Blog Archives
Inspiring Lives From Church History: Hesychius 300AD
People have been living and dying for Christ for over 2000 years and history is full of wonderful examples of men and women who followed Christ faithfully. We can learn a lot from studying their lives. Yet, there is something truly compelling about those who suffer for Him and pay the ultimate price for their faith.
When I read the historical record of what some of these ancient brothers and sisters went through, it challenges me deeply. I often wonder how I would respond in such situations. I guess we won’t ever know unless and until we find ourselves in the same place. The one thing I can say with certainty is that Read the rest of this entry
Holy Week Prayers: Saturday
Holy Saturday:
O God, Creator of heaven and earth: Grant that, as the crucified body of your dear Son was laid in the tomb and rested on his holy Sabbath, so we may await with him the coming of the third day, and rise with him to newness of life; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Christmas Prayer for All
The following prayer is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English, but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
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And Behold, A New Blog Was….Born
The other day, while shopping, my wife found the perfect t-shirt for me. It said:
“Nobody Cares About Your Blog!”
Unfortunately it was the wrong size, plus it was pink! However, I interpreted that to mean that what the world really needs is one more blog and that I should start it.
Not being one who takes my responsibility to serve mankind lightly, I have started, and now made public, a New blog called “Following Him Together” It is a pastoral/devotional type of blog, that will focus more on the journey of the Christian life than on the problems of the evangelical church, which I have now solved.
Be one of the first 10,000 to subscribe to it and you could “Win a brand new car!” Not really. Visit it here: Following Him Together.
You Can Reach More People In Your City if You Will Only Do What They are Doing
A local church in my city recently ran this “Pure Sex” advertising campaign to attract the non-churched to come to their services. They drove around the city with this banner on a trailer. First, I thought it was an advertisement for a porn shop. I was stopped dead in my tracks when I realized it was an advertisement to Read the rest of this entry
Would the Apostle Paul Plant a Seeker-Sensitive Church?
The most effective means of bringing people to Christ is planting new churches. At least that is what the experts tell us. There was a time when I believed this with all my heart, but I am not so convinced anymore. Many of todays “modern” church plants are extremely ineffective.
This week alone, approximately 100 new church plants will begin holding public services in America. Most of these new church starts are based upon a seeker-friendly or purpose driven style of ministry. In simple terms, the seeker-sensisitve church model is based on designing a service for the non-christian. It has to be attractive, appealing and most of all “relevant” to the unchurched. The unchurched decides what is relevant for them, and they have decided that a message about a cross, their sin, a God that holds them accountable for their lives, hell or how to make peace with God is not relevant. They want nothing to do with that type of message. They want to know how to raise their kids, how to have a better marriage, how to be succesful. Essentially, they are interested in anything that will make their life better now. Today’s modern church plant is striving to give them what they want, at the expense of what they truly need.
This model can attract large crowds, but it is not effective in leading large numbers of people to true faith in our crucified and risen Savior. Still, it is the most popular model among today’s church planters. Which begs the question: Is it a correct model? Is it a biblical model? Should we be using it? The Apostle Paul was a prolific church planter. If he were planting churches today, would he be using this seeker-sensitive model? If you read his works, and study what he did, you would walk away with one clear conclusion: Read the rest of this entry
The Greatest Message Ever Given…
The greatest message ever given is the Message of a crucified Savior. It is the message of God forgiving treasonous, rebellious traitors who wanted nothing to do with Him and who deserved absolute judgement. Not by winking at our rebellion or pretending it wasn’t happening. Rather, He sent his own Son to take our place in judgement.
One of the things that amazes me about this blog is the number of people who read it who do not speak english. This post is for them. It is John 3:16-18 in different languages, the Gospel in its clearest form. Feel free to repost it! Read the rest of this entry
A Prayer for The New Year: “Guide Me This Year, Lord”
The following New Years prayer was first offered back in the 1700’s. It is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. These people knew God and they certainly knew how to pray. We can learn a lot from them. They are written in old english. I have updated a few outdated words and changed the Thee’s and Thou’s to make it more 2011. However, they still have the feel of that era. This prayer, along with many others, can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet… Read the rest of this entry
A Christmas Prayer: Thank You for The Gift of All Gifts
Merry Christmas everyone!
