What's Your Excuse, 21st Century Modern American Christian????
According to one of Chuck Colson's most recent Breakpoint articles -
 
"The [Chinese] Communist government views Christianity as a threat to its authority. They tolerate churches that submit to government control, but churches independent of the state face serious persecution.

"This year, pressure from the government deprived the unregistered Shouwang Church and its 1,000 members access to the building it had rented for worship. Similar tactics have been used to shut down unregistered churches in other cities. But the Shouwang church refused to cave. Instead of going home as the government hoped, members began holding open air services in nearby plazas.

"On Easter Sunday (2011) the [Chinese] government took action. Police prevented 500 church members from leaving their homes, detained dozens, and placed several leaders under house arrest."

Would the Chinese Communist Police have to come to the modern 21st century American Christian's house to stop them from going to church? If they did, they would have to knock real loud, then probably batter the door down, and go in and wake them up to let them know they were not allowed to go to church that day. So much for the modern 21st century American Christian.
 
If you are one of the lame, lazy American 'Christians' who don't go to church anyway, there is probably a Chinese Christian who would love to trade places with you: you could still stay home (in China) and he/she could go to church here in America (without being really persecuted).
 
But since that is impossible, and you wouldn't do it anyway, the least you could do is to do what many a Chinese Christian would love to do but cannot - go to church in his place, out of respect for a brother "in bonds" (Heb. 13:2) who cannot do what you take for granted and treat so lightly.
 
"Those who practice casual Christianity become Christian casualties." - Bro. Martin

 Hi there Folks ---

Over the recent weekend, our church went to downtown Memphis on the famous Beale Street, on a “Soul Patrol” mission. That is what I call our street evangelism ministry. Jesus said He came to “seek and save that which was lost” and so that is what we were doing downtown – patrolling the area for lost souls in need of the Good News of Salvation. We arrived about 6:45 PM while it was still daylight. After parking our car and grabbing our Scripture signs (lightweight plastic signs with appropriate verses front and back) and loading up on Gospel tracts, we headed for Beale Street where the people were gathering for their “night on the town.” We began passing out tracts to those who would take them, and holding our signs up for all to see. It was a good night on patrol. Most people took our tracts; there were the usual no-takers, and a few hoots and hollers to try and rattle us. We were fools (for Jesus) in the midst of fools.

We had prayed that God would lead us to those He was dealing with about their soul’s salvation, and we met a few who were close the kingdom of God.

One young man came up to me, looking at my scripture sign. I asked if he liked it and he said yes, and I offered him a tract, and started to talk to him. About that time his cousin, a girl of about 13, came up and stood by him. Come to find out they both went to a Baptist church with their parents back in Oklahoma. I got the impression that he was not saved, and so I asked him about it. He told me he had heard the Gospel, but was not saved. His cousin chimed in and volunteered that she was saved, with a big smile on her face. So I looked at him and asked him: “If you know how to be saved, and go to a Baptist church, why aren’t you saved yet?” He said it was because he didn’t want to get saved and then mess up. I gave him a few verses: “Behold, TODAY is the day of salvation,” and “God commands all men every where NOW to repent.” He looked at me and said, as serious as could be: “Are you saying that I should get saved now?” I said, “Yes.” And he seemed very close to calling on the Lord right then and there. I told him that if he believed that God was dealing with him about his soul that he should open the door of his heart to Christ (Rev. 3:20) and be saved. Right at that time his Mom hollered at him from the corner to come on, they were leaving. So he had to go. I quickly told him to consider what we talked about, and to get alone later and call on the name of the Lord Jesus to save and forgive him. He thanked me, said he would, and then had to go. Pray for this young man.

During the course of the night, I was able to minister comfort to a woman whose daughter was killed in a car wreck last year at the age of 21 while riding with her drunken boyfriend. I was able to witness to her, and encourage her to get into a Baptist church back home in Arkansas.

Another fellow I spoke with had “all the answers.” He was a bit intoxicated, and I asked if he was sober enough to talk to, and he assured me he was.  He invited me to sit down and talk, then accused me of harassing him when I began to quote the Bible to him in our “conversation,” and asked me to leave.  He had become a bit more intoxicated in the 10 minutes we talked. At least he took a Gospel tract and stuck in his pocket. I hope he was wondering where he was "last night" when he woke  up the next morning.

One young man engaged me in discussion about Jesus Christ when he saw my scripture sign, which had John 14:6 on it – “Jesus saith, I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He disagreed with the verse and told me that Jesus was of “no significance to him.” Turns out he was a Jew who spoke Hebrew. We discussed what the Bible said about the Jewish Messiah. He said he believed the Messiah was yet to come, but did not believe that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah. We had a decent conversation for about 25 minutes, and when we finished he took a tract that explained the 10 commandments and the Gospel.

