Are we careful whom we listen to?

Do we check the instruction of teachers comparatively against the Bible or do we just take someone’s word for scriptural accuracy? C’mon, we can’t allow ourselves to become so complacent that we cease to check out what we allow in our eyes and ears. Posted by W.c Whitaker on Facebook.

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 6/2012

Thank you Cameron for reminding us of this so important and crucial injunction especially in this time of  widespread, concerted and  relentless attacks of the enemy on the Bible, the truth and the meaning, nature and extent of the redemptive work of Christ and the church place in the Kingdom. 

A Famine in the Land
 “The days are coming,” declares the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine through the land—
not a famine of food or a thirst for water,
    but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Amos 8:11


Every idea, every suggestion, every so called prophecy or teaching is a seed being planted in the mind and heart of men.

The identity of the sower is important but the storehouse where it comes from is equally  important. Jesus and Paul warned about false teachers and false prophets. 

• That ´s the WHO. 
• In Mark 4:24 He warned : Be careful WHAT you hear. 
• In Luc 8:18, he warned: Be careful HOW you hear, 
• expanding the initial command: WHO has ears let him hear. Matthew 13:9.

In foreign language learning and acquisition, after the alphabet, the next things a student learns are the very important WHs  words. Who, what, which, where, why, and then related derivatives such as with whom, whose, from where, since when?

Then come the HOWs: how much, how many? 

As believers who want to grow in knowledge and communion with our Lord and have a desire to be taught by the Holy Spirit, it behooves us to ask ourselves these important questions since these commands are given in the context of the parable of the sower and the good seed planted in the heart of man, salvation, appearance of salvation and growth once a person is saved and the work of satan our enemy who plants bad seeds and tries to hinder the growth of the good ones. 

We cannot ignore these commands without suffering the consequences of disregarding them or taking  them lightly. Right after the context of John chapter 15 on the need of the disciple to abide in Christ in order to bear fruit, good fruit and more fruit, chapter 16 begins with this ominous statement: “ All this I have told you so that you will not go astray”. 

So  going  back to the WHS question words we can see that their application is paramount in the disciple´s life and that our steadfast and faithful abiding walk with Jesus will depend on heeding the warnings. As a good examination of our Christian walk  and of our progress or regress in our spiritual life, a simple yet powerful tool is to ask ourselves these questions and our honest answers will serve as a good gauge of where we are in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Jean-Louis.

Sanitization or Sanctification?

Sanitization or Sanctification?
By Bob DeWaay
http://cicministry.org/articles.php

A reader phoned me recently and explained how he has seen churches depart from Bible teaching only to institute various programs for better living. He made an intriguing statement: "These programs do not sanctify, they sanitize." And he was absolutely right about that.

Let me unpack that idea and show from Scripture that this is the case.
It is possible to use human wisdom and good advice programs in order to help people achieve better living. It is possible to get an alcoholic sober, an abusive husband to be considerate and caring, a compulsive gambler to quit, a person driven to make money at the expense of family to change priorities, and to help an unhappy person become happy. All of this can be done without any special work of grace. In fact, it can be done without religion at all.

I once heard a debate between two college professors, one an atheist and the other a Christian. Toward the end of the debate the atheist made an interesting statement. He said, "You do not need a god or religion to have a good, happy life. I have been happily married for many years, have wonderful children and grandchildren, live a moral life, and could not ask for anything more from life. I do not need religion and neither do you." Sadly, many Christians have so redefined Christianity that they would not know how to respond to such a statement. It is true that many people lead happy, relatively moral lives without God. But what they cannot obtain is right standing before the Holy God who created the universe.

When Christianity is reduced to a "better-living-through-religion" program it does not offer anything that some atheists (like the one in that debate) already have. It is telling when churches fill up their docket with seminars designed to help people solve life problems through general revelation. General revelation is available to all through the normal means of knowing. All societies have their own aphorisms which they pass along—their collective "good advice." It is not a sin to give people good advice gleaned from general revelation, but neither is to confuse that advice with Christ's mandate: "Teaching them to observe all that I commanded you" (Matthew 28:20a).

Two key differences differentiate good advice from the commands of Scripture:
1) Good advice is never binding and can be safely (from an eternal perspective) ignored.
2) Good advice is not sanctifying.

The atheist with a nice family and a happy life is clearly not sanctified. The term "sanctification" means to be made holy. Holiness cannot be gleaned from general revelation. So those helped by good advice drawn from human wisdom may be sanitized, but unless they repent and believe the gospel they will never be sanctified. Sanctification comes through redemption and the means of grace. Paul wrote: "But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, so that, just as it is written, "Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord" (1Corinthians 1:30, 31). That atheist was boasting against the Lord! Christians can only boast in the Lord. Dispensing human wisdom can produce many satisfied customers. A local pastor, known for preaching the prosperity gospel, was exposed in the newspaper for his lavish lifestyle and possible misappropriation of church funds. One of his members wrote a letter to the editor defending the pastor. The letter writer cited all of the positive changes that had happened since attending that church: a better family, better finances, freedom from addiction, and so forth. But he did not mention anything distinctive to Christianity. Some people who believe the health and wealth gospel actually are healthy and wealthy. But so are some atheists.

Many churches simply have given up salvation and sanctification and settled for sanitization—clean and happy "Christian" living without regard to holiness in the sight of God. Paul discusses this in Colossians:
If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" (which all refer to things destined to perish with use) in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence. (Colossians 2:20-23)

The cleaned up sinner is still "fleshly" because the only alternative to the flesh is the Spirit, and people do not receive the Spirit by works of law:
This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? (Galatians 3:2, 3)
There is no definite article with "law" in the Greek; Paul is speaking of "works of law." Whether the Mosaic Law or any other, people do not receive the Holy Spirit by works of law. Anyone without the Holy Spirit is unsaved and unsanctified (see Romans 8:4-8). Anyone without the Spirit is motivated by the flesh (1John 2:16, 17). A person may be able to change his lusts (i.e., from the lust of the flesh to the boastful pride of life) through human wisdom dispensed through a program, but no one can escape the lusts of the world by any means except for a work of grace through the gospel. The law can restrain evil, but it cannot produce holiness.

We do not escape from worldly corruption by any means other than the promises of God found in Scripture: "For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust" (2Peter 1:4).

This being the case, why have so many churches filled their sermons and programs with ideas gleaned through general revelation that amount to good advice? The answer is found most likely in their constituency. Clear teaching of the word of God will sanctify those who are truly saved. Jesus prayed: "Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth" (John 17:17). That means that God does a work of grace on the inside that changes the motivations of the heart, not just certain behaviors (Hebrews 4:12). The behavior does change, objectively, because the Bible contains instruction in godly living that should be taught with the binding authority of God. These instructions are commands, not good advice. They cannot safely be ignored. But the good news is that God's grace comes to us through His word, enabling and motivating us to obey Him.

A church becomes filled with unsaved people when "better living through Jesus" teachings and programs become the norm rather than gospel preaching and Bible teaching. The people are there to find the sort of life the atheist bragged about having. They may get a nice, happy life through human wisdom dispensed in the name of Christianity.

But holiness is what such persons cannot find through human wisdom. Holiness comes from a work of grace, not a decision to change some things for the better. Sinners lacking the gospel but sanitized through a church program may end up in a worse condition than before. If, in the name of Christianity, the drunkenness or marriage problems go away, those who benefited may think they are saved when, in fact, they are lost. False assurance is dangerous and if not remedied will lead to eternal damnation.

