"Isolation from the Church is Dangerous"

Here is a good article by Josh Buice on the dangers of becoming isolated from your church family. I know (most) of you reading this are involved in a local church and see it important. But, as he points out, we often don't go looking to isolate ourselves. It can often happen slowly, over time.

Here is one good quote,

We must learn to see the church as a blessing from God rather than an inconvenience.  We must never look at the church as a violation to our spiritual privacy fence.  We were never called to walk the journey of the Christian life alone.  Surround yourself with gospel preaching, gospel singing, and gospel friends who will be honest with you.  When the church is honest with you, receive it.  Take heed so that you will not fall (1 Cor. 10:12).  We all need the church. 

"Four Warnings for Your Twenties"

There is a good article at Desiring God by Marshall Segal entitled "Four Warnings for Your Twenties." He looks at 1 Corinthians 10:7-14 and notes what 20 somethings should learn from Israel's experiences in the Old Testament.

He writes,

"The same temptations that were murdering the believers under Moses are waging a spiritual war against believers today: entertainment, sexual immorality, impatience, and contentment. Paul finishes the paragraph by saying, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11)."

Here are the four main headings of temptation he goes on to address from Israel's history:

1. Do you distract yourself with entertainment?
2. Are you experimenting with sexual sin?
3. Do you refuse to wait?
4. Are you always unhappy?

Take some time to read the article and learn from Israel.

For Those Discouraged in Evangelism, Jesus Saves (Not You)

Is there a friend or family member that you fear is beyond the gospel of salvation? Perhaps they are hostile towards Jesus or maybe they have made up a Jesus they are comfortable with (but one who cannot save them). Maybe they are so enslaved to their own passions and desires that it seems impossible that they will ever walk in the freedom of loving God.

It is easy to slip into this sort of thinking. For me it usually isn't an outright thought of giving up on them. But it often creeps in and then manifests itself in a weakening of my resolve to proclaim Christ, crucified and risen for sinners, to them.

Recently I found myself rebuked by Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones on this issue.  Here is what I read,

We tend to regard certain people as beyond hope, and assume that they must of necessity continue in their grooves as they are and die unrepentant and unredeemed. We just shake our heads over them and express our sorrow. We have talked to them and tried to persuade them. We have appealed to them and preached to them. Everything that human agency can possibly do has been tried and has failed. We cannot get them to come our way, so we feel that their case is hopeless and desperate. Ah! what a lack of faith all that reveals! How different from what we find here in the New Testament and always in the church during days of revival and true faith! If you and I are to save men and women, then indeed the case is hopeless. All our efforts will most certainly fail. But that is not our gospel. It is Jesus Christ who saves! There is no limit to what He can do! His methods are not confined as ours are.

Ian Murray's Biography of Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones, Volume 1, page 226.