The Fear of The Lord - part 2

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Last Sunday I ministered on the Fear of the Lord in Reverence. To the one who places faith in God, what does it mean to fear the Lord? The fear of the Lord in reverential and worshipful obedience is the beginning of wisdom ( Proverbs 9:10 ). The reverential fear of the Lord begins with a proper knowledge of Who God is: the incomprehensible Soverign who created all things for His glory and demands worship from all His creation. God can never be put in a box, categorized or classified. He is infinitely Transcendent and totally set apart in essence than anything that has been made. In His creation of the magnificently large universe, He shows that He is only something like it, for He holds the worlds in the palm of His hands. The nations are as a drop in a bucket, and Heaven is His throne and the earth is His footstool. The God of the Christian is infinitely and eternally wise, holy, good, merciful, kind and loving, and yet He is a God of justice, a God of wrath to those who resent and reject Him, and He will not let the guilty go unpunished. His grace is incomprehensible, enduring forever and He is a God who is the essence and source of all Holiness and in His courts the doorposts shake violently because of the greatness of His power. While realizing He is all these things and much much more, this is not enough to just have the proper thoughts about God, because the Bible says in James 2:19 that the even the demons believe that there is One God and tremble. We must praise Him, glorify Him, savor and rejoice in Him for all that He is and worship Him with our entire beings. Many lives in the Bible have encountered the Almighty and fell as dead in His presence, hiding their faces and trembling before the Creator of the universe like a leaf in the wind , while rising up from His presence radically changed and empowered by His glory and effectual call.





While we all may not have experienced the physical manfestation of God's glory in a burning bush or miraculous vision of His throne room, that same power of His presence is present in the conversion of a sinner. The regeneration of the Holy Spirit, the gift of repentance and faith, and the newness of life in Christ is one of the greatest displays of God's glory and His grace.
Jeremiah 32:40 tells us that in the new covenant, the covenant that God makes with His sheep through the atoning work of Jesus Christ, He will put the fear of Him in their hearts...why? so they will not, shall not, and never desire to depart from Him. The fear of the Lord makes one wise because it causes one to 1) see themselves for who they really are: sinners in the eyes of a wrathful God, who demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die in our place.(Romans 5:8) 2) Love the Lord, reverence and obey Him with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength...with everything and all of who we are. 3) The fear of the Lord causes us to depart and turn from evil and turn twoards Him ( Proverbs 3:7; 8:13; 10:27 14:27 )(thereby repeating point #2)
The fear of the Lord and the Knowledge of Him is not some "old -fashioned Grandfather's religion"..its much more...its life, wisdom, satisfaction in Him and even God Himself looks to the one who fears Him (Isa 66:1-2) . Notice the Lord doesent look to the one who "has the most wealth, or has the most need, or is the most confident and perfect in all his ways"...who does the Infinite, Transcendent Creator of the Universe, who created all things by His word, look to? The one who is poor and contrite in spirit...who trembles at His word.

Eight Things to Do with Evil

Eight Things to Do with Evil

On the one hand:
1. Expect evil. “Do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you” (1 Pet. 4:12).
2. Endure evil. “Love bears all thing, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1 Cor. 13:7; cf. Mark 13:13).
3. Give thanks for the refining effect of evil that comes against you. “Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20; cf. 1 Thess. 5:18). “We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering
produces endurance . . .” (Rom. 5:3–5).
4. Hate evil. “Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good” (Rom. 12:9).
5. Pray for escape from evil. “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13).
6. Expose evil. “Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness,
but instead expose them” (Eph. 5:11).
7. Overcome evil with good. “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Rom. 12:21).
8. Resist evil. “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (Jas. 4:7).

- from John Piper's book "Spectacular Sins"

Jesus Died

Jesus Died! - Paul Washer from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.


May you be touched by this awesome video by Paul Washer about the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ!

