May Christ Be All Again And Again For The First Time!

Richard Wurmbrand wrote:

For me, to preach the Gospel to the Russians is heaven on earth. I have preached the Gospel to men of many nations, but I have never seen a people drink in the Gospel like the Russians. They have such thirsty souls. 

A friend of mine telephoned me and told me that a Russian officer had come to him to confess. My friend did not know Russian. Knowing however that I speak Russian, he had given him my address. The next day this man came to me. He loved God, he longed after God, but he had never seen a Bible. He never attended religious services (churches in Russia are very scarce). He had no religious education. He loved God without the slightest knowledge of Him. 

I read to him the Sermon on the Mount and the parables of Jesus. After hearing them, he danced around the room in rapturous joy proclaiming, what a wonderful beauty. “How could I live without knowing this Christ” It was the first time that I saw someone so rapturously joyful in Christ. 

Then I made a mistake. I read to him the passion and crucifixion of Christ, without having prepared him for this. He had not expected it and, when he heard how Christ was beaten, how He was crucified and that in the end He died, he fell in an armchair and began to weep bitterly. He had believed in a Savior and now his Savior was dead. 

I looked at him and was ashamed that I had called myself a Christian and a pastor, a teacher of others. I had never shared the sufferings of Christ as this Russian officer now shared them. Looking at him, it was for me as seeing again Mary Magdalene weeping at the foot of the cross; faithfully weeping when Jesus was a corpse in the tomb. 

Then I read to him the story of the resurrection. He had not known his Savior arose from the tomb. When he heard this wonderful news, he beat his knees and swore a very dirty, but, I think, a very “holy” swear. This was his crude manner of speech. Again he rejoiced. He shouted for joy: “He is alive! He is alive!” Again he danced around the room, overwhelmed with happiness! 

I said to him, “Let us pray!” He did not know prayers. He did not know our holy phases. He fell on his knees together with me and his words of prayers were: “O God, what a fine chap you are! If I were You and You were me, I would never have forgiven You your sins. But You are really a very nice chap! I love You from all my heart. 

I think that all the angels in heaven stopped what they were doing to listen to this sublime prayer from a Russian officer. The man had been won for Christ!

Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ (Bartlesville, OK:  Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1967), 18-19. 

"That's My King!" Who Conquered The Strong Man!

He's the strongest Man Who conquered the strong man and plundered all his goods so that we might be saved!

He's the only One Who kept all of God's commandments so that He might be strong and go in and take possession of the land that Adam, Israel, and all of us have failed to go in to possess!  

He's the only One strong enough to lead us back to the tree of life so that we might eat of it freely!

He alone was strong enough to lead us into the eternal, heavenly promised land where we find rest forevermore!

He didn't fear or dread any of His enemies for the LORD His God went with Him, and He unshakably trusted that He would never leave Him nor forsake Him!

He's the one strong Man and valiant Warrior we should all attach ourselves to as soon as we see Him!

He rescued me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me!

He's our strong refuge, and He's made our way blameless!

He's strong and showed Himself a man – the only true man Who's ever lived!  

He's the Man of men!

When Pilate said:  “Behold the Man!” - he spoke a truth the depths of which he did not know!

That's my King!  Do you know Him?!

He used His strength for His people and for the cities of His God, and the LORD did what seemed good to Him!

His name is a strong tower of refuge, and all who run to Him are saved, safe, and satisfied forever!

He will divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors on that cross!

He bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors!

With an outstretched hand and a strong arm God the Father brought judgment against Him on that cross in fury and in great wrath!

God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong:  He crushed His Son in weakness but raised Him from the dead in power so that all who repent and believe in Him shall be saved!

Therefore we ought to boast all the more gladly of our weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon us! 

Because of Jesus and His finished work, we can be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might now and forevermore!

That's my King!  That's my King!

When Christ Is All For The Pastor

If Christ is all to a pastor of any church, he will not be jealous of the Gospel growth and success of other churches, but he will pray with as much passion and zeal for other churches and ministries as he prays for his own. He might pray . . .

Oh Father, please cause all the churches around me that preach the Gospel faithfully to grow to overflowing and become mega-churches like the church in Acts where thousands were added to their number in one day!

Please grant the faithful pastors around me to increase in influence for Jesus! Grant them to write the best-selling books that make much of Jesus, save sinners, edify the church, and glorify God! Please make these other pastors great like you made your servant Abraham great so that, like Abraham, they might be a blessing to the nations!

Please grant me to find as much joy in these other church's Gospel success as if it were my own Gospel success! May their Gospel success only serve to increase my joy in Jesus and in the triumph of the Gospel in this world!

