by E.M. Bounds
“Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther spent his best three hours in prayer.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
WE are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations to advance the Church and secure enlargement and efficiency for the gospel. This trend of the day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or sink the man in the plan or organization. God’s plan is to make much of the man, far more of him than of anything else. Men are God’s method. The Church is looking for better methods; God is looking for better men. “There was a man sent from God whose name was John.” The dispensation that heralded and prepared the way for Christ was bound up in that man John. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.” The world’s salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When Paul appeals to the personal character of the men who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency of the gospel is staked on the men who proclaim it. When God declares that “the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him,” he declares the necessity of men and his dependence on them as a channel through which to exert his power upon the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting of it is as baneful on the work of God as would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.
What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use — men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men — men of prayer.
An eminent historian has said that the accidents of personal character have more to do with the revolutions of nations than either philosophic historians or democratic politicians will allow. This truth has its application in full to the gospel of Christ, the character and conduct of the followers of Christ — Christianize the world, transfigure nations and individuals. Of the preachers of the gospel it is eminently true.
The character as well as the fortunes of the gospel is committed to the preacher. He makes or mars the message from God to man. The preacher is the golden pipe through which the divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, unhindered, unwasted flow.
The man makes the preacher. God must make the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than the message. The preacher is more than the sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the life-giving milk from the mother’s bosom is but the mother’s life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel impregnates and may discolor. The man, the whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, because it takes twenty years to make the man. The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon grows because the man grows. The sermon is forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is full of the divine unction because the man is full of the divine unction.
Paul termed it “My gospel;” not that he had degraded it by his personal eccentricities or diverted it by selfish appropriation, but the gospel was put into the heart and lifeblood of the man Paul, as a personal trust to be executed by his Pauline traits, to be set aflame and empowered by the fiery energy of his fiery soul. Paul’s sermons — what were they? Where are they? Skeletons, scattered fragments, afloat on the sea of inspiration! But the man Paul, greater than his sermons, lives forever, in full form, feature and stature, with his molding hand on the Church. The preaching is but a voice. The voice in silence dies, the text is forgotten, the sermon fades from memory; the preacher lives.
The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces above the man. Dead men give out dead sermons, and dead sermons kill. Everything depends on the spiritual character of the preacher. Under the Jewish dispensation the high priest had inscribed in jeweled letters on a golden frontlet: “Holiness to the Lord.” So every preacher in Christ’s ministry must be molded into and mastered by this same holy motto. It is a crying shame for the Christian ministry to fall lower in holiness of character and holiness of aim than the Jewish priesthood. Jonathan Edwards said: “I went on with my eager pursuit after more holiness and conformity to Christ. The heaven I desired was a heaven of holiness.” The gospel of Christ does not move by popular waves. It has no self-propagating power. It moves as the men who have charge of it move. The preacher must impersonate the gospel. Its divine, most distinctive features must be embodied in him. The constraining power of love must be in the preacher as a projecting, eccentric, an all-commanding, self-oblivious force. The energy of self-denial must be his being, his heart and blood and bones. He must go forth as a man among men, clothed with humility, abiding in meekness, wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove; the bonds of a servant with the spirit of a king, a king in high, royal, in dependent bearing, with the simplicity and sweetness of a child. The preacher must throw himself, with all the abandon of a perfect, self-emptying faith and a self-consuming zeal, into his work for the salvation of men. Hearty, heroic, compassionate, fearless martyrs must the men be who take hold of and shape a generation for God. If they be timid time servers, place seekers, if they be men pleasers or men fearers, if their faith has a weak hold on God or his Word, if their denial be broken by any phase of self or the world, they cannot take hold of the Church nor the world for God.
The preacher’s sharpest and strongest preaching should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, laborious, and thorough work must be with himself. The training of the twelve was the great, difficult, and enduring work of Christ. Preachers are not sermon makers, but men makers and saint makers, and he only is well-trained for this business who has made himself a man and a saint. It is not great talents nor great learning nor great preachers that God needs, but men great in holiness, great in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for God — men always preaching by holy sermons in the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can mold a generation for God.
