An old proverb says, “A ship in the sea is alright. The sea in a ship is all wrong.” In the same way, “the church in the world is alright. The world in the church is all wrong.”
Broadly speaking, the last several decades have not been good for the church in America. In the final years of the twentieth century, Dr. James Montgomery Boice wrote about the on-going crisis:
“What is wrong with evangelicals? The answer is that we have become worldly. We have abandoned the truths of the Bible and the historic theology of the church, which expresses those truths and are trying to do the work of God by means of the world’s theology, wisdom, methods and agenda instead. This does not mean that evangelicals have denied the Bible or have officially turned their backs on classic Christian doctrine necessarily. It is more the case that the Bible just does not have meaningful bearing on what we think and do – when we do understand it, and most of the time we do not.
The polls tell us that the gospel most contemporary evangelicals believe in is essentially God helping us to help ourselves. It has a lot to do with self-esteem, good mental attitudes and worldly success. There is not much preaching about sin, hell, judgment or the wrath of God, not to mention the great salvation doctrines such as reconciliation, redemption, propitiation, justification, the atonement, grace and even faith.
Lacking a sound, biblical and well understood theology, evangelicals have fallen prey to the pragmatism and consumerism of our times. Instead of calling God’s people to worship and serve God, and teaching them how to do it, we treat parishioners as buyers and think of marketing the gospel. A therapeutic worldview has replaced classical Christian categories such as sin and repentance, and many leaders have identified the gospel with such modern idols as a political philosophy, psychological views of man and sociology. To the extent that the doctrines of the Bible no longer guide preaching, teaching, publishing, evangelism, worship and the daily life of the people of God, evangelicalism has declined to become a movement that is shaped only by popular whim and sentimentality. To stand in awe of God once again, evangelicals must recognize these idols as idols and confess how much we have been taken captive by them…. Paramount among the truths evangelicals need to recover are the great Reformation doctrines summarized by the well-known solas (Latin for “only”): sola Scriptura, solus Christus, sola gratia, sola fide and soli Deo Gloria.”
– Here We Stand – A Call from Confessing Evangelicals, 1998
“NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that the minor child is declared to be adopted by the Petitioners, ____ and _____, that the minor shall henceforth be regarded and treated as the Petitioners’ NATURAL child and have all the lawful rights as their own child, including the rights of support, protection and inheritance, and the minor child henceforth bear the name: LYDIA JOY ____.”
(1) “All is shadow here below! The world is a shadow; and it passes away! The creature is a shadow; and the loveliest and the fondest may be the first to die! Health is a shadow; fading, and in a moment gone! Wealth is a shadow; today upon the summit of affluence, tomorrow at its base, plunged into poverty and dependence! Human friendships and creature affections are but shadows; sweet and pleasant while they last, but, with a worm feeding at the root of all created good, the sheltering gourd soon withers, exposing us to the sun’s burning heat by day, and to the frost’s cold chill by night! Oh, yes! “Passing Away” is indelibly inscribed upon everything here below! Yet how slow are we to realize the solemn lesson: “What shadows we are, and what shadows we pursue!” Unconverted reader, what is your life but a vapor that passes away? and what are its pursuits but shadows; unreal, unsatisfying, evanescent? Your rank, your wealth, your honors, your pleasures, are but phantoms which appear but for a little while, and then are lost in the deeper shadow of the grave, and the still deeper and longer shadow of eternity! Oh, turn from these dreams and hallucinations, and, as a rational, accountable, immortal being, on your way to judgment, fix your mind upon your solemn, endless future! You are going to die! And, oh, when that dread hour comes, so real and appalling, how will your past life appear?” – Octavius Winslow
(3) An author usually writes with the hope of being read; and more than this, that what is written would benefit those who do so. He feels he has something worth saying, and wishes to say it in such a way that it impacts people. This is his driving motivation that propels him to spend many sleepless nights at his desk, writing, re-writing, and writing again. He writes because he feels he must write. He has to say it. He has to get his thoughts down on paper. He just has to. Like a mother with child, there’s something inside him that must come out. Something has to be said. Something has to be heard.
I have been told that the paperback version of the book is now in bookstores as far away as South Africa and Australia. As I mentioned last week, it is currently available at a 50% discount direct from the publisher here in the USA, Solid Ground Christian Books. For those who wish to order 10 or more copies there is a 54% discount. Both deals can be found at 
Ok – now I am confused… It seems that rumours rather than facts are flying round the internet at an alarming rate today. A few hours ago, believing it to be fraudulent. Now it seems that this information is not accurate at all and that in fact 
Hello! Hello! Main Stream Media… Hello! Anybody Home????
It is often said that a picture paints a thousand words. How true this is in this case. The city where this photo was taken is Bangkok, Thailand and the little girl in the photo is called Lydia. Since the photo was taken, Lydia has now been adopted by an American Christian family. The gentleman holding her hand is actually her new father, Josh. You can see the photos of Lydia’s arrival in the USA 
I took the few minutes needed to read this sermon today. It did my heart much good.
Sola Scriptura is the doctrine that Scripture is the sole infallible rule of faith for the people of God. Here’s a quote from Dr. John MacArthur, adapted from his contribution to “Sola Scriptura: The Protestant Position on the Bible”: