Dear fellow members, friends, brethren and to those 'lurkers' out there (The Lord bless you too!)Earlier this week in talking with Greg it dawned on me that today would mark 1 year since the day the Lord answered my longing for food and drink that I knew existed somewhere and like a weary traveler, sustained on scraps and parched for Living Water in a dry and dusty land...One glorious day, came across a link to this site that had A. W. Tozer audio sermons and the moment I clicked that link and the page unfolded before my eyes, I knew I had just been led into a grand buffet of spiritual nourishment!To borrow from the apostle Paul, I hope you can put up with a little of my boasting. This morning the Lords hand is heavy upon me, in a way hard to express, but it is with an overflow of heart gratitude to my Lord for all that has transpired over these past 12 months. Without rehashing to much prior to coming here to SermonIndex I was beyond malnutrition and confused! Coming out of a mixed bag of mostly false and at best poor teaching and weak doctrine, the Lord had led me back down the trail, back on to the old paths. To give proper credit it was Chip Ingram (Now president of 'Walk Thru The Bible') that had brought to my attention A.W.Tozer in stating that he keeps a well worn copy of "Knowledge of The Holy" with him and reads it through yearly. That for me was a new beginning, because for the first time that 'something' that I knew was missing in much of what is considered'Christianity' in these modern times just resonated within me when I first read dear Dr. Tozer. And the 'something' was the spirit of truth.Coming here on that blessed day, I believe my reaction was "Goldmine!" Oh the incredible things the Lord has done...Leonard Ravenhill, never heard of him, but there was much discussion going on here about this man and boy did he knock me down, pick me back up and hit me again! Praise God! I needed it! Though at the time 'it was painful'! Thought he was rather "harsh" at the first, little did I know why, had not heard anyone who preached this way and it took a little while to understand that this man had a burning desire to bring back the holiness that belongs to our God and the holiness of His children that should be our reasonable service. Today, he is like a dear old grandfather to me, in fact I even had a dream about him last night (seemed there were replaying his old sermons on the radio and were about doing some kind of memorial for him).But this is just the very tip of this grand iceberg. So many great men of God here who have challenged, rebuked, encouraged and taught me.In addition to that is the men that influenced them, far far to many to list. But they are here talked amongst ourselves and that leads me to you, the members, the brethren, my new found friends.What a unexpected and true blessing you all have been to me personally! Greg. Brother I am your Jonathan, you are in my heart and on my lips before the Throne, may the Lord keep you always. What the the Lord has wrought in and through you, through this vast ministry...brother only Heaven will reveal all that has been done through this grand work of the Lord!Probably couldn't do justice to all here that have touched me with their love and their willingness to share their lives and experience, your care and big hearts, willingness to be often transparent, to be of a great help not only to me but to all who frequent here, you great love of the Lord and your seeking for truth just causes me to overflow with gratitude to the Lord that this morning is just overwhelming. May the Lord keep you all close to His heart! As the Lord leads I have and will continue to pray for you all. I have learned so much and grown so much in this past year to review it all even in part leaves me breathless. This is a spiritual seminary we have here, a bit unorthodox perhaps but in spirit I will go out on a limb and say not unlike the early church in many ways though we are separated by many miles and lack a 'physical' eye to eye contact amongst other things. Still, this is much more than just 'another website', the testimonies we have heard from some who's lives have been radically altered through this ministry attests to that and what great joy springs forth to hear such incredible things! All over the world no less! I suspect that there may be much happening that we are not privy to, could this be a prelude to revival? I don't know and wouldn't dare to even guess, but I know many of us long for it and whatever may be happening in Gods grand scheme of things, something is going on around here...For all the 'lurkers' out there, again God bless you! I hope you all are gleaning spiritual nourishment through all the resources available here. Perhaps many of you have more wisdom than to come and make a complete fool out of yourselves as I have often and will likely continue to do, but I do hope it may have helped to break down whatever stereotypes that can be attached to these "Fanatical Whole Inspired Word Inerrant Bible Believing Fundamental Holiness Uncomprimising..." *whatever you want to call it, best I can tell it's just supposed to be 'normal' Christianity and that is the goal. Hope you feel welcomed either way even if you are not inclined to join in the discussions. I do hope that if you are being fed that you can pray for this ministry and support it if you are able and led of the Lord to do so. *(Related post What is the "Deeper Life"?)The things that are most striking to me that I have gained in this time are many. But a few stand out. My misconceptions of many great men of God that I had only heard bits and pieces of and to my shame had written off without really investigating, have learned some humility and not to be so quick to judge. Another grand and precious adjustment that is still in progress is in what lies behind truly 'dying to self', oh the misconceptions there! What a blessed freedom awaits in this! It is one thing to mull it over in your mind as something necessary and a kind of check mark on a 'things to do list' but to live it and as Paul put it somewhat related, "I die daily"... the words of our Lord begin to really hit home and become true.If your concern is not on yourself but on Him so much just falls to the wayside, all the baggage, all the insults, the 'fear' of man, the circumstances of your life...what can you do to a dead man? Brother Zac Poonen said it well, "they just lie there!" Not completely there by a long shot, but this pilgrim life here can be so entirely different and blessed even in the midst of all the difficulties. Unbelief. O what an eye opener. Something very simple I heard yesterday I believe from Beth Moore was in her own walk how this came to bear down on her for all that she thought, the studying and prayer, that the Lord showed her that she had a belief in God, but she didn't believe God! Certainly it is a process but will we ever really truly learn to believe Him without spending much time in His presence? Beyond a mental assent, beyond a "Well of course I believe You Lord, I am a Christian" while it is something we say with our lips but our lives betray us...Which leads me to the last and I believe the most pressing issue of our time for us who name the name of the Lord Jesus Christ;Prayer!We must be a praying people or just forget it all and close up shop. It is not a side issue, or a 'part' of this Christian walk. It is the very fiber of what we are made of, look back through your scriptures, look at the great men and women of God through the years, look at Jesus!If this brings us under conviction, well praise the Lord! No sense in wallowing in our tears, use it as an opportunity to repent on your knees, better on your face for your lack of prayer and you can rejoice in the fact that you are now praying! It is a vicious circle: Unbelief stemming from a lack of prayer producing no fruit and heaping up guilt producing even more unbelief...And the remedy is so simple to put a blessed fork in the whole thing.Just do it!It may be hard work at times, but so what? It is not always so, mostly it is a blessed time of fellowship with our Lord who we will be spending all eternity with, heaven can wait?When we acquire the habit of prayer we enter into a new atmosphere "Do you expect to go to Heaven?" asked someone of a devout Scotsman."Why, man, I live there," was the quaint and unexpected reply. It was a pithy statement of a great truth, for all the way to Heaven is Heaven begun to the Christian who walks near enough to God to hear the secrets He imparts.E.M. BoundsAnd I might add when we get off our faces we have not ended but only just begun to pray if our fellowship with the Lord is to be unbroken. If the Lord wills I will prod us all into a life of prayer by shear nagging if need be, may I become a screeching in you ear to the point that you will pray that I shut up about praying and maybe then we will have begun to take this seriously.For all the gushing accolades here and I harbor no pretense, there is much darkness in this world. The time is short, 2 tim 3 is in full force, "many there be" on the broad road and sadly to many sheep that need to be led back as well. It is a day of deception, of moral depravity and false teachers. There is much to weep over, much leaven of the world in the church.And so it is this shining light, this beacon in the storm stands out like a city on a hill. A refuge from the storm. May the Lord continue to watch and keep SermonIndex unspotted from the world and continue to lead us all into a spirit of truth, that which is in our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.
