Peggy Gill Bracken – 1931-2010

I want to express gratitude to our church family, First Baptist Lakeland. You have been so faithful to pray for my Mother, Peggy Bracken, over the past years. My mother was so blessed to receive cards from our Sunday School classes and from many in our Church. I have been so humbled by your calls, and notes and your stopping me to ask how my Mother was doing and offering your support, prayers and concern. I passed on your prayers, love and concern to her and she was so blessed to know of your support and prayers. It has been a difficult path but there has been such amazing grace manifested to me and my family, and much of that grace has been through you, our Church family.

I have no anger or animosity against our Maker, but genuine devotion and love born out of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For the same God who sovereignly ordains disease and catastrophes is the same God who by His determined purpose ordained that sinful men with their sinful intent would nail His Son to a cross. Two verses come to mind:

(Job 1:21 NASB) And he said, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD."

(Rom 8:28 NASB) And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

Cancer and illness are such a reminder that we are made for something so much better than this broken world. Pain causes us to look for relief. In Christ, that relief has now been personally ministered to my Mother by Jesus Christ Himself (Rev 21:1-7). I believe that following death we will enter into that relief just as Jesus promised the thief who placed his faith in the Lord Jesus, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

For those in Christ, we have a great future hope!

At this point we are planning to have the funeral this Wednesday morning and the visitation on Tuesday evening. The specifics will be worked out Monday morning as we meet together with the funeral directors.

By the way… something personal about my mother that many of you will appreciate. She always said, “Flowers are for the living”. I always thought that was a private family comment but apparently it got out. Ever since December, there has rarely been a weekday that flowers have not been delivered to my Mom.

My mother requested that any memorial gifts be given to First Baptist Church, Brewton, AL or First Baptist Church, Lakeland, GA.

By God’s grace and for His glory,
Brother John

Peggy Gill Bracken – 1932-2010
Williams Memorial Chapel Funeral Home, 2353 South Blvd, Brewton, AL 36426-7152; (251) 867-4304

Peggy Bracken “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain” – Philippians 1:21 (ESV)

Some may not have known that my Mother has been suffering from two forms of Lung Cancer for well over 2 years. This morning at 8:58 am (Central Time) an awesome and wonderful thing happened, my Mother found herself directly in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

My Mother was a wonderful Christian lady. I could spend hours talking about all the good things that she has done. One of the greatest things she has done is to find grace and strength to graciously love me, for I am not always easy to love. I am so thankful that God chose me to have such a wonderful Mother in Peggy Bracken.

One thing I want to clearly state: My Mother being able to stand in the presence of the Lord has nothing to do with her being a good lady or a "saint". Her hope, as is my hope and hopefully yours, is in "Jesus' blood and righteousness" (On Christ The Solid Rock, Edward Mote, 1797-1874).

I love what John Newton, at age 82, said, "My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour."

Many things will be remembered over the coming days concerning my Mother. We will relive the memories, laugh and cry, honor her and remember that she, by God's grace, stands in the presence of God because Jesus died in her place granting to her salvation by grace through faith (Eph 2:8-9).

Funerals that are done for people who have lived for Christ, trusting in His substitutionary death for their salvation, often unwittingly communicate a works false gospel (salvation merited or earned). We end up bragging on this person saying things like “If they can’t make it to heaven, then none of us have a chance”. The Gospel truth is that none of us have a chance. When the disciples were astonished that the rich young ruler was not good enough to enter into heaven they asked Jesus about it and this is what was said:

“When the disciples heard this, they were greatly astonished and asked, ‘Who then can be saved?’ Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” (Mat 19:25-26 NIV)

It is impossible for us to save ourselves, only God can save us. Our sin and offense was so great, that no man could atone for it. Only God could reconcile us to Himself. He alone is the hope of our salvation.

As we eulogize my Mother, may we celebrate the life she has lived as a gift from God. May we remember her and honor her. More than anything, may we celebrate the God who saved her from eternal condemnation and saved her to be with himself for eternity (And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. [John 14:3 KJV]).

Before Holy God, we are all great sinners in desperate need of the GREAT SAVIOUR – JESUS CHRIST.

With gratitude to God for His great merciful saving work for sinners,
Proudly Peggy Bracken's son, John

A Wretch Like Who?

Before I spoke at a conference, a soloist sang one of my favorite songs, "Amazing Grace."

It was beautiful. Until she got to the tenth word.

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a soul like me."

My heart sank. The word "wretch" had been edited out! I thought about John Newton, the song-writer. This former slave-trader, guilty of the vilest sins, knew he was a wretch. And that's what made God's grace so "amazing." Mind-boggling. Knock-down awesome.

If we're nothing more than morally neutral "souls," do you see what that does? It guts grace. The better we are, the less we need grace. The less amazing it becomes. (Change the Baby Jessica story to rescuing Osama bin Laden and you have a better picture of redemption.)

