I reviewed some of the church growth material coming from our denominational headquarters. One publication said that, in order to get our churches growing again, we should “open the front doors and close the back doors”… What we actually need to do is to close the front door and open the back door! If we really want to see our churches grow, we need to make it harder to join and we need to be better about excluding people. We need to be able to show that there is a distinction between the church and the world – that it means something to be a Christian. If someone who claims to be a Christian refuses to live as a Christian should live, we need to follow what Paul said and, for the glory of God and for that person’s own good, we need to exclude him or her form membership in the church.
Mark Dever

Christ Is Alive

Christ Is Alive CHRIST IS ALIVE! (Does it make any difference?)

. Physical life is a possession we all cling to, and yet we know we must all sooner or later bow to death. It enters the home of the rich as boldly as it enters the apartment in the ghetto. It brings down the final curtain as swiftly on the famous as it does on the unknown. Before this year will end many people reading this message will keep their appointment with death.

ATTITUDES TOWARD LIFE AND DEATH

. I have found that one can tell how a person values life by his estimation of death. I talked with one man who had never given a serious thought to death until it was discovered that he had cancer. “Immediately my entire world changed,” he said. “The things I valued most are worthless, and the things that I thought were of little value are now the most important things in the world to me.” There are many who say, “I believe in life after death, but I am not concerned about crossing that bridge until I get to it.” How strange that people should spend years preparing for retirement and not take so much as five minutes to prepare to meet God.

. Another attitude toward death is this: “I stand with Christ, the Lord of life and death, and rest my case in His hands.” David said, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me.” (Psalm 23:4) The Apostle Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.” (Phillipians 1:21) Both men were looking ahead to death with calm assurance. They knew that this life was only a dressing room for eternity. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” (John 11:25) Death need not be a bitter end … it can be a bright dawning.

ASSURANCE IN LIFE AND DEATH

. Christ is alive! And because He is alive, that makes all the difference in the world. In His resurrection evil has been defeated, love has conquered hate, death has lost it’s sting, and Satan has been defeated. God has accepted the atoning work of Christ on the cross – He declared that the full penalty for sin has been paid. And one day all of creation will burst forth into a new song.

. Christ is alive! The early Christians proclaimed that truth. They believed that the same power that raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will work in and through us to rescue us from our doubts, our darkness, out failure, and even our death.

. As we look at the world today, we cannot help but be disturbed by what is happening. But the resurrection of Christ tells every believer that we need not press the panic button. It is true that we are concerned and burdened, and it is certain we are going to pray, but we do not cry in terror as others do.

. The day before John Huss, condemned for his faith in Christ, was to be burned at the stake, he wrote, “I write this in prison and in chains, expecting tomorrow to receive sentence of death – full of hope in God that I shall not swerve from the truth.”

. Is this hope and peace and joy yours? Can you face death with a smile, with full confidence that you are going into the presence of Christ? You can have this hope if you are willing to turn from sin and trust Christ. You can do it now, “If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

Billy Graham

File provided by: Aslan’s Roar “Radical Truth In Telecommunications”