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|  | Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow
by R.C. Sproul | | | To order, call 800-435-4343 or visit www.ligonier.org. | | | We need to maintain a diet of nutritious foods if our bodies are to grow and thrive. But what do the people of God need in order to grow and thrive in the Christian faith? In this book, noted theologian and pastor R.C. Sproul identifies five of the crucial “nutrients” that promote spiritual growth: Bible study, prayer, worship, service, and stewardship. With biblical insight and practical wisdom, Dr. Sproul teaches Christians how to maintain a balanced “diet” that will lead to growth and mature Christian living. This book is an important resource for new believers to learn these spiritual disciplines and become grounded in the Christian faith in a way that anyone can understand. | |
| | To order, call 800-435-4343 or visit www.ligonier.org. | |  | | | Excerpts from Five Things Every Christian Needs to Grow by R.C. Sproul | | | Pg. 12 Though sin often brings immediate pleasure, it gives no lasting joy. If we understand the difference, we can avoid the pitfalls that entice the believer. | | | Pg. 21-22 If I don't like something I read in Scripture, perhaps I simply don't understand it. If so, studying it again may help. If, in fact, I do understand the passage and still don't like it, this is not an indication there is something wrong with the Bible. It's an indication that something is wrong with me, something that needs to change. Often, before we can get something right, we need to first discover what we're doing wrong. | | | Pg. 22 When we experience the "changing of the mind" that is repentance, we are not suddenly cleansed of all wrong thinking. The renewing of our minds is a lifelong process. We can accelerate this process by focusing on those passages of Scripture that we don't like. This is part of the "instruction in righteousness" of which Paul speaks. | | | Pg. 24 I think one of the reasons many Christians never get to the meat of the Word but remain at the milk level is because they never really learned how to drink the milk. There is a reason why scales are important to the piano player and the grip to the golfer. We must master these basics if we are to reach higher levels of proficiency. | | | Pg. 48 Just as God uses the preaching of the gospel as the power unto salvation, so He uses the power of prayer to bring about redemption. Our prayers cannot force God to do anything, but He uses them as His own instruments to bring about His will. | | | Pg. 76-77 Nobody wants to come near to God with an uneasy conscience. Sin is one of the reasons why we like to keep a safe distance from Him. | | | Pg. 78 If we don't feel like going to church, we are to do it anyway. It's a privilege to come near to God and to worship with other believers, but it's also a sacred duty. | | | Pg. 80 The primary reason to be in church is to worship the living God, and for this we must bring a sense of reverence and adoration for His transcendent majesty. There's nothing common about this. We walk through the door. We step across the threshold. We enter into His presence. We know that God is not restricted to the building, but we are aware that this is a sacred hour that God has set apart and declared to be a holy time of visitation between Himself and His people. So we leave worldly cares and concerns for a while and focus on God. We come to hear a word from God, and it is the pastor's responsibility to make sure what we hear from the pulpit is the Word of God, not pop psychology. The power is in the Word, for it is the truth. That's what we all desperately need to hear, and more than once a week. And so we come to hear and respond in a way that will honor God, in a way that will honor His majesty. | | | Pg. 87 This is a glorious story of redemption, but there is great irony here. We see what God redeemed His people from, but we must not miss what God redeemed them to. He called His people out of Egypt, out of slavery, not to become autonomous or to do whatever they please. He called them to serve Him. The Israelites were called out of service to Pharaoh and into service to God. | | | Pg. 90 Service...is not high on the list of things we enjoy. In our culture, we struggle with the image and role of the servant. We think it's beneath our dignity to fulfill that role. | | | Pg. 98 I have no "profit" of my own because I earn nothing by doing what I am required to do. That's why our redemption is by grace and grace alone. There is only one thing that I can place before God that is, properly speaking, my own—my sin. The only thing that can redeem me is not my work, but the work that Christ has performed on my behalf. He freely came to do the Father's will and to submit Himself to the law for our sake. He, and He alone, is a profitable servant. | | | Pg. 105-106 Our servanthood should require no supervision. We should not need to have someone constantly watching us to ensure that we are working. Our goal should be to please Christ, not perform merely for the applause of people. People-pleasers cannot be true servants of Christ. We must keep our eyes on Christ and not on the judges of this world. | | | Pg. 108 There is widespread cynicism today about giving to the church. Some unscrupulous televangelists and pastors have made it seem unwise, thanks to their lavish lifestyles. Yet the Bible clearly commands Christians to give and to practice good stewardship. We take an offering every Sunday in our church. Right before the offering, I usually say, "Let us now worship God with our tithes and offerings." The point I'm stressing to our congregation is that giving should be an act of worship. | | | Pg. 122 Failure to tithe also limits the ministry of the church. One of the greatest barriers to expanding the kingdom of Christ in this world is financial. | | | Pg. 124 I often hear people say, "I'd like to tithe, but I can't afford to." I honestly believe that if you invest in the kingdom of God, you won't lose anything in the final analysis. |
