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A Christian, then, is a copy of Christ. His inner and outer man are to be copies of Christ. It is Christ’s footsteps he is to walk in. It is Christ’s image that he is to reflect. It is not Paul, nor Peter, nor Luther, nor Calvin, nor Rutherford that he is to copy, but Christ Himself. Other models may illustrate this, and so help in the imitation of Christ; but only as doing this are they useful; otherwise they are dangerous. What then is a Christian man?

I. He is a man of faith.—It was by giving credit to God’s word that he became a Christian man; for it is by faith that we become sons of God. And his whole life is to be a life of faith. As Christ lived by faith on the Father, so does he. Christ is his model as a believing man. The more that he understands of Christ’s life, the more will he see the faith that marks it, and will learn to copy it, to live, act, speak, and walk by faith.

II. He is a man of prayer.—In this too he follows Christ. Christ’s life was a life of prayer. In the morning we find Him praying, a great while before day. All night we find Him praying more. No one, we would say, less needed prayer; yet no one prayed more. And the disciple herein imitates the Master. He prays without ceasing. He is instant in supplication. His life is a life of prayer,—constant intercourse with God.

III. He is a man of hope.—Christ looked to the joy set before Him, and so endured the cross. He anticipated the glory, and so was a man of hope. There is the hope, the same glory, the same joy for us…Our prospects are bright, and we keep them ever in view. The kingdom, the crown, the city, the inheritance, these are before our eyes. They cheer, and sustain, and purify us. Were it not for the hope, what would become of us? What would this world be to us? Learn to hope as well as to believe.

IV. He is man of holiness.—He is the follower of a holy Master. He hears the voice, Be ye holy, for I am holy. He knows that he is redeemed to be holy, to do good works, to follow righteousness, to be one of a peculiar people. He is not content with being saved; he seeks to put off sin, lust, evil, vanity, and to put on righteousness, holiness, and every heavenly characteristic. He seeks to rise higher and higher; to grow more unlike this world,—more like the world to come. He marks Christ’s footsteps, and walks in them. He studies the Master’s mind, and seeks to possess it; mortifying his members and crucifying the flesh. He aims at shining as He shone, testifying as He testified.

V. He is a man of love.—He has known Christ’s love, and drunk it in, and found his joy in it. So he seeks to be like Him in love; to love the Father, to love the brethren, to love sinners, to show love at all times, in word and deed. His life is to be a life of love, his words the words of love, his daily doings the outflow of a heart of love. He is to be a living witness of the gospel of love. Love,—not hatred, nor coldness, nor malice, nor revenge, nor selfishness, nor indifference,—love such as was in Christ,—that he endeavors to embody and exhibit.

VI. He is to be a man of zeal.—’The zeal of Thine house hath eaten me up,’ said Christ. His life was one of zeal for God,—zeal for His Father’s honour and His Father’s business. So is the disciple to be ‘zealous of good works.’ Zeal steady and fervent,—not by fits and starts; not according to convenience, but in season and out of season; prudent, yet warm and loving; willing to suffer and to sacrifice; no sparing self or the flesh, but ever burning; zeal for Jehovah’s glory, for Christ’s name, for the Church’s edification, for the salvation of lost men;—this is to give complexion and character to his life.

These things are to mark a Christian man. He is not to be content with less. He is to grow in all these things; not to be barren, not to stagnate, not to be lukewarm, but to increase in resemblance to his Lord; to be transformed daily into His likeness, that there may be no mistake about him as to who or what he is.

-Taken from Light & Truth: Bible Thoughts and Themes, Vol. V., The Revelation, The Model of a Holy Life, Horatius Bonar, 1872.

It seems to me that the modern church has presented to us as believers so many options, programs and ideas. What boggles my mind is what is wrong with the word? The reason this boggles me is there is nothing wrong with the word of God! The word is not missing anything and It is NOT out of context. When we distort the words of God and use it to justify our beliefs their is something wrong with us.

We are ready and waiting to blame anything else apart from ourselves. Lets wake up from this self induced slumber and look in the mirror. If you need to change the word of God to fit your life style or your need for personal gain then something is wrong.

It appears to me that the church of today is living and acting like God is not there, living with no fear.

The hardest part of accepting the reality of the word of God is that it might require us to change. Oh no! Change.. Don’t tell me about change. What are we so afraid of? That we might change. That God might use us.

I challenge all who profess Christ as Lord and Saviour to examine yourself and ask yourself what are the motives of your heart. Are you compromising on the truth of the Word of God to justify yourself.

Today is the day of salvation, Repentance has gone out of fashion, Bring it Back! Will you bring it back?

I pray that The Fear of The Lord God Almighty is revived and the gravity of ones sin and mockery of the their very creator is discovered with cries of “Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy!”

Before I share my heart on what is happening with Mike, I would like to acknowledge that my heart is to see Mike and Family restored and brought back into ministry and we need to set time aside to pray for mike and those effected by this tragedy in the Australian church.

As more news has begun to role in over the last couple of days, I have to say that I have almost been in shock, over what i am hearing about Mike. 

I remember having a similar feeling when i first heard that he had cancer, inside I knew something was wrong. Why would God let such a influential man like him been taken down so heavily with terminal cancer, he was effecting the lives of thousands of young people. It just didn’t line up and to be honest it took me a while to accept his predicament. 

I guess now everything has changed, In Blogs all over the internet people are asking why? why would he do such a thing? How did he fake it? 

 Many of us are looking for an excuse to fit into mike’s situation, maybe he is mentally ill and maybe he didn’t know what he was doing. We need to accept that a man we so looked up to so much can fall and can be deceived. When our eyes focus on a man our vision becomes distorted and we can’t see God.

 I have been talking to young people who looked up to Mike and there is so much hurt, I pray that those people’s faith increases and that this brings a realization to them that man can’t do it! Only God can. It doesn’t matter how much passion you have, how many services you attend weekly. You need to seek his face, God is raising up a movement all over the world of young people who have seen all the world has to offer and choose God rather than the things of this world. This is slowly beginning to happen in Australia and I pray that it sweeps across this entire nation.

 The Most important question to ponder over is, Could this happen to you? or Is this Happening to you? 

We may not be currently or even thinking about being involved with a great deception like Mike’s, But a lot of us are living two lives just as Mike was. Many of us claim to have this great relationship with God and appear to others to be worthy of holy brownie points, equally you could be a pastor or youth group kid reading my response and be living a great lie. God sees our hearts and he knows where you are really at. Until you be honest publically and repent of being something that your not, you will never get to that place where your heart just burns to see the Face of God, we need to step down and let him step up.

What good can come out this situation?

I pray that God continues to reveal what’s hidden in the church, how can we become a beautiful and spotless bride if we are not willing to let God reveal the sin in our lives.  I also pray that this radically transforms the youth church by birthing hunger, discernment and revival.

Remember that nothing is hidden from God, have a look at Hebrews 4:12 and let it really sink in.

“ 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.” Hebrews 4:12-13

It could be that God is going to bring a move in the church of radically revealing sin. Something that comes to mind, I heard a preacher say once “ Your better off sorting your sin out first, before God does that sorting out, it doesn’t hurt as much.”

In closing, if you happen to read this blog Mike or you are someone who has read this blog and feels convicted, my advice is act on it today. God loves you so much!, even in your sin he is crazy banana’s in love with you (I stole that from Keith Green), The Lord’s Grace is limitless.

Nico Crampton