Preacher Thoughts

Does the Bible Require Unanimous Decisions?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 18:21:00 +0000

God begins a remarkable change in the people he saves. He transforms them from selfish, sometimes cruel individuals, into those who die to self and love their enemies. And if those high ideals are not held with an awareness of every Christian’s ongoing war against indwelling sin, this can lead to a kind of naive idealism that suggests we should all just get along, think the same, and never disagree.

When that idea creeps into the life of a church, terrible outcomes are almost guaranteed. Writing of Benjamin Ingham’s (a contemporary of the Wesleys and Whitefield) fellowship of good churches in the 18^th century, Faith Cook describes a time Ingham sent two of his elders to learn from the association of churches under Scottish minister, John Glas.

“These churches, under the direction of John Glas and his son-in-law Robert Sandeman, believed in the independence of each congregation, but also insisted in a plurality of elders, together with various customs that they thought were practised in the New Testament churches. Feet washing, the community of goods and the greeting of one another with a 'holy kiss' were among their rituals. But when James Allen and William Batty, the two elders sent by Ingham, returned from Scotland and tried to implement such ideas in their own societies, the results were catastrophic.

The rock on which Ingham's work foundered more than any other, however, was the Glasite demand for total unanimity for each church decision. As the Inghamite societies argued over each possible change to their order of worship and church government, divisions and conflicts increased proportionally. At last in November 1761 James Allen, complaining that Ingham had too much authority, stormed out of a conference, saddled his horse and rode off. He established a separate church of Glasite views, an act that signalled the splintering of all the Inghamite societies which had previously worked together harmoniously.

Some drifted back into the Church of England while others joined the various Methodist groups. Out of eighty flourishing societies only thirteen were left adhering to Ingham. Summing up the situation, Seymour wrote, 'Disputes without end arose, excommunication upon excommunication followed; they condemned one another for hair-breadth differences, and were thus split like a wrecked ship into a thousand pieces.”
Stunned by the break-up of his life's work, a deep depression settled on Ingham's spirit. 'I am lost, I am lost,’ he would cry out as he thought of all that had happened.”

- Faith Cook, Selina Countess of Huntingdon, 202-203. (Emphasis mine.)

It was precisely this “demand for total unanimity for each church decision” that led to the shattering of a good work. I have seen the same erroneous principle do much damage in my own day. Cook notes how, in the case of the Inghamite churches, the crumbling of the work came from within the entire membership. What I have noticed in my day is the harm this principle can cause amongst an eldership, especially if the church holds to an “elder-rule,” as opposed to an, “elder-led congregational” polity.

If an eldership requires every decision to be unanimous, this easily leads to one elder shutting down a way forward. Now, if he is a humble and gracious man, he will feel terrible about this. So much so, that he might feel pressured to violate his conscience on a matter and vote in favour of something he actually opposes. Not good. This eventually creates “Yes Men” to the most dominant voice in the eldership.

If a man is a stronger personality and willing to stand for what he believes is right, his refusal to go along with the other elders is easily construed as “being divisive.” I have seen this play out on numerous occasions. And thus, the only recourse for those elders seems to be voting that guy out. He might even be labelled as “disqualified” because he does not agree with the whole.

As a side note, in most cases I have observed, this situation occurs in churches where the Senior Pastor is the one getting his plans crossed. This resistance to his wishes often leads to charges of “disloyalty” and tempts all parties involved toward thinking the worst of each other and assuming motives.

I am not suggesting that moving an eldership to a simple majority vote to past most business will solve every issue of church peace, but I am suggesting it is dumb to require something the Bible does not. We have many examples of the congregation as a whole voting on matters and the decision of the majority carrying. I see no reason why an eldership (which in many ways is a kind of microcosm of the entire church) functioning the same.

For the record, I have “lost” many votes over the years in our eldership. So have other elders. But, we trust the outcome of the majority. And even if that outcome leads to problems, you are allowed to change your mind as an eldership! We have led our church in a couple of ways over the last 25 years where, further down the road, we pivoted and let everyone know we had goofed on that.

But even if we missed on one decision, we kept our eldership together, we strengthened our trust in each other that we can actually speak our minds and not be turfed, and have been reminded that life under the sun is not perfect. Not even when you choose to go with the majority, instead of demanding unanimous decisions.

Does the Bible require unanimous decisions in the mundane matters of an eldership? No, it does not. And neither should we.

Addendum/Caveat/A Bit of Nuance:

It what initially might sound like a complete contradiction, I do think an eldership may vote to make certain decisions unanimous. For example, there is likely good reason for their to be 100% agreement about the addition of a new elder. And almost certainly there ought to be 100% agreement on a matter of significant theological change. But, if an eldership has the ability to vote in that requirement on particular issues without having to require for all, they will be better off in my evaluation. I do not view this as a contradiction of what I wrote above, just a careful nuance for limited situations. And one which the majority would need to agree to anyway!

A Primer on Praying Politically

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 17 Apr 2025 19:39:00 +0000

Canada is approaching another Federal election and our elders desired to help our members think through how best to pray now, and in the months ahead, for our leaders and potential leaders. A number of our folks found this document helpful, so I thought I would share it here for wider use.

A Primer on Praying Politically

The Elders of Grace Fellowship Church

I. God determines who our leaders are and will be

Romans 13:1–2 [1] Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. [2] Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Therefore, every prayer should reflect our confidence in God’s providence concerning who our leaders are. Also, we must guard against speaking words of hate against our rulers, as resisting them in this way is akin to resisting God.

II. God rules over every ruler

Proverbs 16:9

[9] The heart of man plans his way,

but the LORD establishes his steps.

And what is true about each individual person, is just as true about those who exercise authority in this lifetime.

Proverbs 21:1

[1] The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the LORD;

he turns it wherever he will.

Therefore, every prayer should reflect our confidence that our God can change the heart of our leaders in an instant. And when those rulers lead in a way that seems to cross our Biblical values, we should ask God what he might be teaching us.

a. He may use a bad leader to accomplish good for his people…

Ezra 7:27 [27] Blessed be the LORD, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king, to beautify the house of the LORD that is in Jerusalem,

Ezra wrote this prayer after the stunning act of the Persian King Artaxerxes ordering the Temple in Jerusalem to be restored.

b. He may use an evil leader for evil in order to discipline his people…

1 Kings 11:14 [14] And the LORD raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the royal house in Edom.

Solomon had followed the Lord quite faithfully for many decades, but in his latter years he added idolatrous worship into his life. God determined to discipline him by bringing an enemy against the nation.

c. He may turn a political ally into a foe for his own unique purposes…

Psalm 105:25

[25] He turned their [the Egyptians] hearts to hate his people,

to deal craftily with his servants.

The sons of Jacob went down into Egypt as allies, but as new leadership arose, they were manipulated into becoming slaves. God had many reasons for this.

Therefore, it will be wise of us to examine the ways our leaders are serving or harming local churches and then seek out from the Lord if some of our trials have other purposes behind them. Things like deepening our faith in Him, or removing our personal idolatries of comfort or acceptance, or perhaps matters that are far beyond our scope of understanding.

III. God requires us to always speak of and treat our leaders with respect

1 Peter 2:13–17 [13] Be subject for the Lord’s sake to every human institution, whether it be to the emperor as supreme, [14] or to governors as sent by him to punish those who do evil and to praise those who do good. [15] For this is the will of God, that by doing good you should put to silence the ignorance of foolish people. [16] Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. [17] Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Therefore, we should never allow our prayers to include language that speaks ill of those made in the image and likeness of God who also happen to rule in ways we do not like. Moreover, we need to learn to speak in this way with each other (outside of our prayers) when we “talk politics.” We have been freed from the angst of trying to control political outcomes with our arguments. We serve the Lord.

IV. God requires that we pray for our leaders

1 Timothy 2:1–4 [1] First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, [2] for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. [3] This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, [4] who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

By using the phrase, “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings,” Paul is telling us to invoke the full spectrum of public prayers in our corporate worship services and prayer meetings for our political leaders.

Supplications — We should ask God to use our leaders to bless the churches.
Intercessions — We should pray for our leaders by name and on their behalf.
Thanksgivings - We should thank God for the leaders we have been given, even if they are not our personal favourites.
Prayers — This is a general term for all kinds of prayers. Contextually, this would also certainly include praying for the salvation of our leaders.

The overall aim of our prayers should be to ask God to enable or direct our leaders to lead in a way that allows us to go about living as good Christians. That is, “… that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

When Christians are not being persecuted, denied jobs, socially rejected because of their faith in Jesus, they can more easily:

Meet regularly, publicly and without intervention to worship God together
Tell other people about Jesus without fear of recrimination
Plant new churches and maintain old ones
Travel to other cities and easily find other believers
Send missionaries to unreached lands
Freely teach their children about the Lord
Be gainfully employed in order to live generously with each other and support Gospel advance across the world

This is the primary matter for us to pray about concerning our political leaders. We need to continually ask God to make our rulers rule in a way "that we [Christians] may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

Final Thoughts

One of the features of living in a democracy (an historically unique form of political governance) is that the entire citizenship participates in the selection of their leaders. Not only that, citizens are permitted to speak for, or against, political candidates. This means that within any one local church, there may be a spectrum of political opinions.

Therefore, it seems the best corporate prayers will be politically ambivalent. Public prayers to the Ruler of rulers should only contain those things which He has called us to pray about. Our political opinions, preferences and loyalties are not nearly as important as the unity of our local church and the advance of the Gospel into the world. We will certainly pray about issues that political leaders influence (e.g. M.A.I.D., poverty, justice, abortion, etc.), but we will seek to pray about these kind of things in a way that does not make our political loyalties the energizing motive of our petitions. We will seek to pray the Truth of His Word.

Believers who pray like this reflect the mature faith of the many who have gone on to be with the Lord out of this broken world.

Hebrews 11:16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

Is it a Story or Was it a Dream?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:45:00 +0000

I shall tell you a story, or was it a dream?

Whether a dream or my imagination I do not know… But I shall tell you about two men and how their lives intersected with Grace Fellowship Church.

Let’s call them BEN and AMIR.

BEN is a member of Grace Fellowship Church. 33, married, with a couple of kids.

AMIR is a 23 year old atheist that just joined the same engineering firm BEN works at.

Over a few months, BEN has several meaningful conversations with AMIR, that lead to them reading the Bible together every week.

One evening while he is watching the hockey game, AMIR suddenly feels the weight of his sin before God. The verses he read last week about being under the wrath of God are plaguing him. But the verses about Jesus' death are holding out hope.

Before he knows it, AMIR falls to his knees while the game blares on. He prays and asks God to forgive him of his sins and puts all his confidence in Jesus Christ to save him.

The next morning, AMIR cannot wait to see BEN at work!

BEN is thrilled at the news and invites AMIR to come to church with him on Sunday. AMIR is glad to go. He loves singing praise to God, hearing God’s Word read and preached and building new friendships with all these new people who all follow Jesus.

After a very short time, AMIR asks BEN about baptism. They read about it in their Bible Study and AMIR heard about a class. So, BEN and AMIR attend the Baptism Class together. There, AMIR is convinced of a couple of things. First, that he really is trusting on Christ. And second, that he would like to obey Jesus and get baptized.

So, AMIR writes out his story of how God saved him and sends that to Pastor Pat.

Pastor Pat sets a time to meet with AMIR and invites BEN to join them. He asks AMIR to explain his understanding of the Gospel and to describe how God saved him from his sins.

AMIR’s ways of expressing things is a little different, but it is clear he is professing faith in Jesus and confessing the Biblical Gospel. Not only that, his entire life is different from what it was. He loves the things of God and people of God…. He loves God!

So, Pastor Pat sends out AMIR’s testimony of how God saved him to all the members.

The members that have not met AMIR find him and meet him on Sunday.
Some other members have him over for lunch and rejoice in hearing his testimony.

At the next Members’ Meeting, the elders recommend to the members that they accept AMIR as a new member, and that he be baptized. BEN and a few others speak at the Members’ Meeting about the evidences of God’s grace that they have observed in AMIR’s life.

The members vote in favour of accepting AMIR as a new member, once he gets baptized. They have read what he believes and how his life is being shaped to Christ, and they all affirm this appears to be a genuine work of God.

So, shortly after that meeting, AMIR is baptized during a Sunday service and, since his membership hinged on that baptism, he now becomes a member of Grace Fellowship Church.

Later in the service, he participates in the Lord’s Supper for the very first time. Identifying himself not only with His crucified, risen, reigning, returning Lord, but with all of His Lord’s people in this place, too.

In fact, every time he takes the Lord’s Supper He actively ponders what Christ did, where Christ is and how Christ will return… as he looks around the room and considers how that is true for everyone joining him at the Table. “These are my people.” he thinks. And he fellowships together with them with Jesus.

