Paul Washer's Shocking Message - Is it true?

If you are concerned about anyones salvation, I think this message is worth watching and discussing. Paul Washer preaches to a youth evangelism conference from Matthew 7:13-27. Do you think the way he interprets it is true? Let me know in the survey on the left or leave a comment to this post.

2 Corinthians 13:5 NASB Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?

Merry Christmas from Latvia

May God bless you all as you celebrate the first coming of Christ, and as you eagerly await His glorious second coming.

John 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 John 2:28 Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.

We are enjoying this Christmas in Latvia along with our brothers and sisters in Christ here. Christmas eve, I led a choir in English, Russian and Latvian Carols at the Lutherin Cathedral in front of 70 people. I made many mistakes but I think Christ was glorified. We enjoyed Christmas day with our kids, opening presents and eating Jesus' birthday cake. Caleb gave Jesus a place at the table with a peice of cake, but concluded Jesus wasn't hungry for it yet. It was a simple family day but we were all content and thankful to God for the most precious gift of His Son.


We gave Lily this stuffed dog.


We read kid's books recieved from relatives.


Caleb played with his remote control truck.

Dreams of a white christmas come true.

Pray for Ikšķile

Wednesday night I went to a prayer meeting in Ikskile, Latvia with Dainis, his wife (Liena) and her mom who built this sanctuary attached to her house. She has been praying for 10 years for a church to be formed in Ikskile and in faith remodeled her green house into a sanctuary that can seat 40 people. Ikskile is a growing city of 7,000 people, situated in the Ogre region, only 28 kilometers from Riga, the capitol of Latvia. Ikskile is the oldest city in Latvia and is the first place that Christianity reached over 800 years ago. Today the only evangelical church is the Lutherin church and the Catholics are building a women's monastery.

Those at the meeting attend a Latvian speaking church in Ogre on Sundays but all agree that their city needs a church that teaches the Word of God. I will share more later about the meeting and these believers, but for now I can say that the Lord seems to be opening a door in this city for us to start a Bible study there in the near future.

Wretched man that I am

Above is a picture I drew Saturday night while meditating on Romans 7 and listening to MP3 sermons from my favorite teachers (Bill Holdridge, Chuck Smith, Roger Scalice, Steve Gregg). Blessed is the man who meditates on the law of the Lord day and night. (Psalm 1:2)

Romans 7 describes our relationship to the law. Believers in Christ are reminded that we are not under the law anymore. How did we get out from under it's demands? We died with Christ. and just as a marriage is until death do you part, we have parted from the law so that we can be joined to Christ, as to a better husband. This doesn't mean that we can sin all we want, quite the opposite, we won't want to sin, because we have been changed by God's grace. Under grace He personally works in us both to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Some points are hard to grasp but we can all relate to the honest struggle Paul describes that we have between our flesh and our spirit. But when we come to the end of our self righteousness and stop using the law to become righteous we look outside of our selves and find hope in our Savior. "Oh wretched man that I am, who can deliver me from this body of death? Thank God for Jesus!" The law did it's job in condemning me and leading me to my Savior, so I am no longer under the law, but under Christ, who is the solution for the problem of my sin and flesh. He has justified me, He is sanctifying me, and one day he will give me a glorified body. Praise God for his redemption!