Imagine a fireman who goes into a burning orphanage to save some young children because they are unable to escape by themselves and can be saved only if he rescues them. Only he can save them because he has an asbestos suit.

He comes back in a few minutes bringing out 3 of the 30 children, but rather than going back in to save more children, the fireman goes over to the news media and talks about how praiseworthy he is for saving the three children.

Indeed, saving the three children was a good, heroic deed. But the pressing question on everyone’s mind is, What about the other 27 children? Since he has the means to rescue the children and, indeed, is the only one who can save the children since they cannot save themselves, do we view the fireman as morally praiseworthy? I suggest that we would not. In fact, probably he would be charged with depraved indifference. He had the means to help them, but he would not.

If we do not find that praiseworthy in a human, why would we find it praiseworthy in God?

Steve Lemke
whosoever will

“What makes Steve’s methodology different from everyone else’s is that he always believed the most important decisions you make are not the things you do, but the things you decide not to do,” Sculley said in a 2010 interview with Businessweek.

“That’s been one of my mantras: focus and simplicity,” Jobs told Businessweek in 1998. “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains.”

“It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don’t get on the wrong track or try to do too much. We’re always thinking about new markets we could enter, but it’s only by saying no that you can concentrate on the things that are really important.”

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photo by acaben

John 3:16 addresses a number of “isms.”

The phrase “For God” responds to atheism, which claims there is no God.

The phrase “so loved” responds to fatalism, which asserts God is an impersonal force.

The phrase “the world” responds to nationalism, which says God only loves one group of people.

The phrase “that He gave” responds to materialism, which says it is more blessed to receive than to give.

The phrase “His only begotten Son” responds to Mohammedism, which says God has no Son.

The phrase “that whosoever believes” responds to five-point Calvinism, which says Christ died only for the elect.

The phrase “in Him” responds to pluralism, which says all religions are equal.

The phrase “should not perish” responds to annihilationism, which says there is no Hell.

The phrase “but have everlasting life” responds to Arminianism, which says God only gives life conditionally.

John 3:16 is a simple biblicism which reveals the mind, the heart, and the will of God”

- Jerry Vines
Sermon on John 3:16, Whosoever Will: A Biblical-Theological Critique of 5-Point Calvinism

Philosophy says: Think your way out.
Indulgence says: Drink your way out.
Politics says: Spend your way out.
The fair deal says: Legislate your way out.
Science says: Invent your way out.
Industry says: Work your way out.
Communism says: Strike your way out.
Fascism says: Bluff your way out.
Militarism says: Fight your way out.
The Bible says: Pray your way out.
But Jesus Christ says: “I am the way out…”

DR. J VERNON MCGEE
ht:mr.brooks

i tell you, beloved, when the Holy Ghost comes upon a man he becomes a spiritual man, and instead of denying his Lord he denies himself, just remember that.

ANDREW MURRAY  //  THE DEEPER CHRISTIAN LIFE

it may well be that one of our faults is our desire for novelty. the great saving truths of Christianity do not change; and we cannot hear them too often.

we do not tire of the foods which are the essentials of life. we expect to eat bread and to drink water every day; and we must listen again and again to the truth which is the bread and the water of life.

we may enjoy the ‘fancy things’ at meal times, but it is the basic foods on which we live.

preaching and teaching and studying the side-issues may be attractive, and these have their place, but the fundamental truths can neither be spoken nor heard too often for the safety of our souls.

WILLIAM BARCLAY  /  THE LETTERS TO THE PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS AND THESSALONIANS  /  pg 52-53

Humility is one of the loveliest flowers that springs up in the garden of the regenerated heart. We are all inclined to pride and vanity by nature.

When the Spirit of Christ possesses us, we manifest that lowliness and meekness which ever characterized our blessed Lord.

HA Ironside / Expository Notes On Mark / pg 159

{Christians} are tempted to make unnecessary concessions to those outside the Faith. We must show our Christian colours, if we are to be true to Jesus Christ. We cannot remain silent and concede everything away.

- c.s. lewis  God In The Dock,  pg. 262

Phillip answered Him, “Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may have a little.” – John 6:7

Here in the New Testament was Phillip the Calculator–Phillip the Mathematician, Phillip the Clerk. There was need for a miracle, and Phillip set out to calculate the odds. Probably every Christian group has at least one person with a calculator. I have sat on boards for many years, and rarely is there a board without a Phillip the Calculator among its members. When you suggest something, out comes the calculator to prove that it cannot be done….

As I say, I have been sitting on these boards for many years, and there are always two kinds of board members: those who can see the miracle and those who can only see their calculators and their strings of calculations….

The people with the calculators have seen the problem, but they have not seen God. They have figured things out, but they have not figured God in.

Phillip the Calculator. He can be a dangerous man in the church of our Lord Jesus Christ. Every suggestion made in the direction of progress gets a negative vote from this man.

- A.W. Tozer  Faith Beyond Reason, pg. 137-139.

we are here to be a restraining force to evil through the power of the Holy Spirit. we are not called to restrain evil through the political process; that will never work. this is a spiritual battle, and it is only through spiritual weapons that we have any hope of success.

satan loves to draw christians into the physical arena because he can make mincemeat out of them there. Jesus said, “the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light” (Luke 16.8).

if you try to fight evil through the political process, look out.

- Chuck Smith // Living Water pg 56-57 circa 1996

thoughts?