And not only them! AMIR is learning that there are many churches that preach Jesus and, since his church is in a big city, he delights when baptized members of other evangelical churches from places like Dubai, Dublin and the Dominican show up on Lord’s Supper Sundays and the church extends hospitality to these fellow Christians to join with them.

He particularly enjoys reading the Membership Covenant out loud. He thinks about all the Bible verses he is promising to obey and loves the sound of all those fellow members around him doing the same. It is always humbling to think of where he needs to grow, yet comforting to think he is on the same path with so many others.

Soon, AMIR is caught up in the warp and woof of church life. He is greeting people on Sunday mornings, praying along with his fellow members on Sunday nights, and in a Member Group at BEN’s house on Fridays. He also jumps in to a Foundations Class and spends lots of his social time with other young adults.

He is loving life.

Then his company downsizes.

AMIR gets the boot and starts looking for work. But, it's not going well. His industry is changing and he was not prepared. Weeks turn into months of rejection letters and increasing debt. He is discouraged. Where is the Lord? Why is this happening?

He gets angry at life. Even though he has more time on his hands, he is spending less and less of it with his fellow church members. He is not returning BEN’s texts. He keeps “being tired” on Member Group night.

Soon, he is missing a lot of church. Friends from church are calling and chasing him down, but he never seems to make it out to anything.

Once he finally gets a new job, AMIR fills his life with work. He has bills to pay and he needs to impress the new boss. There is no time for church stuff. Anyway, he’s all good with God. He was baptized after all!

After several months of this, BEN sets up a breakfast with AMIR. After catching up on the new job, BEN reminds AMIR of what he promised in the Membership Covenant. BEN makes it clear that he is calling on AMIR to come back to church.

AMIR hangs his head in shame and tells BEN he will back on Sunday. But when Sunday morning comes he panics… and watches some random church service online telling himself that is good enough.

A few more months of this go by until BEN tells AMIR they need to meet again. And this time, he is going to bring Rocky along. Rocky is one of the young adults AMIR had really connected with.

AMIR invites them to his place and, after praying, BEN and Rocky read some of Mathew 18 to him and tell AMIR that they are now at stage two of church discipline with him.

They make it clear that AMIR is in sin by not meeting regularly together with the Lord’s people. They plead with him that this is not good for his soul.

AMIR listens carefully to his two friends…. and it is like a fog is lifted from his eyes. He tears up and admits he has been avoiding church. He confesses to his friends his sins and they pray for him. He promises to come back on Sunday and, sure enough, he does.

It is a Lord’s Supper Sunday and AMIR is so glad to admit his failings and be restored with the Lord’s people as he meets with Christ at His table. The bread and wine never tasted so sweet.

This little episode of wandering has changed AMIR. He is a man on a mission now and soon he is right back into church life and running hard after the Lord with the Lord’s people.

One of those people interests him more than others. Her name is SHERI and she seems to be quite interested in him, too! Before you know it, they are married with a daughter of their own.

Many years go by and AMIR’s godliness and character distinguish him in the church. His daughter respects him, his wife loves him, he serves. He teaches sometimes and it is really good. People in the Member Group he leads speak of how much he helps them with his wise counsel from the Word. He seems to have a special place in his heart for new believers and always has some little group of guys he is meeting with and praying for.

The elders have noticed all of this as well, so when a survey goes out at the Annual Business Meeting to all the members asking them who might serve well as a new elder, AMIR’s name is at the top of the list.

Soon, AMIR is being formally evaluated for the office. The other elders look deeply at his life and agree the members should consider him as a potential future elder. So, the members evaluate AMIR’s life on the survey provided by the elders.

With excellent results from both, eventually, AMIR is formally presented to the members as a candidate to become an elder. At the next Members’ Meeting a vote is held and the church votes overwhelmingly in favour of calling AMIR to be one of her elders. He is installed as a new elder the following week and steps seamlessly into the role, helping to lead the only church he has ever known.

One of AMIR’s greatest joys in being an elder is watching BEN flourish as a deacon. Even though BEN was a huge success in their field and the first one to share the Gospel with AMIR and to disciple AMIR, he never looked down on AMIR. That was just BEN. A model servant in the church. BEN was like an elder cheerleader!

In fact, BEN was always looking for ways to take some of the more practical needs off the plate of elders like AMIR, so they could carry on with leading the church. BEN loved to serve like this.

Many more years go by and AMIR reaches a point where he thinks it is time to stop serving as an elder. Although still greatly respected in the church, age and health have caught up with him so that he can no longer fulfill the demands of that role.

He does, however, love to teach GraceKids III. And the kids in the church love Grandpa AMIR, too. He prays for them all, every day, and is frequently telling them of Jesus. He has also been known to distribute the odd candy.

One autumn morning the church wakes up to sad news.

During the night, AMIR’s bad heart finally failed. He went to bed that night and woke up in the presence of His Saviour.

The entire church gathered that evening. There were tears of sadness mixed with tears of joy. Even the ones that had only known Grandpa AMIR a few years loved him. How they will miss him!

But, to think that AMIR was now holding another cup and looking at Jesus. It was too much to take in! What a thought! Forever with His Lord. And to think that a Day was coming when all of them would all be together again… forever. What a thought!

After the funeral, the deacons went and met with SHERI. She was sad at the loss of her husband AMIR, but not despairing. Not only that, she has thrilled she was in a church with deacons.

Her own health was not that great and AMIR had always insisted on doing the mowing and shovelling and keeping the budget. She was a bit lost. Especially since their daughter, their only child, had tragically died in a car accident some 15 years earlier and there were no other relatives to speak of. She was a widow indeed.

Soon the deacons had everything figured out.

One was helping SHERI get up to speed on keeping the budget.
Another put together a little team to mow, plant, water and shovel.
One of the female deacons tapped the shoulder of a few of her sisters and they started a monthly fellowship time at SHERI’s house that met right up until SHERI’s last day on earth.

And so Grace Fellowship Church kept plugging along for many decades…

Bringing in members, sending some out to other churches or the mission field.
Preaching God’s Word and celebrating the ordinances.
Shepherding the flock of God among them at any given time.
Raising up elders and deacons.
Planting churches.
Occasionally having to discipline some out of membership.
Enjoying days of prosperity and peace, and struggling through days of difficulty and potential disunity and strife.

Once they even had a rogue elder start to preach a false Gospel. It took a while to see, but eventually the other elders had to ask the members to remove him. It was so sad. But, once it was done, all kinds of other sins in that man’s life were unearthed and the church was so glad she was spared from being led astray. A deep seriousness came over all the members in those days… everyone was taking stock of themselves.

Then, one day, while they were in the middle of their Sunday morning worship service, Jesus returned!

And of what followed that I cannot speak.

For I beheld things far too wonderful for words.

M’Cheyne on Answers to Prayer - Pastoral Letter, February 1839

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 21:42:00 +0000

M’Cheyne on Answers to Prayer - Pastoral Letter, February 1839

From Memoirs and Remains, page 229-232.

I do not now remember all the points I was led to speak upon to you, but one, I think, was entirely omitted —I mean the subject of answers to prayer.

God left it for us to meditate on now. Oh, there is nothing that I would have you to be more sure of than this, that "God hears and answers prayer." There never was, and never will be, a believing prayer left unanswered. Meditate on this, and you will say: "I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplication" (Ps. 116. 1).

First, God often gives the very thing His children ask at the very time they ask it. You remember Hannah (1 Sam. 1. 10): she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the Lord, and wept sore. "Give unto thine handmaid a man-child." This was her request. And so she went in peace, and the God of Israel heard and granted her the petition that she had asked of Him; and she called the child's name Samuel, that is, "Asked of God." Oh, that you could write the same name upon all your gifts! you would have more joy in them, and far larger blessings along with them.

You remember David, in Ps. 138:3 "In the day that I cried Thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul"

You remember Elijah (1 Kings 17. 21): "O Lord my God! I pray Thee let this child's soul come into him again. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived."

You remember Daniel (9. 20, 21): "While I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God for the holy mountain of my God; yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation." Oh, what encouragement is here for those among you who, like Daniel, are greatly beloved, who study much in the books of God's word, and who set your face unto the Lord to seek by prayer gifts for the Church of God !

Expect answers while you are speaking in prayer. Sometimes the vapours that ascend in the morning come down in copious showers in the evening. So may it be with your prayers. Take up the words of David (Ps. 5. 3): "My voice shalt Thou hear in the morning; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up."

You remember, in Acts 12.5, Peter was cast into prison, "but prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him."And, behold, the same night the answer

surprised them at the door. Oh, what surprises of goodnes and grace God has in store for you and me, if only we pray without ceasing!

If you will pray in union to Jesus, having childlike confidence towards God, having the Spirit of adoption, crying Abba within you,— seeking the glory of God more than all personal benefits, I believe that in all such cases you will get the very thing you ask, at the very time you ask it. Before you call, God will hear; and while you are speaking, He will answer.

Oh, if there were twenty among you who would pray thus, and persevere therein like wrestling Jacob, you would get whatever you ask! yea, the case of Daniel shows that the effectual fervent prayer of one such believer among you will avail much. "Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of thy heart" (Ps. 38. 4).

Second, God often delays the answer to prayer for wise reasons.

The case of the Syrophenician woman will occur to you all (Matt. 15. 21-28). How anxiously she cried, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David! But Jesus answered her not a word." Again and again she prayed, and got no gracious answer. Her faith grows stronger by every refusal. She cried, she followed, she kneeled to Him, till Jesus could refuse no longer. "O woman, great is thy faith! Be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Dear praying people, "continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgivings." Do not be silenced by one refusal. Jesus invites importunity by delaying to answer.

Ask, seek, knock. "The promise may be long delayed, but cannot come too late." You remember, in the parable of the importunate widow, it is said, "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily" (Luke 18. 1-8). This shows how you, who are God's children, should pray. You should cry day and night unto God. This shows how God hears every one of your cries, in the busy hour of the day-time, and in the lonely watches of the night. He treasures them up from day to day; soon the full answer will come down: "He will answer speedily." The praying souls beneath the altar, in Rev. 6. 9-11, seem to show the same truth, that the answer to a believer's prayers may, in the adorable wisdom of God, be delayed for a little season, and that many of them may not be fully answered till after he is dead. Again, read that wonderful passage, Rev. 8. 3, where it is said that the Lord Jesus, the great Intercessor with the Father, offers to God the incense of His merits, with the prayers of all saints, upon the golden altar which is before the throne. Christ never loses one believing prayer. The prayers of every believer, from Abel to the present day, He heaps upon the altar, from which they are continually ascending before his Father and our Father; and when the altar can hold no more, the full, the eternal answer will come down. Do not be discouraged, dearly beloved, because God bears long with you— because He does not seem to answer your prayers. Your prayers are not lost. When the merchant sends his ships to distant shores, he does not expect them to come back richly laden in a single day: he has long patience. "It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord." Perhaps your prayers will come back, like the ships of the merchant, all the more heavily laden with blessings, because of the delay.

Third, God often answers prayer by terrible things. So David says in Ps. 65.5: "By terrible things in righteousness wilt Thou answer us, O God of our salvation." And all of you who are God's children have found it true. Some of you have experienced what John Newton did when he wrote that beautiful hymn, "I asked the Lord that I might grow.”

You prayed with all your heart, "Lord, increase my faith." In answer to this, God has shown you the misery of your connection with Adam. He has revealed the hell that is in your heart. You are amazed, confounded, abashed. You cry, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" You cleave to a Saviour God with a thousand times greater anxiety. Your faith is increased. Your prayer is answered by terrible things.

Some of us prayed for a praying spirit: “Lord, teach us to pray." God has laid affliction upon us. Waves and billows go over us. We cry out of the depths. Being afflicted, we pray. He has granted our heart's desire. Our prayer is answered by terrible things.

Fourth, God sometimes answers prayer by giving something better than we ask. An affectionate father on earth often does this. The child says, Father, give me this fruit. No, my child, the father replies; but here is bread, which is better for you.

So the Lord Jesus dealt with his beloved Paul (2 Cor. 12. 7-9). There was given to Paul a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. In bitterness of heart he cried, " Lord, let this depart from me."

No answer came. Again he prayed the same words. No answer still. A third time he knelt, and now the answer came, not as he expected. The thorn is not plucked away-the messenger of Satan is not driven back to hell; but Jesus opens wide His loving breast, and says, "My grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength, is made perfect in weakness."

Oh, this is something exceeding abundant above all that he asked, and all that he thought. Ah, this is something better than he asked, and better than he thought! Surely God is able to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3. 20). Dear praying believers, be of good cheer. God will either give you what you ask, or something far better.

