For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations.
Any reader of the bible, Old Testament or New, casual reader or diligent, will have readthat expression. It is rendered frequently. For example Ezekiel 30:3 states the Day is near, so does Joel 1:15, Joel 2:1, Zephaniah 1:14, and so on. Were all the prophets wrong? It has been two thousand years! What can we make of this?
S. Lewis Johnson explains.
Now, he [Obadiah] says the day of the Lord draws near on all the nations. Well, of course, that would lead us to ask the question, “Well, now what a minute, the day of the Lord has not come yet. It’s been hundreds of years since the prophet Obadiah prophesied and not only has it been hundreds of years but we don’t have anything in the immediate future to indicate that the day of the Lord is nigh at hand. The catching up of the church has not even taken place yet, so how can he write near? Was he wrong? Did the prophet speak not unto inspiration when he said the day of the Lord is near? What do we mean when we say near in the sense of the prophetic word?
Well, probably we mean something like imminent; that is, it may come at any moment. We don’t mean it must come at any moment. That’s evident from the Biblical teaching in the Old Testament as we see here and also in the New Testament. So the term really means something like it is imminent, it may come. Now, it so happens we know that the day of the Lord has not come and it’s been a long time.
One of the students of the Book of Obadiah, a very good student has said, “Now, when we say that a prophetic event is imminent just what do we mean?” The following illustration is helpful. With a little care one may balance a heavy book on the edge of a table. There the book remains poised. Let the room remain absolutely quiet and the book may stay there indefinitely yet at any moment a slight jar may cause it to fall.
No one can predict the precise instance of its drop, for its fall is imminent. So it is with the next event in the prophetic schedule. He says, “The rapture may come in our day or it may linger far beyond our time. Not itself, the day of the Lord, it is the vestibule of that day.”
EPrata photo
Therefore since the Day of the LORD is near, the rapture is nearer. Let this be a comfort to you.
With the support of Dutch Christians, in 1855 two German-born missionaries, Carl Wilhelm Ottow and Johann Gottlob Geissler sailed for the forbidding lands of Dutch New Guinea.
After both the Dutch Indies government and the Sultan of Tidore had given permission, Ottow and Geissler left their schooner Ternate in January 1855. It was there they reportedly fell on their knees to pray and called out: “Im Namen Gottes betreten wir dieses Land” (“In God’s name do we set foot on this land”); after that they went across to the mainland to look at another site, then returned to the ship. Early in the morning of Monday, 5 February, the Ternate anchored off Manaswari to drop them off with their belongings. To this day that date is celebrated as marking the beginning of the Protestant mission in (formerly) Dutch New Guinea. (source)
One hundred years later, missionary work was still going apace in the DNG islands. Yet there were still peoples who had not even been contacted, who had not met with the outside world at all. In 1968, in the same area but with a new name, now called Irian Jaya, Indonesia, two missionaries prepared to leave their mission base and penetrate the Snow Mountains. The Snow Mountains were home to one of the most feared tribes of the area, the Yali. This Stone Age tribe was heavily animistic, deeply superstitious, practiced human sacrifice, and they were cannibals. Very few men had met them and come out alive.
The two missionaries preparing to leave base were Phil Masters from America and Stan Dale from Australia, who had been working out of Korupoon for the previous 6 years. Though progress had been slow, the missionaries had seen some conversions from other tribesmen who had come to faith. For example, Masters’ work with the Kimyal (Kimjal) people had yielded some conversions in 1963 when several of the Kimyal chieftain’s sons had converted. Dale’s work with the Dani had led to conversions also. But not the Yali. They resisted, fiercely.
In this note Stan Dale wrote to his support personnel back in Australia, he said-
“Please continue to remember us in prayer. Unfortunately, there is not much interest where the visible results are small. We trust that something will happen in our areas that will bring glory to God, even though we may be unknown.”
