“Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and I myself have founded great empires; but upon what did these creations of our genius depend? Upon force. Jesus alone founded His empire upon love, and to this very day millions would die for Him. . . . . I think I understand something of human nature; and I tell you, all these were men, and I am a man: none else is like Him; Jesus Christ was more than man. . I have inspired multitudes with such an enthusiastic devotion that they would have died for me, . . but to do this it was necessary that I should be visibly present with the electric influence of my looks, of my words, of my voice. When I saw men and spoke to them, I lighted up the flame of self-devotion in their hearts. . . . Christ alone has succeeded in so raising the mind of man towards the Unseen, that it becomes insensible to the barriers of time and space. Across a chasm of eighteen hundred years, Jesus Christ makes a demand which is beyond all others difficult to satisfy; He asks for that which a philosopher may often seek in vain at the hands of his friends, or a father of his children, or a bride of her spouse, or a man of his brother. He asks for the human heart; He will have it entirely to Himself. He demands it unconditionally; and forthwith His demand is granted. Wonderful! In defiance of time and space, the soul of man, with all its powers and faculties, becomes an annexation to the empire of Christ. All who sincerely believe in Him, experience that remarkable supernatural love towards Him. This phenomenon is unaccountable; it is altogether beyond the scope of man’s creative powers. Time, the great destroyer, is powerless to extinguish this sacred flame; time can neither exhaust its strength nor put a limit to its range. This is it which strikes me most; I have often thought of it. This it is which proves to me quite convincingly the Divinity of Jesus Christ.”

– Napoleon

Notes from tonight’s sermon:

• Evangelism: helping people see reality.
• An urgent opportunity – spiritual mango season.
• 2 Lies that hinder evangelism: 1) No hell, 2) No hurry.
• Gossip the gospel.
• You can’t always be the last link in the chain.
• “Come, see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ?” - she didn’t think ‘how might they react?’
  
• “O let me commend my Saviour to you” (Charles Wesley)

Starts soon.

I google therefore I am.

On public speaking:
Speak more slowly. Pauses let structure emerge (can even write [pause]). If relying heavily on notes, ensure they can be referred to with minimal head movement. Share personal stuff.
Speak less like I’m trying to ram information into unwilling ignoramuses, more like I’m sharing with interested, clever, humans.

Prevailing cultural sentiment: “I like Jesus but not the church.”
My take: We want people to meet Jesus; with or without the church. When they meet Him, they’ll want to do church.

The approach so far: “They like Jesus but not the church, let’s rethink church.”
My take: They like Jesus, so let’s preach Jesus. Focus on your strengths, especially when your strength is the Lord of the universe.

The question: How can we take advantage of “I like Jesus”?

One of the best articles I’ve ever read (pdf). Greg Koukl answers the new atheists’ claim that religion is dangerous/evil.

SmartLX and Healy (if you’re still around), I’d love to hear your response. (And yours too, dear reader)

The tragedy of war is wasted life. But every soldier who died gave his life in service of others for a cause greater than themselves. The truth is that not one soldier wasted his life.
A greater tragedy is the millions more who spend their lives living for themselves in a world no bigger than ‘me’. That is a tragedy of wasted life.

And I’m living it.

ht Ed

How spiritually healthy is Melbourne? Do the churches there teach the Bible and believe the gospel?

I ask because, if it is strategic to target cities, Sydneysiders ought to shift their focus south as Melbourne takes over. The SMH reports:

“The study rated Melbourne as a world city of the future along with New York, Toronto, Frankfurt, Singapore, Cape Town, Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad, London and Curitiba in Brazil.

The recognition comes as Australian statistics reveal Melbourne is on track to take over from Sydney as Australia’s largest city in 20 years.
…

Sydney is still by far the largest international tourism destination and main entry point for Australia but since the 2000 Olympics, NSW’s share of international visitors has fallen 7.6 per cent. Victoria’s has risen 12.2 per cent. In 2007, Melbourne eclipsed Sydney by $400 million in domestic tourist dollars.
…

“We have a large student population, which makes Melbourne a young city. But I think our greatest advantage is our cultural diversity. In Melbourne, you’ll always find something you like to see or do.”

The US edition of Travel+Leisure put Melbourne in its 100 greatest tips for 2008, ignoring all other Australian cities.”

Church planting is sexy again. Great! So, who’s going to Melbourne?
(If anyone does know the state of Melbourne’s churches, please leave a comment!)

“You want to suffer? Just go and share Christ with every person on your street and press it to the point where they know that they are going to go straight to hell if they step out of this world without Christ. You’ll suffer. Just call up all the apostate pastors in your area that aren’t preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and go ahead and challenge them to get on the Biblical program. You’ll suffer.”

(Couldn’t track down the author, but WOTM Radio play it occasionally.)

What is going on?