The Bible makes an astounding proclamation: "God showed us his love in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8).
When you cut "wretch" out of the song, you shrink grace. You reduce it to something more sensible, less surprising.

If we weren't so bad without Christ, why did He have to endure the cross? Paul said if men were good enough, then "Christ died for nothing" (Galatians 2:21).

Grace never ignores the awful truth of our depravity. In fact, it emphasizes it. The worse we realize we are, the greater we realize God's grace is.



Grace isn't about God lowering His standards. It's about God fulfilling those standards through the substitutionary suffering of the Standard-setter. Christ went to the cross because He would not ignore the truths of His holiness and our sin. Grace never ignores or violates truth. Grace gave what truth demanded: the ultimate sacrifice for our sins.

Human depravity may be an insulting doctrine, but grasping it is liberating. Why? Because when I realize the best I can do without Him is like "filthy rags" in His sight (Isaiah 64:6), it finally sinks in that I have nothing to offer. Salvation therefore hinges on His work, not mine.

You and I, after all, weren't (or aren't, if you don't yet know Him) merely sick in our sins, we were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1-3). That means I'm not just unworthy of salvation, I'm utterly incapable of earning it. Corpses can't raise themselves from the grave.

What relief to realize my salvation cannot be earned by good works—and therefore can't be lost by bad ones.

If we see God as He really is, and ourselves as we really are, there's only one appropriate response: to worship Him. Humility isn't pretending we're unworthy because it's spiritual—it's recognizing we're unworthy because it's true.

A. W. Tozer said, "Only the humble are sane."

Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Randy Alcorn, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055, 503-668-5200, www.epm.org, www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/randyalcorn, www.twitter.com/randyalcorn

Tim Hawkins - The Government Can

Why I Hate Religion - Mark Driscoll

This provides an excellent contrast between religion and/or "do goodism" & the Gospel...

“Preach to yourself” by D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them, but they start talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc.

Somebody is talking. Who is talking? Your self is talking to you. Now this man’s treatment was this; instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. ‘Why art thou cast down, O my soul?’ he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says: ‘Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you.’…

The main art in the matter of spiritual living is to know how to handle yourself. You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’– what business have you to be disquieted?

You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’– instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way. And then you must go on to remind yourself of God, Who God is, and what God is and what God has done, and what God has pledged Himself to do.

Then having done that, end on this great note: defy yourself, and defy other people, and defy the devil and the whole world, and say with this man: ‘I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance, who is also the health of my countenance and my God.’”

–D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Its Cure(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965/2002), 20-1.

The Cost of Grace

Hounded by the Pharisees, betrayed by a friend, forsaken by His disciples, brutalized by police, beaten by His inquisitors, led in disgrace to a rigged trial.

Arrogant men sitting in judgment over Him, crowning Him with thorns, mocking and disdaining. Beating Him without mercy, nailing Him to the cross, the worst of tortures, stretched out between thieves.

Miserably thirsty, utterly forsaken by His Father for the first time, the picture of utter aloneness.

Hell on earth! Not just one man's hell, but the hell of billions. At any moment-in a millisecond—He could have called legions of angels to deliver Him and destroy His enemies. Instead, He bears forever the scars of sin, rebellion, mockery, and hatred…the scars of God's grace.

The cost of redemption cannot be overstated. The wonders of grace cannot be overemphasized. Christ took the hell He didn't deserve so we could have the heaven we don't deserve.

If you're not stunned by the thought of grace…then you aren't grasping what grace offers you, or what it cost Jesus.

In 1987 eighteen month old "Baby Jessica" fell twenty-two feet into a Texas well. Rescuers labored nonstop to save her. After 55 grueling hours, her life hanging in the balance, finally they reached her, and extracted her from the well. The nation breathed a sigh of relief and cheered the heroes.

This was not the story: "Baby Jessica clawed her eighteen month old body up the side of that twenty-two foot well, inch by inch, digging in her little toes and working her way up. She's a hero, that Jessica!"

Baby Jessica was utterly helpless. She could do nothing to deliver herself. Her fate was in the hands of her rescuers. Left to herself Jessica had no chance. Likewise, when it comes to our salvation, we're utterly powerless. That's grace: "at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly" (Romans 5:6).

We get no more applause for our redemption than Baby Jessica got for being rescued. God alone deserves the ovation. In the story of redemption, He's the only hero. And it didn't just cost him 55 hours of hard work—it cost him everything.

Do you want to say "thank you" right now?

Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Randy Alcorn, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055, 503-668-5200, www.epm.org, www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/randyalcorn, www.twitter.com/randyalcorn

Advance 09: Matt Chandler - Preaching the Gospel to the De-Churched

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, Dallas, TX Metro Area (multi-site) will be speaking at this year's Southern Baptist Convention's Pastors Conference. He recently was diagnosed with a form of aggressive brain cancer, underwent surgery and has been undergoing chemo and radiation treatments. Below is one of his many excellent messages that he has preached over the past years. To see other video messages from the Advance 09 Conference click this link.

