“Bigger Is Better!†is the shout heard all along the American Way. But is it always? Apprising Ministries with an offer of encouragement from A.W. Tozer to those pastors who resist the call of worldly wisdom and continue faithfully tending their flocks as the Lord leads.

Although there is a price to pay for it, for Jesus’ sake we want you to see from God’s Word what the enemy’s troops desperately want to hide from the Body of Christ today. Some encouragement in these difficult times and a perspective on the Truth War you may not have thought of in this piece from Apprising Ministries.

Here’s a beautiful piece from Pastor Ken Silva at Apprising Ministries. I hope it’s a blessing to you today.

This Lord’s Day evening, I am reposting some thoughts from July, 2007. I hope you’ve been fed today from God’s Word. Even in these times of famine, the Good Shepherd sees to it that his sheep are fed. We should be thankful and grateful for faithful pastors and for so many websites, podcasts and printed resources available to receive nourishment from the Word. He shall feed His Flock. The post includes a recording of the great Marian Anderson of the past singing Handel’s unforgettable setting of this biblical promise. God bless all of you.

I am delighted to see that Back to the Bible has posted past Gateway to Joy programs with Elisabeth Elliot. This is a treasure trove of biblical wisdom taken from her 13 years of programming.

October is pastor appreciation month. If there is one message I want to get across to readers with this post is that true pastors very much need our appreciation. Next month gives us a special opportunity to show it. I preface this post by saying that pastors are not always the ones who visit the ill, sick and dying. Sometimes those jobs are shared by elders or deacons. For practical reasons, pastors cannot always be the ones to do all of this. In the experiences I relate below, it was a pastor who made the difference, and I thank the Lord Jesus for each and every one of them who loves his flock enough to teach the Word and disciple and correct when needed, as well as pray with the ill and the dying. In October, I plan to do some programming on Crosstalk on this issue for the encouragement of faithful pastors who do the work of the ministry in some very difficult spiritual times.

I know a man who has a very tiny flock. He’s a humble man who has no ambitions for numerical success. Weekly, he brings the Word to the sheep in his care. The spiritual well being of those who come to the small house church matters to him, and he takes his job very seriously. There is a 19-year-old he has discipled for several years. He calls this pastor his “hero” because he cared enough to teach and instruct him in the Word. God knew the need, and there was a true pastor to meet it.

I know a man who nearly died from a massive heart attack not long ago. After numerous efforts to revive him, his heart began to beat again. This faithful pastor who loves the Lord and the sheep in his care looked around the landscape of evangelicalism and saw a tremendous need for warning about the false teaching coming in that endangered the flock. He began to write in depth articles and even a book about these things. His warnings now go out to thousands around the world via the Internet. God knew the need, and there was a true pastor to meet it.

I know a family that stood at the bedside of a beloved son who had collapsed suddenly and inexplicably from a catastrophic illness that hadn’t been diagnosed. They were nearly beside themselves with worry when in walked their pastor, Bible in hand. He led them in the 23rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer, and he told them there was no bad news when their faith was in Jesus Christ. His calm and faith-filled demeanor gave strength to all who were there. The Lord knew the need that night, and there was a true pastor to meet it. I know because this family was mine.

I know a pastor who had retired from ministry when God called him back to service. He and his wife now run a Christian school and group home for troubled girls. Their ministry is so effective that state agencies now routinely refer girls to their care because of the commitment to work with those who have been written off as hopeless by everyone else. These girls are thriving in the loving atmosphere of this home. God knew the need for such a ministry, and there was a true pastor to meet it.

All over the world, quietly and without fanfare, the work of the ministry is going forward. Yes, American evangelicalism is an unspeakable mess, but that is not the same thing as biblical Christianity anyway. To those pastors who, week after week, seek God for messages from His Word, who care for the little lambs that are sometimes overlooked and brushed aside, who love those who are distinctly unlovely at times, may God bless each and every one of you. You are engaged in holy work, and don’t let the enemy ever tell you otherwise. Godspeed, brothers. May the Lord give you strength like the eagles.

At Wordpress you can see the search terms used that led readers to your blog. It always makes for interesting and informative reading. On my personal blog I recently noticed some of the phrases people typed into a search engine that landed them at my site, and it was a reminder of how hurting people reach out for help online. One search phrase was, “can God forgive me for getting pregnant?” Another was “finding help for Christian husband who injures wife”. “Getting help for deep depression” was one phrase that showed up, and the reader had landed on a post I had put up some months ago that talked about depression and the Christian. Several have typed in words like, “Uhlein mansion” or “Milwaukee lakefront mansions” and landed on a post I had written about a trip to the lakefront that ended up with thoughts about our heavenly mansions the Lord is preparing. As a Christian blogger, you never know what person out there will find your blog or how. That’s why, despite the down side of the blog world, it remains an opportunity to be a strong witness for the Lord. When you post devotionals and sermons and thoughts that draw people to the truth of the Bible, you may not realize that God may have had someone find it who really needed what you wrote. To paraphrase Longfellow, what you write on your blog may help a “forlorn and shipwrecked” reader who reading, may take heart again. Blogs have many purposes including sharing important information, but those blogs that specifically feature posts that lift up the name of Jesus can be a real ministry. So carry on, Christian blogging friends. You never know who may find your blog today.

