WOW Gospel

Wow is "Word on Wednesday" which is a part of the youth ministry at our church. WOW is all 6th-8th Grade Students. This program draws about 25 youth weekly most (90% or more) who do not go to any church regularly and is purely evangelistic. This is not training up of youth already in the faith, or who have families that are a part of the household of faith. We do a lot of frivolous stuff, then we preach and teach, and then we do it again the next week. What follows is today's teaching:

Too often you view me as a mere teacher, and I view you as mere students, but the things we talk about are far more weighty, far more serious, and have a far greater impact than any math problem, book report, or piece of American history. You see, the things we talk about here have eternal significance, you will use the math you are learning for the next 70 years, yet the truths we speak of will affect you for more than 700 years, yes more than 700 million years. I want to talk to you about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, no power point, no music, no youth room, this is too serious for that.
You see I believe we should have a good time, and I believe that there is a time and a place for playing Dodgeball, apples to apples and such, but... this far outweighs that. Let’s be honest guys, the whole reason that we play games and have food is in order to get you together to hear a message. That is our whole purpose in this. So today I want to teach you yet again on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, just plain and simple. Listen, people over the centuries have died for this message. As we speak there are missionaries walking into towns and villages to preach this message who will not come out alive, it is not some small thing. So let’s chop it up, let’s talk.
God created this universe, He really did. Atheists have worked hard at disproving it coming up with big bangs, and super molecules and so on, but they still cannot answer how it all got started... we know from the first verse of that the bible that “IN THE BEGINNING GOD...” This is really important. I do not really care what you think about evolution, and fossils and everything else, there is one reality you must see, and that is that the God has created this universe and has power over it. So what! Well we need to know some things about this God. First, He is personal, in other words He is not just some great cosmic spirit, or some old grandpa in the sky, He is active, and powerful in creation right now. Second we must know what He is like. He is Holy... in other words He is totally perfect, totally righteous, and totally different than us. Sometimes we think of God as being like us only a lot bigger, but that is not the case at all. Think of this, what is more like God, a powerful holy angel, or a piece of bacteria in the toilet. The answer is neither, because nothing is like God, He is more awesome than anything. It is like saying what is more like a person, gravel, or sand, well neither of them are like people. God is different than us, a lot different. So we cannot just say, well I would never punish someone and God is like me only better so He also would never punish someone. You cannot say that, because God is totally different than you. God is merciful, and patient with us, but at the same time He is perfect and just. Just, means fair. We call the judges on the supreme court justices, and they are supposed to be just. A judge that is just pronounces penalties for law breakers that are the equivalent to the laws they break. If you get a speeding ticket, you pay a fine, if you kill someone you get life in prison, if you rob a bank, you go to jail for awhile and so on. The penalty fits the crime. God is just, so He will penalize people according to their crimes. So that is a little bit about God, and we could talk forever about Him and not even get close to explaining Him. We do not have that long, so we will move on.
When talking about the Gospel we must talk about who God is, which is what we just did, we must also talk about people. Who here has told a lie? – Hmmm... all of you. What do you call someone who tells lies? A liar. The bible says a lot about liars, let’s just look at a couple verses...

A false witness will not go unpunished, And he who tells lies will not escape.
(Proverbs 19:5)

"But... all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)

Whoa... God has a pretty heavy punishment for liars...

Who here has used the name of God the same way they would use a curse word. Like if you get mad saying ‘God!’ or “Jesus Christ” the same way someone may use a four letter word? Do you know what that is called? Blasphemy, what do you call someone who Blasphemes? A blasphemer. Now because of time I am not going to go into the verses about blasphemy, but let me tell you the punishment is just as bad as for liars.