Are you not quite willing that He should choose for you and me? You remember that even Jesus prayed, "O My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me!" That desire was not granted, but there appeared unto Him an angel from heaven strengthening Him (Luke 22. 43). He received what was far better — strength to drink the cup of vengeance. Some of you, my dear believing flock, have been praying that, if it be God's will, I might be speedily restored to you, that God's name might be glorified; and I have been praying the same. Do not be surprised if He should answer our prayers by giving us something above what we imagined. Perhaps He may glorify Himself by us in another way than we thought. "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen."

These things I have written, that you may come boldly to the throne of grace. The Lord make you a praying people.

"Strive together with me in your prayers to God for me." "I thank my God upon every remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all, making request with joy." Now, the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like-minded one towards another, according to Christ Jesus

“The God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing; and the God of peace be with you all, Amen."

Hymn: Closer to Me (Elizabeth Prentiss)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sun, 16 Apr 2023 23:20:00 +0000

I was happy to stumble across this hymn by Elizabeth Prentiss today. I had never even heard of it before. I find it quite unique in that we are singing to one another an invitation from Christ to draw near to Him. So often our songs reflect our desire for Him to draw near to us (Prentiss herself wrote, "More Love to Thee"), but in this hymn, it is Christ speaking to us to draw near to Him. Press closer!

Lovely words to meditate on at the end of lovely Lord's Day.

CLOSER TO ME

Press close, my child, to Me;

Closer to Me.

Earth hath no resting-place

Ready for thee;

Straight to my bosom flee;

Press close, my child, to Me,

Closer, closer, closer to Me.

Love, pleasure, riches, fame,

All may be thine,

And thy immortal soul

Still will repine;

I must be all to thee:

Press close, my child, to Me,

Closer, closer, closer to Me.

Life may for thee contend,

Hard toil and care

Strive to divide from Me,

Crowd everywhere;

Let them my servants be;

Press thou, my child, to Me,

Closer, closer, closer to Me.

Grief of thy heart may make

A desert drear.

Yet there my sufferers learn

My voice to hear;

Calling, with earnest plea,

Press close, my child, to Me ,

Closer, closer, closer to Me.

Come, then, my child, to Me,

Make thyself mine;

I give Myself to thee,

I will be thine;

Joy, grief, and care shall be

Ties binding thee to Me,

Closer, closer, closer to Me.

Keep Your Sails Up

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 06 Dec 2022 21:23:00 +0000

Here is a little bit of free advice from a pastor who has been “at sea” for some time. One of the great advantages to maintaining a weekly Prayer Meeting is that you will catch the Wind when it blows.

Just this past week, two of our pastors were down and out with sickness. While we were able to get through our morning duties, prudence suggested we recuperate in the evening. That left the Prayer Meeting to the last man standing. I might say that, at this point in our church’s life, even if all the pastors were out of commission, I am sure the Prayer Meeting would stand. We have learned how to pray in some measure. Praise God.

But it seems like this Prayer Meeting was one of those where the Lord particularly blessed. I have always said that the single most difficult area of church life to evaluate is her corporate prayer. How can we? Who are we to judge whether or not the Lord is listening, acting, enjoying, and responding to our prayers? There is a sense where only the Great Day will reveal that. But, for as much as we can tell, it seemed like the Wind blew on Sunday night.

“The wind blows where it wishes…” To this we might add, it also blows when it wishes. And this is my point.

Because we have a regular Prayer Meeting, our sails were up when the wind blew. Praise God.

The days of calm waters come when we have to break out the oars and row hard to make any seeming progress. God has His purposes in this as well. But, even then, keep your sails up! You never know when the Wind will blow and, oh, the joy of sailing along with the Spirit’s help as we petition the throne of our King!

How to Wreck a Revival

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 07 Nov 2022 20:23:00 +0000

In talking with some other pastors recently, I was encouraged to hear of a what appears to be a unique work among young adults in our city. Many of our churches have seen significant growth with this demographic, with many of these young folks becoming vital members of our churches.

I shared some of this encouraging news with our own young adults and then gave them a bit of a heads up. If this is a reviving work of God in our city, we ought to learn from the past and avoid interfering with it or wrecking it! To that end, I told them to avoid three things.

1. Dangerous Ethics

Almost every revival has been sullied in some corner by those old sins of the flesh like gossip, unrighteous anger, quarrelsomeness, jealousy and general relational immaturity. Since the Holy Spirit is the Mover of authentic revival, it would make sense that our mistreatment of other believers would thwart or discourage His ongoing work. Why? Because anger, malice and slander of others grieves Him and we cannot conceive of Him blessing that which breaks His heart.

2. Doctrinal Error

A joy of true revival is to witness the new birth in many souls and the refreshing of the souls of those who already know God. Sometimes this excitement leads to a search for novel ideas. Sometimes it opens the door for unqualified teachers to have a platform. And if doctrinal error creeps into the movement, it will bring trouble. Good doctrine does not divide, it unifies. Thus, any time we suspect revival might be occurring in grand or localized ways, we do well to fight like crazy to keep the focus on the Gospel and getting everyone on board with who Jesus is and what He has done for us.

3. Destructive Extremism

We are all pragmatists at heart and prone to believe that the things we are doing or saying are creating certain results. This can lead to placing an undue reliance on areas of Christian freedom. For example, demanding that only one form of courtship or dating is “Biblical.” Whenever a non-Bible issue is elevated to the place of Christian faithfulness, we promote hypocrisy and/or works-righteousness. And these things lead only to division, discouragement and despair.

So, my counsel to our young adults was this. Let no one despise you for your youth, but rather in speech, conduct and purity show yourselves to be an example to the entire church. Walk humbly with your God and read your Bible a lot. Do not tolerate the sins of the flesh, but strive to grow in self-control. Yield your entire self to God. This is a unique season of life and there are trajectories to be set for the next 20, 40, 60 years. So, spend much time in prayer and keep looking to God to do good, to save many and to build His church. After all, in a little while you will all be the leaders and pillars of this family.

Through - a poem reflecting on Psalm 77

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 20 Oct 2022 01:10:00 +0000

Through (Psalm 77)

The lightening, thunder, whirlwind and rain

All of the trials causing me pain,

Tempt my weak faith to doubt You are there,

To think You’ve forgotten or become unfair.

Until I remember Your great deeds of old,

Your holy redemptions, dramatic and bold,

And get my poor heart and my eyes to agree;

You walk with me unseen THROUGH the deep sea

by Paul Martin

Christian Parenting Resources and... Opinions!

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:21:00 +0000

I have had the privilege of preaching, writing and collecting what I consider to be wise material on parenting for many years. One of my sabbatical projects has been working on a new parenting class I hope to teach in the fall. It is called something like, Pastor Paul's Parenting Opinions. The reason I am stressing opinions, is that the Bible actually has very little to say about the details of parenting. Wise parents will talk to those who have gone before them and collect (and evaluate) their opinions to chart their own course.

However, that does not mean the Bible has nothing to say about parenting. So, here is some of the material I have been blessed by or preached on or written about over the years. I hope it is useful to you!

PART ONE: ARTICLES

Texts of Scripture you need to think hard about in order to be a faithful parent

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/for-parents/parenting-wisdom-101

CHILDHOOD CONVERSION

by Jim Elliff

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/for-parents/childhood-conversion---elliff

WALTER ON THE FAMILY

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/letters-from-walter/walter-on-the-family

“Well, well, well. It's been longer than a Hereford's tail since I wrote last and I am glad to get back to pen and pad. The colder weather makes sitting still a might easier to do, and all that time on the tractor this fall has filled my head with perhaps a couple good things to share with you. Mrs. Walter is all in a wonder that you would want to hear my babbling again, but what's a wife for if not to remind you that you're not half as good as you once thought you were!”

WALTER ON PARENTING LITTLE CHILDREN

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/letters-from-walter/on-parenting-little-children

“Now, the Lord never gives anything that He doesn't include the instructions or resources for - but what I have always found peculiar is just how little he says about parenting. I recall those early days of our first little olive shoot (Ps 128:3), when we wondered when exactly it was we stopped being children and started having them!”

WALTER ON BEING A DAD

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/letters-from-walter/on-being-a-dad

“Thanks for taking the time to read these letters. You've got more patience than a chipmunk stuck at a turtle-crossing!

Well, last time I wrote I tried to make clear that the most important thing for your family is a happy marriage. Husband and wife loving each other and living in unity will create a family bond stronger than duct tape and binder twine.

Today I want to move on to the role the husband plays in the family.”

WALTER ON BEING A MOM

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/letters-from-walter/on-being-a-mom

“Besides climbing up a greased fireman's pole backwards and blindfolded with your arms tied behind your back, there are few things more difficult in life than being a mom.“

AUTHORITY AND SUBMISSION IN THE CHURCH

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/theological-issues/authority-and-submission

WHY KEEP THE WHOLE FAMILY TOGETHER FOR CHURCH?

https://www.gfcto.com/why-keep-the-whole-family-together-for-church

WHAT DOES GOD WANT FROM ME? SOME IMPORTANT THOUGHTS FOR CHILDREN

https://www.gfcto.com/articles/for-children/what-does-god-want-from-me

PART TWO: AUDIO SERMONS

Let's Just Parent Like Christians

https://www.gfcto.com/sermons/sermon/2021-10-17/lets-just-parent-like-christians

October 17, 2021 Speaker: Paul Martin Series: Let's Just Act Like Christians

Topic: Expository Preaching Verse: Ephesians 6:4–6:4

1. Do not exasperate your kids

2. Lovingly stop and correct bad behaviours in your kids

3. Teach and urge compliance to the truth in your kids

Family Dynamics (Part 1)

https://www.gfcto.com/sermons/sermon/2015-11-22/family-dynamics-part-1

November 22, 2015 Speaker: Paul Martin Series: Be Wise, Young Man, Be Wise

Verse: Proverbs 1:1–31:31

1. The Kids
Proverbs 10:1; 28:7; 17:21, 25; 20:20; 30:17; 23:22-25

2. The Parents
Proverbs 22:6, 15; Romans 1:16-17; 10:9-11

Family Dynamics (Part Two): Parenting

https://www.gfcto.com/sermons/sermon/2015-12-06/family-dynamics-part-two-:-parenting

December 6, 2015 Speaker: Paul Martin Series: Be Wise, Young Man, Be Wise

Verse: Proverbs 1:1–31:31

1. The state of the child

a. Behaviour is an overflow of the heart

b. Every heart is full of folly

2. The duty of the parent

a. Model

b. Teach

c. Discipline

Gospel-centred Parenting

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=12310144370

Being a Gospel-centred Kid

https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=13110322472

The Elements of the Internal Call to the Ministry - Wilhelmus á Brakel

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 22 Aug 2022 15:13:00 +0000

The Elements of the Internal Call to the Ministry

This commission is both internal and external. An extraordinary, divine declaration is not an element of this internal commission. God does not do this, or does so only on very rare occasions, and thus one need not wait for this. There are other matters by which one may be assured of his internal calling.

To these belong, first of all, a knowledge of the office. One must know what it means to be a servant of Christ, to be the mouth of the Lord, to proclaim that great gospel, to teach ignorant men the way of salvation, to be instrumental in delivering men from the devil, and to lead them to Christ. One must know that it consists in comforting those who mourn, stirring up the indolent, bringing back those who have strayed, exposing hypocrites and temporal believers to themselves, defending the truth against error, rebuking the ungodly, helping to keep out or expelling from the church those who lead offensive lives, and adorning the church, so that by the holiness of those who profess the truth she would bring glory to Christ. One must know that it consists in being an example and in being able to give an account of the souls entrusted to him. How can he who is neither thoroughly acquainted with these matters, nor perceives the weightiness of it all, nor takes this to heart, have intentions to be faithful? All of this must be known, considered, and experienced in order to be conscious of one‟s calling.

Secondly, there must be some knowledge of one‟s aptitude for this work. A fundamental knowledge of divine truths and thus being satisfied with a speculative knowledge of these is not sufficient. Rather, one must experience the power of these truths in his own heart, having been converted thereby. He will thus be able to speak from his own experience. He must also have the aptitude to clearly express his thoughts, and must have a voice which is capable of being heard by others. Even though the most qualified person must say, “Who is sufficient for these things” (2 Cor 2:16), one must nevertheless be conscious of some aptitude. Shortly we shall consider this aptitude more comprehensively.

Thirdly, there must be an extraordinary love a) for Christ and a desire to make Him known; b) for the church to present her as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor 11:2), and to cause her to shine forth with light and holiness to the honor of God; c) for the souls of the unconverted to snatch them from the fire, as well as of the converted to strengthen, comfort, and continually provide them with spiritual food.

Fourthly, one must be willing to deny all that is of the world, such as honor, material goods—yes, even life itself. If someone is of low social status and wishes to become someone of renown or to acquire material goods by way of the ministry, his objective is entirely wrong. He would be much happier as a shoemaker, for in my opinion there is no man more abominable than an unregenerate minister who uses the holy things of God to his own advantage.