There was an older black man from Alabama who went to a Baptist church but didn’t agree with all they said. He saw one of our men’s signs, pointed to it, and asked me about it. It was Acts 16:31, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.” He wanted to know how believing alone can save since James said the devils believe, too. We talked a bit, and he told me to open my Bible to James 2:19, and tell him what I thought it meant. His wife called for him three times in 5 minutes, but he wasn’t leaving without my answer. I pointed out that the devils in that verse believed in one GOD, but that Acts 16:31 says that salvation is by believing, not just that God exists, but putting faith in God’s SON for salvation. You could see the light come on! His face lit up, and he said with a big smile: “That’s it!” I think he got it.

Got to witness to a truck driver from Kansas City and a lady from New York City.

All in all, it was a good night. Several Christians gave us all encouraging words and told us to “keep up the good work.” All of us had requests to take our pictures holding the Scripture signs. A tourist told one of our men she wanted to show her friends back home that people "still do this stuff."  It was a tremendous blessing to be literal “ambassadors for Christ” that night (2 Cor. 5:20).

Please pray for us and those we ministered to that night.

God

 You know, the Bible says that true Christian faith comes from us “hearing” the word of God (Rom. 10:17). How is your faith today? It all depends upon you “hearing” the word of God. Have you heard the word of God lately? Have you heard it this week? Have you heard it this month? Have you even “read” your Bible, much less “heard” it preached lately? Your Christian faith, your spiritual life, depends on taking in the word of God, and feeding your soul on the words of God. As a matter of fact, Jesus said that “man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4) So the Bible is vital to our spiritual lives and Christian faith. Unfortunately, there are too many professing Christians who are not regular hearers of the word of God.

Whether you are a faithful church attender or not (and you should be), I have a question for you: Are you a “forgetful hearer?” If you heard the sermon last Sunday, what have you done with it? If you can’t remember the last time you heard a good Bible sermon at church, then you certainly haven’t done much with what you heard then. Are you are “forgetful hearer”? That term comes from the New Testament book of JAMES, where he says in chapter 1, verses 21-25:

“21 Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and RECEIVE WITH MEEKNESS THE ENGRAFTED WORD, which is able to save your souls. 22 But BE YE DOERS OF THE WORD, AND NOT HEARERS ONLY, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a FORGETFUL HEARER, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.”

Some of you may have heard the word in the past, but you have forgotten that word. Some of us content ourselves that because we do go to church every week, that we are okay, but that word we hear hasn’t really changed us much. It is easy to be a “forgetful hearer” with all the distractions around us, but we will suffer the consequences of neglecting the word of God. We risk missing the BLESSING OF GOD on our lives when we ignore what God has to say to us.

The problem with many is what James says – they hear the word, recognize what God is saying to them, and that they need to make some changes, but they walk away from the preaching of the word, like walking away from a mirror, and “forget what manner” of person they are and what God wants them to be, and choose to be a “forgetful hearer.” That is a terrible mistake.

If you neglect the word of God and ignore what it says, the Bible says that you deceive yourself. In the future all Christians will stand before God and render an account for our Christian service, and in that day, all that we may have forgotten will be brought to our attention by the Lord himself. I admonish you: don’t deceive yourself, don’t walk away from the truth of God, and don’t miss out on God’s blessing for your life. 

It would behoove all of us to be  “doers” of the Word.

Bro. Martin

I was talking with one of our church members recently, and he said that the best place to be if you are backslidden is in church. I couldn't agree more! You know, we all get backslidden now and then. At any given time we could be "backslidden," which simply means that we are not doing right like we ought.  Technically, to be backslidden is to be "out of fellowship" with the Lord. When you go to church in a backslidden condition, it is like going to visit your daddy when you know you all aren't getting along. You do it because you love him, and he wants to see you. It can be uncomfortable, but it reminds you that you are still related, and that you should be getting along iwth each other. In the case of God, we know He is right, and we are the ones who are in the wrong. But it still does you good to come to His house every week. If you don't then you get "out of touch" with Him, and it's harder to come around His house. The family begins to talk, and so do the neighbors. They wonder why "so and so's" boy or girl don't come around to the house much these days. In God's family, the same holds true. The answer is, of course, that the Christian who doesn't come around the Father's house is out of fellowship with God, and this leads to him or her being out of fellowship with fellow believers. The backslidden Christian sometimes says that he can worship God at home just as well as at church, but that would be like saying that you can pay your respects to your Dad by not ever going around to see him at his house. Strange isn't it, how being backslidden can warp your thinking, especially when you are trying to make excuses. The thing to do is quit making excuses, and own up to your backslidden condition, and then get back to regular visits to your heavenly Father's house. which is the local church you belong to. Just like you need to visit the family you belong to on earth, you need to make frequent stops into God's house on earth. So, if you are backslidden, whatever you do, DON'T quit church. The worst thing you can do is to stay away from your spiritual family. Think about this: every day or week you miss church, you are that much more farther from God. Regular attendance keeps you closer to God, reminds you of your responsibilities, and feeds your spiritual man. So I recommend that you do what I do whenever I am backslidden ---- just keep reading your Bible, keep praying, and stay in fellowship with your Christian family by staying faithful to church. Better to be backslidden and in church, than backslidden and out of church, I say.

Bro. Martin

Well, it's about time!  The old 'new' site was starting to look a little dated, so we've decided to freshen things up a little.  If you run across any broken links, jot us a note through the Contact link.