It Is Christ

It is not thy hold on Christ that saves thee; it is Christ.

It is not thy joy in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ.

It is not thy faith in Christ that saves thee; it is Christ.

- C.H. Spurgeon

Not Called You Say?

" 'Not called!' did you say? 'Not heard the call,' I think you should say. Put your ear down to the Bible and hear Him bid you go and pull sinners out of the fire of sin. Put your ear down to the burdened, agonized heart of humanity; listen to its pitiful wail for help. Go stand by the gates of hell, and hear the damned entreat you to go to their father's house and bid their brothers and sisters and servants and masters not to come there. And then look Christ in the face, whose mercy you have professed to obey, and tell Him whether you will join heart and soul and body and circumstances in the march to publish His mercy to the world."

- William Booth

There's All a Guilty Sinner Needs... In Jesus

I've tried in vain a thousand ways,

My fears to quell, my hopes to raise...

My soul is night, my heart is steel -

I cannot see, I cannot feel....

(Written on the deathbed of an infidel...)

I checked the online news this morning and saw that last night, federal agents had arrived at a lobbyist's house, preparing to arrest him for various charges when they heard a gunshot from inside. They stormed the apartment and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
That sounds like everyday news... But it was a weird feeling this morning to KNOW the guy in the news...

I immediately thought back to an evening in a resturant with this very lobbyist when he took a couple of my friends and I out to dinner not too long ago... Another conversation with him in a Capitol office where he spent much of his time. I remember distinctly thinking over that dinner, "This guy is miserable.What do I say to turn the conversation to things of eternal importance? He wants what we have, but he doesn't even know what it is that he wants..."

The conversation was goofy as David ordered exotic seafood for everyone. One of the representatives who had come along kept thinking of outlandish things to report as lobbyist gifts - like 5 gallon buckets of fresh asparagus and blueberries. It wasn't a bad conversation, just dumb and pointless.
I wanted so badly to say something of value to David, but it never seemed appropriate with the conversation, and I barely got a word in edgewise. I didn't say anything.

Little did I know that David would be in eternity less then a year later. Little did I know the last time I talked to him that I would never see him again until I see him standing before the Great White Throne. If I had known, would I have acted differently? Would I have said something else? Would I have interrupted the goofiness at dinner to ask everyone what is most important to them in life? Of course, we can play those guilty questions over and over again in our head as we think of a thousand, "If onlys."

I cannot change the past. I cannot have one last conversation with him or drop a book in the mail to him, or... But I can change the way I live my life this minute and in the future. I have new opportunities tomorrow. Not just people who are busy, depressed, happy, famous, poor, lost, popular, smart, annoying... They are all souls that will spend eternity somewhere. I could wake up and find any of them in the newspaper tomorrow. And God may have put them in front of me because I know the truth, and it is my responsibility to share it, rather than hoard it.

If only David could sing this hymn. But he can't, and he never will. But there are other David's in the world who need the truth so that they can sing this song and know in the very depths of their heart that though their "soul is night, [their] heart is steel... There's all a guilty sinner needs forevermore in Jesus."

I've tried in vain, a thousand ways

My fears to quell, my hopes to raise;

But what I need, the Bible says,

Is ever, only Jesus.

My soul is night, my heart is steel -

I cannot see, I cannot feel;

For light, for life I must appeal

In simple faith to Jesus.

He died, He lives, He reigns, He pleads,

There's love in all His words and deeds;

There's all a guilty sinner needs

Forevermore in Jesus.

Tho' some should sneer and some should blame,

I'll go with all my guilt and shame;

I'll go to Him because His name,

Above all names is Jesus.

--James Proctor, an infidel, wrote this

on his death bed as he became a Christian.

Souls

Christian people, are you figuring round and round how to get a little property, yet neglecting souls? Beware lest you ruin souls that never can live again! Do you say - I thought they knew it all?
They reply to you, I did not suppose you believed a word of it yourselves. You did not act as if you did. Are you going to heaven? Well, I am going down to hell! There is no hope for me now. You will sometimes think of me then, as you shall see the smoke of my woe rising up darkly athwart the glorious heavens. After I have been there a long, long time, you will sometimes think that I, who once lived by your side, am there. O remember, you cannot pray for me then; but you will remember that once you might have warned and might have saved me.
Charles G. Finney

Today Christians spend more money on dog food than on missions.
Leonard Ravenhill

Many do not recognize the fact as they ought, that Satan has got men fast asleep in sin and that it is his great device to keep them so. He does not care what we do if he can do that. We may sing songs about the sweet by and by, preach sermons and say prayers until doomsday, and he will never concern himself about us, if we don't wake anybody up. But if we awake the sleeping sinner he will gnash on us with his teeth. This is our work - to wake people up.
Catherine Booth



At the day of judgment we shall all meet again.
George Whitefield

Have you ever stopped to think when you ignored the still, small voice that told you to say something or give a tract and instead, quickly turned away and hurried back to your car, you will meet that person again on judgment day? Have you thought of watching their sentencing for eternity on that day?