When I was 16, my family of 5 flew to Kansas City. My Dad is a pilot and had rented a Beechcraft Bonanza to fly us there. The airplane seated 6 and had a comfortable interior. My older brother sat in the co-pilot seat, and my mom and sister and I were seated behind them. It was a gorgeous, late fall afternoon when we took off, with clear blue skies. It was perfect flying weather. We saw the farm fields of Illinois, and the cities of Chicago and St. Louis below us as we flew over, thousands of feet above. There was not the slightest hint of turbulence. It was like riding on glass. We came in for what we all expected to be a perfect finish to the flight. As the nose wheel touched down, however, the tire exploded. When this happens the pilot can lose directional control of the aircraft. Things suddenly got rough as we came up, and then down hard again as Dad struggled to land. I remember him working the rudder pedals and saying tensely, “Lord, help us”. I did what any logical 16-year-old girl would do, which was to scream.  (I’m sure that helped my dad immeasurably.) The plane finally stopped, and we got out with shaky knees. The tire was completely in pieces down the runway. We had landed on metal which a witness told us had sent a lot of sparks flying up.

My Dad was angry. Basic maintenance had clearly not been done on the plane. A check of the maintenance records shortly after showed that the tire should have been changed a long time before we ever took that flight. (It hadn’t been changed in 800 hours and was a 2-ply rather than an 8-ply tire.) As a pilot, Dad had trusted the aviation company to do what was needed to help us fly safely. It hadn’t been done. What had started out as a textbook perfect flight nearly ended in disaster because of this carelessness.

I’ve been thinking lately about how we can start out strongly in our Christian lives. We can do all the (Bible) text book right things initially that we need to do to grow in the Lord. We can pray and read our Bibles, sit under good preaching and take care about the condition of our hearts. But then we can get careless. Basic maintenance can go undone in our hearts. It goes unnoticed, perhaps, by everyone else. And then…the tire blows. How to prevent the disaster? Go back to the basics. Allow the Lord to do the maintenance. Pay attention to basic issues of heart attitudes, time in prayer and reading God’s Word. Stay humble. Keep your eyes on Christ and His sacrifice on the cross. He alone can save. He alone can sanctify us. It is He alone who can keep us in the faith. When we take the time to take stock of the condition of our hearts, and go to the Lord for the maintenance needed, we, too, can finish well.

Here is a short video from a friend of ours, Scott Diekman, from his blog Stand Firm. His daughter Paige graduated from high school this spring as salutatorian. Her brief, biblical challenge at the graduation ceremony is the challenge to all of us as believers in Jesus Christ.

Apprising Ministries brings you this devotion from Charles Spurgeon.

D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones with a short but inspiring teaching:

I am preparing a Crosstalk program that will air soon that underscores the life-changing things that happen when Christians roll up their sleeves and make themselves available for the Lord’s use. After the radio show on Friday, the receptionist told me that someone was waiting in the lobby for me. It was my good friend Dr. Bruce Holman, a chemistry professor and creationist that I have known for many years. He told me about the school he is now involved with in Milwaukee’s grim central city, and he gave me a book of testimonies from students at the high school. What he told me, and what I have since found out, is exciting.

I want to introduce you to Hope Christian Schools. The Christians involved decided to make a difference in Milwaukee’s struggling inner city and their efforts are paying off in changed lives. Please stop by their website to read more about Hope Schools. They are at three different locations for elementary, middle and high school and they now have about 500 students. These are kids from backgrounds that would make people throw up their hands and dismiss these situations as hopeless. What a bogus word that is, hopeless. That’s factoring without the power of Christ and the Gospel. That’s factoring without the commitment of Christians determined to let the Lord use them, day after day, in English, and math, and science and every other subject. The proof is in the pudding, as they say. They just graduated 30 more young people, many of whom are headed for further education and many who profess a new faith in Christ. Hats off to Hope Christian Schools. The world is noticing as well. I am really looking forward to doing a program on what God is doing in Milwaukee’s inner city.

Many churches send buses into the dangerous areas of our city. (Our crime rate is extremely high.) These buses cart the kids out to the suburbs for church and then back again to face life in inferior schools and troubled homes. What I love about this project is that the Christians came to the area of need and stayed to work. May the Lord continue to bless their efforts!