We Are HIS Sheep

The following quote from Paul Borden's book "Hit the Bulleye" does just that with an important corrective on the respective role of sheep and Shepherd:

"Our understanding of what shepherds are to be and do, in our congregations, is far more romantic than who shepherds were and what they did in biblical times. Shepherds were entrepreneurs who raised sheep for their livelihood, for food and clothing. Good shepherds led their sheep into green pastures and by still waters in order to obtain three results. They sheared the sheep (not fleeced the flock), ate the sheep, or mated them for reproduction. Sheep were led into zones of comfort in order to be prepared for zones of discomfort. In other words, sheep were expected to produce a profit for the shepherd. The shepherd took care of the sheep, not for the sheep's benefit but for the shepherd's needs. In congregational life our declining institutions think that shepherds take care of the sheep for the sheep's benefit, rather than to benefit the Chief Shepherd by accomplishing God's mission. The paradox of Christianity is that sheep are most fulfilled when they are risking life for the Chief Shepherd rather than being pampered by appointed shepherds."

HT: Annette over at Random Thoughts

100th Anniversary of the Forward Pass

As we gear up for the new NCAA and NFL seasons, let us note the 100th anniversary of the game's greatest innovation, the forward pass.

From St. Louis University's website:

"The first forward pass in football was thrown in 1906 by Saint Louis University's football team. It took place on Sept. 5, 1906, in a game pitting SLU against Carroll College in Waukesha, Wis.

The first pass was made possible following a rule change. Critics of football complained the sport was too violent, with even Theodore Roosevelt joining in on the debate. This led to a rule change to include the forward pass, which was thought could eliminate the pounding taken by running backs and open up the offense.

Under the leadership of Coach Eddie Cochems and his employment of the new-fangled forward pass, the football team completed a perfect 11-0 season in which they outscored opponents 407-11.

By the way, the first forward pass was thrown by Brad Robinson to Jack Schneider. It was an incompletion."

The Jericho Road

There are many upon the Jericho road who need our help. Will we be good neighbors? This message on the familiar parable of the Good Samaritian (Luke 10:25-37) looks at the three qualities needed - Open Eyes, an Open Heart and Open Hands.

Sunday Spurgeon

Oh Christians, would you be happy? Be much in prayer! Would you be victorious? Be much in prayer!—“Restraining prayer, we cease to fight. Prayer makes the Christian’s armor bright.”

Mrs. Berry used to say, “I would not be hired out of my closet for a thousand worlds.” Mr. Jay said, “If the twelve Apostles were living near you and you had access to them—if this communion drew you from the closet—they would prove a real injury to your souls.” Prayer is the ship which brings home the richest freight. It is the soil which yields the most abundant harvest.

Brothers and Sisters, when you rise in the morning your business so presses you that with a hurried word or two of prayer, down you go into the world. And at night, jaded and tired, you give God the last end of the day. The consequence is that you have no communion with Him.

The reason we have not more true religion now is because we have not more prayer. Sirs, I have no opinion of the churches of the present day that do not pray. I go from chapel to chapel in this metropolis and I see pretty good congregations. But I go to their prayer meetings on a week evening and I see a dozen persons. Can God bless us? Can He pour out His Spirit upon us, while such things as these exist? He could, but it would not be according to the order of His dispensation, for He says, “When Zion travails she brings forth children.” Go to your churches and chapels with this thought—that you want more prayer.

Many of you have no business here this morning. You ought to be in your own places of worship. I do not want to steal away the people from other chapels. There are enough to hear me without them. But though you have sinned this morning, hear while you are here, as much to your profit as possible. Go home and say to your minister, “Sir, we must have more prayer.” Urge the people to more prayer. Have a prayer meeting, even if you have it all to yourself. And if you are asked how many were present, you can say “Four.” “Four? how so?” “Why, there was myself and God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit—and we have had a rich and real communion together.”

We must have an outpouring of real devotion or else what is to become of many of our churches? Oh, may God awaken us all and stir us up to pray, for when we pray we shall be victorious! I should like to take you, this morning, as Sampson did the foxes—tie the firebrands of prayer to you—and send you in among the shocks of corn till you burn the whole field up. I should like to make a conflagration by my words and to set all the churches on fire till the whole has smoked like a sacrifice to God’s Throne.

