“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” -Ephesians 2:8-9

The idea that in order to become born again, we must first express faith in the gospel, is a popular one. Most Churches today teach that you must choose Jesus, then the Holy Spirit will come in and make some changes in you.

I would like to take a moment to think through this process logically, and see if it is a Biblical concept, or one that simply helps support certain traditions. I invite comments and further discussion, as I feel it’s an incredibly important topic.

Here are a few of the limitations of man in His natural, unregenerate state. Before we are born again:

• we can not submit to God, or do anything pleasing to Him.

“For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” -Romans 8:7-8

• the gospel is foolishness to us.

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing…” -1 Corinthians 1:18

• we do not seek for God

“no one understands; no one seeks for God.” -Romans 3:11

With these concepts in mind. Let’s think through what it would look like for a man to believe in Jesus for his salvation, before the Holy Spirit is indwelling that man.

The Scenario

There you are. A sinner, that suppresses the obvious truths of God around you (Romans 1:19-20). Someone comes to you and shares the gospel. They tell you a story about God becoming a man, and dying for anyone who will believe in Him, then coming back to life and ascending into Heaven. Unless you are some exception to the human race, you aren’t interested in seeking this God (Romans 3:11), and this story is sheer nonsense to you (1 Corinthians 1:18).

At the very most, you’ve received information about a religion. You need to make a decision between the Christian religion, the Jewish one, the Muslim one, the Buddhist one, and the secular worldview that everyone else believes. Your gospel-preaching friend shares some historic facts about Jesus, which are nice, but he’s obviously biased. There is no real supernatural help (other than any help God already gives to everyone equally) until you make your profession, so you’re on your own to weigh the facts. Now, let’s say your friend is a good salesman, and is rather persuasive.

Now he commands you to repent and believe the gospel. He’s asking you to do something very strange. You’ve heard what is no more than a fairy tale to you, and in reality, you don’t really believe it. You need to take an absolutely blind leap into darkness and place your trust in something that your mind is convinced is not actually there. You need to lie to yourself, to your kind friend who brought you the message, and indeed to Jesus Himself, and say you believe that Jesus died for you, and rose again.

So you accept the superstition and decide to try it. You recite what is really no more than a God-ordained magical incantation. THEN the Holy Spirit comes in. He basically turns the magical spell into a true statement, and now you REALLY believe Jesus because of your born again experience and all the other applied work of the Holy Spirit.

Is this really how we think it works? Is salvation initiated by a hokus-pokus prayer or confession that gets God to do something? Or is the order that the modern Church has come to embrace actually reversed? Is it actually God who opens your eyes first, followed by your true confession of faith?

What Does Scripture Have to Say About It?

“Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus is accursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit.” -1 Corinthians 12:3

Scripture tells us that until we are indwelled with the Holy Sprit, it’s impossible for us to make a true confession of faith. We are not told to blindly profess a lie, but that once God has given us His Spirit, we, without exception say “Jesus is Lord”.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” -John 6:44

Again we see that we are incapable of coming to Jesus without God’s doing the work.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” -John 3:3

Once again we see the absolute limitation. We “cannot see the kingdom of God”, until we are born again.

We are so spritiually deaf, blind and indeed dead (Ephesians 2:5) that we need to be brought to spiritual life BEFORE we are able to believe, and be saved.

“everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” -1 John 5:1

Even for a moment old believer, they have been “born of God” – past tense.

No Spritual Limbo

One easy misunderstanding that may come from this kind of language is that there is actually some amount of time that a person is regenerated, and hasn’t expressed faith in Christ yet – sort of in between stage. This is not the case.

Regeneration and the subsequent faith are instantaneous in time. Scripture never puts any time in between the two, because they are a package deal

Here’s a helpful way to think about it: Regeneration and faith are like a light switch and a light bulb. God is the one who proactively flips the switch on, and you, the bulb then produce the light of faith. So when I say ‘regeneration precedes faith’ I don’t mean in a temporal sense, but I mean that God makes you spiritually alive first… and a ’spiritually alive’ person necessarily has faith.

The Implications of a Right Understanding

Why does it matter which comes first? The answer is very simple. If we understand who produced the faith in us, then the right person gets the glory for it.

