THE MINISTRY OF PAUL WASHER

Paul Washer is director of the HeartCry Missionary Society. He is a dynamic preacher of the Gospel. He preaches a powerful and compeling message on the assurance of salvation, the dangers of easy believing and the necessity of repentance in salvation. I came across this sermon on youtube. It is rather long, but worth every second of your time.

LOOKING FOR A CHURCH THAT WILL PRAY LIKE THIS

The early church, namely the church of the book of Acts, presents to us an unbeatable pattern of prayer. How they prayed should be our utmost desire and envy. Their fervency in prayer was an over-flow of their minute-by-minute dependence on God. As persecution and suffering mounted, prayer issued from their hearts like an untapped fountain. And as they prayed, you can't help but sense as you read the text, a joy that is otherworldly. In Acts chapter 4, when their leaders Peter and John were put in prison, it unleashed a torrent of prayer that resulted in an in-filling of the Holy Spirit. Their praying was:

SPONTANEOUS - Acts 4:24 - Unrehearsed and united

SPIRIT-FILLED - Acts 4:31 - Only Spirit-filled saints can pray Spirit-filled prayers.

SCRIPTURAL - Acts 4:24-28 - Their praying was according to the revealed truth they knew from the writings of the Old Testament and from the revelation they had received from the mouths of the Apostles.

Oh, how I long for a church that will pray like this!

THE OTHER SIDE OF FAITH

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A ONE-SIDED COIN?

The Christian life is described in Scripture as a walk of faith (II Cor. 5:7). Just as there are two sides to a coin, there are two sides to the walk of faith. On one side of our walk of faith there is comfort and ease. One this side, God seemingly answers our prayers rather quickly and we flow in almost uninterrupted victory.

On the other side of faith (the coin) there is suffering, trials, tribulations, persecutions, disappointments and sometimes flat out misery. If the truth be told, this is the side of faith that molds and fashions us into the kind of persons God what have us to be.

Normally, we do not grow spiritually when the road is easy. Therefore, God pre-ordains and decrees that we experience the other side of faith. If you are experiencing the other side of faith, here are a few nuggets of wisdom I have learned:

1. Faith doesn't always know where its going, it trusts the One who is leading.
2. Faith doesn't demand an explanation, it merely summons the grace and strength to endure.
3. Faith is not a blind leap into the dark, it is a deliberate step into the hands of a loving God with our eyes wide open.
4. Faith is not praying and getting from God what I asked for, it is praying and rejoicing over what He has chosen for me.
5. Faith is not a chance, but a certainty.
6. Faith is not a guessing, but a knowing.
7. Faith is not a mere contentment with human misery, it is a calming satisfaction in glorifying God.

Just as there is no one-sided coin, there is no one-sided walk of faith. Each aspect of our walk with Him is sovereignly decreed - the smooth, the rough and all that is in-between.

THE MINISTRY OF JUSTIN PETERS

In January of this year, I attended a Winter Bible Conference at Grace Church of Tallahassee. The featured speaker for the conference was an evangelist named, Justin Peters. During the four day conference, Justin conducted a seminar titled, A Call For Discernment: A Biblical Critique of the Word of Faith Movement (Health and Wealth Gospel).

As a former Word of Faith adherent, I know first hand how the so-called prosperity gospel has wreaked havoc in the Church and has shipwrecked the faith of many. Justin pulls no punches in his critque of the Word of Faith movement. He discusses its metaphysical, cultic origins, its dangerous doctrines and outlandish manifestations. Most importantly, Justin concludes that the Word of Faith movement preaches a distorted view of the God-head and our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, if they preach a different Jesus, then they preach a different Gospel; if they preach a different Gospel, then there can be no salvation.

The Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel has run rampant in the Church, especially over the last 30 to 40 years. Spiritual discernment is at an all time low. I highly recommend Justin Peters' ministry to any church or Christian organization.

