Gary Haugen (International Justice Mission) has just published a new book titled, Just Courage: God’s Great Expedition for the Restless Christian. While I do not have a copy (nor plan to), you can click the “Search Inside” link and read an excerpt on Amazon (note: *low* priority on wish list). I know it is hard to judge a book by its cover, but the opening paragraphs are particularly discomforting.

Even though I read the words almost twenty-five years ago, I can still picture them upon the page. The words were and have remained so disturbing to me that I remember exactly where I was when I read them. I was a freshman in college sitting up late one night in the dorm laundry room waiting for my clothes to dry and reading John Stuart Mill’s essay “On Liberty.” Writing in 1859, Mill was trying to explain the process by which words lose their meaning, and he casually offered that the best example of this phenomenon was Christians. Christians, he observed, seem to have the amazing ability to say the most wonderful things without actually believing them.

What became more disturbing was his list of things that Christians, like me, actually say — like, blessed are the poor and humble; it’s better to give than receive; judge not, lest you be judged; love your neighbor as yourself, etc. — and examining, one by one, how differently I would live my life if I actually believed such things. As Mill concluded, “The sayings of Christ co-exist passively in their minds, producing hardly any effect beyond what is caused by mere listening to words so amiable and bland.”

I move that we all just continue on as if the observation had never been made. Any seconds?

Lord, have mercy.

O Breath of life, come sweeping through us, revive your church with life and pow’r,
O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us, and fit your church to meet this hour.

O Wind of God, come bend us, break us, till humbly we confess our need;
then in your tenderness remake us, revive, restore, for this we plead.

O Breath of love, come breathe within us, renewing thought and will and heart;
come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us, revive your church in every part.

O Heart of Christ, once broken for us, ’tis there we find our strength and rest;
our broken contrite hearts now solace, and let your waiting church be blest.

Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating while harvest fields are vast and white?
Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting, equip your church to spread the light.

Between the constant bombardment by the purveyors of programs designed to “grow your church” and my continual failure to grasp the Gospel, it is repentantly refreshing to come across a quote—one that could have been written yesterday (when in fact, it was more like yesteryear)—that reminds me that the good works the Lord are accomplished in and through us by the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus Christ; not by my will be done, but “thy will be done.”

The true secret to all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man’s genius, or man’s intellect, or man’s energy; but simply the power of the Spirit of the God of the Gospel. ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts (Zech.iv.6) It is well for all ministers (and believers) to bear this ever in mind. It will sustain the heart and give constant freshness to their ministry (and lives). A ministry which flows from abiding dependence upon the Holy Spirit can never become barren. If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry. It matters not what his powers may be, or how extensive his reading, or how vast his stores of information; if the Holy Spirit be not the spring and power of his ministry, it must, sooner or later, lose its freshness and its effectiveness. How important then, that all who minister (and live) in the gospel…should lean continually and exclusively on the power of the Holy Spirit. He knows what souls need, and He can supply it. But he must be trusted and used. It will not do to lean partly on self and partly on the Spirit.

— C H Macintosh, Notes on the Book of Numbers, 1861

From The Book of Common Prayer:

Lord Jesus, stay with us, for the day is far spent and the evening is at hand; be our companion in the way. Enkindle our hearts and awaken hope, that we may know Thee as Thou art revealed in the Scriptures, and in the Breaking of the Bread. Grant this for the sake of Thy love. Amen.

The people at Pyromaniacs recently published a set of spoof posters titled, Emergent-See Po-Motivational Posters for Emerging Christians: the All-New Motivational Posters for the Emerging Church Conversation Chaos. When I first heard about them I thought, “Oh, these are gonna be good.” So I started reading—I laughed; I chuckled; I became quiet; my heart began sinking; I wept.

While aimed squarely at the emergent church movement, there is really nothing “all-new” about the lies being lampooned here. It has been said that good satire always contains an element of truth, one of which is that the stuff that is satirized in these “motivational” posters is the stuff of ministry—yes, even ministry in the church. I have conversations with the folks in the posters on a regular basis (and you can put my picture in the one above, too). The deceits of the devil are indeed subtle and pervasive—and fatal.

For the second year in a row, Rob (lifeon8thstreet.com) was the winner of Transformatum’s 2008 NCAA men’s basketball pool. As the only entrant who picked Kansas to win it all, Rob receives a pound of House Blend whole bean coffee from Intelligentsia Coffee.