The good advice approach assumes that humans possess the motivation and ability they need; that they simply need instruction on how to put what they already have to work. The real situation is that we are sinners without hope and without God in the world (Ephesians 2:12). We do not have an engineering problem; we have a spiritual one. That spiritual problem is remedied by what God does by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8)—not what we do through human wisdom. The Bible tells us to "pursue" sanctification, because without it we will never see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). Only sanctification through the blood of Jesus makes us fit to see the Lord. Sanitization through good advice cannot do that.

Published by Twin City Fellowship
Critical Issues Commentary
P.O. Box 26127
St. Louis Park, MN 55426
952-935-3100pastorbob@twincityfellowship.com

The Wisdom of Patience

Written and published by Jean-Louis. 4/2012


He has made everything beautiful in his time.
The end of the matter is better than its beginning
and patience is better than pride. Ecclesiastes 3:11; 7:8.

A few years back a Kraft commercial for their Parmesan cheese attracted my attention. I love the way Jewish, Italian, French or Brazilian families to name a few make the dinner table a place of great communication in sharing political debate, loud banter and laughter while at the same time respecting the experience and wisdom of the elders in the family.

On the screen a wonderful long table was set with all the delicious dishes cooked by the Mama for her Italian family. In the middle of the table a small child was sitting next to his grand-pa, anxiously waiting his turn to devour the delicious spaghetti with an appetite already stimulated by the wonderful aroma of the marinara sauce.

His big round eyes were following the can of parmesan cheese as each one was passing it around the table. He was so eager to start eating that he lifted his eyes and asked his grand-pa permission to start: “now, Grand-paw” who was answering: “not yet”. Then the same questions and answers were shared just by an inquiring glance from below and a negative movement of the index finger above. Slowly everybody was shaking the can in a heaping serving of grated cheese on their plate. 

You could see the impatience grow on the kid´s face and in his eyes imploring his grand-father to give him the signal. Nobody else seemed to pay attention to the silent complicity between the oldest and the youngest member of the family. Finally after the can had made the rounds to his grand-paw and the child had victoriously shaken the container onto his plate, (there was enough left!) one last time he obediently raised his eyes and with a grin waited for the green light from one he respected and that he knew loved him enough to teach him the important lessons in life. The grandfather, an affectionate smile on his face released the hungry boy with a simple nod.

This beautifully thought and presented commercial reveals a spiritual lesson that the Lord was trying to teach me.

How many times when we pray asking our Father in Heaven in faith and according to his will knowing that he will answer us do we then grow impatient when the answer doesn´t come right away? 

Do we understand the number of levels the Lord works on?

Do we know that He has already answered us, but that we are not the only ones he wants to bless? 
Do we realize that he may be sending his messengers, be they man or angels to affect the lives of people half way around the world and connecting events that took place 40, 50,100 years ago to bring about his desired end according to his will and his purpose?

To everything there is a season and I would add a “Seasoning”. To read about seasoning with salt in the season of brokenness click: Here

So next time you are tempted to reach and grab for the Parmesan cheese across the table, be patient and remember the wisdom of the elders.

 Jean-Louis.

The Poison of False Teachings

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 2/2012  
The ever pressing need for spiritual discernment in today´s church.

The scene: A greenhouse full of flowers and plants.

It´s time to fertilize the plants to help them grow and to become strong and beautiful.

Equipment needed: A tank for mixing, water, a pomp and a hose with a nozzle to carry the water and fertilizer mixture under pressure to spray the plants.

Worker´s gear: Water proof  protective suit, boots, gloves and a protective respirator mask.

 Fertilizer: ( Percentage not accurate, solely used for the illustration). Chemical contents in a paper bag in soluble powder form,

Inert  ingredients: 99.5 %
Active ingredients: 0.5 %
 
Instructions: Fill the tank, dilute the appropriate dose of fertilizer and start spraying the plants.

Expected results:Plant growth.

Now let´s look at a scenario in which instead of or adding to fertilizer somebody inadvertently, maybe without paying attention to the warning on the labels or perhaps intentionally would mix a wrong poisonous substance to the water.