Who here has been disrespectful to parents? Did you know that the God is so righteous that He even equates that sin with murder and adultery! You will find that in Romans Chapter 1, verse 30. Let me tell you, God is just, and this lying, blaspheming, and this disobedience to parents will not go unpunished... period. Now we have talked about 3 of the ten commandments, honoring parents, not lying, and not blaspheming. What about stealing? Have you ever done that? Are you a thief? Or what about having idols, worshipping things other than God, like athletes and actors, and actresses. Or how often have you looked at someone of the opposite sex like they were an object, and lusted about them, or thought improper sexual thoughts about them? Did you know that is also something that God hates... Now every one of you here is guilty or has been guilty of breaking many, if not all of the Ten Commandments!! This is no laughing matter. Remember God is merciful, and patient, but He is also just, and if God is going to be just, then He must punish your sin according to His laws. In other words, by your own admission you have sinned sins that deserve eternal punishment in Hell. Every single one of you! Do you think that God is going to forgo His own justice and just let you into Heaven and ignore your sin? Check this out:

He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous, Both of them alike are an abomination to the LORD. (Proverbs 17:15)

Yeah, so if God forgives without punishing, by His own command He would become an abomination. Do you think that God is willing to become and abomination? Of course not, He would cease to be God! So how can He forgive you?
Ok, check this out... there is this big theological word I want to teach you, it is called expiation. Yeah, expiation, the word is not important, but what it means is really important. If you, by faith put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ, it means that all of your sin was placed on Him. What does that mean, well essentially it means that because of your sin, Jesus became no longer innocent. He prayed before He was put on trial, and agreed to take your sins upon Himself, He agreed to do even more than that. He actually agreed to give you His perfect standing with God, in exchange for your sin. Now remember what we said about all those broken commandments, and the punishment they deserved?
God actually poured out that punishment upon Jesus, who was indwelt with the Christian’s sin. So if you believe, and have faith in Him, your sin has been punished already!

Why would Jesus (God the Son) and God the Father be willing to do this? Well it is because God is love! You see God loves you enough to endure the agonies of Hell for you, so that you would not have to. Sometimes people say hell is too strict of a punishment, but realize that Jesus endured more of Hell than anyone will ever have too, because he endured Hell for millions of people, so His punishment was a million times worse than the worst of sinners. You can never say that God is not fair, if anyone is not fair it is you, because He has done all of this for you, and you still do not give Him the time and worship He deserves.
So what is the application of all of this? Well do you believe? How do you know? Even the devil knows what happened on the cross, but knowing what happened and actually believing it are two totally different things. If you really believe this, your life will be changed, the way you think will be changed, the things you love to do will be in line with what God loves, and over time you will become more and more like Him. If you believe, you have begun to hate sin, and get disappointed when you find you have sinned. If you do not believe you can sin as often as you want and never really be bothered that much about it.
So the question I ask is “Are you a real believer? Do you understand the message that I gave? More importantly, is there something in you that wants to change, that wants to be like Christ, that wants to love God more and seek Him more? If there is today, or if there ever is, pull me aside, I would love to speak with you, and pray with you. If not, well you have heard the warnings, and sin will not go unpunished. Pray tonight before you go to bed, pray when you wake up, pray when you have free time, ask God to forgive you, ask Him to give you faith in Jesus. He will give faith and save everyone who truly seeks Him... not just lip service, but truly seeks Him.

Lets Pray.

The Bible Promise Book...

I was looking at my bookshelf the other day in my study area in my basement, and a little blue book caught my eye. It is called “The Bible Promise Book”. I received this book as a gift upon graduation from high school, and for awhile I would occasionally look at it, but I do not think I have looked at it in the last 7 years or so. Now I am not against this book, and I do not think it is a bad book to own, but nonetheless this book highlights a serious problem in the Church today. Let me give a little background on how this book goes. First off, it is all scriptures, no commentary, no how to solve your problems with 5 steps, it contains none of that nonsense. What it does contain is a number of situations, and then scriptures that deal with those situations. For instance, if you are dealing with a death of a loved one it will point you to a comforting scripture. If you are struggling with lust it will point you to a scripture about lust, if you are tempted to lie, it will point you to a scripture telling you the consequences of lying. This book sounds pretty handy right? Umm... well sort of...

