An Earnest Ministry
An Earnest Ministry

Author: John Angell James

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 188

ISBN-13: 9781612037929

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"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we implore you in Christ's stead--be reconciled to God." 2 Cor. 5:20 In this truly wonderful passage, viewed in connection with its context, are set before us with beautiful simplicity, yet with surpassing grandeur--the theme, the design, and the method, of the Christian ministry. The theme is God reconciling the world to himself; a subject compared with which the negotiations of hostile nations and the treaties which put an end to the horrors of war, and bind in concord the fiercest passions of humanity, are matters of only momentary and limited importance. The design of the ministry, which is strictly in harmony with its theme, is to bring sinful men into actual reconciliation with God, on the ground of that system of mediation through Christ which God himself has devised and proclaimed. And its method is the earnestness of persuasion addressed to the rebel heart of man, in order to induce him to lay aside his enmity against his offended Sovereign, and to accept this offer of a gracious amnesty.

Brothers, We are Not Professionals
Brothers, We are Not Professionals

Author: John Piper

Publisher: B&H Publishing Group

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1433678829

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John Piper pleads with fellow pastors to abandon the professionalization of the pastorate and pursue the prophetic call of the Bible for radical ministry.

Still Time to Care
Still Time to Care

Author: Greg Johnson

Publisher: Zondervan

Published: 2021-12-07

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0310116066

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At the start of the gay rights movement in 1969, evangelicalism's leading voices cast a vision for gay people who turn to Jesus. It was C.S. Lewis, Billy Graham, Francis Schaeffer and John Stott who were among the most respected leaders within theologically orthodox Protestantism. We see with them a positive pastoral approach toward gay people, an approach that viewed homosexuality as a fallen condition experienced by some Christians who needed care more than cure. With the birth and rise of the ex-gay movement, the focus shifted from care to cure. As a result, there are an estimated 700,000 people alive today who underwent conversion therapy in the United States alone. Many of these patients were treated by faith-based, testimony-driven parachurch ministries centered on the ex-gay script. Despite the best of intentions, the movement ended with very troubling results. Yet the ex-gay movement died not because it had the wrong sex ethic. It died because it was founded on a practice that diminished the beauty of the gospel. Yet even after the closure of the ex-gay umbrella organization Exodus International in 2013, the ex-gay script continues to walk about as the undead among us, pressuring people like me to say, "I used to be gay, but I'm not gay anymore. Now I'm just same-sex attracted." For orthodox Christians, the way forward is a path back to where we were forty years ago. It is time again to focus with our Neo-Evangelical fathers on care--not cure--for our non-straight sisters and brothers who are living lives of costly obedience to Jesus. With warmth and humor as well as original research, Still Time to Care will chart the path forward for our churches and ministries in providing care. It will provide guidance for the gay person who hears the gospel and finds themselves smitten by the life-giving call of Jesus. Woven throughout the book will be Richard Lovelace’s 1978 call for a "double repentance" in which gay Christians repent of their homosexual sins and the church repents of its homophobia--putting on display for all the power of the gospel.

The Reformed Pastor (Classic Reprint)
The Reformed Pastor (Classic Reprint)

Author: Richard Baxter

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2018-08-07

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9780365524571

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Excerpt from The Reformed Pastor Such is the opportunity on which the writer of these introductory pages seizes, for addressing his appeal to his honoured brethren of every name, and more especially to the clergy of his own church, with the view of carrying on Baxter's great design, and reviving the power of true religion amongst them. May he open his heart in all simplicity? May he at least, after thirty or forty years' observation, sug gest to his younger brethren something which may tend, under the blessing of God, to promote a re turn to primitive zeal and love amongst the clergy? May he be permitted to admonish and rouse his own conscience, Whilst he attempts to excite others? And 0, blessed Spirit of Christ descend Thou upon the writer and the readers of these pages! Vouch safe success! Fulfil thy gracious office, as the comforter of the Church, by touching our hearts, and reviving thy work effectually amongst us! Let thy ministers be open to thy reproofs, and hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches! In the first place, then, your attention, honoured and beloved brethren in Christ, shall be directed to some topics of humiliation; in the next, to some grounds of hope; and, lastly, to several points of duty, as subservient to a revival of pure Christianity amongst us. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.