Hello Everyone! Sorry I am a little late in my post this week. I was out of my office a few days last week and didn't get around to posting as early as would have preferred. This week I am going to be completely unoriginal. One of my favorite writers is the late A.W. Tozer a wonderful pastor with the Christian Missionary Alliance Church. A.W. Tozer has written many books, one which I think is pretty much considered a Christian Classic called "Knowledge of The Holy". I can highly recommend any of Tozer's books. What I want to share with you are his thoughts from one of his daily devotional books called "Renewed Day by Day". This was a devotion from August 11th.
"The church at this moment needs men, the right kind of men, bold men. The talk is that we need revival, that we need a new baptism of the Spirit - and God knows we must have both; but God will not revive mice. He will not fill rabbits with the Holy Spirit.
We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by the threats of death because they already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control and squeeze weaker men.
This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind for motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious entertainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary.
They will make no decision out of fear, take no course out of desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they themselves be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.
The true church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord's will and did it. Their people followed them - sometime to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution - and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world."
I happen to believe that Dr. Tozer is correct in his evaluation of the churches need today. We need to be as the Apostle Paul was in his letter to the church at Rome and not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said the truth would set men free but before it does it will usually make them quite miserable. Until we surrender ourselves completely to God we will never know the joy of the abundant life and the power to live victoriously in this present day.
Pastor Sheldon
We languish for men who feel themselves expendable in the warfare of the soul, who cannot be frightened by the threats of death because they already died to the allurements of this world. Such men will be free from the compulsions that control and squeeze weaker men.
This kind of freedom is necessary if we are to have prophets in our pulpits again instead of mascots. These free men will serve God and mankind for motives too high to be understood by the rank and file of religious entertainers who today shuttle in and out of the sanctuary.
They will make no decision out of fear, take no course out of desire to please, accept no service for financial considerations, perform no religious act out of mere custom; nor will they themselves be influenced by the love of publicity or the desire for reputation.
The true church has never sounded out public expectations before launching her crusades. Her leaders heard from God, they knew their Lord's will and did it. Their people followed them - sometime to triumph, oftener to insults and public persecution - and their sufficient reward was the satisfaction of being right in a wrong world."
I happen to believe that Dr. Tozer is correct in his evaluation of the churches need today. We need to be as the Apostle Paul was in his letter to the church at Rome and not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus said the truth would set men free but before it does it will usually make them quite miserable. Until we surrender ourselves completely to God we will never know the joy of the abundant life and the power to live victoriously in this present day.
Pastor Sheldon
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