Everything remains the same, the place, the worker, the plants and flowers, the water, the equipment, even the inert ingredients in equal measure, everything except the 0.5 percent (more or less) of the amount of poison lethal to the plants.

What would be the effect on the plants?  At least, they would wilt, become yellow, lose their vigor, their beauty or at worst even dies if the poison concentration was strong enough.

Change of scenery.
Let´s imagine any church building. We see the building, the people, the praise group or choir, the musical instruments, the pulpit and the pastor preaching from the word of God, the bible. 
Or it could be a Sunday school or a home group meeting in which the leader and participants share their testimonies, stories or illustrations aimed at helping the group understand the lesson.

So you see the parallel with the situation in the green house.

Every time someone (the worker spraying the plants) brings the Word of God and explains it simply, clearly and faithfully the Scriptures under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, the listeners (represented by the plants) grow in wisdom, understanding, love, inner strength, etc. and are comforted, encouraged in all the aspects of  Christian living if they practice the lessons of the Scriptures with diligence and obedience to the Lord´s words and his commands.

The stories, illustrations, parables, poems and personal testimonies can be compared to the inert ingredients that help to carry the biblical message to the participants. They can be neutral depending on their source and intent  and serve as a framework for the spiritual content.  They can be interesting, fascinating, but what provides the growth in the Christian hearer is the powerful and penetrating Word of God (and its correct exposition and interpretation) that operates a work of conversion in the sinner, purifying the human heart and spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who through the Word illuminates, establishes and edifies by giving him or her light, strength, peace and consolation. The list of blessings and benefits of the Word of God in the life of the believers is inexhaustible.

The Word of God is so filled with life, power and so efficacious that just one verse of the Bible is enough to change a hard and impenetrable heart, to open the mind and change the life of a man and to draw him from death to eternal life, from darkness into the marvelous light by the power of the Holy Spirit who applies the Word of Life in the heart of the sinner and operates his invisible and yet manifest work. Jesus said: “my words, they are life and they are spirit”.
 
Let´s change the scenario
Here we have the same situation, the same building, the same congregation, the same praise group, instruments, pulpit, the same pastors, the same Bible, everything is similar.

It could happen that some illustrations, poems or stories accompanying the message or the biblical lesson contain doubtful and imperceptible doctrinal elements and false teaching, read from a book or watched and remembered from a radio or a TV program. Or even worse, a deliberate departure, addition to or subtraction, or distortion from the very meaning of the word, verse or context, an action forbidden by God himself  who made this very clear in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. 

Now let´s suppose that the person doing it lacks discernment and speaks with no knowledge  of the origin, nature or the impact of what he is relating. It does not matter, the effect can be devastating consequences in the life of the people who hear, absorb and assimilate the teaching because poison is poison even in small quantities, even coming from a well-intentioned person.  Depending on the vulnerability and lack of discernment of the believer, the influence and its effect will be more or less serious.

 
In the Church, our Lord God provided everything we need, the structures, equipment,  pastors, teachers, the brothers and sisters participating in the worship. He gave us the breath and the voice to praise him, to proclaim his message of love and pardon, our mind and heart to receive, believe and share the good news of the Gospel. His Word, and the practice of good works that the Father entrusts to our responsibility helps us to grow, mature and be conformed to the image of our Lord Jesus. His Word is pure and cannot  be mixed or diluted with anything  else that is impure. Proverbs 30:5.

A teaching that is contrary to the Word of God is poison to our soul. We cannot allow our mouth to transmit what is poisonous (venom coming from the  serpent´s mouth) to others´ears. For my post on the New Age Movement click: Here

For a companion studies on our spiritual weapons click on this link:

http://thelightseed.blogspot.com/2010/03/tempering-our-weapons.html

Pastors and teachers, of course, bear a greater measure of responsibility when it comes down to exercising wisdom  and prudence towards preaching and teaching the Word of God. Indeed, every Christian ought to use the Word (written) as a filtration system to judge what is good and true (see Acts 17:11 as Paul talks about the noble Bereans) when spiritual teaching is involved. The Scriptures along with the help of the Holy Spirit help us to discern and to protect our minds from error and we must handle them as offensive weapon to combat the lies and wiles of the adversary.