If YOU, in your spiritual sensitivity and wisdom, saw that this gospel business made sense, when all the rest of the world reject it, you deserve some commendation. At least in part, your whole time in Heaven is based on that smart decision you made to choose Jesus. Some of the glory God demands in salvation would go to you.

If, as the Bible tells us, GOD chose to have mercy on you, open your eyes to Him, and give you the gift of faith… then all the glory goes to it’s rightful place. Let’s not attempt to share in God’s glory. Let’s praise God for opening our eyes by grace alone, and not by our own doing or willing (Romans 9:15-16).

Let’s praise God for his Sovereign regenerating work, and not see it as a threat. Because without it, none of us would ever come to Him.

“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.”" -John 6:65

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is summed up in these two verses of scripture.  That Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised back to life three days later, thus conquering death which gives us the hope that we too if we are found in Christ when we die will be raised to be with Him forever. While these two verses are a summation of the truth of the Gospel, and are of first importance,  it doesn’t tell the whole story…

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.” – John 1:1-3

These verses are so rich in themselves and there is so much that we can talk about just in these scriptures but I want to focus the fact that in the beginning God made everything.  Specifically, all things were made through Jesus (the Word) and without Jesus nothing was made that was made. Everything was made by Christ.  the heavens, the earth, everything in the earth including the seas, the trees, all creeping things, as well as man and woman.  He created the garden of Eden for Adam and Eve, and God gave them charge over everything in the garden as well as the whole earth. – Gen. 1:28-30.

God gave them one command.  ”And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” – Gen. 2:16-17.  They could freely eat of any tree within the garden, but there was ONE tree that was forbidden to them.  Just like us today, we always want what we can’t have.  We can never be content with what we have.  Not only did they have no doubt hundreds of trees they could eat off of… but they had the privilege of being in the presence of Almighty God Himself, living in perfect harmony with the Creator of the universe!

We then read that the Serpent came by and persuaded Eve to eat of the forbidden tree.  Then she went to her husband and lured him into the deception of eating the fruit also.  - Gen. 3:1-7.

This is no small thing.  This tragic event has HUGE implications… I think too many times we tend to minimize what actually happened here in the garden of Eden that day.  It is not the fact that they ate the fruit from a certain tree that is in view here.  What IS in view is that Adam and Eve, our first parents, sinned against an infinitely holy God, transgressed the commandment of the God who had made them and gave them everything they had.  They decided that their way of doing things was so much better than God’s way.  Essentially, they were the ultimate authority… not the God who had created them.

Then we read on…   To the woman He said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children.  Your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.”  And to Adam He said,  “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” – Gen. 3:16-19.

and also we read… ‘Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.’ – Gen. 3:22-24.

Not only were they punished in the sense that woman would have pain in childbearing, and man would have to work the ground and earn his living by the sweat of his face… but God said that they would die physically.  It doesn’t end there though.  Notice that God drove them out of the garden, from His presence, and placed cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life.  This is a picture of the SPIRITUAL death that they will now experience.  Notice that they would never be able to earn their way back to God by making up for the wrong they had done.  They couldn’t go back and regain a good standing with God by undoing what they had done by eating of the tree of life on their own.  That way was now blocked. God would have to provide another way… IF He chose to do so.  I say IF because God did not have to.  He could have left them in their condition.  He could have left us all in our sinful state.  He is under NO obligation to rescue anyone.  He would be perfectly just in condemning us all to hell eternally.  Why is the punishment so severe? You might ask.  Well because of the nature of the Person whom they and we have offended.  God is infinitely HOLY, and thus the punishment for breaking His commands should be of an infinite nature.  God is righteous and just, we are unrighteous and full of wickedness.  “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked;  Who can know it?” – Jeremiah 17:9.

