What is Prayer (Part 2)*

by Guy Richard • March 26, 2014

Just as the struggles we experience in our breathing should serve as warning signs that something is wrong with our physical health, so the struggles we experience in our praying should serve as warning signs that something is wrong with our spiritual health. We have a relationship problem. It is vital to remember, however, that when we struggle in our breathing, we are, nevertheless, still breathing. There is a big difference between struggling in our breathing and not breathing at all. The fact that we struggle means that we are alive. It is the absence of struggle that means there is no life. Like the prodigal, we need to be reminded daily both of our unworthiness and of the sovereign initiation and gracious and sacrificial institution of the intimate relationship we have with the Father. And we need to let that motivate all our communication with him.

As Christians we readily acknowledge that prayer is important. But far too often our actual practice reveals that we really don’t appreciate just how important it is. We know that we do not pray as often as we ought. But sadly we frequently do not even think about prayer with anything like the priority that we ought. Many of us place far greater stress on other things in the Christian life, things like Bible study or sitting under the preaching of the Word each week. It may be rather surprising, therefore, to read what the 19th century Anglican bishop J.C.

Can I Speak Openly?*

Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 by Aimee Byrd on Housewife Theologian

I've been hearing this phrase used a lot lately. Before a person begins sharing their thoughts, she may say something like, "I'm speaking openly here," or, "Can I speak openly?" Yes! Please do! Tell me what you really think, or just keep your mouth closed.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

World Vision reverses course

Posted on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

After announcing that it would hire practicing homosexuals, World Vision released a statement today saying they have reversed that decision.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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Living Sacrifice: Its Motive -- Part One

By James Boice

Living Sacrifice: Its Motive
Romans 12:1-2
Theme: God’s mercy.
This week’s lessons teach us the nature of God’s mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus.
 
Lesson

What is it that motivates people to achieve all they are capable of achieving or to "be all that you can be," as the Army recruitment ads have it? There are a number of answers. One way to motivate people is to challenge them. Dale Carnegie, the author of How to Win Friends and Influence People, tells of a mill manager whose workers were not producing. The owner was named Charles Schwab, and he asked the manager what was wrong.

The Love of Christ

Posted 3/26/14 by Donald Barnhouse

The Word of God tells us that we were loved before we were capable of loving in return. "When we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. ... God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:6, 8). "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

The Love of Christ

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

A Place for Experience

by Joe Holland • March 25, 2014

If you take the time to actively engage your own story of grace and suffering you’ll not only learn more about what God has been doing in your life but you’ll also be equipped to care better for others. Often when someone is in a tight place, they are more likely to receive truth that is prefaced with, “I experienced something similar…” (2 Cor. 1:3-7).

He had patients who were suffering. It was the 1920’s and surgery was growing more and more effective with the development of anesthesia. But when it came to removing an appendix, general anesthesia like ether and local anesthesia like medicinal cocaine were less than desirable options. There was a relatively new option for local anesthesia that was called novocaine. But what would it be like for his patients to experience surgery using this new drug? How would he convince them of its efficacy?

Living Sacrifice: Its Nature -- Part Five

By James Boice

Living Sacrifice: Its Nature
Romans 12:1-2
Theme: Holiness.
This week’s lessons teach us the extent to which we must offer ourselves to God.
 
Lesson

The final word Paul uses to describe how we should present our bodies to God as living sacrifices is "pleasing." But this is also a conclusion for what I have been saying this week since the point is that if we do what Paul has urged us to do – namely, to offer our "bodies as living sacrifices, holy...to God" – then we will also find that what we have done is pleasing (or acceptable) to him.

World Vision Roundup

Posted on Tuesday, March 25, 2014 by Todd Pruitt on 1517

By now you have heard that Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision announced that the Christian charitable organization has decided that homosexual sex (inside "marriage") is not sinful and that one can be a practicing homosexual and faithful follower of Jesus. For some reason, World Vision still believes adultery is a sin, presumably because the Bible says so. Why they don't believe what the Bible says about homosexuality is anyone's guess.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

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No Creed but Christ

Posted 3/25/14 by Donald Barnhouse

There are those who cry out that they do not want any creed but Christ. We answer, "What Christ?" And the answer to that question is, of necessity, a creed. A minister once said that it was a shame that the church could not follow Paul on the road to Damascus. He had not been bothered with questions of theological dogma. He had simply said, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" The minister evidently had not read the Word of God very closely. If we realize that the Greek word for Lord was undoubtedly the same as the translation of the Hebrew ,Jehovah, we have the beginning of a creed in the very question.

No Creed but Christ

There are those who cry out that they do not want any creed but Christ. We answer, "What Christ?" And the answer to that question is, of necessity, a creed.

The Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals is member supported and operates only by your faithful support. Thank you.

Living Sacrifice: Its Nature -- Part Four

By James Boice

Living Sacrifice: Its Nature
Romans 12:1-2
Theme: Holiness.
This week’s lessons teach us the extent to which we must offer ourselves to God.
 
Lesson

Paul uses the word "holy" to indicate the nature of the sacrifices we are to offer God. Any sacrifice must be holy. That is, it must be without spot or blemish and be consecrated entirely to God. Anything less is an insult to the great and holy God we serve. But how much more must we be holy who have been purchased "not with perishable things such as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ" (1 Pet. 1:18-19). Peter wrote, "But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’ " (1 Pet. 1:15-16). The author of Hebrews said, "...without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Heb. 12:14).

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PLACE FOR TRUTH

What David Needed Most

Reformation 21

“He fell today; I may fall tomorrow.”