Just thought that it was a moving song and video clip. Let it remind us that the Lord is never far from us and that He is our refuge and our strength. That His sovereign hand has purpose in everything that He does, in natural disasters and abundant and apparent blessings. May you keep in your prayers those who are in Haiti, and those who are suffering around the world. That God would be glorified by the lives of His followers in their response to any and all circumstances.

The book ‘Revolution in World Missions’ is  written by K.P. Yohannan and is the story of how he has come from humble beginnings in India to running the largely successful  missions organisation ‘Gospel for Asia’. It outlines the need for native missionaries to be sent to their own people to preach the gospel and how it is not only the most cost effective form of evangelism but is proving to be highly effective in leading people to Christ. I won’t give  a long review for this one except to recommend you get a hold of the book. And here’s the best part. Its FREE. Click Here

There’s no gimmick here, no fine print. They will send you, free of charge, a copy of the book. I hope you find that it provokes you to not only care about missions overseas but in your own back yard. And please if you enjoyed the book and want to get involved please sign up to sponsor a native missionary, its the same cost as most child sponsor programs and will greatly effect the lives of so many people through the preaching of the gospel.

- Patrick McConnell

FREE BOOK CLICK HERE

Gospel for Asia - http://www.gfa.org/

www.doctrineunderground.com

It  is imperative when preaching the gospel that we give the listener all the information needed to be saved. Now, if we can ascertain that they already have certain knowledge we can be excused for not sharing on that topic. But by and large among popular gospel presentations the issue of sin is either side skirted by implying that the person already knows their offense before God or simply doesn’t mention sin at all. This simply will not do. Here is why:

We know that the basic condition of the human heart is in rebellion to God. (Romans 3:11-18; Romans 5:8-10)

This means that people not only have  no inclination towards God, but are in fact his enemies because of sin (Romans 5:10) So when we preach the gospel we can know with certainty that unless God has already renewed and softened their heart towards the Gospel the hearer will not understand why they must repent and put their trust in Christ. Meaning that no amount of goading by promises of a better life or how much Jesus loves them will have any lasting effect if a realisation of sin is never actuated.

So what is sin?

Since there are many men much better learned than myself. I will use the definition of a well known and respected theologian…

Definition: ‘Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature’ Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology p490 paragraph 2

To find God’s moral standard we simply have to look to the ten commandments as found in Exodus 20 of the old testament. When presenting the gospel it is extremely useful to present a persons sin to them using the law of God. By running through a few of the commandments, an admittance of guilt can quickly be established. Only when the heart is humbled can the saving work of Jesus Christ be administered. No proud or arrogant heart can accept the gospel. So it is important that you use the law to soften the conscience so that the hearer can see their offense to God and the legal guilt that they must be held accountable for. Otherwise your just not preaching the gospel.

-Patrick McConnell

www.doctrineunderground.com

It seems like such a natural thing for the Christian to do that we often forget, or don’t analyse why we want and need to evangelise and for someone who is struggling to evangelise it stands to reason that it would be helpful to them to ask the question ‘Why evangelise?’

Let’s start with the great commission. We find it in Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18 Jesus the son of God, the one whom through which we have salvation from our sin, commands us to ‘Go therefore make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit teaching them to obey all I have commanded you’

This should be our first and foremost concern. That Christ has given us a commandment and that we should obey. Our duty as a Christian is first and foremost to God. We should be living with a fervent passion to bring glory to His name and it is because of this passion for Gods glory that we evangelise.

Secondly because of Romans 1:16. ‘For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.’

If you are saved then you know that this statement in scripture is true. The gospel is the very power by which God saves man. And if you have any love and compassion for the lost you will preach it to them, because unless the gospel goes forth there will be no salvation for them.

Humanism…not the right motive.

Not out of humanism though. Efforts to have compassion on people, because we can relate to their need, is not the love that should compel us to the highways and byways to preach the gospel.  Part of the new heart that God has given us includes a loving compassion for those who are lost…Because He has a compassion for those who are being saved. Our desire should be to be like our Father in heaven.

This is not such a heavy burden. Especially when held to the light of the Gospel and the burden of our sin. Anyone who knows the joys and wonders of the salvation found in Christ will know this feeling, and should feel compelled to preach the good news everywhere they go.

-Patrick McConnell

www.doctrineunderground.com

Holiness…extends to every part of our persons, fills up our being, spreads over our life, influences everything we are, or do, or think, or speak, or plan, small or great, outward or inward, negative or positive, our loving, our hating, our sorrowing, our rejoicing, our recreations, our business, our friendships, our relationships, our silence, our speech, our reading, our writing, our going out and our coming in-our whole man in every movement of spirit, soul, and body

Horatius Bonar, God’s Way of Holiness

In this day and age we have never seen more freedom in the western world concerning religion. We have laws protecting the right for people to believe in, and worship any god they want. Despite this freedom we, as people, have regressed in our spirituality and knowledge of the scriptures, to the point that now the average Christian has a spiritual fortitude consistent with silly putty. Postmodernism has nearly succeeded in completely crushing orthodoxy out of churches. No longer is it acceptable to declare that God is completely sovereign. He has been replaced by the ‘pet god’ or the ‘vending machine’ god. No longer are we to repent and turn from our wretched sinfulness in hope of receiving the grace of God offered through Christ Jesus. Instead the once glorious gospel is now a promise to claim over our finances or to protect our possessions. Our lives no longer exist to glorify our creator, but we are led to believe that He is looking out for our glory, championing our causes and that his omni-benevolence would never discipline us to repentance. The world can no longer tell the difference between the bride of Christ and the heathen who worship created things instead of their creator. We act like the world, talk like the world, and sin like the world in an effort to be accepted in the world, forgetting that we are merely pilgrims in this world not seeking to make a home here. Woe unto this age for the height from which we have fallen.

