2 Timothy 4:2

I originally started this blog so I could leave comments on pyromaniacs. It's one of my favorite blogs on the net. It was started by Phil Johnson, who I have an incredible amount of respect for. He's the Executive director of Grace to You, which is the preaching/teaching ministry of John Macarthur. God used John Macarthur's teachings as a catalyst to springboard me into a serious, saving faith in Jesus Christ. I was originally introduced to John Macarthur's ministry by a man named Todd Friel, who is a radio host for an excellent program called Way of the Master. It was through WOTMR, (At that time was called Talk the Walk) I was introduced to Bible teaching, and this teaching was deep, and it was powerful. It was powerful enough to knock me off my high seat of pride, and bend the knee. I was a leader in my church, a young "stud" who thought he knew the answer to anyone's problem at any time. I thought I had it all figured out, and since my conversion, every day has been a step closer to God, and a step further away from the confidence I had in myself.

Someone finally told me what a Christian is, and thankfully it was clear enough to get through the wall of pride I had built up, but shortly after receiving Christ in full faith and submitting to His Word, The Truth seemed to hit me so hard, I couldn't get enough. I just started craving more and more truth. I dove into the Holy Scripture, and pretty much stopped listening to music, and started listening to sermons, all day long. I listened to Macarthur pretty much every day, and then soon discovered the wonderful teaching ministries of R.C. Sproul, Allister Begg, Adrian Rogers, and John Piper. Every opportunity I got, I listened to these men. I couldn't get enough of them, and I couldn't get enough of the Word, either.

Since then, I have been introduced to some great historic Puritans and Saints as well. I've become a devoted fan of Charles Spurgeon, and read the biographies of Spurgeon, John Wesley, and Dwight Moody. I've recently become more familiar with the works of Edwards and Martin Luther. What I found remarkable about all of this information I was soaking in, is all of these men were teaching the same thing. They devoted themselves to the exposition of scripture. None of them wanted radical reformations, or unmatched social reform, they only wanted to be true to the Word of God. One was a shoe salesman with an 8th grade education, the other started Harvard university. They were diverse men, with different backrounds and talents. Some were noble scholars, other common people. Some were eloquent in their speech, others very coarse. But they preached the Word, and they did it faithfully. My quest for more knowledge of the Life and times of these men, and believe me, there are many other great men that have lived, and still live today that I haven't mentioned, has developed in it a common thread... It was always, and will always be the Word of God that made them great. I'll end by an excellent quote by Martin Luther:

"I simply taught, preached, wrote God's Word; otherwise I did nothing. And when, while I slept... the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that never a prince or emperor inflicted such damage upon it. I did nothing, the Word did it all."