We live in a time where the professing church does very little dwelling on the things of God, very little submersion in the word, very little meditation. Books like these are very helpful to the man or woman who is already immersed in God’s word and need a reminder of a promise, however this book is incredibly dangerous for those who use it as a tool to determine God’s will in a given situation. I will illustrate this, what follows is a brief entry that I wrote for a Lenten devotional that our congregation will receive this year. I was asked to do a half page, so here is what I wrote:

Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.” John 6:35
If indeed you come to Christ you will be filled. Too often as Christians we live malnourished spiritually because we have not come to Christ to be filled. We feed on everything the world has to offer, but rarely feast on the things of God. When we face spiritual difficulty too often we are not healthy enough to deal with it. We are like people eating donuts all the time, breakfast, lunch, and dinner for months then one day we find out we have to run a 5 mile race, but it is too late to get in shape. We find ourselves in a crisis so we open our bible hoping to find answers and understanding, and to be given strength, but we haven’t kept ourselves spiritually healthy. To have discernment and answers when times get difficult, you must have a lifestyle of spiritual health. Lent is the perfect time to begin establishing the habits of daily prayer, scripture reading, and fasting. Be diligent, spiritual laziness in easier times will amount to spiritual fatigue and inability when times are difficult. Jesus is the bread of life, feed on it daily, and ask this day for your daily bread.
My personal decision to enter into ministry was made nearly in an instant when the call was sensed. I did not have to labor much because the years leading up to that decision were filled with study and prayer, and recognizing God’s call came naturally. I am too weak to face situations on my own, so I must remain constantly prepared, when I don’t I fail, time and time again.

In Christ,
Jay Miklovic

Now I know that is a basic teaching, but understand this, a quick glance at scripture now and then will never give you discernment in the things of God. How many times have you read a certain verse that you never understood until you read an entirely different portion of scripture?

Listen! If we do not get serious in this generation we will be Godless by the next generation. If people do not begin to seek God and call out to Him, He will certainly raise for Himself a people, but they will not be in the Western World. Do you want to know God’s will? Why? So you can get through a situation and then forget about it later? Making godly decisions is not difficult... it really is not difficult to make godly decisions. What is difficult is living in His presence and seeking hard after Him, when you do that you will naturally produce Godly decisions. It is like anything else... I will go skiing tomorrow with some of our youth, I have skied a lot, they have not. They will have to concentrate and learn focus, it will be like walking for me. They will have to think about how they are going to turn, I will just go, why, because I have spent time on skis, I have focused and practiced and pushed myself to go further and further into the art of skiing. The same is true with the scriptures, yes the new believer will struggle and fall and will learn and get up. The old believer will fall at times as well, but if they have faithfully pursued God it should not be so much labor to determine God’s will.

I suppose I have rambled some, but do not come up to me seeking God’s will from me, unless you have spent much time seeking it from Him.

