Oswald Chambers At His Best

I recommend reading Oswald Chambers. His little book, Approved Unto God, should be required reading for every believer, especially those of us who preach and teach God's Word. Below is one of the most powerful paragraphs I have read in some time from that little book.

"Nowadays the great passion is the passion for souls, but you never find that passion mentioned in the New Testament, it is the passion for Christ that the New Testament mentions. It is not a passion for men that saves men; a passion for men breaks human hearts. The passion for Christ inwrought by the Holy Ghost goes deeper down than the deepest agony the world, the flesh, and the devil can produce. It goes straight down to where our Lord went, and the Holy Ghost works out, not in thinking, but in living, this passion for Christ. Whenever the passion for souls obscures the passion for Christ, Satan has come in as an angel of light."

The self-centered, man-centered, tell-me-something-I-can-use, church culture in our nation needs a transfusion of Oswald Chambers to put us back on course; back on The Way, The Truth, and The Life. Focusing upon the blessings I can get rather than the One from Whom all blessings flow is to focus upon the wrong thing. Fix your eyes on Jesus and then whatever God gives you will be received for the blessing it is. In fact, you will be so enamored with Christ, you won't even realize you are being made holy!

Like Paul, determine to know nothing else save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

Approved Unto God, highly recommended reading.

India Mission Trip Report

Thank you for your prayers and support for this mission trip to India. It was amazing. Three of us from First Baptist Church, Kingsland, (Terry Taylor, Dr. Grady Miller, and myself) met our host in the Washington Dulles airport on Thursday, January 17.

Our first outing was to dedicate a new church building in a village. While we were in India we dedicated two other new church building, conducted a pastors conference for pastors, church leaders, and new believers (about 500 present). 

We baptized over 100 new believers. Terry and Grady baptized more than I did. As each person was baptized, they would make a verbal confession of Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Then, the pastor would ask them, “How long will you follow Jesus as your Savior and Lord?” They would answer back, “For the rest of my life.” One older lady said something more than the others and the crowd that was witnessing her baptism laughed at her answer. We learned later that to the question, “How long will you follow Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord?” she responded, “For the rest of my life, and just in case reincarnation is true, I will follow Jesus in my next life, too!”

We experienced the joy and power of the Lord on this trip. It was truly amazing. The three of us will be sharing in our worship service on Sunday, February 3. You can listen to the recording of it by Sunday afternoon on our web site, www.firstkingsland.com. Thank you again for your prayers. We could feel them.