The past week has been a very intense and enjoyable work week. It is exciting to create something from the ground up and watch how the many various tasks of the day add up to something that ends with real results. It is helpful to show how you can improve in the future and it is satisfying to see results in the present to make you want to press forward. This is a summery of how my work week has been, and I am grateful to the Lord that He has given the challenge of work to men. I am learning much in the continued labor of my work on a day-to-day basis, and I look forward to the continued learning process in the future.

A Great Man, Enjoying Life

One year ago today my father was in a major car accident that almost took his life. During the past twelve months I have seen the Lord do an amazing work in my father’s life as well as the lives of my entire family. My father has undergone a remarkably quick recovery and the Lord has greatly used the seemingly horrible events of a car accident to draw our family even closer together. I am grateful to the Lord for what He has done in such a short amount of time, and I am grateful for how the events in my father’s life have changed my life, my perspective on the future, and ultimately my view of generations yet to be born. I praise the name of the Lord for His guiding hand in sparing my father's life and using such an event to bring glory to His name.

I am grateful for my father, he is a man that has persevered under very difficult circumstances, and continues to do so. This example has been a great blessing to observe as his son. I am grateful for every member of my family, and I am grateful that I am able to be back in Missouri during this season of my life. I am most grateful that the Lord has healed my father to a point where he is able to maintain a life with minimal difficulties. All glory and honor goes to the Lord for the great work He has done in the past twelve months, and for the work that He continues to do in the life of my father. I am truly a blessed man, and I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in the future.

"Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."

"Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb."
(Speech in the House of Commons, November 29, 1944)

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” – Isaiah 52:7

“By lowering the law you weaken its power in the hands of God as a convincer of sin. It is the looking glass, which shows us our spots, and that is the most powerful thing, though nothing, but the gospel can wash them away. Lower the law and you dim the light by which man perceives his guilt. This is a very serious loss to the sinner rather than a gain. [A sinner] will never receive grace until he first trembles before a just and holy law."
– Charles H. Spurgeon (Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Volume 28 pp.284,285)

The majority of churches today offer a watered down approach to evangelism. Rather than focusing on the law word of God and the convicting power of the Holy Spirit in the lives of men, most churches would prefer a false gospel that tells men that they can get something from God, and as a result of their getting, they will be rewarded by God. The modern evangelicalism movement, as a result of embracing Pelagianism and ultimately Arminianism, has said that we as Christians must be winning souls for Christ and set aside the more important task of teaching men about Christ and His Lordship on the earth. We must realize that we do not save men, the grace of God through the Lord Jesus Christ accomplishes this work in the hearts of men. We as Christians have a responsibility to teach the whole gospel of Christ, not simply trying to sway men to walk to the front of the church and pray a prayer. It is our responsibility to teach men to observe all things in obedience to Christ, (Matthew 28:20), and leave the ‘soul winning’ to our creator God, who is the only one that can save the souls of His creatures, and did so before the foundation of the world, (Ephesians 1:4).

If we can come to a point where we agree that we do not save the souls of men but the grace of God through Christ Jesus accomplishes this work, then we as Christians must ask ourselves; how do we as the people of God properly evangelize to a lost world? Dr. D. Martin Lyoyd-Jones offers the following helpful quote in regard to the starting point of our evangelism as Christians:

“Evangelism must start with the holiness of God, the sinfulness of man, the demands of the law, and the eternal consequences of evil.” (Studies in the Sermon on the Mount, p.235)

We as Christians must show the perfect holiness of our creator God, the wretchedness of mans heart, the demands that God’s Law has placed on us, and the consequences of not acting in obedience to the Law Word of God. It is our responsibility to teach this kind of gospel message, but before we can teach this kind of gospel, we must understand that we cannot limit this gospel message to simply telling men what will happen to them if they do not act in obedience to the Law Word of God. If we teach only one aspect of salvation in Christ Jesus, such as the blessings or consequences of either going to heaven or hell, we limit the gospel and neglect the teaching of life-long sanctification in Christ for those that have been redeemed in Him. We cannot limit the gospel message in the slightest when preaching to the lost or to those that are redeemed in Christ. The complete gospel message points to a life time of progressive sanctification in Christ, as opposed to a prayer of decision by man with no future instruction past praying the pray of salvation. The following quote by A.W. Pink is very helpful in explaining how the modern church has fallen into the trap of teaching a limited gospel:

“The nature of Christ’s salvation is woefully misrepresented by the present-day evangelist. He announces a Savior from hell rather than a Savior from sin. And that is why so many are fatally deceived, for there are multitudes who wish to escape the Lake of Fire who have no desire to be delivered from their carnality and worldliness.” (A.W. Pink, Saving Faith: Part 1 Signs of the Times, circa 1930)

Our creator God is not reliant on us to save the souls of His creatures, but He has allowed us as His children the privilege of presenting the Gospel of Christ to His creatures. We must recognize that we are not helping God out by preaching the Gospel, but He has given us the ability to proclaim the gospel for His purposes, it is both a blessing and a responsibility to do so. Let us make sure that we as the children of God are not limiting our evangelism to one aspect of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we are limiting the gospel we are ultimately hurting those that are redeemed in Christ by not teaching them how they should act in obedience to Christ.

It has been a very busy week for me in regard to my work schedule. I have accomplished much, and through the grace of God I have done well in regard to managing my time and switching from one project to the next. This tends to be a difficult thing for me to do at times in regard to my work. I will begin on one project in the morning and in mid-day I will switch to something that is completely unrelated and requires the use of an entirely different skill set. This can be quite frustrating at times, especially as it relates to general business, technology, accounting, analysis, coworkers, and the always changing world that is involved. At the same time, this has been very good for me and I have learned much from it. For the past six years, this has been a continued pattern in regard to my work and I view it as a wonderful opportunity to learn to compartmentalize key aspects of my life. The skill of compartmentalization, when used to glorify God, is a great asset in the life of any man that desires to be in leadership, whether it be in his home, business, assembly, or community at large. I am grateful to the Lord for allowing me opportunities to refine the skill of compartmentalization. I have much to learn in this area and daily business interactions and transitions are a wonderful way to refine this skill in my life.

I have also focused a good amount of time this week on business planning. The ability to properly outline and predict long term goals as it relates to the overall aspects of a company in key technology related areas as well as general business. This includes, staffing, budgeting, new technologies, current problems, current solutions, future improvements, and ultimately how the company will get from point A to point B within the next three years of business operation. I must admit, having never done anything like this to this degree, I didn’t think I would enjoy the process that was involved. I am grateful to say that I was wrong. I have enjoyed it immensely. Primarily because I know this is going to take place in a real world environment and is not simply some hypothetical solution that will yield no results and has no risk involved. It is a plan of action that is dealing with real world problems. I like this kind of thing :). If it were not a real business world solution I think it would be quite frustrating and feel like my work had no point to it. I am grateful to the Lord for the opportunity to learn in a real world environment where there is much risk involved and much to be gained as a result of risk when a plan is implemented correctly.

Business is not my forte, but the Lord continues to provide me with unique opportunities to improve my skills in the business world, and each day I see that the more I am disciplined of mind, the more quickly I am able to solve seemly complex business problems. Praise the Lord for His grace in my life, without it I would continually fall. It is my hope that I will remain faithful and diligent in my labors, never acting in idleness but always pushing myself as a man in business, and ultimately a man that is fixed on honoring the Lord Jesus Christ.