gospel

A Prayer for Sunday

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment
“Lord, look with great grace, we pray, upon the slaves of sin that are present here this morning; break their chains. Save this people. We know there are some in this congregation who are currently “poisoned by bitterness and bound by wickedness” (Acts 8:23). Move, divine Spirit, over this audience, and fetch out from among us those who do not know God, that they may know themselves and their God this day. Make this to be a profitable, soul-winning Sunday, one of the high days on which heaven’s bells shall ring out more sweetly than ever, because many and many a prodigal child has come back to the Father’s house to make the Father glad.
Amen” (Charles Spurgeon).

I usually try to pray every Sunday for my church. I typically pray that God would make our hearts good soil for God’s word to go deep and produce a harvest. I also pray that if there’s anyone sitting in the rows during the service that doesn’t have a saving faith in Jesus that they would come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

I’m not typing all that to humble brag. I’m simply being obedient. Who knows? Maybe God would have saved someone anyway, but I know the Bible says that we have not because we ask not (to put it in super King James English).

Are you praying for your church? Are you praying for God to move in your services? With all the talent in most churches, it can be so easy to preplan and program every service down to the second and leave no room for the Holy Spirit to move. We can run an entire Sunday off of our own agendas and abilities and charisma and not even be aware that God was not present because we never invited Him in.

It’s always a good idea to pray for lost people to come to Christ in your church services. It’s never wrong to pray for reconciliation of families and marriages, for the calling of people to the ministry and missions, for God to bring revival to your church, your city, and the world.

Lord, move in every place where we assemble to worship. Don’t let us get by on our strength alone but bring us to the place where we’re dependent on You for anything good that happens this Sunday. Speak, Lord, for Your servants are listening.

On the Second Day of Christmas

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

For some of us, we’re already counting down the days until Christmas 2026. it’s 364 days, FYI.

But for a select few, we’re prepping for those two turtle doves because it’s the second day of Christmas, culminating on the epic finale on January 6, also known as Day of the Epiphany. Also, it’s socially acceptable these days to leave your Christmas decorations up through the month of January.

But for me, my plan is to continue to listen to Christmas records and watch Christmas movies for as long as the spirit allows. I will probably run out of records before the movie stash runs out, so then I may switch over to ye olden CD player for a bit.

I love the idea of stretching Christmas out over 12 days. Back then, people opened one present a day and made the feasting last for almost two weeks. I’m not sure my waistline could handle all that, but I’m willing to try if anyone else is.

Above all, celebrating the arrival of Emmanuel should be delegated to one 24-hour period. It should be a year round event (so I’m really not going to be upset if you leave your outside Christmas lights up all year). That one single event changed the course of human history forever.

Now we have a hope. Now we have a future. Now whoever believes in Jesus doesn’t have to be lost forever but can have everlasting eternal life. And it all began when God so loved the world that He gave.

One day, I’d love to have a house where I have a room dedicated solely to Christmas 24/7/365. I’d push the Christmas tree into my Christmas room with all the other decorations. Whenever I needed a little Christmas fix, I could just go into that room. Or I’d even be happy with a Christmas closet.

But in the meantime, I can rejoice and celebrate that because of Jesus, we can be forgiven and set free. We can know the One who made us and loves us and died for us. We can have the full and abundant life not just in the heavenly hereafter but here and now. Jesus is here.

Christmas Day

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

Already, I feel a bit sad that as of 14 minutes ago, Christmas Day is over. I can freely admit that when I was younger, I couldn’t wait to get to Christmas Day, but once it got here and I got all my loot, my usual response that I never spoke out loud but thought in my head was “Ok, what next?” or “What else have you got for me?”

The novelty of new gifts never fails to wear off and the good nostalgic feeling of the holiday doesn’t ever last. I wish I could tell you honestly that I loved and cherished every single gift that I ever received until they all fell apart, but some I quickly tired of and moved on to wanting the next big gadget or game or whatever.

But today, Jesus is here. That’s not something that gets old. That will always be good news that never becomes old news. That’s the gift that I never grow tired of or grow out of. That’s the one gift that the longer I have it, the better and sweeter it grows and the more I come to understand and benefit from it.

Today we celebrate that Jesus came into the world to save sinners — including me. One of my favorite sayings is that Jesus didn’t come to make bad people good but to make dead people alive. And being alive with the hope of heaven and the presence of Jesus is the best gift ever.

I’m learning what it means to celebrate Christmas from the perspective of eternity. I want to be like the saints in the olden days who made Christmas into a feast that lasted for 12 days instead of 24 hours that we relegate it to. I want to be like that old Scrooge who learned how to keep Christmas well and live the lessons of the Spirits not just one day of the year but all 365. I don’t ever want to take grace for granted or forget what Jesus has done for me and is doing in me.

So to one and all, merry Christmas! And to echo the words of that Tiny Tim, “God bless us, everyone!”