The Fear of The Lord - part 1

The Fear of The Lord part 1 - Audio Sermon



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This Sunday I preached on the fear of the Lord - in resentment. This message was the first of two in which ill be talking about the fear of the Lord, both in reverence and in resentment. Today, I spoke briefly about the fear of the Lord in resentment, saying that the fear of the Lord in resentment is understanding the position that siners are in when they continually commit crimes against a Holy God. Proverbs 9:10 was the text from which i came and I used a second text from Romans 11:22. It is so important that we have a balance in knowing Who God is. So many people desire to know of only His goodness, mercy, love and kindness; and while all this is well and good, if this is all we choose to believe about God we will become unbalanced in our conception of Him and begin to attribute things to Him which are not characteristic of His nature. Now, we will never fully comprehend all of Who God is because we serve a God who is Incomprehensible and He wont be fitting into any box that men try to put Him in. But God has revealed some characteristics about Himself to us in His Word and we must search the scriptures to see Who God has revealed Himself to be.


Furthermore, we must have a balance in knowing Who God is. It is not just enough to know of His goodness without knowing of His severity. We must know that because God is Infinitely Loving and Holy , he must hate sin and all that is associated with it...and from this we see His hatred for sinners ( Psalms 7:11 ), His fury for those who walk contrary to Him ( Leviticus 26:28 ) and we see how both of these attributes "co-exist" and never shift apart from each other in Romans 5:8-10.
In short, the fear of the Lord to those who resent Him means that the wicked need to know where they stand in the eyes of a Holy God - and that they are not just dealing with some mortal authority who "suggests" that they get it together. The wicked are under God's wrath and God is actively their enemy in their enjoyment of sin and self-pleasure. God's wrath abides on those who persevere in a lifestyle of sin and He will not rest until justice has been served. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:11 , "therefore knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." No man is ready for the terror of the Lord, no man can endure or stand in the day of His wrath, and therefore the sinner needs to fear the Lord because he has been found on His radar and unless God miraculously regenerates the heart of that wicked sinner and causes Him to fall upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in His saving work on the cross, there remains nothing but wrath for the one who rejects God.

All men are born under the bondage of sin, and all men are born enemies of God and conceived in iniquity, and therefore all men need to realize that they are in need of a Savior, a substitue for their crimes in the eyes of a Holy God who will not let the guilty go unpunished. Men need to fear Him who can destroy body and soul in hell. (Matthew 10:28) For those who would continually reject God and to those who would fall back having tasted of His good word ( Hebrews 6:6 ), there is the wrath and terror of God which is Hell...eternal separation and torment in the presence of the King. This is the fear of the Lord to those who resent Him.

The Sufficiency of Scripture

The Sufficiency of Scripture - Audio Sermon



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This week I had the opportunity to preach on the Sufficiency of Scripture. The text was from 2 Timothy 3:16 (thanks to RefTagger I no longer have to type it out). The context leading up to verse 16 is awesome because Paul is telling Timothy that perilous times will come in the last day because men will be lovers of self and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. God will not endure these who will not glorify Him and those who exchange His glory for that of corruptible man and beasts. ( Romans 1:21 ) Because these people are lovers of self more than lovers of God they seek to better themselves, become more moral, more externally appealing, more successful...all in the glorification of self. This ambition to become "better" produces a form of godliness; something that looks like "Im trying to better myself, and do the right thing, trying to be more "moral, honest, "pietous". And the form looks good, it looks right, it looks noble, but when you present these same "lovers of self" with the truth of God's Word, the Bible, and you tell them that it has all things necessesary pertaining to life and godliness, and then tell them that God is our sufficiency, then they reject it and deny the power of the Word. 2 Timothy 3:5.
These lovers of pleasures and lovers of self will continue to deceive many, and wax worse. We see them in the churches and pulpits of America and we see them in the media, convincing people to live for themselves, to use God to give them a "better life" and to be the "self-made man". Their end will be made manifest is what Paul says and God will not endure those who are lovers of themselves more than lovers of Him. In Romans 1:24 it says He gives them over to their desires.













