The Seeker Friendly Church

We are not to send out questionnaires to carnal people to discover what kind of church they would attend. A church ought to be seeker friendly, but a church ought to recognize there’s only one Seeker. His name is God, and if you want to be friendly to someone, if you want to accomodate someone, accomodate Him and His glory!
- Paul Washer (Ten Indictments)

There are very popular preachers today who are more concerned about giving you your best life now than they are eternity, and they brag about the fact that they do not mention sin in their preaching. I can tell you this – the Holy Spirit has nothing to do with their ministry, lest He be working against it would be the only thing. When a man says he has no ministry dealing with the sin of men, the Holy Spirit does. It is a primary ministry of the Holy Spirit to come and convict the world of sin. And so know this – when you do not deal specifically, passionately, lovingly with men and their depraved condition, the Holy Spirit is nowhere around you.
- Paul Washer (Ten Indictments)

We’ve traded regeneration for decisionism.
- Paul Washer (Ten Indictments)

Click here to listen:
Ten Indictments (A Historical 21st Century Message)

What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Question 1. What is thy only comfort in life and death?

Answer. That I with body and soul, both in life and death,
am not my own,
but belong unto my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ;
who, with his precious blood, has fully satisfied for all my sins,
and delivered me from all the power of the devil;
and so preserves me
that without the will of my heavenly Father, not a hair can fall from my head;
yea, that all things must be subservient to my salvation,
and therefore, by his Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life,
and makes me sincerely willing and ready, henceforth, to live unto him.

- Heidelberg Catechism

A Proper View

Lastly, 1 Timothy 5:1–2 says, “Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.” Men who view pornographic lust invariably see women as objects with parts and are incapable of being friendly and intimate with attractive young women because they cannot view such women in a non-sexual manner. If God’s men did view women as sisters, they would see the naked girls they lust after as beautiful sisters in need of dignity and grieve as if their little sister suddenly became a stripper.
- Mark Driscoll

And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood?

A wonderful and unexpected gift came in the mail yesterday – Mark Driscoll’s “Death by Love”. I stayed up late last night, skimming the chapters. I started the introduction on my lunch break. Emailing with my best friend about how I was feeling, I stated the following:

Me – I feel like I have been laid low. I’ve never felt like this before.
Toya – Is it conviction?
Me – Its more so of a… ‘dag I didn’t know all that’ type thing. Moreso appreciative and grateful for Christ’s death on the cross. I cant put it into words, not to myself, to you, to God… I cannot explain it. I feel convicted bc of how lightly it seems that I take His death when I continue to knowingly sin while ignoring God given convictions. Christ died for the worst of rapists, murderers, pedophiles, fornicators, thieves… he died for the WORST of these… he took on the child molestor’s sin, the rapist’s sin… It’s quite amazing really… and quite awesome… in every sense of the word ‘awesome’… I have to share w/you what I have read soon… Whenever we talk next, I will.

What I didn’t know was particular details… crosses were recycled for instance. So what Jesus was carrying most likely had blood from previous men and women who were crucified. Also, the cross probably weighed about 100 pounds. That would be heavy to carry in a normal state, nevertheless a bloody and scourged state… Driscoll discusses various details about crucifixions that I just didn’t know… and those details are partially what had me in my car on my lunch break, speechless.

Here, I’m sharing two of the things that really resonated with me when I read them. This chapter has been one that has caused me to be ever more grateful for the beautiful Gospel of Jesus Christ! The Good News is found in the Cross!

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me who caused His pain!
For me who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be That
Thou, my God, should die for me?
- “And Can It Be?” (Charles Wesley)

Speaking of the darkest moment in all of time, 2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake He [God] made Him to be sin who knew no sin.” The great Protestant Reformer Martin Luther rightly declares that at that moment Jesus became the most grotesque, ugly, and hideous thing in the history of all creation. In what Luther calls “the great exchange”, the sinless Jesus so thoroughly took our place that He became the worst of what we are – rapists, thieves, perverts, addicts, liars, gluttons, gossips, murderers, adulterers, fornicators, homosexuals, and idolaters. Importantly, Jesus’ work on the cross was not just a bookkeeping transaction in the divine economy. Jesus actually took to Himself our sin with all its horror and shame (Heb. 12:2-3).

Sixth, Jesus said in a loud voice of triumph, “It is finished” (John 19:30). At this moment, the atonement for sin was made, and the holiness, righteousness, justice, and wrath of God were satisfied in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Sadly, some have taught, based on a later revision in the Apostles’ Creed, that Jesus did not fully secure our salvation on the cross but rather suffered in hell for three days prior to His resurrection as further atonement. As we have seen, however, Jesus said He was going to paradise on that day and that His work was finished, which negates three days in hell to conclude His work. The Scriptures merely say that Jesus went to the tomb but never declare that He went to hell (Matt. 27:59-60; Mark 15:46; Luke 23:52-55; John 19:41-42).

This is a great book. I thanked God for the gift yesterday. I’d been wanting the book since I saw the short clip on it. I really look forward to finishing it, and by God’s grace, knowing more about my Savior, and falling deeper in love with Him.

Int'l Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church: 11/9

The Voice of the Martyrs is calling on Christians worldwide to set aside Nov. 9, to pray for Christians around the world living daily under the threat of persecution as a part of the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP).

VOM will join hundreds of churches and thousands of individuals in remembering our brothers and sisters suffering around the world. These believers risk discrimination, imprisonment and even death because of their active witness for Jesus Christ.

