Head-dibs

"For hundreds of years historians and scholars have carefully studied and evaluated the factors that have caused the decline and death of great empires. Their careful conclusions are readily available to those who really want to know them. Scholars like Edward Gibbon, who wrote the classic "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," and Arnold Toynbee, who wrote "A Study of History," have set forth in great clarity and detail that twenty-one of the last great empires on earth all showed the same common signs of decline just before they dissolved and disappeared from world history. This simply cannot be refuted by any honest person! History is littered with the remains of once great empires, each one having had their turn at the very helm of the world, rising so high, yet today they are only a memory. Will this be true of America? Many historians have catalogued the "commonalities of calamity" or "the pathology of death" for human societies, ...

Introduction: God displayed Himself in so many wonderful ways the past few days that at this writing I am still in awe of how He works to the praise of His glory. I’m late (again) at getting this posted because I’ve just been so busy—but Praise God for His goodness! He is doing so many wonderful things! What began last Friday night continued on through Saturday afternoon and Sunday. As far as the street ministry is concerned, more than a dozen people who God brought to our team heard the gospel, and I pray just as many responded to God’s love and grace. As God worked we saw tears, heard voices quiver, witnessed some jaws drop, heard some confessions from heads hanging in conviction . . . but I am getting ahead of myself. I almost did not make it down to the street last Friday. I was not feeling well and as we met for training, Nick and I were discouraged that we were the only ones present (but we were encouraged that we would still go to Five Points, regardless). People were just late ...

“My brethren, my heart is enlarged towards you! O think of the love of Christ in dying for you! If the Lord be your righteousness, let the righteousness of your Lord be continually in your mouth. Talk of, O talk of, and recommend the righteousness of Christ, when you lie down, and when you rise up, at your going out and coming in! Think of the greatness of the gift, as well as the giver! Show to all the world, in whom you have believed! Let all by your fruits know, that the Lord is your righteousness, and that you are waiting for your Lord from heaven! O study to be holy, even as he who has called you, and washed you in his own blood, is holy! Let not the righteousness of the Lord be evil spoken of through you. Let not Jesus be wounded in the house of his friends, but grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, day by day. O think of his dying love! Let that love constrain you to obedience! Having much forgiven, love much. Be always asking, What shall I do,...

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This last Friday night, the LORD had a lesson for me I was quite unprepared for. In the past, He has blessed with so many opportunities to share the gospel, giving me a boldness I’ve never had before, so I prepared for our Friday foray as usual and 20 of us made our way down to Five Points, expectations soaring. I was not prepared for being held back, and made silent. Chapter 1: Silence We got to the street, divided into teams and made our way toward the fountain. Our team wandered a bit, and we took an adventure up a side street we had never ventured on to before. As we walked, I began to grow increasingly aware an unsettling feeling. Now, as feelings go, I don’t pay much attention when evangelizing; but this time, the more we walked, the more I began to notice that I was being held back from speaking—and this was unnerving to me. I was greatly troubled about this. We even stood on a street corner, waiting for the light to change, and became surrounded by people I would normally have ...

From my friend, Dr. John Williamson: "Tucked away in a rather obscure corner of Isaiah's prophecy is a most remarkable verse. It is hardly noticed when someone is reading through the book in a perfunctory manner. Yet, slow down for a moment and notice these words. " Lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these stars. The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of his might and the strength of his power not one of them is missing " (Isaiah 40:26). We all know that God created the stars--big deal--right? But He also named them all. Think of the billions and billions of stars that twinkle, glimmer, and blink in the night sky; they each have a name known only to the Creator. And, on top of that, " Not one of them is missing ." It is this last statement that I find the most profound, and, I must admit, it took me a while to ponder it. That statement implies that each star that we can see serves a ...

ht: A Little Leaven

Here it is, Wednesday and I am just getting to post the events of the weekend. I almost feel like it’s taken me this long to process all the fun! This is going to be the condensed version. Chapter 1 A total of 24 students went to Five Points for evangelism Friday night. While we met for training and worship, a nice thunderstorm rolled in, threatening our evangelistic outing. As much as we’ve needed the rain, (we’ve been in an extended drought season) I had mixed emotions about making the announcement concerning the rain then joining in prayer that God would stop the rain when we got downtown. As Nick led our prayer, I could not help but think of Elijah. Once downtown, the rain stopped. We joyfully and with thanksgiving divided up into teams and made our way down the street to the fountain and on to what the Lord had for us. All traffic (foot and otherwise) was minimal and that was expected with the rain; but, understanding that where Satan builds bars, clubs and whatnot, his children w...

by Sally Peck Last Updated: 1:19am BST 06/09/2007 Following technical problems with one of its aircraft, Nepal's state-run airline has sacrificed two goats in a bid to appease the sky god. Nepal Airlines sacrificed two goats in front of the troublesome Boeing 757 in an offering to Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god. Here's the rest of the story .

My daughter works in the Vista area of Columbia, a restaurant/club area much like Five Points, drawing the same kind of USC crowd, and late last night I was waiting for my daughter to get off work when I noticed the traffic of people leaving one restaurant/bar. People were just walking up and down the sidewalk and I had time to spare. I prayed, “Lord, since you told us to ‘go’ and you’ve given me people to talk to, please let your Spirit have His way to the praise of your glory.” I approached a group of girls, introduced myself and told them I was waiting for my daughter to get off work—would they mind answering a few questions? They were agreeable. So I asked what, in their mind, was the ideal date. Eyes went starry and sighs exchanged as each girl talked about getting swept off their feet and romance. I asked what they looked for in a guy. The consensus was that a guy should be funny, nice, not a jerk. One girl sat quite stone-faced and said to the surprise of everyone that she did n...