3rd Sunday of Advent 2025

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“O Lord Jesus Christ,
who at your first coming sent your messenger
to prepare your way before you:
grant that the ministers and stewards of your mysteries
may likewise so prepare and make ready your way
by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just,
that at your second coming to judge the world
we may be found an acceptable people in your sight;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.”

Today, I’m thankful for faithful ministers and stewards of God’s word who are proclaiming the true gospel of Jesus Christ. In the age where many no longer tolerate the truth but want their itching ears tickled, I’m grateful that my pastor still preaches about sin and hell and the need for forgiveness.

After all, the whole gospel start off with bad news first that we are all sinners who have turned away from God and the wages of those sins we have done is death and hell. But the good part comes next. God so loved the world, including and especially sinners, that He gave us Jesus, so that whoever believes in Him might not be eternally separated from God in hell but might have true eternal life.

My prayer is that everyone who name Jesus as Lord and Savior will be diligent to make their salvation sure and not assume that because they prayed a prayer a long time ago that they don’t need to worry about how much they love and obey God presently. If we’re truly saved and of God, then we should be different from the world. We should speak and act and think and live different from the world so that they can see our good works and glorify God in heaven.

So thanks to Aaron and Jay and Mike and Michael and all the others who continue to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ through a variety of media and methods. I know that one day you will hear the very words from Jesus Himself “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

If It’s Good Enough for Paul . . .

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become” (2 Corinthians 12:7-10, The Message).

Sometimes I wish I knew what Paul’s affliction was. I’ve heard all the possibilities, like poor eyesight and epilepsy. But there’s nothing in Scripture that explicitly spells out what Paul’s thorn in the flesh was that He begged God to have removed. All we know is that God didn’t remove it for a reason.

My takeaway is that God sometimes uses what we think of as our biggest weakness to show forth His perfect strength best. The part about our story or the aspect of our bodies that we most prefer to keep hidden is the very thing God will use to demonstrate His ability to use even our flaws for His glory.

What keeps me humble is that God doesn’t always use what I think He should use in my life. Often, He goes past what I consider my greatest strengths and focuses on what I’m least good at. He magnifies Himself most through my efforts that come across often as the least successful. At least in my own mind.

A true disciple knows that it’s all about God getting the glory, not me. That means that I don’t choose how God uses me as the vehicle for His purposes. That means that I don’t get to be God’s PR man when it comes to how I want others to see me as a servant of Christ. I don’t get to put a spin on how God uses me.

The ultimate point is that God uses His people to point others to Jesus. God uses His people to draw people to Christ and bring more into the Kingdom where He can in turn use them to draw even more. That’s what matters in the end, after all.

A Billboard of God’s Grace

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“O my Father, give me eyes to see, a heart to respond, and hands and feet to serve you wherever you encounter me! Make me a billboard of your grace, a living advertisement for the riches of your compassion. I long to hear you say to me one day, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’ And I pray that today I would be that faithful servant who does well at doing good. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen” (Max Lucado).

That’s what I want to be. A billboard of God’s grace. I want people who see me to want to know God not because I have such a wealth of spiritual knowledge or am super holy and righteous but because I have known and experienced grace. I want people to look at me and say, “God did that.”

That’s how it should work. I heard a pastor say that we need to lead questionable lives. Not in the sense of being immoral or unethical but in the sense of living in a way that causes people to ask questions. Our lives should invite conversations about what they see in us that’s different. Those conversations then become gospel conversations because we tell them, “Not I but Christ in me.”

I still think a lot about the 3-open prayer I learned a while back. It goes something like open an opportunity to share my faith, open the other person’s heart to be receptive, and most importantly, open my mouth. It’s no good unless I speak the words. My lifestyle and actions won’t be enough.

I think so many people see Christians for what they’re against. But that’s not helpful. If my life is falling apart, I need to know what you’re for. I need to know you believe in something that can help me and make my life better. We sometimes forget that we have the greatest “for” in the fact that Jesus died on the cross and rose again so that anyone who asks can receive salvation and eternal life.

May we be billboards of grace in a world where people deserve it least but need it most, remembering that we were the very ones at one time who also deserved grace least but needed it the most.

Turning the Wine Back into Water

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“Next to the Blessed Sacrament itself, your neighbor is the holiest object presented to your senses (C. S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory).

I’m guilty all the time of looking at people like they’re ordinary. I think that’s the default setting for the human race. We rarely if ever see anyone and see the image of God in him or her. We just don’t take the time to see beyond the surface labels of pretty, plain, fat, skinny, tall, short, etc.

I wonder what would happen if we could see people the way Jesus saw people. He didn’t see a stereotype or a caricature. Every time, He saw a unique individual with a story like no one else’s. He created each person with a one-of-a-kind purpose and plan that no one and nothing else can do.

He looked at you and me and thought we were worth dying for. Even at our worst moment in those times we wish we could take back or do over, Jesus still chose to go to the cross and lay down His life for us. While we were still sinners, the Bible says, Christ died for us.

