Spiritual Suicide

Oh God, please save us from ourselves. Sin so easily wraps its tentacles around our hearts, entangling them, trying to make us stumble and ultimately fall. As men, Lord, we desperately battle lust. Our hearts are being inclined to replace You with wicked, evil sexual desires. None of us are safe. Lord please don't allow us to ever think that we are safe from the snares of this death. May we always be ready for battle. May are hearts stay pure. May we desire You and You alone.
Father, we are no diffrent than men like Ted Haggard or Joe Barron. May we never forget that. Dear Lord I lift brother Barron up to You, pleading that you would have mercy on him. May he repent of this horrible sin. May he not be shunned by the body that he serves. May the leaders of the church as well as the body come along beside him, desiring to not only hold him accountable but to hold him. May you bring a revival to this congregation. May the sin of many be exposed as a result of what has happened. May many come forth asking for help and pleading for forgiveness.
Father, I ask that you help his wife through this incredibly humiliating time. May her desire for her husband not leave. May she reflect the mercy that You had on us all. May she not give him what he deserves. May she not treat him how I am sure that I would if I were her. Lord, give her compassion for him. Heal her heart. May she run to You, her Strong Tower. Please Father reconcile this relationship.
You Father are our Unshakeable Rock. Your hand firmly grasps us and will never let go. You are a God worthy of our worship, a God who did not deserve the scorn, the shame and the hatred that we all have all shown You. We do not deserve our next breath. We do not deserve our next heart beat. We do not deserve You. We deserve to all be thrown into the pits of hell, utterly seperated from You for eternity. May we always be mindful of this.
Because You are a God who loves and a God who forgives, our iniquities will never seperate us from You. Great is Your faithfulness never letting your Great Name be forgotten.
Please forgive us of our iniquities. Cleanse our hearts. May we desire to confess our offenses, our self murderous inclinations to You. May we see that sexual sin is nothing more than spiritual suicide.
Please forgive us.

Phun Phridays

click here--> Total Depravity - Tim Challies

Wednesdays Word of Encouragement

I said in my post last Wednesday that I would post the letter, that I received from the lady at Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, that changed my life. This letter was this first step in God calling this prodigal son back.
_________________________________________________
By now almost everyone has heard of the tragedy that
took place on Sept.15, when a gunman entered Wedgwood Baptist
Church and killed 7 people and injured 7 others before taking his own life. That
morning had been the day of "See You at the Pole," when students gather around their flagpole in the morning to pray for their school and nation. What
the media hasn't reported, however, is how God has been so
evident, both during and after the shooting. He has done amazing works!

Before The Shooting:

***Our pastor, Brother Al, had prayed that God
would do whatever it took to expand the ministry of Wedgwood Baptist Church. Our church is one that is used as a model of how NOT to pick a
location, because no one in the world can find it. Now almost everyone in the world knows exactly where it is.

Evidence of God's Control During The Shooting:

***To enter the church, the gunman walked past our
children's playground, which should have been full of kids, but for some reason every single children's and preschool class was running late. No one had made it to the playground yet.

***He fired over 100 bullets into a crowd of over
400, but only 14 people were hit.

***He did not shoot the over 60 bullets he still had with him.

***The bottom fell off of the pipe bomb he threw, and the bomb
landed without ever exploding.

***One of the youth that was wounded (she was shielding a disabled
friend with her body) has scoliosis. The curve in her spine directed
the bullet away from major organs, saving her from serious injury.

***Because the first 911 call came in on a police radio, emergency
vehicles were dispatched immediately, without spending precious time
to verify that call was real.

***One of the people in the church at the time was a paramedic, and
he was able to stop bleeding and stabilize injured people before the
emergency crews arrived.

***Leaders were able to get the children out of the building without the kids having to see any victims or any of the mess.

***Each children's worker stayed with his/her class even though they all had children elsewhere in the building, and some had teens in the sanctuary. Not one worker left his or her post.

***None of the adults who died have children.

***All 7 victims were not just Christians, but bold Christians who were passionate about their faith.

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is not being done, the saving of many lives."
(Genesis 50:20)

What God has done since the shooting:

***Many denominations have pulled together to offer help and support. One example is the United Methodist Church who sent 15 people the following Sunday to cover our childcare. They didn't want any church members to have to miss the service because they were taking care of the children.

***A church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, drove over 5 hours just so they could march around our church and pray during our Sunday morning services.

***The Fort Worth Police Dept. planted flowers in the flower beds before we reentered the sanctuary to worship.

***We have received over 10,000 emails, 5000 cards, and $60,000 from all over the world Al Meredith, our pastor has had the microphone in his face continually and has over and over given an outstanding answer to the reason for our hope. He presented the gospel beautifully on Larry King Live when prompted by a question asked by Vice President Al Gore.

***Because of the live news coverage and interviews, over 200 million people have heard the gospel because of this tragedy.

***Fifteen thousand turned out for a community wide service at TCU football stadium. Brother Al gave a very serious challenging message calling for a day of fasting and heart searching (Monday the 20th). The service was broadcast live in its entirety on WBAP 820 which is a news station that covers most of north Texas. This same news station has replayed our pastor's first press conference due to
people calling in and requesting to hear his comforting words again.