If you pray, you have proof that you are a Christian. The less you pray, the less reason have you to believe your Christianity. And if you have neglected to pray altogether, then you have ceased to breathe and you may be afraid that you never did breathe at all.

Friday Funny

A panda went into a cafe, sat down and ordered a sandwich. He ate the sandwich, then stood up, pulled out a gun, shot the waiter dead, and headed for the door.

As the panda was reaching for the door, the manager ran after him, shouting, “Hey! Where are you going? You just shot my waiter and you didn't pay for your sandwich!”

The panda yelled back at the manager, “What did you expect? I’m a PANDA! This is what we do! Look it up!” Then he stormed out.

The manager opened his dictionary to find the following definition for panda:

“A tree dwelling animal of Asian origin, characterized by distinct black and white coloring. Eats shoots and leaves.”

HT: The Thirsty Theologian

Jesus and the Pharisees

In researching my evening service (a study on Matthew 23), I came across this interesting information from William Barclay in regard to the Pharisees of Jesus' day. Contrary to popular misconception the Pharisees were not a monolithic group but were classified in the Babylonian Talmud into seven groups:

1. The Shoulder Pharisees. These wore their good deeds on their shoulder and performed them to be seen of men.

2. The Wait-a-little Pharisees. They could always find a good excuse for putting off a good deed until tomorrow.

3. The Bruised or Bleeding Pharisees. No Jewish rabbi could be seen talking to any woman on the street, not even his wife or mother or sister. But certain of the Pharisees went further. They would not even look at a woman on the street; they even shut their eyes to avoid seeing a woman; they, therefore, knocked into walls and houses and bruised themselves; and then exhibited their bruises as special badges of extraordinary piety.

4. The Pestle-and-Mortar or Hump-backed Pharisees. They walked in a posture of bent-over humility refusing to lift their eyes or their feet. Their humility was self-advertising ostentation.

5. The Ever-Reckoning Pharisees. He believed every good deed he did put God in his debt. To him religion was always to be reckoned in terms of profit and loss.

6. The Timid or Fearing Pharisees. They went ever in fear of the judgement of God. They were not helped but haunted by their religion.

7. The God-loving Pharisees. They were copies of Abraham and lived in faith and charity. They delighted in obedience to the commands of God.

Understanding these different classifications helps make clear some of the pointed criticisms that Jesus had for the Pharisees in the Sermon on the Mount and in the "Woes" of Matthew 23.

Sermons on Steroids?

Tim Challies blows the lid off the latest scandal of the evangelical mind: Theo-Doping. Challies has gathered evidence that emerging pulpit prince Mark Driscoll has been found to be juicing his messages with Reformed Theology. Here are some excerpts of this breaking story...

"This is becoming increasingly common," said David Pullman, lead investigator in the case. "This guy has no seminary degree, no Calvinistic background. He writes books, preaches sermons, runs a church planting network and has a whole brood of children. Somehow he finds time to do all of this and to maintain theology that is consistently biblical and Reformed. It doesn't add up." Theobolic steroids, consumed in small amounts, can increase a pastor's understanding of theology and his theological output, giving him a decisive edge over competitors.

"It's little wonder his church has grown so quickly," said another investigator who spoke under condition of anonymity. "What chance does anyone else have against a guy who is willing to shoot up with theobolic steroids? It is a despicable crime!" Rumors are circulating that discarded syringes containing traces of Reformed theology have been discovered scattered around the pulpit at Mars Hill."

The whole shocking revelation can be found here.

Sadly this appears to be an isoloated case since many in the emerging church movement seem to have no coherent theology at all.

A Great Tool For Bible Study

I use this for my sermon preparation each week. It is a wonderful FREE program that rivals the most expensive Bible software out there. It is easy to use and the content is rich. Multiple translations, commnetaries, bible dictionaries, word studies and more! Not only for pastors, but a great tool for anyone interested in digging into the Scriptures. Click above and try it for yourself.

