Stand and Proclaim

The Hope We Have In God's Word

2012-01-13T15:31:00.000-05:00

In Psalm 12 David calls out for help. The poor have been plundered and the needy are groaning and now in verse 5, God says He will help. Upon hearing God's Word, we see this incredible peace come over David. This is what he says in verse 6:

"The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times."

Because God is righteous and pure, so are His Words. His Word contains no impurities, in fact David likens God's Word to silver that has been purified by fire 7 times. 7 is the number of perfection, therefore God's Word is perfect. So what does this mean? It means that David knew with absolute confidence that God would help because He does not lie, His words are always true. It means we also can place our absolute confidence in God's Word. What it God says we can believe! When God's Word says in, John 1:12 that when we believe in His name, we "become children of God", we can rest assured that we have been adopted into family of God forever. When His Word says, in Romans 8:1 that there is "now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus", we know for certain we will never again be the objects of God's wrath. When we are told in Romans 8:28 that God works all things for His glory and for the good of "those who are called according to His purpose", then we can be confident that all of His actions are perfect and righteous with never even an ounce of wickedness in them.

While this knowledge is good, it does us no good if we do not apply it. Often times because of difficult trials and circumstances we can begin to doubt God's goodness. We wonder if He is really there. We question if He really is all-knowing and all-seeing. What happens in these moments is that we are placing God's Word in subjection to our feelings. We begin to think His Word is not as perfect and pure as He says it is. Now feelings are great and are very important for us, but if we allow emotions to control us rather than God's Word we are surely headed for rocky ground. Just as David does so many times throughout the Psalms we must also continually subject our feelings to the Truth of who God is and what He has told us about Himself.

Here in Psalm 12 David cries out for help and upon hearing God's Word His soul is at rest. God has said He will help and even though there has been no evidence of Him helping in the current situation, David knows He will. The same thing takes place in Psalm 13. Four times David cries out in the first two verses, "How long..." David is tired, He needs helps but does he throw in the towel? No! In verse 5 David says,

"But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me."

David subjects his feelings to the authority of Scripture to the authority of God. This is real faith. This is what you and I are to do each day. We must fight against a finite, earthly, sinful perspective and believe in the truth of God's Word. It is in God's perfect pure and righteous Word we will find hope and comfort and the strength to persevere.

Faithful Prayers When Soaking Our Bed With Tears

2012-01-06T10:39:00.002-05:00

I am weary with my moaning;
every night I flood my bed with tears;
I drench my couch with my weeping.
My eye wastes away because of grief;
it grows weak because of all my foes.

The Lord has heard my plea;
the Lord accepts my prayer.
All my enemies shall be ashamed and greatly troubled;
they shall turn back and be put to shame in a moment. (Psalm 6:6, 7, 9, 10 ESV)

The amazing display of faith in this psalm greatly blessed me this morning. David is in such great suffering that he describes himself as wasting away as he soaks his bed with tears every night. Whatever the situation is, David's soul is certainly troubled. At the end of verse 3 he cries out "O Lord - how long?".

Is this not what we do when we suffer, we want to know how much longer, when will life get easy again? Often it seems that the longer we are in a trial, the longer we suffer the more discouraged we become. We become less inclined to pray, we think God does not hear us, and anger and bitterness quickly begin to build. When we say "how much longer" it is often out of a lack of faith but David's is not that way. His cry is one of faith. That is what is so incredible about the psalm.

For 7 verses David describes the pain he is in and that he wants God to bring relief, and then in verses 8-10 he talks with great confidence the victory God is going to give him over his enemies.

In verse 8 he tells his enemies to depart from him because God has heard him.
In verse 9 he says the Lord has heard my plea and accepted it.
In verse 10 he is confident that God will bring victory at any moment.

Twice David says God has heard him even though there has been no audible or visible indication, what faith! David has not been discouraged that God has not answered him quickly but it seems as though he has grown in confidence that God will rescue him and it could take place at any moment.

