The New "Missional" Church

Beware of the new "missional" church whose agenda has changed from that of preaching the Gospel and saving lost souls.
Watch, listen or download the full message: "Truth & The Emergent Church" by Phil Schlamp here.

Which Church Saves?

Two people were having a discussion on religion one day. This is how it went:

“Do I have to become a Protestant to be saved?”

“Not at all! I wouldn’t waste my time trying to convert you to Protestantism.”

“But you don’t believe that the Catholic Church can save, do you?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Well, I am a Roman Catholic and my friends are members of the Greek Orthodox Church. You say that neither one can save, and you are a Protestant. Don’t you want us to turn Protestant also?”

“No, I don’t. I have never asked any Catholic to become a Protestant.”

“You haven’t! I don’t understand. Don’t you believe that Protestantism can save?”

“No, I don’t.”

“You don’t! What then—? How can one be saved?”

“Neither the Roman Catholic, the Greek Orthodox, or the Protestant Church can save your soul. No church can save, but the LORD JESUS CHRIST can.”

“JESUS!”

“That’s right: one is not saved by a Church, either Catholic or Protestant, but through a Person—the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s only begotten Son.”

“Can it be possible? I’ve never heard this before!”

“You see, it would do you no good to become a Protestant, for there are thousands of Protestants who are not saved; there are thousands who have embraced Christianity, but have never accepted the Christ of Christianity personally as Saviour.”

“Is that why we have not found peace? Is there no peace in Catholicism?”

“No, there’s not—and none in Protestantism either. Peace is only found in Jesus. Religion cannot save; Christ alone can.”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Don’t just take my word for it. God says very plainly that salvation is only through Jesus: ‘Nor is there salvation in any other [Protestant, Catholic, or other], for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved’ (Acts 4:12).”

“Is that the only Scripture that says this?”

“No, turn to Matthew 1:21: ‘You shall call His name JESUS, for He [not the Catholic priest nor the Protestant minister, but He—Jesus Christ] will save His people from their sins.’”

“I’ve been trusting the wrong things! What should I do?”

“‘Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved’—‘as many as received HIM, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name’ (Acts 16:31; John 1:12).”

“But are you sure that He will receive me?”

“Jesus Himself said, ‘The one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out’ (John 6:37). He loves you so much that He died for you. He bore your sins as He hung on Calvary, facing God’s judgment in your place. Now accept Him, trust His finished work as all the payment necessary for your salvation. God says that salvation is a “free gift” that is simply accepted “through faith … not of works” (Romans 5:15; Ephesians 2:8,9). Trust Him—and only Him—now as your Saviour and Lord, for He will have mercy and abundantly pardon (Isaiah 55:7).”

“Thank God!”

“When you do this, you will not only be saved, but you will be a member of the only Church the Bible knows—the Body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22,23; 1 Corinthians 12:12,13), of which Christ alone is the Head (Colossians 1:18). The Lord Himself adds to this Church daily those who are saved (Acts 2:47).”

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life” (John 5:24).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Source: http://www.mwtb.org

Is This Your Last Day?

On the day of your death, do you think you will wake up knowing that it is your last day? No matter how much we try to extend our lives with regular exercise, a nutritious diet, and the best medical care,  our “last day” will still come, and often without warning. How many people, minutes before a fatal crash, can even imagine what the moments ahead will contain? And of those who stare death in the face for a second or two before it comes, how many do you suppose have time to turn their thoughts to God for salvation? Are they not rather in extreme terror, or suffering, frantically seeking a way out of calamity, desperately trying to escape destruction?

Tragedy most often strikes unexpectedly, without warning. It comes as a shock, abruptly cutting off pleasure and comfort, and shatters the normal course of life. “Like fish taken in a cruel net, like birds caught in a snare, so the sons of men are snared in an evil time, when it falls suddenly upon them” (Ecclesiastes 9:12). Tragedy “comes suddenly, in an instant” (Isaiah 30:13).

