See No Evil, Hear No Evil...Pretend Normal

I just returned from a shocking and disappointing hour. Less than a mile from Northwest Fellowship, the church I pastor, is an abortion clinic run by a man who has, to his own proud claim, killed over 12,000 children through abortion. I am a part of an Austin area 40 Days for Life campaign where we join with believers to stand hour by hour in front of these death chambers that legally exist and pray that women (and usually the men who bring them) will change their mind and not kill their baby.

The good news...over the past 3 years over 100 babies have been saved!

The bad news...thousands have been killed in the silent holocaust called legalized abortion.

The even crazier thing is that there is so much anger attached to a cut and dry subject-- "Thou shall not kill." The Bible never gives anyone the right to kill, even if you think it's your body.

Today, my heart was broken because 2 women (and their men who drove them) came into the clinic. From where I stand to pray you can barely see those coming into the death clinic--they are about 40 yards away from me and are blocked by large bushes. But they could of heard me...and I said nothing. I so regret that I said not one word to dissuade them from killing their precious little baby boy or girl. I prayed, but I said nothing. I've been trained to speak. But I said nothing.

Am I not a part of the silent majority who want to SEE NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL AND PRETEND NORMAL?

Jesus forgive me...Jesus forgive us.

Wake us up...give us a voice. Help us see the evil and lovingly confront the evil.

Amen

Best of Recent Tweets

The soul must be cultivated like a garden and the will must be sanctified and become Christian through and through. Heavenly treasures must be sought, and we must seek those things that are above and mortify the things that are below. – AW TOZER


Happy is the soul which never stops saying a hundred times a day, "Lord, what would You have me do?" - Fenelon


Saying "Mother Nature" is an unbelieving way to speak of Creator God's power over nature & all things. Simply speak the truth--God rules all


Jesus rules over every molecule in the universe. Wind , rain & storms (or the lack there of) are God's doing. Deism & atheism say otherwise


Jesus said, "Where is your faith?" & they were afraid, &marveled, "Who is this, that he commands even winds & water, &they obey him?" Lk8:25


A meeting is not big because a lot of people are present. A meeting is big because a number of people see a big God in the meeting. - Tozer


God's supreme purpose is to make us like His Son, Jesus Christ. If we understand this it will solve a great deal of anxiety in us. - Tozer


A delightfully growing prayer life is fueled by an ever expanding experiential knowledge of the nature & character of God


How we understand the person and character of God the Father affects every aspect of our lives. - RC Sproul


Two folks from our church went downtown today to Occupy Austin to pray that the Holy Spirit would "Occupy Austin"! People asked for prayer!!


“‘Come unto me,’ Jesus says, ‘and I will give you'... ‘I will give you‘ — that is the gospel in four words. - Spurgeon


When rewards are given in heaven,the most shocked will be "elder brothers" who were so sure they were right. Rick Warren (See Lk15:28)

Which Cross by A.W. Tozer

The Church: The Old Cross and the New Cross

But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. --Galatians 6:14

The old cross slew men; the new cross entertains them. The old cross condemned; the new cross amuses. The old cross destroyed confidence in the flesh; the new cross encourages it. The old cross brought tears and blood; the new cross brings laughter. The flesh, smiling and confident, preaches and sings about the cross; before that cross it bows and toward that cross it points with carefully staged histrionics--but upon that cross it will not die, and the reproach of that cross it stubbornly refuses to bear.

I well know how many smooth arguments can be marshalled in support of the new cross. Does not the new cross win converts and make many followers and so carry the advantage of numerical success? Should we not adjust ourselves to the changing times? Have we not heard the slogan, "New days, new ways"? And who but someone very old and very conservative would insist upon death as the appointed way to life? And who today is interested in a gloomy mysticism that would sentence its flesh to a cross and recommend self-effacing humility as a virtue actually to be practiced by modern Christians? These are the arguments, along with many more flippant still, which are brought forward to give an appearance of wisdom to the hollow and meaningless cross of popular Christianity. The Pursuit of Man, 53,54.

"Lord, it's not popular today to be 'old-fashioned.' But I commit myself today to the old cross. Help me today to deny myself, to take up my cross, and to follow You. Amen."
________________________________________

Sanctification is Jesus becoming more and more to you in more and more areas of your life in a more and more deep way more and more of the time.