This psalm greatly convicts me and encourages me. It convicts me of trying to put God in a box and saying he must answer me within my prescribed time. It convicts me that I can grow weary of praying and think God has not heard me. It convicts me that my my faith is often to small.

But this psalm encourages me because it shows that God does hear my prayers even when there are no visible signs. It encourages me to not let my time dictate God's answer as if I know when it would be best for him to act, but to let God act in His perfect timing. It encourages me that God's answer can come at any moment.

David knows God loves him.
David knows God hears him.
David knows God will do what is best for him and for His glory.
David knows to wait patiently for God's timing.
David knows to remain focused on God and His character and not his surroundings.

An App that really does you help memorize God's Word

2011-12-19T11:40:00.001-05:00

Because of great peer pressure I have recently converted from an Android phone to an Iphone, and actually I have been quite pleased. The Iphone does everything I need, the programs always work, and there is no lag time. I am one of those cell phone users that always has his phone with him and uses it repeatedly throughout the day. I am always looking for new and better apps (preferably free) to make me more efficient but I also and always looking for ones that can help me in my faith. I figure if I have my phone with me all the time then surely I can use it for more then just making a phone call or sending a text. I have several Bible apps and even a great prayer app but the last app I downloaded was one that helps you memorize God's Word.

It's called FighterVerse and it is from Desiring God. It comes with 5 years worth of passages to memorize and in addition to that it also comes with what is called an extended memory collection which helps you memorize the Book of Philippians, Colossians, James, Matthew 5-7, and Romans 5-8. It also contains a section titled, "Foundation Verses" for kids. There are 76 verses in this section and they are geared to help young kids understand basic biblical truths. What is neat is that every verse comes with a unique picture to help the child memorize. And if you memorize all the verses that come with the app, you can still enter you own in.

But this app does more than just hold all the verses you want to memorize, it also offers 3 different types of quizzes, each containing 5 levels of increasing difficulty to help you learn the verse. The first quiz is called Quick Blanks, and in this quiz there are certain words at random that will be missing from the verse. By tapping on the screen the words will appear. The second quiz is called, Word Blank, it is similar to Quick Blank but you are given a word box to choose words from. The third quiz is called Typing quiz, and you must type in the words that are missing.

In addition to all that, you can also label your verses according to topic, you can save them to your lock screen so you see them every time you turn on your phone, and one last fun feature is that every verse in the standard Fighter Verse collection includes a song. This is especially neat for those who have a hard time memorizing, sometimes by putting verses to music it makes them easier to memorize.

The Bible is the Word of God and we must take it seriously. We need to know it, and one of the best ways to really learn God's Word is to memorize it. This is an app that can actually really help with that.

Video from Desiring God

2011-12-15T14:09:00.000-05:00

Desiring God just posted a video on their blog today that I believe is worth looking at. It gives a little insight into the life of John and Noel Piper but it really focuses on the mission of Desiring God and what they are trying to do. The population of the earth is now over 7 billion people, and the majority of them do not know Christ. Desiring God is one ministry that is serious about making a global impact for the Kingdom of God.

Click here to go to the Desiring God website and read even more about this great ministry.

Desiring God Mission Update — with Pastor John from Desiring God on Vimeo.

6 Important Links to the Meaning of Hope

2011-12-09T08:53:00.001-05:00

I have been absent from blogging for the last couple of weeks, I guess the holiday season has had its toil on me. My family and I just returned from seeing my parents in California a couple of days ago, and the great thing is, we made it back for the first snow fall. I woke up my son today by whispering in his ear, "Ben, it snowed." He quickly jumped up and we ran to the big living room window where he let out a squeal of pure delight.

Now to the real reason why I am writing this post...
This morning I came across a blog on the Desiring God website and it was a huge blessing to me. Sam Crabtree the executive pastor at Bethlehem Baptist has written a great post on hope. Please take the time to read and meditate on what is said. To see the original link click here.