The Yali were a short tribe of people, what we used to call pygmy. The Yali men grew to less that 5 feet, the women a bit shorter. Despite their diminutive stature, they were the most feared tribe in the mountains. They were savage and aggressive, cannibalistic toward other tribesmen not only during in war but sometimes hunting humans just for meat. After killing a person they would chop them, grind their bones and scatter the dust, in order to prevent the person from ‘returning’. As a result of their fearsome demeanor and ferocious acts, the mountain tribes rarely interacted with each other.
However, the language of the Gospel is universal, and while some tribes, like the Kimyal, had been somewhat receptive, Stan and Phil were determined to reach the Yali peoples too. In 1961 on a former trek where the Gospel had been preached to the Yalis along by Stan with fellow missionary Bruno de Leeuw, Stan had been shot with five arrows, and the duo retreated. Now Stan wanted to try again, this time Phil Masters would be his companion. The two men were propelled by an equally fierce conviction that the Yalis needed Jesus, even if at the expense of their own lives.
It was a grueling journey. The geography of the region was challenging, rugged, and isolating. Trekking was arduous. Though the native people would clamber through the dense jungle and trot barefoot up inclines in the rugged terrain, never slipping, the going was harder for the missionary men and their carriers from the Dani tribe. There was one friendly Yali with them.
As the group reached Yali territory, warriors came out of their huts, and menacingly waved their arrows. Undaunted, the group of missionaries and carriers continued. The Yali tribesmen with the group observed that a sign had been given that they were to be killed. The group turned around and began trekking back. When they came upon a small, level river beach with rugged mountains towering over them, the Yali let loose a volley of arrows. Stan was hit numerous times, but amazingly, he simply stood. He tore the arrows out of his body, one by one. The volley of arrows continued and still, Stan yanked them out. The Yali became fearful, knowing these men served another God. Their volley of arrows became more intense, fearing more and more the God they served and wanting the men to die so they could quickly escape the area in case there was divine retribution.
Phil was spurred on by Stan, and the two men, who supernaturally had been withstanding an incredible onslaught, finally became too weak to pull out their arrows, and they fell. Several of the carriers were killed also. The Yali chopped the men and ate them, and scattered their ground-up bones so they could not be “resurrected,” a term they had heard before when Stan had shared the Gospel in 1961.
Phil Masters, author of the Daily Sentinel’s Missionary Dairy, is reported missing in the interior of West Irian, Indonesia. A missionary for the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Phil and his family have spent some six years in the primitive areas of what was once the island of Dutch New Guinea. The island was taken over by Indonesia over three years ago. Mrs. Masters is the former Phyllis Wills, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Hollis Wills, Seney. It was reported by Phil’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Tom Masters, Mapleton, were notified Monday morning by telegram that Phil is overdue from a trek into the interior. Although all the details have not been learned, it is believed Phil and another missionary went into the jungle to visit a neighboring village and haven’t been heard from since.
Mrs. Ron Severson, LeMars, has received a news release from the Regions Beyond Missionary Union, Philadelphia, with more information about Rev. Phil Masters. The Severson family was one of the interested in LeMars area families in the work of Phil Masters. The union reported the deaths of two of its missionaries in the eastern highlands of West Irian, former Dutch New Guinea, Wednesday, Sept. 25. The date had not been reported previously. Rev. Philip Masters and Rev. Stanley Dale were killed instantly in an ambush by hostile tribes while on an evangelistic trek between the RBMU outposts of Koruppun and Ninia, the missionary union source said.
The society is one of several mission groups working in the interior of West Irian among tribes just emerging from a stone-age culture. A phenomenal response to the message of the Gospel has been witnessed among some of those warring cannibal tribes. Notably, in the Swart Valley alone, since 1960, some 8,000 of the Dani tribe have become Christians, weapons and fetishes have been discarded and literacy has become widespread.
One of the last communications received by the home office from Mr. Dale carried this significant comment—“I have a burden for these places where the way is hard. Please continue to pray for the people of the Holuk that they may break free from their fetishes and declare themselves wholly on the Lord’s side. Please continue to remember us in prayer, for we still carry some heavy burdens that are not burdens of work.”
