stephen-on-bible

Last night, I had the privilege of personally listening to mission-centered testimonies shared by a wonderful couple. The interesting thing is, this brother is neither a full-time Christian worker nor a pastor or a preacher, not even a bi-vocational worker leading a church. He, along with his wife, is a simple believer but devoted to God’s mission. This young brother is working in a Muslim populated and prosperous country. He works for an automobile company and is living in this rich nation for a couple of years. Multitudes of people, including Christians, particularly from the Asian countries, leave their hometown and go to this country. Do you know why? To earn wealth, acquire material possessions, buy good property in their hometown and then return back to their native place at their convenient time to settle comfortably with their family. But this brother is quite different. He is not material-centered, earthly-minded and comfort-oriented. His passion is, as he works, h...

Last month, a wonderful brother in the Lord gifted me a book Radical by David Platt . It is one of the few books in my life that I read in its entirety with great earnestness, even planning to read again.  As I read through the pages, I was deeply convicted and challenged to live a different life as a disciple of Christ Jesus. O, how I wished in my heart to buy as many copies of this book and give to as many Christians as possible, so that they would read and learn to live a crucified Christian life in this self-indulgent world! Well, when we look at the contemporary Christianity, don’t you suppose many of us who claim to be disciples of Christ seem to live a self-elevated rather than self-denial life, comfort zone rather than crucified life, earthly-minded rather than heavenly-focused life, world-like rather than Christ-like life and religious rather than radical Christian life? The aim of many who claim to believe in Christ appears to be this—earn a nice educational d...

"Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth," said A.W. Tozer. These days I have been meditating on the book of Amos. What wealth of insights the Lord has in store for His children to learn about His ways! When I came to chapter 6, I was moved in my heart to self-examination, for it reveals three tragic signs of complacency. One of the terrible diseases of Christianity today is complacency [a feeling of self-satisfaction]. A.W. Tozer says, "Religious complacency is encountered almost everywhere among Christians these days." He also observed, "Among the many who profess the Christian faith, scarcely one in a thousand reveals any passionate thirst for God." I cannot resist agreeing with Tozer. If the world is shattered because of its callousness towards the truth, Christianity is miserable due to its complacency in the truth it has believed. Let us reflect upon the following brief message with a prayerful heart and allow God to redeem us from this ...

Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) On Wednesday, July 8, 1741, exactly two hundred and seventy years back, at Enfield, Connecticut, Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon which later came to be known as one of the most powerful sermons in the history of Christianity. He selected his text from Deuteronomy 32:35, “Their foot shall slide in due time.” And he titled his message “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Before going further, I am afraid our age of sensation may despise Jonathan Edwards and his sermon. Our generation is brimming with such superficial preachers, sugar-coated sermons and make-me-feel-comfortable listeners that many feel nauseated by hard and strong teachings. Our current Christianity is crowded with those who get enamored by messages on love, heaven, blessings, peace and success, but not righteousness, wrath, hell, warnings and curses. Nonetheless, the Holy Bible is a book of truth—not a book of sensation, teaching with balance both love and holiness, heaven and hell, ble...