Joie de Vivre A Wretched Man’s Quest To Follow Jesus Christ

The world may value compromise and tolerance as supreme virtues, but they have a devastating effect on preaching.  As more and more evangelical pulpits reflect the surrounding culture, it’s time for Christians to proclaim a distinctively biblical worldview.

John MacArthur elaborates in this article first published at Grace To You:

Many evangelicals (once known for a very prudent and biblical approach to doctrine) are fast becoming as doctrinally clueless as the unchurched people they are so keen to please. At least three decades of deliberately downplaying doctrine and discernment in order to attract the unchurched has filled many once-sound churches with people who utterly lack any ability to differentiate the very worst fast doctrines from truth. I constantly encounter evangelical church members who are at a loss to answer the most profound errors they hear from cultists, unorthodox media preachers, or other sources of false doctrine.

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Foreword: I thought I’d give a little background into how this testimony came about, because it simply demonstrates how often God works wonderfully in us and there’s only goodness when we submit to His will.

For some days now, my wife has told me that she hasn’t been able to sleep well because God has prompted her time and again to write her testimony down.

She asked me why, and I told her testimonies were a good way for us to glorify God through telling others what He has made anew in us. As to why God is telling her to do so I am not sure, yet we need trust that the Lord has need for her to do something that has not been revealed, but it’s all good (Romans 8:28).

We had retired rather late to bed last night. Just 15 minutes later, she was out of bed, and the study light came on while her computer whirred to life. When I popped into the study to ask why she wasn’t in bed, she was quite in tears, telling me that God had admonished her for not submitting to His will, right after prayers.

She had been fighting the burden in her heart to write her testimony down, believing wrongly that it’s rather pointless.

It was the first time she had experienced such a prompting, so I gently told her that that’s what God does with me many, many times over — a feeling so heavy in one’s heart that you go on your knees and cry out saying, “Father, Lord, I’ll obey and do it!”

I made coffee for us and stayed up with her while she completed her testimony which we are now sharing with you. May it encourage and bless you as it has us.

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Luke 21:1-4 is often cited from church pulpits to exhort us to give willingly and in some cases, all, to ministry, a church building fund or some other project that the church is undertaking.

Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

– Luke 21:1-4

I was listening to John MacArthur just last night give his take on this four verses and he noted that the observation of our Lord Jesus Christ about the widow seems to suggest something else other than a teaching on giving.

Below is the transcript of the sermon. You can also view the broadcast of the sermon at Oneplace.com (part 1, part 2).

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This is an ad-hoc weekly column where I share some of the best blog posts I’ve come across in the previous week. Some are notable for their content, while others are calling you to action to help pray about an issue or for fellow bloggers.

Twenty-Three Great Sins Of American Evangelism — Why We Must Pray For A Reformation Again

While reading a great blog Theology Today, I came across a mention of the above post over at Al Tosap Al Davaraiv which lists the 23 reasons why the author feels a reformation is needed in this day and age.

I don’t know much about the American church, but I think it’s apt to say that the author’s observations are true for the Visible Church as a whole.

Quoted is the original post:

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Losing A Taste For The World

My wife and I have just returned from a trip to one of the newest and largest shopping malls in Singapore — Vivocity — to turn in the set-top box and to cancel our cable TV subscription.

None of the shops there fascinated us at all, and nothing seemed to catch our fancies, save for buying three pieces of cake from a rather good confectionery called ‘Secret Recipe’ — tiramisu, chocolate-banana and another that has to do with chocolate as well.

In fact, my wife didn’t even bother to step inside her favorite shoe boutique because she said she just isn’t interested.

Consumerism no longer has a hold on us!

Grace To You Singapore

My wife was listening to some John MacArthur sermons this morning and we just found out that his ministry, Grace To You, has a presence in Singapore.

Yes!

Since hearing about it on Way of the Master Radio, we’ve been planning to get her the John MacArthur’s Study Bible, and we’ve decided to go with the leather-bound NAS version. It’s great since purchasing the same Bible from the United States would have cost S$2.50 more, and that’s before including shipping costs.

On The Downside…

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