The best antidote if we inadvertently swallowed spiritual poison is the truth of Word of God that purifies us (Eph 5:26-27). Interestingly enough the hope of seeing our Lord and waiting expectantly for his soon return purifies us also. (I John 3:3).

The Word of God is compared to bread. Jesus warned us that our bread must be kept from any addition of the yeast of the Pharisees that is hypocrisy when we embrace the position and conduct of those who spread false teachings and add burdens that the Lord himself has not given us. It is interesting to note that the leavening that the baker uses to make the bread rise can only be effective in a lukewarm environment described perfectly in the spiritual condition of the church of Laodicea in the book of Revelation.  Yeast cannot survive or thrive in hot or cold temperatures which neutralize its active properties. It is enough to observe the effects to recognize the causes.

• Zeal without knowledge is unprofitable. Prov. 19:2; Romans 10:2.
• Knowledge without love puffs up like yeast. Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. ² Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. ³ But whoever loves God is known by God. I Corinthians 8:1. 
• For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision,  nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. ⁷ You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth? ⁸ That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. ⁹ “A little yeast works through the whole batch of dough.” ¹⁰ I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty. Galatians 5: 6-10.
• ⁵Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Proverbs 30:5
• ¹²For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. ¹³Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. ¹⁴Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. ¹⁵For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.¹⁶Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:12-16.

In conclusion, we are commanded to love and walk in the Spirit in order to be victorious over our flesh (sin nature) through the cross, reckoning ourselves dead and preserve the freedom to which we were called and for which Christ died for us.

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. ¹⁶ So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. ¹⁷ For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever^[c] you want. ¹⁸ But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Galatians 5: 13-18.

Jean-Louis

The BDS Perversion of Reality | FrontPage Magazine

The Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo reported on March 22, 2014, that “Pro-Palestinian activists at the University of Michigan have had the cops called on them for threatening pro-Israel students and staging a sit-in over the student government’s refusal to back an anti-Israel initiative to divest from the Jewish state. The threatening rhetoric used by these pro-Palestinian activists is part of a wider campaign by the University of Michigan’s pro-Palestine group Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE), which is part of the virulently anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.”
 
The ultimate goal of the BDS movement is the destruction of the Jewish State. The intent is to weaken it through de-legitimization, economic sanction, and isolation. What the anti-Semitic radical-Left is seeking, while in cahoots with the Arab-Palestinians, is to bring down Israel through lawfare instead of warfare. The Arabs and Palestinians have tried wars, terror, and economic boycott, and failed. At this stage of warring against Israel, the BDS movement is using the language of human rights which the West is addicted to, and is placing the Palestinians on top of the so-called Third World anti-colonial struggle. Defending the Third World (regardless of its abuse of universal standards of human rights) is sacrosanct to the political-Left in the West. Israel therefore becomes a triple “sinner.” It is considered by the BDS activists as too powerful, too western, and too Jewish. Continue reading

How do we measure success?

Written and published by Jean-Louis.3/2012
 
"An act of love that fails is just as much a part of the divine life as an act of love that succeeds, for love is measured by fullness, not by reception." Harold Loukes.

Have you ever felt a little sad or ignored when your hard work for the Lord was not producing fruit that was tangible in the lives of people you serve? Have you wondered if there was something wrong in your methods or even that the Lord was not blessing your efforts and doubted that you were in His will? Have you felt discouraged by the apparent failure of your ministry?

Or your self-inflicted criticism could turn into an understandable self-justification into accepting a self-imposed defeat and throwing down the gloves. "After all the Lord has not blessed me with the gift of evangelism", you might argue. Look at all the successful ministries with crowds waiting in lines to participate in the latest human-crowd-baiting nets operations.

