said,  “Any attempt to understand God apart from His holiness is idolatry.”

Amy Carmichael’s Dream...

The tom-toms thumped straight on all night and the darkness shuddered round me like a living, feeling thing. I could not go to sleep, so I lay awake and looked; and I saw, as it seemed, this:

That I stood on a grassy sward, and at my feet a precipice broke sheer down into infinite space. I looked, but saw no bottom; only cloud shapes, black and furiously coiled, and great shadow-shrouded hollows, and unfathomable depths. Back I drew, dizzy at the depth.

Then I saw forms of people moving single file along the grass. They were making for the edge. There was a woman with a baby in her arms and another little child holding on to her dress. She was on the very verge. Then I saw that she was blind. She lifted her foot for the next step . . . it trod air. She was over, and the children over with her. Oh, the cry as they went over!

Then I saw more streams of people flowing from all quarters. All were blind, stone blind; all made straight for the precipice edge. There were shrieks, as they suddenly knew themselves falling, and a tossing up of helpless arms, catching, clutching at empty air. But some went over quietly, and fell without a sound.

Then I wondered, with a wonder that was simply agony, why no one stopped them at the edge. I could not. I was glued to the ground, and I could only call; though I str6ained and tried, only whisper would come.

Then I saw that along the edge there were sentries set at intervals. But the intervals were too great; there were wide, unguarded gaps between. And over these gaps the people fell in their blindness, quite unwarned; and the green grass seemed blood-red to me, and the gulf yawned like the mouth of hell.

Then I saw, like a little picture of peace, a group of people under some trees with their backs turned toward the gulf. They were making daisy chains. Sometimes when a piercing shriek cut the quiet air and reached them, it disturbed them and they thought it a rather vulgar noise. And if one of their number started up and wanted to go and do something to help, then all the others would pull that one down. "Why should you get so excited about it? You must wait for a definite call to go! You haven’t finished your daisy chain yet. It would be really selfish," they said, "to leave us to finish the work alone."

There was another group. It was made up of people whose great desire was to get more sentries out; but they found that very few wanted to go, and sometimes there were no sentries set for miles and miles of the edge.

Once a girl stood alone in her place, waving the people back; but her mother and other relations called and reminded her that her furlough was due; she must not break the rules. And being tired and needing a change, she had to go and rest for awhile; but no one was sent to guard her gap, and over and over the people fell, like a waterfall of souls.

Once a child caught at a tuft of grass that grew at the very brink of the gulf; it clung convulsively, and it called-but nobody seemed to hear. Then the roots of the grass gave way, and with a cry the child went over, its two little hands still holding tight to the torn-off bunch of grass. And the girl who longed to be back in her gap thought she heard the little one cry, and she sprang up and wanted to go; at which they reproved her, reminding her that no one is necessary anywhere; the gap would be well taken care of, they knew. And then they sang a hymn.

Then through the hymn came another sound like the pain of a million broken hearts wrung out in one full drop, one sob. And a horror of great darkness was upon me, for I knew what it was-the Cry of the Blood.

Then thundered a voice, the voice of the Lord. "And He said, ‘What hast thou done, The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.’"

The tom-toms still beat heavily, the darkness still shuddered and shivered about me; I heard the yells of the devil-dancers and weird, wild shriek of the devil-possessed just outside the gate.

What does it matter, after all? It has gone on for years; it will go on for years. Why make such a fuss about it?

God forgive us! God arouse us! Shame us out of our callousness! Shame us out of our sin!