Politics is not the Gospel

"God does not call the church to influence the culture by promoting legislation." — John MacArthur

I am constantly getting email from fellow Christians with political overtones trying to get me to sign some petition or a request for me to call my congressman or senator to complain to them about some bill that is on the table that will promote anti-Christian values, and so the main message I see Christians promoting today is for the cultural to be more moral instead of a call to repent and believe the Gospel. Are we really to be involved in such activities as believers in Christ? Is there a biblical example of this for us to follow? Actually there is a New Testament model to follow and its the Pharisees who make people "twice as much a son of hell". Now that's an example that I want to stay away from as much as possible.

John MacArthur has preached a sermon titled "The Deadly Dangers of Moralism" I highly recommend that every Christian read this sermon or download it and listen very closely. Another fine article is by Phil Johnson titled "The Foolishness of Preaching the Gospel". Both of these messages highlight the dangers of trying to force the culture into producing a morality that is not by the Grace of God.

Who is this Pope?

With all the recent attention to my post on the "Pope and The Papacy" I thought it would be fitting to let you hear just what Mr. Spurgeon really thought of the Pope.

"Who is this pope of Rome? His Holiness? Call him not so, but call him His Blasphemy! His Profanity! His Impudence! What are he and his cardinals, and his legates, but the image and incarnation of Antichrist, to be in due time cast with the beast and the false prophet into the lake of fire?" - C. H. Spurgeon (1834-1892)

Excerpt taken from the "Treasury of David" Psalm 108 by Charles H. Spurgeon

Is It All About Me?

Chris Rosebrough over at A Little Leaven has a great post on a Superficial, Me-Centered Church Evaluation of 16 questions one should ask before joining a church by so-called pastor David Foster of The Gathering in Nashville, TN. This is classic narcissism comming right out of the pulpit. ( Full Article )

6. Does the music move me? - How me-centered and vain can you get?? So I'm supposed to show up at a church unannounced, expect to be given the VIP treatment and demand that the music move ME. What if I am only "moved" by opera music? Should I let the church know that I won't be back until they change the music to suit my 'moving' needs?" Here's a better question, "Does the music exalt Christ and what He accomplished for us on the cross or does it exalt me?"

The Motherload

The Master’s College has converted 15 years of past chapel messages delivered by John MacArthur to mp3 and have posted them online free of charge through their library catalog. Below is a compiled list of all the messages that John MacArthur has preached at the college since he became its president until 2000. Some of the messages were not converted, but this is most of them. Enjoy!

Dr. John MacArthur at The Master's College
To download sermons to your computer, right click, then Save Target As...

1985
Gray Areas - (Part 1, Part 2)
Master’s Lordship
Q&A
Self-Discipline
Worshipping the Master
A Sinless Master
The Sufficiency of Scripture
Welcome to Master’s - (Part1, Part 2)

1986
The Beatitudes - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8)
Leadership
Day of Prayer and Impact ‘86 Report
Equipping the Saints
Personal Testimony
Purpose Statement
Servant
What Child Is This?
Who Missed Christmas?

1987
The Bruised Reed
Completing the Masterpiece
Corinthian Warning
The Danger of Spiritual Privilege
The Grace of God by Jack MacArthur
A Living Sacrifice
The Nature of Worship
Pray for the Lost
Prayer - (Part 1, Part 2)
Principles of Evangelism
Q & A
Salt of the Earth
Take Heed Lest You Fall
Worship - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)

1988
Aids: Panel Discussion
Caring for the Lost Sheep
Knowing the Will of God
Leadership
Lessons to learn from the fall of Jimmy Swaggart
Master’s Distictives
Materialism
Recognizing False Leaders
Self-Discipline
Sin of Homosexuality
These Things I Pray For . . .
Q & A

1989
The Dangers of Spiritual Privilege
Effective Discipleship
Judgment of the Nation
The Last Shall Be First
Master’s Men - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Principles of Giving
Pursuing the Prize - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Restoration
Sovereign Election
Spiritual Aides in the Church
The Spiritual Battle
What Is Your Relationship to Christ?