Romans 15:13,

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

1. Link Between Gratitude and Hope

Gratefulness looks back. Hope looks forward with desire and reasonable confidence and expectation. By looking back, gratitude fuels forward-looking hope.
As with over-matched ball teams that are behind late in the game, hanging their heads without oomph, without hope for the future, there isn’t power for the present.
Persons who tend not to be grateful tend not to be hopeful.

2. Link Between Hopelessness and Misplaced Trust

Hopelessness is a curse; it’s the curse of trusting in man or in anything other than God and his perfect wisdom and timing.
Despair looks at immediate realities; hope sees ultimate realities. Some see a hopeless end, but others see an Endless Hope.
Psalm 33:17, The war horse is a false hope for salvation. . .
How is hope sustained? Answer: trust the right thing — God.
Hope believes that God is not done. Hope is the feeling we have that the feeling we have is not the feeling we will have. That is, hope is the (up) feeling we have that the (down) feeling we have is not permanent.

3. Link Between Old Testament text (Isaiah 11:1–10) with New Testament Hope

The Old Testament is a story of frustrated hope. Everyone longs for God to do something.
Why was Isaiah 11:1–10 written? Here’s one reason:
Romans 15:4, "For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
Romans 15:12–13, "And again Isaiah says, 'The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.' May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope."

4. Link Suffering to Hope

Romans 5:2–5,

we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The goal of everything, including suffering, is hope.
Many lose hope during tribulation, but God intends for tribulation to produce hope… through faith.
How does one grow in hope during tribulation? Answer: God’s love is poured into our hearts (through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us).

5. Link Jesus to Your Hope

Jesus is our hope.
In the baby Jesus, God was fulfilling the hopes of his people in a way that they did not recognize. We may not see it now, but God has already acted for us, and God is working even now behind the scenes to bring about his good will.
The key is to remember Jesus, who knows your situation, and whose Spirit in us is a down payment of glory yet to come. God is not done.

6. Link Your Hope to the God Who Is Not Done

God was not done when Noah was in the boat, Sarah was barren, Joseph was in prison, Moses was on the run from Pharaoh, the children of Israel were pinned against the Red Sea, the walls of Jericho blocked possession of the promised land, Gideon was hiding from the Midianites, Samson was seduced by a woman and blinded, Ruth was widowed, David was mocked as a boy facing a giant, Job’s children were all killed, government officials persecuted Daniel, Jonah was in the belly of a fish, Paul couldn’t get rid of this thorn, and Jesus was put in the grave. God is not done!
Hope is not undone, because he is not done!
Sam Crabtree is Executive Pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church and author of Practicing Affirmation (Crossway, 2011). Listen to Sam's recent sermon at Bethlehem that this post is based on.

Living a Gospel Saturated Life

2011-11-18T08:45:00.001-05:00

I opened my email today and to my delight I saw a blog from the Desiring God website, titled: Gospel-Saturated Dish-Washing and Diaper-Changing. The blog is basically an excerpt from Jared Wilson's new book Gospel Wakefulness. In it he shows that God owns every millisecond of our lives, and everything we do from washing dishes to changing diapers is to be done for the glory of God. This book will be finding its way into my e-reader very soon.
You can either read the blog below or click here to go to the Desiring God website to read it.

In his new book, Gospel Wakefulness, Jared Wilson talks about how all of life is relevant for mission. From drinking coffee to changing diapers, from cutting the grass to washing dishes — all of life can be lived to the glory of God by those who have been awakened to the gospel of our exhaustively sovereign Savior.
He writes,