From the time of Adam on, man would continue to try and find his own way to get back to God.  Man, sinful in nature because of the fall would never again be right with God.  God’s Word says that our nature since the fall has become enslaved to sin.  Romans 6:6, John 8:34, Romans 6:17, Romans 6:20.  This means that we can do nothing but sin. Nothing.  You might find this hard to believe since there are many “good” things that humans do all over the world.  There are hospitals, orphanages, shelters for the homeless, young men who help the elderly across the street… (well, there used to be anyway.)  Sure people do good things, I recognize that.  Remember that God doesn’t look on the outward, but on the inward.  He looks at the heart, its motivations and intentions.  The scripture says that, “whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.” – Romans 14:23b.  Also, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” – Rom. 8:8.  And, “without faith it is impossible to please him…” – Heb. 11:6a.  What we can take from these scriptures is that nobody can please God apart from faith, and that everything that is not done by faith in Christ is SIN. So naturally this has to mean that if a person does not have faith in the Son of God everything they do is from a heart that is sinful by nature… enslaved to sin.  This has disastrous implications when it comes to humans trying to work their way to God or do things for God for merit on their own.  This is why there is absolutely NOTHING that we sinful, wicked humans can do to merit salvation.  Apart from saving faith in Jesus Christ, we are left without hope.  We are on our way to hell.  God would be totally just in sentencing us to such a punishment for our open rebellion toward Him everyday.  Reflect upon God’s Word:  “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.” “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” – Rom. 3:10-18.

We deserve Hell…

“BUT GOD, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

Even when we dead in our trespasses… enslaved to sin… at enmity with God… without saving  faith toward God, God rich in mercy because He loved us made us alive by His grace and raised us up with Him to show forth the riches of His grace in kindness toward us.  He saved us.  It is not our own doing, it is His gift to us so that no one may boast.  And He planned for us to walk in good works (from faith) before everything began!

But how were we saved?  On what basis?

In accordance with God’s plan of redemption set forth from before the foundation of the world (Acts 4:27,28), God the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world in human form, the form of a lowly servant, born of a virgin.  He fulfilled all of the Law for us, keeping all of God’s commandments, living a totally sinless life.  He was betrayed by the Judas Iscariot, given into the hands of the Jewish religious leaders of the day and ultimately given up to the Roman governor Pontius Pilate to be nailed to a cross for a crime that He did not commit.  He suffered and died a horrible, shameful death on the cross for our crimes… all of our sin, our open rebellion, our hatred for God, all of it was laid on Jesus and He took it willingly as a substitutionary atonement for our sins.  He died for us, so that we who repent and trust (believe) in Him might live with Him!  You see, God was able to render us justified because of Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.  He died a death that we should have died.  Our sins were transferred or imputed to Him, and His righteousness (or sinless perfection) was transferred or imputed to us so that when we stand before God after we die we will be welcomed into the presence of God on the basis of the work of His Son Jesus Christ.  After He died He was buried in a tomb and on the third day He rose from the grave and eventually ascended to heaven to the right hand of God thus triumphing over the power of death for us so that we who are found in Jesus can hope to triumph over death and live eternally with Him!  What a great God!! All those who believe this… who believe in Christ’s atoning work on their behalf and repent of their sins will be saved.  We do not work to merit favor with God any longer… but we rest in the Son, trusting that what He has done is sufficient for us! THIS IS THE GOSPEL.

In summary, God made us, and instead of finding our joy and satisfaction in Him we broke His commands and decided that our way was better.  We try and try to get back to God by trying to earn favor with Him using our own methods.  We deserve hell and God would be perfectly just in letting us go there but instead God was pleased to send Jesus to be a ransom for His people.  He was sinless and yet suffered, died, and was buried. He rose again three days later and conquered death for us.  Through repentance from sin and faith toward God we are saved on the basis of Christ’s substitutionary work.

Repent of all your wickedness and place your faith in Christ for salvation today!

Though repentance is the act of man—yet it is the gift of God. It requires the same power to melt the heart—as to make it. As we are deeply fallen from a state of innocence, so we should rise to a state of penitence. Those sins shall never make a hell for us—which are a hell to us. Some people have sin enough for all their sorrows—but not sorrow enough for all their sins. Their eyes are windows to let in lusts—when they should be flood-gates to pour out tears!

When godly sorrow takes possession of the house—it will quickly shut sin out of doors. There must be a falling out with our lusts—before there can be a genuine falling off from our lusts. There must be a sincere loathing of sin in our affections—before a true leaving of sin in our actions. It is a hearty mourning for our transgressions, which makes way for a happy funeral of our corruptions!

Sinner, you have filled the book of God with your sins—and will you not fill the bottle of God with your tears? Remember, that when Christ draws the likeness of the new creature, His first brush is dipped in water: “Unless you repent—you shall all likewise perish!” Is it not better to repent without perishing—than to perish without repenting? Godly sorrow is such a grace, that without it—not a soul shall be saved; and with it—not a soul shall be lost! Is it not therefore better to swim in the water-works of godly repentance—than to burn in the fire-works of divine vengeance? Do not think that the tears which are shed in hell—will in the least abate the torments which are suffered in hell!