1990
Be Strong In Christ
Filled with the Spirit - (Part 1, Part 2)
My Prayer For You
Praying for the Lost
Spiritual Warfare - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Sufficiency in God’s Grace
Virtue of Manliness
Q & A - (Part 1, Part 2)

1991
Heaven - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
The Lord’s Prayer
Power of Unbelief
The Responsibility of Baptism

1992
Danger in the Church
Discipleship - (Part 1, Part 2)
Forgiveness
Jonah: The Worst Missionary
Paul’s Leadership Initiative
Qualities of a Servant
Why a Christian Education
The Will of God
Q & A - (Part 1, Part 2)

1993
Call to Salvation
Commitment to the Lost World
Dealing with Tragedy
The Entanglement of Sin
Eternal Security
The Goal of Christlikeness
Spiritual Growth - (Part 1, Part 2)
TMC: Where We Are Going
Whose Fault Is My Sin?
Spiritual Warfare

1994
Fellowship - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Lessons from the Quake
The Vanishing Conscience
Knowing the Will of God
Master’s Distinctives
Q & A

1995
The Glory of God - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Issues Facing the Church
The Last Will Be First
Moral Absolutes
The Danger of Spiritual Privilege

1996
The Death of Christ - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Lessons to Live
The Love of God
Receiving the Word
Responding to the Word
True Education Wisdom
Truth and Education
A Vision of Christ

1997
The Ambition of Loving God
Eleven Priniciples for Effective Leadership
Loving God with Your Mind - (Part 1, Part 2)
Our Sufficient Christ
Saving Faith

1998
The Sufficiency of Scripture - (Part 1, Part 2)
The Benefits of Youth
Heart to Heart
Is Yours A Demon Faith?
Wisdom
Worshiping in Spirit and Truth

1999
All Things Work Together For Good - (Part 1, Part 2)
The Authority of Scripture
The Church In God’s Plan - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Convocation Chapel
Distinctives of the Master’s College
Get to Know the President
God’s Love for His People
Lies of the World vs. The Truth
Q & A

2000
Call to the Marketplace
CPS Chapel
Evangelistic Prayer
Knowing the Truth
Laying the Foundations of Eschatology - (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3)
Our One True Motivation - (Part 1, Part 2)
The Complete and Perfect Word - (Part 1, Part 3)

Thanks to Affectional Wit for posting these links first.

Genuine Article

It is the rock solid belief that most of what we see calling itself Christian today is nothing of the sort. I believe that it is counterfeit Christianity that is in gross disobedience to the Scriptures. I believe that every pervert pastor that secretly molests children, every false teacher, every health and wealth televangelist driving around in a limo, every abusive spiritual system is the product of sin and rebellion against God’s clear commands. I know this, because I can read God’s Word and compare it to these people and their claims of Christian faith. Also, I have seen the real thing. I have seen the genuine article of Christianity and when you have, it is easy to spot the liars. - Ingrid Schlueter

God Told Me?

The Milky Way

"You can search far and wide across the Baptist or evangelical universe and you will see the dominance of the Milky Way, you have milky churches that demand milky preachers, preach milky sermons to milky Christians who desire to have their bottles refilled with formula each week that they might nurse themselves back to sleep and satisfy their lactose dependency." - Jeff Noblit

This quote is taken from a sermon titled "Preaching a Watered-Down Gospel is Sin - Pt.1" preached by Jeff Noblit who is the senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Aim to Entertain

Sometimes I go to www.gty.org and just do a word search and see what turns up in John MacArthur's archives, I know it's a strange hobby but I do enjoy it. Well I did a search on the word "Powerful Preaching" I know it's two words but play along with me if you will, it turned up this little gem on "Fifteen Evil Consequences of Plexiglas Preaching", the quote below is taken from consequence number 6. I don't know about you but I would really like to read the other 46 consequences that were left out of this article.

"What passes for preaching in some churches today is literally no more profound than what preachers in our fathers' generation were teaching in the five-minute children's sermon they gave before dismissing the kids. That's no exaggeration. It is often that simplistic, if not utterly inane. There is nothing deep about it. Such an approach makes it impossible for true worship to take place, because worship is a transcendent experience. Worship should take us above the mundane and simplistic. So the only way true worship can occur is if we first come to grips with the depth of spiritual truth. Our people can only rise high in worship in the same proportion to which we have taken them deep into the profound truths of the Word. There is no way they can have lofty thoughts of God unless we have plunged them into the depths of God's self-revelation. But preaching today is neither profound nor transcendent. It doesn't go down and it doesn't go up. It merely aims to entertain." - John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

"We insist that Preaching be nothing less than a banqueting table that serves the delicacies of Jesus every single week so that the hungry people of God might come and feast upon Him." - Dr. Arturo Azurdia

Godcasting

I just wanted to introduce a new website/podcast that I am endeavoring to tackle it's a spin off of this blog where I can upload some of my favorite sermons for the public to download. I hope and pray it will enrich the lives of many. Visit The Bororean Podcast.