Not all fishermen are in the fishing business equipped with huge nets and fleets of boats to carry all the catch. Big fishing ministries might not start with the initial call, blessings of God  ending up with the final rewards for faithful service but you surely can if you are fishing for God, with God and in whatever pond, river or sea the Master has called to be.

"But wait a minute, what about me?" you might retort. All I have is two hands, one mouth and the Word of God to help me. My friend, you have all you need to be, maybe not as an apparently successful captain of a fishing boat fleet, but as a faithful angler because God has called you to cast your bread on the waters and not to worry about the size of the catch.

Conversely, you might be gifted by the Lord to feed the fish instead of catching it. We are not in the business of killing the fish. The fish is already dead. Sure, physically, it jumps, swims, eats and reproduces just any normal fish. So why are we surprised when the fish escapes the hook and swims away?

Do we think the hook is as important as the bait? Are we sorry that the fish got away? Maybe we have it backward in our attempts to draw people to Jesus.
We should rejoice when the fish gets away with the bait, the Word of God, the real food that will one day give them life and imperceptibly but surely help them to get closer to the day when the Word of God will produce its work of new birth and eternal salvation. Then, they will grow bigger and stronger and reproduce.

Paul in I Corinthians said that one plants the seed, another waters it according to the task assigned by God. “Neither he who plants, nor he who waters is anything, but only God who makes things grow. The man who plants and the man who waters have one purpose and each will be rewarded according to his own labor”. I Corinthians 3:7-9.

To go back to the initial quote above, if your service to God and your fellow human is an act of love accomplished in faith and obedience to our Lord Jesus it might seem to you as a failure because of the seeming lack of immediate results, it might be that the person that was the object of your love did not receive it, but that does not take away your unwavering commitment and your acting in faith and love. It just might be a matter of time. Sooner or later, up or down the stream of life, another angler will build on your faithful work and bring the fish home hopefully without the wounds of unscrupulous fishermen using false bait and using big hooks and harpoons that hurt the fish.

Take the example of the great missionary to India, William Carey whose biography I recommend reading: “ after seven years of tireless toil in India Carey still did not have a single convert!” However he trusted in the Word of God for his life and he quotes it in the text of a historic sermon in Isaiah 54:2-3: “Enlarge the place of your tent and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings. Do not spare, lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes! For you shall expand to the right and to the left and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make desolate cities inhabited.” And this is exactly what he did.

Paul, Apollos, all the disciples and great men of God throughout history can be used as good examples to emulate (see the list in hall of faith in Hebrew 11).

However the best and supreme example of somebody who acted with the highest disinterested kind of love who could have been seen as a failure was our Lord Jesus-Christ. He spent the 33 years of his short life being rejected. He was not attractive or beautiful in his human form, had nothing that would make man desire him, a man full of sorrow, despised. Talk about a failure in the eyes of the unbelieving world. He was oppressed, afflicted, and did not complain. He was betrayed, died through the false testimony of lying witnesses. He dies the death of the worst criminals. And he did it for the love of his Father and love for you and me. He labored and was faithful even to his death but not in vain, because look at what beautiful inheritance -- salvation from eternal death and the promise of the Spirit and eternal life with him -- he won for the millions of believers who trust in him. This is the great victory brought by his sacrifice on the cross.

If you trust him with your life he can turn your apparent failures into victories. Don´t look at instant results judging your performance by the way people react to your sharing the truth with others. “Watch your life and your doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers. I Timothy 4:15,16.
God is a good and tender loving Father who likes to reward his faithful and obedient children with surprises big and small in answer to our prayers.

This is what the Word says concerning fullness, love, faith and works. “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, Col 1:19; For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and you have been given this fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority. Colossians 2:9, 10.
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Gal. 5:6.
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord not for men, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward.. It is the Lord Christ whom you are serving. Colossians 3:23.