He who lives in sin, without repentance—shall die in sin, without forgiveness. There is no coming to the fair haven of glory—without sailing through the narrow strait of repentance. We must mourn for sin on earth—or burn for sin in hell! It is better traveling to heaven sadly—than to hell merrily!

It is the coldness of our hearts—which kindles the fire of God’s anger. “They will look on Me whom they have pierced—and shall mourn!” Zechariah 12:10. Christians! The nails which pierced Christ’s hands—should now pierce your hearts! You should now be deeply wounded with godly sorrow—for having so deeply wounded Him with your ungodly sins!

– (William Secker, “The Consistent Christian” 1660)

It is not enough to reply, “I belong to the church; I suppose I’m a Christian.” Thousands of nominal Christians show none of the signs of being born again which the Scriptures have given us—many listed in the First Epistle of John.

No Habitual Sinning

First of all, John wrote: “Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin” (I John 3:9). “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not” (5:18).

A person who has been born again, or regenerated, does not habitually commit sin. He no longer sins with his heart and will and whole inclination. There was probably a time when he did not think about whether his actions were sinful or not, and he did not always feel grieved after doing evil. There was no quarrel between him and sin; they were friends. But the true Christian hates sin, flees from it, fights against it, considers it his greatest plague, resents the burden of its presence, mourns when he falls under its influence, and longs to be completely delivered from it. Sin no longer pleases him, nor is it even a matter of indifference to him; it has become a horrible thing which he hates. However, he cannot eliminate its presence within him.

If he said that he had no sin, he would be lying (I John 1:8). But he can say that he hates sin and that the great desire of his soul is not to commit sin at all. He cannot prevent bad thoughts from entering his mind, or shortcomings, omissions, and defects from appealing in both his words and his actions. He knows that “in many things we offend all” (James 3:2). But he can truly say, in the sight of God, that these things cause him grief and sorrow and that his whole nature does not consent to them. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

Believing in Christ

Second, John wrote: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God” (I John 5:1).

A man who is born again, or regenerated, believes that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour who can pardon his soul, that He is the divine person appointed by God the Father for this very purpose, and beside Him there is no Saviour at all. In himself he sees nothing but unworthiness. But he has full confidence in Christ, and trusting in Him, he believes that his sins are all forgiven. He believes that, because he has accepted Christ’s finished work and death on the cross, he is considered righteous in God’s sight, and he may look forward to death and judgment without alarm.

He may have fears and doubts. He may sometimes tell you that he feels as if he had no faith at all. But ask him if he is willing to trust in anything instead of Christ, and see what he will say. Ask him if he will rest his hope of eternal life on his own goodness, his own works, his prayers, his minister, or his church, and listen to his reply. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

Practicing Righteousness

Third, John wrote: “Every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him” (I John 2:29).

The man who is born again, or regenerated, is a holy man. He endeavors to live according to God’s will, to do the things that please God and to avoid the things that God hates. He wishes to continually look to Christ as his example as well as his Saviour and to prove himself to be Christ’s friend by doing whatever He commands. He knows he is not perfect. He is painfully aware of his indwelling corruption. He finds an evil principle within himself that is constantly warring against grace and trying to draw him away from God. But he does not consent to it, though he cannot prevent its presence.

Though he may sometimes feel so low that he questions whether or not he is a Christian at all, he will be able to say with John Newton, “I am not what I ought to be, I am not what I want to be, I am not what I hope to be in another world; but still I am not what I once used to be, and by the grace of God I am what I am.” What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

Loving Other Christians

Fourth, John wrote: “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren” (I John 3:14).

A man who is born again has a special love for all true disciples of Christ. Like his Father in heaven, he loves all men with a great general love, but he has a special love for those who share his faith in Christ. Like his Lord and Saviour, he loves the worst of sinners and could weep over them; but he has a peculiar love for those who are believers. He is never so much at home as when he is in their company.

He feels they are all members of the same family. They are his fellow soldiers, fighting against the same enemy. They are his fellow travelers, journeying along the same road. He understands them, and they understand him. They may be very different from himself in many ways—in rank, in station and in wealth. But that does not matter. They are his Father’s sons and daughters and he cannot help loving them. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

Overcoming the World

Fifth, John wrote: “Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world” (I John 5:4).