The Lord blessedly answered the missionaries’ prayers. The various peoples of the Seng Valley in Indonesia have been released from their shackles to a ritualistic and demonic system of fear and death. They are joyously free. Though the burdens Stan and Phil (and Bruno, and the Wilsons who are still there) carried were heavy, they were temporary. The massacred missionaries are now enjoying freedom from their earthy tent of a body and dwell in glory with Christ. The day will come when the two men, shot through with arrows and ignominiously eaten, will eagerly and joyously greet their brethren the Yalis in heaven. Only the Gospel of Jesus Christ can cause such warm love and dramatic transformational change.
The Lord Jesus Christ loves His people, all peoples, and He died and rose again to bring a message of light and hope to all men. He sends His Spirit to indwell men and some of those, Jesus has set them apart for missionary work to bring the Gospel message to those who are in deepest darkness.
The Korowai people of that area did not emerge into the 20th century nor had they been contacted by any Westerner until 1974. Wikipedia: “The first documented contact by Western scientists with members of a band of western Korowai (or eastern Citak) took place on March 17–18, 1974.”
We are not talking long ago times of unreached people groups. Dutch Christian missionaries immediately began living among the Korowai and the first converts came to Christianity in the late 1990s. You see that the fields are white, the need is deep. These cannibalistic, stone age tribes are still emerging into the present day.
And before the Wilsons who live there now, there was Dale and Masters, and before that Bruno de Leeuw and before that Carl Wilhelm Ottow and Johann Gottlob Geissler…and before that Apostle Paul and before that…JESUS. No matter where one extends the unbroken line of missionaries back, it always ends, or begins, with the first missionary. He left His holy habitation of pure glory to descend to depraved man, bringing the Light and the Hope of the Gospel.
Thankfully, some tribes already have emerged into the Light. Here is a wonderful video of the Kimyal people, whom Phil had worked with, rejoicing when a small plane brought to them their first bibles in their own language. Below that, the Yali themselves commemorate the day that Bruno and Stan brought the Gospel to them in 1961, which has become their TRUE Independence Day.
The Kimyal Tribe of Papua, Indonesia celebrate the arrival of the New Testament Bible in the Kimyal language:
Youtube summary:
“On May 21, 1961, Stan Dale and Bruno de Leeuw made first contact with the Yali tribe in what is now Papua, Indonesia. In the week of May 16, 2011, the Yali held the Yubileum, or Jubilee: they celebrated fifty years since the coming of the Gospel to their tribe, and fifty years of its transformational impact on their society. This video captures some of the highlights of that celebration, as well as the Holuwon Yalis’ welcome of John and Gloria Wilson and their family, who had lived among them for twenty years:”
Here are some good things I want to share but there is no unifying theme or essay to tie them together. Enjoy.
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We find Christ in all the Scriptures. In the Old Testament He is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the epistles He is explained, and in Revelation He is expected.
~Alistair Begg, Preaching for God’s Glory, Crossway, 1999, p. 36
R.C. Sproul’s The Lightlings and The Prince’s Poison Cup came to life when they were released as colorful and powerful animatic DVDs in 2009. Today, Reformation Trust is making these two children’s stories, written and narrated by R.C. Sproul, free to watch online forever.
“We don’t live in a post-Christian culture, it’s gone beyond that. We live in an anti-Christian culture.” RC Sproul
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“The issue isn’t a separation of church and state, it is separation of state and God.” RC Sproul
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The above quotes from Sproul and Begg were quickly jotted down as I listened to those pastors’ sermons on RefNet, short for Reformation Network, a ministry of Ligonier and RC Sproul. It is radio, compete with scripture readings, Q&As, sermons, talks, music, and more. The music has a classical/Renaissance bent to it. The sermons and talks have a Reformed bent to them. It’s perfect for me. The only thing I don’t like is that because it’s radio, I can’t pause it when gems like the above come across. I have to quickly jot them down while missing so much other rich material. Good problem to have. Definitely meaty.