Turn on your television to any Christian television station and low and behold you will find it rife with false prophets, false teachers and wolves passing themselves off as men of God. The freedom of religion that was once a blessing, has eroded our backbone and become a curse to the people of God. No longer will false doctrine be reproofed, sin rebuked and corrected but in the spirit of acceptance we allow all but the most vile of sins go unchallenged. Our lax moral code has decidedly corrupted the pulpit to the point we no longer recognize or preach a biblical gospel message of repentance and trust in the saviour. But our gospel message now means we can live in ‘total victory’ because after all when Christ bore the sins of the world and suffered the wrath of the father thats what he wanted, for us to be victorious in our health and prosperity, right?. Yet this gospel holds no power to save, and its a great testimony to the will of man that we could change our behavior at all and appear more righteous but become more deludedly sinful than we were before. The power is gone from the pulpit and any of those who would attempt to reclaim the word of God and His gospel to its rightful place are seen as divisive and are ostracized for saying that these so called ‘men of God’ are nothing but charlatans hustling the the flock for whatever gold they can cough up.

There is hope however. I have seen it coming and see it in the eyes of a few believers I know. I hear more and more chatter through the pipelines of blogs, podcasts, vodcasts and social networking sites. God is giving grace to those who would count their lives but nothing compared to knowing Him. Who, though faced with what seems to be an insurmountable task of reforming the world, pray fervently that God would do so. Servants of the living God who wish to see the church reconciled to Gods word. Wanting nothing more than to lay down their lives for the Gospel of Jesus Christ, to those who believe the apostle Paul when he proclaims that he is not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation, and believe wholeheartedly that they shouldn’t either. For those who believe that holiness is not a pithy sentiment but a lifestyle to be earnestly adhered to, and that without this holiness we will not see the Lord. Taking up our cross we follow our Jesus into the dark, setting our lamp on a stand, and lifting up Christ that God would draw men to the light. I pray this reformation is swift. That a brokenness would flow over the body of Christ and that God’s people would repent of their wickedness and that we may experience the fullness of joy found in communion with God through the Gospel of Jesus Christ. May those who read this have the Spirit stirred within their chests and the fire shut up in their bones to preach the gospel to a world that is dying and to a church full of dead people.

Grace and Peace
Patrick

“For I am not ashamed of the Gospel for it is the power of God unto salvation, first for the Jew and then the Greek…Rom 1:16″

Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ

Author: John Piper

The book is an excellent resource for those looking for a succinct rundown on the doctrines of Jesus and for those who want to learn more about our Great Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. In typical Piper fashion we receive a wealth of information on many and varied topics. ‘Seeing and Savouring Jesus Christ’ covers ground that many may already be familiar with as well as looks into perhaps lesser discussed attributes of the life and work of Jesus.

Throughout, the reader will be exposed to the character and nature of the second person of the trinity in a well written, easy to read and highly referenced manner. Every attribute is carefully explained from the text leaving the reader well informed of not only the opinion of John Piper but also the opinion and viewpoint of scripture.

Reading this book will give you a good solid foundation to your theology concerning Jesus. Covering not only the foundational basics such as ‘The Ultimate Aim of Jesus Christ’ and ‘The Resurrection of Jesus Christ’, but also topics like ‘The Wisdom of Jesus Christ’ and ‘The Power of Jesus Christ’. Overall this book is going to be of value for the majority of Christian readers. Whether you’ve been saved five minutes or fifty years it always helps to renew your passion and love for our saviour.

-Patrick McConnell

www.doctrineunderground.com

The Truth War

Author: John MacArthur

The Truth War is a brilliant book for those who wish to be discerning in an age where there are so many opposing ideas that it is hard to know what to believe. John Macarthur, a well respected bible teacher, has come again to the table with good sound biblical study and reason to help us fight the good fight of faith, and to help us not get swept away in what is the seemingly endless tide of contradicting and erroneous doctrines pervading themselves in the church today.

This book takes the fight straight to the enemy’s door, confronting the issue of post modernism and its effects on truth. MacArthur looks at the problems that postmodernism presents to truth and to the believer, and how and what we need to believe to hold true to our faith. Dealing with false teachers and their doctrines, we are told why we must fight, how these teachers come into the church, the evil that their false doctrines cause and how to survive as a believer during this time of deception.

Overall ‘The Truth War’ is an indispensible book for the Christian to have in their library. We are living in an age where deception is rife even in evangelicalism. So I would highly recommend this book to the Christian concerned about their faith and their church. I will give a warning though. This book has a tendency to cause people to want to immediately take action on false teachers in perhaps a less than loving way. I would only ask that you read the book and despite your inner urgings pray and sit on it for a week or two and see what God would have you do. Apart from that I sincerely hope the book helps bring the light of the Word to your life

-Patrick McConnell

www.doctrineunderground.com