TIGER WOODS, BRIT HUME AND JESUS CHRIST

Unless you have been living in an igloo, by now you have heard about the marital indiscretions of famed golfer, Tiger Woods. I did not use the term "alleged" since Woods has admitted to marital "transgressions" and "personal failings" in an apology letter on his official website.

However, you may not have heard about a bit of unsolicited advise given to Tiger Woods by news journalist and former Fox News anchor, Brit Hume. Hume, in a bold, cut to the chase fashion urged Tiger to accept the "forgiveness and redemption offered by the Christian faith." For this advise, Hume has been vilified and ridiculed.

MSNBC's, David Shuster, called Hume's advise, "embarassing." Hume was lampooned and caricatured by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. Additionally, he has been accused of proselytizing and disrespecting the Buddhist faith - the purported religion of Tiger Woods.

In my own, cut to the chase fashion, here are four things to keep in mind:

1. If Tiger is a Buddhist or follows some other religion, he needs the forgiveness of Jesus Christ.


2. Yes, salvation comes only through Jesus Christ. To say or imply this will always invite the wrath of those who are enemies of the Cross.


3. Brit Hume did what any true Christian (assuming he is one) should do - point a sinner to Jesus Christ and Him alone.


4. We must never kowtow to the pressure of putting Christianity on an equal plane with other religions.

The real crisis for Tiger Woods is not salvaging his marriage and career (though his marriage is immensely important.) The real crisis for him is the condition of his soul. A soul without the forgiveness of Jesus Christ will face eternal damnation and separation from God. Tiger Woods, just like all of us, needs a foreign rightousness that is outside of himself - an extraneous rightousness imputed to him by God through Christ.

This is the most important advise you can ever give a sinner. Brit Hume or any other Christian will pay a price for daring to do so. Tiger Woods will pay an infinitely higher price if he rejects it. This is no doubt the most important piece of unsolicited advise he will ever hear.

I pray that Tiger accepts it.

A CONCLUDING THOUGHT FOR THE BEGINNING OF A NEW YEAR

This is the time of year when most of us will look back on 2009 with a critical eye. Some of us, depending on how hard we are on ourselves, will hate what we see at best or feel like hiding under a rock at worse. As a result, we will resolve to do better - better with our money, better with our relationships, better with our careers, better with our health and better with our spirituality. Then there are those self-deceived souls that harbor illusions of grandeur and feel that they are just fine - no adjustments necessary.

Purse and Pride

Most people look at how well they fared in 2009 in terms of their net worth and self worth. Net worth has to do with our purse, whereas self worth relates to pride. The year 2oo9 with its economic downturn tested the survival of both. According to the Federal Reserve, household net worth hit its lowest point ($48.5 trillion) during the first quarter of 2009. That new low was preceeded by three consecutive quarterly declines in 2008. Many experts are saying that it will be quite some time before household net worth reaches the historic high just two years ago.

According to some experts, King Solomon, the wealthiest person in the Bible, had an estimated yearly income measured by today's value of over $280 million. Yet Solomon near the end of his life, saw the folly in protecting his purse and pride at the expense of pleasing God. I want to echo his concluding words about life at the beginning of this new year,

"Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." Ecclesiastes 12:13

Actually, the word duty in the verse was added by the translators. We can say that fearing God and keeping his commandments are the "whole of man." In other words, fearing God is the sine qua non of a life pleasing to Him. Without it nothing else really matters in comparison. Regardless of your self-assessment of how well you did in 2009, what really matters is fearing God and keeping His commandments.

What is the fear of the Lord?

The fear of the Lord is a desire or longing within us and a drawing outside of us to be close to God in reverential obedience.

God is the source of the longing within and the drawing without. He gets all the glory. Oswald Chambers wrote, "The remarkable thing about fearing God is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else; whereas when you do not fear God, you fear everything else." So, the big question is this, "What do you fear?"

Remember, whom you fear determines what you fear!