Home Sweet Home

This past Sunday me and my wife traveled to Oak Grove, Ky to participate in the grand opening of the new 400 seat sanctuary at First Baptist Church of Oak Grove. This is our church home where I was baptized and also where my wife grew up, this is a very small community who's focus as a church is to minister/witness to the soldiers and their families at Fort Campbell, Ky, this was a very exciting event as we reunited with brothers and sisters in Christ that we haven't seen in years. Brother John Walker who was the pastor at Oak Grove for fifteen years, and the pastor who baptized me and my wife was on hand with a testimony of dedication to the faith and evangelism from this small community that has effected lives all across this country for eternity. I was kinda taken back when we walked in the new building it's a beautiful sanctuary and it sure has come along way from the old camper they first occupied in 1954. I know some of you might be thinking that this might have turned into a Me Church, but nothing can be further from the truth we sang nothing but ole' hymns and Pastor Todd Gray brought a powerful message from Exodus chapter 15, my father in-law was the deacon who had the privilege of praying for the first offering in this new building and dedicated it to the advancement of the Kingdom of God. Praise God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ for First Baptist Church of Oak Grove, Ky. You can read the local news paper article about this event here.

Are You Reformed?

Are you a Reformed Evangelical? Below are the results of my reformed quiz, did you have any doubt? You scored as Reformed Evangelical, You are a Reformed Evangelical. You take the Bible very seriously because it is God's Word. You most likely hold to TULIP and are sceptical about the possibilities of universal atonement or resistible grace. The most important thing the Church can do is make sure people hear how they can go to heaven when they die. Reformed Evangelical 96% Fundamentalist 86% Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan 86% Neo orthodox 71% Classical Liberal 14% Charismatic/Pentecostal 14% Emergent/Postmodern 11% Roman Catholic 7% Modern Liberal 0% What's your theological worldview? created with QuizFarm.com

Pope and The Papacy

If it wasn't for copyright infringements I would post every John MacArthur sermon I have ever bought for you to download which is about 100 but Acts 24:16 teaches me to keep a clear conscience before God and men, with that said The Way of The Master radio has published one of my favorite sermons by John MacArthur on the subject of The Pope and The Papacy in two parts with some commercial and comment breaks. This is a powerful message that exposes the truth that is behind the Pope and his office and I am sure it will anger many.

"We must have no truce, no treaty with Rome. War! war to the knife with her! Peace there cannot be. She cannot have peace with us—we cannot have peace with her. She hates the true Church, and we can only say that the hatred is reciprocated. We would not lay a hand upon her priests; we would not touch a hair of their heads. Let them be free; but their doctrine we would destroy from the face of the earth as the doctrine of devils. So let it perish, O God, and let that evil thing become as the fat of lambs. Into smoke let it consume: yea into smoke let it consume away." - C. H. Spurgeon

Download Part 1
Download Part 2

Pray Always!

Ephesians 6:18 "Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;"

"We live in a day characterized by the multiplication of man's machinery and the decrease of God's power. The great cry of our day is work, new organizations, new methods, new machinery. The great need of our day is prayer. It was a master stroke of Satan when he got the Church to so generally lay aside this mighty weapon of prayer. Satan is perfectly willing that the Church multiply its organizations and contrive machinery for the conquest of the world for Christ if it will only give up praying." - R. A. Torrey (1856-1928)

The Gospel of Mime

Preacher/Entertainer Brandon Primm doesn't even need to speak to present his Christian testimony, he is the "Minister Mime" he uses mime as a tool to minister the gospel of Jesus Christ with his gifts of interpretative dance and mime to minister to others all without the use of speech. He said quote "People are just floored by the mime interpretation and later tell me that they understood what I shared, although I haven't said a word," Wow that's amazing the people clearly understand the Gospel of Jesus Christ without a word spoken, never mind that Jesus Christ is the Word of God made flesh. I wonder how Brandon fits his style of evangelism into Romans 10:14 "How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?" I guess Brandon wants us to just set the Bible aside and let our minds interpret what the Gospel is by his performance, this approach to ministry is so subjective and seems to be so rampant in our church's as this post-modern mindset has choked the true Gospel right out of the pulpit. When we let things like this go on within the church walls it's no wonder that most of today's so called Christians have become so luke warm!

Objective Ignorance

With all the widespread claims by so called "Christians" who believe that God is speaking directly to them through dreams, visions, and personal prophecies or even the audible voice of the Almighty. You know you've heard them say things like "I heard the voice of the Lord," "The voice of God spoke to me," or "I received a word from the Lord" and my favorite "God told me," and then they begin to tell you some bizarre story that could never be back up by Scripture. So the question is should Christians really buy into any revelation of God that comes from a subjective source?