Paul continues writing to Timothy and says to observe his life, his doctrine, his testimony, his persecutions and afflictions. Paul had gone through so many things at Iconium, at Lystra,and at Antioch: near death experiences, left for dead outside of a city, stoned, persecuted, railed against, excorcising witches..he wasnt making this up. And he says that the Lord delivered him from all of these things. Then Paul follows up by saying in verse 12, that all who will live godly in Christ will suffer persecution. So much for the "best life now", "12 steps to a happy life", "make a better you" teachings of the lovers of pleasure in verse 2. Paul was saying that this is what made the difference between those false teachers and those silly women and himself. No matter what life threw at Paul, he stood on God's Word, and God delivered and kept him. God was in control in Paul's life. These false teachers wanted to make their own life, eliminate all suffering and persecution from it, throw out all affliction and then command God to make it the way they designed it. Thats wrong! Thats making God stand on your word, rather than you standing on His.
In short, Paul tells Timothy to stick with the infallible, correcting, true, inerrant and all sufficient scriptures. Why? For in them is salvation in Christ, not in self or pleasure; and in them are life and completion and the ability to do the will of God.
Stick with the scriptures, make them your priority, your standard. Throw out all advice from the world, and from people who only want to appease you and not glorify God. Stand on His word and make them the foundation to your home, your family,your marriage, and your relationships. God's Word is Sufficient and is enough for all matters of faith and conduct for the Christian.

A.W. Tozer - Standing for Truth

"We have developed in recent times a peace-loving, soft-spoken, tame and harmless brand of Christian of whom the world has no fear and for whom it has little respect. We are careful, for instance, never to speak in public against any of the false cults lest we be thought intolerant. We fear to talk against the destructive sins of modern civilization for fear someone will brand us as bigoted and narrow. Little by little we have been forced off the hard earth into a religious cloud-land where we are permitted to wing our harmless way around, like swallows at sundown, saying nothing that might stir the ire of the sons of this world. That Neo-Christianity, which seems for the time to be the most popular (and is certainly the most aggressive), is very careful not to oppose sin. It wins its crowds by amusing them and its converts by hiding from them the full implications of the Christian message. It carries on its projects after the ballyhoo methods of American business. Well might we paraphrase Wordsworth and cry, "Elijah, thou shouldst be living at this hour; America has need of thee." We stand in desperate need of a few men like Elijah who will dare to face up to the brazen sinners who dictate our every way of life. Sin in the full proportions of a revolution or a plague has all but destroyed our civilization while church people have played like children in the marketplace. What has happened to the spirit of the American Christian? Has our gold become dim? Have we lost the spirit of discernment till we can no longer recognize our captors? How much longer will we hide in caves while Ahab and Jezebel continue to pollute the temple and ravage the land? Surely we should give this some serious thought and prayer before it is too late--if indeed it is not too late already. "

-A.W.Tozer

"Only In America" Part 2

I wont say too much on this one, but in the words of the late great comedian Bernie Mac, all I have to say is "Nuff Said"...In a recent poll "President Barack Obama’s popularity overwhelms that of Jesus Christ, Martin Luther King, and Mother Teresa, according to a new poll that shows Obama as the person Americans named as their hero."






The Article - Here









This isn't a heresy hunt this time,...its just foolishness. Im really not too bothered by this article, rather, this headline, because it just proves Romans 1:21-27. The reason this country is the way it is is because men would rather give glory to men than even recognize God as being God. In this article, I think that its total foolishness and blasphemy that people would even put Jesus Christ in the same category as President Obama, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Mother Theresa. Jesus Christ is Lord and He is Lord Transcendently,meaning He is totally in a class by Himself.
The error that people, and even many Christians fall into is the error of "inspiriation". Because men are self- centered, we are always looking for something to "inspire" us, something or someone to give us hope. All of these people "inspire us"; people look unto them as inspirational figures who have generated change, and while their influence upon society is a good influence, Jesus Christ does not belong in their company. Why? He is God, and God has done and is doing way more in Jesus Christ than anything that could ever be done in one of these "inspirational figures". Christ did not come to inspire you, He came to radically change you , and if Jesus only inspires you then He hasnt really gotten to you. Many on that day who have been inspired by His name will say "Lord, Lord have we not cast out devils in your name, and done many mighty works in your name, and in return Christ will turn and say to them "Depart from me you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Christ is not and cannot be just an inspirational figure that you set on the shelf along with all your other historical figures of influence. He is God and there is no one like Him.
God didnt create this universe to just inspire us. He created everything so that He would get glory and be glorified in it. He made the entire universe and all things beyond it and in it for men to fall on their faces and throw themselves upon God Almighty and worship Him and enjoy Him. Its more than just inspiration, because inspiration has to come around every once in a generation. Everyone who is without Him will always need some earthly inspiration and will always look for some mortal to find it in. Obama might inspire you, but only Christ can change you. Ghandi might enlighten your brain with a few proverbial truths, but only God can transform a man by the renewing of his mind. Oprah's benevolence might draw your admiration, but Jesus Christ is the only one who can radically change a man from being an enemy of the Almighty God, both wicked and sinful, and transform him into being a son of God- created after the image of Him in righteousness and true holiness. As long as men are just "inspired", they're still depraved...and are in need of far more than more inspiration. Jesus Christ is the only one who can provide lasting, real change in you and He will never change, yesterday, today and forever...

