Man, this is beautiful. A life adorning the gospel.
Listen to what @StevenBartlett—host of one of the world’s most popular podcasts—says to Christian apologist John Lennox.
The main reason we go to church is for God to serve us.
+We go hungry ; he feeds us his Word.
+We go dirtied by sin; he cleanses us by the blood of Christ.
+We go thirsting for hope; he gives it to us in the gospel.
+We go shrinking from shame; our Father tells us once more that we are his beloved children.
Yes, we respond to God with prayer and praise. But the primary reason we go to church is for God to do what God does best: gift us, feed us, serve us in Christ.
I'm reading "Memoirs of an Ordinary Pastor" about Tom Carson (DA Carson's Father).
He was done wrong by TT Shields, the most famous pastor of his era and area. (He ministered as a missionary pastor in Quebec). Shields' actions were so egregious that it caused a huge rift in the Union Baptists and ended up starting a new seminary where most of the students went.
But DA Carson never heard of it. In fact, despite the personal slight, his parents praised Shields to their children , shared his books with them and recounted the good things he had done.
Carson had to learn of the truth of his own father for the first time studying Canadian Baptist history in college.
Oh to have that grace for the people who have wronged us.
We can’t choose whether or not we will suffer. But we can choose whether or not we will suffer with God.
If you struggle with why God is letting you walk through suffering, remember this: If we were not brought into trial after trial after trial, we would fall ever more deeply in love with the ease, comfort, prosperity, and delights of our lives, and we would forget God.
Message: “How You Can Know You’re a Child of God”
'Pistol Pete' Maravich sharing his testimony of faith in Jesus Christ in 1987 less than one year before his death at the age of 40:
"I want all of you to know this tonight about Peter Maravich. You may never have heard of me. It makes no difference. I'm just one person on this earth saved by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ. I want you to know this, that the change that came into my life was Jesus Christ.
It was not winning. I won all my life. I won every trophy, award, everything you can think of, but every time I won something, I wanted something more. I had to win again. It wasn't money, because money'll buy you everything but happiness. It'll pay your fare at every place but Heaven. Material things—I've driven everything some of you strive for from Rolls Royces to BMWs to Mercedes to Porsches. It wasn't religion because in the name of religion, Jesus Christ was placed upon that cross.
And the purest thing about Christianity is the fact that it's your choice. You can't work. You can't earn. I knew that, and I understood it now.
I want you to know this. The last thing I'd like to say is this, next week I'll be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I'll get that big ring. In fact, it's a bigger ring than I would have got for the championship, but I'll tell you something about all the awards. They all pale to the glory of Christ and what He's done in my life. It's amazing what He has done in my life.
I wouldn't trade my position in Christ for a thousand NBA championships or a thousand Hall of Fame rings or for a hundred billion dollars. There's nothing like the joy of Jesus Christ in your life."
Racist. Deranged. Humiliating to our country. The fact that we have decided to pretend to this is normal every day is a moral abomination. Have we any shame?
And every day an entire generation is being told it is “Christian” to support this. God have mercy on us.
"In all my years of pastoring, I have learned this lesson: a person's spiritual maturity is not truly visible until they don't get their way. Then you see the person." - @ErikReed
This is true for sheep and shepherd alike.
Lord help us.