God in His mercy has not left us without warning concerning our eternal destiny, and pleads for sinners to repent. “Turn at my rebuke; surely I will pour out my spirit on you; I will make my words known to you” (Proverbs 1:23). “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts” (Hebrews 4:7).

You only live today. The past is gone, and the future is unknown, making the present the only time you are sure to have. If you are ever to turn to God from your sin it will not be tomorrow, for tomorrow never comes. Now is the only time you have! “Now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth” (Proverbs 27:1).

Do you imagine that one day you will wake up and say, “Today is the day I die. I will now get right with God”? No, you wake up each day going about your normal affairs, never considering the end of life. It is a dangerous thing to put off the question of your responsibility for your sins. There is “a time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecclesiastes 3:2). “It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many” (Hebrews 9:27,28). You will stand before God!

God has patiently given you time, but He is calling you to repentance now. Will you put Him off? There is a time when it will be too late, for God has said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever” (Genesis 6:3). “Once the Master of the house has … shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you’ ” (Luke 13:25).

Dear reader, this may be the last day that you have to accept God’s free, loving offer of forgiveness and salvation. Repent of your sins to Jesus Christ who died for you and is risen again. Trust Him to save your soul. Do it now, before it is too late! “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
(John 3:16-18). —Ron Melick

Source: http://www.mwtb.org

Why Pray?

“Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints” (Ephesians 6:18).

When we stop to weigh the meaning of these words, the child of God is driven to say, “I must pray, pray, pray. I must put all my energy and all my heart into prayer. Whatever else I do, I must pray.” Why is constant, persistent, sleepless, overcoming prayer so needful?

1. There is a devil. He is cunning, he is mighty, he never rests, and he is always plotting the downfall of the child of God. If the believer relaxes in prayer, the devil will succeed in ensnaring him. This is the thought in the context of Ephesians 6, which describes our spiritual battle and the need for the Christian to take up the armor of God. Paul tells us that to all else we must add prayer—constant, persistent, untiring, sleepless prayer in the Holy Spirit, or all else will go for nothing.

2. Prayer is God’s appointed way for obtaining things, and the great secret of all lack in our Christian experience is neglect of prayer. James brings this out very forcibly: “Ye have not, because ye ask not” (James 4:2). Many Christians are asking, “Why is it I make so little progress in my Christian life?” Ministers and Sunday school teachers are asking, “Why is it I see so little fruit from my labors?” God answers us all: “Neglect of prayer. You have not because you ask not.”

3. The apostles regarded prayer as the most important business of their lives. When the multiplying responsibilities of the early church crowded in upon them, they recruited helpers so they could “give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the Word” (Acts 6:4). Paul, in what he wrote to churches and individuals about praying for them, made it evident that much of his time and strength were given to prayer.

4. Prayer occupied a very prominent place in the earthly life of our Lord. He was not unfamiliar with “rising up a great while before day” (Mark 1:35), or spending “all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12). The words pray and prayer are used at least twenty-five times in connection with our Lord in the brief record of His life in the four Gospels, and His praying is mentioned in other places where these words are not used. A man or woman who does not spend much time in prayer cannot properly be called a follower of Jesus Christ.

5. Praying is the most important part of the present ministry of our risen Lord. Christ’s ministry did not close with His death. After Christ accomplished His atoning work, He rose and ascended to the right hand of the Father, where “He ever liveth to make intercession for [believers]” (Hebrews 7:25). “It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us” (Romans 8:34). The ministry of intercession (praying for others) is a glorious and mighty ministry, and we can all have a part in it.

Nothing has so impressed me with a sense of the importance of prayer as the thought that it is the principal occupation of my risen Lord. I want to have fellowship with Him, and to that end I have asked the Father to make me an intercessor, to make me a man who knows how to pray, and who spends much time in prayer.