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In keeping with the same vein as the ant-Christian culture Sproul talked of, 9Marks has a plethora of good articles this month. Here is just one-
There is an overwhelming sense among Christians in the West that we are not only in a time of cultural decline, but that it is gaining pace. If that’s true, how should Christians pray? There may in fact be a lesson to learn about praying from our colonial forbears: perhaps God cares less about our efforts at moral reform than he cares about hearts that belong to him.
“a ministry for ladies who love the Lord. From the twice-monthly radio show, to the original articles that will be posted, to the resources that will be provided, Equipping Eve exists to equip women with “fruits of truth” from God’s Word so that they will be prepared to stand strong in an age that is ripe with deception.”
There has been an introduction and two episodes, with a third coming later today. Please bookmark the site and listen to the half-hour show. And share generously with other ladies.
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Do you ever feel like you are getting into a rut in your prayers? Praying for the same things in the same way? Is a shallowness creeping in and you don’t know how to combat it? I feel that way sometimes. I found this book during my search of the Puritans:
The Valley of Vision: A Collection of Puritan Prayers & Devotions
The strength of Puritan character and life lay in prayer and meditation. In this practice the spirit of prayer was regarded as of first importance and the best form of prayer, for living prayer is the characteristic of genuine spirituality. Yet prayer is also vocal and may therefore on occasions be written. Consequently in the Puritan tradition there are many written prayers and meditations which constitute an important corpus of inspiring devotional literature. Too often ex tempore prayer lacks variety, order and definiteness. The reason for this lies partly in a neglect of due preparation. It is here that the care and scriptural thoroughness which others found necessary in their approach to God may be of help. This book has been prepared not to ‘supply’ prayers but to prompt and encourage the Christian as he treads the path on which others have gone before.”
Here is a peek of one of the prayers:
O Holy Spirit, thou hast loved me and entered my heart, implanted there eternal life, revealed to me the glories of Jesus. Three Persons and one God, I bless and praise thee, for love so unmerited, so unspeakable, so wondrous, so mighty to save the lost and raise them to glory.
I was raised an atheist. My father was in love with science, Darwin, and everything related to evolution. In our house, Darwin was God. Creationism was dismissed with a sneer and “Science” was worshiped.
In some ways I am grateful for the heavy emphasis on science, because I have an enduring love for it now. I enjoy the scientific process, scientific advances, and the interplay between ivory tower discoveries and boots on the ground impact to societies.
However, the bible is the truth, and in Romans 1 we learn that the glory of God has been revealed to all people. It has been made plain to us in His creation. Growing up, I would try to balance what I’d been taught about the Big Bang theory and evolution and other ‘science’, with what I was actually seeing about the creation.
What was I seeing? A glorious earth, mysterious, complex, delicate but sturdy. I’d see the march of the tides, regular and dependable. I’d see the stars, meteor showers, northern lights, moon phases, and occasional comets and I’d wonder how they all got there and why it was so orderly. And so beautiful.
I was born in 1960 and I vividly remember the old black and white television set showing ticker tape parades for the early astronauts who went into space and returned alive to tell the tale. The first moon landing…I’d muse about my grandmother, born around 1900 and died around 1980. She was born when man was earth-bound and she watched us as a species leave the ground through flight and eventually leave earth and hurl ourselves into space. The twentieth century was an amazing time to be growing up.
I’d wonder, what is it about man that makes him restless, and wanting to know more, pursue frontiers, go into the dangerous and enticing starry deep?
Bob Ballard was huge too. His pursuit of knowledge from another frontier, deep ocean, captivated me. In the 1970s and 1980s he and Jacques Cousteau kept my interest with reports of yet another ‘previous unknown species’ from the deep. Who were these creatures? Why don’t we know about them? How many more are there? What’s going on down at the deepest levels of the ocean?
