Recently a dear sweet lady who is a faithful member of my church came to me and asked me a very good biblical question. I love it when church members come to me with biblical questions because it reveals to me they are digging into the Word. Her question was regarding the verse in David’s great Psalm of confession, Psalm 51:12, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." She said, “I have read this verse many times. I don’t know if I have ever really thought about it or if I have always just focused on the first part of the verse, but what do you think it means, ‘grant me a willing spirit?’”
6. We are unwilling to bear the reproach of the gospel. There are some Christians who lack boldness and are unwilling to suffer rejection from the world for the gospel’s sake! Many want the benefits of the gospel but are unwilling to bear the reproach of the gospel. Timothy had this tendency and was at times a bit timid about sharing the gospel.
1. We are not soul conscious. What does it mean to be soul conscious? It means that we must realize everyone has a soul. A soul is that spiritual part of man that lives apart from the body with all the senses in tact. The soul will spend eternity in heaven or hell.
Graffiti from the 1800s discovered by workers renovating the Washington Monument has quite a different tone from that usually found today on the sides of buildings and subway cars. The markings in the lobby of the monument were covered over when it was decorated at the turn of the century. They were found when workers removed marble wainscoting as part of a year-long $500,000 renovation which was completed.
Recently I talked with a godly parent and they were lamenting the fact that now that their children are adults they hardly ever darken the door of a church. They were somewhat disillusioned to say the least. As a family they attended church faithfully, a church that preached the Bible. Their children were part of the Sunday School program and the youth program.
