Links & Quotes

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“Reading the Bible is a good preparative for prayer, as prayer is an excellent means to render reading effectual.” —George Whitefield

“God would have remained hidden afar off if Christ’s splendor had not beamed upon us.” —John Calvin

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect [party] of the candidate—look to his character. … It is alleged by men of loose principles or defective views of the subject that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men ‘who rule in the fear of God, able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness.’” —Noah Webster

“During the gold rush, the people who made the most money were the ones selling the shovels.” —Russell Brunson

Husbands, here are 8 things your wife should expect from you.

James Madison & the Bill of RightsMurray Vassar has another great cartoon. Click the picture or here to see the rest…

Seth Godin always makes me think. Like this post called Opposition

The opposite of creativity is fear.
And fear’s enemy is creativity.
The opposite of yes is maybe.
Because maybe is non-definitive, and both yes and no give us closure and the chance to move ahead.
Perfect is the enemy of good.
Us is not the enemy of them. Us is the opposite of alone.
They can become us as soon as we permit it.
Everything is the opposite of okay. Everything can never be okay. Except when we permit it.
The right is not the opposite of the left. Each side has the chance to go up, which is precisely the opposite of down.
Dreams are not the opposite of reality. Dreams inform reality.

[VIDEO] John Maxwell makes me think, too. Here he does it with a bit of humor—

Defending Your Pro-Life Stance

PIE ProjectIf someone asked you why you oppose abortion, but said they wouldn’t listen to a list of verses from the Bible, could you defend your pro-life stance?

Scott Klusendorf shows you how to do this in less than two minutes. Watch…

The links that Scott mentions in the video about life beginning at fertilization are found here.

More Planned Parenthood Ugliness

Cecile Richards president of Planned ParenthoodAs the deplorable practices of Planned Parenthood keeping coming to light, the Planned Parenthood leadership keeps piling on the lies. The bottom line: they are in business to make money, and scared, vulnerable women are their main source of income.

An undercover video was released last week showing a Planned Parenthood doctor discussing the sale of body parts from aborted babies. Planned Parenthood, predictably, said it was untrue. Now another video has been released in which the price for these murdered babies is being negotiated. Watch it for yourself—

During the 2014 elections, Planned Parenthood and its PACs donated almost $700,000 to politicians that are supportive of their appalling practices. Check out the list of candidates who received bloody money here. We can put a stop to these barbaric practices at Planned Parenthood by voting for pro-life candidates that will pull the plug on the nearly $500 million of our tax money which subsidizes this abortion giant.

Here’s another way to get Planned Parenthood to stop: Stop buying from the companies that donate to Planned Parenthood. The list of the top 40 companies that donate to Planned Parenthood is here.  **IMPORTANT UPDATE** many of these companies, it turns out, aren’t supporting PP. Check this out.

Importunity

Importunity is not a word that pops up in everyday conversation, but the concept permeates Scripture. Check out these words from Jesus—

I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is a friend, yet because of the man’s boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs. (Luke 11:8 NIV)

Boldness here in the NIV is translated IMPORTUNITY in the King James Version. It’s the only time this Greek word is used in the New Testament, and it is used in context to prayer (see vv. 1-4). The English and Greek dictionaries both agree on the definition of importunity…

…urgent, shameless asking, sometimes to the point of being annoying!

This is how Jesus tells us to pray.

Notice Jesus said the friend responded not out of friendship, but because of the importunate attitude.

God responds to our importunity as well (vv. 9-10). He responds not as an annoyed friend and not even as a loving earthly father (vv. 11-12). Friends and fathers have moods and they have limits—Our God has no limit on His love nor on His supply!

He will give him as much as he needs … Ask and it will be given to you… How much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!” (vv. 8, 9, 13).

“Our giving depends much on the state of our minds at the moment. When depressed, we have no pleasure in giving; we either refuse, or we give merely to get quit of the applicant. Darkness of mind shrivels us up, makes us selfish, neglectful of others. When full of joy, giving seems our element—our joy overflows in this way; we cannot help giving; we delight in applications; we seek opportunities of giving. So with the blessed God. Being altogether happy, His delight is to give; His perfect blessedness flows out in giving. We can never come wrongly to such an infinitely happy Being.” —Horatius Bonar (emphasis added)

May the Holy Spirit help us to be importunate in our prayer today, for you can never come wrongly—nor too often—to such a happy, loving, generous Father!