My childhood home in RI was not far from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) and the University of RI offered a solid course in oceanography. RI is called “The Ocean State”. Ocean stuff was all around. Therefore, I was curious about the discovery of the deepest ocean mysteries, the hydrothermal vents, discovered in 1977 by Dr Ballard in his submersible Alvin. WHOI explains,
In 1977, scientists diving in the submersible Alvin made a stunning discovery on the bottom of the Pacific Ocean: vents pouring hot, mineral-rich fluids from beneath the seafloor. In addition, they also found the vents were inhabited by previously unknown organisms that thrived in the absence of sunlight. These discoveries forever changed our understanding of Earth and life on it.
That turned my perspective upside down. Organisms that live on magnesium and sulfur and acids?? Organisms that do not need the sun nor photosynthesis? How can this be? How does a cludgy and unwieldy theory such as evolution account for such earthly variety?
It doesn’t, as I came to learn when the Lord regenerated my heart.
For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20).
They are without excuse because they suppress the truth. (Romans 1:18). I understand this personally and dramatically because the more I looked around me at creation, the more it was plain that God must exist.
Here is some news that shows plainly, once again, that God is showing Himself as Creator.
The Earth is surrounded by “killer electrons,” and it turns out one of the only things protecting us from them is an invisible force field of the type usually seen in sci-fi flicks.
These electrons, part of the two Van Allen radiation belts that surround the planet, can knock satellites out of commission and threaten astronauts. But in a new study in the journal Nature, scientists say they’ve discovered that these electrons suddenly stop at about 7,200 miles above the surface of the Earth.
“It’s almost like theses electrons are running into a glass wall in space,” professor Daniel Baker, director of CU-Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics and lead author of the study, said in a news release. “Somewhat like the shields created by force fields on ‘Star Trek’ that were used to repel alien weapons, we are seeing an invisible shield blocking these electrons. It’s an extremely puzzling phenomenon.”
LOL, really. Earth is specifically, uniquely, and wonderfully protected by a shield. Here is an artist’s rendition of how the shield may look and how it works.
Caption: “An artist’s rendition of the Van Allen radiation belts as well as the “invisible wall” that blocks electrons from the Earth. | Andy Kale, University of Alberta“.
Here is how I like to imagine the same scientific scene in spiritual terms. God’s hands personally protecting us, His people, on the planet He created for us to inhabit and work it and take care of it. (Genesis 2:15).
The scientist said in another article, “Things we thought in the past were true simply are not correct.” (source)
Lol, really.
Science is wonderful and I am for science. Christianity and science are not mutually exclusive. Science has given us penicillin, DNA understanding, X-rays, space travel, even the internet that fuels this laptop.
However I’d like to say two other things also. The bible is not a book of science. It refers to natural history and other scientific processes, but ultimately it is not an apologetic for human science. It is a book which recounts deeds of a mighty Creator.
Secondly, the bible transcends science. It is always true. Time and again, men and women pursuing an understanding of how earth or ocean or space works, find that they must revise or even abandon their theories. While it can be said that a ride on a scientific theory is like hanging on to a tiger by its tail because it changes so often, ultimately, truth is found in God and in His Bible, and that ride is constant. It is always true. It never needs revision.
People who cling to science as exalted highest knowledge eventually become disappointed because ‘Things we thought in the past were true simply are not correct’. Ultimate truth and ultimate resting in that truth is not in science, it is in God. He never changes. (Hebrews 13:8). There is no shadow of turning in Him. (James 1:17).
The worship of Abraham to God and Jeremiah’s and Micah’s and Peter’s and Paul’s and Calvin’s and Spurgeon’s and MacArthur’s and mine is a constant because it’s toward an unchanging God. He is the same. The world around us changes, and our understanding of it lessens and deepens as we see the science advance and retreat in its hurtling through this frontier or that. However, Moses worshiped the same God I do. This is a comfort.
I never need to restlessly pursue this theory or that, only to find the scientists are changing it all again! What joy to see revelations of our Creator through men like Dr Baker who pursue knowledge of how and why our earth works as it does.
