Monday, June 29, 2009

Lloyd-Jones on Jonathan Edwards

"No man is more relevant to the present condition of Christianity than Jonathan Edwards. . . . He was a mighty theologian and a great evangelist at the same time. . . . He was pre-eminently the theologian of revival. If you want to know anything about true revival, Edwards is the man to consult. Revivals have often started as the result of people reading volumes such as these two volumes of Edwards' Works."
-D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, 1976

So Send I You

by Margaret Clarkson, hymn writer

So send I you--by grace made strong to triumph
O'er hosts of hell, o'er darkness, death, and sin,
My name to bear, and in that name to conquer-
So send I you, my victory to win.

So send I you--to take to souls in
The word of truth that sets the captive free,
To break the bonds of sin, to loose death's fetters-
So send I you, to bring the lost to me.

So send I you--my strength to know in weakness,
My joy in grief, my perfect peace in pain,
To prove My power, My grace, My promised presence-
So send I you, eternal fruit to gain.

So send I you--to bear My cross with patience,
And then one day with joy to lay it down,
To hear My voice, "well done, My faithful servant-
Come, share My throne, My kingdom, and My crown!"
"As the Father hath sent Me, so send I you."

Evangelism on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oXuV9Fbdtg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bSls5kQMIwo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEtua3n3KCc

Monday, June 22, 2009

Every Christian A Missionary

"Every Christian is either a missionary or an imposter."
~Charles Haddon Spurgeon


"Do you want arguments for soul winning? Look up to Heaven, and ask yourself
how sinners can ever reach those harps of gold and learn their everlasting song,
unless they have someone to tell them of Jesus, who is mighty to save.
But the best argument of all is to be found in the wounds of Jesus.
You want to honor Him, you desire to put many crowns upon His head,
and this you can best do by winning souls for Him. These are the spoils
that He covets, these are the trophies for which He fights, these are the
jewels that shall be His best adornment." ~C.H. Spurgeon


"Lost! Lost! Lost! Better a whole world on fire than a soul lost!
Better every star quenched and the skies a wreck than a
single soul to be lost!" ~C. H. Spurgeon


"I would sooner bring one sinner to Jesus Christ
than unravel all the mysteries of the divine Word,
for salvation is the one thing we are to live for."
~C.H. Spurgeon

"If there be any one point in which the Christian church ought
to keep its fervor at a white heat, it is concerning missions.
If there be anything about which we cannot tolerate lukewarmness,
it is the matter of sending the gospel to a dying world."
~C.H. Spurgeon

"When preaching and private talk are not available, you
need to have a tract ready....Get good striking tracts, or
none at all. But a touching gospel tract may be the seed of
eternal life. Therefore, do not go out without your tracts."
~C.H. Spurgeon


"To be a soul winner is the happiest thing in the world.
And with every soul you bring to Jesus Christ, you
seem to get a new heaven here upon earth."
~C.H. Spurgeon


"If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to Hell
over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with
our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell
must be d, at least let it be d in the teeth of our exertions,
and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for."
~C.H. Spurgeon

"If there existed only one man or woman who did not
love the Savior, and if that person lived among the wilds
of Siberia, and if it were necessary that all the millions of
believers on the face of the earth should journey there,
and every one of them plead with him to come to Jesus
before he could be converted, it would be well worth all the
zeal, labor, and expense. If we had to preach to thousands
year after year, and never rescued but one soul, that one soul
would be full reward for all our labor, for a soul is of countless price."
~C.H. Spurgeon

Thursday, June 18, 2009

"He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose."

"God, I pray Thee, light these idle sticks of my life and may I burn for Thee. Consume my life, my God, for it is Thine. I seek not a long life, but a full one, like you, LORD Jesus."

"Saturate me with the oil of Thy Spirit, that I may be aflame. Make me Thy fuel O flame of God."

"We are so utterly ordinary, so commonplace, while we profess to know a Power the Twentieth Century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless," and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brass, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the Cross. We are "sideliners" -- coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!"