After this order, the early Christians were formed. Men they were of solid mold, preachers after the heavenly type — heroic, stalwart, soldierly, saintly. Preaching with them meant self-denying, self-crucifying, serious, toilsome, martyr business. They applied themselves to it in a way that told on their generation, and formed in its womb a generation yet unborn for God. The preaching man is to be the praying man. Prayer is the preacher’s mightiest weapon. An almighty force in itself, it gives life and force to all.
The real sermon is made in the closet. The man — God’s man — is made in the closet. His life and his profoundest convictions were born in his secret communion with God. The burdened and tearful agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest messages were got when alone with God. Prayer makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; prayer makes the pastor.
The pulpit of this day is weak in praying. The pride of learning is against the dependent humility of prayer. Prayer is with the pulpit too often only official — a performance for the routine of service. Prayer is not to the modern pulpit the mighty force it was in Paul’s life or Paul’s ministry. Every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a factor in God’s work and is powerless to project God’s cause in this world.
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Abiding
The Danger of Joining a Modern Church [podcast]

Fruit. Fruit. Fruit.
“Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.” Matthew 12:33
Speaking of the pattern of one’s life, Jesus taught that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit. A bad tree cannot bear good fruit.
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. 16 Ye shall know (discern) them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.” Matthew 7:15-20
Jesus commanded His people to “know” which is to discern all “by their fruits”—to be fruit inspectors—first in their own lives and then in all others (1 Corinthians 11:31-32; 2 Corinthians 13:5).
Personally, I fail to find anywhere that Jesus or His apostles instructed any saints to “go find a local church and plug in.” Hebrews 10:25 is peddled by pastors today who seek a loyal following instead of seeking to fulfill their God-given duties to establish their hearers in the faith, to ground them in God’s Word, to equip them for the work of the ministry, etc.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” Hebrews 10:25
Read that again please. Does it say to find a church? No. Those who are born again ARE already God’s “church” which simply means His called out people. More biblically, should we not simply be His church—His people, daily? This seems to be the pattern we see among the earliest followers of Jesus (Acts 2:42-47; 5:42; Colossians 3:16, etc.).
The authentic remnant elect of Christ do not patronize or bid Godspeed to false leaders (2 John 9-11; Revelation 2:2).
Refusing to sit under, condone, bid Godspeed to the false gospel, false doctrines, false teachers and wolves of the modern church … is not forsaking the assembly! Instead, it’s obedience to God who mandates that we “mark them,” that we “earnestly contend” against them, and warns us that anyone who bids Godspeed to them will be punished with them (Romans 16:17-18; Jude 3; 2 John 10-11).
If you are prone to cite Hebrews 10:25 to advocate for going to church weekly, consider where you learned that. In churches, right? Funny you probably don’t even have 10 Bible verses memorized and yet, to the benefit of the pastor, you know that one. What does this tell us? What does this reveal? What’s wrong with this picture?
What happens when people get loyal to a local church especially in this late hour where great apostasy was foretold? Here are a few obvious things that happen when someone “joins a church.”
- Most people who join churches today are not even born again, are not told they must repent and believe on Jesus to be born again. They become proud of their pastor and friends at that gathering (Zechariah 11:17).
- Church members are not learning the Word of God itself because they are simply being led by a wolf who is fostering their allegiance toward himself, not Christ (Colossians 2:8-10, 18-19; 3:1-4).
- They are not becoming soul winners (Proverbs 11:30; Luke 19:10).
- Attenders of modern churches are seldom if ever taught, established with personal knowledge of the Scriptures, the paramount truth that God’s Word itself is the final divine authority on all matters of the Christian faith and the practice of it (Deuteronomy 4:10; Psalms 119; 138:2; Isaiah 40:8; Mark 13:31; John 10:35; Romans 3:4; 2 Timothy 3:15-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21).
- The Bible message, warning to “love not the world” is seldom or never heard. Those who live worldly are separated from God (James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17).
- Fake pastor do not teach people to get into God’s Word for themselves and so church attenders today are not in the Word daily for themselves which is by satanic design and therefore have no biblical foundation (Psalms 11:3; Matthew 7:19-29; 2 Timothy 2:15).
- When do we hear in modern churches that Jesus Christ is the Grand Subject of all of Holy Scripture? We don’t (Psalms 40:7-8; Luke 24:25-27, 44-46; John 5:39-40; 2 Peter 1:19-21).
