Gentle reader, here let me inquire as to your salvation. Are you saved by what you have done? Is your religion the product of your own natural strength? Do you feel equal to all that salvation may require? Do you conclude yourself to be in a safe and happy condition because of your natural excellence and moral ability?
Then you are after the manner of Ishmael, and to you the inheritance will not come; for it is not an inheritance according to the flesh, but according to promise.
If, on the other hand, you say,—”My hope lies only in the promise of God. He has set forth that promise in the person of his Son Jesus to every sinner that believeth in him; and I do believe in him; therefore I trust and believe that the Lord will fulfil his promise and bless me. I look for heavenly blessedness, not as the result of my own efforts, but as the gift of God’s free favor. My hope is fixed alone upon the free and gratuitous love of God to guilty men, by the which he has given his Son Jesus Christ to put away sin, and to bring in everlasting righteousness for those who deserve it not.”—then this is another sort of language from that of the Ishmaelites, who say ” We have Abraham to our father.”
You have now learned to speak as Isaac speaks. The difference may seem small to the careless, but it is great indeed. Hagar, the slave-mother, is a very different person from Sarah, the princess. To the one there is no covenant promise, to the other the blessing belongs for evermore. Salvation by works is one thing; salvation by grace is another.
Salvation by human strength is far removed from salvation by divine power: and salvation by our own resolve is the opposite of salvation by the promise of God. - Charles Spurgeon
The bishops of God’s church, the professed leaders of the Lord’s hosts, the pretended followers of the Redeemer, have done more damage to the church than all the church’s enemies. If the church were not a divine thing, protected by God, she must have ceased to exist, merely through the failure and iniquity of her own professed friends. I do not wonder that the church of God survived martyrdom and death; but I do marvel that she has survived the unfaithfulness of her own children, and the cruel backsliding of her own members. Charles Spurgeon
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the Strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is Marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually try to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat. - Teddy Roosevelt
As in the days of King Josiah, when the Book of the Law was found after years of neglect and ignorance, the modern, market-driven church may have to rediscover the Bible. Our neglect of the Word of God is subtle and deceptive. Our Bible is not buried in the janitor’s closet; it is prominently displayed on the church altar and located in every pew rack. But we use it in token fashion. Congregations informed by daily Bible reading and prayer have been replaced by biblically illiterate audiences. Pastors use Scriptures as a platform from which to launch Christianized self-help talks. Therapy is disguised as theology, and preaching is promoted as performance. It is amazing how much of the Bible is becoming inappropriate for consumer consumption on Sunday mornings. (Douglas Webster, Selling Jesus, pp. 126-127)
“Does it really matter how many die or how much money we spend in opening closed doors if we really believe that missions are warfare and that the King’s glory is at stake?” - Unknown
Wow that quote ought to wake us all up!
Are you getting ready to be with us at the business luncheon tomorrow. Call the church office for more details at 770-456-5881.
“I can give a Prescription that will bring a revival to any church or community or any city on earth.”
“First, let a few Christians (they need not be many) get thoroughly right with God themselves. This is the prime essential. If this Is not done, the rest that I am to say will come to nothing.”
“Second, let them bind themselves together in a prayer group to pray for a revival until God opens the heavens and comes down.”
“Third, let them put themselves at the disposal of God for Him to use as He sees fit in winning others to Christ. That is all!”
“This is sure to bring a revival to any church or community. I have given the Prescription around the world. it has been taken by many churches and many communities, and in no Instance has it ever failed; and it cannot fail!”
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” - Jackie Robinson
“Make no mistake: There is no promise of safety in Jesus’ call. As he calls us into the frightening arena, he points to the wounds in his hands and side, as if to remind us that we are afraid for good reason. It really is a dangerous world. It really does wound us. Eventually, it kills us.” - Mark Galli, managing editor of Christianity Today (on Christianitytoday.com)
