“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Gal. 2.20
The real fruit of the Gospel in a man’s life has nothing to do with what title he bears religiously, what reputation he has maintained among colleagues, or how successful he has been ministerially speaking. A man may receive accolades from saint and sinner, he may have a great following, and he may be recognized as a great spiritual leader, but this is not the sure evidence of grace on his life.
The only proof of the validity of a man’s faith is that great foundational declaration of Paul:
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me….”
Have I really been crucified with Christ? Can I say with Paul that I no longer live? Can I walk through the slopes and valleys and storms of this life with a burning consciousness that Christ lives in me?
There is an awful lot of boasting in the Church, but it is all too rare for us to find fellowship with those who “no longer live,” and in whom the Life of Christ Himself is being demonstrated. There is too much preaching that is devoid of the resonance of Christ’s life, too much ministry being carried out with mere machinery and sweat, too much religious performance by saints who know how to smile in a meeting, but who lack the kindness and purity and humility of God in the realm of day-to-day life.
Could it be that we are seeing the ill-formed fruit of too many years of un-apostolic preaching? Philip the evangelist preached Christ Himself. Paul preached Christ, and him crucified. There is no higher form of preaching than preaching Jesus Himself. True preaching calls us to lay down our own lives, and to receive the Life of the Lamb Who was slain. If we are not hearing of the glory of this Man from our preachers, our foundations are themselves faulty and dubious. Years ago, in a letter to a friend, Leonard Ravenhill wrote:
I find many evangelists are getting concerned about the lack of permanence in the so-called conversions of people they minister to in their meetings. The fact is that most preachers preach only a half gospel. All they preach is forgiveness, but a man needs more than forgiveness. He needs regeneration and his conscience purged by the blood of Christ from dead works to serve the living God. A man is not a Christian until God takes up residence in him.
A miracle must take place. We should quit asking people if they are saved. Everyone thinks somehow they are saved. Why not look them in the eye and say, “Does Christ live in you?” If Christ is not in a person, they are not born again.
(In Light of Eternity: The Life of Leonard Ravenhill, Free Grace Press; 2010, p. 356)
May the Lord raise up a host of men with the fire of God in their souls, and a revelation of Christ in their hearts, to set forth the glory of Jesus Christ, to call men back to the cross, and to preach again the everlasting Gospel as a piercing Light in the darkest places. That the Lamb Who was slain would receive the reward of His suffering ….
You know one thing about a man carrying a cross outside the city…. He’s not coming back. -A.W. Tozer
Bryan Purtle is an author that carries a jealousy for historical revival, the salvation of Israel, and the recovery of apostolic proclamation and living through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Visit his website at thoughtsuponrising.com.
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Neither is it biblical to require one to say a sinner’s prayer. There is no such practice in scripture. Obviously, if you ask most people to say that prayer they are going to say it with the expection everything will be alright between them and Jesus and in their lives. Voila!!! they are born again, only to find out shortly thereafter they are totally disappointed and depressed. They are worse than they were before.
I once heard someone say, “every time a pastor made the call at a rally, she went up and said the prayer.” No wonder Jesus said some seed fell on rocky ground where there was not much soil. It quickly sprung up but because it had no soil when the sun rose, they were scorched and because they had no root, they withered away. These preachers just preach the word without much substance ( 1/2 truth) and then quickly ask people to say the prayer. We are living in very very sad times in thus Babylonian nation call America.
Though I followed Bryan here, it is unclear that a new beginning based on a moment of prayer is, somehow off the mark, Betty Lee. Great results can have small beginnings. After my parents divorce, in the 1960s, I was placed with my mother’s sister’s family, in Richmond, Virginia, until she could get things in order, and move there. I was exposed then to the kind of confusion of altar call conformity over and over of which you write. It would be some six years later, in my gradmother’s home (Father’s side) that I would receive Christ, and have Him touch my heart and inner man with the new birth. No question it happened, no question it was a beginning not a consummation. We all still wait for that event.
I have known many brethren over the years since who did, in fact, have a beginning with such a solicited prayer after hearing the word of God of Him: in Him. As Bryan prior cited, at that moment a soul is accepted in the beloved. They begin to know Jesus, and His heart and mind, through the Apostles’ teaching and the written Word they recorded for us thereafter. It may be a continuous stimulation thereafter to recognize one’s lack of soil, Betty Lee. But, if one persists, presses in, confesses sin to Him as convicted of it, and, over time begins the change of heart He Father’s one to know, it is possible that every small beginning does help an abiding branch to grow on the vine.
We have to turn off our criteria of acceptance to hear and heed His, Betty Lee. For some it will be a more certain and predictable path than others, Betty Lee. None become like Him all at once. Yes, Betty Lee, He is the sower of the seed, and will be the reaper of the harvest, as promised. What is that soil spoken of in the parable, Betty Lee? And, if one does not have such, where will they find it? Even Israel, who rejected the Son sent by the Landowner/Gardner, will find His fertilizer for growth, in time. God looks at the heart and the quality of devotion, for sure.
There is a tendency, whether in this article, or by your unclarified standards, B.L., to proclaim and think it is absolutely so or no other way of being so. Yet our Father in heaven is “always working” to make it so. Paul wrote what he did about being crucified with Jesus Christ after some other experience in Him, and some opposition to other approaches to bearing the Gospel, and while sharing the Good News while suffering and working, over time. This follow through to the conclusion of Christ who lives in him a being our sole hope cannot be denied. The other Apostle often found interacting with Paul on matters of dispute–and working through these–was Peter, whose confession of faith in the Gospels in Jesus, was called the rock (implied of anyone’s future as to holding to faith in He who was sent into our world. It does not happen all at once, yet the new beginning has eternal consequences if kept and obeyed over time). Peter wrote long thereafter his initial confession…
1PE 1:3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth [a beginning point of connection to Jesus Christ] into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade–kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith–of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire–may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. [And so in looking to Him continuously, who makes it possible].