Jean-Louis.

THE PROMISE. To my brother in Christ Alex Tinson

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 3/2012

For us today, God´s promise still stands
He will act in power through our hands
Come rain, come snow or even hail
The gates of hell will not prevail
He said it to Abraham and to his church again

The call today is still the same
To go and catch fish in his name
Do not worry if you have the skill
The Master himself will teach you
Be obedient, faithful, and trust him
Your net with a good catch he will fill

Raise up today the standard of love
Rest in Jesus´finished work
Walk circumspect, watch and pray
Now is the time to stand up and fight
In the awesome power of his might

Hear today, Oh Christian under his blood
You will not perish in the flood
Our goal is close, I hear his voice
Calling his own: " My bride, ´tis time
Come up hither, my kingdom enter
Receive the fruit of your labor."

Jean-Louis. March 7 2012

The personal experience of a young Christian believer. Part III. Conclusion.

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 2/2012

The following Sunday after church, my sponsor friend who had become my spiritual mother leading me to the Lord, and I were eating in a restaurant. We were finishing our dessert and I thought it a propitious moment to show her my newly acquired Bible and shared with her the surrounding events that led to my receiving this precious gift.

While leafing through the first pages containing the personal family information of the owner, she exclaimed: “the name of the owner is the same as the man´s sitting at a table not far from ours. I know that man”. Piqued with curiosity and a little overwhelmed by the strange sequence of fortuitous, incredible events happening in such a short time, I got up and introduced myself. Asking him if he recognized the Bible, his face beamed with surprise mixed with emotional intensity as if he had recognized a long lost friend. He replied: “This Bible belongs to me and my family. We lost it 25 years ago.”

I sat down to explain the amazing story of how it came in my possession. He listened carefully even more awestruck than I was as I related to him an outline of my spiritual journey and the details of my past week´s adventure and God´s providential instruction in leading the way and teaching me in a real and unmistakable manner.

As I told him that I was happy to have found his Bible and handing it to him, he graciously offered me to keep it as a token of God´s loving kindness and care to all involved. He was obviously touched by this testimony of God´s acting on the behalf of his children.

I leave it up to you to see the hand of God in all this and the resulting blessings in the lives of the ones involved. I am sure every one of us was changed in some way. I am also certain that these encounters were the results of personal questions and doubts about the reality of faith and providence of God and answers to prayers.

What happened to that big black Bible? I don´t know where it is right now or how God used it. I gave it to a friend in college as a witness and encouragement after telling him the wonderful story behind it.

Personally, this experience served to solidify in a very real and concrete way the foundations on which my faith is based and provided a pillar of remembrance for times of discouragement, weakness and doubts. Later on as I became more familiar with the scriptures, I found passages and verses confirming my life experiences of the reality and truth of the revelation of a loving Father to his children. I can trust his word as the eternal, unchanging truth, a sure light guiding me on the way. I can trust the Spirit´s promptings as the voice of my Shepherd because and when it aligns and concurs with his written word and is confirmed by several witnesses.

One of those verses is Isaiah 55:10-13: "10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, 11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it. 12 You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. 13 Instead of the thorn bush will grow the juniper, and instead of briers the myrtle will grow. This will be for the LORD’s renown, for an everlasting sign, that will endure forever.” 
 
I thank and praise God my Father and my Lord Jesus-Christ for his mercy, his grace and his enduring loving kindness to us his children and the abundant blessings that he bestows on us every day without any merit on our part. Bless his Holy Name forever.
Jean-Louis.

The personal experience of a young Christian believer. Part II

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 2/12
  Continued... There as I sat on a bar stool and ordered a drink, the man next to me with the imposing physique of a huge football player asked me in a “basso profundo” booming voice: “Who, are, you? “

Who wouldn´t be intimidated? I certainly was. So with my best French accent, I recited my resume, name, birth place and other data that we usually give total strangers when we are introduced. This went on for a while as the man kept repeating the same question and didn´t seem to be satisfied with my adding each time true, factual answers about myself. But inside, my chest was heaving as I sensed God asking me the same question: who are you Jean-Louis? Are you going to properly identify yourself or are you ashamed of me?
Bear in mind that I had not yet read the verse on Christ being ashamed of us if we are ashamed of Him. 

