The Faithful Christian a blog of The Lighthouse Ministries

The origin of Christmas is presented beautifully in the well-known  biblical account of Luke : "And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came up

Modern American Christianity has become something that the early church wouldn’t recognize.  We speak of the love of God without the wrath of God or the judgement of God.  We rarely mention sin or repentance.  In many modern pulpits today Jesus is no more than a footnote at the end of the sermon.   I get it.  The modern, progressives don’t like to hear all of the negativity from their pastors.  They don’t want to leave church feeling guilty or convicted; they would rather spend an hour being entertained with humorous quips, PowerPoint slides, and a positive message about living their best life now, and leave church feeling warm and fuzzy inside.  In other words, they don’t want to hear the truth. I get it.  No one wants to feel guilty or unworthy, but the simple fact is, you are unworthy, we all are.  That’s a fact.  We are all sinners, none of us knows how to be good, none of us seek after God, and we all deserve Hell.  That’s difficult to hear, but it’s a fact.  We deserve to

Although evangelism differs to some degree from generation to generation according to gifts, culture, style, and language, the primary methods of Puritan evangelism—plain preaching and catechetical teaching—can show us much about how to present the gospel to sinners. Like the Reformers, the Puritans were catechists. They believed that pulpit messages should be reinforced by personalized ministry through catechesis—the instruction in the doctrines of Scripture using catechisms. Puritan catechizing was evangelistic in several ways. Scores of Puritans reached out evangelistically to children and young people by writing catechism books that explained fundamental Christian doctrines via questions and answers supported by Scripture. For example, John Cotton titled his catechism  Milk for Babes, drawn out of the Breasts of both Testaments . Other Puritans included in the titles of their catechisms such expressions as “the main and fundamental points,” “the sum of the Christian reli

Here is the truth: God has spread the feast but the fact is that nobody is hungry, and nobody wants to come to the feast, and everybody makes an excuse to keep away from the feast. and when they are bidden to come they say, “No, we do not want to”, or “We are not ready yet.” Now God knew that from the beginning, and if God had done nothing more than spread the feast every seat at His table would have been vacant for all eternity! I have no hesitation in saying there is not one man or woman reading this but who made excuses time after time before you first came to Christ. You are just like the rest. You made excuses, so did I, and if God had done nothing more than just spread the feast every chair would have been vacant, therefore what do you read in that parable in Luke 14? Because the feast was not furnished with guests God sent forth His “servants”. Oh, put your glasses on. It does not say “servants”, it says God sent forth His “servant” and told Him to “COMPEL” them to co

John Huss (Jan Hus) 1369-1415 was a Czech priest, church reformer, a seminal figure in the Bohemian Reformation and a key predecessor to Protestantism. After John Wycliffe, the theorist of ecclesiastical Reformation, Hus is considered the first Church reformer, as he lived before Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. His teachings had a strong influence on Martin Luther himself. Hus was burned at the stake  on July 6, 1415, for heresy against the doctrines of the Catholic Church, including those on ecclesiology, statues, the Eucharist (Holy communion continually re-crucifying Christ, unbiblical teaching that it mystically turns into the real body & blood of Christ, etc), and other theological topics. At the place of execution, he knelt down, spread out his hands, and prayed aloud. The executioner undressed Hus and tied his hands behind his back with ropes, and bound his neck with a chain to a stake around which wood and straw had been piled up so that it covered him to the neck. At

The Protestant Reformation stands as the most far-reaching, world-changing display of God’s grace since the birth and early expansion of the church. It was not a single act, nor was it led by one man. This history-altering movement played out on different stages over many decades. Its cumulative impact, however, was enormous. Philip Schaff, a noted church historian, writes: “The Reformation of the sixteenth century is, next to the introduction of Christianity, the greatest event in history. It marks the end of the Middle Ages and the beginning of modern times. Starting from religion, it gave, directly or indirectly, a mighty impulse to every forward movement, and made Protestantism the chief propelling force in the history of modern civilization.” The Reformation was, at its heart, a recovery of the true gospel of Jesus Christ, and this restoration had an unparalleled influence on churches, nations, and the flow of Western civilization. Under the guiding hand of God, the world

In his exposure of these false teachers, Paul gives us six identifying marks that can guide us to discern the presence of "wolves in sheep's clothing" in our midst today. First, false teachers distract Christians from obeying the truth of the gospel (v. 7). Paul compliments the Galatian believers for running a good race. Running a race was one of Paul's favorite images for living the Christian life. Here this image portrays how well they were obeying the truth. The gospel set the course for their life, and they were running well in that course. The reality of their belief in the truth about Christ was demonstrated by their obedience to Christ. But then they were distracted, tripped and so hindered from running this race. Paul asks them, Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? The question is rhetorical. Paul knows the answer. But by asking the question this way he exposes the false teachers' negative effect on the life of the be

      Do these verses and the words “I don’t know you” imply anything about salvation? The answer is yes . Yes they do. They imply exclusion from salvation. “If you treat the Lord like he’s unimportant, you won’t enter the feast. You won’t enter salvation. Now, let me step back and give a little reminder. This is a parable, okay? There are ten virgins in this story that Jesus made up. Ten virgins are assigned to welcome the bridegroom when he comes to the feast, to go in and enjoy the bride. So they were to welcome him when he comes. Five virgins take this seriously and stay ready. Five are careless and don’t have what they need to be ready. At the last minute, they run away to try to do a last-ditch effort to be ready. And it fails. It’s too late.   Spiritually Awake  

Many times in our life, we feel like we live in a desert and we couldn’t see the green pasture around us. I have been in that place many times. Here is a good new – The One Who is leading us like a Shepherd has a promise for us in  Psalm 23:2 , He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. There is always a twist and turns in our life. We will never know what will happen tomorrow, but, we live in an assurance that God is holding our future. Today, we will see a person from the Bible, whose life I was meditating recently and that forms the baseline for us in this article. We all know the tragic end of the first king of Israel. He, along with his three sons were killed in a battle against Philistines, which we can study at the end of 1 Samuel (1 Samuel 31). When I was reading that, I thought that, that was the end of the generation of Saul in history and David would be anointed as the King of Israel immediately. But, there was a twist.