Fifthly, there must be a great desire for this work (1 Tim 3:1). There must be continual stirrings to give oneself to the Lord by way of this work, and there must be a concern about whether or not one is called. There must be anxiety when ulterior motives are perceived in the heart which in turn causes one to entertain the thought to refrain from this work; or when the heaviness of the task, and a sense of inability causes one to look up against this work, engendering a desire to be relieved from this work, as with Moses and Jeremiah. The stirrings will nevertheless persist and overcome the objections. This in turn will give him more liberty before the Lord and he will find himself more willing than beforehand because by the objections he will have a clearer view of the motives of his heart. Then his heart does not condemn him, but rather convinces him of his sincerity in this matter.

By these and similar arguments one can ascertain his internal calling.

From, The Christian's Reasonable Service, Volume II, 122-123.

Why I Plan to Go to the Last “Together for the Gospel”

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 08 Feb 2022 19:56:00 +0000

When the fella’s announced the first Together for the Gospel (the conference not yet known as T4G), I decided to travel down with my pal, Challies, to see what was up.

I recall being pretty surprised at a guy named Mahaney. Those were some long introductions! Dever with his book endorsements and crowd surveys was as expected. I had not heard Mohler before, nor Duncan. Both were a delight. But, the real joy was when the four dudes would sit together right after somebody preached and talk about the sermon. They were modelling something quite wonderful… taking the Word and, as the Puritans put it, “improving upon it.” Not so much making the sermon better, but helping the truth to settle by pondering and discussing it.

Also, the chairs were too close together. And does anybody have footage of Sproul going to town on the dude from Australia that took a picture of him with a flash only one minute after someone had just announced no flash photography?

The highlight of that first trip was the 25 Canadians standing around a room in the Galt House introducing ourselves to each other. That was a first meeting for many relationships that last to this day. And that little gathering of Canucks grew into something we really looked forward to at each conference. T4G was always great at finding us a spot to meet and we were delighted to make introductions. There were hundreds of Canucks at our last breakout.

Two years after that first conference we were back and things had gotten quite larger. One thing I always appreciated about this meeting was that numbers were not announced. I have no idea how many people were at anything. It didn’t matter. That was not the point. The point was to gather together with Gospel-believing brothers and sisters from across the globe in order to build relationships, be strengthened in our faith and to try and keep the main thing the main thing.

Mark Dever is a friend of mine. I love him a lot. And his gregarious, open-handed approach to this conference (and life!) were so shaping. With that openness came risk and sometimes things did not go as planned, but that is fine. Unless you are the kind of person who has to control everything.

Every two years I would hem and haw about going back. It is a bit of an ordeal to cross the border, arrange accommodations and pay for it all in American dollars. We are not a huge church and I am cautious about using money saints have donated to pay for things like this. Still, the Lord seemed to make a way to go back every year. I have been at every one.

The 2020 T4G was supposed to be the first father-son conference for me and my boy. He had been asking to come for years and we gave him that trip as a Christmas present. Yeah, that Christmas. The one right before COVID. So, Will and I watched T4G ’20 from our basement. Not quite the same thing. But, it was something.

When Mark and Lig announced 2022 would be the last conference, I was of mixed emotions. At first, I was quite sad at the thought. So many good connections made, so many relationships strengthened, so many good conversations and wonderful preaching moments… I hated the thought of losing that.

But, then I was relieved. Not for me, more for the guys. For whatever reason, it seems like everybody and their brother hates “Big Eva” and somehow lops T4G into that… whatever that is.

If one was able to simply take this conference for what it said it was - a gathering of people who love the Gospel - there was so much to be gained from it. The celebriti-ism and nonsense that marks so much of evangelicalism was always pushed back. I mean, guys like me want to hear Piper and Sproul and MacArthur. But, we are also thrilled to listen to the Ed Moores and Bobby Scotts of the world, those faithful pastors of smaller works who are little known outside of their local churches. In fact, some of the greatest blessings to my own soul have come from the unlikeliest of sources.

So, why I am planning to go back for the last one? Not for the nostalgia. I mean, it doesn’t take much to make me cry anymore, so I will likely weep like a baby at the last song. But, that is not why I plan to go.

I plan to go so I can see old friends, in particular, fellow pastors who stay faithful in the ministry. (Ask any guy who has been pastoring for as long as me how much it means to have long friendships with faithful fellow pastors!) So, I will try to connect with guys like Wiley, Trent, Mez, Clint, Steve, Ryan, Justin, Mark, Dan and a gazillion others.
I plan to go so I can be refreshed in my love for God. As a pastor, few things are as encouraging to me as sitting under the Word of God and taking in all the hard work of another servant of the King. I will go eager, ready to be rebuked, encouraged, edified and strengthened.
I plan to go so I can be sung to. I love the gift of singing and I will admit to finding special encouragement from thousands of voices declaring the Truth around me. It is difficult to put into words how meaningful this is.
I plan to go in order to sing. See above. I want to do my part to bless the brothers and sisters around me.
I plan to go so I can have more fellowship with my staff. They will be there and we will be able to debrief sermons, peruse the bookstore together and enjoy some good food.
And I plan to go because I want my son to know what all of this is like. God willing, he will come with me and we will do all of it together.

Nobody asked me to write this post. I am not trying to convince anyone else to do something they do not want to do. But, I am happy to stand with many others and say how much this conference has blessed my soul and helped my ministry. And I am happy to stand with all who are there, together, for the Gospel.

The Grace Fellowship Church Fall 2021 Pastoral Internship

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 15:43:00 +0000

Grace Fellowship Church is now accepting applications to our second pastoral internship. Unlike our first class (held over five months through the brunt of the COVID-19 lockdowns), this session will run from September 13, 2021 to December 6, 2021. We are accepting two interns for this 12 week session and applications must be submitted by July 31, 2021. Accepted applicants will be notified by August 13, 2021.

Interns are required to meet on site at Grace Fellowship Church on Monday mornings, plus Tuesday through Friday workdays (9-5). In addition, interns are required to attend all the public meetings of Grace Fellowship Church and other evening and weekend meetings connected to their internship as assigned (hospital visits, counselling sessions, etc).

The internship includes personal mentoring plus ministry involvement and exposure. However, the brunt of the internship consists in assigned readings in the areas of pastoral ministry, spiritual development, Baptist church life (ecclesiology) and Bible proclamation (preaching). The interns will submit a written paper each week interacting with these readings. These papers form the basis of a weekly group discussion on the topics assigned.

Applicants should be men who have or are nearly completed seminary training and intend to pursue full-time pastoral ministry. They will demonstrate good leadership skills, a wide and warm-hearted Christian love for others and a zeal for the people of God. Existing pastors looking for a useful sabbatical program might also consider applying. There are no age restrictions.

Applicants have until July 31, 2021 to apply.

More Details:

The interns will meet on Monday mornings (9AM-1PM) with the staff elders of Grace Fellowship Church to review the previous Sunday gatherings, work through a particular text together, consider various pastoral situations and discuss their reading from the previous week. These sessions are led by Pastor Martin.

Interns will join the staff meeting on Tuesday mornings, as well as the regular Elders' Meetings, as observers.

On Friday afternoons, the interns will meet with the staff elders for the weekly sermon preview, service previews and final preparation for Sunday.

Much of the other office time through the week will be devoted to reading and writing. Weekly papers must by submitted by 5PM each Friday.

Interns are expected to apply for membership at Grace Fellowship Church (if not members already) and attend all services of the church. They will also be invited to attend certain other meetings as observers

Each intern will be assigned certain ministry leaders or members of the church to interview and learn from.

Each intern will be remunerated (a stipend paid out over the course of the internship) and supplied with books for the assigned readings.

More details can be sought by contacting Pastor Steve Kim.

The Blank Card

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 05 Mar 2021 14:51:00 +0000

He would have turned 21 today. Assuming I had remembered, he would be opening a blank birthday card from me in his dorm room.

It started when he was around 14 years old. Back then I used to write every kid in the church on their birthday. Just a little note to tell them I loved them and prayed for them and to urge them to believe the Gospel and trust in Christ. He had gotten a bunch of those in his life, but that year I sent the best one of all.

Somehow I ended up slipping a blank note into the pre-addressed envelope. It was the nothing card. It could not have gone to a better kid.

He was sharpening his sarcasm skills at a young age and when he got it and figured out what his lame pastor had done, he thought it was hilarious. So, he said nothing, waited a few months until my birthday, then mailed it back to me. Envelope and all! Thus began a little tradition. That card travelled a lot of miles back and forth over the years. You should have seen his beaming smile the Sunday morning after my birthday. Prankster.

It is hard for me to write about him. People likely don't realize how attached a pastor becomes to the souls under his care. I had prayed for him regularly for many years. Seen him converted. Watched him spread his wings and step out of boyhood into manhood. He had served our church as an intern, coming back from seminary a new man — we all saw it — growing in his confidence as he dutifully took on hard things. We loved having him around. We were seeing a future ministry taking shape before our eyes. As one of the sisters here said, “He was one of the sons of the church.”

I thought about posting a picture I took of him the summer he was our intern. But, I think I will keep that one for me. In some ways it captures him. Occasionally he would arrive at the church building before any of us got there in the morning. He never used the bench. He just sprawled out that lanky frame on the sidewalk as he read a book. Funny how one little picture can capture so much of a person and yet so little.

Even now it is hard for me to believe he is gone. I was a part of all the things that must go on when a member passes away, but there are days I have to ask myself if it really happened. Like his dad, he was doing everything in life at double speed. Finishing seminary early. Engaged to be married early. Living like a man early. I suppose he even got to glory early, too.

And for that we should be happy. Of course we are. But life under the sun is a confusing place. As much as we wait patiently for our future reality, we still have to get up in the morning. And this morning when I got up, I was thinking about him. I miss him. Not as much as his family or his fiancé, but he had a place in my heart, too. The son of my friend. A son of the church. A son in the ministry.

If he was here he would be smirking as he opened my card. He would have known what was in it long beforehand. How much greater was his joy when he opened his eyes and saw the Lord? Certainly he knew beforehand what was coming. But now He sees. And that is the joy that will never end.

So, I think I will finally fill in that card...

Happy birthday, Nicky. I miss you.

Announcement: The Grace Fellowship Church Pastoral Internship

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 06 Jan 2021 17:10:00 +0000

Grace Fellowship Church is pleased to announce we are opening our pastoral internship starting on February 1, 2021. Details are below, including a link to the application page.

We were preparing to launch this program right when Covid hit. It does not appear much will be changing in the very near future, so rather than wait for that, we have adapted our original plan to fit our new circumstances. Truth be told, we think these new circumstances have sharpened our vision for the internship.

We will be accepting two interns for this initial run. They will need to be available on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons (February through June, 2021), as well as having several more hours during the week to work from home. The internship will focus primarily on Baptist church life (ecclesiology) and Bible proclamation (preaching). We have long held that the strength of a church starts with her pulpit.

Applicants should be men who have or are nearly completed seminary training and intend to pursue full-time pastoral ministry. They will demonstrate good leadership skills, a warm-hearted Christian love for others and a zeal for the people of God.

Applicants have until January 20, 2021 to apply. Interns will be chosen by the Grace Fellowship Church elders and notified by January 24, 2021.

Details:

The interns will meet on Monday mornings (9AM-1PM) with the staff elders of Grace Fellowship Church to review the previous Sunday gatherings, work through a particular text together, discuss various pastoral situations and discuss their reading from the previous week. These sessions are led by Pastor Martin.
On Friday afternoons, the interns will meet with the staff elders for our weekly sermon preview, service previews and personal mentoring with Pastor Kim. Some of their office time on Fridays will be devoted to reading and writing. Weekly papers must by submitted by 5PM each Friday.
Interns are expected to apply for membership at Grace Fellowship Church (if not members already) and attend all services of the church. They will also be invited to attend certain other meetings as observers and be assigned to interview certain ministry leaders or members of the church.
Each intern will be remunerated (a stipend of $2900 paid out over the course of the internship) and supplied with books for the assigned readings (approximate value of $300).
Besides the time in office, each intern should expect anywhere from 2-10 hours of reading/writing time (depending on one’s speed at these things).

More details can be sought by contacting Pastor Steve Kim.

APPLY HERE

Mediated Love: How to Fellowship in Masks Standing Far Apart

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 21:30:00 +0000

In Toronto we are required by our Public Health authorities to wear face masks and to stay 2m apart from one another as much as possible. Face masks and physical distance from our friends is an interruption to the ways we are used to fellowshipping in our culture. I come from a hand-shaking, hugging, back-slapping, shoulder-grabbing kind of church. We like each other and we are trying really hard to love each other. So, being told to cover our faces and not touch each other can feel like it is a direct prohibition against fellowship. That is certainly not the case though! There are many cultures where physical touch is not engaged and face coverings are normal. And those folks can still fellowship. I am sure of this, in part, because there are no Bible verses that say, “Hug the guy in the pew beside you.”