“Then the church shall be brought to the full enjoyment of her bridegroom, having all tears wiped away from her eyes, and there shall be no more distance or absence. She shall then be brought to the entertainments of an eternal wedding feast, and to dwell forever with her bridegroom, yea, to dwell eternally in his embraces. Then Christ will give her his loves, and she shall drink her fill, yea, she shall swim in the ocean of his love.”


Jonathan Edwards, “The Church’s Marriage to her Sons and to her God,” in Works (Edinburgh, 1979), II:22.

A Crazy But True Formula

Are you struggling?

Rejoice...the trials are only a testing of your faith

in order to cause you to

Persevere...

in order to

MAKE YOU LIKE JESUS!


The unlikely formula is

Trials + Perservance = Becoming more like Jesus

Sometimes God’s best answers to prayer are “no” because, if indeed we received everything that we prayed for, all our wants and wishes and heart’s desires, I just don’t think it would be God’s best for our life. Let me share with you a quick story. I remember when I was in the hospital many, many years ago. I used to imagine myself in the Gospel of John, Chapter 5, lying at the Pool of Bethesda where all the other disabled, sick and lame were asking Jesus to heal them. I used to picture myself there pleading with the Lord not to forget me. “Don’t pass me by, Lord. Here I am. Heal me.”

As many times as I prayed when I was in the hospital, and read John Chapter 5, my hands and my feet never got the message. I never got healed. Well, many years later, my husband, Ken, and I had a chance to visit Israel and we spent a whole day touring Jerusalem. It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the Pool of Bethesda and as soon as I saw those old ruins, I turned to Ken and went, “Ken, you won’t believe it. I remember decades ago when I was hospital, I used to picture myself here and I used to imaging myself asking God to heal me and He never did."

But you know what? I’m so glad God didn’t because the “no” answer to a prayer for healing has meant a more urgent leaning upon Him every day, a more vibrant hope of heaven, a deeper sense of prayer, a more energetic love for His Word. It's fostered my friendships, and deepened my concern and compassion for others who hurt. It’s helped me start this ministry, Joni & Friends, to other people with disabilities.

I could go on and on recounting all the glorious good things that have happened in my life and in the life of others all because God said “no” to an answer to prayer. It wasn’t until I was sitting there, leaning on the guardrail and looking at the ruins of the Pool of Bethesda a few years ago, that I realized how wonderful it is that God sometimes says “no.”

By Joni Erickson Tada

YEAH HOLLYWOOD

Wow...how often do you hear a pastor say YEAH HOLLYWOOD? Well, more would say that if they would watch SOUL SURFER, a new movie that is such a testimony to faith in God, commitment to family and a passion to stick it out through unbelievably rough circumstances.

You've got to see it. Take your family (it's a PG movie). Treat them for ice cream afterward and talk about what you learned from the movie. Oh, please stay for my favorite part, in the after clips, where the young lady this true story was based upon accepts an award by saying "I guess I got my courage from Jesus Christ."

It's a beautiful thing to see the arts which God created used to bring Him glory...especially by hollywood.

Check it out!

A God Who Acts

On the heels of the yearly celebration of Resurrection Day I am deeply struck with a God who acts decisively on behalf of weak, broken and helpless people. In the church we often (and maybe we overemphasize it) focus messages, devotions, books and songs on our part of following God, obeying God, being holy, resisting the devil, etc. Yet, the most freeing focus is found in what God has done in Christ to free us from the grip of sin, satan and all bondage through the death of His Son Jesus Christ. Would a greater emphasis on the victory help us realize WHO is actually reigning in us--the Lamb who is triumphant over all enemies...who always leads us in His triumphal procession...Who is in us willing and working for His good pleasure right now!

And, the glorious work of Christ at the right hand of the Father making constant intercession for us must be one of the least understood and rejoiced in passages that I know about. If Christ is interceding day and night for His church--is it possible that we can be defeated? Will Christ's prayers for us be answered? I think the answer is a LOUD YES!

Would we as the blood bought, chosen, beloved and God-kept children be more fruitful and victorious if we would focus on what Christ has done and what He is currently doing for us. If we fixed our eyes on Him...would our obdeience be less? Would our holiness become tanted? Would our passion and compassion lesson? I don't think so. Could the root of our problem simply be that we've focused on obedience to the King and not on the King who enables obedience?

Think about it.

NWF Family and Friends,

I am sitting here on Sunday night reflecting...reflecting on 40 days of 24-7 prayer from the NWF prayer room. Amazed that we did it. Amazed at the sacrifice of many. Shocked how easy it was. Blessed by the 100 people who were faithful to the prayer room--week in and week out! So blessed that I got to be a part. I feel so enriched by being with Jesus. Nothing compares with this simple, but unmatched joy.


