Paul Washer “A Living and Holy Sacrifice”: Romans 12:1-2

What can I say about Paul Washer? For those of you who are not familiar with him, he is married to his wife Charo and they both have three children: Ian, Evan, and Rowan.  Paul Washer is also a graduate of Southwestern Theological Seminary, a missionary at Peru for 10 years, a current laborer at HeartCry Missionary Society, and a itinerant preacher.  It seems that people’s awareness of him can be traced to his well-known “Shocking Youth Message” that now has over 1 million views on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cncEhCvrVgQ).  It was that message that catapulted him to the spotlight.

To those who have listened to him, it appears that he is either a stench of death to some or a sweet smelling aroma.  As for me, he is a sweet smelling aroma.  His gospel-centered messages have impacted me during my young life as a Christian and continues to do so.  We need more men like him, not charlatans from that reality show called “Preachers of L.A.”  They are the contradiction/opposite to biblical leaders.  Biblical leaders are best described in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9.

Not too long ago, this past Thursday, Brother Paul visited The Master’s Seminary.  As my friend and I decided to make a trip there, we were blessed to listened to a message from Romans 12:1-2.  We were deeply edified and convicted by the message.  His message that was delivered with passion, integrity, sincerity, love, and conviction was an encouragement to many of us.   After the message, my friend and I had the opportunity to speak to him personally.  And as contrary to what some may think about him, I have had the opportunity to meet him twice in person.  What I can say is that he was down-to-earth and very approachable.  What I appreciated about this latest personal meeting with him was his encouragement to me and a few guys concerning the importance of prayer.  He even shared tips with us in terms of  a few ways to have an effective prayer life.  I was convicted by it because I need to excel still more in my communion time via prayer with my precious Lord and Savior.  May God help us to be the saints that God desires us to be!  At any rate,  I hope this message encourages you.  Until then, here is a passage from Romans 12:1-2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. ²And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect” (NASB).

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Review: Today’s Gospel Authentic or Synthetic by Walter Chantry

J. Walter Chantry.  Today’s Gospel: Authentic or Synthetic? London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1970. 96 pp.

We are living in perilous times.  These perilous times indicates that there is a famine in the land.  I am not speaking about a physical famine, but a spiritual famine.  We could talk about a famine in the land in regards to Bible intake, hermeneutics, etc., but that is a topic for another day.  But the famine I am speaking of has to do with the preaching of the Gospel.  The chief errors as the author puts it, has nothing to do with emphasis or one’s approach, but more so on the heart of the Gospel.  There are many approaches or methods, but the main contention from the book is concerned with the heart of the Gospel.  To ignore the heart of the Gospel is dangerous.  In this book, he describes what is the authentic or synthetic approach towards the Gospel.

The authentic way is to to cover the attributes of God, the holy law of God, repentance, the call to bow before Christ; as well as the mishandling of biblical assurance of salvation.  Those are some of the elements that make up the heart of the Gospel.  To ignore anyone of those areas would cause one to fall into a synthetic approach towards the Gospel.

This stalwart written book addresses many of the contemporary problems that many evangelism conferences, commissions, churches, books, etc., have failed to address.  This book on the other hand, gives an expository display of the authentic expository preaching of the Gospel.  Much light is brought into the surface from the base text that makes up much of the content of the book: Mark 10:17-27.  This passage which centers around the rich young ruler, reveals how the young ruler was exposed to “character of God, preaching the law of God, preaching repentance toward God, preaching faith toward God’s Son, preaching assurance of acceptance with God, and preaching dependence upon God” (1-69).

This book was a great read and is a great book to assign for evangelism discipleship.

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