Links & Quotes

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Some great reading from today.

“All of the advertising we can do will never equal the interest and participation in the things of God resulting from the gracious answers to the prayers of faith generated by the Holy Spirit.” —A.W. Tozer

“The state of the times extremely requires a fullness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we ought to give ourselves no rest till we have obtained it. And in order to [do] this, I should think ministers, above all persons, ought to be much in secret prayer and fasting, and also much in praying and fasting one with another. It seems to me it would be becoming the circumstances of the present day, if ministers in a neighborhood would often meet together and spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves, earnestly seeking for those extraordinary supplies of divine grace from heaven, that we need at this day.” —Jonathan Edwards

Why is the media not in an uproar over this?! Pakistani Girls Forced to Renounce Christianity And Marry Muslims

“There is a bond: He takes it and crosses it all out and hands it back to you, and says, ‘There is a full discharge, I have blotted it all out.’ So does the Lord deal with penitents. He has a book in which all your debts are written; but with the blood of Christ He crosses out the handwriting of ordinances which is there written against you. The bond is destroyed, and He will not demand payment for it again. The devil will sometimes insinuate to the contrary, as he did to Martin Luther. ‘Bring me the catalogue of my sins,’ said Luther; and he brought a scroll black and long. ‘Is that all?’ said Luther. ‘No,’ said the devil; and he brought yet another. ‘And now,’ said the heroic saint of God, ‘write at the foot of the scroll: “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth from all sin.”’ That is a full discharge.” —Charles Spurgeon

Funny, but instructional, from Ken Davis: Five Super Powers Of Effective Leaders!

10 People Every Christian Should Know (book review)

10 People Every Christian Should Know10 People Every Christian Should Know is a quick survey of notable Christian movers and shakers from the 1600s through the 1960s. Warren Wiersbe gives us a quick overview of their lives, attempting to whet our appetites to learn more about them.

By no means are these in-depth biographies, but rather short biographical sketches of their lives. Rev. Wiersbe quotes from other biographies and works written by the person being studied to give us insight into why they belong on this “Top 10” list. Each chapter contains Rev. Wiersbe’s recommendations about which books to read by or about that person to go deeper in your study of their life and beliefs.

I don’t have any arguments with the list of distinguished people who made this list, and I found the book recommendations in each chapter helpful, as well as the extensive list of reference books and biographies at the end of the book. The only thing I found slightly off-putting was Rev. Wiersbe’s commentaries into why the spiritual experiences of some of the subjects weren’t what they were portrayed to be. It would have been far better for him to simply say, “Here’s what happened, and here’s where you can read more.” Other than that, I would recommend this book as a great starting point for anyone who loves studying history as much as I do.

By the way, the Top 10 people covered in this book are:

  • Matthew Henry—Bible commentator
  • Jonathan Edwards—pastor
  • John Henry Cardinal Newman—pastor
  • J.B. Lightfoot—Bible translator
  • J. Hudson Taylor—missionary
  • Charles H. Spurgeon—pastor
  • Dwight L. Moody—pastor
  • Amy Carmichael—missionary
  • Oswald Chambers—professor
  • A.W. Tozer—pastor

Hypocritical Pastors

Jonathan EdwardsI was reading a passage from Jonathan Edwards’ Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer, where Edwards warned pastors against neglecting the sacred duty of private prayer. Edwards says that pastors who spend more time praying publicly than they do privately are hypocrites.

T.M. Moore commented on this—

“So we [pastors], when we attend upon public prayers—even leading them, during morning worship—but have no prayer life of our own to speak of, practice hypocrisy of the first water. We seem to be men of prayer, but we are hardly ever calling on the Lord of glory.”

There is a simple remedy to this: Pray!

  • Pray every day
  • Pray about every thing
  • Pray in private
  • Make prayer your continual and ongoing habit

Pastors, may we always pray!

Proper Preaching

Jonathan Edwards was a brilliant man. His words here are spoken directly to preachers. I endeavor to handle my God-given responsibilities like this:

“Pure Christian humility has no such thing as roughness, or contempt, or fierceness, or bitterness in its nature; it makes a person like a little child, harmless and innocent, that none need to be afraid of, or like a lamb, destitute of all bitterness, wrath, anger, and clamor; agreeable to Ephesians 4:31. With such a spirit as this ought especially zealous ministers of the gospel to be clothed, and those that God is pleased to employ as instruments in His hands of promoting His work. They ought indeed to be thorough in preaching the word of God, without mincing the matter at all; in handling the sword of the Spirit, as the ministers of the Lord of hosts, they ought not to be mild and gentle; they are not to be gentle and moderate in searching and awakening the conscience, but should be sons of thunder. The Word of God, which is in itself sharper than any two-edged sword, ought not to be sheathed by its ministers, but so used that its sharp edges may have their full effect, even to the dividing asunder soul and spirit, joints and marrow. Yet they should do it without judging particular persons, leaving it to conscience and the Spirit of God to make the particular application. But all their conversation should savor of nothing but lowliness and good-will, love and pity to all mankind; so that such a spirit should be like a sweet odor diffused around them wherever they go. They should be like lions to guilty consciences, but like lambs to men’s persons. This would have no tendency to prevent the awakening of men’s consciences, but on the contrary would have a very great tendency to awaken them. It would make way for the sharp sword to enter; it would remove the obstacles, and make a naked breast for the arrow. —Yea, the amiable Christ-like conversation of such ministers in itself, would terrify the consciences of men, as well as their terrible preaching; both would co-operate to subdue the hard, and bring down the proud heart.”