David's Mercy

So he said to his men, "Far be it from me because of the LORD that I should do this thing to my lord, the LORD'S anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, since he is the LORD'S anointed." (1 Samuel 24:6) This verse is David speaking in a cave where he was hiding as Saul was pursuing him. David had the opportunity to end the pursuit with ease because Saul had entered into this cave not knowing that David was there. However David would not consider over throwing the Lord’s anointed (Saul), even though Saul was a vile man without the Spirit of the Lord. David understood the authority that was in place by God, and David had utter respect for that authority. God would eventually give David authority in due time, and would ultimately bring salvation to the world through the line of David, in fact other than the Lord Himself you may be able to say that David ended up with more authority than maybe any other man has ever had. Nonetheless he was utterly submissive prior to being crowned king. Fast forward to the present time- how easy is it for you to speak against the Lord’s anointed rulers today? Seriously? At some point we need a reality check on this. Christianity is certainly a nonconforming religion, yet true Christianity refuses to conform to this world while still functioning under the existing authority structure. David is a wonderful example in this, especially how he deals with Saul. I have found we have in our culture today men who are chasing down the truth faith to do it harm whether they know it or not. The purpose driven movement, Best Life Now-ism, willow creek this and that, all seem to be so focused on bringing in the unchurched that they have become an unchurch. Evangelism is incredibly important, but evangelism is a sending more than it is a drawing, and they focus on drawing more than anything else. Anyway many fundamentalists will look at the Rick Warren and Joel Osteen and want nothing more than to see them fall. There will be great rejoicing in the fundamentalist camp if these men are exposed. I do not sense that would be the attitude of David, and I am certain that is not the attitude in Heaven. “There is great rejoicing in heaven when a sinner falls and is exposed.” Is that how the verse goes? Not at all, there is great rejoicing in heaven when a sinner repents! Do you share heaven’s desire for repentance concerning men like these? Or in the back of your mind to you want to see a big nasty fall first, and then think it would be a bonus if they repented? Looking at David’s life is fascinating, do you remember his enemy of a son Absalom? People expected him to rejoice at Absalom’s death, but did he? No he mourned the death of his son, enemy or not. You see God’s ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts. Do you pray for God’s wrath upon the corruption of the church in America or do you plead His mercy? Do you desire to see Mr. Osteen converted, and hear Him truly preach the gospel to his huge congregation, or would you rather see him fall? Was God inconsistent when He showed David mercy in the Bathsheba incident, recall He had doled out fiercer punishment for lesser crimes in the past? David showed mercy to Saul, Absalom, Methibosheth, and others. What is mandate of Christ? Blessed are the merciful for they shall obtain mercy. David certainly in many cases was merciful. Can you be merciful to your enemies and the enemies of God, knowing that you too were an enemy of His at one point? I believe in exposing false doctrine, I believe in showing lies for what they are, I even believe in mocking at times the foolishness of men, but nonetheless do you desire mercy? Vengeance is fine says the Lord... oh wait, ‘Vengeance is MINE says the Lord.’ Ok well this was a random post, but I have seen my need for repentance with regard to the way I view the wolves in sheep’s clothing. I typically never consider that heaven is ready to rejoice in the event of any of these men’s repentance. Well I ran a lot of circles there, and this was a pretty random post, but maybe it helped someone.

Under Authority,,, again

I have reread my past post a few times, and for awhile I was waffling on it, even debating deleting it altogether. It is true that I often wrestle with my own postings, I am not sure if that makes me some sort of hypocrite, or schizophrenic, but none the less I often struggle with the things I write. So anyway I was having difficulty concerning what I wrote about submission to unbiblical church leaders. Fast forward to today. I was listening to the scriptures on my iPod and was listening through 1st and 2nd Samuel and David's submission to Saul struck me. It is almost painful to observe his submission to Saul considering the terrible leadership of Saul and his out and out wickedness. Nonetheless David exhibits a submission to authority that could have cost him his life at the very hands of the authority to which he submitted. Of course we know that God worked powerfully in that. In fact it was not until David held the position of authority that he blundered with the Uzza and the Ark situation as well as Bathsheba. So what is my point. I struggled with the last post, but in light of the scripture I have been listening to I believe the post to stand. Submission to authority is required regardless of whether it is government authority, authority within your congregation, evil, or good. The only times in scripture where a violation of authority is permitted is when the said authority is in contradiction with God's sovereign authority. I apologize if this post was a simple or boring read, but it has at least helped me.

Under Authority

Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. (Romans 13:1)

God’s will is never in conflict with itself, period. God’s will is never in conflict with His word, period. This presents us with a number of perceived difficulties, and a major perceived difficulty when it comes to authority. The questions always come up “What about Hitler?” Of course we come up with the pat answer (which is true) and say something like... “When a governing authority commands you to contradict a higher authority (God), then you must obey the higher authority.” I think there is some debate that could occur here, but that is not the point of this post.