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| If you find yourself wanting to make donations this upcoming holiday season, Samritan's Purse is excellent (same organization that does the shoeboxes). Go to www.samaritanspurse.org to view their gift catalog. That's right, you can also donate in honor of others and they will receive a card telling them so. Samaritan's Purse has many wonderful ministries...medical, education, food, work/skill training, church building and materials. It's all done along with teaching others about our Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Other ideas:
Voice of the Martyrs www.persecution.com/ (they offer support and do work in restricted and hostile nations)
Prison Fellowship www.prisonfellowship.org (minister to prisoners and their families...Angel Tree)
e3 Ministries www.e3partners.org (My Rwanda mission trip was through them...equip, evangelize, establish)
Focus on the Family www.family.org
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| Dear Family & Friends,
I came across this story (http://www.citizenlink.org/content/A000008470.cfm)
of a woman who was a failed abortion attempt (Gianna Jessen). She has Cerebral Palsy because of it. She is fighting Barak because of his blatant disregard for
the unborn (and the intended unborn).
She was asked: "It seems many Christians are pushing the abortion
issue to the back burner. Does that bother you?" Her response was:
"It's cowardice (and) appalling. What a man thinks about the most
vulnerable among us says everything about him. It will determine all of
his other decisions. It's cowardice on the part of Christians to run
away from this because they want to be seen more relevant or less
threatening, or whatever the motives may be. We need to fight for the
most vulnerable."
She
is quite blunt, and to many, I'm sure offensive. But it is an issue we
must deal with. We could just ignore it on the national voting level,
but we KNOW that the man who becomes president will support bills,
appoint SC justices, etc. that will greatly (or gravely) affect the
issue of infant protection...so we cannot simply push it to the back
burner as Gianna mentions. Any other issue we consider does not DIRECTLY impact
the LIVES of numerous human beings!
Some may doubt the seriousness of the matter at hand of Barak Obama
being named president. Here's a link to a great article that explains
just how extreme Obama is on the abortion issue. We're not talking
about just electing another pro-choice guy, he's pretty much
pro-abortion. http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.14_George_Robert_Obama's%20Abortion%20Extremism_.xml
Here's a bullet pointed list for convenience, which highlights what
the article mentions we already know about Obama from his record and
what he plans to do if elected:
- he supports legislation that would
repeal the Hyde Amendment,
which protects pro-life citizens from having to pay for abortions that
are not necessary to save the life of the mother and are not the result
of rape or incest...what this means: abortions that normally wouldn't
happen (because they can't be paid for) would happen, thus increasing
the numbers of abortion...and, of course, taxpayers would be paying for
these "convenience" abortions
- He has promised that "the first thing I'd do as President is
sign the Freedom of Choice Act"--create
a federally guaranteed "fundamental right" to abortion through all nine
months of pregnancy, implications (stated by pro-abortion National
Organization for Women):
- "a right to abort a fully developed child in the final weeks for
undefined 'health' reasons."
- abolish virtually
every existing state and federal limitation on abortion, including:
- parental
consent and notification laws for minors (so, your kids, who can't even
get a tylenol at school without your permission, would be able to get
an abortion...surgery...without you ever knowing),
- state and federal
funding restrictions on abortion (our tax money would be funding these deaths),
- and conscience protections for
pro-life citizens working in the health-care industry-protections
against being forced to participate in the practice of abortion or else
lose their jobs.
- opposed
the ban on partial-birth abortions (where the mother births the bottom
portion of the baby, then the doctor extracts the baby's brain to kill
it) when he served in the Illinois legislature and
condemned the Supreme Court decision that upheld legislation banning this heinous practice
- referred to a baby conceived inadvertently by a young woman as a
"punishment" that she should not endure
- stated that women's equality
requires access to abortion on demand
- wishes to
strip federal funding
from pro-life crisis pregnancy centers that provide alternatives to
abortion for pregnant women in need. There is certainly nothing
"pro-choice" about that.