I dream of the day when NWF will have 24-7 worship and prayer going on while simultaneously 24-7 works for justice are going on. Can you imagine a church that is open for 24-7 worship and service?


The only limiting factor is the army. I pray God will continue to give us the fiery army of love who knows that Jesus deserves 24-7 worship on the earth from Austin, Texas and that people need 24-7 ministry to meet their needs. It's a beautiful picture of the fulfillment of Jesus' prayer where we pray YOUR KINGDOM COME, YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN.


In heaven 24-7 worship AND 24-7 service go on simultaneously.


Can you dream with me? Can you ask Father that He could do this in our lifetime in Austin, Texas through us?


These 40 days were a taste...a small taste...of what God wants to do 24-7 until Jesus returns.


We want more, Jesus!

Think God

Just read Matthew 16 & realize spiritual warfare is simply satan's attempt to sway us to "think man" or humanly instead of "thinking God". It's only in the revelation of Christ that we triumph over the gates of hell! Peter was "thinking man" thoughts when satan co-opted him to try to talk Jesus out of going to the cross. Yet, a few short seconds prior Peter was "thinking God" thoughts as He confessed the revelation of who Jesus is. Wild isn't it. The battle for us is whether we are thinking God or thinking human. Human = satan. No neutral ground in thoughts. So, the highest goal moment by moment is to THINK GOD! It's in this that we triumph over satan and the gates of hell!

Come on church...Think God...

oh...a simple secret...God's thoughts are found in God's Word.

Meditate day and night and you will have success in all you do (Psalm 1).

Now that's an astounding promise!

Hardcore Lent

by Dave Gibbons (see http://www.outofur.com/archives/2011/03/dave_gibbons_ha.html)

Do you dare?

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday, March 9th. The purpose of lent is for prayer, penitence, almsgiving and self-denial. It could be a grueling 46 days. People ask me about the options for observing this season of the church calendar. Well, here’s a list that is a bit different. It’s a top ten hardcore ideas for Lent 2011.

1. Don't Lock Your Doors. Do we hide behind gated walls and doors too much? Do we need that much security? Maybe keeping open doors reminds us it’s not healthy to live alone. Be radically welcoming! Throw more parties with people you don’t know. (Btw, that’s what hospitality really means in the Holy Book- welcoming strangers.)

2. Don't Wear Makeup. This was inspired by someone close to me who loves her glow. This individual mentioned to me that not wearing makeup it helped her to focus on other aspects of beauty. Btw, if you’re wondering I do like make up. . . on other people.

3. Fast from Chocolate. Did this last year. It’s harder than you think!

4. Fast from Sex. No explanation needed. How about developing a primal relationship with God. There’s another type of intimacy that is heavenly.

5. Fast from Futbol or Basketball. Life outside the square is possible.

6. Fast from Exercise. This is about normal exercise routines or going to the health club every day. Take walks instead. Okay, before you exercise enthusiasts throw rocks at this one. I work out about 90 minutes a day at the number one voted gym in America. I love it there. So I know this is hard but as with anything we can be a bit too intense in a lot of areas of our lives. Let let go of any unhealthy obsessions. Couldn’t sin be defined as something that is good but twisted in some way?

7. Fast from Your Typical Cultural Food. How about eating ethnic foods you normally never eat instead of your normal fare. There is flavor outside your common behavior.

8. Fast from Driving Alone. Besides carpooling is hip. Turn the rat race into a communal space.

9. Fast from TV. You may find life outside the box. . . err the screen.

10. Fast from Text Messaging and Social Media. This may be harder than you think. We’ve almost become neurotic with our iphones, ipads, and laptops. They have become another limb on our already pimped bodies. The slower pace of conversation and face 2 face interactions may actually be healing for you. Come on stop stalking people and start talking to them!

Do you have other lent self-denial suggestions for those who want to experience something MORE? Come on creatives!


Dave Gibbons is the author of an award-winning book on culture and the church called The Monkey and the Fish. He has served on the Board of World Vision US, and helps to guide a group of third-culture, faith communities called NEWSONG. Read more at Dave's blog.

http://davegibbons.tv/

All the women in your life have to be 80 years old or more to have gone through their child-bearing years during a time when abortion was not legal and accessible. Among the rest, 42% of American women have had one abortion by the age of 45 (abandoned or pressured, by and large, by men). There are 50 million abortions every year worldwide. The USA represents less than 3% of this. Where we gather college students and young professionals together to challenge them with the gospel, close to half of them are struggling secretly with this one particular form of guilt.