“Ah,” you might counter, “what about those commands to, ‘Greet one another with a holy kiss?’”

A fine question. How were you doing that pre-COVID? Were you kissing everyone every week? My father-in-law came from a tradition that practised this. The men kissed the men. The women kissed the women. Every week. But, I doubt that was your church. In all likelihood, if there was any following of this imperative, it was recognized that the kiss was a culturally-relevant way of greeting. And, your pastors likely said something like, “Let’s greet one another in a culturally-relevant way.” Hence, the hand-shaking, hugging, back-slapping, and shoulder-grabbing.

But those culturally normal ways (to us) have been interfered with by a mandate from our governing authority. Does that mean we are breaking a Bible command if we do not touch or we do cover our faces? Absolutely not. I think the real issue is how creative we are willing to be and how much we are willing to have our comfortable cultural habits disrupted in order to obey the real commands.

I count forty or so “one another” commands in the New Testament. There are lots of things I ought be doing toward my fellow church members. None of those commands demand I hug or shake hands with anyone, but they do tell me to love, live in harmony with, care for, instruct, bear with, admonish, agree with, encourage, exhort, do good to, be humble toward, and not speak evil about one another. And I can do all of that (and more!) with a mask on. Or, for that matter, with a mask off, when I am not inside a Toronto building.

But, this is Toronto. It gets cold here in the winter and that winter is fast approaching. So, one day I decided to jot down in my journal a bunch of ways to love my fellow church members in a mediated fashion… to love them through a mask and while staying 2m apart. In no particular order, here is my list. Perhaps you can add to it!

Talk outside in small groups while maintaining 2m distance.
If your home does not include people at greater risk, invite people over in smaller groups that stay within the mandated gathering limits.
Write letters to other members. For years Christians fellowshipped in this way and we are at a loss for not keeping it up.
Use FaceTime or Zoom or whatever even if you hate them. This does not have to be a big deal. Maybe email a member from directory that you do not know well and ask them for 15 minutes to connect, get to know each other a little better and then pray for them.
Pray more for other church members. It was my habit pre-Covid to pray for four fellow members a day. Once Covid hit, I upped that to 8. Now, I am routinely praying for those 8, plus another group of six and then other special requests. And I love it!
Never miss church. This seems so simple to me, but how on earth does anyone expect to grow in fellowship by staying home when they do not have to? If there was ever a time to never miss church, this is it!
Contact those who cannot come to church. Make a list of shut-ins or wanderers and just start calling them. It is not that hard. It does not need to be a one hour talk. Just contact people. Ask how you can pray for them. Pray for them over the phone.
Start a formal discipleship relationship. This has been super-encouraging at Grace Fellowship Church. We revamped our small groups and such and have had the majority of our members get in one of these relationships. Some have gotten into several. Again, don’t overthink these things. Just get with someone and let John Murray or DA Carson or Nancy Guthrie or Jerry Bridges or Kathleen Nielson or Tim Challies disciple you (with their book).
Every week at Grace Fellowship Church we include Truth Application Questions in our paper handout. If your church has something like this, turn to the person near you at the end of a service and ask, “Want to answer these questions with me?” Or call a friend mid-week and ask the same. Decide you are going to be a conversation-starter.
Give a gift to a random member of the church. One sister told me of how another sister just dropped off a baked good at her house. It was monumental in its significance.
Call one member per week and ask if you can pray for them over the phone.

Okay, there is a start and I need to go home for dinner and some fellowship with my family. But, you can add to this list. There are many ways to grow together in the Lord even when our faces are covered. Are you willing to be creative?

Four Warnings from the Most Famous Man in America (A review and meditation on, "The Most Famous Man in America -- The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher" by Debby Applegate

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 07 Oct 2020 23:32:00 +0000

It appears Debby Applegate has written only one book and that is a shame, because she is a lucid and thoughtful author who has penned a riveting account of Henry Ward Beecher. Before reading her work, I knew nothing of Beecher other than a passing familiarity with his last name. You will have likely heard of his sister, Harriet Ward Beecher, author of the best-selling novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. In fact, almost all of the Beechers were famous in their own right. Even the ones who took their own lives.

Henry was one of those individuals who seemed to somehow show up to the right place at the right time. A full chronology of his life is outside of this review, but it is remarkable how much of his fame centred on who he happened to meet and where he happened to go. By mid-life, he became one of the first attractions any visitor to New York City went to see — a pastor of a congregational church. And his oratory led him to become one of the highest paid and most sought after public lecturers of his day.

This long held and worldwide fame made his eventual exposure the most talked about thing in America. Solid accusations of adultery and spiritual abuse made it into the public square in his latter years at a time when the idea of a #MeToo movement could not even be conceived. Thus, Beecher kept his job and, with some, his reputation. But he was an evil man who did a lot of damage to a lot of people.

I found myself reading the 500+ pages of his life in just a few days and not just because Applegate is a good storyteller. The echoes of his life and failings resonated so loudly with today that if one were to remove the obvious historical links you would think you were watching the nightly news. In some ways that gave me hope. Today is not the worst time in human history. I mean, senators were packing pistols on the Senate floor in 1860! And the age-old sins that plague us now were just as prevalent then. The ratio of sex workers to male citizens in New York City in the middle of the nineteenth century is likely five times what it is today.

All of this got me thinking of a few big lessons, things we should know better about but still fall into today. By looking carefully at Beecher’s life, perhaps we will take the warning to heart.

We want heroes

On more than one occasion, Beecher violated another man’s wife, only to have that man set the matter aside in order to keep Beecher in his pastoral office. It is mind-blowing to read. On other occasions, Beecher abused people’s trust, broke business contracts and made silly ultimatums to get his own way. And the people he offended did all they could to keep him in office. There were slightly different motivations for each case, but Applegate’s careful history displays time and again that men and women wanted a hero and they were willing to sacrifice almost anything to get one.

I have seen some of this nonsense in my own lifetime. A man in ministry makes obviously unjust decisions or nepotistic appointments or arbitrary expenditures and the inner circle rallies around him to defend, explain and justify. Anyone who dares question the actions of the leader is summarily marginalized or dismissed with questions floated about their loyalty and spiritual maturity. This was exactly the tactic of Beecher’s handlers and it was gross. But, we will do these things if we think we need heroes.

I wonder sometimes if this is what keeps some folks so fixated on a certain political figure in our day. I have heard every reason under the sun why that figure’s sexual sins should be ignored, by the same people who joyfully exposed the sexual sins and called for the resignation of another well-known politician. They could see the sin in their political enemy, but not in the man they had picked as their hero. No man deserves unquestioning loyalty. For the best of men are only men at best. Human beings are flawed, weak, self-deceived and Christians (of all people) should have a full-orbed anthropology that does not make gods out of them.

Spiritual abuse is as old as Eden

Beecher vomited all kinds of nonsense to the women with whom he allegedly had affairs. Stuff about his relationship with them "being on a higher spiritual plane” than mere physical lust, etc. He whined about his heavy load, how no one understood him, how difficult it was to be married to his wife. Then violated his marriage vows. Even though he denied sexual adultery, he admitted to relational adultery - his heart was not with his wife. He would spend almost every night in another man’s home “talking” with that man’s wife while that man was out of town! That alone should have ousted him from the ministry. Who does that? And what does that do to your own marriage? And her marriage? That is not the action of a godly shepherd of souls.

But I have heard and seen the same thing in our own day. A powerful man in an unhappy marriage who begins to flirt and fondle without incrimination. This is as old as the day sin came into the world. But it is awful. Read this book and you will feel the awful. But that prompts my next thought.

When the Bible is set aside as the governing authority for what kind of man is qualified to serve as a pastor, everything falls apart

Once Beecher was publicly accused he admitted to certain improprieties. Now, he did this craftily, painting himself as a foolish innocent who was so full of love and good will for others he sometimes made injudicious decisions… like hanging out late at night with other men’s wives. But my point here is that members of his church should have simply listened to what he admitted and fired him on the spot. If you are a married man making out with women other than your wife, you should not be a pastor anymore. Period.

But the people of Beecher’s church needed him and all for different reasons. The men who owned the church building needed him because it kept the building full and the cash flowing. (How do you like that? You build a church building, rent to a church that you join, become a leader of that church, and then you somehow find it in your heart to give your pastor a pass when he morally fails. Maybe that had something to do with the financial free fall you would enter if said pastor got the boot?!)

When pragmatism takes first spot in a church’s deliberative body, you’re sunk. If elders have a fierce commitment to the Bible, they will choose to their own hurt when that is required. That means they will be willing to remove a pastor that is disqualified, even if that results in financial hardship. But money is not the only thing that can take first spot. Fear of man, aversion to conflict - things like this easily trump Truth when elders are not well trained. And the final result is that disqualified men fill pulpits.

Titus 1:15–16

To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure; but both their minds and their consciences are defiled. They profess to know God, but they deny him by their works. They are detestable, disobedient, unfit for any good work.

There is an apt description of Beecher. May it never be so of you and me!

We lust for shiny things

It is odd for the modern to think of paying exorbitant fees just to hear a man lecture… on anything. But, Beecher was at the forefront of his generation’s entertainment industry. People found pleasure, their senses were stirred, by just listening to him talk. About anything! It was not by accident. While not the sharpest knife in the drawer when it came to studying theology, he was a Messermeister in the study of communication. And he laboured at it. To him, it was not so much what was said, but how it was put.

This is a classic example of the gift outshining the content. True Christians were willing to put up with his imprecision, theological missteps and logical contradictions, just because it was all said so beautifully.

I recall hearing a remarkable Christian communicator in person 15 years ago. He was close to mesmerizing. His turn of phrase, winsome humour, pointed application - it was hard to not be jealous. But, then there were all the questions of his character and theological oddities. It dawned on me that in all likelihood we would never ask him to be an elder in our local church. Besides being a gifted communicator, he was also arrogant, quick-tempered and not particularly holy. But I almost drank the Kool-aid because he was entertaining. What is in the human heart that makes us long for what the world can never provide?

The one glaring fault of the book is Applegate’s confusion of Calvinistic theology with mere fatalism. In this regard, she seems to have fallen somewhat under the spell of her subject and many of the Beecher children who came to a similar conclusion. Yet, her misconception here in some ways helps the reader to better grasp what was going on in the minds of a generation that were turning their back on a rich theological heritage.

All told, I am considering making The Most Famous Man in America: The Biography of Henry Ward Beecher assigned reading for the men I help train for ministry. Sometimes a long hard look at sin and its accompanying chaos in another man’s life paints a vivid picture of where we might end up if we are not serious about holiness and depending on God. Beecher showed very little evidence of a saving faith at all, even though he spent a lifetime speaking for God. If my assessment is correct, I cannot fathom what the Day of Reckoning was like for him.

God have mercy on us all.

Spurgeon on Suspicion

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Wed, 15 Jul 2020 19:09:00 +0000

A few years ago I wrote about the poison of suspicion in the life of the church. Below is some gold from Spurgeon on suspicion in the life of a pastor. But there is something here for everyone!

This is taken from Lectures to My Students: The Blind Eye and the Deaf Ear. By CH Spurgeon.

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Avoid with your whole soul that spirit of suspicion which sours some men’s lives, and to all things from which you might harshly draw an unkind inference turn a blind eye and a deaf ear. Suspicion makes a man a torment to himself and a spy towards others. Once begin to suspect, and causes for distrust will multiply around you, and your very suspiciousness will create the major part of them. Many a friend has been transformed into an enemy by being suspected. Do not, therefore, look about you with the eyes of mistrust, nor listen as an eavesdropper with the quick ear of fear. To go about the congregation ferreting out disaffection, like a gamekeeper after rabbits, is a mean employment, and is generally rewarded most sorrowfully. Lord Bacon wisely advises “the provident Stay of inquiry of

that which we would be loath to find.”

When nothing is to be discovered which will help us to love others, we had better cease from the inquiry, for we may drag to light that which may be the commencement of years of contention. I am not, of course, referring to cases requiring discipline which must be thoroughly investigated and boldly dealt with, but I have upon my mind more personal matters where the main sufferer is yourself; here it is always best not to know, nor to wish to know, what is being said about you, either by friends or foes. Those who praise us are probably as much mistaken as those who abuse us, and the one may be regarded as set off to the other, if indeed it be worth while taking any account at all of man’s judgment. If we have the approbation of our God, certified by a placid conscience, we can afford to be indifferent to the opinions of our fellow men, whether they commend or condemn. If we cannot reach this point we are babes and not men.