Quotes by Jim Elliot, 1927-1956, (martyred missionary to Ecuador),
read his life story in the book "Shadow of the Almighty" by Elisabeth Elliot

Monday, June 15, 2009

Ten Books for Your Beach Bag:

*Singing in the Fire by Faith Cook (accounts of men & women of whom the world was not worthy!)
*Justification & Regeneration by Charles Leiter (how can anyone ever tire of this subject? Also, now available in Spanish!)
*The Shadow of the Almighty by Elisabeth Elliot --(a young man with a passion for God and a burden for souls)
*The Awakening by Marie Monsen (an account of revival in China, out-of-print for many years, but available once again!)
*Studies in the Sermon on the Mount by Martyn Lloyd-Jones (meditate on the words of the greatest sermon ever preached!)
*A Stone Made Smooth by Wong Ming-Dao (a tremendously honest & humble autobiography!)
*Morning & Evening by C.H. Spurgeon (a classic full of jewels!)
*The Pursuit of God by A.W. Tozer (worth reading again & again!)
*Out of the Depths: the Life Story of John Newton (better than fiction! the story behind the hymn "Amazing Grace")
*The Hidden Life of Prayer by D.M. MacIntyre (an encouragement to pray!)

Saturday, June 13, 2009

"We do not speak and act like men in earnest. Our words are feeble, even when sound and true; our looks are careless, even when our words are weighty; and our tones betray the apathy which both words and looks disguise. Love is wanting, deep love, love strong as death, love such as made Jeremiah weep in secret places for the pride of Israel, and Paul speak 'even weeping' of the enemies of the cross of Christ."
~taken from "Words to Winners of Souls" by Horatius Bonar

The Violent Take It by Force

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." Matthew 11:12

"Do you think you are going to be carried to heaven on a feather bed? Have you got a notion in your heads that the road to paradise is all a lawn, the grass smoothly mown, still waters and green pastures ever and anon to cheer you? You have just got to clear your heads of that deceitful fancy. The way to heaven is up hill and down hill; up hill with difficulty, down hill with trials. It is through fire and through water, through flood and through flame, by the lions and by the leopards. Through the very mouths of dragons is the path to paradise. But the man who finds it so, and who desperately resolves in the strength of God to tread that path—nay, who does not resolve as if he could do nothing else but resolve, but who feels driven, as if with a hurricane behind him, to go into the right road, this man is never unsuccessful, never. Where God has given a violent anxiety for salvation he never disappoints it. No soul that has ever cried for it with a violent cry has been disappointed. From the beginning of creation until now there has never been raised to the throne of God a violent and earnest prayer which missed its answer. Go, soul, in the strong confidence that if thou goest earnestly thou goest successfully. God may sooner deny himself than deny the request of an earnest man. Our God may sooner cease to be "the Lord God, gracious and merciful," than cease to bless the men who seek the gates of heaven, with the violence of faith and prayer." ~Charles Spurgeon
"Why should anyone despair if God saved a wretch like me?"
~John Newton

Hope When Praying for a Lost Family Member

John Newton to William Cowper, February 22 1770

"I am willing to hope that you will be made a messenger of light and peace to his soul. The Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save. He can do great things in a small time, as you know from your own experience. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, he can command light to shine out of darkness. If he speaks, it is done... One glimpse of the worth of the soul, the evil of sin, and the importance of eternity, will effect that which hath been in vain attempted by repeated arguments."

[Cowper's brother, John, converted on his deathbed a few days later]

The Kind of Revial We Need

IT IS GOOD for us to draw nigh unto God in prayer. Our minds are grieved to see so little attention given to united prayer by many churches.
How can we expect a blessing if we are too idle to ask for it? How can we look for a Pentecost if we never meet with one another, in one place, to wait upon the Lord? Brethren, we shall never see much change for the better in our churches till the prayer meeting occupies a higher place in the esteem of Christians.
But now that we have come together, how shall we pray? Let us not degenerate into formality, or we shall be dead while we think we live. Let us not waiver through unbelief, or we shall pray in vain. Oh, for great faith with which to offer great prayers!
We have been mingling praise and prayer together as a delicious compound of spices, fit to be presented upon the altar of incense through Christ our Lord; may we not at this time offer some special far-reaching petition? It is suggested to me that we pray for a true and genuine revival of religion throughout the world.

A Real and Lasting Revival

I am glad of any signs of life, even if they should be feverish and transient, and I am slow to judge any well intended movement, but I am very fearful that many so called revivals in the long run wrought more harm than good. A species of religious gambling has fascinated many men, and given them a distaste for the sober business of true godliness.
But if I would nail down counterfeits upon the counter, I do not therefore undervalue true gold. Far from it. It is to be desired beyond measure that the Lord would send a real and lasting revival of spiritual life.
We need a work of the Holy Spirit of a supernatural kind, putting power into the preaching of the Word, inspiring all believers with heavenly energy, and solemnly affecting the hearts of the careless, so that they turn to God and live. We would not be drunk with the wine of carnal excitement, but we would be filled with the Spirit. We would behold the fire descending from heaven in answer to the effectual fervent prayers of righteous men. Can we not entreat the Lord our God to make bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the people in this day of declension and vanity?

