Passion 4 Him

Question: We can’t seem to find a church in our area that has godly leadership and biblical preaching. We feel so alone and now just read the Bible and pray at home. What should we do? And how do we find a “good” church? Response: It is a sad commentary on the state of the church that we receive many such queries. What marks a “healthy” church? Crucial to the answer isMatthew:18:20: “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst....” Christ himself must be the central focus—not a pastor, gripping sermons, a strong missionary emphasis, exciting youth programs, compatible fellow members, or even agreeable doctrines, important as all these factors are. A fervent love for Christ and a heartfelt corporate worship of HisPerson must be the primary mark of a healthy church. The early church was thus characterized. It met regularly on the first day of the week in remembrance of His death. That weekly outpouring of praise, worship and thanksgiving had on...

( Who They Represent in This Day and Age ) By Christine Peters (Source: RaptureReady.com)  The book of Revelation opens with the letters from Jesus to seven churches in Christendom. In these letters He acknowledges what these churches are doing right, where they are going astray and He counsels them as to how to get back on track.   Jesus additionally addresses the individual believers in each church, commending them for seeing through the fog of doctrinal teachings to the core message of the gospel, challenging them to withstand and overcome. The believers, however, are not the intended audience of the letters. The Lord’s purpose is to focus on the leadership of these churches, admonishing them to take a gut check on what they are teaching their flocks and where His core message of salvation may be getting lost in their mix of doctrinal ...

   More than ever before, my inner groans for Christ's return for his bride have been growing stronger and stronger: " Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.  For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees?  But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance." (Romans 8:23-25)   Even when things are going particularly well in life, I'm always left with the feeling that this life is a vapor and all is vanity: " I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind." (Ecc. 1:14)     At times I'm left praying and shouting out to God to come soon, even so Come Quickly! With all I'm seeing in the news and listening to through Bible commentators and talk shows, I get a...

"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.' -- Romans 8:14 , 16 It is the very same Spirit that leads us as children who also assures us that we are children. Without His leading there can be no assurance of our filiation. True full assurance of faith is enjoyed by him who surrenders himself entirely to the leading of the Spirit. In what does this leading consist?  Chiefly in this, that our whole hidden inner life is guided by Him to what it ought to be. This we must firmly believe. Our growth and increase, our development and progress, is not our work but His: we are to trust Him for this. As a tree or animal grows and becomes large by the spirit of life which God has given to it, so also does the Christian by the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. ( Hosea 14:6, 7 ; Matthew 6:28 ; Mark 4:26 , 28 ; Luke 2:40 ; Romans 8:2 ) We have to cherish the joyful assurance that the ...

McMahon, T.A. A few years ago I had the wonderful privilege of ministering to a very elderly lady who was about to be operated on for a cancer issue. It was not a life-or-death-related surgery, but at her advanced age there were some definite concerns. As we awaited the gurney to transport her to surgery, I asked her a question that had been pressing on my heart. I was aware that she may not have known the Lord beyond her social Christian upbringing. She knew a number of things about Jesus, but I wasn’t confident that she was born again. So I asked her simply, “What’s next?” I could tell that she was apprehensive about the pending surgery, and my question startled her. She asked what I meant. Trying to be as sensitive to the situation as I could, I nevertheless told her that I felt compelled to ask her if she thought about what was next for her should she not survive the surgery. That may seem like the wrong thing to ask. There are those who would have me ...

