Eternal Approach

“Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19)

I would like to extend a deep and heartfelt “Thank You !” to everyone who has taken the time to follow this site in the past year. Your presence here has been a great blessing and encouragement to me. This is the 50th post; but it seems like just a couple since we started.

I was just thinking about a pastor I knew in my high-school and college years. The church was very small. Maybe we had 20 people on a big day. Most of us were single and around the same age. But we were all drawn to this man, Roy, who loved the Word of God and loved the Lord. He was also a high-school teacher who applied his skills to teach us about the deep things of God.

There are many things that I think of daily that he taught. But one really sticks out at this moment.

He had a belief that he should always show up at church to teach even if he didn’t think anyone would be there. Like on a bad snowy night. Because he prayed that God would bring the people He wanted and keep the rest away. And so he would study and prepare and trust God to bring the people who needed that specific message.

That made a big impression on me.

With God in the Desert

Now that may not seem like such a big deal. But the basic principle is that he didn’t become distracted by numbers. Many of the other churches around were focused on attendance figures. How many came to Sunday School, to Sunday morning worship, to Sunday night worship, to Wednesday night prayer meeting. Always about the statistics.

The point is, God doesn’t work like we do. He doesn’t need a crowd to accomplish his purpose. He doesn’t need Google Analytics or the highest site-rating to reach people. All He asks is that we are faithful to His Word and purpose. So that whomever He draws will be blessed. So that God can do something ETERNAL through us. Not just something that “looks” good.

If you haven’t yet realized it, I love to write these posts. I love to talk about the things that the Lord has taught me over the years. Because I know that these things can help others.

But I didn’t always think this way.

Over the years, while going through many dark times as a Christian, I often felt that I was alone in the dark swamp. This Christian life can be incredibly hard at times. And some times one can feel like he is going over the deep end.

Because God will take us into the desert to deal with us alone.

Only in my very early years as a believer did I ever really feel like I was in sync with the rest of the church. But that was because I was too green and stupid to know any better. Life has a way of changing that.

But I know that many of you may feel the same in some ways. You have journeyed deep into territory where you never expected to go. And you’ve wondered why you see things differently than many of the believers around you. It is not that you believe bad or unscriptural things. It is because the Lord has not allowed you to settle for the mediocre. For the shallow teaching.

You tend to see things that are unsettling in the church. And often find little support for your concerns. And you have desired a deeper life with Christ than is generally found in the teaching that is presented there.

This is not a rant against church authority, attendance, fellowship and service. We all need to be there and love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We just need to understand the limitations that the church has.

We must understand that the Lord, Himself, is our Guide. His Spirit is our Teacher. And His Word is our final Authority.

Missionaries to the Church

And that is why this site is here. To help fill a gap. To help provide food and comfort to those who need it. To provide the supplemental teaching that is often neglected in the church. Not some new, mysterious, hidden things. Just biblical things that have been set aside based on the biases of a specific local church or denomination.

This site is here to provide a unique combination of truth, IN FULLNESS, that is sorely lacking in most Bible churches.  Note that I did not use the word, “balance”. This is not about some mythical “balancing” of the Word of God to allow us to live a kind of “Christianity Lite”. You can find that anywhere these days.

This site is here to know Christ as our Sufficiency and take Him back to our churches. To be missionaries wherever God has placed us. To be missionaries, even to our fellow believers, and to strengthen them in Christ.

Because there is a pattern I have seen. Where the Fundamental church, which is often excellent in teaching doctrine and in its desire to defend the faith, fails to teach the deep truths of the Exchanged Life. This is about the ministry of the Spirit of God within the believer to actually LIVE the life He has commanded us to live. Making clear the mystery of “Christ in You”; which Paul spoke of in Colossians.

And, as a result, our Fundamental brothers are starving to escape the guilt and endless frustration of sin in their lives. And grow more and more desperate for the true REST that God has promised them right now. They teach the right things, but do not really trust the Lord to live His life through them.

On the other hand, we have the Evangelical church, which has become increasingly filled with weak and shallow teaching. Naively emphasizing the same Social Gospel that the unbelieving Mainline denominations have taught. And constantly trying to join with those same apostate denominations as doctrine and biblical truth take a backseat to programs and outward displays of “unity”.

I have spent a great deal of time in both of these camps and have found wonderful Christians in each of them. But, to teach what is necessary for these churches to hear, within their own walls, is difficult. Because they tend to be very polarized. They tend to accept certain things and reject others based on whatever popular Christian philosophy they choose to follow.

Of Great Things to Come

Why this is the case, is part of what we will get into this coming year. To explore the foundations of the movements we all must deal with today. To understand how we arrived at this current place in Christian history. And to learn how to live in the fullness of Christ and His Word once again.

If the Lord wills, I hope to introduce more of the authors and preachers that have helped me and brought me comfort in some terribly dark hours. Men like A.B. Simpson, Major Ian Thomas, Bob George, Watchman Nee, Dr. D. A. Waite, Dr. Henry Morris, C. H Spurgeon and others. Men who have taught amazingly wonderful things that are strangely ignored in most churches.

And, in the year to come, I hope to introduce a YouTube channel where you can find videos and other media which will make it easier to delve into these subjects. So that it isn’t all reading. To add some shorter things to look at and consider. So you don’t always have to read 1,000 words in a post.

Sorry about that. I DO try to shorten these posts. But it is SO hard to do!

So, “Thank You !!” again for stopping by this past year.

And let’s have an AWESOME NEW YEAR together !!!!!