Old-fashioned Doctrine

We want a revival of old-fashioned doctrine. I know not a single doctrine which is not at this hour studiously undermined by those who ought to be its defenders. There is not a truth that is precious to the soul which is not now denied by those whose profession it is to proclaim it. To me it is clear that we need a revival of old-fashioned gospel preaching like that of Whitefield and Wesley.
The Scriptures must be made the infallible foundation of all teaching; the ruin, redemption and regeneration of mankind must be set forth in unmistakable terms.

Personal Godliness

Urgently do we need a revival of personal godliness. This is, indeed, the secret of church prosperity. When individuals fall from their steadfastness, the church is tossed to and fro; when personal faith is steadfast, the church abides true to her Lord.
It is upon the truly godly and spiritual that the future of religion depends in the hand of God. Oh, for more truly holy men, quickened and filled with the Holy Spirit, consecrated to the Lord and sanctified by His truth.
Brethren, we must each one live if the church is to be alive; we must live unto God if we expect to see the pleasure of the Lord prospering in our hands. Sanctified men are the salt of society and the saviours of the race.

Domestic Religion

We deeply want a revival of domestic religion. The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the puritans, but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. How can we hope to see the kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own children?
Oh, Christian men and women, be thorough in what you do and know and teach! Let your families be trained in the fear of God and be yourselves "holiness unto the Lord"; so shall you stand like a rock amid the surging waves of error and ungodliness which rage around us.

Vigorous, Consecrated Strength

We want also a revival of vigorous, consecrated strength. I have pleaded for true piety; I now beg for one of the highest results of it. We need saints. We need gracious minds trained to a high form of spiritual life by much converse with God in solitude.
Saints acquire nobility from their constant resort to the place where the Lord meets with them. There they also acquire that power in prayer which we so greatly need. Oh, that we had more men like John Knox, whose prayers were more terrible to Queen Mary than 10,000 men! Oh, that we had more Elijahs by whose faith the windows of heavens should be shut or opened!
This power comes not by a sudden effort; it is the outcome of a life devoted to the God of Israel! If our life is all in public, it will be a frothy, vapoury ineffectual existence; but if we hold high converse with God in secret, we shall be mighty for good. He that is a prince with God will take high rank with men, after the true measure of nobility.
Beware of being a lean-to; endeavour to rest on your own walls of real faith in the Lord Jesus. May none of us fall into a mean, poverty-stricken dependence on man! We want among us believers like those solid, substantial family mansions which stand from generation to generation as landmarks of the country; no lath-and-plaster fabrics, but edifices solidly constructed to bear all weathers, and defy time itself.
Given a host of men who are steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, the glory of God's grace will be clearly manifested, not only in them, but in those round about them. The Lord send us a revival of consecrated strength, and heavenly energy!
Preach by your hands if you cannot preach by your tongues. When our church members show the fruits of true godliness, we shall soon have inquiries for the tree which bears such a crop.
Oh the coming together of the saints is the first part of Pentecost, and the ingathering of sinners is the second. It began with "only a prayer meeting", but it ended with a grand baptism of thousands of converts. Oh that the prayers of believers may act as lode stones to sinners! Oh that every gathering of faithful men might be a lure to attract others to Jesus! May many souls fly to Him because they see others speeding in that direction.
"Lord, we turn from these poor foolish procrastinators to thyself, and we plead for them with thine all-wise and gracious spirit! Lord, turn them and they shall be turned! By their conversion, pray that a true revival has commenced tonight! Let it spread through all our households, and then run from church to church till the whole of christendom shall be ablaze with a heaven-descended fire!"
~C.H. Spurgeon

Renew Your Mind!

http://www.symphonyofscripture.com/?p=1618

Friday, June 12, 2009

All That God Does Is Wonderful

"All that God does is wonderful. He delivered me from the deep pit of sin; He cleansed me through the blood of His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, and by His Spirit He gave a new birth and I became His child. He also chose me and called me, bringing me into His Service and setting me up to be a watchman both in the world and in the church. He commanded me to labour for the Gospel, to battle for His Truth, and to witness to His Way. When I reflect on these things I cannot doubt His call in the slightest and I dare not have even the appearance of idleness."

~Wong Ming-Dao (Chinese Pastor)

The Only True God

"And this is eternal life, that they
may know You, the only true God,
and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."
~John 17:3