Tag: Gospel
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Are We Declaring a Defective Gospel?
by Rick Wood, Managing Editor Mission Froniers Magazine U.S. Center for World Mission Is the Gospel message that hundreds of thousands of missionaries are proclaiming around the world defective? Have hundreds of millions of people bought into a message that is, at its heart, unbiblical? If true, this would be like Bill Gates sending…
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Gospel Advancement & World Perspective
The March/April 2008 edition of Mission Frontiers magazine addresses a very important issue effecting the contemporary American and European church. While the Gospel is advancing wildly in several parts of the world, many formerly active church members are walking away from the church – and often Christianity – across North America and in Western Europe.…
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The Cross Enforces Three Truths
The Cross enforces three truths: about ourselves, about God, and about Jesus Christ. 1. Our Sin must be extremely horrible. Nothing reveals the gravity of sin like the Cross. For ultimately what sent Christ there was neither the greed of Judas, nor the envy of the priests, nor the vacillating cowardice of Pilate, but our…
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Which Way?
Your life hangs on how you relate these two statements: “If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the Righteous” (1 John 2:1). “Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you” (John 5:14). Do you experience the first one weakening the second? Or do you experience the first one…
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My Sin is Ever Before Me
‘My sin is ever before me’ -Psalm 51.3 A humble soul sees that he can stay no more from sin, than the heart can from panting, and the pulse from beating. He sees his heart and life to be fuller of sin, than the firmament is of stars; and this keeps him low. He sees that…
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Easy Chairs & Hard Words – Part 3
by Douglas Wilson “At last,” I thought. “Now we should be able to talk about what brought me here in the first place.” Pastor Spenser and I were both settling in chairs with the conversation already well under way. “I know what your position is,” I said. “But I am afraid that I still don’t…
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Seeker Sensitive vs. Cost of Discipleship
In our culture of “seeker sensitivity” and radical inclusivity, the great temptation is to compromise the cost of discipleship in order to draw a larger crowd. With the most sincere hearts, we do not want to see anyone walk away from Jesus because of the discomfort of his cross, so we clip the claws on…
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Why I Am NOT Part of the Religious Right
One would think I’d be a good prospect to be a part of the Religious Right. 1. I am a conservative Evangelical pastor. 2. I first identified my political identity as a Republican in the 2nd Grade. (My teacher at Cedar Road Elementary School, Mrs. Manning, wanting to teach us a little about Civics, listed several candidates…
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Sin Boldly
I’m going to start a new category: Graffiti. This categtory will offer some great quotes. I don’t know many that would top the following from Luther: “If you are a preacher of grace, then preach a true and not a fictitious grace; if grace is true, you must bear a true and not a fictitious sin.…
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The Beauty of Human Relationships
by Frances Schaeffer This is the fourth of four posts in a series titled Two Contents, Two Realities. These posts are slightly edited excerpts of a paper delivered by Dr. Francis Schaeffer as part of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. ********* The second reality is the beauty of human relationships. True Christianity produces beauty as well as’…
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True Spirituality
This is the third of four posts in a series titled Two Contents, Two Realities. These posts are slightly edited excerpts of a paper delivered by Dr. Francis Schaeffer as part of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. ******* The first reality is spiritual reality. Let us emphasize again as we have before: we believe with all our…
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Good Enough!
Are You Tired of Trying to Measure Up? Paula Rinehart wrote the article below for Discipleship Journal. *** One fall evening, after months of recurring chest pain and a rather hectic schedule, I found myself thinking out loud with my husband as we watched the sun sink lower and lower in the Colorado sky. We…
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Rooted in Sound Doctrine
This is the first of four posts in a series titled Two Contents, Two Realities. These posts are slightly edited excerpts of a paper delivered by Dr. Francis Schaeffer as part of the 1974 International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland. As is often true for Schaeffer, his insights are timeless, and as pertinent today as they were a generation ago. …
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What is the Gospel?
Gospel means “good news.” The good news is: you (and I) are more sinful and flawed than you (or I) ever dared believe, yet you (and I) can be more accepted and loved than you (or I) ever dared hope at the same time, because Jesus Christ lived and died in our place. As the…