Oh Father, please do all this because, above all, I want Christ to be all in all in the world! May His name become great in the world, and if that happens through others and not me, then all praise be to You - just make Your name great through any and all lawful means! May Christ increase, and may I decrease! Please simply cause me to be faithful to all that You've called me to do!

Thank you, oh Father, for the faithful mega-church pastors and best-selling Christ-exalting authors! Thank you for the Charles Spurgeon's, John Piper's, John MacArthur's, R. C. Sproul's, Mark Driscoll's, David Platt's, and Matt Chandler's! Make more of them oh God, and spread the fame of Your great name through them! You are a Mega God! And You deserve for all peoples everywhere to bow down and worship You! Fill all Your churches to overflowing and save sinners by the billions!

Please do it for Jesus' sake and for His glory! Amen!

"That's My King!" Who Possesses The Mind Of Minds!

Mark 3:21: And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind."

He has the mind of minds, and He's the Thinker of all thinkers who have ever lived!
He's the most sane of all the sane ones, and those who find Him insane are blinded by hell-bound reasoning and the logic of the Devil!
He always had a mind to fear God and keep His commandments!
He's the faithful Priest Who always does what is in the heart and mind of God!
He's the only One Who perfectly, perpetually, and preeminently loved the Lord His God with all His mind!
He only and always set His mind on what is good, righteous, and holy!
He has the wisest and most discerning mind that has ever been formed in the history of this world!
He has wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind that surpasses all the sand on the all the seashores of 10 million universes!
He always set His mind and heart to seek the LORD His God!
He continuously served the LORD with a willing mind!
Many were the plans of the mind of this Man, and every one of them has come to pass as the very purpose of the LORD!
His mind is constantly anchored on God because He trusts in Him!
What is in His mind shall always happen because He has the very mind of God Who directs all things according to His good, pleasing, and perfect will!

That's my King? Do you know Him?!

He's the one Who searches the mind and the heart and will give to each one what his work deserves!
He possessed the humblest of all minds because, though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father!
On that cross He was counted as One Who had the most deranged, twisted, debased, sinful mind and punished with the wrath of God so that wicked-minded sinners who repent and believe in Him might be saved!
God raised this most beautiful minded Man of all men up from the grave, triumphing over all wicked-mindedness, so that all thoughts and their thinkers who raise themselves up against God's holy, righteous reign might be defeated forever!
He accomplished all of this so that we might now serve the law of God with our own minds and love God with all our minds!
You, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed you continue in the faith!
His mind was always set on the Spirit, which is life and peace, so that we might follow in His steps!
And by faith in Him we have His mind – the very mind of Christ!
If you are His by grace through faith, He has set His mind upon you to do you good all your days, even in the deepest pains and trials of your life!
He's determined to pursue you with goodness and mercy, to turn all your sorrows into happiness someday, and to fill you with fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore throughout all eternity as you find your joy increase in Him forever and ever!

That's my King! That's my King!

He Who Is Everything Became Nothing!

John Onwuchekwa said:

Men, who are nothing, spend their whole lives trying to prove they are something while Jesus, Who is everything, spent His whole life becoming nothing so that men could [totally forget about all their "nothingness" and "somethingness" and passionately declare with all their hearts, minds, souls, and strength that Christ is all!]

John Onwuchekwa at the ManUp Conference 2012 . . . with some edits :)

Cowards, Widows, And Christ Is All!

Richard Wurmbrand writes:

Once the communists came to power, they skillfully used the means of seduction toward the Church. The language of love and the language of seduction are the same. The one who wishes a girl for a wife and the one who wishes her for a night in order to throw her away afterward, both say, "I love you." Jesus has told us to distinguish the language of seduction from the language of love, and to know the wolves clad in sheepskin from the real sheep.

When the communists came to power thousands of priests, pastors, and ministers did not know how to distinguish the two voices.

The communists convened a congress of all Christian bodies in our parliament building. There were four thousand priests, pastors, and ministers of all denominations. These four thousand priests and pastors chose Joseph Stalin as honorary president of this congress. At the same time he was president of the World Movement of the Godless and a mass murderer of Christians.

One after another, bishops and pastors arose in our parliament building and declared that communism and Christianity are fundamentally the same and could coexist. One minister after another said words of praise toward communism and assured the new government of the loyalty of the Church.

My wife and I were present at this congress. My wife sat near me and told me; "Richard, stand up and wash away this shame from the face of Christ! They are spitting in His face."

I said to my wife, "If I do so, you lose your husband."

She said, "I don't wish to have a coward as a husband."

