The death toll from Cyclone Nargis that swept across Myanmar (also known as Burma) last Saturday could hit or exceed 100,000 as humanitarian conditions worsen.

International relief efforts have been hindered by the very paranoid and oppressive military regime that has ruled that country since 1962. Gospel for Asia (GFA) missionaries already in that country “are one of the few groups able to offer immediate help”.

“The missionaries and staff at the (GFA) Bible college (in Rangoon) are taking care of the people’s basic needs by offering meals, prayers and the love of Jesus for those who have lost all hope. They will continue caring for the people, but the task before them is daunting.”

“While many missionaries and staff will remain in Rangoon assisting with the work at the Bible college, many others are already going out into the villages, looking for survivors and surveying the damage.

(GFA’s President K.P.) Yohannan asks for continued prayer for the people of Burma as they come to grips with this crisis. He also asks for prayer for those who are helping them.” (Source)

In addition to offering the prayers requested by K.P. Yohannan, you can help GFA’s efforts by making a Cyclone Relief Donation on the GFA web site.

Click here to read a survivor’s account of the storm.

Click here to learn more about Gospel for Asia.

Roll up your sleeves, there is still much work to be done for the harvest. Much, much more work.

Father, for the sake of ten still to be found, will you not yet tarry? Send your laborers into the harvest, give them speed, grant them passion, allot them souls! Amen.

John MacArthur has apparently completed (sad sigh) a series of daily posts on creationism began on April 24th over at Pulpit Magazine.

Quote:

Scripture always speaks with absolute authority. It is as authoritative when it instructs us as it is when it commands us. It is as true when it tells the future as it is when it records the past. Although it is not a textbook on science, wherever it intersects with scientific data, it speaks with the same authority as when it gives us moral precepts. Although many have tried to set science against Scripture, science never has disproved one jot or tittle of the Bible—and it never will.

The Ten Commandments Bookmark and Tract has the Commandments listed on one side and a Gospel presentation on the reverse. I’ve found these work best if printed on heavyweight paper with either a glossy or matte coated finish and is designed to print 4 bookmarks (front and back) on one standard 8.5 x 11 inch page. Each bookmark measures 2 x 6.5 inches.

Side one:

The Ten Commandments

Side two:

One day everyone will stand before God in judgment. How will you do? Here’s a quick test to find out:

Have you ever told a lie? Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? Have you ever wanted something that did not belong to you? Have you ever allowed someone or something to be more important to you than God?

If you have done these things, you’ve broken God’s Commandments and you will stand before Him as a lying, thieving, covetous, blaspheming, idolater. The Bible says God’s wrath awaits you and on Judgment Day you will end up in hell.

But God doesn’t desire this for you: instead, “God demonstrated His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Jesus, God’s only begotten Son, came to take upon Himself the wrath and judgment you deserve for breaking God’s Law and sinning against Him. The Bible tells us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him, shall not perish, but have everlasting life”. He did this when He shed His innocent blood for the remission of sins as He died on the cross. Three days later, He rose from and forever defeated death. He did this for you, He did this because of Love, He did this as a free gift. To receive this free gift, you must repent (that means to confess and forsake your sins) and put your trust in Jesus. If you do this you will not have to suffer God’s justice in Hell when you stand before Him on judgment day.

Repent and believe in Jesus now, please don’t wait.

Download the Ten Commandments Bookmark (PDF File)

I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their  host. (Isaiah 45:12)

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs. (Hebrews 1:1-4)

Faith does not come to Calvary to do anything. It comes to see the glorious spectacle of all things done, and to accept this completion without a misgiving as to its efficacy. It listens to the “It is finished!” of the Sin-bearer, and says, “Amen.”

Where faith begins, there labor ends, — labor, I mean, “for” life and pardon. Faith is rest, not toil. It is the giving up all the former weary efforts to do or feel something good, in order to induce God to love and pardon; and the calm reception of the truth so long rejected, that God is not waiting for any such inducements, but loves and pardons of His own goodwill, and is showing that goodwill to any sinner who will come to Him on such a footing, casting away his own performances or goodness, and relying implicitly upon the free love of Him who so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son.

Faith is the acknowledgment of the entire absence of all goodness in us, and the recognition of the cross as the substitute for all the want on our part.