Put On Your Gospel Shoes...

"The preaching that this world needs most
is the sermons in shoes
that are walking with Jesus Christ."

- D.L. Moody

Blue Baby Blues

An article in today's Wall Street Journal points to a growing fertility gap between Republicans and Democrats that could well change the political face of America.

Arthur Brooks notes, what should be a disturbing trend for Democrats, that their failure to produce at the ballot box is tied to their to reproduce. Brooks notes: "Simply put, liberals have a big baby problem: They're not having enough of them, they haven't for a long time, and their pool of potential new voters is suffering as a result. According to the 2004 General Social Survey, if you picked 100 unrelated politically liberal adults at random, you would find that they had, between them, 147 children. If you picked 100 conservatives, you would find 208 kids. That's a "fertility gap" of 41%. Given that about 80% of people with an identifiable party preference grow up to vote the same way as their parents, this gap translates into lots more little Republicans than little Democrats to vote in future elections."

If this trend continues,Brooks says there will be some dramatic shifts on the political horizon: "Consider future presidential elections in a swing state (like Ohio), and assume that the current patterns in fertility continue. A state that was split 50-50 between left and right in 2004 will tilt right by 2012, 54% to 46%. By 2020, it will be certifiably right-wing, 59% to 41%. A state that is currently 55-45 in favor of liberals (like California) will be 54-46 in favor of conservatives by 2020--and all for no other reason than babies."

As the father of two future republicans I can look forward to my golden years knowing the country will be in the RIGHT hands!

The Good News' Bad News

Kairos Journal as an insightful article by Frederica Mathewes-Green on how the way in which we have been conditioned to seek comfort in life has influenced the way in which the church does ministry. You can read the full article here, but the following excerpt is especially good.

"In trying to reach this seeker, the Church has been given a severely reduced pack of options. Since people are aware only of seeking comfort, it looks like that’s what we have to headline in any message we send. Neither this need, nor our response, is untrue. A profound sense of unease and dislocation is indeed part of the human condition, because sin has estranged us from God. And the Church has the only authentic solution to this problem, because we bear the Good News of reconciliation through Jesus Christ.

The problem comes when we never get around to talking about the hard part of the Good News. The problem can even be that we start forgetting it ourselves, and start believing that consolation is the main reason Jesus came. But what’s wrong with us required much more than a hug; it required the Cross. It doesn’t seem this way; we too, have been catechized by the world and reflexively think of ourselves as needy, wronged children. We’d rather feel as if we’re victims of a cruel world than admit we are contributors to the world’s cruelty, lost sinners who perversely love our lostness, clinging to our treasured sins like a drowning man to an anvil."

How urgent is the need today to expose what John Owens saw as the sinfulness of sin. Unless we are confronted with the depth of our sin and the great chasm that stretches between a holy God and ourselves we will continue to believe that God exists soley for our blessing.

The writers of the Heidelberg Catechism had it correctly when they stated in Q&A 1 and 2 this:

1. Q. What is your only comfort in life and death?

A. That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by His Holy Spirit He also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for Him.

2. Q. What do you need to know in order to live and die in the joy of this comfort?

A. First, how great my sins and misery are; second, how I am delivered from all my sins and misery; third, how I am to be thankful to God for such deliverance.

Comfort only comes from knowing our sin and knowing how it can be forgiven. Any other good news is no good news at all. The sooner the Church recovers the doctrine of sin the sooner we can offer people the comfort they really need.

All Things For Good (4)

This last in a series of messages on the people, the promise and the purpose of Romans 8:28 looks at how we can apply this truth to our lives in the midst of stormy circumstances.


MP3 File

Sunday Spurgeon

Said another old Divine, “He that goes before the cloud of God’s Providence goes on a fool’s errand.” And so he does. We must mark God’s Providence leading us. And then let us go. But he that goes before Providence will be very glad to run back again. Take your trouble, whatever it is, to the Throne of the Most High and on your knees put up the prayer, “Lord, direct me.” You will not go wrong.