Then I arose and spoke to this congress, praising not the murderers of Christians, but Christ and God and said that our loyalty is due first to Him. The speeches at this congress were broadcast and the whole country could hear proclaimed from the rostrum of the Communist Parliament the message of Christ!

Afterward I had to pay for this, but it had been worthwhile.

Richard Wurmbrand, Tortured For Christ (Bartlesville, OK: Living Sacrifice Book Company, 1967), 15-16.

"That's My King!" Who's The Rising That Saves To The Uttermost!

He's the Rising of risings of this world!
At the first sun rise this universe has ever witnessed, He was there making it all happen!
He upholds every sun rise by the Word of His power!
Every rising of the sun ought to remind us of the rising Son of Righteousness Who brings healing in His wings to all who fear His name!
From the rising of the sun to its setting His name will be great among the nations!
From the rising of the sun to its setting His name is to be praised!
From the rising of the sun and from the all directions, there is none besides Him; He is God in the flesh, and there is no other!
His name shall be feared from the north, south, east and west, and His glory from the rising of the sun!
He rises up to plead mercy for His children, and there's no condemnation for those who put their faith in Him!
Those who are righteous by faith in Him may fall down seven times, but each time they will rise again because of His almighty power which works so mightily in them!
At the end of time when He rises to terrify those who have not trusted in Him, sinners will cry out for the mountains to fall on them to shield them from His everlasting fury!
His tongue rises to defend His children against all the accusations of the Devil!
He's the star that came out of Jacob and the King that rose out of Israel Who shall crush all of His and our enemies and put them under His feet!
He's the Morning Star Who rises in the hearts of His blood bought people!

That's my Kingly Star! I wonder if He's risen in your hearts today?!

He has caused our enemies to rise against us only to be defeated before us!
They shall come out against us one way, but run from us seven ways!
He rises to pursue us with goodness and mercy all our days!
When He was born all nations came to His rising light!
Kings came to the brightness of His rising over the stable in Bethlehem!
He died and rose again so that death, the world, the flesh, and the Devil shall die to never rise again forevermore!
He causes those who trust Him to rise and stand upright - free from all condemnation forever!
He's risen up and come to help us for the sake of His steadfast love!
He poured Himself out for the hungry and satisfies the soul of the afflicted, and His light has risen in darkness!
Because He is risen, we can say with the prophet Micah: "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the LORD because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his righteousness!"
He made the cripple and unraisable to arise and walk!
He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap!
He raises up the needy out of affliction and makes their families as numerous as the stars of the sky!
He raises up all who humble themselves and are bowed down!
He's the Prophet raised up by God Who is the Greater Moses!
He's the Faithful Priest God raised up to do according to all that is in His heart and mind!
He's the offspring of King David raised up to be the Greater David and everlasting King of His people!
Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David!
May we rise and go and seek Him Whom our soul loves!

That's my King! Is your soul in love with Him today?!

His own Father's anger rose up against Him in full strength on that cross until He died, and then the Father raised Him from the dead as the revered, relished, rising, resurrected Redeemer Who alone saves all those who repent and believe in Him!
Though your sins have risen higher than your heads, and your guilt has mounted up to the heavens, His rising casts all your sins into the depths of the sea; though your sins were as scarlet they have become as white as snow; as far as the east is from the west, so He has removed your sins from you, and He remembers them no more!
When you trust in Him, the glory of the LORD has risen up to you as you see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ!
He is not in the tomb; He is risen as He said!
He causes feelings and sounds of joy to rise from all the hearts and mouths of those who truly know Him!
He's the Righteous Branch raised up for David Who is the LORD God our righteousness!
He's so great He causes shouts to rise in our hearts and our mouths cannot be silent!
He raises up dead, dry bones and makes them new, living creatures who live for God!
He's able to raise up stones and make them children of Abraham!
He's the Rising Who heals the sick, raises the dead, cleanses lepers, and casts out demons!
Those who truly know Him will celebrate His resurrection everyday and not just once a year!

Please come on up to this Rising today, next Sunday, and everyday for He is worthy!

He's the Temple that was destroyed and raised up in three days!
Everyone who looks on Him and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and He will raise him up on the last day!
He's the horn of salvation raised up for everyone who would ever turn and trust in Him!
God raised Jesus up from the dead, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for Him to be held captive by death!
He's the Author of Life Whom God raised from the dead!
He's the "Raised Up Servant" sent to you to bless you by turning every one of you away from your wickedness!
He was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification, no longer to see corruption!
He will never die again because death no longer has dominion over Him!
The Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you so that you might bear fruit for God and live for His glory!
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved!
God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus!
We are waiting for our King from heaven, whom God raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come!

That's my King! That's my King!