Addressing the Blood-Guilt of Abortion
Our generation needs a gospel presentation that address the blood-guilt of abortion specifically and openly as a gospel issue. To view abortion as a secondary, or worse, a political issue is to fundamentally misunderstand the defining experience of our times. Imagine preaching the gospel in the town of Dacau in the 40’s and intentionally avoiding, rather than pressing head-on, as to how the gospel addresses the sin of shedding innocent blood. Our silence would be interpreted to mean that it is outside the reach of what the gospel offers. Imagine sharing Christ in a hospital full of soldiers, some missing eyes, others arms, and never mentioning the part of the gospel that promises new bodies. Imagine preaching Christ at a funeral and never mentioning the hope of resurrection.

Called Out, Confessed, and Brought Under the Gospel
If you care about the primacy of the gospel and have a passion for missions, I beg you to stop seeing abortion as a secondary issue. Understand that it is the primary mark of this generation. And understand the anguish it causes. It is a megaphone of endless Satanic accusation. It snaps the tendons of spiritual effort and risk. The blood-guilt of abortion festers under the surface of all Christian endeavor. It needs lancing. It needs to be outed. It needs to be called out by name, confessed by name, and brought under a gospel that declares that there is no forgiveness for the shedding of innocent blood except by the shedding of innocent blood. Our generation needs to hear explicitly that the blood of Christ cleanses us from acts that lead to death, even and explicitly, abortion, “that we might serve the living God” (Heb 9:11).

John Ensor is VP of Heartbeat International and author of several books, including, The Great Work of the Gospel (Crossway).

http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/the-mission-field-created-by-abortion

What Is God Doing...Making Sense of Life

Have you ever stopped for a few hours to ponder one simple question...what is God doing in my life? I did...here are my reflections. Enjoy...but take time to answer this question for yourself! Write down your answers. I'd love to see them. Simply e-mail them to: trey@northwestfellowship.com - Can't wait to see them!


1. God is challenging me to the utmost so that I am only capable of persevering through His power! That's the way He likes it.

2. God is forcing to do that which is most important...pray!

3. God is encouraging me with just enough answers to prayer to refresh my faith!

4. God is calling me to look giants in the face with the same courage that a young shepherd named David did!

5. God is reminding me constantly that He is Almighty God and I'm His boy. That's a great thing!

6. God is leading me beyond my comfort zone with opportunities galore!

7. God is humbling me daily by showing me my weak pursuit of Him!

What an amazing life...what an indescribable God!!!

Quotes

"The key to prayer is simply praying." AW Tozer

"When we rely upon organization, we get what organization can do; when we rely upon education, we get what education can do; when we rely upon eloquence, we get what eloquence can do. But when we rely upon prayer, we get what God can do." - A. C. Dixon


"What if we are getting the very things we asked for...or not getting the very things we haven't asked for?"


"Why do we love rememdies for America's ills that avoid God's clear remedy: "If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways--I will hear from heaven, forgive their sin and heal their land."


In all things God is working a divine conspiracy for my good!


The most important thing I do is pray!


"Better a hundred times to have less and have God than to have more and cloud the face of God." AW Tozer


"I am more and more convined that God is desiring to answer the fervent prayers of righteous people like you to bring healing and revival."


"Is it any wonder that when the flames of missionary zeal and success sank away, it was because the fires of prayer had died low on the altars of devotion?"
- Robert E. Speer


"If added power attends the united prayer of two or three, what mighty triumphs there will be when hundreds of thousands of consistent members of the Church are with one accord day by day making intercession for the extension of Christ's Kingdom."
- John R. Mott


"Will you unite with fellow Christians around you in prayer? The greatest gift that we can give to others is our prayers..."

- David Bryant



"There has never been a spiritual awakening... that did not begin in united prayer."
- A.T. Pierson



"Revivals begin with God's own people; the Holy Spirit touches their heart anew, and gives them new fervor and compassion, and zeal, new light and life, and when He has thus come to you, He next goes forth to the valley of dry bones...Oh, what responsibility this lays on the Church of God! If you grieve Him away from yourselves, or hinder His visit, then the poor perishing world suffers sorely!"
- Andrew A. Bonar

Tozer...On THE HABIT OF HOLY THOUGHT

Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. --2 Corinthians 10:5

What we think about when we are free to think about what we will-- that is what we are or will soon become....

