Thank God for His grace and mercy!!
No Comments »
Here is a little humor courtesy of wayofthemasterradio.com. I hope that you aren’t using one of these when you are doing your devotions!
Here is another quote from Mark Dever’s book, “What is a Healthy Church?”.
In this quote, he is referring to the fact that as believers, we need to be passionate about the gospel.
A healthy church is a church in which every member, young and old, mature and immature, unites around the wonderful good news of salvation through Jesus Christ. Every text in the Bible points to it or some aspect of it. So the church gathers week after week to hear the gospel rehearsed once again. A biblical understanding of the good news should inform every sermon, every act of baptism and communion, every song, every prayer, every conversation. More than anything else in the church’s life, the members of a healthy church pray and long to know this gospel more deeply. (Dever, “What is a Healthy Church?”, p. 75)
Once we know this gospel and make it central to our lives, the natural outflow of that will be a desire and motivation to share the gospel with every one who will listen!
I just started reading a new book this week. I am excited about it, and certain that it will provide plenty of food for thought and wisdom. It is a book by Mark Dever titled, “What is a Healthy Church?”
I have already been challenged by the first chapter in which he makes the case that once we are saved and involved in a personal relationship with Christ, membership and commitment to a local Church are an outflow of God’s saving work in our lives.
Here is a quote from the chapter that I found particularly good:
“As we gather to worship God and exercise love and good deeds toward one another, we demonstrate in real life, you might say, the fact that God has reconciled us to Himself and to one another. We demonstrate to the world that we have been changed, not primarily because we memorize Bible verses, pray before meals, tithe a portion of our income, and listen to Christian radio stations, but because we increasingly show a willingness to put up with, to forgive, and even to love a bunch of fellow sinners.
You and I cannot demonstrate love or joy or peace or patience or kindness sitting all by ourselves on an island. No, we demonstrate it when the people we have committed to loving give us good reasons not to love them, but we do anyway.” (Dever, What is a Healthy Church?, p. 28-29)