By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. (Hebrews 11:3)
I’m sorry I changed the banner too frequently. I kind of almost liked the “Jesus” picture with the reflection on the water but it was too pink for my taste. Nothing I did with photo manipulation could make it less pink. It also didn’t fit the tone of the blog.
I gave it a try but never grew to like it so after a short while I switched to a favorite of mine, lighthouse.
One of the ways I ‘see’ Jesus, or relate to Him in my mind, is through the scriptural symbol ascribed to Him as the Light. This present world is called the darkness. The lake of fire is outer darkness. We are delivered by Christ from the world of darkness to the Light where there dwells the Father of Lights.
As for the lighthouse, they are some of the strongest buildings ever built. They’re usually on rock. They withstand fierce storms, pounding waves, lightning, and darkness.
They are a lifesaver. I lived on a sailboat for a period of time, and I will never forget the desperate fear of sailing through the night storm and peering through the gloomy rain looking for that light. When it appears in the place it should be, it engenders sagging relief. It is an old friend, beloved and stalwart. Mariners love their lighthouses, and as we pass by each of them along the coast, fair weather or fowl, we’re thankful for the light.
How apt it is that Jesus is the strong tower, the Light.
The banner is a crop of a photo I had taken some years ago of the Portland (Maine) Head light. I went to grayscale and got rid of the color. I added an overlay of the light beam and then the verse and a border.
Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) He is the ONLY Light of the world the only light the world needs. He guides the way. He sheds light on sin. We no longer have to stay in darkness. (John 12:46)
the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. (Matthew 4:16)
While a boy was using scissors to cut his Christmas tree project, he was being very slow but very painstaking. He wanted to be exact. And to do a good job. So while the rest of the kids had moved on to the ornaments and coloring and going fast, the boy was still plodding along.
When he got done, he held up his tree and said, “I’m a good cutter!” I said, “Yes. You are a good cutter!” “Jesus teaches me. He is in my head teaching me how to do it.” “What does He say to you in your head when He teaches you?” “He don’t say nothing. He’s magic. Like, when there was a storm, he said STOP and just like that, a rainbow! He helps me.”
Jesus is very present with this boy and in this boy. He speaks of Jesus often, but has never talked about his relationship with Jesus before.
“And they said to him, “Do you hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” (Matthew 21:16)
“Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” (Luke 18:17)
The boy talks about Him as He actually is- a friend and a helper, as if Jesus was here and right next to him. Which He is. Adult Christians lose that.
When we paint or make a Christmas gift or a craft and put the finishing touches on it, someone may say “That looks wonderful. You did a good job!” Do we say “Jesus directed my steps and it is with His wisdom/strength/help that I made this”?
The boy praised Jesus for His very present help. The boy testified of Jesus and worshiped Him. The boy acknowledged his need for help in even the smallest of things. The boy exalted the transcendent Creator Jesus by recounting His powerful miracle but at the same time praised His presence, Jesus’ immanence.
Transcendence (God exists outside of space and time) and immanence (God is present within space and time) are both attributes of God. He is both “nearby” and “far away,” according to Jeremiah 23:23.
Praise Jesus today, and often. Praise Him like this boy did, confidently, matter of factly, and certainly.
“but Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 19:14)
Though Christians are called on to give all through the year- to church, to each other, to causes- Christmas is especially a time when we think of others. We have the annual Lottie Moon offering, Christmas gifts to buy and give to friends and family, and end of year corporate tax donation drives from Christian organizations, asking for a gift- any gift- just one more time. (Hebrews 13:16)
Giving should be a joy. It is to the glory of God that we support our pastors (1 Timothy 5:17) and our church ministries. (2 Corinthians 9:7). We love not knowing what the right hand is doing when we give to friends (1 John 3:17) or those in need. (Matthew 6:2-4). We enjoy supporting causes the Spirit has impressed upon us to join with in His work.
I love giving. But I’m selfish, so I have to unclench my fist first. I’m working on it. So I listen to sermons that preach giving and when I read the bible I don’t skip over the parts that tell me to give. I also pray a lot over my selfishness.