Some are childishly anxious to know their friend’s opinion of them, and if it contain the smallest element of dissent or censure, they regard him as an enemy forthwith. Surely we are not popes, and do not wish our hearers to regard us as infallible! We have known men become quite enraged at a perfectly fair and reasonable remark, and regard an honest friend as an opponent who delighted to find fault; this misrepresentation on the one side has soon produced heat on the other, and strife has ensued. How much better is gentle forbearance! You must be able to bear criticism, or you are not fit to be at the head of a congregation; and you must let the critic go without reckoning him among your deadly foes, or you will prove yourself a mere weakling. It is wisest always to show double kindness where you have been severely handled by one who thought it his duty to do so, for he is probably an honest man and worth winning. He who in your early days hardly thinks you fit for the pastorate may yet become your firmest defender if he sees that you grow in grace, and advance in qualification for the work; do not, therefore, regard him as a foe for truthfully expressing his doubts; does not your own heart confess that his fears were not altogether groundless? Turn your deaf ear to what you judge to be his harsh criticism, and endeavour to preach better.

Persons from love of change, from pique, from advance in their tastes, and other causes, may become uneasy under our ministry, and it is well for us to know nothing about it. Perceiving the danger, we must not betray our discovery, but bestir ourselves to improve our sermons, hoping that the good people will be better fed and forget their dissatisfaction. If they are truly gracious persons, the incipient evil will pass away, and no real discontent will arise, or if it does you must not provoke it by suspecting it.

Where I have known that there existed a measure of disaffection for me I have not recognized it, unless it has been forced upon me, but have, on the contrary, acted towards the opposing person with all the more courtesy and friendliness, and I have never heard any more of the matter. If I had treated the good man as an opponent, he would have done his best to take the part assigned him, and carry it out to his own credit; but I felt that he was a Christian man, and had a right to dislike me if he thought fit, and that if he did so I ought not to think unkindly of him; and therefore, I treated him as one who was a friend to my Lord, if not to me, gave him some work to do which implied confidence in him, made him feel at home, and by degrees won him to be an attached friend as well as a fellow-worker.

The best of people are sometimes out at elbows and say unkind things; we should be glad if our friends could quite forget what we said when we were peevish and irritable, and it will be Christlike to act towards others in this matter as we would wish them to do towards us. Never make a broth remember that he once uttered a hard speech in reference to yourself. If you see him in a happier mood, do not mention the former painful occasion: if he be a man of right spirit he will in future be unwilling to vex a pastor who has treated him so generously, and if he be a mere boor it is pity to hold any argument with him, and therefore the past had better go by default.

It would be better to be deceived a hundred times than to live a life of suspicion. It is intolerable. The miser who traverses, his chamber at midnight and hears a burglar in every falling leaf is not more wretched than the minister who believes that plots are hatching against him, and that reports: to his disadvantage are being spread. I remember a brother who believed that he was being poisoned, and was persuaded that even the seat he sat upon and the clothes he wore had by some subtle chemistry become saturated with death; his life was a perpetual scare, and such is the existence of a minister when he mistrusts all around him. Nor is suspicion merely a source of disquietude, it is a moral evil, and injures the character of the man who harbours it. Suspicion in kings creates tyranny, in husbands jealousy, and in ministers bitterness; such bitterness as in spirit dissolves all the ties of the pastoral relation, eating like a corrosive acid into the very soul of the office and making it a curse rather than a blessing. When once this terrible evil has curdled all the milk of human kindness in a man’s bosom, he becomes more fit for the detective police force than for the ministry; like a spider, he begins to cast out his lines, and fashions a web of tremulous threads, all of which lead up to himself and warn him of the least touch of even the tiniest midge. There he sits in the center, a mass of sensation, al nerves and raw wounds, excitable and excited, a self-immolated martyr drawing the blazing faggots about him, and apparently anxious to be burned. The most faithful friend is unsafe under such conditions. The most careful avoidance of offense will not secure immunity from mistrust, but will probably be construed into cunning and cowardice. Society is almost as much in danger from a suspecting man as from a mad dog, for he snaps on all sides without reason, and scatters right and left the foam of his madness. It is vain to reason with the victim of this folly, for with perverse ingenuity he turns every argument the wrong way, and makes your plea fo confidence another reason for mistrust. It is sad that he cannot see the iniquity of his groundless censure of others, especially of those who have been his best friends and the firmest upholders of the cause of Christ.

“I would not wrong

Virtue so tried by the least shade of doubt:

Undue suspicion is more abject baseness

Even than the guilt suspected.”

No one ought to be made an offender for a word; but, when suspicion rules, even silence becomes a crime. Brethren, shun this vice by renouncing the love of self. Judge it, to be a small matter what men think or say of you, and care only for their treatment of your Lord. If you are naturally sensitive do not indulge the weakness, nor allow others to play upon it. Would it not be a great degradation of your office if you were to keep an army of spies in your pay to collect information as to all that your people said of you? And yet it amounts to this if you allow certain busybodies to bring you all the gossip of the place. Drive the creatures away. Abhor those mischief-making, tattling handmaidens of strife. Those who will fetch, will carry and no doubt the gossips go from your house and report every observation which falls from your lips, with plenty of garnishing of their own. Remember that, as the receiver is as bad as the thief, so the hearer of scandal is a sharer in the guilt of it. If there were no listening ears there would be no talebearing tongues. While you are a buyer of ill wares the demand will create the supply, and the factories of falsehood will be working full time. No one wishes to become a creator of lies, and yet he who hears slanders with pleasure and believes them with readiness will hatch many a brood into active life.

Solomon says; “a whisperer separateth chief friends.” (Prov. 16;28.) Insinuations are thrown out, and jealousies aroused“ until mutual coolness ensues, and neither can understand why; each wonders what can possibly be the cause. Thus the firmest, the longest, the warmest, and most confiding attachments, the sources of life’s sweetest joys, are broken up

perhaps for ever. This is work worthy of the arch-fiend himself, but it could never be done if men lived out of the atmosphere of suspicion. As it is, the world is full of sorrow through this cause, a sorrow as sharp as it is superfluous, This is grievous indeed. Campbell eloquently remarks “ The ruins of old friendships are a more melancholy spectacle to me than those of desolated palaces. They exhibit the heart which was once lighted up with joy all damp and deserted, and haunted by those birds of ill omen that nestle in ruins.” O suspicion, what desolations thou hast made in the earth!

Learn to disbelieve those who have no faith in their brethren. Suspect those who would lead you to suspect others. A resolute unbelief in all the scandalmongers will do much to repress their mischievous energies. Matthew Pool in his Cripplegate Lecture says, “Common fame hath lost its reputation long since, and I do not know anything which it hath done in our day to regain it; therefore it ought not to be credited. How few reports there are of any kind which, when they come to be examined, we do not find to be false! For my part, I reckon, if I believe one report in twenty, I make a very liberal allowance. Especially distrust reproaches and evil reports, because these spread fastest, as being grateful to most persons, who suppose their own reputation to be never so well grounded as when it is built upon the ruins of other men’s.” Because the persons who would render you mistrustful of your friends are a sorry set, and because suspicion is in itself a wretched and tormenting vice, resolve to turn towards the whole business your blind eye and your deaf ear.

False Greatness - A Poem by Isaac Watts

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Mon, 15 Jun 2020 18:57:00 +0000

This poem was of interest to me as he references Croesus, the presumptuous leader of Sardis who lost all when he trusted in the false security of his impregnable fortress. See Revelation 3:1-6 for a possible allusion to him.

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FALSE GREATNESS

Isaac Watts

Mylo, forbear to call him bless’d

That only boasts a large estate,

Should all the treasures of the west

Meet, and conspire to make him great:

I know thy better thoughts, I know

Thy reason can’t descend so low:

Let a broad stream, with golden sands,

Through all his meadows roll,

He's but a wretch with all his lands

That wears a narrow soul.

He swells amidst his wealthy store,

And proudly poising what he weighs,

In his own scale he fondly lays

Huge heaps of shining ore:

He spreads the balance wide, to hold

His manors and his farms,

And cheats the beam with loads of gold

He hugs between his arms.

So might the ploughboy climb a tree,

When Croesus mounts his throne,

And both stand up and smile to see

How long their shadow's grown:

Alas! how vain their fancies be,

To think that shape their own!

Thus mingled still with wealth and state,

Croesus himself can never know:

His true dimensions and his weight

Are far inferior to their show.

Were I so tall to reach the pole,

Or grasp the ocean with my span,

I must be measured by my soul:

The mind's the standard of the man.

O When Shall I See Jesus?

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 20:31:00 +0000

O When Shall I See Jesus?

O when shall I see Jesus,

And reign with him above,

And from the flowing fountain

Drink everlasting love?

When shall I be delivered,

From this vain world of sin,

And with my blessed Jesus,

Drink endless pleasures in?

But now I am a soldier,

My Captain's gone before;

He's given me my orders,

And bids me ne'er give o'er;

His promises are faithful—

A righteous crown he'll give,

And all his valiant soldiers

Eternally shall live.

And O, had I wings

I would fly away and be at rest

And I’d praise God in His bright abode

Through grace I am determined

To conquer, though I die,

And then away to Jesus,

On wings of love I'll fly:

Farewell to sin and sorrow,

I bid them both adieu!

And O, my friends, prove faithful,

And on your way pursue.

Whene'er you meet with troubles

And trials on your way,

Then cast your care on Jesus,

And don't forget to pray.

Gird on the gospel armor

Of faith, and hope, and love,

And when the combat's ended,

He'll carry you above.

O do not be discouraged,

For Jesus is your friend;

And if you lack for knowledge,

He'll not refuse to lend.

Neither will he upbraid you,

Though often you request,

He'll give you grace to conquer,

And take you home to rest.

And O, had I wings

I would fly away and be at rest

And I’d praise God in His bright abode

Here is one rendition of the song...

J.C. Ryle on Why You Should Read Your Bible and Pray (and not expect to grow otherwise!)

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 05 May 2020 16:38:00 +0000

In his remarkable book, Holiness, J.C. Ryle refutes the idea that some Christians are just lucky or get really spiritual because of some special gift. He robs us of excuses, in other words. It is a great section that everyone should read, but especially in a pandemic where you likely have more time on your hands and fewer distractions to battle with. Give him a listen..

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From, Holiness, p. 124-125.

God has ordained means as well as ends. He that would grow in grace must use the means of growth.

This is a point, I fear, which is too much overlooked by believers. Many admire growth in grace in others and wish that they themselves were like them. But they seem to suppose that those who grow are what they are by some special gift or grant from God and that, as this gift is not bestowed on themselves, they must be content to sit still. This is a grievous delusion and one against which I desire to testify with all my might. I wish it to be distinctly understood that growth in grace is bound up with the use of means within the reach of all believers and that, as a general rule, growing souls are what they are because they use these means.

Let me ask the special attention of my readers while I try to set forth in order the means of growth. Cast away forever the vain thought that if a believer does not grow in grace it is not his fault. Settle it in your mind that a believer, a man quickened by the Spirit, is not a mere dead creature, but a being of mighty capacities and responsibilities. Let the words of Solomon sink down into your heart: “The soul of the diligent shall be made fat” (Prov. 13:4).

(a) One thing essential to growth in grace is diligence in the use of private means of grace. By these I understand such means as a man must use by himself alone, and no one can use for him. I include under this head private prayer, private reading of the Scriptures, and private meditation and self–examination. The man who does not take pains about these three things must never expect to grow. Here are the roots of true Christianity. Wrong here, a man is wrong all the way through! Here is the whole reason why many professing Christians never seem to get on. They are careless and slovenly about their private prayers. They read their Bibles but little and with very little heartiness of spirit. They give themselves no time for self–inquiry and quiet thought about the state of their souls.

It is useless to conceal from ourselves that the age we live in is full of peculiar dangers. It is an age of great activity and of much hurry, bustle and excitement in religion. Many are “running to and fro,” no doubt, and “knowledge is increased” (Dan. 12:4). Thousands are ready enough for public meetings, sermon hearing, or anything else in which there is “sensation.” Few appear to remember the absolute necessity of making time to “commune with our own hearts, and be still” (Ps. 4:4). But without this, there is seldom any deep spiritual prosperity. Let us remember this point! Private religion must receive our first attention, if we wish our souls to grow.

What God Ordains is Always Good

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 18 Apr 2020 15:18:00 +0000

This is a wonderful hymn that has brought fresh encouragement to me during the Covid-19 Pandemic. It is, in essence, an extended rumination on Romans 8:28 and other passages.

There are several English translations from the German (my fave below) and a few versions of the "Gastorius" melody (again, my fave below).

You can find modern settings of this hymn by my friends, Mark Altrogge or Matt Merker (neither of whom uses this exact English translation).