Links & Quotes

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“How much foolish talking and jesting would at once end if we said, ‘Surely the Lord is in this place.’ … Let your recreation be free from sin; let your amusements be such that you can enjoy them while God looks on. If, too, we felt that God was in this place, how much oftener should we talk of Him and of Christ.” —Charles Spurgeon

“David celebrates God as the sovereign, ‘with-us’ God Who is absolutely for His people and determined to do them good. He is Father to the fatherless, Defender of widows, the One Who gives homes to the homeless and release to captives (Psalm 68:5-6). He gives them gifts, blessings, and salvation (vv. 18-20), and He calls them into His presence to celebrate His magnificence in worship (vv. 24-28). He gives strength for His people to do all His bidding (v. 28) and to know Him in His glory in the heavens (v. 33). Over His people Israel, God is strong, excellent, awesome, and powerful.” —T.M. Moore (emphasis added)

Fast Company published an article from Dr. Tim Elmore on how to bridge the gap between potential and performance. As always, his stuff is spot-on!

“Kids are getting turned on by watching video, but physiologically they are less aroused. We call it P.I.E.D.—Porn Induced Erectile Dysfunction.” —Dr. Philip Zimbardo. Check out this really fast-moving TEDx talk Dr. Zimbardo gave…

Is It Okay To Question The Bible?

DoubtGod is not intimidated by your questions. In fact, if you look in the Bible itself, you will see lots and lots of question marks: questions asked by God, and questions asked of God. So go ahead and question!

And check out this great video from the Impact 360 Institute…

My Going Is Your Calling

BibleThis morning I shared some cool thoughts on Luke 10:1-3

After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of Him to every town and place where He was about to go. He told them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”

Are you following me on Periscope? My username is @craigtowens. If you subscribe, you can see these types of broadcasts live. But, not to worry, I have uploaded it here as well…

Ernie Johnson: A Man’s Man

Ernie JohnsonI love these types of stories that portray REAL men—great work ethic, professional, totally committed as a husband and father. Way to go, Ernie! And thanks to ESPN E:60 for such a positive story.

Tears And Humility

History of ReshJust has God sent His holy Son “below the line” to rescue us, so we who are in Jesus have been sent below the line to those who are staggering to death. If we are going to be effective rescuers, what must our attitude be?

John Bradford, when he saw a convicted criminal on his way to the gallows said, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” He also said to those who questioned his deep emotional response when preaching, “You blame me for weeping, but how can I help it when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction?”

Isn’t a humble, empathetic rescuer going to be more effective in reaching those staggering to their eternal demise than one who stands aloof, saying, “You got yourself into this mess”?

Resh (Psalm 119:153-160) shows us our posture: It signifies a head bowed; it means we are confidently humble. Confident that God delivers us, defends us, redeems us, preserves us, and saves us (vv. 153-154); but humble enough to know that we could never have earned this!

We have to have this confidently humble posture in order to be effective as His holy rescuers. We grieve for those who are without God because of what they face—

  • “Salvation” is only gibberish to the wicked because they’ve never looked it up in Your dictionary. (v. 155, MSG)
  • They don’t know His compassion is great (v. 156), nor how great is Your tender mercy and loving-kindness (AMP).
  • They become the foes who persecute Christians (v. 157). How they will grieve on Judgment Day, if they don’t repent!
  • Their actions are loathed (not them as a person!). What God said of the Israelites who went into captivity will be true for those who don’t accept Jesus before they die—Then in the nations where they have been carried captive, those who escape will remember Me—how I have been grieved by their adulterous hearts, which have turned away from me, and by their eyes, which have lusted after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evil they have done and for all their detestable practices. (Ezekiel 6:9, emphasis added)

Tears and humility will keep us in the proper position to reclaim these lost treasures for our King! 

I will be continuing our series on Psalm 119 in our P119 Spiritual Workout next Sunday. Hope you can join me!

If you are interested in watching the entire message, the video is below—

If you have missed any of the messages in our P119 series, you can access them all by clicking here.

Links & Quotes

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“‘And Enoch walked with God’ [Genesis 5:24]. If so much as this can be truly said of you and me after our decease, we shall not have any reason to complain that we have lived in vain.” —George Whitefield

“A neglect of secret prayer has been frequently an inlet to many spiritual diseases, and has been attended with fatal consequences.” —George Whitefield

“You have heard many men’s dying words, and these are mine: A life spent in communion with God is the pleasantest life in the world.” —Matthew Henry, to a friend when near his death

Sgt. Jason Kelley is a wonderful asset to my hometown, and our surrounding area. So I couldn’t be happier that he has been named Kent County Deputy of the Year!

We are losing a pastor who has been so involved in our city. Pastor Tom Holloway is moving to South Carolina, and I am going to miss him.

A U.S. Army chaplain has found an innovative way to water baptize soldiers. Love it!

Eric Metaxas asks, “How can anyone defend Planned Parenthood after the sickening video came to light this week?” Check out his insightful answer.

[VIDEO] Here is the video from another Periscope broadcast I did about handling fear—