Happy New Year 2006
Well, I made it to another year. I am looking forward to blogging many of my thoughts about the Christian Faith this year. I trust I will be able to blog most days if not everyday. I don't have a laptop so I won't be able to blog when I am out of town like I plan to be for a few days this month unless I am able to get unto a computer at the motel or hotel I am staying. Some days, I will be blogging on what is going on in my life at the time. I pray and trust in the Lord that this will be a fruitful year for my blogging and teaching. If the Lord wants me to change careers, then I am open to His leading in that area. As Oswald Chambers said in his devotional for January 1st,My Utmost for His Highest.
". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. "Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!" (see Philippians 1:21 ). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably."----From "My Utmost for His highest"
I plan to continue a series of blogs on defending the Christian faith followed by a series on the epistle of Titus in the New Testament. This will be in preparation for these two classes I am teaching in the Winter term this year.
". . . my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed . . . ." We will all feel very much ashamed if we do not yield to Jesus the areas of our lives He has asked us to yield to Him. It’s as if Paul were saying, "My determined purpose is to be my utmost for His highest— my best for His glory." To reach that level of determination is a matter of the will, not of debate or of reasoning. It is absolute and irrevocable surrender of the will at that point. An undue amount of thought and consideration for ourselves is what keeps us from making that decision, although we cover it up with the pretense that it is others we are considering. When we think seriously about what it will cost others if we obey the call of Jesus, we tell God He doesn’t know what our obedience will mean. Keep to the point— He does know. Shut out every other thought and keep yourself before God in this one thing only— my utmost for His highest. I am determined to be absolutely and entirely for Him and Him alone.
My Unstoppable Determination for His Holiness. "Whether it means life or death-it makes no difference!" (see Philippians 1:21 ). Paul was determined that nothing would stop him from doing exactly what God wanted. But before we choose to follow God’s will, a crisis must develop in our lives. This happens because we tend to be unresponsive to God’s gentler nudges. He brings us to the place where He asks us to be our utmost for Him and we begin to debate. He then providentially produces a crisis where we have to decide— for or against. That moment becomes a great crossroads in our lives. If a crisis has come to you on any front, surrender your will to Jesus absolutely and irrevocably."----From "My Utmost for His highest"
I plan to continue a series of blogs on defending the Christian faith followed by a series on the epistle of Titus in the New Testament. This will be in preparation for these two classes I am teaching in the Winter term this year.
posted by blepein | 6:33 AM
1 Comments:
Thanks for your comments. We have been told by our leadership that Rick Warren isn't perfect, but God is using him to reach a multitude of people for Christ. This sounds to me like pragmatism. I don't want to stand in the way of what the Lord is doing, but I thought we are driven by the primacy and the authority of the infallible Word of God. As the Scriptures say, we are to preach His Word,in season and out of season. To reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. We are not to fail to teach the whole counsel of God. The Gospel needs to be proclaimed without compromise. This is what I see lacking in the PDL ministry methodology. We are to be driven by the Truth and to speak it in love. I am afraid I see style over substance and technique over Truth,and psychology over the pure proclamation of God's Holy Word.
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