I think this is the best English translation (below). So many others are forced to leave out important bits in order to keep the metre. You can find the melody for this version here. We plan to sing this melody to the English version below on Sunday.

What God Ordains is Always Good
What God ordains is always good; His will abideth holy.
As He directs my life for me, I follow meek and lowly.
My God indeed… In every need…
Doth well know how to shield me; to Him, then, I will yield me.

What God ordains is always good. He never will deceive me;
He leads me in His own right way, and never will He leave me.
I take content… What He hath sent…
His hand that sends me sadness will turn my tears to gladness.

What God ordains is always good. His loving thought attends me;
No poison can be in the cup that my Physician sends me.
My God is true… Each morn anew…
I'll trust His grace unending, My life to Him commending.

What God ordains is always good. He is my Friend and Father;
He suffers naught to do me harm, though many storms may gather.
Now I may know… Both joy and woe…
Some day I shall see clearly, that He hath loved me dearly.

What God ordains is always good. Though I the cup am drinking
Which savors now of bitterness, I take it without shrinking.
For after grief… God grants relief…
My heart with comfort filling and all my sorrow stilling.

What God ordains is always good. This truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need, or death be mine, I shall not be forsaken.
I fear no harm… For with His arm…
He shall embrace and shield me; so to my God I yield me.

Words: Samuel Rodigast, 1676 (Was Gott tut, das ist wohlgetan); translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth, 1863, and others.

Rodigast wrote this hymn to cheer his friend Gastorius, precentor at Jena, who had become seriously ill. Gastorius not only recovered, but went on to write the tune for Rodigast’s words.

Music: “Gastorius,” Severus Gastorius, 1675.

The Love of God in Christ - A 2019 Good Friday Sermon

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Sat, 11 Apr 2020 22:04:00 +0000

2019 Toronto Gospel Alliance Good Friday Service

St. Paul’s Bloor St.

Introduction

Have you ever wondered what God was doing before He made everything?

Put aside for a moment when He made everything…. whether thousands or billions of years ago…

What was He doing, in eternity past? Long before there was light and matter and people and planets….

Was He just there. Perhaps thinking? Existing?

What was He up to?

Jesus told us what His Father was doing…

John 17:24 [24] Father… you loved me before the foundation of the world.

Before He was a Creator or Ruler or Judge… God was the Father. And as Father He was loving His Son.

This is part of the reason John could write: “God is love.” Notice he did not write, “Love is God.” That is an entirely different thing. As if love itself was somehow the deity. No, what He correctly wrote was, “God is love.”’ That in His essential nature, in the core of who He was, is and shall be — God is love.

God is, in fact, the very source of all love.

I once came upon a natural spring hiking in California. Up out of the ground bubbled all this fresh water! In the same way, all love in the universe has its origin in God.

1 John 4:7–8 [7] Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God,

We all wonder and think about God at times. And there are basically only two ways of coming to conclusions about God.

Depend on your own life experiences and reason in the 60-80 years you get and draw your own conclusions.
Depend on what God has said about Himself. What He has revealed.

I prefer option two. As Christians, we take what God has said about Himself in the Holy Bible. It is God’s Word — what He says about Himself.

And the consistent message of the Bible is that the proof of God’s love is what He has given, what He has sent. For love, in its essence is a giving to another.

Not only His giving us life and a planet on which to live.

But more precisely, in the giving to us of His Son.

1 John 4:9–10 [9] In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world….

1 John 4:[10] In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins…

John 3:16 [16] “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…

God sent, God gave His Son. It is clear to see that the very essence of love is giving. Giving to the other.

There is one part of Bible speaks very directly to this.

Spend a few minutes considering it with you… you will find it on the back of your song sheet…

Romans 5:6–11 [6] For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. [7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. [9] Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. [10] For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [11] More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

I wonder if you would take a few moments to consider with me the words of the 8th verse?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Let’s be investigative reporters and go all W5 on this sentence.

We will start with the WHO….

I. Who is the subject? Who is this about?

The answer is, “GOD.”

“God” shows His love for us.

And I think that is a good thing to observe.

ILL:

Some people have read bits of the Bible, here and there or had things told to them about what the Bible says, and they get this notion in their head that God, the Father, is a really angry, mean-spirited, ticked off Greek demi-god kind of thing and that Jesus had to come along to pacify the Big Grump upstairs.

But read that line again in verse 8.

“God shows His love…” It is God’s love and He displays it.

As we said earlier. God is love. It is His very nature to love. God is just being Himself when He loves. He has always been The Father to His Son. There never was a time when He was not. To not be Father, would be to not be God. Therefore love has always been a defining characteristic of God.

And one gets the sense when reading the Bible that God couldn’t help Himself. He had to show us that love… because that is Who He is.

So, we are speaking here about the Father.

And this takes us to our second investigative question….

II. What does God the Father do?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

He shows His love.

This word, “shows” has been translated different ways in our English Bibles.

Commends
Demonstrates
Proves — to prove by showing…

Here is what the Father does… He proves His love. He demonstrates His love. He had to — because that is the very nature of love.

If I said I loved you then stood idly by while you were accosted and robbed, you would have good grounds to suspect the sincerity of my words!

But God proves His love.

John got at this when he wrote:

1 John 3:16–18 [16] By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us…

Love, by definition, requires action. If God was merely in heaven painting with big letters in the sky, I love you… and that is it. And He did nothing for us… then we would rightly question the sincerity of that love.

But God has done something. One main thing. That in no uncertain terms PROVES His love!

So, God, the Father, proved His love.

This takes us to the third investigative question.

III. How did God prove His love?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God proved His love by the death of His Son, Jesus Christ.

It is helpful here to remember the love God has for His Son. And the love His Son has for Him…

Does God love Jesus? Of course!

John 3:35 [35] The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

Does Jesus love His Father? Jesus once said…

John 14:31 “… I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”

So here you have the Father loving the Son. The Son loving the Father. And in this blissful union of love, the Father asks the Son to come and die… to prove the Father’s love by being the ultimate GIVE.

And Jesus willingly agrees.

In fact, it is Christ’s love for His people that is part of His motivation. Yes, he loves the Father and does all that the Father asks of Him, but Jesus Himself could say,

John 15:9 [9] As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. [the people He died for]

And Paul would write of Jesus…

Ephesians 5:2 [2] …Christ loved us and gave himself up for us…

There is a remarkable event from the life of Abraham where God asked Him to sacrifice his son, Isaac. The language of that request was so specific…

Genesis 22:2 [2] [God the Father] said [to Abraham], “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

This was a test designed to strengthen Abraham’s faith in God. And it worked. Abraham obeyed in faith then, at the last minute, God intervened and stopped the sacrifice!

But part of the purpose of this event was to provide us a little picture of what it was like for God Himself… to give up His Son, His only Son, the Son whom He loved…

The Father told Jesus, at His baptism…

Luke 3:22 “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.”

And yet it was out of love for those He would save, God asked the Son He loved, to become their substitute, their sacrifice. Their “Isaac.”

This was amazing love.

ILL:

Several weeks ago Susan and I drove along the edge of the Pacific.

As we drove along that coast, casting our eyes our over the endless sea, we sang this together this old hymn pondering the love of God…

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints’ and angels’ song.

Nothing more vividly displays God’s love than this… He gave what was most precious to Him.

He could have given us

more money
more world peace
shorter winters
more Stanley Cups than one every 52 years!

But God knows what we need — not just what we want…

And He gave so much more than this… He gave what was without question the most costly to Him personally… He gave His Son to die for us.

Now that forces us to our last investigative question.

IV. Who is the “us?” Who did God love?

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

The answer might surprise you. Verse 8 is the end of a sentence that started in verse 7. In it, the author noted…

[7] For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die…

The Righteous Person — think of a boss that pays you were wage, but no more. Does not care about you as a person. Not a cheat, but not your best friend.

— very rare anybody would take a bullet for him.

The Good Person — think of a boss who makes sure you get paid, but takes a deep interest in your life. Cares for you when you are sick. Looks after your kids’ future. Has your best interests in mind all the time.

— someone might dare to take a bullet for her. Maybe.

But who does God love?

Not the only-fair kind of people…
Not the even the really good kind of people…

Who does God love? Who is the “US?”

There are three words used in this paragraph to describe the objects of His love. They are not very flattering.

:6 — The Weak - in this context, the spiritually paralyzed. The people who were not able to lift themselves up or make themselves clean. Those incapable of doing things that would impress God.

:6b — The Ungodly - in this context, the irreverent. The people who (even if they give verbal assent to God) live like God is not real and like they are the only thing that matters.

:10 — The Sinners - in this context, the line-crossers. The people who deliberately break God’s prohibitions and commandments.

The weak, ungodly sinners. That is who God loved. In other words, the unloveable.

You see, this was our great problem. We were not able to do anything about our sorry condition. There was no way to clean ourselves up in order to draw God’s attention. There was no way to warrant His love… to deserve it.

Sin works like a Sharpie.

It is an indelible ink that no amount of washing can erase.

Worse, just when you start to think you are getting one stain to fade a little bit, you add another.
Just when we seem to be conquering our anger, we get proud about our patience!
Just when we stop sleeping around, we discover a world of internal, raging lust!

If you are honest about yourself, to yourself, you will admit that you are a weak, ungodly sinner.

Bad news. For which we have the best news!

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Did you spot that word, “while?”

While we were sinners.
While we were ungodly.
While we were weak.

It was then… when we were most helpless and hopeless and incapable of doing anything to fix our state, that Christ died for us.

What a love.

What a cost.

We stand forgiven at the cross.

Conclusion

It is important you don’t get tricked by one word in this verse, that word “us.” Paul is writing to Christians when he uses it. He is not talking about everyone.

[8] but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

People who are now, FORMERLY weak, ungodly sinners. But they have been changed. They have come to understand the love of God. They have come to understand the significance of Good Friday.

Our service tonight has had a sombre feel. There is a reason for that. For those of us who already know God through Jesus Christ… we are aware, almost painfully aware… of what it cost God to love us.

It cost Him His Son. Mark 10:45: “ …the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The proof of God’s love is the sacrifice of God’s Son.

But, we also know that God raised His Son from the dead! That’s why we look so happy on Easter!

But tonight we reflect on His death. And yet even in that death, since it is so motivated by and immersed in love… we cannot help but smile and offer to you the Saviour. Jesus Himself said,

John 15:13 [13] Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

God in His great love has done everything necessary for you to have a real relationship with Him.

But that relationship won’t go anywhere until you admit what you really are… in the words of this text… a godless, weak sinner.

But it is just this admission that grabs the attention of God. For He is love. And He is eager to set His love upon you.

He is not asking you to clean yourself up, then come to Him. In fact, He demands the opposite. Come just as you are. There is no point hiding from God. And you will need all the help and grace and strength only He can give for that clean up!

And if you do, and agree with God that you are weak and need His help… and if you turn and accept His Son, Jesus, as the source of that help… you will say with all the other Christians here…

1 John 4:19 [19] We love because he first loved us.

In fact, you will be able to personalize the words of this verse even more to say…

[8] ...God shows his love for me in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me.

More than that, you will go to sleep tonight with the glorious confidence that this love of God for you will never end. That you will be loved by God forever.

Romans 8

[35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?

Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

[38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

He has proven His love in Christ. And now it is ours to enjoy in Him forever.

Some Free Advice for Churches on Video Production, Authenticity and Staying in Your Lane in a Pandemic

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Fri, 27 Mar 2020 18:58:00 +0000

Maybe I think about things too much, but here are a couple of ideas to consider as you plan an online worship service or something similar.

One of the best pieces of advice I read suggests pastors should stay in their lanes. If you are suddenly videoing yourself, don’t act like you’ve got the full production studio working behind you. Just… be normal. Few things are worse to watch than somebody acting like they are pro when they are quite clearly not. You were not hired to be a reporter or newsreader or game show host. Be you.

Another free piece of advice, this one just from me, is this: Don’t make it too good. Read some Neil Postman before you shoot. Think about the effect of the medium itself. We committed to a no-rehearsal, no-edit version of a stripped down Sunday worship service for the first two weeks of the pandemic. This was intentional. I would argue that as production quality increases, authenticity diminishes. In fact, we shot the whole thing on one iPhone with zero edits. And, in my opinion, it was fine. Listen, I used to work a little in this field. The bad lighting, bad sound and one-shot filming did everything wrong in one sense, but everything as close to right in another. We were not filming this service to send out to the world. It was for our members. They know us, so they know fake.

All of us understand this intuitively. Does anyone really believe reality television is real? What does your heart do when someone points a camera at you? I doubt you act all normal… or real. (If you want authentic reality television, sit at your window and watch people walk by. Or simply watch people in a crowded room when they think nobody is looking at them.)