Faith saves, because it owns the complete salvation of another, and not because it contributes anything to that salvation. There is no dividing or sharing the work between our own belief and Him in whom we believe. The whole work is His, not ours, from the first to last.

Faith does not believe in itself, but in the Son of God. Like the beggar, it receives everything, but gives nothing. It consents to be a debtor forever to the free love of God. Its resting-place is the foundation laid in Zion. It rejoices in another, not in itself. Its song is, “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by His mercy He saved us.”

From Not Faith, But Christ by Horatius Bonar

Thoughts about  the Third Lesson of With Christ in the School of Prayer:

“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. ( Matthew 6:5-8 )

“And when you pray…” notice first of all that the practice of prayer is assumed to be a characteristic of the followers of Christ. Prayer is something that should be both natural and common place, something that is not only assumed but understood to be vital in the life of His followers.  About this characteristic of the followers of Christ Matthew Henry commented “You may as soon find a living man that does not breathe, as a living Christian that does not pray.”

Notice secondly that prayer is also an activity regularly and publicly practiced by hypocrites. Another word for hypocrite is pretender and these pretenders could be found in the time of Jesus, just as today, everywhere — street corners, places of worship, and almost any other place they could find to perform for a human audience.

By way of contrast, Jesus also taught about the difference between the right and wrong motivation for prayer: pretenders pray to bring attention to themselves but true prayer is focused on the Father; pretenders pray for the benefit of their human audience but true prayer is an offering of intimate fellowship; the prayers of pretenders are faithless “empty phrases” but true prayer is authored by need, sealed by faith, and confirmed by the Father’s foreknowledge.

If we would learn to pray rightly we will do well to often and regularly enter into our own prayer closet and there learn from the Master in the School of Prayer.

Blessed Saviour!  with my whole heart I do bless Thee for the appointment of the inner chamber, as the school where Thou meetest each of Thy pupils alone, and revealest to him the Father.  O my Lord!  strengthen my faith so in the Father’s tender love and kindness, that as often as I feel sinful or troubled, the first instinctive thought may be to go where I know the Father waits me, and where prayer never can go unblessed.  Let the thought that He knows my need before I ask, bring me, in great restfulness of faith, to trust that He will give what His child requires.  O let the place of secret prayer become to me the most beloved spot of earth.

And, Lord!  hear me as I pray that Thou wouldest everywhere bless the closets of Thy believing people.  Let Thy wonderful revelation of a Father’s tenderness free all young Christians from every thought of secret prayer as a duty or a burden, and lead them to regard it as the highest privilege of their life, a joy and a blessing.  Bring back all who are discouraged, because they cannot find ought to bring Thee in prayer.  O give them to understand that they have only to come with their emptiness to Him who has all to give, and delights to do it.  Not, what they have to bring the Father, but what the Father waits to give them, be their one thought.

And bless especially the inner chamber of all Thy servants who are working for Thee, as the place where God’s truth and God’s grace is revealed to them, where they are daily anointed with fresh oil, where their strength is renewed, and the blessings are received in faith, with which they are to bless their fellow-men.  Lord, draw us all in the closet nearer to Thyself and the Father.  Amen.

This week’s Theology Barf Bag is courtesy of Rod Parsley, a man who apparently holds Scripture in as low esteem as he does his responsibilities for financial stewardship.

Barf chunks:

“Three important factors are at work in the process of possession…Speak faith into your spirit…Your tongue will either announce your next victory or your next defeat. Speak victory. Refuse to open a door for the enemy’s attack with your tongue.”

 Click the bag to view its contents.

Caution: This stuff stinks.

The HOLY BIBLE contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners, and the happiness of believers.

Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.

Why do you not read it?

Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe, and practice it to be holy.

It contains light to direct you, food to support you, and comfort to cheer you.

It is the traveler’s map, the pilgrim’s staff, the pilot’s compass, the soldier’s sword, and the Christian’s charter.

Why do you not study it?

Here Paradise is restored, heaven opened, and the gates of hell disclosed.

CHRIST is its grand subject, our good the design, and the glory of God its end.

It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.

Why do you not believe it?

Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.

It is a mine of wealth, a paradise of glory, and a river of pleasure.

It is given you in life, will be opened at the judgment, and remembered forever.

Why do you not obey it?

It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.

Why do you not live by it?