1PE 1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets, who spoke of the grace that was to come to you, searched intently and with the greatest care, 11 trying to find out the time and circumstances to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. [As did Peter at the point of his confession, though he later lacked soil and denied Jesus thrice]. 12 It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves but you, when they spoke of the things that have now been told you by those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things. [The Holy Spirit then bearing testimony of Him, not of the Spirit itself].
1PE 1:13 Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”
1PE 1:17 Since you call on a Father who judges each man’s work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 18 For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 20 He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. 21 Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God.
1PE 1:22 Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. 23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All men are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
1PE 1:25 but the word of the Lord stands forever.”
And this is the word that was preached to you.
1PE 2:1 Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind. 2 Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, 3 now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1PE 2:4 As you come to him, the living Stone–rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him– 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For in Scripture it says:
“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”
1PE 2:7 Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,
“The stone the builders rejected
has become the capstone, ”
1PE 2:8 and,
“A stone that causes men to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”
They stumble because they disobey the message–which is also what they were destined for. [Believers are destined to obey the Message of the Gospel foundation, on the Life of Jesus Christ].
1PE 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10 Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
1PE 2:11 Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. 12 Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.
1PE 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king…
The Asbury Model of Renewal/Revival can reach out of our community of faith by turning totally to the possibility of Christ in Us who call on His Name to turn the upcoming present generation to Him, as it was by a small beginning in 1970 due to a covenant of prayer spoken by the few gathering regularly in His Name for Petition for Him to Come again and visit and rekindle our faith, hope, and love. LET US COVENANT TOGETHER TO FOLLOW THIS MODEL, BY MAKING AN ACTION PLAN, TO MAKE THESE CONDITIONS OF GATHERING AND OUR HEARTS ONCE MORE IN THE MIX OF THE SPIRIT, CHRIST, AND OUR HOLY ONE TO MAKE IT SO. LET US COVENANT TOGETHER TO SO PETITION GOD THIS FALL, 2011, IN ORDER FOR OUR FATHER TO DO THE WORK IN 2012. LET IT BE SO. LET IT BE SO. LET IT BE SO.
This means of proclamation could be employed as a means to so call such a prayer covenant among us all, spiraling to other believers to let it be so in our nation. What are the present obstacles to the VOR making such a call on the Body of Christ in the USA, and following through with the potential for such an Action Plan?
Peter and Paul went through changes after their adoption, changes that healed, redirected their hearts, and solidified their devotion. It was after Mars Hill Paul declared looking only to Christ crucified, after Peter’s solid rock confession of Jesus as the Christ and his denial thereafter of being with Jesus that he wrote what he clarified through his letters. They were indeed adopted Sons, being changed and disciplined by our Father and redirected their devotion to make their calling more certain.
To be a Son is not only to be born from above, to bear a Cross, and pursue the charges of the Commission, it becomes in heart and way–as a concordance can quickly confirm–that all NT adopted children of God become like their Master, for the sake of others and Jesus, Servants of God. Sons=servants of the Most High God. It is written the Holy Spirit was sent to bear testimony of Jesus; there is no other incarnation for salvation, justification, sanctification, or commission. Called as Sons, perhaps even to do greater things, but always on the level playing field of the foot of His Cross and for His service.
Are we willing to lay what can be the vanity of a “ministry” on that playing field? Are we willing to permit the action of the Holy Spirit to complete others apart from our possession and grasp? Are we desiring change for this Generation for His sake, or do we see ourselves as kingpin of regen for the amen? What is the difficulty with such formula faith, that it makes kingpins of regen for the amen as a script?
The Great Commission remains the stewardship of the Church of God. Christ likeness is utmost devotion to the Father’s redemptive plan for the laying of one’s life down for others. A generation is now in our nation which seeks the way of this world. The ASBURY MODEL OF RENEWAL for our nation can reach out of a shared community of faith by turning totally to the possibility of Christ in Us who call on His Name turning the upcoming present generation to Him, as it was by a small beginning in 1970 due to a covenant of prayer spoken by the few gathering regularly in His Name: for Petition for Him to Come again and visit and rekindle our land’s faith, hope, and love.
LET US COVENANT TOGETHER TO FOLLOW THIS MODEL, BY MAKING AN ACTION PLAN, TO MAKE SUCH CONDITIONS OF GATHERING FOR OUR HEARTS ONCE MORE, TO BE HUMBLED IN THE MIX OF THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, AS OUR HOLY ONE: COPETITIONED TO MAKE IT SO. LET US COVENANT TOGETHER TO SO PETITION GOD THIS FALL, 2011, IN ORDER FOR OUR FATHER TO DO HIS WORK IN 2012. LET IT BE SO. This call for action means the VOR could serve Him as a means of proclamation to be employed to so call for such a prayer covenant among us all, spiraling among other believers to let it be so in our nation. What are the present obstacles to the VOR making such a call on the Body of Christ in the USA, and following through with the potential for such an Action Plan? He remains the candlestick of our churches, where permitted to be so. What are the possibilities???
A CALL TO ANGUISH
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI
CALLED AS SERVANTS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGMG_PVaJoI
A CALL TO PRAY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O554P9P1KXQ
see that I misposted the second category of callings. Here is the one on Sons as servants:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvLIScwg7-s&feature=fvwrel
i appreciate your dedication and comittment