Someone once said that your mentor is the one you are reading. If that is the case, then I am enrolled in the J. Oswald Sanders school of Spiritual Leadership . I’ve read through the much-too-short first three chapters of the book and am excited to see what God is going to be doing through this time of training. Maybe soon I’ll be able to sit down with Spurgeon’s class . The subject of leadership seems to be a slippery fish, and honestly, I am wary about jumping to register for every class, seminar or conference that pops up touching on the subject. Part of my hesitation is that given the sheer number of training possibilities that are out there, I am not convinced so many have it right—too many new methods, too many new approaches, too many new ideas. Also, I am convinced that people who continue to flock to these resources are not really learning anything at all but are looking for the quick-route to being successful leaders. I recently had lunch with an individual who is in th...

“The ultimate foundation for our passion to see God glorified is his own passion to be glorified. God is central and supreme in his own affections. There are no rivals for the supremacy of God's glory in his own heart. God is not an idolater. He does not disobey the first and great commandment. With all his heart and soul and strength and mind he delights in the glory of his manifold perfections. The most passionate heart for God in all the universe is God's heart. This truth, more than any other I know, seals the conviction that worship is the fuel and goal of missions. The deepest reason why our passion for God should fuel missions is that God's passion for God fuels missions. Missions is the overflow of our delight in God because missions is the overflow of God's delight in being God. (click on image) And the deepest reason why worship is the goal in missions is that worship is God's goal. We are confirmed in this goal by the biblical record of God's relentle...

A few weeks ago I asked readers to participate in a survey and I would like to discuss those results here. First, however, I would like introduce a sensitive topic that may completely derail the way one thinks about God. First, let’s set this up with a common scenario: when I am witnessing, taking people through the Ten Commandments to show how God views the heart (“there is none righteous, not even one”), and people confess with their mouths how they have broken the law of God I ask, “If God were to judge you by the Ten Commandments, would you be innocent or guilty?” Most everyone will admit guilt (which is quite a movement through Proverbs 20:6)! Next I ask, “Would God send you to heaven or hell?” Many will say, “Heaven.” This is an odd statement, considering one’s confession of guilt. When I ask people why they think they will go to heaven, I often hear, “all I have to do is ask forgiveness and God will forgive me and let me into heaven . . . right?” What is forgiveness? When the Mo...

Saturday night my wife and I stopped by the Sportsman’s Warehouse looking for some specialty items when the strangest event occurred, which I am about to relay. Now those who know me well know that I am not found frequenting such establishments, as hunting, fishing and all sports associated thereunto, do not appeal to me as they may have when I was a pup. Walking through the store, one could almost hear the faint Tim Allen-esque grunting noises as gruff-looking men knuckle-dragged their way through fields of insect repelling camo-clothes, camping gear or stood drooling while staring at the lastest lake-fishing notices on the white-board near the front door. My neck turned red as I walked through the door. At some point in our foray, I needed to find a bush (you know, "check the plumbing") and found my bearings from the local counter-ranger. I noticed the small caravan of men making their way down the well-worn foot-path to the local "bush," and so caravanned with th...

A couple of weeks ago I asked you to participate in a one question, anonymous survey. I will discuss the implications of this later next week, but in the meantime, ponder the question once more with the results: "If you consider yourself to be a Christian and are 'saved', what are you 'saved' from, exactly?" Sin 43.2% God 11.4% Hell 45.5% The Devil 0.0% See you next week!

Among all the titles given to the Lord Jesus perhaps none other has caused more heated theological discussion than "First Born." With Christ in mind, Paul wrote, " He is the image of the invisible God, thefirst-born of all creation " (Colossians 1:15). Many cults have latched on to that verse to say that Christ was a created being himself. After all, doesn't "first-born" imply, or even state outright, that Christ was"born"? Hence, he was the first creature made by the Father. The title is used in other portions of the Bible to indicate the first born of a family and rules out earlier children (Genesis 4:4; Exodus 4:22, 23). The fallacy of this argument that "first-born," when used of Christ meant a creature and not the Creator, is not difficult to see. The argument assumes that the phrase "first-born" always means a starting point. Actually, the title also assumed the idea of "exalted one." Note the Psalmist...

Last night I was sitting in the mall, waiting for my family to finish their shopping (I love going to the mall, or any store for that matter—not that I love shopping, but because I get to do some evangelism!) and this clerk came out of the GNC (General Nutrition Center) eating a box of Fruit Loops, just turning the box up on end and letting the cereal fill his mouth. He caught me looking at him and retreated back into the store. I had to laugh. This really has nothing to do with anything, but it was so funny! 20 students (ok, 19 plus me) gathered in Memorial Dorm on Friday night for training, prayer and worship before hitting the streets of Five Points . I did a short presentation on Hell’s Best Kept Secret (the DVD player and big-screen TV were conspicuously missing) and explained the importance of using the Ten Commandments in evangelism ( Ps. 19:7 ; Gal 3:24 ; Ro. 3:19 , to name a few). Nick and I did a short role-play to show how it works. Great stuff! Our prayer time was a sacr...