The primary reason for this post is to speak on authority in your church. Often times when the leadership of a local congregation appears to be going the wrong direction, or something occurs that appears to be in opposition to the will of God, people within that congregation will believe that somehow they are no longer under the authority of the leadership of that congregation. It is as if the authority of the church leaders is established based on their obedience as opposed to God’s placing them in authority. Even in the case of the unconverted church elder, converted or not, they have been given authority and as a congregation member, you are under it. Remember, “There is NO authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” This includes within the church. When you agree to membership within a church, you are recognizing the authority structure within that church to be over you, and are agreeing to fall in line with that authority. Now I want to get to my main point, the power of God upon you to change the direction of your congregation, your work place, your school, etc... will be most manifest when you operate within the established authority. This is really important. Too often people think they need to climb the authority ladder to have impact, or even worse, bypass the authority structure altogether. My work is primarily with youth, and this is a huge struggle for converted youth. God so often will light a fire in a youth, and immediately the flesh will fight back and lead the youth to believe they are now in a position of authority because they have more zeal than the people above them, it seems adults do the same thing. God will not work powerfully in you and produce anything of eternal worth through you unless you function within the authority structure which you exist. Look at the reformation, Luther functioned within and under the authority of the Catholic Church. He went to the Diet of Worms, he functioned as a minister within the church, he submitted to the authorities of the time regardless of his disdain for them. Even his act of defiance with the 95 theses was not so much a blatant disobedience to authority but a proclamation of what he saw to be true. God fired the reformation from within the existing authority structure. Wesley operated under the authority of the Anglican Church until he was removed from it. Over and over again you see this. The fly by night guys that are trying to reform your congregation by gathering people behind leader’s backs, or trying to overpower the existing authorities will never succeed because though they may have grand intentions they have neglected the God ordained authority structure.

I know this all seems passive, and maybe as a reader of this post you disagree and feel that you are called to reform your church or challenge the authority that exists, I would only tell you to tread lightly and carefully. Even Jesus who has all authority subjected Himself to the powers that be, yea even the Pharisees. God will empower your efforts for reform if you trust Him to use you right where you are.

Finally, in the last post I spoke a little on the next great awakening, and I do believe it is begun and happening across this country and world, at the same time I think that the one thing that will stall it, and is stalling it is a lack of submission to, and comprehension of, authority. People from about 30 downward (speaking generally knowing this is not true 100% of the time) have little or no concept of biblical authority. Unfortunately a number of people who could contribute greatly to this awakening will not be given the power of God to do so because they are in ‘hostile takeover’ mode as opposed to humble submission mode. Again it is not a position of power we need, we need the power of God upon our current position.

The 4th generation

Will you be a part of the next great awakening? This is an important question, and you should give it due diligence. God is always in the process of raising up a people who will glorify His Name amongst the people. Are you one of the many He is raising up? If not, why not? If so, what evidence is there that you are one of them?