—Adapted from How to Pray by R. A. Torrey.

Source: http://www.mwtb.org

God's love-letter - Thomas Brooks (1662)

What is wrong with the pulpits?

Shane Idleman on Jeremiah 23

Today, the truth is often neglected, watered-down, or avoided altogether in the hope of not offending members and building a large audience. Judgment is never mentioned; repentance is never sought; and sin is often excused. We want to build a church rather than break a heart; be politically correct rather than biblically correct; coddle and comfort rather than stir and convict. We need power in the pulpit like never before!

The Gospel is All About Jesus

Watch, listen or download the full message: "The Gospel and the Church" by Stephen Gambill here.

The Death of the Church

Watch, listen or download the full message: "Staying Focused on the Cross" by Alan Benson here.

God's Way of Salvation (John 3:16)

John 3:16 is often called "The Gospel Text," for here we have the whole gospel briefly stated. We see the source of salvation—the love of God; the channel through which salvation comes—His only begotten Son; and the way by which we receive it—faith in His Son.

Perhaps you will say, "Oh, I have read that verse a thousand times." Even if you have, have you ever really believed it—that is, by faith made yourself one of the "whosoevers" by trusting in Christ, and thereby received everlasting life?

A Christian friend told me how he was converted through this verse. He took it, read it word by word, believing as he read, applied it to himself, trusted the Son, and received everlasting life. Multitudes of other searching souls have done the same. Have you? If not, may the Lord help you to do so now.

Just let us look at this wonderful verse, a word or two at a time, always remembering that this is God's Word, and God means what He says.

GOD

That is the first word. Salvation begins with God. Here is man's first mistake. Man begins with himself. Man asks, "What must I do?" God says, "See what I have done." Friend, turn from yourself to God. Hear what He says, and see what He has done.

LOVED THE WORLD

Love—salvation springs from the love of God. God loved what? The world, a world of sinners. Wondrous, undeserved love! But remember, we must accept that love, or else it will do us no good.

But I have omitted a word, have I not? It is such a little word, but very big with meaning.

SO

Oh that "So"! It tells of the great, boundless nature of God's love, love which can only be measured by the action that it produced.

HE GAVE

Salvation is a gift. "The gift of God is eternal life" (Romans 6:23). Friend, are you trying to buy it? It is "without price" (Isaiah 55:1). God cannot sell it, and you cannot buy it—it is far too valuable. But God offers it freely as a gift. Will you accept it?

HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON

What a tremendous sacrifice! What love that offered it! Salvation is through God's Son. "God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:11,12). Eternal life is not in us, but in Jesus alone. Therefore take Him as your Saviour, and you will have eternal life!

We have now seen what God has done—"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." Now, in the rest of the verse, we will see why He did it—"That whosoever believeth [trusts] in Him, should [will] not perish, but have everlasting life."

WHOSOEVER

Perhaps you say, "How may I know that salvation is offered to me?" Well, what does God say? "Whosoever," which extends the offer of salvation to every man, woman, and child on the earth. That includes you, my friend, does it not?

BELIEVETH or TRUSTS

Here it is as important to see what God does not say as what He does say.

God does not say, "Whosoever is moral, respectable, honest, well spoken of, and an office-holder or member of the church will be saved." This is man's first false way of salvation—character. It was the Pharisee's way—"God, I thank Thee that I am not as other men." And so he "trusted in himself." (See Luke 18:9,11.) Was he "justified," cleansed of His sins? No (verse 14). Why not? Because he was only righteous in his own sight, and in the sight of those around him. In God's sight he was a sinner, for "all have sinned." When it comes to man's character, there "is no difference" (Romans 3:22,23). In God's sight, "There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10), and God is the Judge.

