The Real Purpose Driven Life

And straightway He constrained His disciples to get into the ship, and to go to the other side. . . ." Mark 6:45-52

We are apt to imagine that if Jesus Christ constrains us, and we obey Him, He will lead us to great success. We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us; His purpose may be exactly the opposite. We have an idea that God is leading us to a particular end, a desired goal; He is not. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end.

What is my dream of God's purpose? His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. If I can stay in the middle of the turmoil calm and unperplexed, that is the end of the purpose of God. God is not working towards a particular finish; His end is the process - that I see Him walking on the waves, no shore in sight, no success, no goal, just the absolute certainty that it is all right because I see Him walking on the sea. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God.

God's training is for now, not presently. His purpose is for this minute, not for something in the future. We have nothing to do with the afterwards of obedience; we get wrong when we think of the afterwards. What men call training and preparation, God calls the end.

God's end is to enable me to see that He can walk on the chaos of my life just now. If we have a further end in view, we do not pay sufficient attention to the immediate present: if we realize that obedience is the end, then each moment as it comes is precious.

Source: My Utmost for His Highest, July 28th devotional

A Quiz for Your Arminian Friends

For those of you who might not understand the confusion about Arminianism, take the following quiz, and see where you fall on the spectrum. Authors of many quizes will tell you there's no right on wrong answers. Not this one! There is only one right answer, and it is found in Scripture. Take a look a see for yourself: Click Here to Take the Quiz.

Pastor Chuck at Tenth Pres

On Sunday evening, July 1st, Pastor Chuck preached at historic Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Although I've sat under Pastor Chuck's preaching and teaching for some time now, it seemed to me that he brought his preaching to a whole new level with this exposit of Genesis 25: 29-34.

His message, entitled Soup du Jour, was quintessential Chuck, with a polish and ease I've not seen in some time.

I was so proud at how he brought the scripture to light using real-life examples and stories, I wanted to stand up and clap. And, I might have done that if I had not been buckled over in laughter. One person commented to me that he's never seen the entire congregation at Tenth laughing all at one time before.

I would like to offer my congratulations and kudos to Pastor Chuck on such a successful and enjoyable preaching engagement.

We love you, Pastor! Keep bringing us the Word in spirit and in truth!

The unreformed Christian church has failed!

I justed finished listening to R.C. Sproul speak about why the unreformed Christian church is failing today, and boy was I impressed. This is the clearest and most concise articulation of the problem I think I've ever heard. I agree completely with what he's said. Listen to this brief audio clip yourself and tell me what you think:

The unreformed Christian church has failed.