Maybe the end will come during this season of immorality, where everyone seems to do what is right in their own eyes. It is very possible that we are living in the last of the last days. At the same time there is evidence that we may be on the brink of the next great awakening, and with the nature of communication via internet, mp3s, video broadcasting and so on this great awakening may be much further reaching than any of the past. Wesley had to ride over 200,000 miles on horseback to preach the gospel to New England. Today he could preach to them all in one place, at one time. Communication technology amplifies everything, the good and the bad. Here is what I find interesting, at the time of the 1st great awakening there were a lot of big churches with big congregations that found it fashionable to be Church goers. People mentally ascended to the great doctrines of truth, but there was no reality. Along come the Wesley brothers, Jonathan Edwards, Whitefield, Brainerd, and many more... and God shook the church so much with them that they were in many cased kicked out, ridiculed, and scorned. At the same time, many long time church goers came to faith, and many lost were reached. Over time the next generation became used to religious life and embraced it, but saw it as the norm and failed to promote it, or teach the great cost which it came at. Soon the third generation forsook it all together, or only maintaining a form of Godliness which was void of its power. The key then became to get people into church by whatever means possible. What then happened? The Civil war with its tawdry crimes and filthy perversions of the Gospel by both the north and south was the result of the lack of spiritual fortitude from the 3rd generation after the great awakening. But what came next? After the Civil war there was a renewed interest in Christ, and a fresh moving of God amongst the 4th generation. Almost like clockwork the second generation of the second awakening became complacent, and then the third generation produced the Roar twenties which near their completion may have been the most morally decadent time this country has known. The swinging generation was in full swing. Then of course came catastrophe, the great depression, but in the midst of the great depression and world wars arose a generation that would be the men of World War II. These men brought America back to the place she should be. There was a renewal across the land that produced great men and women and a renewed interest in Christ and what His desires were. Of course this was followed by the Boomers who were complacent, and they eventually produced the sexual revolution of the late 60s and early 70s which eventually produce the 3rd generation of the Roaring 90s thru the turn of the century. Gen X would be the third generation and we can see today the results. At the same time, if history continues to repeat that would mean a new generation is rising up, and that we are on the brink of something, something big.
Now it is important to note, this post is not about bashing generations older than mine. There have always been strong men and women of the 2nd and 3rd generations that provide the direction to awakenings. Moreover many in the 2nd and 3rd generations are awakened by and with the next generation. It is a total cop out for people of my generation or any generation to blame the previous generation for their failures. I am simply saying that it appears we are in a cycle of history, and if we are, we may be at a very promising time.

Just as a side note, you can see this 3 generation cycle all the way back in exodus, and playing itself out throughout both ancient and modern history.

but a vapor...

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.
(James 4:13-17)

If there is one thing that is tragically ignored in scripture it is the simple fact that you will die. I know this is beyond basic but it is important. Forgetting the simple fact that we are mortal so far as this life is concerned will leave you chasing after all sorts nonsense and falling into all sorts of immorality. Was it not the serpent himself who said... “You surely will not die!” to Eve in the garden as she considered the original sin. It is unthinkable that our focus would be on the past, or even the future heaven, and that our focus is not on Thy kingdom come, thy will be done... now. Yes it is important to consider the glory to come, and yes it is important to remember the foundation which is past, but today is the appointed day, for you do not know if tomorrow will come.
I work with youth, and this is the most difficult truth to set forth to them. Most youth actually plan on wasting their time, thinking they will become ‘religious’ when they get older, and of course by the time they are 20 their heart is case hardened against the Gospel. They see death all around them, in their TV shows, in their Video games, in the news, and everywhere else and yet the simple fact that death is eventually coming their way escapes them. I am only 27 years old, and yet I have already accumulated much wasted time over the 7 years of my Christian life. I have wasted hours on countless things, from internet chess, to mountain bikes, to staring at the ceiling too lazy to get up and do something. Yet if I had any focus on how short lived life was, I would not waste my time. I am not against biking, or chess, or even zoning out and looking at the ceiling, but these trivial things which are of no eternal value slowly begin to take over everything. What was an occasional game of chess becomes continuing to think about chess even during worship, or dinner with your family. What was a healthy bike ride, becomes concerns with having better parts on your bike, where your next big trip is going to be, and if you are ever going to be able to tackle that tricky downhill section of trail. We let so many things and thoughts choke eternity out of our mind, and yet a simple reflection on the brevity of life will clear all that up in an instant. Do you not know that your life is a vapor? We prayed at church this morning for a family who lost their 23 year daughter in a tragic accident. The accident occurred during a Christmas performance at her church when she fell from 20 feet up. As this was being spoken of everyone felt sad for the family and so on as it is proper to do, but I wonder if the brevity of life entered into anyone’s mind.
Redeem the times for the days are evil. With all that said, there appear to be some interesting developments occurring in my life right now. I am not so sure what the Lord has in store, but day to day he seems to be unveiling a plan I could have never dreamed. I will give more info as I am able... Lord willing. Right now I would ask you to consider praying that the Lord would be glorified by my life, and by yours as well.