- has
not endorsed or offered support for the Pregnant Women Support Act
meant to reduce abortions by providing assistance for women facing
crisis pregnancies
- opposed key provisions of the Act, including providing
coverage of unborn children in the State Children's Health Insurance
Program (S-CHIP), and informed consent for women about the effects of
abortion and the gestational age of their child
- This legislation would not make a single abortion illegal. It simply
seeks to make it easier for pregnant women to make the choice not to
abort their babies...but Obama opposed it.
- senator Obama
opposed legislation to
protect children who are born alive,
either as a result of an abortionist's unsuccessful effort to kill them
in the womb, or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to
viability
- The federal version of the bill passed unanimously in the United States
Senate, winning the support of such ardent advocates of legal abortion
as John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. But Barack Obama opposed it and worked
to defeat it. For him, a child marked for abortion gets no
protection-even ordinary medical or comfort care-even if she is born
alive and entirely separated from her mother. So Obama has favored
protecting what is literally a form of infanticide.
- Senator Obama, too (as well as McCain),
wants to lift the restriction on invetro fertilization.
- He has co-sponsored a bill-strongly opposed by McCain-that would
authorize the large-scale industrial production of human embryos for use in biomedical research in which they would be killed. In fact, the bill Obama co-sponsored would effectively require the
killing of human beings in the embryonic stage that were produced by
cloning. It would make it a federal crime for a woman to save an embryo
by agreeing to have the tiny developing human being implanted in her
womb so that he or she could be brought to term. This "clone and kill"
bill would, if enacted, bring something to America that has heretofore
existed only in China-the equivalent of legally mandated abortion.
- a
bill was introduced in the United States Senate to put a modest
amount of federal money into research to develop these methods (that
would produce the exact equivalent of embryonic stem cells without
using (or producing) embryos), Barack
Obama was one of the few senators who opposed it. Why would someone not wish to find a method of producing the
pluripotent cells scientists want that all Americans could
enthusiastically endorse? Why create and kill human embryos when there
are alternatives that do not require the taking of nascent human lives?
- Obama enthusiastically supports
Roe v. Wade and would appoint Supreme Court judges (up to 6 would retire during the next presidency) who would protect that
morally and constitutionally disastrous decision and even expand its
scope. Indeed, in an interview in Glamour magazine, he made it clear that he would apply a litmus test for Supreme Court nominations: jurists who do not support Roe will not be considered for appointment by Obama.
Summary:
What kind of America do we want our beloved nation to be? Barack Obama's America is one in which being human just isn't enough
to warrant care and protection. It is an America where the unborn may
legitimately be killed without legal restriction, even by the grisly
practice of partial-birth abortion. It is an America where a baby who
survives abortion is not even entitled to comfort care as she dies on a
stainless steel table or in a soiled linen bin. It is a nation in which
some members of the human family are regarded as inferior and others
superior in fundamental dignity and rights. In Obama's America, public
policy would make a mockery of the great constitutional principle of
the equal protection of the law. In perhaps the most telling comment
made by any candidate in either party in this election year, Senator
Obama, when asked by Rick Warren when a baby gets human rights,
replied: "that question is above my pay grade." It was a profoundly
disingenuous answer: For even at a state senator's pay grade, Obama
presumed to answer that question with blind certainty. His unspoken
answer then, as now, is chilling: human beings have no rights until
infancy - and if they are unwanted survivors of attempted abortions,
not even then.
I just ask that you truly seek God before you head to the polls
and consider how the more important things (human life) will be
affected by the result of this election.
Thank you all for hearing me out. I must confess that I have not been
praying for my country and its leadership nearly as much as I should.
Please join me in praying, no matter who you are voting for.
More info:
From http://www.bornalivetruth.org/
In 1999 a gruesome discovery was made that an Illinois hospital was shelving babies to die in a soiled utility room who had survived their abortions.
The
Illinois Born Alive Infants Protection Act was introduced in 2001 to
provide legal protection to all born babies, wanted or not, including
the right to medical care.
Then-state Senator Barack Obama voted against Born Alive 4 times in 3 years and was the sole senator to speak against it on the Senate floor in 2001 and 2002.