- They are never taught the value God places upon good works in those He saves by His grace (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 1:16; 3:8; 1 John 2:4).
- The Great Commission Jesus gave to His people is never mentioned and when it is, they’ve turned it into just another way of promoting themselves, their own brand, ministry (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-20; Luke 24:47; Book of Acts).
- They are not being equipped “for the work of the ministry” which is the duty being carried out by every authentic overseer of Christ’s church (Ephesians 4:11-12; 1 Peter 5:1-6).
- Never taught in the modern churches is the fact that God holds each person He saves personally responsible, personally accountable for following Jesus daily (Deuteronomy 24:16; Joshua 24:14-15; Luke 21:34-36; 2 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 3:6, 12-14; 10:26-39; 12:14; Revelation 2-3, etc.).
- Modern day church members are not in the Word for themselves and the pastors have led them to this biblical illiteracy because they are building a church busine$$ and dumb people are easy prey/targets to rob (Isaiah 9:16; 56:8-12; Jeremiah 23; Ezekiel 34; Matthew 23; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12; 2 Timothy 4:2-4, etc.).
- Church goers are barely or never heard the essential cross message which Jesus requires to follow Him (Matthew 16:24-25; Luke 9:23-24; Romans 6; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12; Galatians 2:20; 5:24; Colossians 3:3, etc.).
- They are never warned of going to hell if they die in sin (Ezekiel 33:12-13; Matthew 10:22; 24:13; Hebrews 3:6; 10:26-39; Revelation 21:8, 27).
- They are never taught that God is “Holy, holy, holy” and that He requires that those who are His be holy as He is holy (Isaiah 6:3; 1 Peter 1:15-16; Revelation 4:8).
- Those who attend a church are never informed that only those who overcome sin and Satan will be with Jesus eternally which is exactly what Christ told each and every one of the seven churches of Asia minor (Revelation 2-3).
- They are never taught that saving grace without exception results in the saved living according to the Scripture: “Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; (Titus 2:11-12).
- Members are taught the demonic lie of eternal security/once saved always saved , which is Satan’s first teaching and irrefutably led to the fall of mankind in the Garden (Genesis 2:17; 3:4).
- The mountains of warnings in Scripture are intentionally hidden from the congregational dupes who are willingly biblically ignorant, having rejected the knowledge/Word of God (Ezekiel 3:7; Hosea 4:6; 2 Corinthians 5:11; Colossians 1:28; Jude 3-4, etc.).
- Most church members are not taught that only those who remain in Christ after being saved will be with Him eternally (Matthew 25:1-13; John 15:6; Romans 11:20-22, etc.).
- Modern church attenders are seldom if ever warned to come out from this sinful world in the way they live (2 Corinthians 6:14-7:1).
- They are lukewarm which means hell bound if they don’t repent (Luke 3:15-16).
- The original Gospel essential, the command to “repent” is never heard, even though it was the very first word spoken by John the Baptist, Jesus, and the apostle Peter in their ministries (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; Acts 2:38; 3:19; 17:30).
- Modern church members are merely a participant of a “Christian” social club seen nowhere in Scripture (Cp. Acts 2:42-47).
- Their loyalty and allegiance is toward the pastor, singing group, and fellow congregants (Proverbs 21:16).
- They are never taken through the volumes of Holy Scripture where God judged His very own people who backslid (Numbers 16; 25; Romans 11:20-22; 1 Corinthians 10:1-12; Hebrews 3-4; Jude 1).
- Church members are taught to become dependent on their church affiliation, connection, and attendance and not the LORD (Matthew 15:8).
- They are not daily seeking the face of the LORD (1 Chronicles 16:11; Psalms 27:4, 8; 57:7; 63:8; Matthew 6:33; Luke 9:23-24).
- Seminarian led church members are seldom if ever taught that for eternal glory with Him Jesus requires the decisive cutting off of the hand and plucking out of the eye of any sin that defiles them in the eyes of a holy God (Mark 9:43-49).
- When the Bible is literally read, 99% of the time it’s from a vatican corrupted fake “bible.”
- Most are barely if at all different from any lost soul around them in their daily life (2 Corinthians 6:14-18).