I will say , in defense of Christ in this poll, although He needs no defending, that Christ is not in a popularity contest. Its actually surprising that He is #2, being that His gospel was rather offensive to most of the people that heard it in His day, and they killed Him for it.... and it seems to offend many today as well. The Media mocks Him, Preachers water down His message in order to appease more sinners, and this country wants to kick Him out of His own holiday...that we made for Him....
In short, Christ is really in no contest with any of this worlds "figures". He is totally in a class by Himself, and on the day of Judgment, it wont really matter if he or some man was your "hero" or not, is He your Lord? Here's a stat for you "inspiration seekers" to chew on:
Obama, Dr.King, Mother Theresa, Kennedy, or anyone else "inspirational" is no closer in essence to Jesus Christ than the smallest atomic particle or the lowest worm under the earths soil. Christ's transcendency places an infinite gap between their "vapor" of glory and His.

Only in America do people refute Christ as God, give Him a Holiday, take Him out of the holiday, call themselves Christians, and then deny that in their lifestyles...all the while claim they are inspired by Him as a person...but persecute those seeking to be like Him.... What did you say Bern?.."Nuff Said"

The Focus of Worship

This is an excerpt out of a book Im reading called "God's Passion for His Glory" by John Piper. What is the focus of our worship to God on Sunday mornings, or at times when the church is gathered together corporately? Is the focus man-centered in attempting to glorify God, or is the focus God-centered, glorifying Him at all times? The quote:

The basic movement of worship on Sunday morning is not to come with our hands full to give to God, as though He needed anything (Acts 17:25), but to come with our hands empty, to receive from God. And what we receive in worship is the fullness of God, not the feelings of entertainment. We ought to come hungry for God. We should come saying " As the deep pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O'God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Ps. 42:1-2). God is mightily honored when a people know that they will die of hunger and thirst unless they have God.


Nothing makes God more supreme and more central in worship than when a people are utterly persuaded that nothing - not money or prestige or leisure or family or job or health or sports or toys or friends - nothing is going to bring satisfaction to their sinful, guilty, aching hearts besides God. This convivtion breeds a people who go hard after God on Sunday morning. They are not confused about why they are in a worship service. They do not view songs and prayers and sermons as mere traditions or mere duties. They see them as means of getting to God or God getting to them for more of His fullness - no matter how painful that may be for sinners in the short run.

If the focus in corporate worship shifts onto our giving to God, one result I have seen again and again is that subtly it is not God that remains at the center but at the quality of our giving. Are we singing worthily of the Lord? Do the instrumentalists play with a quality befitting a gift to the Lord? Is the preaching a suitable offering to the Lord? And little by little the focus shifts off the utter indispensability of the Lord Himself onto the quality of our performances. And we even start to define excellence and power in worship in terms of the technical distinction of our artistic acts. Nothing keeps God at the center of worship like the Biblical conviction that the essence of worship is deep, heartfelt satisfaction in Him, and the conviction that the trembling pursuit of that satisfaction is why we are together.

Furthermore, this vision of worship prevents the pragmatic hollowing out of this holy act. If the essence of worship is satifaction in God, then worship cant be a means to anything else. We simply cant say to God, " I want to be satisfied in you so that I can have something else." For that would mean that we are not really satisfied in God but in that something else. And that would dishonor God, not worship Him.

