Not a day goes by when I don’t give thanks, from the very depths of my being, in which I don’t KNOW that CHRIST THE KING is MY LORD, period! I am His bond slave (doulos) and He is my Master!
A few years ago, I was standing feet away from popular Christian singer Natalie Grant when she practically yelled “I am sick and tired of people who say ‘YOU’RE GOING TO HELL IF YOU DON’T REPENT'”!!

Those were the saddest words I ever heard. Yet, this is not only the pervasive view of most evangelical churches, but the limp-wristed Emerging church of Rob Bell, Brian MacLaren, Doug Kimball and Solomon’s Porch Paggett, at the other extreme as well. This is the doctrine of “Easy Believism”….the belief that costs you nothing.

“BUT WAIT – isn’t SALVATION a FREE GIFT, you pinhead Bernie”? Er…YES!! But it cost my Lord Jesus everything! AND even a proud Seminary dropout like me knows what Mark 1:15c ESV means!!! It says “…Repent and believe in the Gospel“!!! I didn’t say that, JESUS DID, Natalie! Before that, in the same verse He said “The Kingdom of God is at hand”!

THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE

free graphic courtesy www.gospelgifs.com

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE CHRISTIAN POST’S iPost BLOG

One of my favorite movies of all time is “Seven Days in Utopia” (2011). It is not just a movie about golf but chockfull of life applications. One of them was the simple acronym – SFT! Here the grizzled old golf pro played by Robert Duvall was mentoring his young protégé played by Lucas Black and teaching him about Focus.

From the Word of God, we know Focus is the hallmark of a good disciple of Christ. Lack of focus is when we take our eyes off Him and look both inward at ourselves and/or circumstances. This is destructive as we can become full of ourselves; if we get caught up in the world around us and not the Word IN us.

SFT stands for See, Feel and Touch. What does this have to do with this period in the church calendar, which many observe as Lent? What does this have to do with a tradition where we deny ourselves in a meaningful way?

Jesus said we must deny ourselves by dying daily (i.e. picking up our Crosses and going after Him). We must deny ourselves the passing pleasures of sin for a season. We must deny ourselves ……………

READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE