Charles Spergeon does the Lord's Prayer

I read this earlier today after waking up too early because of the whole daylight savings time change deal. Hope you enjoy it like I did.

"After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, etc." — Mat_6:9
This prayer begins where all true prayer must commence, with the spirit of adoption, "Our Father." There is no acceptable prayer until we can say, "I will arise, and go unto my Father." This child-like spirit soon perceives the grandeur of the Father "in heaven," and ascends to devout adoration, "Hallowed be thy name." The child lisping, "Abba, Father," grows into the cherub crying, "Holy, Holy, Holy." There is but a step from rapturous worship to the glowing missionary spirit, which is a sure outgrowth of filial love and reverent adoration-"Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." Next follows the heartfelt expression of dependence upon God-"Give us this day our daily bread." Being further illuminated by the Spirit, he discovers that he is not only dependent, but sinful, hence he entreats for mercy, "Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors:" and being pardoned, having the righteousness of Christ imputed, and knowing his acceptance with God, he humbly supplicates for holy perseverance, "Lead us not into temptation." The man who is really forgiven, is anxious not to offend again; the possession of justification leads to an anxious desire for sanctification. "Forgive us our debts," that is justification; "Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil," that is sanctification in its negative and positive forms. As the result of all this, there follows a triumphant ascription of praise, "Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever and ever, Amen." We rejoice that our King reigns in providence and shall reign in grace, from the river even to the ends of the earth, and of his dominion there shall be no end. Thus from a sense of adoption, up to fellowship with our reigning Lord, this short model of prayer conducts the soul. Lord, teach us thus to pray.

myspace findings

As I was surfing around myspace tonight I found this little thing.



Which is a very nicely done version of the good person test.
I found this on mark cahills myspace site which is located here. I am noticing more and more people utilizing myspace for ministry. Can this be done effectively? Can someone really share their faith via the internet? This is a question that I am struggling with. I think to some extent we can share our faith via the internet. But I also think that it can be very difficult to do this with a purpose.

Mark Cahill writes on his site.

As of Oct 18, 2006 there are 120,715,194+ members on myspace....how many of those have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

they will know we are Christians by our _____

I just read a post from Chris L. (not to be confused with me Chris). I am sure after reading this whole thing through that the story isn't just a story. It has great meaning throughout the whole thing. Basically Chris woke up and saw on the news that we profile Terrorists as certain people. He wondered how a Christian should be profiled. My short answer to this would be by our fruit. I agree with what his daughter says at the end. And it is funny how Ray Comfort is characterized in this post (as being someone who doesn't care about the hurting.. anyone who has listened to Ray a couple times know that he has some true compassion. I think the best way to describe this whole article is "ditches". We can so easily fall into these things. So read up.. make sure you grab your self some nice starbucks and rub on your gotee a bit while you read this well put together piece of work!

http://www.fishingtheabyss.com/?p=62#

bullhorn guy

You watch and you decide wich one is better.
Rob Bell's Bullhorn guy
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looks like someone had the original taken down. Here is a link to Rob Bells site for this video.. please go check it out.
Link
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Todd Friel's Bullhorn guy response


Personally I like Todd Friel's better. The main reason is it makes more sense biblically. What do you think? Feel free to comment.

Why am I a Christian?

Today I was listening to Way of the master radio and Todd Freil asked a question that I had not thought about really. He said: If you were asked why are you a Christian and asked to answer in about 20 seconds what would you say? Being never put on the spot it made me think a bit. Here is what I think I would say if asked this question.

I, Chris Etling, am the worst sinner that this world has seen. Holding my life next to God's holy standard (the 10 commandments) my life was brought into the light. On judgment day I will have nothing to justify my actions or my thoughts. God's wrath should be upon me. Knowing now the truth, that God sent His son, Jesus Christ, to pay my debt to God through the horrible, gruesome, death on the cross over 2,000 years ago has brought me to my knees. Through repentance (a direct turning from sin, and turning to God) and through faith (as I would put in a parachute) I have received this gift I so do not deserve. I know that Christ is the way, and the life, and that no one shall come to the Father accept through Him. This is why I am a Christian.

Why are you a Christian? If you are not feel free to email me, I would love to chat with you about it. gnuattitude at gmail dot com

Quick Friday Night Thoughts

Something that has been on my mind for some time is this. What is the purpose of church on Sunday mornings? I have thought about many things. Way back in the day I thought "the church is for the sinner not the saint". This made sense as the seeker sensitive movement was starting (I heard someone today call it the "sinner sensitive" movement which may be somewhat more accurate). Most people back then considered it a great way of thinking about church. Well today I am considering a somewhat different view on the matter. I believe this thought process lines up with what happened around the times of Acts (which I would love to pull up some scriptures to support this directly some day but for now... you must just wait). So the long and short of the matter is this. I believe the church should be for the saint and not the sinner. I believe we need to make our services more of a place of learning. I think that as a new believer the church should pull you into a classroom.. first ask you to share your faith with them in an intelligible/accurate way. If you cannot do this then you will be put through a class that would teach you all about it. So consider this... a church with ALL of it's members actively seeking lost souls out there in the world. This would take such a burden off of the pastor that would be full time counselor for his flock, as well as allowing the pastor to preach the meat as well as the milk. Imagine if you will people asking you where you go to church instead of you asking them to join you at the wonderful building that was built just for them. Consider going out and sharing your faith with others. I know I ham considering that very hot and heavy right now.