By mike gendron The apostle Peter played a prominent role in the early church. Soon after he abandoned his career as a fisherman to follow Christ, he became a fisher of men. Several of his sermons were recorded in the Book of Acts, and his two epistles are included in the divinely inspired Scriptures. Since Catholics have been taught that Peter was their first pope, I have developed some questions to shed some light on his theology, ecclesiology, and soteriology. All of the answers come directly from his writings and sermons. It is my prayer that those of us who have been sanctified by the truth will share these glorious truths with our Catholic friends and loved ones.    Peter, were you the first pope and the supreme head of the first century church? "As a fellow elder, I exhort the elders among you... to shepherd the flock of God." (1 Pet. 5:1-3) Are you the rock upon which Jesus would build His church? Jesus is "a living stone rejected by men but in the sig...

by John MacArthur What are the bare-bone facts of the gospel? What is the minimum information needed to believe and be saved? While those questions may foster interesting discussions, they are not valid questions for developing evangelistic programs. Sadly, too many evangelistic efforts are based on answers to those questions. In fact, many of the formulaic approaches to the gospel deliberately omit important truths like repentance and God’s wrath against sin. Some influential voices in modern evangelicalism have actually argued that those truths (and others, including Christ’s lordship) are extraneous to the gospel. They say such matters should not even be brought up when talking to unbelievers. Other evangelical leaders, desiring ecumenical unity with Catholic and orthodox churches, suggest that important doctrinal issues such as justification by faith and substitutionary atonement are not really essential to the gospel. They’r...

"The Christian life is too glorious to be easy. It must involve trials and testings. This was true of Christ himself as well as of the apostles and early church. Jesus said, "In the world ye shall have tribulation (Jn:16:33)....The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you..." (15:19-20). Avoiding this uncomfortable truth, a "user-friendly gospel" is preached by thousands of pastors. Megachurches are created by offering an appealing "Christianity" that is guaranteed to bring success and popularity with the world, but which would not be recognized by Paul or the other apostles as the Christian life they knew. Celebrities popular with the world are paid to enter today's pulpits to endorse Christ; thereby they entice multitudes into a false Christianity. Once upon a time the Christian's heroes were missionaries and martyrs. Not today. Believers and the world now share the same ...

There's the Republican Jesus—who is against tax increases and activist judges, for family values and owning firearms. There's Democrat Jesus—who is against Wall Street and Wal-Mart, for reducing our carbon footprint and printing money. There's Therapist Jesus—who helps us cope with life's problems, heals our past, tells us how valuable we are and not to be so hard on ourselves. There's Open-minded Jesus—who loves everyone all the time no m atter what (except for people who are not as open-minded as you). There's Touchdown Jesus—who helps athletes fun faster and jump higher than non-Christians and determines the outcomes of Super Bowls. There's Hippie Jesus—who teaches everyone to give peace a chance, imagines a world without religion, and helps us remember that "all you need is love." There's Yuppie Jesus—who encourages us to reach our full potential, reach for the stars, and buy a boat. There's Spirituality Jesus—who hates...

All Christian parents want to train their children to be “good kids.” But that honorable goal is starkly shallow compared to the eternal purposes God has in mind for your parenting. The purpose of training is to prepare the soil of our child's heart so they will seek God for themselves and be convicted of their own sinfulness and their need to repent. Compelling a child to “pray a sinner's prayer” will not save them. It will only make false converts if the heart is not prepared for God's presence. The Bible mentions the heart 826 times. “Heart” refers to the core of a person's being. From the heart proceed our good and bad thoughts, emotions and behavior. What we teach our children can determine whether that soil is prepared to produce good or evil. Nothing is more important than seeding deep within the heart and mind of a child core Christian convictions like Jesus is God; The reasons we know Jesus Christ rose from the dead, why we should be convinced th...

By Dr. Woodrow Kroll            You would think that all Christians have a biblical view of the world around them.   After all, we go to church, we're a part of a small group, we've read The Purpose-Driven Life .   Are you ready for a reality check?   The research says just the opposite.   Most Christians do not have a biblical worldview.           Author and researcher George Barna made waves by citing statistics that show just 9 percent of all adults in America who claim to be "born again" have a biblical worldview.   You didn't read that incorrectly-it was 9 percent.    Protestants as a whole could only manage 7 percent with a biblical worldview (The Barna Research Group, January 12, 2004). But that can't be possible, can it?   How could only 9 percent of born again adults view the world with a biblical focus?    Let me make a few ...