One of the attendant aims of missional evangelicalism is to challenge the compartmentalizing of the Christian faith that we see within the Western church. We are fantastic at itemizing our schedules, and even if we don't assign God a very large bracket, we are constantly remorseful that we "haven't made much time for him." While such compartmentalizing — as if "time with God" can or should be hermetically sealed off from everything else — is a natural symptom of our culture and environment, it also reflects a bad theology.
The truth is, the day does not belong to us. It is not our day to do with as we please. We serve a sovereign God. He created the end from the beginning, knows our future exhaustively, and is firmly in control. He made our days and they belong to him. As such, isn't it a bit arrogant to begin with the idea that each day is ours and then worry about fitting God in? Instead, we should work at the humble awe of knowing all of our moments, every millisecond, waking or sleeping, are perfectly accounted for within the economy of heaven.
Let us stake the flag of Christ's kingdom into the soil of our first waking moment. Drink your coffee when you get up, of course, but drink it to the glory of God. Then carry on in this way all day, no matter the task, be it menial or notable, so that each day may be a living prayer that God's will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This is what it means to live a gospel-saturated life: it means being so conscious of the greatness of the gospel that changing diapers or cutting the grass is as much an act of worship as singing a praise chorus in a church service….
Jesus Christ is Lord over my heart, and he is Lord over my hands, and he is Lord over what I do with these hands, and he is Lord over what I say in my heart while I'm doing it. In submitting to the lordship of Christ, then, I do not treat washing dishes as wasting time I could be spending doing something "meaningful," but rather as a service to those who eat in my home, as a service to those who would have to wash the dishes if I did not, and as an offering of thanksgiving to God that I have food to eat, dishes to eat it on, and running water inside my home to clean with.
To paraphrase C. S. Lewis, there is not a square inch of our lives that is not claimed by God and counterclaimed by ourselves. If we believe God is sovereign, however, we will see all of life as mission and be led to submit the square inches we otherwise hold so tightly to the Maker of inches and hands.

Gospel Wakefulness, (Wheaton: Crossway, 2011), 90–92, paragraphing added.

Christianity and Pessimism

2011-11-11T14:17:00.001-05:00

Can a Christian be a pessimist? Yes, a Christian can be a pessimist but perhaps a better question is, should a Christian be a pessimist? Now I admit that I am a glass half full kind of guy (and for those that know me, may me think that is an understatement), but as Christians, should we not be the most joy-filled optimistic people on the planet? Think about it, we have the Word of God: we know how the world began and we know how it will end. 2,000 years ago Christ came to earth, lived a perfect life, died on a cross, then 3 days later He rose, and now He sits on a throne at the right hand of God. Christ defeated sin and death and those who have received Him as their Lord and Savior have have also overcome sin and death. This is good news! But do we think about it as good news? Or have we become so familiar with Christianity that the good news now just sounds likes like "okay news"?

Hendrikus Berkhof writes:

The average Christian does not expect to see any positive signs of Christ's reign in the world. He believes that the world only becomes worse and races in the direction of the antichrist...The average Christian is not aware of the presence of the Kingdom in the world today...Prevalent in our churches is a bad kind of pietism...which limits the power of Christ to his personal relationship to the individual believer, and which sees no connection between Christ and world-events, or between Christ and daily work. This leads to an ungrateful blindness for the signs of Christ's reign in the present. Expressions such as "we live on the edge of a volcano," "it can't last this way much longer," "humanity is steadily becoming worse," "the end of time is near" are very popular in Christian circles. And they believe that this pessimism of culture...is completely in agreement with the Christian faith.

When I read that I wanted to say "NO!" that cannot be true, but is it? Do we become so focused on sin in the world that we forget Christ is sitting sovereignly on His throne, watching over His bride, and bringing all events to an end which at that time He will return?

As Christians, we must remember that when Christ came, He gave a death blow to Satan and his kingdom. And while Satan is doing everything he can to grow his kingdom in the short time that he has, there is another kingdom that is also growing in size.

Matthew 13:24–30 (ESV)

²⁴ He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, ²⁵ but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. ²⁷ And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ ²⁹ But he said, ‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’ ”

Both the plants (Kingdom of God/Heaven) and the weeds (kingdom of Satan) are growing until the time of harvest. So often we get focused on the weeds that we forget the plants are growing also. This is where we as Christians must repent and do as Paul said in Colossians 3:1–2 (ESV), "If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ² Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

We must set our eyes on Christ. We must fixate them on Christ and refuse to become focused on anything else. It is when we take our eyes off of Christ we become like Peter who took took his eyes off of Christ when walking on water and began to sink. If we are not fixated on Christ we will slowly sink into the sinful pessimistic attitude of the world.