But in fact, for thousands of people, and for many pastors, the event of "worship" on Sunday morning is conceived of as a means to accomplish something other than worship. We "worship" to raise money; we "worship" to attract crowds; we "worship" to heal human hurts; to recruit workers; to improve church morale; to give talented musicians an opportunity to fulfill their calling; to teach our children the way of righteousness; to help marriages stay together; to evangelize the lost; to motivate people for service projects; to give our churches a family feeling.

In all this we bear witness that we do not know what true worship is. Genuine affections for God are an end in themselves. I cannot say to my wife: "I feel a strong delight in you, so that you will make me a nice meal." That is not the way delight works. It terminates on her. It does not have a nice meal in view...

I do not deny that authentic corporate worship may have a hundred good effects on the life of the church. It will, just like true affection in marriage, make everything better. My point is that to the degree that we do "worship" for these reasons, to that degree it ceases to be authentic worship. Keeping satisfaction in God at the center guards us from that trajedy."

2009 Reading List

I realize its coming up on the end of the first quarter in this year (2009) and I wanted to post the books that will be on my list to read this year, and the books that I have already read:

*completed
-in progress




*Spectacular Sins and their Global purpose in the Glory of Christ - John Piper

*The Gospel According to Jesus - John MacArthur

*God's Passion for His Glory - John Piper

*John Calvin and His Passion for the Majesty of God - John Piper

*The Doctrine of Repentance - Thomas Watson

*Dont Waste Your Life - John Piper

-The Art of Prophecying - William Perkins

-Justification and Regeneration - Charles Leiter

-The One True God - Paul David Washer

-A Body of Divinity - Thomas Watson

Pilgrims Progress - John Bunyan

12 Sermons on Repentance - Charles Spurgeon

*Finally Alive - John Piper

Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ - John Piper

Institutes of the Christian Religion - John Calvin

Im sure there will be more added to this list, but for now, this is it...
Any recommendations on good Christian literature?

Check out the Resource Site

Hey, check out my new resource site RepentResources !! Ive put some information and articles on this site so far...but its just beginning. I will be posting more sermons and videos in the near future. This is just a site where I can put everything that has helped me in the last few years grow and develop in my relationship with God. Its not just strictly for theology and information, but its to encourage you to know the God of the Bible and study the scriptures to be able to stand firm in the faith.
Be blessed!

Only In America...

It is unfortunate that I didnt come up with this phrase myself, it being so relevant and applicable to todays mainstream Christianity and all. "Only in America"...I must give credit to Don King who so joyusly used this phrase as he stroked a plethora of greenbacks in his hands as he was promoting then champion, Mike Tyson.


With all that aside, its time to bring forth the latest words from "Modern Mainstream Christianity". You know them well, the preachers and teachers we see on TV everyday, coming out of their mouths with doctrinal errors and falsehoods, most of them with sincere hearts, yet sincerely wrong. Before we start our journey on the latest heresies, I would like to say that I am not a heresy hunter. I dont sit around googling "heresy" and looking for faces to match it. Although these false sayings do anger me, I do keep these people lifted up in prayer, hoping that God's grace would work twoard them so that they may see the truth, as God has graciously done for me and so many others. The quotes:

This came from a very prominent evangelists' (prophetess') blog site:

"IF YOU WERE ONE OF THE ONES WHO HEARD THE MESSAGE AND TRIED TO SOW YOUR $21.00 SEED OFFERING THEN YOU WILL KNOW THAT THE PAYPAL SYSTEM CRASHED. HOWEVER WE ARE IN A PROPHETIC FLOW AND THAT $21.00 SEED WAS ON THE FLOOR IN THE SPIRIT INSTANT PROPHETIC WORD RELEASED BY WAY OF INTERNET. THE WORD WAS THAT HE WOULD TAKE THIS $21.00 SEED AND TURN IT INTO YOUR MIRACLE.
AS MANY OF YOU KNOW I AM NOT ONE TO GET ONLINE TO SEND OUT LETTERS IF GOD HAS NOT GIVEN ME TO DO SO. MANY HAVE TRIED TO DO SO IN MY NAME AND GOD STOPPED IT. SO, TONIGHT WHEN HE SPOKE OUT ACROSS THE INTERNET THAT THOSE THAT WERE WATCHING WOULD BE OBEDIENT AND SOW THAT $21.00 SEED IT WAS HIS DOING AND HIS DOING ALONE.