Once I heard a John MacArthur sermon and for the life of me I do not remember the verse being explained or the topic. But I do remember the part when he talked about the lottery.
I don’t make a lot of money. OK, that’s an understatement. I live paycheck to paycheck and the smallest of disasters or emergencies will put me out. But the Lord is faithful and though I have had emergencies and disasters I’ve come through just fine. He is faithful! He has proven this over and over- in the bible and to me personally. But even still, I play the imaginary lottery game sometimes.
Even though I don’t actually play, I imagine. “IF I won…what I’d do with all that money”. However, MacArthur said that the lottery doesn’t enter into it. A raise at work doesn’t enter into it. A bequeathment doesn’t enter into it. A giving person is a giving person. A non-giving person doesn’t suddenly become a giving person when a pile of money lands in their lap. Often, the opposite will be true.
The sermon below isn’t the one I’d heard, because it’s from 20 years ago and what I heard was recent. I can’t find the recent one but here is the same gist from hisolder sermon:
Some people say, “Well, if I just had more I’d give more.” No, I’ve heard that. You always hear them say, “If I had $1 million I’d give it over here and I’d give…if I could just win the lottery. Oh man, if I could just win the lottery.” The question is not what would you do with $1 million. The question is what are you doing with this $4.00 you’ve got in your pocket. What are you doing with the $10.00? What are you doing with the $20.00 or the $60.00? That’s the issue, because Ecclesiastes 5:10-11 says, “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money. When good things increase, those who consume them increase.”
Speaking of that $4.00 in your pocket. I remember one time years ago, I didn’t give at church that week. I said to myself I didn’t have enough to give. The offering plate came down our crowded pew, and the women next to me was an 85 year old widow. She was saved when she was 75. After years of going to church and believing herself saved when she was 75 it actually occurred. I loved her testimony of what the Lord did for her in salvation at her advanced years- and preserving her life until she was saved. Anyway, as the plate neared her, she uncurled her arthritic hand and two quarters slid out and into the plate. She passed the plate to me. I didn’t have ‘enough’ to give? I had two quarters in my wallet right at that moment!
I never forgot the chagrin I felt. That was when I asked the Lord to help me with giving. He is faithful in all things and He has been faithful in this too.
Now that some years have passed and the Lord has grown me, I am loving giving now. Not just money, but time, food, service, attention. Whatever I have on me at that moment, I give. The Lord has blessed me and when others give to me, it humbles me and just makes me want to give more.
Will the circle be unbroken? I hope not.
As this season progresses please give generously. Missionaries in the field depend on us. The poor have needs. Ministries at church should be well-stocked with Sunday School materials, curricula, items necessary to edify and educate. Widows need attending to. Children and orphans are wasting away before our noses. It’s not that you don’t have enough to give, but what are you doing with what you DO have?
Charles Spurgeon:
“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store” Deuteronomy 28:5 [Open in Logos Bible Software (if available)] Obedience brings a blessing on all the provisions which our industry earns for us. That which comes in and goes out at once, like fruit in the basket which is for immediate use, shall be blest; and that which is laid by with us for a longer season shall equally receive a blessing. Perhaps ours is a handbasket portion. We have a little for breakfast, and a scanty bite for dinner in a basket when we go out to do our work in the morning. This is well, for the blessing of God is promised to the basket. If we live from hand to mouth, getting each day’s supply in the day, we are as well off as Israel; for when the Lord entertained His favored people He Only gave them a day’s manna at a time. What more did they need? What more do we need? But if we have a store, how much we need the Lord to bless it! For there is the care of getting, the care of keeping, the care of managing, the care of using; and, unless the Lord bless it, these cares will eat into our hearts, till our goods become our gods, and our cares prove cankers. O Lord, bless our substance. Enable us to use it for thy glory. Help us to keep worldly things in their proper places, and never may our savings endanger the saving of our souls. (Faith’s Checkbook, C.H, Spurgeon (Page 73)
Here is a great follow up to James White of Alpha and Omega Ministries’ concern over Rick Warren’s capitulation to Romepart 1. He examines the Judaizers of Galatians and shows that even a minute change in the Gospel of Christ is a total abandonment of that Gospel. The strongest language in the New Testament is spoken against those who pervert the Gospel. Compared to much of today’s professing Christianity, the Judaizers look extremely conservative and even almost orthodox, and yet Rome makes the Judaizers look like amateurs in perverting Christ’s Gospel.