God also does not say, "Whosoever does good works will be saved." This is man's second false way of salvation—works. Did it ever strike you—what good works can a sinner do? As is the tree, so is its fruit; as is the man, so are his works. If you are a sinner, your works are sinful and of no merit for salvation. "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6). Thus, you see, a sinner can't do any works that please God. Even more than that, my unsaved friend, in God's sight you are a sinner and therefore "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1). Now, what can dead people do? Nothing! It is life you need, and it is life God offers you.

Does God ask you as a sinner to work for salvation? No, His Word declares that salvation is "not of works" (Ephesians 2:9). Galatians 2:16 tells us three times that salvation is not by works, and three times that it is by faith. Read that verse—it leaves no doubt!

Finally, God does not say "Whosoever has a certain feeling is saved." This is man's third false way of salvation—feelings. This is a common mistake with anxious souls. "Oh," says one, "if only I could feel some new feeling within me, I think I would be all right." You think so, but does God say so? Never. He does not ask you to feel, but to believe His Word and trust His Son.

I know what you want. You want to feel "the joy of salvation." But how can you feel the joy of salvation, until you first have salvation? A drowning man can't feel the joy of being saved until first he is saved, and neither can you. Likewise, just as feeling can't save him, neither can it save you. Salvation is a fact, not a feeling, and rests on these three great facts—Christ died for our sins, He was buried, and He has risen again (1 Corinthians 15:3,4).

We've noticed that God does not say, Whosoever is, or does, or feels. He does say,"Whosoever believeth." To believe means to trust yourself completely to the one in whom you believe. Who is that?

IN HIM

The Son of God. Not in yourself, or in yourself and Jesus together, but in Jesus—Jesus only. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12).

SHOULD NOT PERISH

Perish you will, if you do not trust in Christ. The soul without Christ is in great danger. Did you ever think of that? Friend, if you are still an unbelieving sinner, you are in a terrible state, and on the way to a terrible doom! "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). Escape to Christ, trust in Him, and then you will not perish.

BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE

No matter what kind of person you are, and no matter what kinds of things you have done, if you will right now trust in Jesus, believing who He is—the Son of God—and what He has done—died on the cross and risen again for you, you will right now have eternal life. When you believe God's Word, you will have the assurance of your salvation, too, for it says of those who trust in Jesus, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand" (John 10:28).

Source: http://www.mwtb.org

It's Never Made Sense To Me

Watch, listen or download the full message: "The Thrill of Obedience" by Francis Chan here.

The Miracle of the Gospel (Trailer)

Watch, listen or download the full message (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) by John Innabnit here.

The Most Important Question That Can Ever Be Asked

When we began this study I introduced to you the fact that the truth in this chapter would answer the most important, essential, vital, critical question that can ever be asked--that this chapter would provide the answer to the most weighty, serious, meaningful query of all; that the question this chapter answers is more important than any other question; it is more important than all other questions combined. It is infinitely more important than all other questions combined.

What is the question? The question is this: How can a sinner be forgiven fully and reconciled to a holy God and thus escape eternal hell and enter eternal heaven. That is the question of all questions.

And since every human being will live forever, either in eternal hell or eternal heaven, that is the question that is most desperately needing to be answered--How can a sinner be forgiven fully, reconciled to holy God so as to escape eternal hell and enter eternal heaven? That is the supreme moral question. It is the supreme spiritual question. It is the supreme religious question for which no system of morality, no mystical spirituality and no religion has an answer, other than Christianity. And the Bible is written to give that answer. If you take that question and that answer out of the Bible, the Bible is like any other book. It is for this question and this answer that holy Scripture was revealed.

And as far as the Old Testament is concerned, it is nowhere answered more clearly than in Isaiah 53. That makes this a pinnacle chapter in the Old Testament. This is the Mount Everest of the Old Testament. It is a Holy Spirit-inspired prophecy of the meaning of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, 700 years before He came.

Watch, listen or download the full message: "The Sovereign Servant, Part 2" by John MacArthur here.

The Phenomenon of Conversion (Trailer)

Watch, listen or download the full message by Peter Masters here.