I WANT TO URGE YOU THAT IF YOU TRIED TO GIVE IT AND COULD NOT YOU NEED TO GO THE RESOURCE CENTER AND PRESS SOW A SEED AND SOW THAT $21 SEED AND YOU NEED TO DO IT NOW WHILE THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS MOVING UPON ME. GOD IS GETTING READY TO TURN IT AROUND IN EVERY AREA OF YOUR LIFE THROUGH THE OBEDIENCE OF YOUR SEED. HE SPOKE AND SAID BECAUSE OF OUR TIMES HE IS BRINGING THE SEED AMOUNT DOWN TO A LEVEL WHERE ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS OBEY HIM FOR A SMALL AMOUNT AND YOU WILL SEE HIS HAND FROM ALL THAT YOU DO FROM THIS POINT ON.
IF YOU KNOW SOMEBODY THAT DID NOT HEAR THE MESSAGE I URGE YOU TO CALL 12 PEOPLE AND SEND THEM ONLINE TO JUANITABYNUM.COM ON JBETV TO WATCH THIS MESSAGE. FOR JUST AS HE HAS DONE FOR YOU HE DESIRES TO DO THE SAME FOR THEM BECAUSE ALL OVER THE WORLD IT IS TIME FOR US TO WAKE UP!!!!!!!!!!!"

* I didnt know that my money could "spiritually be on the floor" and "spiritually pay for my miracle" and then I "spiritually get it over the internet"...all while the omnipotent, omnipresent Spirit of God moves upon...her??? I think I got it,...as long as I give my money to you (specifically $21 dollars) God can give me a miracle ( a special Internet one) and Ill see his Soverign hand on my life starting after I click "Buy Now"...ok.. Where was His hand in saving a wrtetched sinner like myself and graciously sending His son to bear the sins of many (Isa 53:12)??


Moving forward...
I read this little bit of information in a magazine the other day and it just made me sick....

"One of the biggest misconceptions I have found in my ministry experience, is people assuming God will fight our batles for us. Please notice that passage by Isaiah
to start my article ( Isaiah 54:17 ), it doesent say God will condemn the tounges that rise up against you. It says you will condemn them.
Misinformed teachers have been telling the body of Christ that God will handle everything for them. God has no intention of fighting our battles for us." He later goes on to say, "Nonsense!We do not pull down evil strongholds when we just leave it all up to God, then our ignorance gives occasion to the enemy....Wake up! God is your Father, and He is a good one! Good fathers dont teach their children by putting them through trials and tribulations."

Wow, this is a big bite of misinformed teaching. While I understand where he could be coming from in saying that we shouldnt be "lazy Christians"...a lazy Christian might find himself to be no Christian at all....but this isnt where he is coming from. He is preaching a gospel that glorifies man and not God. In the Bible, if the nation of Israel went to war without God...they lost...who was the cause of the win then? Israel? Their weapons? No. God was. Who told them whether they should even go to war in the first place knowing if they would win or not? Did Israel? No. God did.
I recall that when David tried to do things in his own strength and counted his men...did he win?? No, he lost more people than he even started with.
2 Chronicles 20:15 :And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the LORD unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours, but God's.
1 Samuel 17..when David slew the lion and bear, who did he give credit to for slaying the lion and bear? Himself? His ability? No. "David said moreover, The LORD that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine." (1 Sam 17:37 )
Then David went on further to say in the same passage :

" This day will the LORD deliver thee into mine hand; and I will smite thee, and take thine head from thee; and I will give the carcases of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air, and to the wild beasts of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. 47 And all this assembly shall know that the LORD saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the LORD'S, and he will give you into our hands.1 Sam 17:46-47 (KJV)"

Now, Mr.Avanzini's verse in Isaiah that he uses out of context...Isaiah 54:17
How are the people able to be weapon proof? Why is it that they are able to condemn tounges rising against them? Verse 17 "This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD." So who gets credit? Who makes them weapon proof? Who gives them the right and ability to condemn tounges against them? God.
GOD HAS EVERY INTENTION OF FIGHTING OUR BATTLES FOR US!!! HE ALWAYS HAS AND ALWAYS WILL!!