***CNN also broadcast the memorial service live. Amazingly, because one of the victim's families lives and works in Saudi Arabia, that country allowed the service to be broadcast there as well. In Saudi Arabia it is illegal to say the name of Jesus on the street.

***Because of that same CNN broadcast, 35 people in Japan gave their lives to Christ.

***When President Clinton finally got through to him, Brother Al ended their conversation by praying, after gaining permission, for the Clinton family.

***At several schools, students met around their flagpoles the next day. At one school 25 students accepted Christ, and 110 at another.

***A teacher led 22 students to Christ in her classroom.

***Christian teachers all over North Texas have been able to share with their classes because the students are asking questions about their teachers' faith.

***In Burleson, prayers and Scripture are being said over the intercom.

***On the east coast, where "See You at the Pole" was delayed because of the hurricane, record numbers of kids showed up to pray.

***Governor Bush and the Fort Worth mayor quietly came to our pastor's home while the staff were meeting and praying and joined in the prayer meeting. This was not political! Only those who are close to staf members heard about this; the media never knew.

***Governor Bush has visited with our pastor several times, and Brother Al has had an impact on him. Just think of the influence our pastor could have if Governor Bush is the next president!

***A caller to an area Christian radio station said that he didn't know what those people had but he wanted it. The DJ proceeded to lead him to Christ. Many notes left in front of the church contain the same sentiment. Those who don't know Jesus want what we have!

***The church has received so many emails asking us how we are able to have hope and continue on. There are teams of church member volunteers responding to these emails.

***My friend Jodi has been praying for her husband for years. She and their 4-yr.-old daughter were at the church that night. 3 days ago Scott gave his life to Christ.

***We have had over 70,000 hits on our web page which displays the plan of salvation in multiple languages.

***Many members at Wedgwood Baptist are healing broken relationships
within the body and experiencing spiritual renewal.

These are just a few of the miracles that are happening. God's grace is almost overwhelming. Every time the gunman fired a bullet, he intended to take a life. Yet God turned that around and saved several lives for each bullet fired. The faith of those who died has been multiplied many times over.

"I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being reported all over the world.."
Romans 1:8

Are you not amazed? May I point out a few things we should glean from
this?

1. While reading, I was fascinated and amazed that we have found out about some of these stories...salvation decisions made in Japan...a DJ leading someone to Christ...etc. This is not coincidence. Note that God is PRESERVING the testimonies, not by accident, but by Divine intention.

2. The plan of God is magnified and so evident through these stories: Do you see how it is His heart's desire to extend the boundaries of His kingdom? That "He is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance"? (2 Peter 3:9) His plan is to save...His purpose for saving-to receive glory.

3. Realize that while He is accomplishing His plan to save and His purpose to be glorified, we as Christians are being comforted and strengthened. How great the realm of His ability to work! What perfect timing He has on every front.

4. Have you noticed that YOU are excited to hear the great things the Lord is doing? That your heart has been stirred and that you are desirous of spreading His glory? Rejoice, for that is the evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life. "For it is GOD who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure" (Phil. 1:6). His good pleasure is to spread His glory.

5. Last, when was the last time you asked the Lord what His plan and purpose was for your life? Do you want to know? If so, look! He is showing us RIGHT NOW what it is. We are to mirror His purpose and plan, and join Him. Spread His glory, by your own life of worship, which once submitted as a "living sacrifice"-will draw people to Him.

Please pass this on, for His name's sake. Even
sending e-mails can be
kingdom work!

In Christ,
Christa
_______________________________________________________
I found this site which is almost identical to the letter that I received.
Another great read.

Wednesdays Word of Encouragement; A post that cuts to the heart.

I dont know why I like Tim Challies so much...yes I do. He has great insight.

His post two days ago was like a dagger to my heart. Not only did he remind me of my depravity, he pointed to the fact that I am continually depraved with out His grace. It is amazing how quick I tend to forget this.

We need to thank God every day, if not every moment, that without Him, we would not even experience the common grace that all men experience much less His saving grace. It is strange how we sometimes think that the common grace that He gives is a result of the work of our own hands. When things are going good for us we tend to become our own gods and not need Him.

I know that I, like Brother Haggard, experienced an incredibly embarassing situation that not only humiliated myself but my wife as well. Though I did not engage in any drug or homosexual activity I was addicted to pornography. I prayed prior to the "exposure" of this sin, asking God to bring a change at any cost. Which He answered. I prayed this prayer as a result of reading a letter written by a member of Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth which I will post next Wednesday.

Through this letter God has sovereignly orchastrated a beautiful chorus in my life as a result of my depravity being exposed and dealt with. His loving hand was very evident during this time of being disciplined and has been guiding me throughout the last 6 and a half years since this prayer.

Thank you God.

My heart sings in delight knowing that He disciplines those whom He loves. I pray that Brother Haggards discipline will not be easy. I pray that God uses this, and I know that He will, to bring glory and honor to Himself. May our holy God and Creator continue to love His children by directing us away from our depravity through discipline and towards His holiness.