It is when we are focused on Christ we remember what He has done and the promise of what He will do. Yes, there are 2 kingdoms, but only one will last. In Hebrews 12 we are told when Christ returns He will shake the earth and everything will fall but His Kingdom, for it is unshakable (Heb. 12:25-28). When we know our citizenship is in the unshakeable kingdom of God, how can we ever fall into pessimism? Sure there are horrible things that occur everyday in the world but there are also many wonderful God-honoring things too. And we must not think that God cannot or does not use these 'horrrible' things for His glory.

We must daily fight the battle of Joy. Satan wants to rob us of our joy so we will wallow in despair and so those who are lost will not see it. Therefore we must fight for joy not just for out benefit but so those in the world will see the magnificence of Christ and so ultimately God is glorified.

What Is A Cult?

2011-11-07T06:51:00.002-05:00

Recently Joel Osteen one of the most popular pastors in all of America said that Mormons and Christians are really no different. We both believe in Jesus so we both must be Christians. Osteen, one who hates to be divisive once again proves he does understand the gospel at all. Click here to see this video with Osteen.

Mark Driscoll recently posted an article titled, Is Mormonism a Cult where he addresses some important questions. Click here to see Driscoll's blog article, Is Mormonism A Cult.

Costly Grace

2011-11-05T16:18:00.000-04:00

I was preparing for my sermon this week and I picked up Dietrich Bonhoeffer's book, The Cost of Discipleship, and began to look at some of the areas I had underlined. Here is one quote that I especially felt was powerful:

Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which man must knock.

Suchgrace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it callsus to follow Jesus Christ. it is costlybecause it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man theonly true life. It is costly because itcondemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost Godthe life of his Son: 'ye were bought at a price,' and what has cost God much cannotbe cheap for us. Above all it is gracebecause God did not reckon His Son too dear a price to pay for our life, butdelivered Him up for us. Costly grace isthe incarnation of God."
Costly grace is the sanctuary of God; it has to be protected from the world, and not thrown to the dogs. It is therefore the living word, the Word of God, which he speaks as it pleases him. Costly grace confronts us as a gracious call to follow Jesus, it comes as a word of forgiveness to the broken spirit and the contrite heart. Grace is costly because it compels a man to submit to the yoke of Christ and follow him; it is grace because Jesus says: "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (pg. 45).

Spare Parts Christianity

2011-10-24T12:28:00.000-04:00

Have you ever noticed when you buy furniture at target or Walt-Mart they give you some extra parts? They include a couple of extra screws or nails or whatever, but very rarely do you need them, so often they either get thrown into a junk drawer or in the trash. We consider them unimportant and of no value therefore we have no problem with parting with them.

I have begun to wonder if this is what we often do as Christians. Do we merely give God our spare parts? Do we give the things which are not painful for us to give, do we give only when we have excess so that our own wallets are not affected? Do we say, "God, once I have paid the mortgage, utility bills, cell phone, gas, insurance, education costs, diapers, groceries, movies, restaurants, savings, and the 401k, then I will freely give you 10% of whatever I have left?" I realize this may be an exaggeration but is it somewhat true?

And this idea of giving God our spare parts need not only be limited to money. What about our time? Recently I had someone say to me, "How am I to work 60 hours a week, spend time with my family, go to my kids activities, try to get a few hours of sleep, and then go to church to do ministry?"

What we have begun to do is compartmentalize our life. We do what we need (want) to do and then with our left over (spare parts) money/time we give to God. But is this how God calls us to live our lives?