How is the Christian even able to do greater things than Christ...its because of Christ...and wait wait...context, always remember context!!! there is an AND that connects that verse to the next one...lets look...

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. 13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
John 14:12

So who's really doing the work here? Who's really doing it all? Christ...whats mans role in this? Asking, thats all...He does..."I will do it". You cant do a thing of yourself. Youre not great apart from God, as a matter of fact...apart from the grace of God we are losers of every battle, losers from the beginning and will end up losers in the end, in hell losing under the wrath of God.

This modern mainstream stuff glorifies a man that cant even breathe without the grace of the living God, much less fight your own battle. You'd better give it to the Lord, and you dont even have to give him $21 dollars for Him to fight it for you. Just ask...and "I will do".

Furthermore, God is the most Wonderful Father and yes he does put His children in the fire of affliction and tribulation. Being that we all deserve His wrath...right??..Is He unjust for putting His children in a fire to purify, rather than in a fire to consume? I wonder if Mr.Avanzini has read Isaiah 48:10 or Ezekiel 22:18-20, or 1 Peter 1:6-7?? I wonder if he has ever taken a look at Hebrews 12:5-8??


Reader, my encouragement to you is to not be fooled by some man-centered, fleshly, "its up to you" gospel. Let it be accursed and those teachers who speak it be accursed. While it may not be some totally off the wall-"there is no God" teaching, it is incomplete; and by partaking of it, it will make you incomplete, always searching and running after "the newest revelation". Youll be dropping money in the bucket and running to the stage to put it down until your blue in the face...Yes there are laws of sowing and reaping, seedtime and harvest...but where is your heart at? after the "blessing" promised to you...or after a Soverign God?


MORE LATER....

A Refusal to Shun the World - John MacArthur

Part of an essay by Dr.John MacArthur called " The Rise of Reckless Faith"


"We have already hinted at another factor contributing to the decline of discernment in the contemporary church. It is a preoccupation with image and influence. Many Christians have the misconception that to win the world to Christ we must first win the world's favor. If we can get the world to like us, they will embrace our Savior. That is the philosophy behind the user-friendly church movement, which I have evaluated in an earlier book.11

The express design of this user-friendly philosophy is to make unconverted sinners feel comfortable with the Christian message. People won't come to hear the Gospel proclaimed? Give them something they want. Put on a show. Entertain them. Avoid sensitive subjects like sin and damnation. Accommodate their worldly desires and felt needs. Slip in the Gospel in small, diluted doses. The whole point is to make the church a place where non-Christians can enjoy themselves. The strategy is to tantalize non-Christians rather than confront their unbelief. That is altogether incompatible with sound doctrine. It is compromise with the world. James called it spiritual adultery (James 4:4).

Look at the effect of this philosophy on the church. In order to entice sinners, preaching has been replaced with entertainment. The preacher who once took his stand for truth and made the biblical message clear is now asked to take his seat. He's a problem. He's an embarrassment. He's an offense to non-Christians.

But if the truth cannot be fearlessly proclaimed in the church, what place is there for truth at all? How can we build a generation of discerning Christians if we are terror-struck at the thought that non- Christians might not like hearing the unvarnished truth?

And since when has it been legitimate for the church to woo the world? Didn't the apostle John write, "Do not marvel, brethren, if the world hates you" (1 John 3:13)? And did not Jesus say, "The world ... hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil" (John 7:7)? Biblical Christians have always understood that they must shun the world. Here are our Lord's own words:

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose vou out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, "A slave is not greater than his master." If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute vou; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me (John 15:18-21).
Does that sound like it gives any latitude for an evangelistic strategy that soft-pedals the offense of the cross?