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About the Book
In his book "Sex is Not the Problem (Lust is)," author Joshua Harris explores the damaging effects of lust on relationships and offers practical advice on how to overcome it. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the difference between healthy sexuality and destructive lust, urging readers to seek true intimacy and connection rather than fleeting pleasures. Harris encourages readers to cultivate self-discipline, accountability, and a strong relationship with God to overcome lust and experience fulfillment in their relationships.
Charles Finney
Childhood and Teen years
Charles Grandison Finney was born the year after Wesley died on 29th August, 1792 in Warren, Connecticut. In 1794 his family moved to New York state, eventually settling at Henderson, near Lake Ontario. Although he received only a brief formal education he decided to study law and joined the practice of a local lawyer, Benjamin Wright. He was also very musical, played the cello and directed the choir at the local Presbyterian Church pastured by Rev. George Gale.
His conversion
His conversion on October 10th 1821 reads like something out of the book of Acts. Smitten with conviction from Bible reading he decided to ‘settle the question of my soul’s salvation at once, that if it were possible, I would make my peace with God.’ (Autobiography)
This conviction increased to an unbearable level over the next couple of days and came to an head when he was suddenly confronted with an ‘inward voice.’ He was inwardly questioned about his spiritual condition and finally received revelation about the finished work of Christ and his own need to give up his sins and submit to Christ’s righteousness.
As he sought God in a nearby wood he was overwhelmed with an acute sense of his own wickedness and pride but finally submitted his life to Christ. Back at work that afternoon he was filled with a profound sense of tenderness, sweetness and peace. When work was over and he bade his employer goodnight, he then experienced a mighty baptism in the Holy Spirit, which was recorded as vividly as the day he experienced it, though it was penned some fifty years later.
The next morning Finney announced to a customer that he was leaving his law studies to become a preacher of the Gospel.
Charles Finney licensed to preach
He was licensed to preach in 1823 and ordained as an evangelist in 1824. His penetrating preaching was quite different from many local ministers and included an obvious attempt to break away from the traditional and, as he saw it, dead, orthodox Calvinism. He married to Lydia Andrews in October 1824 and was also joined by Daniel Nash (1774-1831), known popularly as ‘Father Nash.’ Undoubtedly Nash’s special ministry of prayer played a great part in Finney’s growing success as an evangelist.
Things really took off when he preached in his old church, where Rev. Gale still ministered. Numerous converts and critics followed! Similar results were experienced in nearby towns of Rome and Utica. Soon newspapers were reporting his campaigns and he began drawing large crowds with dramatic responses.
Soon he was preaching in the largest cities of the north with phenomenal results. Campaign after campaign secured thousands of converts.
The high point of Finney’s revival career was reached at Rochester, New York, during his 1830-1 meetings. Shopkeepers closed their businesses and the whole city seemed to centre on the revivalist. Responding to his irresistible logic and passionate arguments many of his converts were lawyers, merchants and those from a higher income and professional status.
His Preaching
Finney openly preached a modified Calvinism, influenced with his own theology of conversion and used what were perceived to be ‘revivalistic techniques.’
These ‘means’ included the use of the anxious bench (a special place for those under conviction), protracted meetings, women allowed to pray in mixed meetings, publicly naming those present resisting God in meetings and the hurried admission of new converts into church membership. Opponents viewed his preaching of the law as ‘scare tactics’ and his persuasive appeals for sinners to come to Christ for salvation were seen as over-emphasising the responsibility of men and ignoring the sovereignty of God.
His theology and practise soon became known as the ‘New Measures’ and attracted many opponents from the Old School Presbyterians led by Asahel Nettleton (himself no stranger to true revival and , the revivalistic Congregationalists headed by Lyman Beecher.
Pastor at Chatham Street Chapel
Finney accepted an appointment as pastor of Chatham Street Chapel in New York City in 1832 where he remained until 1837. It was during this time that he delivered a series of sermons published in 1835 as ‘Lectures on Revivals of Religion.’ Here he clearly stated his views regarding revivals being products of the correct use of human means. Such was the controversy that he left the Presbyterian denomination and joined the Congregationalists in 1836.
Oberlin College
The next year he became professor of theology at Oberlin College (Ohio) where he taught until his death. He was President here from 1851 until 1866, but still continued regular revival meetings in urban settings (twice in England, 1848, 1851) until 1860. During his stay at Oberlin he produced his, Lectures to Professing Christians (1836), Sermons on Important Subjects (1839) and his famous Memoirs.
The Father of Modern Revivalism
There is no doubt that Charles Grandison Finney well-deserves the title ‘The Father of Modern Revivalism.’ He was an evangelistic pioneer whose model was followed by a long line of revivalists from D. L. Moody to Billy Graham. His writing have made a massive impact on the entire evangelical world and particularly the ‘Lectures on Revivals’ which has, arguably, ignited more fires of revival than any other single piece literature in evangelical history.
This ‘Prince of Revivalists’ passed away peacefully at Oberlin on Sunday, 16th August, 1875 aged almost 83 years.
Bibliography: I Will Pour Out My Spirit, R. E. Davies, 1997; Ed: A. Scott Moreau, Baker Evangelical Dictionary of World Missions, 2000; Dictionary of Evangelical Biography 1730-1860, Vol. 1, 1995.
