Category: The Church
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For the Glory of God and Good of Men
[The experience of a barren ministry] was not so in other days. Our fathers really watched and preached for souls. They asked and they expected a blessing. Nor were they denied it. They were blessed in turning many to righteousness. Their lives record their successful labors. How refreshing the lives…
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A Barren Ministry
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… Fields plowed and sown, yet yielding no fruit! Machinery constantly in motion, yet all without one particle of produce! Nets cast into the sea, and spread wide, yet no fishes enclosed! All this for years—for a lifetime! How strange! Yet it…
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Ministerial Professionalism
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… To deliver sermons on each returning Lord’s Day, to administer the Lord’s Supper statedly, to pay an occasional visit to those who request it, to attend religious meetings—this, we fear, sums up the ministerial life of multitudes who are, by profession,…
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Be Faithful!
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… “The law of truth was in his mouth, and iniquity was not found in his lips: he walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity” (Malachi 2:6). Let us observe the connection here declared to…
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Walk with God
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… The biographer of the Rev. W.H. Hewitson begins his memoir thus: “‘To restore a commonplace truth,’ writes Mr. Coleridge, ‘to its first uncommon luster, you need only translate it into action.’ Walking with God is a very commonplace truth. Translate this…
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A Life of Holy Devotion to God
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… The true minister must be a true Christian. He must be called by God before he can call others to God. The Apostle Paul thus states the matter: “God hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to…
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The Need is for the Truth of Jesus Christ
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… Let us, then, meet this “earnestness,” which is now the boast, but may ere long be the bane, of the age, with that which alone can bring down its feverish pulse, and soothe it into blessed calm, “the gospel of the…
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Our One Object: To Win Souls
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… We take for granted that the object of the Christian ministry is to convert sinners and to edify the body of Christ. No faithful minister can possibly rest short of this. Applause, fame, popularity, honor, wealth—all these are vain. If souls…
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Bold, Burning Sincerity
Continuing Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls (see here for book information)… “When he spoke of weighty soul concerns,” says one of his contemporaries of [Richard] Baxter, “you might find his very spirit drenched therein.” No wonder that he was blessed with such amazing success! Men felt that in listening…
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Words to Winners of Souls
About a year ago a good friend pointed me to Horatius Bonar’s Words to Winners of Souls. It’s available for free both in print and mp3. My printed edition is 31 pages, so for several months I read a page a day. It’s a great challenge and blessing that I…
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When Your Church Changes, What Do You Do?
This article provides some helpful counsel. I appreciated this point: Large churches can provide many resources (thank the Lord for the large churches that remain faithful), but the strength of the church at large is in the number of faithful small churches that are committed to Biblical disciple making in…
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An Effective Pastorate
I am so thankful that I had the privilege of an excellent college and seminary education. I cannot imagine serving the Lord and His church as a pastor without such training. Facility in the original languages (Hebrew and Greek), a knowledge of the content of Scripture, understanding the flow of…
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What Do United Methodists and Muslims Have In Common?
According to at least one pastor, they worship the same God! The front page of the United Methodist Church website points to an article detailing how one of their pastors is observing the fast Muslims observe during their holiest month, Ramadan. Listen to his opening statement: “I have no doubt that Muslims…
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It’s Yours But It’s Not
Back in the late 1980s I learned what would sometimes happen when local churches tried to leave denominations riddled with apostasy. Legal wranglings would occur, particularly over ownership of property and buildings. I learned that often denominational churches which had scrimped, saved, worked, and labored for a building would turn…
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Spiritual Worship
This is an excellent post by a friend, Pastor Jack Hilton of the Evangelical Methodist Church, Lancaster, PA– John 4:23-24 “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is…
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An Evangelistic Essential
“…so that the world may believe/know…” (John 17:20, 23) A “church” may have all kinds of external evidences of “success” but if there is no true spiritual unity such is but an outward façade. Jesus’ intention for his body (in which are unified both Jews and Gentiles) is that, by…
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Earnestly Contending
During this afternoon’s service I reviewed the basic, essential purposes of a church thus: A local church exists to glorify God by obeying Jesus Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. A local church glorifies God by obeying Christ’s commands, which are— Evangelize the lost through personal witnessing and…
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I Am A Christian
Fellowship is the instituted way of making a public profession of the faith and hope of the gospel. A man may hold the opinions and approve the practices of some voluntary, worldly society; but until he has united himself with it, he is not considered, either by its members or the…
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What Do You Have In Common With Mormonism?
The National Association of Evangelicals (hereafter NAE) met today with a representative of the Mormon church for dialogue. In its press release, NAE president Leith Anderson said, The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) Board of Directors, which includes the CEOs of 40 denominations and representatives of a broad array of…
Dan Greenfield 