The video is 14 minutes and White also has good words for how to comment on the situation (hint: not angrily nor arrogantly) and he also expresses a biblical stance on why we should be concerned when we do speak up over these matters.
A commenter on the first video kindly posted this link to this follow up. Thank you.
The Lamb is Worthy …8When He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each one holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. (Revelation 5:8-9)
The word song in this verse, in the Greek is ōdḗ and it means just that, a song. Strong’s 5603 (ōdḗ) is defined, “in the NT of spontaneous, impromptu (unrehearsed) melodies of praise – not merely sung about (for) God but to God from a Spirit-filled heart. Spirit-inspired songs minister to God and exhort others, giving testimony about the living God to other worshipers.”
In his verse-by-verse exposition of Revelation, Oliver B. Greene says,
There is no song recorded in the book of Genesis. The Patriarchs were men of seriousness and deep thought. The first song on earth of which we have any record, is found in Exodus 15. The deliverance which had been wrought for Israel (Exodus 14) formed the theme and material for the song (Exodus 15:1-19) and the refrain (Exodus 15:21).
The old song is God’s celebrated song of creation (Job 38:7). The song here in Revelation is termed “a new song” because its theme, Redemption, when fully accomplished, will create “all things new.” In the end, all things will be new, all evil and old things as a result of sin will be put down, put away, totally destroyed.
It is the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (Revelation 15:3). The song celebrates God’s past ways with Israel and His present grace through the Lamb slain. Grand as might have been the song of Israel when sung on the eastern bank of the Red Sea, this song in its character and the occasion when it is sung, is incomparably greater. There is no comparison between the old song of Israel and this new song of Redemption. THE REDEEMED (Jew and Gentile, bond and free, rich and poor) SING OF HIM AND TO HIM! They sing, “Thou art worthy to take the book and to open its seals.”
He is so worthy! Sing of His worthiness! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Ed. Note: White has since put up a part 2 and it can be viewed here. It is excellent!)
As synopsized on the Youtube channel, it states of the 12-minute video,
Rick Warren has been used in a Roman Catholic promotional video to white-wash the fundamental differences between Christianity and Romanism. Here is a brief response, shot in Irpin, Ukraine, challenging Warren’s capitulation to Rome’s claims
Warren
In the video James White explains that Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, had gone to Rome to meet with the pope and other men from different faiths, to discuss their ‘commonalities’. I believe it was the conference on marriage to which the Southern Baptist Convention’s Dr Russell Moore (among others) was also invited.
White goes on to explain how the things Warren said are not biblical, though they sound as though they could be. Other things Warren said are simply Catholic Dogma, as Warren briefly becomes an apologist for Catholic doctrine.
White is generous in his hope that it was only a temporary ignorance of the dogmas of Rome that allowed Warren to say the things he did, which White unpacks against the pure light of the Gospel. I thought that the last statement White made in the video was powerful- and necessary.
I found myself asking the obvious unasked question, if Warren was ignorant, then he should not be mature pastor of a church expounding the word, nor should he represent the Gospel on behalf of millions of evangelicals. In my opinion Warren is a pragmatist who sets aside the Gospel because he is going the Way of Balaam.
Our precious Christ’s Gospel must remain unadulterated, and on center stage, not marginalized in a pointless search for commonalities. If we do not share a belief in and knowledge of this same Jesus and His saving Gospel, we share nothing in common. All else is dung. He is too beautiful, too wonderful and too powerful to treat His words with anything less than reverence and earnest exactitude as it has been delivered.
the-end-time.org 