Thank God for His loving hand of discipline. May it guide us to Him when we sink into our depravity.

Let The Nations Be Glad!

LET THE NATIONS BE GLAD!


I would like to let everyone know that God has called Megan and I to the mission field and I would like to share with you the process that He used to lead us to where we are now.

In 2000 my wife and I had a major life change. I was asked to leave my job as a teacher/coach. The details, in case you are wondering, as to why I was asked to leave are not important to what I am writing about now, so I will not go that direction. However, since those details are a powerful part of my testimony I will not hesitate to share with you how God worked in my life and the truth that "the LORD disciplines those that He loves and He punishes those that He accepts as sons".

Wedgewood Baptist Church in Fort Worth experienced a horiffic tragedy in 2000. As most of you will remember a gunman stormed into the church and began shooting. He killed seven people and wounded seven others.

Not long after that, I providentially recieved an email from a lady who I not only did not know personally, but did not know existed. The email was about the Wedgewood shootings. It told about all the horrible things that took place during the gunmans rampage. After telling about these horrific events the letter then told of all the incredible events that came out of that tragedy as well as the incredible events that took place during the shootings.

I knew that I needed some incredible events to take place in my life.

The thing that struck me about this letter was the prayer that the pastor of Wedgewood Baptist Church reportedly prayed..."Our pastor, Brother Al, had prayed that God would do whatever it took to expand the ministry of Wedgwood Baptist
Church."

Knowing that God answered Brother Als prayer, I began to pray and ask God to bring a revival to my life...at ANY COST.

AND HE DID.

As I quoted above from Prov 3:12/Heb 12:6, God disciplines those that He loves. Little did I know just how much He did love me and considered me as a son, because the discipline that I recieved sure did smart!

My wife was a stay home mom and to top that off she was pregnant with our second child and I went from employed to unemployed.

Though I proclaimed to be a Christian (which I believe that I was), I had little if any evidence of such. As far as reading the Bible is concerned, I had read the first few chapters of Genesis and that was about it. I only knew two verses, one being John 3:16 and the other is the one that I quoted above, Prov 3:11-12.

Wow, think about it. If you only knew two verses and had to go through a trial, what two better ones to know than those two? Talk about Gods providence.

Like a bean that a child plants in a cup of dirt, you would have seen a little growth in my life as a believer that first year.

I knew that God was who He said that He was and I knew that I needed to know Him more. So I made myself read His Word. It was excruciating. I made myself read a chapter a day starting in the New Testament. I dont know how long it took but before long I was reading several chapters at a sitting. I couldnt get enough. As a result, like a sprout that breaks free of the ground, my spiritual growth started to become evident.

Its a shame just how ignorant of the things of God I was and of how much of my life I had wasted. When I first started reading the Gospels, I remember thinking "this story sure sounds familiar. Then a month or so later I would say to myself "this story sure sounds familiar"..a month or so later, again, "this story..." I knew so little about the Bible that I didnt realize that the Gospels were testamonies of Christs, life, death and resurection written by different authors...Like all infant Chritians, I had some learning and growing to do.

A year later (2001) I was (and still am) working for Farm Bureau and was at the home of a couple that had their insurnace through my company and I was doing an insurance review. As I was going through the review form, I came to the question that asks the insureds what they did for a living. When they responded that they were missionaries, the word Mexico popped into my head. As I was tryig to conduct the review, the word Mexico would not stop "rolling" through my head. For an hour I couldnt get it out of my head.

When I got to my car to leave and go back to my office I prayed, "God if You want me to go to Mexico, You are going to have to put it in front of me because Im not able to see it unless it is right there in front of me."

Two days later my wife and I are closing on a house in Glen Rose, Texas, that we bought (which is another miracle where God clearly showed His hand. That too is another story so I will save it for later) and the lawyer that owned the title company who was doing the closing work looked over his glasses as he was writing and asked if we had found a church in Glen Rose. Of course since we hadnt moved there yet our answer was "no".

The next thing he said was "you might like the church that I attend. Our church is really involved in the mission field."

I knew that his next sentance would be "We are about to send a group to Mexico." He then said, "We are about to send a group to Mexico."...All I knew was that I was supposed to go to Mexico and needed to know who I needed to talk to in order to sign up.

Two weeks later I was in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico!

From that time on God has continued to soften mine and my wonderful wifes heart to mission work. We have been blessed by having the opprotunity to take two additional trips to an orphanage in Chihuahua, Chihuahua and another to the Sierra Madre Mountains further into the interior of Chihuahua, Mexico. We were then blessed to be able to take a trip to South East Asia, two years ago.

Three weeks ago Megan received her call to the mission field. Since then we have decided to put our house up for sale in order to pay off debt and move closer to SWBTS. God blessed us immensly. We had a contract on our house within two and a half days of putting a for sale sign in our front yard!!!

God is good. Yes God is good all the time.

We ask that you please remember us when you pray. Ask God to give us wisdom in all the decisions that we will be making.

Ask him to grow us into oaks of righteiousness being displayed for His splendor. Is 61:3.

May God bless you and give you a heart for the lost.

mjtjlee