The following Christmas prayer is from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English, but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
Read the rest of this entry
Cross-Centered Worship “All I Have Is Christ”
We have noticed a disturbing trend in the corporate worship songs of the church. Perhaps you have too? It seems that we sing very little about the main point of Christianity. This is due, in large part, to church leaderships desire to be more “sensitive” to those who attend the service but are not Christians.
The research tells us (we are told), that non-Christians don’t really want to hear about sin and guilt and being accountable to a holy God. Hearing about a Savior dying on a bloody cross for their sins is not high on their priority list. To reach them, we must eliminate these topics from our sermons and our songs. Sadly, much of the Evangelical church has mistakenly signed on to this approach. We could not disagree more strongly!
The message of a crucified and risen Savior and the reconciliation that this can bring is the only message the church has! It is the one and only message the church has been entrusted with and that the lost so desperately needs to hear.
As one who has been responsible for leading corporate singing for years,… Read the rest of this entry
Want To Be Challenged By The Early Church? Read This…
Do you ever grow weary of all the new fads and techniques the modern church creates? I do! What is important to us, may not have been important to those who were personally discipled by Jesus Christ and those whom they disicpled.
I am continually challenged when I read the history and the writings of the early church. I am drawn to them over and over again because of how close they were in time to the Apostles. There writings are not scripture, but neither are the writings of Luther, Calvin or John Stott. These writings shed tremendous light on how the Apostles and the early church viewed the Christ event and the implications of it. Anyone who wants to follow Jesus Christ faithfully owes it to themselves to read the writings of these Godly men.
Today, I have included the entire “Didache”, also known as “The Teaching of The Twelve Apostles.” It is one of the most fascinating documents to emerge from the early church. It was probably in circulation somewhere close to the end of the first century… Read the rest of this entry
Jesus, THE Christmas Story
Click on the following link to read why Jesus Christ was born in a manger and died on a Cross. The Reason for The Season.
Free Prayer!
Free Prayer?
Of course prayer is free, we just thought it was a catchy title! We all need prayer and sometimes we don’t have anyone to pray with. Other times, we have lots of people to pray with but we want as many people praying for our situation as possible. Whatever your situation is, we consider it a privilege and honor to pray for you. We have a team of people who pray over every request daily. So, let us know how we can pray for you. You can submit your request in the comment section. Let us know if you would like the request to be viewable by others (so that they can pray for you as well) or to be kept private.
Our only request is that you let us know how the Lord answers!
Following Him Together,
Jim
The Precious Blood
The following prayers are drawn from the largely forgotten deposit of the Puritan Movement of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They testify to the richness and color of evangelical thought and language, as well as their devotion to the Savior. They can be found in a book titled “The Valley of Vision”, by Arthur Bennet. I have included them in this blog so that others can use them in their own prayer life as a springboard to a more faithful walk with Jesus. These prayers are 200-400 years old! They were written in old English. but that should not get in the way if you don’t let it.
Following Him together…
The Precious Blood
Blessed Lord Jesus,
Before thy cross I kneel and see
the heinousness of my sin,
my iniquity that caused thee to be ‘made a curse’,
the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.
Show me the enormity of my guilt by
the crown of thorns,
the pierced hands and feet,
the bruised body,
the dying cries.
Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,
Its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought
Infinite must be the evil and guilt that demands such a price.
Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,
Born in my birth,
alive in my life,
strong in my character,
dominating my faculties,
intermingling with my every though,
my chain that holds me captive in the empire of my soul,
Sinner that I am, why should the sun give my light
the air supply breath,
the earth bear my weight,
its fruit nourish me
its creatures subserve my ends?
Yet thy compassions yearn over me,
thy heart hastens to my rescue,
thy love endured my curse,
thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.
Let me walk humbly in the lowest depths of humiliation,
bathed in thy blood,
tender of conscience,
triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.
Not For Itching Ears 