But do not do as some do. Many a person comes to me and says, “I want your advice, Sir. As my minister, perhaps you could tell me what I ought to do.” Sometimes it is about their getting married. Why, they have made up their minds before they ask me, they know that. And then they come to ask my advice. “Do you think that such-and-such a thing would be prudent, Sir? Do you think I should change my position in life?” and so on. Now, first of all, I like to know, “Have you made your mind up?” In most cases they have—and I fear you serve God the same.

We make up our mind what we are going to do and often we go down on our knees and say, “Lord, show me what I ought to do.” And then we follow out our intention and say, “I asked God’s direction.” My dear Friend, you did ask it but you did not follow it, you followed your own.

You like God’s direction so long as it points you the way you wish to go. But if God’s direction leads the contrary to what you considered your own interest, it might have been a very long while before you had carried it out. But if we in truth and verity do confide in God to guide us, we shall not go far wrong, I know.

It Depends On The Meaning Of "IS"

Saw this test over at my friend's blog (Ars Theologica) and took it for myself. He is a Zwinglian but I still like him...


I, of course, scored as Calvin.

Calvin		88%
Zwingli		75%
Luther		44%
Catholic		6%
Unitarian		0%

Eucharistic theology
created with QuizFarm.com

All Things For Good (3)

The third message in a series on the promise of Romans 8:28 looks at
the purpose behind the things that happen in our lives.


MP3 File

Sunday (Late Edition) Spurgeon

“Gather not my soul with sinners.”
Psalm 26:9

We know that when impenitent sinners are gathered at the last, their characters will be the same. They were filthy here, they will be filthy still. Here on earth their sin was in the bud—in Hell it will be fullblown. If they were bad here, they will be worse there. Here they were restrained by Providence, by company, by custom—there, there will be no restraints. Hell will be a world of sinners at large, a land of outlaws, a place where every man shall follow out his own heart’s most horrible inclinations. Who would wish to be with them? Then again, the place where they will be gathered alarms us—the pit of Hell, the abode of misery and wrath forever— who would be gathered there? Then, their occupation. They spend their time in cursing God—in inventing and venting fresh blasphemies. They go from bad to worse—climbing down the awful ladder of detestable depravity. Who would wish to be with them? Remember too, their sufferings. The pain of body and of soul they know, when God has cast both body and soul into Hell. Who would wish to be with them? Remember, too, that they are banished forever from God and God is our sun, therefore they are in darkness. God is our life, therefore they are worse than dead. God is our joy, therefore they are wretched to the extreme. Why, this would be Hell, if there were no other Hell to a Christian—to be banished from his God. Moreover, they are denied the joys of Christ’s society. No Savior’s love for them, no blissful communion at His right hand, no living fountains of water to which the Lamb shall lead them. O my God, when I think of what the sinner is, and where he is, and how he must be there forever, shut out from You, my soul may well pray with anguish that prayer, “Gather not my soul with sinners.”

Yo! Reformed Theology Rocks!

Why should the purpose-driven arminians have all the fun. Check out this from the guys at The Kingdom Come - Reformed Gangstas Rap. Get down wit' your Elect self...righteous.

HT: The Wittenburg Door

** The rapper has produced a new "live" action version of this song here.

To What Purpose?

The video is from the opening of this year's Purpose-Driven Worship conference. Maybe I'm just getting old but this hardly seems like worship. Apparently "The Burning Bush" dance moves are catching on with youth groups. But can somebody please tell me where this fits...is it a psalm, a hymn or a spiritual song? Or is it just noise?

HT: Slice of Laodicea

Taking It To The Streets...

I came across this logo today and it has stuck with me. It serves as a powerful reminder that the Church does not exist for its own sake, but for the sake of others. This is a needful corrective in an age when people shop for churches based on what is in it for them.

Christ told us to go into the world...not sit back on our padded pews and expect the world to come to us. Until we rediscover the true heart of servant evangelism we will not see the Kingdom of God grow, we will merely be shuffling unhappy sheep from church to church.

Jesus modeled this ministry for us by literally taking to the streets. He went where the people were. He talked to adulterous women, greedy tax collectors, self-righteous bigots, snot-nosed children, the aged and the infirm. He took off his outer garment and picked up a wash basin and said as you have seen me do, you do also.