"It seems particularly unfortunate that there would be such an affinity for subjective "revelations" in an era when the average "born-again Christian" is so ignorant of the objective revelation God has given us in the Bible. When knowledge of Scripture is at such an ebb, this is the worst possible time for believers to be seeking divine truth in dreams, visions, and subjective impressions." - John MacArthur

Excerpt taken from "Reckless Faith: When the Church Loses Its Will To Discern" Copyright 1994 by John F. MacArthur, Jr. , pg.180-181

Quote of the Day

"We live in perilous times: we are passing through a most eventful period; the Christian world is convulsed; there is a mighty upheaval of the old foundations of faith; a great overhauling of old teaching." - by C. H. Spurgeon from an article titled "The Case Proved" from the October 1887 Sword and Trowel

Crossing the Lines

After thinking about today's event in Nashville (The Call) I couldn't help but think what a theological mess of different beliefs are being represented at this event, some are sure to be orthodox while others are surely to be heretical, or even other religions may be present as Mormons or Jehovah’s Witnesses are sure to believe they too are Christians. Any and possibly all doctrinal belief systems in Christianity are surely being compromised under the guise of unity in prayer and fasting instead of gathering under the basis of biblical truth. I find this to be very troubling and profoundly historical as I will let Dr. John MacArthur explain.

You know, the Bible predicts in Revelations 17 that there will be a one-world church (in the last days). I used to wonder how in the world that would ever happen, when everybody’s got their own theology. But there’s something happening today that for the first time in history is just tearing across all the denominational lines. 30,000 Catholics are now at least involved in the inner workings of the charismatic movement. Eight to 14 million people are involved in this right here.

It’s crossing all the denominational lines. People are getting together sans doctrine, you know. It doesn’t matter what your doctrine is as long as you have this. It could well be that this could be that which could be the catalyst to bring the ecumenical movement that results in the false church in Revelations.

Pentecostalism was estimated to number around 115 million followers worldwide in 2000; lower estimates place the figure near to 22 million (eg. Cambridge Encyclopedia), while the highest estimates apparently place the figure between 400 and 600 million. According to a Spring 1998 article in Christian History, there are about 11,000 different Pentecostal or charismatic denominations worldwide.

Excerpt taken from a sermon titled "Miracles, Healings, and Tongues" preached by Pastor John MacArthur. You can read the entire article here.

Megachurch

Coercing the Creator

2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

The Call Nashville, is taking place tomorrow at LP Stadium in Nashville, TN you know where the Tennessee Titans play. It is being organized by Pentecostal preacher Lou Engle, and the idea is for young people to pray and fast for revival in America, sounds great right? Well...

"Wrapped in prophetic language, Engle paints us a picture of a powerless god who has to make up for letting a culture slide. Engle’s god has to renew his vows to his children and needs them to fast and pray SO THAT he will move! He even (although perhaps inadvertently) says that it was Elijah and not God who broke Jezebel’s “spell.” Engle’s picture of God is weak and unable to give blessings that he intends for his children UNLESS they engage in a 40-day fast. Unbelievable.

If we are to take Engle’s words as the words of the one true God, then the result of The Call should be a marked change in the immorality that has defined (and I’d be prepared to argue THAT WILL CONTINUE to define) America. Don’t get me wrong, I hope America turns around, but it won’t be because of our efforts to coerce our Creator thru some “holy fast” contrived in the hearts of men.

It is also things like this that constantly hype up young Charismatics and drop them down after nothing significant happens or after the feelings wear off. This pattern is the path of burnout, disillusionment and possible departure from the faith entirely. May God open our eyes to the truths of his infallible word, for they always satisfy."

Excerpt by Drew of Sign of Jonah web blog be sure and to read the comments at this post!!!

Be Suspicious!

Well it's great to be back home after five days on Okaloosa island with my wife, we had a great time, great fellowship, great food, and we spent hours on the beach just reading, (I finished Bunyan's autobiography "Grace Abounding") and we just soaked up the beauty of God's creation. On the trip down my wife and I listened to a sermon by D. A. Carson titled "What is the Gospel?" it's a free download just right click on the title of the sermon and choose save target as to listen. Anyway I just thought the quote below was a very profound statement that describes most of the church's today, I think it's good advice.

"Always be suspicious of church's that proudly flaunt how different they are from what has gone before." - D. A. Carson