The Arrogance of a dumbed down gospel

First let me say that my wife has been a tremendous blessing to me the last few days. I do not say this to get brownie points, she does not read my blog, she does not need to, we talk about the things I write together long before I can ever articulate them in a blog post. If you are the type that spends your time on the internet learning, and posting in discussion groups, and everything else and yet never discusses the things of God with your family… well go out to your shed and find that old sledge hammer and just crush your computer with it, or else that computer will crush you and your family. I have come to realize that so many are trying to witness online, and doing their theology online, and getting everything online, and yet in the real world it is not there. It is as though people are having an online affair with the Lord or something, but they keep it from everyone else, lest they find out about it. Everyone is a big bad theologian in a discussion group, but what are they at home? Realize this, in a sense we are not just the bride of Christ, but we are like a trophy wife that He wants to parade in front of the rest of the world (I apologize if that is a profane metaphor.) Anyway my wife and I have had wonderful conversations the last few days, and the Lord is really upon her, and as a husband I have been tremendously blessed and humbled by it. Husbands, when your wife is being used of the Lord to help you, never one-up her, if she is sharing revelation she has had with you, do not be so quick to add to it, as though you already understand all the things she is saying. It is the Lord using your wife to help you, receive the help graciously. Yes you are the leader, but real leaders will take and hear the council of those under their authority often.

Anyway that was an introduction that was mostly unrelated to the body of this post. I want to speak for a moment on the arrogance of most preachers today. Millions, yea, billions of dollars are spent by congregations across this country and the world each year to determine how to be culturally relevant. We know from scripture that there is no reason to worry about relevance when it takes the power of God to regenerate a soul. Something that I have found fascinating is that I have to stretch with all of my spirit and all of my mind to comprehend the things that the preachers during the Great Awakening preached. Maybe not you, but I struggle when I read the sermons of Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield, and John Wesley. Even when listening to Spurgeon sermons being read I often have to stop and look something up, or afterwards spend a bit of time processing and trying to understand all his points. It is a difficult thing because of the depth and breadth of their preaching. The reason I bring this up is because when you look at the men and women who were profoundly impacted by these people’s ministries you will find out that they were commoners, publicans, farmers, and people of typically low learning. Especially in the case of the Wesley and Whitefield. The point is this, people are incapable of being converted by the gospel if it is preached in a very simple way, or if it is preached in a very intellectual way… unless of course God opens the unbelievers heart to the message. At the same time, if God is upon the preaching, you can put together a theological masterpiece of a Sermon like Jonathan Edwards was known to do, and yet even the most common of people are granted understanding and conversion. There is no need to dumb down the Gospel because peoples conversion was never dependent on YOUR ability to make the gospel easy to understand. I would go so far as to say that the Lord has often used the most challenging of sermons to develop His people further. In the name of reaching out to the common man, we have forgone the power of God for a ploy. This shows the arrogance of the typical preacher as well. For whatever reason, they feel as though they need to dumb down the truth so that you and I, the common people, can understand it. They are wrong. If the power of God is upon it, the preaching will change your life, even if you cannot understand all the point.

Ok, that was a rant, and probably of little value, I guess I am tired of everything being geared to the unconverted. It has come to the point where the unconverted have more say into what church is going to be like than the true children of God do. I believe strongly in the great commission and make it a goal to live it out, but it is not the only command in the word, and you cannot neglect the rest of the scripture in order to attempt to fulfill that one point, when you do so God will not be in it.

I hope to post again soon about the exciting times we live in. I do believe we are on the brink, maybe even in the midst a great ingathering of new saints.