Did John the Baptist Come Preaching “Your Best Life Now”?

Denying Self? I Fear Many of Us Have Missed It

“When you are forgotten or neglected or purposely set at naught, and you sting and hurt with the insult or the oversight, but your heart is happy, being counted worthy to suffer for Christ-that is dying to self. 

When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinions ridiculed and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart, or even defend yourself, but take all in patient loving silence-that is dying to self. 

When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, or any annoyance, when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus endured it-that is dying to self. 

When you are content with any food, any offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any attitude, any interruption by the will of God-that is dying to self. 

When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation, or to record your own good works, or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown-that is dying to self. 

When you see your brother prosper and have his needs met and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and in desperate circumstances-that is dying to self. 

When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself, can humbly submit inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart-that is dying to self.” Author Unknown

Something to Think About

“Churching the unchurched is an absolute fallacy – it is like purposing to let the tares in. It is absolutely bizarre to want to make unsaved people feel comfortable in a church. The church is not a building – the church is a group of worshiping, redeemed, and sanctified people among whom an unbeliever should feel either miserable, convicted and drawn to Christ, or else alienated and isolated. Only if the church hides its message and ceases to be what God designed the church to be, can it make an unbeliever comfortable.”

John MacArthur

“TRUTH” – This Video is NOT for the “Faint of Heart”

HT: I’ll Be Honest

School Officials Face Jail Time for Meal-Time Prayers

A principal and an athletic director are facing criminal charges for a lunch-time prayer.

Last year, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida. The ACLU claimed some teachers and administrators were endorsing religion, but the school chose to give in to the ACLU’s demands rather than fight them in court.
 
According to the settlement, all school employees are banned from engaging in prayer or religious activities before, during, or after school hours. Now two school officials are facing criminal charges for offering meal-time prayers at an appreciation dinner for adults who had helped with a school field house project. Principal Frank Lay and athletic director Robert Freeman are scheduled to go on trial next month on criminal contempt charges. If convicted, both are subject to fines and imprisonment.
 
Matt Staver is founder of Liberty Counsel, which will argue the court order prohibiting prayer at school-related events violated Lay’s and Freeman’s constitutional rights.
 
“In this particular case, Principal Frank Lay asked the athletic director to have a prayer for the meal at an honorary luncheon in celebration for some of the athletic achievements. And then in [another] situation, the clerical worker at an event where some employees of the school were present asked her husband, who is not an employee of the school, to have a blessing over a meal,” he explains. “Because of those two events, these individuals now face criminal contempt.”
 
Staver believes that the accusers in this case are students who recently graduated. If that is the case, he says the case is moot. However, Staver adds it is outrageous to punish a school official with potential jail time for simply praying.

What Have We Done to the Gospel?

No Excuse Sunday

“Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, “Sunday is my only day to sleep in.”

We have steel helmets for those who say, “The roof would cave in if I ever came to church.”

Blankets will be furnished for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who say it is too hot.

We have hearing aids for those who say, “The preacher speaks too softly,” and cotton balls for those who say, “He preaches too loudly.”

Score cards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present.

Some relatives will be in attendance for those who like to go visiting on Sundays.

There will be TV dinners for those who can’t go to church and cook dinner also.

One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to worship God in nature.

Finally, the sanctuary will be decorated with Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.

 Author Unknown From a Church Bulletin.

Sanctification Starts With Your Pastor

“Sanctification starts with the pastor. His responsibility is to feed and protect his flock. As a pastor, I’m not called to be a stand-up comedian, a self-help guru, or a sex therapist. My job is to teach the Bible, thoroughly and accurately. I’m responsible to encourage and catalyze the spiritual growth of God’s people. Anything else is a distraction.

Too many pastors today neglect the priority of sanctification for their congregations. Instead of helping God’s people feast on the riches of His Word, they throw their efforts into attracting nonbelievers. Shrouding their teaching in pop-culture references and comedy routines designed to appeal to unbelievers, they withhold the only true source of spiritual nourishment from the Christians there who are hungry. Often the people in the pews don’t even realize what they’re missing, content instead to be entertained into spiritual starvation.

It’s my prayer that you’re in a church that does stress the importance of holiness – where your sanctification is encouraged and stimulated, and where you’re fed throughout the week on the riches of God’s Word. If you are, let me urge you to thank your pastor and church leaders for being faithful to their calling and in the example they set for your congregation. Let them know you’re thankful for their commitment to God’s Word, and that you’re praying for the Lord to bless and sustain them.” – John MacArthur

HT: Truth Matters

No Charge – Shirley Caesar

Check out this video – A guaranteed blessing!!

LifeWay Urged to Remove Books ‘Contrary to Gospel’

Jim Brown - OneNewsNow - 7/9/2009 5:00:00 AM

A Southern Baptist pastor is urging LifeWay Christian Bookstores to remove a number of books from its shelves that he believes undermine key Christian doctrines.

Channing Kilgore, associate pastor of South Whitwell Baptist Church in Tennessee, introduced a motion at the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting last month that called for LifeWay to remove books by teachers T.D. Jakes and John Hagee, any Catholic Bibles, 90 Minutes in Heaven, and The Shack.
 SBC president Johnny Hunt ruled Kilgore’s motion was not in order because it would have asked the convention to act like trustees. Kilgore says the books he wants removed from LifeWay stores are “contrary to the gospel” and the 2008 Baptist Faith and Message statement.
 ”For example, in The Shack, it’s very unclear and muddled in a lot of its views on the Trinity, the role and person and work of Christ, and the way of salvation,” Kilgore believes. “And in regards to T.D. Jakes, he will not come out and use classic, orthodox language in regards to the Trinity – and that is a cornerstone doctrine of Christianity.”
 Kilgore notes that in 2005, LifeWay president Thom Rainer said that “LifeWay will not be a business, but a ministry to the church.” However, Kilgore contends LifeWay is not ministering to the church by selling the books of “word of faith” teachers and authors who deny the Trinity.