AWAKE!!

"And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts." Romans 13:11-14

When do we disobey?

Lately I've had this question on my mind: "If we have been given the great commission to GO and preach the gospel, when do we disobey the "law of the land" and put tracts where we are not allowed to and preach where we are not allowed to? Christ has all authority and has given us the command to GO."

The rebel in me wants to "kick against the goads" and keep preaching. Yesterday Pastor Jack gave me such a wise answer: Jesus said that when you come to a city and they don't receive you to depart from there and go to another.

"Whatever house you enter, stay there, and from there depart. And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them." Luke 9:4&5

The rejection of the gospel is a form of God's judgement on a city. The Pastor asked me,"Can God make opportunities for the gospel?" Yes, then we should see His sovereign hand MOVING us to where He wants His gospel preached, and the flip side to that is the removal of His word as a form of judgment.

That was so helpful and practical. I've often thought (in a very American way I might add) "Well its my rights and freedom of speech etc. etc." And there is a place for that, but I think wisdom would suggest that we are stewards of time, money and energy. Fighting those battles isn't worth it when we can just move somewhere else and see the Lords hand directing where He wants His gospel to go. One other thing, the preacher who can avoid going to jail, gets to preach another day. There may be a day when we do go to jail, but for now... move along and keep preaching!

The State of Many Professing Believers

"We are so utterly ordinary, so common place, while we profess to know a power the 20th century does not reckon with. But we are "harmless", and therefore unharmed. We are spiritual pacifists, non-militants, conscientious objectors in this battle-to-the-death with principalities and powers in high places. Meekness must be had for contact with men, but brash, outspoken boldness is required to take part in the comradeship of the cross. We are "side liners", coaching and criticizing the real wrestlers while content to sit by and leave the enemies of God unchallenged. The world cannot hate us, we are too much like its own. Oh that God would make us dangerous!"

- Jim Elliot, martyred to the Au ca Indians of Ecuador

This quote was given to me by Dean. Here I am reading this and thinking YEAH! Then I realized I didn't go witness tonight because of rain? I'm soft. Dean and Sai both went out... they get it.

RAIN DELAY

NO EVANGELISM TONIGHT. POURING RAIN! :(

Piper on Evangelism

Piper is cool. Tracts in his pocket while jogging... thats what I'm talking about!

Please pray for Matt Chandler

Please continue to pray for Matt Chandler for recovery from his surgery. HERE is an update on his health.

We will be with Him!

"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world." John 17:24

A simple faith brings the soul to Christ, Christ keeps the faith alive; that faith enables the believer to persevere, and so he enters heaven. - Spurgeon

Burbank High/ Noho

Had a great time today! Aaron, Dean, Mike S, Nathan and myself went up to Burbank High. Handed out about 400 tracts in no time. We all then went over to Noho and preached and handed out bibles and tracts. Nathan got up for the first time and read the back of a Million Dollar Bill! Please pray for those who heard and received the Gospel!

Whoever believes!

Amen! I say we start with Burbank, Noho & Hollywood then move out in concentric circles... who's with me?

Spurgeon Quote of the Day! 12-8-09

"He that endureth to the end shall be saved."—Matthew 10:22.

"PERSEVERANCE IS THEREFORE, THE TARGET OF ALL OUR SPIRITUAL ENEMIES. We have many adversaries. Look at the world! The world does not object to our being Christians for a time; it will cheerfully overlook all misdemeanors in that way, if we will now shake hands and be as we used to be. Your old companions who used to call you such good fellows, when you were bad fellows, would they not very readily forgive you for having been Christians, if you would just go back and be as in days gone by? Oh! certainly, they would look upon your religion as a freak of folly, but they would very easily overlook it, if you would give it up for the future. "O!" saith the world, "come back; come back to my arms once more; be enamored of me, and though thou hast spoken some hard words against me, and done some cruel deeds against me, I will cheerfully forgive thee." The world is always stabbing at the believer's perseverance. Sometimes she will bully him back; she will persecute him with her tongue—cruel mockings shall be used; and at another time, she will cozen him, "Come thou back to me; O come thou back! Wherefore should we disagree? Thou art made for me, and I am made for thee!" And she beckons so gently and so sweetly, even as Solomon's harlot of old. This is the one thing with her, that thou shouldst cease to be a pilgrim, and settle down to buy and sell with her in Vanity Fair.

Your second enemy, the flesh. What is its aim? "Oh! " cries the flesh, "we have had enough of this; it is weary work being a pilgrim, come, give it up." Sloth says, "Sit still where thou art. Enough is as good as a feast, at least, of this tedious thing." Then, lust crieth, "Am I always to be mortified? Am I never to be indulged? Give me at least, a furlough from this constant warfare?" The flesh cares not how soft the chain, so that it does but hold us fast, and prevent our pressing on to glory.

Then comes in the devil, and sometimes he beats the big drum, and cries with a thundering voice "There is no heaven; there is no God; you are a fool to persevere." Or, changing his tactics, he cries, "Come back! I will give thee a better treatment than thou hadst before. Thou thoughtest me a hard master, but that was misrepresentation; come and try me; I am a different devil from what I was ten years ago; I am respectable to what I was then. I do not want you to go back to the low theater or the casino; come with me, and be a respectable lover of pleasure. I tell thee, I can dress in broad cloth as well as in corderoy, and I can walk in the courts of kings, as well as in the courts and alleys of the beggar. O come back!" he saith, and make thyself one of mine." So that this hellish trinity, the world, tine flesh, and the devil, all stab at the Christian's perseverance.
His perseverance in service they will frequently attack: "What profit is there is in serving God? The devil will say to me sometimes, as he did to Jonah, "Flee thou unto Tarshish, and do not stop in this Nineveh; they will not believe thy word, though thou speak in God's name?" To you he will say, "Why, you are so busy all the six days of the week, what is the good of spending your Sunday with a parcel of noisy brats in a Sunday School? Why go about with those tracts in the streets? Much good you will get from it. Would not you be better with having a little rest?" Ah! that word rest—some of us are very fond of it; but we ought to recollect that we spoil it if we try to get it here, for rest is only beyond the grave. We shall have rest enough when once we come into the presence of our Lord."

C.H.Spurgeon - "Enduring to the End"

For some reason this clip from "The Last Samurai" came to mind. What stood out to me is not the fact that Cruise's character didn't win... its that he didn't quit!

Remember: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written: "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us." Romans 8:35-37