Usually five times a week, my family meets in the evening for devotions and prayer. I have three children, aged twelve, nine, and six. During our devotion, we study through books of the Bible, and we pray. Each night, we advance a few verses in Proverbs and a few verses in whatever other book of the Bible we are studying. For example, at this moment, we are studying in Proverbs 16 and Luke We do line-by-line exposition.
One child will read the verse, and I will teach. Then the next child will read the following verse, and I expound upon it. In the midst of this, there are also comments and questions by my wife and children. Usually, we spend about half an hour in study each evening. I am careful to follow what is happening with my children during the devotion. Devotions should not be drudgery, but the highlight of the day.
There are many of your fellow Christians who look up to you and admire you. How do you handle praise from others? How does the Lord keep you humble? If I were to answer this question the way it is now worded, it would be an indictment against me, for it presupposes either that I am humble or that I believe myself to be humble. Pride is a terrible and dangerous thing.
It can take so many forms; it can even assume the appearance of humility. Pride can lead not only to self-exaltation, but also to self-abasement. It is a dangerous worm of many disguises. The key to battling pride is not found in struggling against thinking too highly of ourselves or in striving to think of ourselves as lowly.
The key is found in simply not thinking about ourselves at all, but setting our minds on Christ and the needs of others.
Having said that, I can share a few things that may be helpful in our fight against pride: First, we ought to seek to grow in our understanding of the doctrine of God and the doctrine of man. The more we understand who He is and what we are in comparison, the more pride is defeated. Secondly, it is wise to surround ourselves with those who know us and love us enough to speak into our lives with words of correction and rebuke. Thirdly, after extensive travel, we should always make our way home as soon as possible.
People who only listen to preachers have a tendency to put them on a pedestal, but those who live with preachers recognize that they are just common men. Lastly, if we judge our lives by what we know or by what we say, we can easily deceive ourselves into thinking that we are something we are not; it is wiser to evaluate ourselves by the amount of truth we actually live. This is very humbling. This interview will continue and conclude tomorrow; in the second installment I ask what encourages and concerns him with New Calvinism, I ask about the series of books he is writing, about how it came to be that he has more metal in his body than a Tonka truck, and about how you and I can pray for him.
In lieu of a comments section, I accept and encourage letters to the editor. If you would like to write a letter to the editor, you can do so here. Toggle navigation. Reviews Latest Reviews By Category. He knows just what to do, right. Not exactly. Not this time. Paul: Enough of this. What does the Word of God say? How does your life stand in front of that blazing fire which is the Holiness of God? On that final day, beloved, precious little girl. Beloved, precious young man, on that final day, will your confession hold true?
Are you saved? And it became one of the most watched sermons of all time. So what made this shocking youth sermon so very shocking? Since the sermon went viral, all sorts of people have criticized him for being brash, for being harsh, maybe even being angry. But there is some context to his mood, to his passion, to his zeal. Right from the beginning, he wants this crowd to realize he is about to let loose. Tim: So clearly, this is not going to be just another sermon. Later on, he said there were actually three events that were in the background as he began to speak here.
The first event in the background is that the day, before another speaker had delivered a message that made all the kids roar with laughter. But then the speaker gave an altar call, and a whole group of them, they flocked down the aisles to respond to it and they were still laughing as they went to dedicate or to rededicate their lives to Christ. Washer was concerned because he did not see signs of true repentance. Not only that, but the speaker had mostly just been cracking jokes, so what were they even responding to?
The second event was a talk by a young man who had grown up Muslim. He told about being persecuted, about his salvation and about the hope that he had found in Jesus Christ. There was no movement, there were no tears, there was no altar call, nothing. And he was shocked. Finally, when the worship band took the stage students had rushed up to the front to dance and scream and have fun.
Now, this was the final straw, now the stage was set. What he observed was thousands of students who professed faith in Christ, but who looked just like the world. But does Paul Washer have victory over sin? If he did, he would not be grandstanding.
A man of God, when he reaches old age, ought to broken into a thousand pieces! This is drama with exaggeration and foolishness — not the hallmarks of a man of God. Before a horse is employed for riding or work, it is broken.
Before a team of oxen is put to plowing, the oxen are tried and fitted in spirit for the yoke. Likewise, a man of God is prepared before being sent out.
He is first broken, which is the only way he can ever be a man of God. Once broken, there is no need for breaking again and again. We enter the Kingdom of God through much tribulation, with life and fulfillment on the other side:. Does he open and break the clods of his ground? And he drives the wheel of his cart; and his horses do not beat it small. Washer, God neither ravishes nor mauls, though He chastens and scourges in discipline.
Will you blaspheme in passion to exalt yourself? Yes, you will. And why, if not because you have never experienced a true relationship with God, His chastening or scourging?
You have no idea what those are, in truth. Many have suffered the deception of a spurious conversion in such a way. I marvel at how men add to, and take from, the Word of God while warning others against doing so. Your blood is not as precious, nor is mine, as the Gospel of Jesus Christ….
Can a man speak so? Can, and should, he swear? Does he have power to keep such promises? Does he know? From Theopedia :. Converted while a student at the University of Texas, Washer subsequently attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary where he received a Master of Divinity degree.
Washer began his post-seminary ministry in Peru, where he served as a missionary for 10 years. He also continues his work with HeartCry Missionary Society as the director. After his sudden heart-attack last week, I felt burdened to translate the following text I published in the Spanish Evangelical Press way back in October about ten reasons why I love Brother Washer.
Here goes! Washer is an old-fashioned preacher of the Word of God. Thanks be to the Lord for raising up such a messenger! Nowadays in Christian circles there are so many programmes and events that run-of-the-mill saints can easy get caught up in the evangelical whirlwind. We have conferences and workshops about almost any kind of topic except for the theme of themes: the Gospel of the free grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ!
I have encountered few preachers who speak so wonderfully of our treasured Lord Jesus Christ from the pulpit. His Jesus is the holy Christ of Scripture. May the Lord send us , more Gospel-centred ministers! Sadly our postmodern context believes that the sin of sins is offending someone. As we all know, emergent-church preachers never bother anyone except Bible-believing Christians, of course! I guess this is one of the reasons why Washer is so popular amongst young believers.
I sense a whole multitude of Christian youth are fed up with happy-clappy religion and want a real word from the Lord. Many of our teens and twenty-something-year-olds are sick and tired of speakers beating about the bush for half-an-hour in the pulpit without ever getting to the point.
0コメント