Have you heard of this?

This really surprised me, a minister has a bible study and needs a permit. Wow! Here is the article

Sermon Text: John 15:18-27

John 15:18 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you.
John 15:19 “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.
John 15:20 “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.
John 15:21 “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 15:22 “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.
John 15:23 “He who hates Me hates My Father also.
John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.
John 15:25 “But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, ‘THEY HATED ME WITHOUT A CAUSE.’
John 15:26 “When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me,
John 15:27 and you will testify also, because you have been with Me from the beginning.

Dr. Ralph D. Winter

When I was in College, I took a course on Global Missions. My prof, not an expert in the field by any means used a course from the U.S. Center for Global Missions. It was written by it's leader, Dr. Ralph D. Winter, and it was very formative in my Christian Walk.

After graduating, I studied for several weeks in Pasadena, CA at the HQ for the U.S. Center for Global Missions. I was there to prepare for teaching English in China. Ralph Winter was of course there and I had a chance to meet him. It was a honor for me, and I was thankful to meet the person who influenced me in my thoughts on Global Ministry.

Ralph Winter went to go home with the Lord on Wednesday. I think we lost a very valuable resource when it comes to global missions. A very influential man, I am sad to hear of his passing.

Honesty is Dead

Not sure how many folks heard about this story. It is from New Zealand, some folks got some $$$ deposited into their account that was an error, a multimillion dollar error.

Instead of pointing it out and returning it. They fled the country. Nice.

Sermon Text: John 15:1-17

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.
John 15:2 “Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit.
John 15:3 “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.
John 15:4 “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me.
John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.
John 15:6 “If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned.
John 15:7 “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:8 “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.
John 15:9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
John 15:13 “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:14 “You are My friends if you do what I command you.
John 15:15 “No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:16 “You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you.
John 15:17 “This I command you, that you love one another.

Sermon Text: John 14:1-31

John 14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.
John 14:2 “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.
John 14:3 “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
John 14:4 “And you know the way where I am going.”
John 14:5 Thomas *said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?”
John 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
John 14:7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
John 14:8 Philip *said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
John 14:9 Jesus *said to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
John 14:11 “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.
John 14:13 “Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
John 14:14 “If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.
John 14:16 “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever;
John 14:17 that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
John 14:18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
John 14:19 “After a little while the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; because I live, you will live also.
John 14:20 “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him.”
John 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) *said to Him, “Lord, what then has happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?”
John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
John 14:24 “He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.
John 14:25 “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you.
John 14:26 “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
John 14:28 “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go away, and I will come to you.’ If you loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
John 14:29 “Now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe.
John 14:30 “I will not speak much more with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has nothing in Me;
John 14:31 but so that the world may know that I love the Father, I do exactly as the Father commanded Me. Get up, let us go from here.

Sermon text: John 11:1-44

John 11:1 Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.
John 11:2 It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.
John 11:3 So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.”
John 11:4 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.”
John 11:5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.
John 11:6 So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was.
John 11:7 Then after this He *said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.”
John 11:8 The disciples *said to Him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and are You going there again?”
John 11:9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world.
John 11:10 “But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.”
John 11:11 This He said, and after that He *said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.”
John 11:12 The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.”
John 11:13 Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.
John 11:14 So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead,
John 11:15 and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let us go to him.”
John 11:16 Therefore Thomas, who is called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, so that we may die with Him.”
John 11:17 So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days.
John 11:18 Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off;
John 11:19 and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary, to console them concerning their brother.
John 11:20 Martha therefore, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but Mary stayed at the house.
John 11:21 Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.
John 11:22 “Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
John 11:23 Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”
John 11:24 Martha *said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”
John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies,
John 11:26 and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:27 She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.”
John 11:28 When she had said this, she went away and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.”
John 11:29 And when she heard it, she *got up quickly and was coming to Him.
John 11:30 Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still in the place where Martha met Him.
John 11:31 Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and consoling her, when they saw that Mary got up quickly and went out, they followed her, supposing that she was going to the tomb to weep there.
John 11:32 Therefore, when Mary came where Jesus was, she saw Him, and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”
John 11:33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and was troubled,
John 11:34 and said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
John 11:35 Jesus wept.
John 11:36 So the Jews were saying, “See how He loved him!”
John 11:37 But some of them said, “Could not this man, who opened the eyes of the blind man, have kept this man also from dying?”
John 11:38 So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a cave, and a stone was lying against it.
John 11:39 Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time there will be a stench, for he has been dead four days.”
John 11:40 Jesus *said to her, “Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”
John 11:41 So they removed the stone. Then Jesus raised His eyes, and said, “Father, I thank You that You have heard Me.
John 11:42 “I knew that You always hear Me; but because of the people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that You sent Me.”
John 11:43 When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth.”
John 11:44 The man who had died came forth, bound hand and foot with wrappings, and his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

Means of Grace helpful....who would have thought!

On an inspirational note, I read this article on the CBC website.

Don't know the hymn, but glad it was helpful.

I often encourage Christians to pray and come to worship, because it is spiritually nurturing. I think that is what we are seeing in this man's testimony. Glad he is okay.

A new addition to the PCA?

Came across this article today on Christianity today. I have never heard of Tullian Tchividjian until this article, but I found him interesting and may pick up his latest book.



What do you think?

Getting caught up

Not everyone would know this, but since the Conference in Chicago, it has been a torrential down pour of business that is coming to and end, I think.

After getting back from the Windy City, which was only 2 weeks ago, we travel to the West Coast for Spring Break, only to return a few days later as a church member became ill and later died.

The death was not unexpected, but was very sad for the church, and the uncertainty of the situation was difficult. Her funeral was yesterday.

There are seasons that are challenging, and they can be gospel opportunities. I think this has been one of them.