Why I hate religion - Mark Driscoll

What is Grace?

We spent an unforgettable day in England with Phil and Margaret Holder. Margaret had been born in China to missionary parents with China Inland Mission. In 1939, when Japan took control of Eastern China, thirteen-year-old Margaret was imprisoned in a Japanese internment camp. There she remained, separated from her parents, for six years.

Margaret told us stories about a godly man called "Uncle Eric." He tutored her and was deeply loved by all the children in the camp. We were amazed to discover that "Uncle Eric" was Eric Liddell, "The Flying Scott," hero of the movie Chariots of Fire. Liddell shocked the world by refusing to run the 100 meters in the 1924 Paris Olympics, a race he was favored to win. He withdrew because the qualifying heat was on a Sunday.

Liddell won a gold medal—and broke a world record—in the 400 meters, not his strongest event. Later he went as a missionary to China. When war broke out, he sent his pregnant wife and daughters to safety. Imprisoned by the Japanese, he never saw his family in this world again. Suffering with a brain tumor, Eric Liddell died in 1945, shortly after his forty-third birthday.

Through fresh tears, Margaret told us, "It was a cold February day when Uncle Eric died."

At times it seemed unbearable to be cut off from their homes and families. But Margaret spoke with delight of "care packages falling from the sky"—barrels of food and supplies dropped from American planes.

One day, Margaret and the other children were lined up as usual to count off for roll call. Suddenly an American airplane flew low. They watched it circle and drop more of those wonderful food barrels. But as the barrels came near the ground, the captives realized something was different. Her eyes bright, Margaret told us, "This time the barrels had legs!" The sky was full of American soldiers, parachuting down to rescue them.

Margaret and several hundred children rushed out of the camp, past Japanese guards who offered no resistance. Free for the first time in six years, they ran to the soldiers, raining down everywhere. They threw themselves on their rescuers, hugging and kissing them.

Imagine the children's joy. Imagine the soldiers' joy.

God rejoices in the grace He offers, as much as we rejoice in receiving it. Whether it's Him returning from the sky to liberate us, or drawing us to Himself through our deaths, we will be rescued and at last reunited with loved ones who've gone before us. We'll be taken home.

Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Randy Alcorn, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055, 503-668-5200, www.epm.org, www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/randyalcorn, www.twitter.com/randyalcorn

Achieving Balance

The apparent conflict between grace and truth isn't because they're incompatible, but because we lack perspective to resolve their paradox. The two are interdependent. We should never approach truth except in a spirit of grace, or grace except in a spirit of truth. Jesus wasn't 50% grace, 50% truth, but 100% grace, 100% truth.

Truth-oriented Christians love studying Scripture and theology. But sometimes they're quick to judge and slow to forgive. They're strong on truth, weak on grace.

Grace-oriented Christians love forgiveness and freedom. But sometimes they neglect biblical study and see moral standards as "legalism." They're strong on grace, weak on truth.

Countless mistakes in marriage, parenting, ministry and other relationships are failures to balance grace and truth. Sometimes we neglect both. Often we choose one over the other.

It reminds me of Moses, our Dalmatian.

When one tennis ball's in his mouth, the other's on the floor. When he goes for the second ball, he drops the first. Large dogs can get two balls in their mouth. Not Moses. He manages to get two in his mouth only momentarily. To his distress, one ball or the other spurts out onto the floor.

Similarly, our minds don't seem big enough to hold onto grace and truth at the same time. We go after the grace ball—only to drop the truth ball to make room for it. We need to stretch our undersized minds to hold them both at once.

A paradox is an apparent contradiction. Grace and truth aren't really contradictory. Jesus didn't switch on truth, then turn it off so He could switch on grace. Both are permanently switched on in Jesus. Both should be switched on in us.

Truth without grace breeds a self-righteousness legalism that poisons the church and pushes the world from Christ.

Grace without truth breeds moral indifference and keeps people from seeing their need for Christ.

Attempts to "soften" the gospel by minimizing truth keep people from Jesus. Attempts to "toughen" the gospel by minimizing grace keep people from Jesus.

It's not enough for us to offer grace or truth. We must offer both.

That's what this little book is all about.

Permissions: Feel free to reproduce and distribute any articles written by Randy Alcorn, in part or in whole, in any format, provided that you do not alter the wording in any way or charge a fee beyond the cost of reproduction. It is our desire to spread this information, not protect or restrict it.

Please include the following statement on any distributed copy: by Randy Alcorn, Eternal Perspective Ministries, 39085 Pioneer Blvd., Suite 206, Sandy, OR 97055, 503-668-5200, www.epm.org, www.randyalcorn.blogspot.com, www.facebook.com/randyalcorn, www.twitter.com/randyalcorn