In
2002, the Federal version of Born Alive passed unanimously in the US
Senate and by overwhelming voice vote in the House. The pro-abortion
group NARAL even went neutral on the bill.
But In
2003, Barack Obama voted against the identical version of Born Alive in
Illinois. Then, for the next 4 years he repeatedly misrepresented his
vote until it was recently discovered in the IL General Assembly
archives.
http://www.americaschoicenow.com/ A link to a nicely made video relating to the email I sent you.
A friend recently discovered that abortions are much more prevalent than what she had been aware of. Here are some stats:
All abortion numbers are derived from pro-abortion sources courtesy of The Alan Guttmacher Institute and Planned Parenthood's Family Planning Perspectives.
Click here for the Guttmacher Institute's latest fact sheet on abortion.
WORLDWIDE
Number of abortions per year: Approximately 42 Million
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 115,000
UNITED STATES
Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700
Who's having abortions (age)?
52%
of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women
aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls
under 15 account for 1.2%.
Who's having abortions (race)?
While
white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well
below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as
likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are
roughly 2 times as likely.
Who's having abortions (marital status)?
64.4%
of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women
account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.
Who's having abortions (religion)?
Women
identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in
the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for
1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all
abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify
themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".
Who's having abortions (income)?
Women
with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions;
Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%;
Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%;
Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.
Why women have abortions
1%
of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur
because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or
child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).
At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
52%
of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen
between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th
week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the
16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after
the 20th week of pregnancy.
Likelihood of abortion:
An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.
Abortion coverage:
48%
of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of
pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or
provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United
States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state
funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.
So, Alabama doesn't currently have to worry about our taxes going
towards abortion (see previous email though as to how an Obama
presidency would change that). | | |
| Muraho! Amakuru? (Hello! How are you?) October 11, 2008
I am doing great! My trip to Rwanda was so amazing, almost surreal. God was so evident there! Prayers were answered, people were healed, and many came to know Jesus Christ. The Lord worked in me, through me, and all around me, and I left with my faith being greatly awakened and strengthened.
Rwanda is a beautiful country. Hills galore filled with vegetation, banana plantations, cattle, mud huts with grass roofs, and red soil (similar to here in Huntsville). People walk and bike along the street sides. Women have babies strapped to their backs with colorful fabric, children wear their school uniforms and call out “chupa” indicating water bottle—they are hoping you’ll give them an empty one so they’ll have a way to have a drink while at school, many people are seen with their yellow water jugs they are lugging—often using their heads—to and from the nearest well. Men use their bikes to push multiple bunches of bananas. There’s an occasional security checkpoint (along what we would call a rural road) where you pull over and they make sure all of your lights are working.
There were 17 team members who went and each team member had a Rwandan Ministry Partner (who also functioned as our interpreters). We were split into 7 different groups, each group being assigned to one Mission Site. Each group had a “Mother Church” they worked with to plant a new church at the Mission Site, a village that was without a church. Each weekday began with morning devotions, breakfast, and the van ride to our sites (45min – 2hrs away). Upon arriving, we would greet those who were there from the mother church and new believers from that village who would show up to help. We would spend time training how to evangelize and use the EvangeCube to share the Gospel. We then split up into groups of 2-4 and went door-to-door (or group-to-group in the streets), with the goal of sharing the Gospel and offering an invitation to receive Christ. In the afternoon, we would hold a gathering where we would engage in worship and in Bible study. Later in the week, we would return to the homes of new believers and disciple them (which also modeled to the local believers what discipleship looks like).
My first great encounter with God on the trip came on Sunday morning. I was told Saturday that I would be sharing my testimony on Sunday at our Mother Church service. I began feeling nervous and unprepared. I kept rewording my testimony and felt unsatisfied each time. I was worried I wouldn’t remember what I wanted to say. Sunday morning I journaled: “Lord, I step aside. I fall at Your beautiful feet. You don’t need me here to do this for You. You have chosen to send me.” I knew my worries were needless. I submitted my worries and fears to the Lord. They were not from Him. He would give me the words to speak. He gave me rest and peace. He allowed me to focus on Him and worship Him through the wonderful singing on the ride over and during the service. As I got up to share, I prayed. As I felt my knees and voice shaking, I prayed. The Lord enabled me to share something deeply personal to 300+ people. Alleluia! This was definitely done in the Lord’s strength and power. There’s no way I could have done that on my own! Paul, a fellow American, taught on the parable of the prodigal son before I went up, and the Lord showed me that I could use this as an analogy for my own testimony. I too had wasted my life seeking hope and joy in things other than God—in my personal achievements and in the praise and approval of others. But He brought me to realize the futility of these things and turned my heart towards Him. And when I came home, He welcomed me with open arms.