“This is an important day in the church calendar,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s Director of Media Development. “Scripture instructs us to remember those in bonds as though we were bound with them. This special day of prayer is one of the ways corporately we do that.”

Christians are encouraged to pray for continued boldness and courage for believers as they share the gospel and for hearts to be softened to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Pray not only for persecuted Christians, but for the persecutors as well.

To help you pray effectively, The Voice of the Martyrs offers a Church Resource Kit, including a six-minute video presentation to show during IDOP church services. You can view details of the kit, and preview the video here.

“Our hope is that this day of prayer encourages people to be active all year long in prayer and support for our persecuted brothers and sisters,” Nettleton said.

- Voice of the Martyrs

Preaching The Gospel

A friend and sister was in town a couple of weekends ago and we talked about how easy it is to share the Gospel when you’re in the “hood”. The part of town that I live in is one where there’s people sitting in front of their houses smoking weed. I hear and see arguments and fights often. I see people sitting on their porches all day long. They’re there when I leave for work at 8:30a and there when I return at 5:30p. So much has happened on my block since I moved in on July 21, 2007.

I have gotten to know a few neighbors. There was the couple with the 2 boys and 3 girls. They’re gone now. The father was taken to jail and the children were taken by DHS. The owner of the home had died and with the father in jail, the mother had no way to pay her bills, so she lived there with no water and electricity. She was reported and now the house is lived in by new neighbors. The children were taken and I haven’t heard from that neighbor since.

Another family that I have gotten to know is a Latino household. The mother is a sweet lady with not-so-great English, but her profanity is superb. She has 3 children, 2 boys and a girl who is the youngest. I talk with the girl and her 18 year old brother often. I have been in their household and became a witness to a household fight. I’d never seen anything like it. It scared me and it hurt me to see a mother and her 3 children disrespecting each other, yelling, cursing… Never saw it before.

Another young lady I have gotten to know is 18. She’s been through a LOT in her young life. I met her during my 1st visit to Philly in December of 2006 through a friend who worked where she lived. How interesting is it that she now lives in another city, 2 doors down from me. I do not believe in coincidences. I believe and know that God is an intentional God.

In those 3 situations, I see how easy it is to share the Gospel, but too often, I am not moved to do so. What sin! I was reading Romans 1 last night where Paul, in his letter, explains to the Romans that he is under obligation to preach the Gospel to Greeks and barbarians, to the wise and foolish. His obligation is to God due to his calling as an apostle, and his being set apart FOR the Gospel, and because of what he says in the verses that follow:

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 for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:16-17 ESV

Knowing that the Gospel is the power of God for salvation, and that in it God’s righteousness is revealed, Paul feels his obligation to tell it to all. He’s eager to preach it to all. May my heart be filled with a passion like Paul’s!

Listening to Lecrae’s new album, “Rebel”, he talks about how he and his wife went on a missions trip to Central America, and as she shared her testimony about the Lord Jesus, 40 out of the 40 who heard her had never heard His name! And in his song “Beautiful Feet”, Lecrae, stating that people cannot believe in something they have never heard, expounds upon Romans 10:14-15:

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”
Romans 10:14-15 ESV

I think it is easy to assume that people have heard of Jesus. We probably just assume that they don’t care… but no! There are people who have NO CLUE who Jesus is! That is an amazing fact to think about! So, as believers, what is the proper way to respond to that deficiency? We go forth and we obey the Great Commission:

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV

We were given this and to not be obedient is sin (James 4:17). Man, I desire to be more diligent in sharing the Gospel… it is life, it is light.

Lord, help Your people!

Crucifixion Description

Sin is pervasive and deadly

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” – Romans 3:23

Sin is pervasive and deadly.

When the early church father Chrysostom remarked, “I fear nothing but sin,” he correctly identified sin as the greatest threat any person faces. Sin mars all the relationships people are involved in: with other people, with themselves, and, most significantly, with God. Sin causes suffering, disease, and death in the physical realm and also causes spiritual death—eternal separation from God in Hell.

Because sin is so deadly, we need to carefully define it, so we can understand and avoid it. First John 3:4 sums up the essence of sin when it says, “Sin is lawlessness.” Sin is refusing to obey God’s law; it is rejecting God’s standards; it is, in fact, living as if God did not exist.

In 1 John 5:17, the apostle John adds to his definition of sin, describing it as “unrighteousness.” James defines sin as failing to do what is good (James 4:17). Paul defines it as lack of faith (Rom. 14:23). Sin is the ultimate act of ingratitude toward the God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).

Sin pollutes the sinner, prompting Paul to refer to it as that “defilement of flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1) from which sinners are in desperate need of cleansing. No amount of human effort, however, can cleanse a person of sin. Such self-effort is as futile as attempting to change the color of one’s skin (Jer. 13:23). Only through the death of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:12), is forgiveness and cleansing available (1 John 1:7). Sin is the only thing that God hates (cf. Jer. 44:4), and so must believers (Ps. 97:10; Amos 5:15). The great Puritan writer Thomas Watson noted that a prerequisite for sanctification is such hatred for sin. Renew your commitment today to grow in your relationship with the Lord by hating evil (Prov. 8:13).

Suggestions for Prayer:

Pray for yourself and others that you would not be deceived by the subtleness of sin (Heb. 3:13).

For Further Study:

Identify the sins you struggle with the most. Using a concordance and other study tools, find out what the Bible says about those sins. Form a biblical plan of attack to combat them.

From Strength for Today by John MacArthur Copyright © 1997. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a division of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.com