We must be willing to get our feet dusty, our hands dirty and our hearts broken in order to reach people with the Good News. While well-worn, the saying still is valid: They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

It's time for the Church
to leave the building
and get building the Church.

Think About It...

The early bird may get the worm,
but the second mouse gets the cheese.

Bad Bible Translations

From History: unwrapped over at American Vision comes this story of botched Bibles.

Several English Bibles published in the seventeenth century get their nicknames because of typographic errors. The so-called Murderer’s Bible misprints “murderers” instead of the correct word “murmurers” in Jude 16. Mark 7:27 was made to read: “Let the children first be killed” (instead of “filled”). The Wife-Hater Bible tells a man to hate his own wife: “If any man come to me, and hate not his father . . . yea, and his own wife also.” Of course, “wife” should read “life.” The first edition of the King James Bible correctly has Matthew 26:36 stating, “Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane…” The second printing reads, “Then cometh Judas with them unto a place called Gethsemane.” The Adulterer’s or Wicked Bible, a 1631 King James Version, leaves out an essential “not” and commands “Thou shalt commit adultery.” King Charles fined the printer Robert Barker the enormous sum of £300 and took away his license to print Bibles. An Oxford edition of 1717 was known as the Vinegar Bible because the chapter heading to Luke 20 had “Vinegar” for “Vineyard” in the title “The Parable of the Vineyard.” A 1716 KJV Bible made a common typographical mistake by transposing letters. Instead of John 8:11 reading, “Go, and sin no more,” it read, “Go and sin on more.” The Printer’s Bible laments that “printers” (not “princes”) “have persecuted me without cause” (Ps. 119:161). Considering how these botched Bibles got their name, the Psalm might not be too far off.

More Bible misprints can be found here at the International Society of Bible Collectors site.

Under The Broom Tree

The story of Elijah in 1 Kings 19 reminds us that even the strongest characters of Scripture had times of despair and doubt. This communion message helps us recognize that God will meet our needs under the Broom trees of our lives just as He did for Elijah.


MP3 File

Sunday Spurgeon

Sinner, the sin you dread is forgiven when you have wept sorely before God and you have cast yourself on Christ and on Christ, alone. In the name of Him who is the Eternal God, I assure you that your sins are all forgiven. From the book of God’s remembrance they are blotted out. They are as clean gone as the clouds that floated through the sky last year and distilled their showers on the ground. Your sins are gone. Every one of them. The sin over which you have wept—
the sin which caused you many a tear is gone and is forgiven.

Further—do you ask where your sin is? I tell you your sin is gone so that it never can be recalled. You are so forgiven that your sins can never have a resurrection. The nail is not driven through the hands of your sins, but through their temples. If you should live twice ten thousand years no sin could ever be laid to your charge again if you believe in Christ Jesus. You have no conscience of sin left. “As far as the east is from the west,” so far has He removed your
transgressions from you. God has spoken and said—“Be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you,” and it is done. None can reverse the sentence. He has cast your sins into the depth of the sea and they can never be found again.

No, further, Sinner, for your peace and comfort, your sins are not only forgiven and killed so that they cannot rise again, but your sins have ceased to be. Their dead bodies, like the body of Moses, are brought where they never can be found. More than this, they do not exist. Again, O child of God, there does not remain so much as a shadow of sin—“Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect?”—much less prove it against them? What dog can wag his tongue to accuse?—much less, what witness shall rise up to condemn? God has justified you, O Sinner! I you believe, and if you are so justified, you are as much accepted in God’s sight as if you had never sinned. Had your life been blameless and your path been holy even to perfection, you had not been more pure in the eyes of Divine justice than you are tonight if your faith is fixed on the Cross of Christ. Right through the brain of all your sins, the hammer has driven the nail of Christ’s grace. The spear that pierced the Savior’s heart, pierced the heart of yours iniquity. The grave in which He was buried was the tomb of all your sins. And His resurrection was the resurrection of your spirit to light and joy unspeakable.