The Lord Jesus in Mark 8:38 declares: If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

So finally, unable to resist the pressure of the Spirit, I told the man: OK, let´s go sit down in a quiet corner so we can talk undistracted and I can tell you who I really am.
The man replied: "well, that´s better” as if he knew something that escaped me and was setting me up for a strange encounter. 

Up to that day, I had been shielded, being around Christians and had never had to be in a confrontational situation as this. I proceeded to tell the man that I was a new born again believer and shared with him my testimony of how God had brought me miraculously to the US and had changed my heart and my life.

He, in turn shared how he had turned his back on God and felt his life was a wreck without any hope of finding his way back to his relationship with Jesus. He had become a hopeless drunk. He even passed me a bad check in exchange for a few dollars so he could buy liquor.

After a long heart to heart conversation, I told him about the grace and mercy of God and that if he had done it for me, a wretched sinner,  he would do it for him also. All he had to do was to repent of his sins and ask forgiveness and God would accept him back into the relationship and help him to lead a victorious life.

He was truly touched by my words and his countenance brightened up. He told me to wait for him and that he was going to bring me back a present to thank me.
A few minutes later, he walks to the table with a big black bible and hands it to me as a gift for having taken the time to listen to his story and given him a ray of hope.

To be continued.

The personal testimony of a young Christian believer. Part I.

Written and posted by Jean-Louis. 2/2012
I would like to share with you a personal experience I had with the Lord right after my spiritual new birth which has taught me 4 basic principles which have served to strengthen and sustain my faith. In his goodness and grace, the Lord demonstrated his care and loving-kindness to me by giving me what I call a shot of colostrum in my first steps as a baby Christian along with the spiritual milk of his word. He was preparing me for the weaning that happens as a natural stage in the baby´s growth and the long walk through the desert that was awaiting me.
These principles are:

• We might be doing a good, spiritual, church related activity or service, but actually Jesus-Christ our head may have something different and better that he wants us to do, that is his will for us at the present time, no matter what the circumstances look like to our human eyes.
• Listen to the inner guiding voice of the Holy Spirit in you. With time you will recognize it just like you are able to recognize the particular tone of voice of your loved ones.
• Do not be ashamed of your Lord and Savior Jesus-Christ. and of the Gospel he commanded us to proclaim.
• The Bible is the true revealed word of God. You can trust it as God will speak to you and guide your walk through its pages with the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

Just a few weeks after I was born again -twenty-two years old at the time - I had been going to a Baptist church and joined the choir as people encouraged me to participate in activities. I was giving my testimony on a Christian radio show, enjoyed reading and learning from the Bible, going to church and being fed by My Father´s providential hand.

I had the same exhilarated feeling as when I first put my foot on the US soil just to celebrate my first Christmas with my American sponsor´s family, that of an immigrant who is starting a new life in the land of freedom where nobody knows or cares about your past and where you can look forward to a new exciting life full of opportunities.
One Thursday afternoon as I was walking to the church for choir rehearsal, I felt an inner prompting to turn around and go to the bar in a seedy part of town where I had been drinking a few weeks ago with a friend of mine before I became a believer. This thought left me confused as I stopped in my track not understanding what was happening.

I had barely started reading the New Testament, was not aware of the Holy Spirit as a teacher, a guide and all of his ministry in the believer´s life. I was afraid of being late for practice and went on a few more steps when the impression got stronger. I thought it strange and a temptation to prevent and sidetrack me from doing my service to my new found God. So I walked on until the third prompting was so intensely felt that I just had to turn around and walk back to the bar.
To be continued.