Tony Cauchi
The Secret to Job Satisfaction
Many Christians work in jobs we would not necessarily choose for ourselves. I have before — maybe you are now. We did choose it at some point along the way, but just for less inspiring reasons. I have to pay my rent. I have an engineering degree. I only received one offer. We start jobs for money and a hundred other reasons. After a few years (or months, or even weeks), the satisfying security of the paycheck wears off, and we’re left wondering if we settled too soon and missed “the one.” We start dreaming about something different — different, more comfortable pay; different, more empowering boss; different, more fulfilling responsibilities. Our Vocational Anthems Meanwhile, the culture’s choir sings beautiful harmony to our melancholy melody: Find a job where you get to do what you love to do most. Follow your heart. Don’t settle for any job you’re not passionate about. The songs and slogans are sold by the millions, but for those willing to be honest about our work, at least three realities set in over time: That dream job simply does not exist for many. If it does, it either does not pay enough to cover the rent, or we are not qualified for it. An awful lot of work has to be done that no one dreams about, which means an awful lot of the available jobs are not dream jobs. The hard reality is that we can’t glorify God in the job we want (at least not yet). But we can glorify God in the job we have. Modern Bondservants I wonder how the songs we Millennials hear most about our careers would have landed on Christian slaves in Ephesus? The apostle Paul writes, Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to the Lord and not to man, knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:5–8) Paul writes to “bondservants” about their work, not to support the institution of slavery, but to strengthen faith and inspire joy among the enslaved. To be clear, such slavery was not the brutal and dehumanizing chattel slavery in American history, but these men and women were not as free as we are in America today, either (Ephesians 6:8). If Paul could write these self-denying, countercultural, other-worldly words to slaves about their livelihood, could he write them to us about our jobs? If so, here are three ways we can glorify God in our job, whether we are working the dream, or dreading our work. 1. The work is for God, regardless of who we report to. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling . . . as bondservants of Christ. (Ephesians 6:5–6) Your tax forms may say you work for the government, or a business, or even for yourself, but Paul says you work for God. You are always first and foremost an employee for Christ. Every task you complete comes underneath his lordship. You may never be paid to share or apply the gospel, but it still hangs high over everything else you are paid to do. Work as if Christ were your superior — with holy fear and trembling, and with sincerity. Why? Bosses can cheat us, mistreat us, even fire us, but Christ can do far worse — and far better. He not only sees our every move at work, but knows our every thought — nothing ever gets by him. And he can send us to hell. If your boss monitored you all day every day, would you work differently? Your almighty Savior and Judge sits even closer than that. If we go about our everyday work with greater seriousness and joy, people will ask about our boss. And if there’s nothing remarkable about our boss, they just might ask about our God. 2. The standard is not mere excellence, but heartfelt service. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters . . . with a sincere heart, as you would Christ, not by the way of eye-service, as people-pleasers, but . . . doing the will of God from the heart. (Ephesians 6:5–6) Some will hear “doing the will of God from the heart” and hear “work as much and as hard as you possibly can.” But that is more American than Christian. Men and women chasing the American dream love to be told to work harder and achieve more. They work from the heart — it’s just a heart in love with money, or recognition, or control, or themselves. Christians dream about our jobs differently. When we work from the heart, we work from a passion for Jesus. We don’t spend time counting all the things we can have or achieve here on earth. No, we “count everything as loss” — paychecks, promotions, progress, retirement — “because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ” (Philippians 3:8). “For his sake [we suffer] the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that [we] may gain Christ and be found in him” (Philippians 3:8–9). We never have to fake joy in our jobs because our joy does not come from our jobs. We work from full hearts, not striving to fill our hearts. That kind of heart — not mere excellence — makes our work distinctly Christian. That does not mean Christians should not do their work excellently. We should, as if we were completing our work for Christ. But excellence can easily be mistaken for Christlikeness, when in and of itself, it says nothing about Christ. Lots of doctors, teachers, engineers, and mothers do their work excellently and hate Jesus. The quality of our work might punctuate what we believe, but no one is saved by commas or periods. Something else must set our excellence apart from every other kind of excellence, and that something else happens in our hearts before it ever reaches our hands. 3. The goal is not another paycheck here, but treasure in heaven. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters . . . knowing that whatever good anyone does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether he is a bondservant or is free. (Ephesians 6:5, 8) Do you think about your job primarily in terms of what it will reap in this life, or in the next? The work these slaves did each day may have led to many things — favor with their master, financial or circumstantial gain, maybe even precious freedom — but Paul says the most important outcome could not be had or achieved here on earth. No, the work they were doing was mainly about storing up treasure in heaven. As Jesus says, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” (Matthew 6:19–21) Another paycheck may feel like our most immediate need, but it is another grain of sand compared with all God will give us in eternity. Paychecks are so objective and predictable and tradable next to the overwhelming unknowns of “this he will receive back from the Lord.” But the adrenaline high and false security runs out so fast. And every one of those paychecks will bounce in paradise. Instead of settling for a few higher numbers on a tiny piece of paper (that we’ll probably spend before the month runs out), let’s work like those who are waiting and working for more than we could ever imagine for ourselves (1 Corinthians 2:9). Better Than Your Dream Job None of this means we should pass on a job opportunity that would employ more of our gifts, or a job that we would enjoy more, or one that would free us up to do more ministry. But it has everything to do with how we work when God does not open that door, maybe for months, maybe years, maybe decades. Do we know the secret of job satisfaction? Paul says elsewhere, I have learned in whatever [job I have] to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:11–13) Paul knew the secret. He passed it along to the bondservants in Ephesus. And he wanted you to carry it with you to your job each day. Work for God, from your joy in him, for treasure far greater than money, recognition, or comfort. Bring those dreams to your day job, instead of looking for happiness in your dream job. Article by Marshall Segal
