Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Sproul on Justification

(from a taped lecture)
"In the final analysis, no one is justified by faith; we are all justified by works, but they’re not our works, they’re Christ’s works. We put our faith and trust in the One who alone fulfilled the terms of the covenant of works in our behalf. Jesus fulfilled all righteousness as the New Adam. The fact that God enters into a covenant with us is gracious. Our only work is to believe." –R.C. Sproul

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

RENEWAL

I had the privilege of attending a pastors' roundtable at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary today, to discuss The Surprising Work of God with the author, Dr. Garth M. Rosell of the faculty. This excellent book describes the evangelical movement in America focusing on Billy Graham and Harold Ockenga. During our discussion, Dr Rosell shared the following...

Genuine renewal/revival depends on:
  1. Repentance--that starts with me.
  2. Faithful teaching/preaching and obedience to the Scriptures.
  3. United, believing prayer

In his book, Dr Rosell states (p. 13) that unity among believers comes from a shared theological focus (the Cross), a shared authority (the Bible), a shared experience (conversion), a shared mission (worldwide evangelism) and a shared vision (the spiritual renewal of church & society).

May our sovereign Lord bring about revival!

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

the power of HOPE

A cancer patient was told she had a slim chance of survival. With justifiable defiance she replied, "Statistics are for dead people. I'm not dead." When I served as Chaplain to the Oncology ward at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas, I thought I'd be encouraging patients; most of them encouraged me. They shared their stories of hope and courage. There's no such thing as false hope. I discovered that when people are confident in themselves, their treatment, and in God, their bodies often cooperate with the healing process. While no one gets off the planet alive, it seems that we can combat disease and possibly live longer and happier through hope.

Faith in God is an important part of healing. A medical doctor remarked that to withhold prayer was like withholding a necessary drug or surgical procedure. Faith is trusting God, the Great Physician, in spite of our confusion, in spite of unanswered questions, all the time knowing that God loves us and wants what's best for us, even when we're unable to understand the purpose of our suffering. God may not change our situation always, but He can change us. Faith accepts the outcome/answer to our prayers as what is the best possible outcome, because God's answers are wiser than our prayers.