Church Life

01 Nov

The Church Today #4 The Crisis of Salvation

Father make of me a crisis man. Bring those I contact to decision. Let me not be a milepost on a single road; make me a fork, that men must turn one way or another on facing Christ in me.    Jim Elliot “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me...

27 Oct

The Church Today #3 Cheap Grace

Cheap grace is the deadly enemy of our Church. We are fighting today for costly grace…. Cheap grace means grace sold on the market like cheap jack’s wares. The sacraments, the forgiveness of sin, and the consolations of religion are thrown away at cut prices…. Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without...

27 Oct

The Church Today #2 Splendor and Church Growth

Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations that do not know you will hasten to you, because of the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendor.” Isa 55:5 This new experiment in doing church is rooted, I am confident, as the desire, even the passion, to see the Church grow. What has not been grasped however, is that in the modern world, the means that are...

06 Aug

The Church Today #1 A God Too Small

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls. When he found one of great value, he went away and sold everything he had and bought it. Matt 13:45-46 The fact is that as dazzling as the modern world has become, it has never outgrown its need for this kind of truth, never invalidates it, and therefore the liberal [and now seeker-sensitive] fear of becoming...

24 May

J. Gresham Machen #4 Give It to Us Straight

What was it that within a few days transformed a band of mourners into the spiritual conquerors of the world? It was not the memoirs of Jesus’ life; it was not the inspirational which came from past contact with him. But it was the message, “He is risen.” That message alone gave the disciples a living Savior, and it alone can give us a living Savior today. We shall never have vital contact with Jesus if...

07 Mar

Holy Heroes #3 Martin Luther- Beat On the Bible!

“Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently to know what Paul wanted.” Martin Luther “Let me understand the teaching of your precepts; then I will meditate on your wonders.” [Ps 119:27] It was not a good time for the church. Rome, the center of the Catholic faith, rather than being a dome of purity and piety had become a den of iniquity and insobriety. Having visited Rome on pilgrimage, Luther made this damning comment on what he saw...

30 Jan

The Weight of Glory

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. Ps 63:2-3 “Evangelical Christians have...