Am I more afraid of offending someone than I am of them going to hell?

And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the the great day of His wrath is come; and who is able to stand? Rev. 6:15-17

And I saw the dead, great and small stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which was the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. Rev. 20:12

I Have a Goodly Heritage

Have you ever heard that song? "I have a goodly heritage...."

I was reminded of that again and again this past week, as we spent time with our relatives in North Dakota and Minnesota.
So many people complain about their family - how the grandparents are trying to undermine the parents' wishes for their children's lives, how the cousins are bad influences, how the aunts and uncles are bad examples.... And it is sad that so often their complaints are true.

Knowing the families that many of my friends have, I find myself supremely blessed to have such a huge, wonderful extended family... To have grown up with aunts and uncles who have ALL stuck out their marriages, some now nearing three decades - not because they married perfect people, but because they believe that marriage is a forever covenant for better and for worse. To have Christian grandparents that have encouraged me in ways of Godliness and right. To have aunts and uncles who have had a vision for their families, for their children, and who have imparted to them a legacy of love for the Lord Jesus Christ. To have cousins that inspire me and say, "What has the Lord been teaching you?" or "Did you hear about the three girls that got saved last week?!"

There are 35 cousins on my dad's side, who we spent our weekend with. Every time I looked around the room, crowded with happy young people and children, I had to think of what this side of our family might have been, if it had not been for the grace of God.



None of the seven siblings grew up knowing more about God that the Christmas story and going to a Lutheran Sunday school as little tykes. As they grew up in the 60's and 70's when drugs, alcohol, free love, and rebellion were what most young people were all about, my dad and his siblings started down that same ugly path of destruction.

Thank God, their only sister went away to college and shared a room with a sincere Christian girl, who wasn't too shy to talk about things of eternal importance. Aunt Laila came to know and love the Lord, and came home to her family with the wonderful news of her salvation. None of the guys back at home were exactly excited about their sister's new religious fanaticism and brushed her off, hoping she would get over it.

My dad, as the firstborn in his early twenties, was well set in his head-strong ways of rebellion, the hippie culture, drugs, and finally atheism, deciding the taste of religion he had had as a child was for "old fogies." When his younger sister pled with him to think of his eternity, to study the Bible, he loved the opportunity to argue until she had nothing more to say and would go away in tears, convinced that the Bible was true, but unsure of how to make him understand. His pride kept him there until the day she brought him a book entitled, "The Difference Between Christianity and All the Other Religions of the World."

That night, up in his bedroom, he finished the book and realized the truth - Christianity was different - it was the only "religion" that said that men being sinners were hopelessly lost, trying to get heaven on their own merits. Dad knew he was a sinner, and when he had tried Buddhism and other eastern religions, he had realized that he would never make it, because try as he might, he could never attain perfection. Christianity was the only religion that said, "You can't make yourself good enough." And it was the only religion that provided a way of atonement for sins that could not be earned, only freely accepted by those humble enough to ask.

That night my dad slipped to his knees and humbled himself before the God that he had so long dismissed and mocked. And from that day, my dad became a new man. He was at the local assembly of believers every time there was a meeting, a Bible study, anything he could attend to learn more.

And as my dad and Aunt Laila continued to share with the family what God had done in their lives, and to live in a radically new way, one by one, the other siblings too came to know and love the Lord. Of course, the great change in the North Dakota farmhouse influenced their parents. Dad's mother re-dedicated her life to the Lord. His father was not so quick to realize his need of a Saviour - he felt he had always lived a good, moral life. His children prayed for his salvation for several decades, and it was finally about three days before he died, that he placed his faith in the finished work of Christ, rather than his own good works.

Several years ago, at a family reunion, each of the siblings shared their testimonies, in the order that they had become Christians. As I listened to them each tell of how the Lord had worked in their own heart in individual ways until every one of them came to a saving faith in Jesus, tears came to my eyes as I thought of the goodness of God, that brings man to repentance. How unworthy I felt that God should save each member of my dad's family and bring them to where they are now.

And how grateful I am that they had several neighbors who prayed fervently over the years for the salvation of the family who lived in the white farmhouse near Prosper, North Dakota.

May I see a vision for my neighbors as big as dad's neighbors saw for their's. And may I have faith to believe that God can transform more families around me - not one or two members, not only families whose children are still young - but families like the one my dad came from. May I have faith to believe that my neighbors could be the next generation of faithful fathers and mothers, missionaries, preachers, and soul-winners.

The family from the white farmhouse has spread out across the country, and as we witnessed last week, the first descendant of these siblings to marry, married a Godly young man and they have set out to save souls, disciple Christians, and plant a church.

Congratulations, Olivia and Josh! May the Godly heritage continue in your children!