text: This is a long message, but it has been very impactful in my life and many others. I pray that you would take the time to watch this, and maybe even send it to friends.
  
  I have met Paul many times and have family who are members of the church he serves at, and he is one of the most humble men I have ever met. So, as you watch this, understand that this is a man consumed with passion for the Lord Jesus Christ and 'sold out' to the mission he has been given by his God to proclaim the Gospel.
  
  It has been far to long, yet tonight I am compelled to post because of the awesome display of our great God and king I have experienced this evening. I am continually amazed that God shows us more of Himself, we who are completely without merit. I have been used as a messenger of forgiveness for a grevious sin which occurred in the past. The reception of this by my brother was overwhelming. The working of God in his life and the expression of true thankfulness to God for His lovingkindness to give this forgiveness so openly after so many years to my brother was an amazing thing to behold. God showed me once again tonight that what the enemy uses for evil God often chooses to use in glorifying Himself among His people and the world. Praise be to God, for He extends grace and mercy to me though I was wicked and poor He has clothed me in the very righteousness of Christ Jesus my Lord. May His name be exalted and all renown be His for He is Great and Greatly to be praised! Amen!
  
  He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister.(Colossians 1:15-23)
  
  It is difficult to get more direct than this. Praise God for his mercy and love. That he would incline to us, that Christ would come to seek and save the lost, and that the Spirit would move on we who were at enmity with God and call us to freedom in Christ Jesus our Lord... to God be all glory!
  
  Just a plug today for something close to my heart. A challenge is given by Timmy Brister at Provocations and Pantings Blog for us to get acquainted with the Puritans. Following is a synopsis of his challenge and the reasonings.
  
  His reasoning:1. The Puritans had a relentless pursuit of God.2. The Puritans were physicians of souls.3. The Puritans possessed genuine piety because they knew how to fight the fight of faith.4. The Puritans were pacesetters in church history.5. Reading the Puritans will provide you a healthy perspective so as to prevent chronological snobbery.
  
  His plan:1. Get a copy of The Valley of Vision and meditate on the prayers as part of your daily devotions.2. Commit to reading one Puritan Paperback a month - Check out Puritans, We Greet Thee in 2008 because he has specific books for specific months3. Read about the lives and stories of the Puritans - Again, Timmy has specific books that he's recommending; check them out.
  
  A complete list of Banner of Truth's Puritan Paperbacks. They can be ordered at http://www.banneroftruth.org/ or by calling the Banner of Truth office: 1-800-263-8085.
  
  I begin this post as a challenge to like-minded men, who of good conscience and strong conviction are brokenhearted about the state of modern evangelicalism. There is deep need for reform my brothers. A return to the diligent exposition of God's word, bold proclamation of truth, and crucified lives. I pray that the words here may be honoring to God and that he would use them as he would see fit. To his glory and honor and praise be turned these thoughts and ponderings...
  
  There are books one reads in life which seem to calcify the underlying convictions of their heart and offer a rally cry to take up sword and spear abandoning the fear that grips us in vulnerability. I have encountered one of these books of late. J.I. Packer, a man I have recently grown fond of through his writings, issued such a stirring to my own heart in the book A Quest for Godliness.
  
  I do not know how well-read this text is, yet find the ponderings therein of profound implication to modern evangelicalism. The quote I leave you with on this my inaugural post is the following. Ponder it and evaluate the truth therein...
  
  Without realizing it, we have during the past century bartered [the true gospel] for a substitute product which, though it look similar enough in points of detail, is as a while a decidedly different thing...[this new gospel] is too exclusively concerned to be 'helpful' to man - to bring peace, comfort, happiness, satisfaction - and too little concerned to glorify God...the result of these omissions is that part of the biblical gospel is now preached as if it were the whole of that gospel; and a half-truth masquerading as the whole truth becomes a complete untruth...it is undeniable that this is how we [modern evangelicals] preach...but it needs to be said with emphasis that this is not the biblical gospel. The Bible is against us when we preach this way.
  
  My dear brothers, may we return to the biblical gospel with all haste and take up the words of Richard Baxter and approach all men with God's word "as one that ne'er should preach again, and as a dying man to dying men."