The Christian Family

From the Pastor's Desk...

"The Christian family was the bulwark of godliness in the days of the Puritans; but in these evil times hundreds of families of so-called Christians have no family worship, no restraint upon growing sons, and no wholesome instruction or discipline. See how the families of many professors are as dressy, as godless as the children of the non-religious! How can we hope to see the Kingdom of our Lord advance when His own disciples do not teach His gospel to their own sons and daughters?" --C. H. Spurgeon

"Every Christian family ought to be a little church, consecrated to Christ and wholly influenced and governed by His Laws." --Jonathan Edwards

"It is difficult to see how Christianity can have a positive effect on society if it cannot transform its own homes." --John MacArthur

From the Pastor's Desk: The Years of Our Lives

Someone has figured that in the average life span of 70 years, we will spend our time this way:

Eight years in amusements

Six years at the dinner table

Five years in transportation

Four years in conversation

Three years sick or convalescing

Less than one year for God--that is, IF a person attends ONE 90-minute service every Sunday and prays every day for ten minutes.

(Cathy's comment: Notice that there is no mention of evangelism at all--no teaching, no preaching, no witnessing to the neighbours, no passing out tracts. Also, there is no mention of any group prayer meeting at all. Is this what modern-day Christianity has come to? God help us! We need revival!)

From the Pastor's desk--"That I may know him..."

That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death. Philippians 3:10

Tom has been preaching from this verse for the past month or so. Sunday he had this in the bulletin:

Four main aspects of the Christian life are,

1. Communion -- to know Him is to love Him

2. Conformity -- to know Him is to be like Him

3. Commitment -- to know Him is to live for Him

4. Consummation -- to know Him is to lose one's life for Him

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. If it is true that "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12), then why aren't we suffering persecution?

Could it be that we are not living godly in Christ Jesus?

From the Pastor's Desk--"One-Legged Missionary"

From today's bulletin:

A one-legged school teacher from Scotland came to J. Hudson Taylor to offer himself for service in China.

"With only one leg, why do you think of going as a missionary?" asked Taylor.

"I do not see those with two legs going," replied George Scott.

He was accepted.


This afternoon I did some internet research about George Scott. I came up with this interesting fact: Mr. Scott's first Chinese evangelist was paralyzed.

"And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

From the Pastor's Desk--True Revival

from today's bulletin. . .

We hear much about revival these days, but the heart of revival is the Lordship of Christ. A mere emotional upheaval, a spurt of religious excitement, is not revival. When Christians become convicted of rebellion against the rule of Christ in their lives, confess their sins, renounce self, take the cross and let Jesus have the first and last word in everything, that is revival, by whatever name you call it.

-Selected

From the Pastor's Desk--Counting the Cost

I am starting a new category of posts. "From the Pastor's Desk" is a weekly feature of our church bulletin, and I've decided to copy them here. I don't know where my husband gets these selections; most of them are anonymous. Here's the one for today:

Counting the Cost

Let's ask ourselves this question: "Am I concerned about the sacrifices I may be called upon to make in serving Christ?"

Two young men were talking about this very thing. One of them said, "I cannot tell you all that the Lord Jesus is to me, or what He has done for me. I do wish you would enlist in His army."

"I'm thinking about it," answered the other youn man, "but it means giving up several things--in fact, I am counting the cost."

A Christian officer, just passing, heard the last remark, and laying his hand on the shoulder of the young soldier said, "Young man, you talk of counting the cost of following Christ, but have you ever counted the cost of not following Him?"