That's Not Prayer!

"Any prayers that are self-consuming, self-indulgent, self- aggrandizing; any prayers that seek whatever I want no matter what God wants; any prayers that suggest God must deliver because I have demanded it—those are prayers that take His name in vain. Such praying is an egregious sin against the nature of God, against the will of God, and against the Word of God.

"Name it, claim it" prayers; the notion that God wants you always healthy, wealthy, prosperous, and successful; and lists of selfish requests are all quite at odds with the spirit of Jesus’ model prayer. Such requests are expressly excluded from the many promises that God will hear and answer our prayers (James 4:3). The faulty belief that underlies all such praying is no small error. It is rooted in a serious misunderstanding about the nature of God.

Because prayer is an act of worship, to offer a prayer based on such a heinous perversion of God’s character is tantamount to worshiping a false god. To put it bluntly, when someone presents God with a wish list rooted in greed, materialism, or other expressions of pure self-interest, then demands that God deliver the goods as if He were a genie, that is no prayer at all. It is an act of blasphemy. It is as abominable as the crassest form of pagan worship." —John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

"An honest belief in the sovereignty of God in salvation would bring an end to a lot of the nonsense that is going on in the church." —John MacArthur

MacArthur, J. (1993). Ashamed of the gospel : When the Church becomes like the world (85). Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books.

Throw Rocks!

"Avoiding conflict is not always the right thing. Sometimes it is downright sinful. Particularly in times like these, when almost no error is deemed too serious to be excluded from the evangelical conversation, and while the Lord’s flock is being infiltrated by wolves dressed like prophets, declaring visions of peace when there is no peace (cf. Ezekiel 13:16). Even the kindest, gentlest shepherd sometimes needs to throw rocks at the wolves who come in sheep’s clothing." —John MacArthur

(HT) Apprising Ministries

Excerpt taken from "The Jesus You Can’t Ignore: What You Must Learn from the Bold Confrontations of Christ", 17-19

Quote of the Day

"In damnation God acts in response to human choice. In salvation man acts in response to divine choice." —John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

"Hard preaching makes soft people. On the other hand, soft preaching makes hard people". —John MacArthur

The Narrow Gate

Slaves for Christ

(HT) Recover The Gospel

Abandoned by God

Green This!

Well with all the liberals rejoicing in their celebration of Earth Day in which some Christian leaders have eagerly jumped on board the greening of evangelicism, I would just like to leave all those on this green bandwagon with a sermon by John MacArthur in hopes to de-green this false social gospel which has now been wrapped up in the worship of creation, not that this is something new (Romans 1:25). The End of the Universe, Part 2

"I've told environmentalists that if they think humanity is wrecking the planet, wait until they see what Jesus does to it." —John MacArthur

Mac Rap

(HT) Cal.vini.st

We Have a Huge Problem!

Quote of the Day

"Saving faith and Christian discipleship have been reduced to the cliché "a personal relationship with Jesus." It’s hard to imagine a more disastrous twisting of what it means to be a Christian. Many people (including Judas and Satan) had some kind of "personal relationship" with Jesus during His earthly ministry without submitting to Him as Lord." —John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

"If anybody comes along espousing some message and asking for tolerance, you can be sure it's error because error demands tolerance, whereas truth demands scrutiny." —John MacArthur

For Whom Did Christ Die?

With MacArthur's Archives now open I have found a sermon which I would like to recommend, it's titled "For Whom Did Christ Die?" and I believe this is a must listen sermon for anyone who recently attended the John 3:16 conference.

Free Grace To You

I just had to post this, I couldn't help myself!

There's some great news concerning http://www.gty.org, at least some of us find this great news. It seems that the ministry of John MacArthur (GRACE TO YOU) is releasing their entire mp3 audio archives of pastor MacArthur for FREE starting next Wednesday, November 5 (the day after the election), Grace to You is to announce a new policy concerning their audio downloads. That's nearly 40 years of preaching and somewhere around 3500 sermons for free. Thank you John MacArthur and Grace To You!

I think I may need a bigger iPod?

(Hat Tip) Between Two Worlds

Horrifying Error

"A great sickness has developed in contemporary evangelical Christianity that is built around self. The emphasis on self image, self esteem, and self worth is nothing more than humanistic worldliness. Selfism has twisted evangelicalism from a God-centered to a man-centered perspective. Salvation is now seen from the viewpoint of what can it do for us? That is a horrifying error." —John MacArthur

Quote of the Day

"Once a congregation or a person sees Scripture as less than the final, complete, infallible authority for faith and life, it is thrown open the doors to absolute chaos." —John MacArthur

Root of the Fruit

"Let me say as clearly as possible right now that salvation is by God's sovereign grace and grace alone. Nothing a lost, degenerate, spiritually dead sinner can do will in any way contribute to salvation. Saving faith, repentance, commitment, and obedience are all divine works, wrought by the Holy Spirit in the heart of everyone who is saved. I have never taught that some presalvation works of righteousness are necessary to or part of salvation. But I do believe without apology that real salvation cannot, and will not, fail to produce works of righteousness in the life of a true believer. There are no human works in the saving act, but God's work of salvation includes a change of intent, will, desire, and attitude that inevitably produces the fruit of the Spirit. The very essence of God's saving work is the transformation of the will, resulting in a love for God. Salvation thus establishes the root that will surely produce the fruit." —John MacArthur

Diluted Products

"Listen to the typical gospel presentation nowadays. You will hear sinners entreated with words like, "accept Jesus Christ as personal Savior"; "ask Jesus into your heart"; "invite Christ into your life"; or "make a decision for Christ." You may be so accustomed to hearing those phrases that it will surprise you to learn that none of them is based on Biblical terminology. They are the products of a diluted gospel." —John MacArthur

Death of a Church

"Death (of a Church) occurs when unbelievers are allowed to take over ministries in the church. It happens when a church becomes more concerned with form and liturgy than it is with life on a spiritual level. Death occurs when a church becomes more concerned about welfare and social ills than it is about salvation. It happens when a church loves systems more than it loves Jesus Christ. And it happens when a church becomes more concerned with material things than spiritual reality. That's how a church dies. It all is a result of sin.

Sin--in any form that the church tolerates, whether it is in the members or the leaders. Tolerance of sin begins the cycle; then comes the tolerance of unbelievers in the church until no one cares who is a believer or an unbeliever. The end comes when the man who runs the church isn't a believer. Sins of commission and omission kill a church little by little. When that happens, Christians become carnal. Soon afterwards, unbelievers come into the church, and then a total tolerance for sin exists. The church begins to die, and the people who really love Jesus Christ leave only to be replaced by people who don't know Him." —John MacArthur