The Rwandans were so receptive to the Gospel. I would tell them that I had come from America to share the story and the power of Jesus Christ with them. I would then ask if I could share this story with them. Only once did someone say no, and many times, I wouldn’t even have to ask, they would ask me if they could hear more! So, I would share the story of how God is holy and perfect. How man is sinful [Rom 3:23]; therefore, separated from God and deserving of His wrath [Rom 6:23, Isaiah 59:2]. How there is nothing we can do on our own to overcome our sin and come to God [Eph 2:1-3]. But how God loves us, so He sent His Son Jesus to take our sins on His body by dying on the cross [Eph 2:4-5, 1 Pet 2:24]. How Jesus was buried and raised from the dead [1 Cor 15:3-6]! How through this we can trust that He is the Son of God and that God has accepted His sacrifice for our sins! How it is only through Jesus we can be forgiven of our sinfulness and be restored to our heavenly Father and receive eternal life [John 14:6, Acts 4:12]. And how just hearing about all of it is not enough…we must believe it in our hearts, repent of our sinfulness, and allow God to be the Lord of every aspect of our lives [Rom 10:9-10,James 1:22].
Many of the people I witnessed to had some pre-conceived notions of religion, God, and/or Jesus (very similar to here in the U.S.). Once we explained that it is not religion or our good works or anything else that causes God to withhold His judgment from us, they would thoughtfully consider that and then immediately hone in to listen. I do not doubt for a second that their receptiveness and all that took place in Rwanda was due to the many prayers heard and answered, which were offered to the Lord by us in those moments and our team and numerous supporters in the months during and leading up to that time. The fields were no doubt prepared for harvesting. Almost 2,000 people prayed to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior between the 7 villages and the school that was home to the teenage orphans, which was across from our hotel!
About 1,000 of those who asked Jesus into their lives received discipleship visits in that same week! Discipleship consisted of things such as reviewing what it meant for them to receive Jesus, rejoicing, encouragement, going through a Bible study lesson, learning a method that would give focus for prayer, and praying with and for them. The churches that were planted were given many materials (including an electronic device that audibly proclaims the New Testament, and New Life in Christ discipleship lessons) to assist them in continuing in the discipleship of new and old believers alike. By the end of the week, the Rwandan leaders that would remain there were running the afternoon gathering in its entirety.
To see our trip’s video, you can go to: http://www.onetruemedia.com/otm_site/view_shared?p=70eb69fb6cfa0e17e1feea&skin_id=1702&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=email
I would like to thank all of you for the great encouragement I received through your many prayers, spoken words, and donations. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Please continue to pray that the old and new believers in Rwanda will continue to glorify God and grow in Him. I pray that God will pour out His blessings upon each of you as He did me.
What a gloriously generous God we have to let us be a part of His work of advancing His kingdom here on this earth!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Jacky
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| So, I was reading my prayer journal Tuesday, and the topic was
praying God's Word in surrender....putting off the old and putting on
the new.... I focused on Putting of neglect of Bible study, and putting
on devotion to the Word. So, I read 2 Timothy 3:14-17. I retrieved
the following from a website:
vs 16,17 How might you categorize the various ways in which the scripture
is useful?
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Teaching
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Instructing in what is right in doctrine
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Rebuking
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Convicting of what is wrong in practice
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Correcting
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Convicting of what is wrong in doctrine
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Training in Righteousness
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Instructing in what is right in practice |
Anyways,
just wanted to share in case anyone needed the reminder of one reason
why Scripture is vital to us (we need convicting of what is wrong in
practice and doctrine, and instruction in what is right in practice and
doctrine). We can't simply read the Bible once and expect to know it
all. If we are to train ourselves to be respectable, Godly women, we
have to clothe ourselves in the Word. (I need to realize this just as
much as anyone else).
Hope everyone is learning a thing or two and experiencing God in a way or two this week! ;)
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