I get it. There is a sense in which I am different when I stand in front of my church family and lead a service. I am projecting my voice, so speaking differently. I am choosing suitable words for the occasion, so my vocabulary is more considered. I am standing in front of a whole bunch of people looking at me, so my self-awareness is different. That is what it is. I am simply suggesting that if you are going to do something online, be that guy. The guy you normally are on Sundays.

One last thought for you. We taped all of our services on the Saturday before they were broadcast. This may sound like the opposite of what I was saying above and that we were somehow less authentic because we were not live. But I would argue the opposite was true. Once you do anything live, there is a whole other level of stressors to deal with that tend to distract from the one thing you need most in order to not be fake. That thing? You have to actually be worshiping God in your heart. You can do that on a Saturday and have it be just as real when it is posted on a Sunday.

For what it is worth, we have decided (for other reasons) to move away from providing a weekly worship service. This has nothing to do with production or being real and everything to do with our understanding of what a church is. But, in order to serve our folks, we will record a weekly chapel service and we will hold to the principles above. May God give us all much wisdom.

THE CHOLERA YEAR IN LONDON - And the COVID-19 Pandemic in 2020...

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Thu, 12 Mar 2020 15:10:00 +0000

Here is some prudence from the Prince of Preachers on how to navigate an epidemic pastorally. This extended quotation is taken from C.H Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume 1. Pages 272-274. ----------------------- In the year 1854, when I had scarcely been in London twelve months, the neighbourhood in which I laboured was visited by Asiatic cholera, and my congregation suffered from its inroads. Family after family summoned me to the bedside of the smitten, and almost every day I was called to visit the grave. At first, I gave myself up with youthful ardour to the visitation of the sick, and was sent for from all corners of the district by persons of all ranks and religions, but soon I became weary in body, and sick at heart. My friends seemed falling one by one, and I felt or fancied that I was sickening like those around me. A little more work and weeping would have laid me low among the rest; I felt that my burden was heavier than I could bear, and I was ready to sink under it. I was returning mournfully home from a funeral, when, as God would have it, my curiosity led me to read a paper which was wafered up in a shoemaker's window in the Great Dover Road. It did not look like a trade announcement, nor was it, for it bore, in a good bold handwriting, these words:
"Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling."

The effect upon my heart was immediate. Faith appropriated the passage as her own; I felt secure, refreshed, girt with immortality. I went on with my visitation of the dying, in a calm and peaceful spirit; I felt no fear of evil, and I suffered no harm. The Providence which moved the tradesman to place those verses in his window, I gratefully acknowledge, and in the remembrance of its marvellous power I adore the Lord my God.

[In a pamphlet entitled, "The Best Refuge in Times of Trouble", published about the time of Spurgeon's "home-going", Mr. W. Ford, of 19H, Peabody Buildings, Orchard Street, Westminster, wrote:
"In the year 1854, the first year of Mr. Spurgeon in London, cholera raged in the locality of his church, and the neighbourhood where he resided. The parochial authorities were very thoughtful for the poor, and caused bills to be placed at the corners of the streets headed CHOLERA--in large type--informing the public where advice and medicines would be supplied gratis. At that time, I lived in the Great Dover Road, and Mr. Spurgeon lived a little further towards Greenwich, in Virginia Terrace. Seeing the bills above-named at every turning, I was forcibly impressed that they were very much calculated to terrify the people With the concurrence of a friend, I procured one, and wrote in the centre these words: 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.' This bill I placed in my shop-window, hundreds read it, and I am not aware of one jeer or improper remark--so subdued and solemnized were the people by the awful visitation. Among the readers of the bill, was Mr. Spurgeon."]

During that epidemic of cholera, though I had many engagements in the country, I gave them up that I might remain in London to visit the sick and the dying. I felt that it was my duty to be on the spot in such a time of disease and death and sorrow. One Monday morning, I was awakened, about three o'clock, by a sharp ring of the door-bell. I was urged, without delay, to visit a house not very far from London Bridge. I went; and up two pairs of stairs I was shown into a room, the only occupants of which were a nurse and a dying man. "Oh, sir!" exclaimed the nurse, as I entered, "about half-an-hour ago, Mr. So- and-so begged me to send for you." "What does he want," I asked. "He is dying, sir," she replied. I said, "Yes, I see that he is; what sort of a man was he?" The nurse answered, "He came home from Brighten, last night, sir; he had been out all day. I looked for a Bible, sir, but there is not one in the house . I hope you have brought one with you." "Oh" I said, "a Bible would be of no use to him now. If he could understand me, I could tell him the way of salvation in the very words of Scripture." I stood by his side, and spoke to him, but he gave me no answer. I spoke again, but the only consciousness he had was a foreboding of terror, mingled with the stupor of approaching death. Soon, even that was gone, for sense had fled, and I stood there, a few minutes, sighing with the poor woman who had watched over him, and altogether hopeless about his soul. Gazing at his face, I perceived that he was dead, and that his soul had departed.

That man, in his lifetime, had been wont to jeer at me. In strong language, he had often denounced me as a hypocrite. Yet he was no sooner smitten by the darts of death than he sought my presence and counsel, no doubt feeling in his heart that I was a servant of God, though he did not care to own it with his lips. There I stood, unable to help him. Promptly as I had responded to his call, what could I do but look at his corpse, and mourn over a lost soul? He had, when in health, wickedly refused Christ, yet in his death-agony he had superstitiously sent for me. Too late, he sighed for the ministry of reconciliation, and sought to enter in at the closed door, but he was not able. There was no space left him then for repentance, for he had wasted the opportunities which God had long granted to him. I went home, and was soon called away again; that time, to see a young woman. She also was in the last extremity, but it was a fair, fair sight. She was singing--though she knew she was dying--and talking to those round about her, telling her brothers and sisters to follow her to Heaven, bidding good-bye to her father, and all the while smiling as if it had been her marriage day. She was happy and blessed. I never saw more conspicuously in my life, than I did that morning, the difference there is between one who feareth God and one who feareth Him not.

Quotes from the Life and Ministry of Robert Murray M’Cheyne

noreply@blogger.com (Paul) — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 20:17:00 +0000

These are quotations from a Foundations Class I taught at Grace Fellowship Church on March 08, 2020.

"Oh, to have Brainerd's heart for perfect holiness - to be holy as God is holy - pure as Christ is pure - perfect as our Father in heaven is perfect."

“It is a good thing to be shown much of the deceitfulness and desperate wickedness of your heart, provided it lead you to the Lord Jesus, that He may pardon and subdue it.”

“Now do not look so long and so harassingly at your own heart and feelings. What will you find there but the bite of the serpent?... Look to Christ… Look to Him and live. You need no preparation, you need no endeavours, you need no duties, you need no strivings, you only need to look and live… Do not take up your time so much with studying your own heart as with studying Christ’s heart. ‘For one look at yourself, take ten looks at Christ!’”

“Only believe. Give unlimited credit to our God.”

“I sometimes think that a great blessing may come to my people in my absence. Often God does not bless us when we are in the midst of our labours, lest we shall say, ‘My hand and my eloquence have done it.’ He removes us into silence, and then pours ‘down a blessing so that there is no room to receive it;’ so that all that see it cry out, ‘It is the Lord!’ This was the way in the South Sea Islands. May it really be so with my dear people!”

1. The Gospel, properly applied, is the only way to deal with our sin.

“I often pray, ‘Lord, make me as holy as a pardoned sinner can be made.’”

“I am persuaded that I shall obtain the highest amount of present happiness, I shall do the most for God’s glory and the good of man, and I shall have the fullest reward in eternity, by maintaining a conscience always washed in Christ’s blood…”

“I feel, when I have sinned, an immediate reluctance to go to Christ. I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would do no good to go – as if it were making Christ a minister of sin, to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe – and a thousand other excuses; but I am persuaded they are all lies, direct from hell. John argues the opposite way – ‘If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father;’ Jeremiah 3:1 and a thousand other scriptures are against it. I am sure there is neither peace nor safety from deeper sin, but in going directly to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is God’s way of peace and holiness. It is folly to the world and the beclouded heart, but it is the way.”

2. The Gospel, properly applied, is a wrecking ball to pride.

“A minister will make a poor saviour in the day of wrath. It is not knowing a minister or loving one or hearing one… that will save. You need to have your hand on the head of the Lamb for yourselves… I fear I will need to be a swift witness against many of my people in the day of the Lord, that they looked to me, and not to Christ, when I preached to them.”

“I really believed that my Master had called me home, and that I would sleep beneath the dark green cypresses of Bouja till the Lord shall come… and my most earnest prayer was for my dear flock, that God would give them a pastor after his own heart.”

3. The Gospel, properly applied, will make God more important than sleep.

“Do everything in earnest; if it is worth doing, then do it with all your might. Above all, keep much in the presence of God. Never see the face of man till you have seen His face who is our life, our all.”

"Rose early to seek God and found Him whom my soul loves. Who would not rise early to meet such company?”

“I must first see the face of God before I take on any duty.”

“We must be drinking the living water from the smitten rock or we cannot speak of its refreshing power.”

“It is not great talents that God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.”

4. The Gospel, properly applied, will make you pray.

“No person can be a child of God without living in secret prayer; and no community of Christians can be in a lively condition without unity in prayer.”

“What would my people do if I were not to pray?”

“If you do not pray, God will probably lay you aside from your ministry, as He did me, to teach you to pray.”

“I have been often brought very low, but it has been always good for me…”

“When I was laid aside from the ministry, I felt it was to teach me the need of prayer for my people. I used often to say, Now God is teaching me the use of prayer…”

“Pray to be taught to pray. Do not be content with old forms that flow from the lips only. Most Christians have need to cast their formal prayers away, to be taught to cry, Abba.”

“Alas, we do not weary God now with our wrestlings, but with our sins.”

"If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million of enemies. Yet the distance makes no difference; He is praying for me."

5. The Gospel, properly applied, will make all people precious in your sight — even the least of these.

“Think this, little children, you are the pride of your mother’s heart, but have gone astray from the womb, speaking lies. Little children who are fond of your plays, but are not fond of coming to Jesus Christ, who is the Saviour of little children, the sword will come on you also.”

“It is high time you seek the Lord. The longest lifetime is short enough… Oh, if you had to stand as often as I have beside the dying bed of little children – to see their wild looks and outstretched hands, and to hear their dying cries – you would see how needful it is fly to Christ now. It may be your turn next. Are you prepared to die? Have you fled for refuge to Jesus? Have you found forgiveness?”

“The greatest want in the religion of children is generally sense of sin…; we are so often deceived by promising appearances in childhood.”

"Use a few spare half-hours in seeking after the lambs on the weekdays."

6. The Gospel, properly applied, will make you an evangelist, or at least cause you to do the work of one.

“Do not be satisfied without conversion.”

“What has the world done for you, that you love it so much? Did the world die for you? Will the world blot out your sins or change your heart? Will the world carry you to heaven? No, no! You may go back to the world if you please, but it can only destroy your poor soul… Have you not lived long enough in pleasure? Come and try the pleasures of Christ – forgiveness and a new heart. I have not been at a dance or any worldly amusement for many years, and yet I believe I have had more pleasure in a single day than you have had all your life. In what? You will say. In feeling that God loves me – that Christ has washed me – and feeling that I shall be in heaven when the wicked are cast into hell. ‘A day in thy courts is better than a thousand [elsewhere]’ (Psalm 84:10)… If you die without Christ, you cannot come back to be converted and die a believer – you have but once to die. Oh, pray that you may find Christ before death finds you!”

"The world will say you are an innocent and harmless girl; do not believe them. The world is a liar. Pray to see yourself exactly as God sees you…"

"Every wave of trouble has been wafting you to the sunny shores of a sinless eternity. Only believe. Give unlimited credit to our God.”

“If our neighbour’s house were on fire, would we not cry aloud and use every exertion… Oh, shall we be less earnest to save their never-dying souls, than we would be to save their bodies?”

7. The Gospel, properly applied, will make a good pastor

“I see a man cannot be a faithful minster until he preaches Christ for Christ’s sake, until he gives up striving to attract people to himself and seeks only to attract them to Christ.”

“Few people know the deep wells of anxiety in the bosom of a faithful pastor.”

“But oh, study universal holiness of life! Your whole usefulness depends on this. Your sermon on Sabbath lasts but an hour or two, – your life preaches all the week. Remember, ministers are standard-bearers. Satan aims his fiery darts at them. If he can only make you a covetous minister, or lover of pleasure, or a lover of praise, or a lover of good eating, then he has ruined your ministry forever. ‘Ah! Let him preach on fifty years, he will never do me any harm.’ Dear brother, cast yourself at the feet of Christ, implore His Spirit to make you a holy man. ‘Take heed to thyself and to thy doctrine.’”

“See how Paul laid out his strength in confirming the disciples. Be a helper of their joy. Do not rest till you get them to live under the pure, holy rules of the gospel.”