I’ve been guilty of prejudging people before I’ve even had the chance to get to know them. Sometimes, I see the way they interact with others or maybe the expression on their faces. I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I’m also sure glad that Jesus didn’t judge me like that. He saw the absolute worst version of me and still loved me.

I wonder what would happen if we loved people like that. Maybe we wouldn’t have to hunt high and low for gospel conversations and opportunities to share our faith. Maybe people would seek us out and want to know more about this Jesus they see in us, even if they can’t put a name to what they see.

The Whole Gospel

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

“There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of Our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason. If a game is played, it must be possible to lose it. If the happiness of a creature lies in self-surrender, no one can make that surrender but himself (though many can help him to make it) and he may refuse. I would pay any price to be able to say truthfully “All will be saved.” But my reason retorts, ‘Without their will, or with it?’ If I say ‘Without their will’ I at once perceive a contradiction; how can the supreme voluntary act of self-surrender be involuntary? If I say ‘With their will,’ my reason replies ‘How if they will not give in?’. . .

The doors of Hell are locked on the inside. I do not mean that the ghosts may not wish to come out of Hell, in the vague fashion wherein an envious man ‘wishes’ to be happy: but they certainly do not will even the first preliminary stages of that self-abandonment through which alone the soul can reach any good. They enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved: just as the blessed, forever submitting to obedience, become through all eternity more and more free” (C. S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain).

If we want to be true to the true gospel, we have to be true to the Word of God. If we are true to the Word of God, then we must believe that there is a hell as much as there is a heaven. There is no universal salvation. Some will be saved, some will not.

Jesus mentions that the road to life is narrow, and few find it. He then proceeds to say that the road to destruction is broad, and many are on it. As much as I want to believe that everyone is on their way to heaven, I can’t deny these words of Jesus.

That’s why the offer of the gospel still stands. To whomever will repent of their sins and receive Jesus as Lord and Savior, God will grant them eternal life. God will save anyone who calls on Him in faith. God is not willing that you should perish but that you should be saved.

You can pray a prayer like this: “Jesus, I know I’m a sinner. I know I’m separated from you. I deeply regret and repent of my sin. I turn to You in faith and receive you now as my Lord and Savior. I commit myself to following You for the rest of my days and to obeying whatever You ask of me from now until eternity. Thank You for saving me. Amen”

Keith’s Legacy

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

It’s hard to believe that Keith Green went home to be with the Lord 43 years ago today. What amazes and saddens me even more was that he was only 28 years old at the time. He was able to accomplish so much and leave behind a legacy of music and ministry in such a short amount of time.

I think Keith would be grieved at the current state of the American Church. He’d see that so many people and churches that profess to follow Jesus now teach a kind of universalist message that the Apostle Paul would call another gospel. So many have surrendered their core beliefs for the illusion of fitting in and conforming to the culture. Sadly, even entire denominations have gone away from true faith.

I don’t think for one moment that Keith Green was perfect. He himself would admit as much. However, he did more to call people to repentance and faith in Jesus than just about anyone else. He begged and pleased for people to get right with the Lord. He also begged and pleaded for lukewarm churches to recover their first love and not be asleep in the light when so many outside their stained glass windows are perishing without Christ and without hope.

But I believe as always that there is a remnant that is faithful. As in the early Church and all throughout history, there has been a small core of true believers who have kept the gospel message alive even when it was unpopular or even deadly to do so. People all around the world are holding on to the message of Christ in the face of persecution and martyrdom. I think Keith would be so proud of them.

I love that I have all of his albums but one. I can put them on my turntable and drop the needle and instantly Keith, yet though he were dead, still speaks. His message and the message of all who have come after remains just as true and timely now as it was back in 1982 and down through all the centuries before that.

May we hold true to the Apostles Creed and the Gospel, and may all who come behind us find us to have been faithful.

Life Is a Fairy Tale

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

I suppose whether you agree with this or not depends on your definition of what makes a fairy tale. Is it void of any true hardship or suffering? Then that’s not a true fairy tale. Does it need fantastical creatures? That’s debatable, but I think not.

What a fairy tale needs is a happy ending. You know going in that the main character is going to live happily ever after.

If you look at life strictly from this side of heaven, then it’s not a fairy tale. There’s so much suffering and evil that goes unresolved and unpunished. There are so many wrongs that never get put right.

But if you look through the lens of the resurrection, then you see the fairy tale. In fact, you could see the whole Bible story as a sort of true fairy tale where the King comes to rescue His beloved from imminent danger.

It all depends on perspective. If you see your life through the eyes of faith, you know that the happy ending is coming, even if you might not see it this side of eternity. But it is coming.

“It is a world of magic and mystery, of deep darkness and flickering starlight. It is a world where terrible things happen and wonderful things too. It is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure who belongs to which side because appearances are endlessly deceptive. Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good, who live happily ever after, and where in the long run everybody, good and evil alike, becomes known by his true name….That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true, that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since and is happening still”(Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale).