“Satan…will do anything to hold up evangelism and divide Christians.” J.I. Packer.
evangelism
All posts tagged evangelism
“The Christ who is depicted and desired merely to make the lot of life’s casualties easier by supplying them with aids and comforts is not the real Christ, but a misrepresented and misconceived Christ — in effect, an imaginary Christ. And if we taught people to look to an imaginary Christ, we should have no grounds for expecting that they would find a real salvation.” -J. I. Packer, Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, Chapter 3.
Reality check time…
Gordon H. Clark provides some great thoughts on the topic of Christian Assurance.
There is much confusion concerning the true history of the man known as Saint Patrick. Both Protestants and Roman Catholics claim him as one of their own. Even those who practice no religion save alcoholism consider him to be their patron saint, honoring him by wearing green and drinking themselves into a stupor every March 17. But the real story of Patrick isn’t all about snakes & shamrocks. Richard Bennett of Berean Beacon, relying on several historical documents and trustworthy historians, has written an article to remind us of the legacy of the real historical Patrick, an inspiring true story of kidnapping, pirates, and the gospel of grace.
The Legacy of the True Historical Patrick can be downloaded (.pdf) and/or read here.
The Confession of St. Patrick can be found here.
A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, written by Patrick, can be found here.
I never really liked the guy. Not to say I hated him, but he was a somewhat crude individual who liked to pretend he was smarter than those around him. Because of this, he was often the butt of people’s jokes, and not always were these jokes made behind his back. I am sad to say that I was a part of this ridicule, if not to his face. But he tended to be a pain to work with, and, now that I think about it, we were only using his frequent mistakes as an excuse to make ourselves feel superior.
I don’t know his beliefs. I saw him show up at my church one night, but instead of trying to make him feel welcome, I avoided him.
I don’t know his age, but he couldn’t have been more than twenty at most.
I don’t even know his name. I probably did once, but since everyone always called him by his nickname, his real name was soon lost to my memory.
And today I found out he’s dead. He drove his truck into a lake and drowned.
Not to be morbid, but the next time you find yourself making fun of the geek across the room, or even the jerk who tries to belittle everyone he meets, think about how tomorrow they might not be here. Think about how YOU might not be here tomorrow. Think about how hopelessly lost in sin and pathetic you were, would be, and perhaps still are, without the grace of God. Think about the ones who mercilessly mocked Jesus, abusing Him both physically and emotionally, hurting the only One who was without sin. And think about how He endured all the while, and repaid evil with good. Even as He was being crucified, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
So who will you choose to imitate? Jesus, in His everlasting love, patience, grace, and forgiveness? Or will you play the part of those who oppressed Him and the others around them, deluding themselves with the foolish notion that they were somehow better, by their own right, than their fellow sinners?
Remember, as I will try to, that if not for the grace of God, there would we be also.
The Sovereign Logos 