Grafted In

I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life." But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened, as it is written,

"God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day."

And David says,

"Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever."

So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous. Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!

Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead? If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree, do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you. Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

"The Deliverer will come from Zion,
he will banish ungodliness from Jacob";
"and this will be my covenant with them
when I take away their sins."

"He Gives His Beloved Sleep"

While researching my sermon for Sunday (Elijah's Despair in 1 Kings 19), I found this wonderful commentary by A. W. Pink on verse 5 - "Then he laid down under the tree and fell asleep."

Thus it was here: the Lord evidenced His pity for His overwrought and disconsolate servant in a most gracious manner, for the next thing that we read of is that he "slept under a juniper tree" (v. 5). But the force of that is apt to be lost upon us, in this God-dishonoring day, when there are few left who realize that "He giveth His beloved sleep" (Ps. 127:2). It was something better than "nature taking its courses: it was the Lord refreshing the weary prophet.

How often is it now lost sight of that the Lord cares for the bodies of His saints as well as for their souls. This is more or less recognized and owned by believers in the matter of food and clothing, health and strength, but it is widely ignored by many concerning the point we are here treating of. Sleep is as imperative for our physical well-being as is food and drink, and the one is as much the gift of our heavenly Father as is the other. We cannot put ourselves to sleep by any effort of will, as those who suffer with insomnia quickly discover. Nor does exercise and manual labour of itself ensure sleep: have you ever lain down almost exhausted and then found you were "too tired to sleep"? Sleep is a Divine gift, but the nightly recurrence of it blinds us to the fact.

When is so pleases Him, God withholds sleep, and then we have to say with the Psalmist, "Thou holdest mine eyes waking" (77:4). but that is the exception rather than the rule, and deeply thankful should we be that it is so. Day by day the Lord feeds us, and night by night He "giveth His beloved sleep." Thus in this little detail—of Elijah’s sleeping under the juniper tree—which we are likely to pass over lightly, we should perceive the gracious hand of God ministering in tenderness to the needs of one who is dear unto Him. Yes, "the Lord pitieth them that fear Him," and why? "for He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust" (Ps. 103:14). He is mindful of our frailty, and tempers His winds accordingly; He is aware when our energies are spent, and graciously renews our strength. It was not God’s design that His servant should die of exhaustion in the wilderness after his long, long flight from Jezreel, so he mercifully refreshes his body with sleep. And thus compassionately does He deal with us.

Alas, how little are we affected by the Lord’s goodness and grace unto us. The unfailing recurrence of His mercies both temporally and spiritually inclines us to take them as a matter of course. So dull of understanding are we, so cold our hearts Godward, it is to be feared that most of the time we fail to realize whose loving hand it is which is ministering to us. Is not this the very reason why we do not begin really to value our health until it is taken from us, and not until we spend night after night tossing upon a bed of pain do we perceive the worth of regular sleep with which we were formerly favored? And such vile creatures are we that, when illness and insomnia come upon us, instead of improving the same by repenting of our former ingratitude, and humbly confessing the same to God, we murmur and complain at the hardness of our present lot and wonder what we have done to deserve such treatment. O let those of us who are still blessed with good health and regular sleep fail not daily to return thanks for such privileges and earnestly seek grace to use the strength from them to the glory of God.

Today's Demotivational Thought

The Truth Isn't Much Stranger Than Fiction...

From Lark News:

PC (USA) launches ambitious plan
to lose only 5% of members

LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Church (USA) has launched a campaign to slow the rate of decline to 5 percent, according to the denomination.

"People at the grass roots need hope and motivation," says a spokesman. "This is a positive goal we can all get behind."

The Minus 5 Campaign aims to lower the attrition rate in spite of the denomination's continued struggle with moral issues, which has led to even greater exodus of members. Instead of losing 12 to 15 percent of members every decade, the group will now "work in great unity and joy to lose only five percent."

"This is the rallying cry we've been needing," says a pastor in Pittsburgh, Pa. "It's heartening to people at the local level to know we're determined not to shrink as rapidly."

More stories from Lark News can be found on their website.