Anyone who wishes to check on his true spiritual condition may do so by noting what his voluntary thoughts have been over the last hours or days. What has he thought about when free to think of what he pleased? Toward what has his inner heart turned when it was free to turn where it would? When the bird of thought was let go did it fly out like the raven to settle upon floating carcasses or did it like the dove circle and return again to the ark of God? Such a test is easy to run, and if we are honest with ourselves we can discover not only what we are but what we are going to become. We'll soon be the sum of our voluntary thoughts....

The best way to control our thoughts is to offer the mind to God in complete surrender. The Holy Spirit will accept it and take control of it immediately. Then it will be relatively easy to think on spiritual things, especially if we train our thought by long periods of daily prayer. Long practice in the art of mental prayer (that is, talking to God inwardly as we work or travel) will help to form the habit of holy thought. Born After Midnight, 44,46-47.

"Oh, Lord, You know the constant struggle so many of us have with our thought life. You know how often our thoughts do indeed settle on rotten carcasses. Take control of my thoughts today, and move me along in the development of the habit of holy thought. Amen."

What would Billy Graham Do Differently?

Billy Graham was just interviewed. Here is what he said to the question,
If you could, would you go back and do anything differently?

Yes, of course. I'd spend more time at home with my family, and I'd study more and preach less. I wouldn't have taken so many speaking engagements, including some of the things I did over the years that I probably didn't really need to do—weddings and funerals and building dedications, things like that. Whenever I counsel someone who feels called to be an evangelist, I always urge them to guard their time and not feel like they have to do everything.

I also would have steered clear of politics. I'm grateful for the opportunities God gave me to minister to people in high places; people in power have spiritual and personal needs like everyone else, and often they have no one to talk to. But looking back I know I sometimes crossed the line, and I wouldn't do that now.

It seems to me these are wise words for pastors. “No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.” (2 Timothy 2:4). And there are even “military” acts one can do too many of. Focus on the main things and work with all your might.

Taken from www.desiringGod.org

Tozer...On ALONE WITH GOD

Personal Life: Alone With God

And Jesus went up on the mountain, and there He sat with His disciples. --John 6:3

Just prior to this miraculous multiplying of the bread and fish, Jesus "went up on a mountainside and sat down with his disciples"(6:3). That fact is noteworthy. It seems plain that Jesus withdrew purposely from the great press of people who had been pursuing Him.

There are some things that you and I will never learn when others are present. I believe in church and I love the fellowship of the assembly. There is much we can learn when we come together on Sundays and sit among the saints. But there are certain things that you and I will never learn in the presence of other people.

Unquestionably, part of our failure today is religious activity that is not preceded by aloneness, by inactivity. I mean getting alone with God and waiting in silence and quietness until we are charged with God's Spirit. Then, when we act, our activity really amounts to something because we have been prepared by God for it....

Now, in the case of our Lord, the people came to Him, John reports, and He was ready for them. He had been quiet and silent. He had sat alone with His disciples and meditated. Looking upward, He waited until the whole hiatus of divine life moved down from the throne of God into His own soul. He was a violin tuned. He was a battery recharged. He was poised and prepared for the people when they came. Faith Beyond Reason, 130,133.
"Lord, I'll spend a lot of time in the company of people today, but just now I come in quietness and silence to wait for You to fill me. Amen."
________________________________________

Challenges and Signs of Hope in the World Christian Movement

What do you think are the greatest challenges to the world Christian movement today? What do you think are the greatest signs of hope?

From the perspective of one who has a global overview of Christian missions today, it is evident God is moving in unprecedented ways to fulfill his mission. He is using warfare, ethnic violence, political disruption, social chaos, economic uncertainty and natural disasters to turn the hearts of people to a search for hope and security that can be found only in Jesus Christ. There is an apparent acceleration in engagement of unreached people groups and a global harvest.

The greatest challenge is not adversarial religious worldviews, hostility to a Christian witness, government restrictions and persecution of believers but indifference to God’s mission on the part of the Church. God’s people have become ingrown and self-centered. The spiritual vitality needed to extend an effective witness to the ends of the earth has been eroded by carnality and humanism among Christians.

Comments by Jerry Rankin (see http://www.desiringGod.org/)