A man who is born again does not use the world’s opinion as his standard of right and wrong. He does not mind going against the world’s ways, ideas and customs. What men think or say no longer concerns him. He overcomes the love of the world. He finds no pleasure in things which seem to bring happiness to most people. To him they seem foolish and unworthy of an immortal being.

He loves God’s praise more than man’s praise. He fears offending God more than offending man. It is unimportant to him whether he is blamed or praised; his first aim is to please God. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

Keeping Oneself Pure

Sixth, John wrote: “He that is begotten of God keepeth himself’ (I John 5:18).

A man who is born again is careful of his own soul. He tries not only to avoid sin but also to avoid everything which may lead to it. He is careful about the company he keeps. He knows that evil communications corrupt the heart and that evil is more catching than good, just as disease is more infectious than health. He is careful about the use of his time; his chief desire is to spend it profitable.

He desires to live like a soldier in an enemy country—to wear his armor continually and to be prepared for temptation. He is diligent to be watchful, humble, prayerful man. What would the apostle say about you? Are you born again?

The Test

These are the six great marks of a born again Christian.

There is a vast difference in the depth and distinctness of these marks in different people. In some they are faint and hardly noticeable. In others they are bold, plain and unmistakable, so anyone may read them. Some of these marks are more visible than others in each individual. Seldom are all equally evident in any one person.

But still, after every allowance, here we find boldly painted six marks of being born of God.

How should we react to these things? We can logically come to only one conclusion—only those who are born again have these six characteristics, and those who do not have these marks are not born again. This seems to be the conclusion to which the apostle intended us to come. Do you have these characteristics? Are you born again?

– J.C. Ryle

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel,  and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”  This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.  For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”  And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac,  though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—  she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”  As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!  For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”  So then it depends not on human will or exertion,  but on God, who has mercy.  For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”  So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. –Rom. 9:6-18

I recently heard a pastor preach from the above text of scripture.  This pastor is a non-Calvinist and so knowing this I wanted to see how he would handle this very straightforward, very non-negotiable section of scripture as I see it.

I know what he believes theologically but I’ve never heard him preach through this text before so I thought it would be just another rendition of a typical semi-Pelagian or Arminian who would totally mangle the text, miss the context, import the corporate-election view, etc…

Surprisingly, for about 85-90 percent of the sermon he preached it almost just like a Calvinist would preach it… emphasizing God’s sovereignty and God’s right to choose unconditionally whom He would save.  He even said that God actually hated Esau!

But towards the end, with about 10 mins left he totally flipped the track.  He began to emphasize the responsibility of man to choose Christ.  (I do believe in mans responsibility to repent and trust Christ)  He said though God is sovereign and elects whom He will save He still gives us free will to “choose” Christ.  It’s up to you!  You have to make a decision for Christ!

The rest is history.  After this he went in to the giving of the altar call, and the persistent begging of people to come up and dedicate their lives to Him… to accept Jesus into their heart.  (I was completely nauseous at this point.)

I’ll tell you why I was nauseous: Throughout the sermon I actually started to think that the pastor was going to let go of his tradition and faithfully exegete the scriptures as they were laid out.  Like I said before, most of the way through he preached as though God elects some to be saved unconditionally.  So when he made the statement above in bold, my heart grew faint because he chose to go back to his tradition rather than sticking to what the scripture actually tells us.  What he said doesn’t even make logical sense!  If God does it all, then it cannot be up to you!  Either God is sovereign or man is sovereign!

My question is this: Why would he do this?  Why would he interpret scripture according to the authors original intent for 90% of the sermon and then import his own interpretation in order to try and balance it out at the end?  I’ll tell you what, he didn’t balance it out at all.  All he did was put the focus of eternity right back onto man and his sinful, depraved, fallen decision making which cannot please God at all (Rom. 8:8)

Note to pastors everywhere: If you want to be faithful to the text and the authors intended meaning, (exegesis)  you cannot allow potential repercussions, (such as losing members of your congregation)  emotions, palatability, tradition to stand in the way!  The flock that God Almighty has entrusted YOU with will definitely appreciate you and respect you more for it.  Not to mention you will be honoring God by being faithful to your call as a faithful shepherd to His people.  Online Source

Ok… I’m done with my rant for now.  What do you think?

– Roger Servin