- Due to their own refusal to truly repent and walk with Jesus daily, they were sent strong delusion, are in darkness and deception, and therefore “remain in the congregation of the dead” (Proverbs 21:16).
“God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him.” Psalms 89:7

The words “leader” and “leaders” appear 6 times (total) in God’s Word. It is always to be in context of servant leading (Matthew 20:20-28; 23:8-12; 1 Peter 5:1-6). In the following and most popular times “leaders” is used, it’s in the negative, as in false “leaders.”
“For the LEADERS of this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed.” Isaiah 9:16
“Let them alone: they be blind LEADERS of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” Matthew 15:14
They love their darkness rather than the light of His truth and therefore craft, they erect the image of a false god in their wicked unrepentant hearts.
“Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12
“Jeremiah 7. The people were wicked and evil, placing their trust in the temple, instead of God, and believing their religious activities would be pleasing to the Lord. But they were committing all kinds of sins, deluding themselves into thinking that they were secure. God said, I will cast you out of my sight! And instructed Jeremiah not to pray for them. They refused to obey the Lord God nor receive correction, and the truth had perished, so God said, I will cut them off from my mouth! Wow! Isn’t this exactly what we are seeing in this late hour? There comes a time when the Lord has had enough and cuts them off! And judgment falls upon those who don’t want the truth.” Karen Cochran
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Abiding
Jesus Conquered Sin, Satan, and Death by Dying [podcast]

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; 15 And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.” Hebrews 2:14-15
Through death Jesus conquered sin, death, and Satan and made His people free, washing away their sins in His precious blood and putting His Holy Spirit in them, empowering them to live fruit-filled victorious lives to His eternal glory!
Christ’s resurrection guarantees our resurrection – both now and for eternnity. Those raised up with Christ now are those who are crucified with Him. This is His holy “remnant.” (Isaiah 37:31; Romans 8:11; 1 Corinthians 15, etc.).
Jesus conquered sin and death (separation) by dying on His cross. Because of this, we need never live outside of an abiding relationship with Christ. His grace is sufficient to provide everything He died to purchase for us – and all these blessings are appropriated via our faith, our abiding in Him (John 15; Romans 6:14; 2 Corinthians 12:9-10; Hebrews 4:14-16; 7:24-26, etc.).
In order to be raised up, to walk in His resurrection power and grace, we must first be dead and buried with Christ.
“For he that is dead is freed from sin.” Romans 6:7
***ALL Heaven’s going to break out when this hits you in the heart, when your heart perceives this cross economy divine revelation.
Finishing Strong mean Finishing Crucified and Resurrected
HOW will you finish? It’s really how you finish that matters most! (2 Timothy 4:7-8) Finish strong beloved – lay down your life, death and burial, so that the strength of your life is Christ’s resurrection grace! (See 2 Corinthians 12:9-10) Go down deep.
“And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward:” Isaiah 37:31
Read the verse above again, looking for the death, the burial, and raising up!
The context Isaiah 37:31 concerns Assyria seeking to seize Judah and yet out of that evil attempt to conquer God’s people came a “remnant.” Yet it’s those who submitted to the LORD in death, those who took root downward (death and burial) who were reciprocally raised up out of that snare and destruction. Resurrection grace wins every time, with no exception! The cross is the divine prescription for absolute victory in every situation.
God counteracts death by the promise of resurrection – now and in eternity! (1 Corinthians 15; 2 Corinthians 4:10-12).
“Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. 11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. 12 So then death worketh in us, but life in you.” 2 Corinthians 4:10-12
The depth you allow God to bury you determines the height of His resurrection, His raising up in your life! (See 2 Corinthians 4:10-12)
“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. 18 For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 19 That thy trust may be in the LORD, I have made known to thee this day, even to thee. 20 Have not I written to thee excellent things in counsels and knowledge, 21 That I might make thee know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest answer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?” Proverbs 22:17-21
“Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.” 1 Peter 4:1-2
“And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. 6 Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him.” 1 John 3:5-6
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Learning the Cross, the Crucified Life Where Jesus Reigns
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JT with Todd Tomasella of SAFEGUARD YOURSOUL – Evangelism Encouragement [video]

Joe Telford and Todd Tomasella – Evangelism Encouragement
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