Romans 12:1–2 (ESV)

¹ I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. ² Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul says our lives are to be a living sacrifice to God. This means everything we do is to be done for the glory of God. God is the one who determines the spending of all our money so it glorifies Him. And when it comes to our time, every minute of the day is ministry. Ministry does not take place only at church but at home with the family, at work, at the gas station, in the checkout line at the grocery store, and everywhere else we go. I love what Paul says in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (ESV)

¹⁹ Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, ²⁰ for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

My life has been purchased by the blood of Christ. I no longer sit on the throne governing what I do and don't do. Christ sits on the throne and my life is to glorify and honor Him. I AM NOT MY OWN, BUT I AM OWNED BY CHRIST!!! I must never forget that! The church can never forget that! God doesn't get the spare parts, the left-overs, the things that do not matter, He gets everything for He bought not part of us but all us of at the cross.

Going back to Romans 12, in verse 2 it says, we are "not to be conformed to this world." I believe we as Christians must meditate on those words every day so we never forget that we are not to live in such a way that pleases the world but in such a way that please God. God is not glorified in spare parts Christianity, but He is most glorified when we live unrestrained abandoned lives for Him at all times.

Equipped to Worship

2011-10-21T15:34:00.000-04:00

For the past few months on Wednesday nights we have been studying the book of Hebrews. Hebrews is a fascinating book that is so essential for Christians to understand. In Hebrews we really see the reason Jesus came and died on the cross. We see why He is called our High Priest. We understand why He only had to make one sacrifice. We understand why the new covenant is so much greater than the old. Needless to say, it has been a blessing to go through and I have learned so much and grown in my faith because of it.

This last week we were in Hebrews 13 which is the last chapter of this book. In this chapter the author begins to give a list of ways we are to worship God in an acceptable manner (12:28). Here are 8 acceptable ways in which we worship are to God in our everyday lives:

We worship God in brotherly love.
We worship God in hospitality.
We worship God in ministering to those who suffer.
We worship God in honoring marriage.
We worship God in contentment.
We worship God in living out our faith.
We worship God in right doctrine.
We worship God in submission to church leadership.

These 8 things are powerful ways in which we are to worship God, but take note, this is not an easy list. At least five of these things are ways we worship God in relationship with others; and loving others is not always easy, we are sinful people full of pride. But what we see here in Hebrews is that the way we love other brothers and sisters in Christ worships God. The way we show love to strangers worships God. The way we submit to church leadership worships God. We do not worship God in small compartmental sections of our lives but with unrestrained obedience in all aspects of our lives.

While loving others is not easy we can rest in the fact we are not alone. Not only will God strengthen us to do all that He calls us to do but He will also equip us.

Hebrews 13:20–21 (ESV)

²⁰ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

This is powerful! God through the sending of Christ and the sealing of the Spirit equips us to stand firm in our faith and glorify Him in all our words and actions. WOW! This means when I am faced with someone difficult to love, I can be confident that God has equipped me to love that person. When I do not love someone it is not because God has failed to equip me, or His equipping has been insufficient but because I chose to be disobedient and reject His equipping. The reason I can be content in a discontent world is because God has equipped me with the peace and grace to do so. I can freely love strangers not because I have something in common with them, but because I have been equipped with the power of God's love and He will cause it to overflow from my life to theirs. I do not honor the marriage bed because I am strong willed and can resist temptation but because I have been equipped with the power of God soI can live a self-controlled life.

God has equipped us in every way that we can live worshipful lives unto Him. We must be fix our eyes on Christ, trust in the new covenant in which we stand, kill sin, and obey all that He has called us to do. God is not glorified because of our strength, but because of the strength He has given and equipped us with. God has equipped us to live lives of worship.

How Does God Speak Today?

2011-10-19T07:30:00.001-04:00

So often I hear people wanting to know what God's will is. They seem to try so many things but neglect the one thing God has given, His Word. Tim Challies wrote a great article on how God speaks today. In it, he made four statements he says we need to affirm:

God can speak to people in many different ways and guide them with their cooperation.
today God speaks to us by his Son.
God speaks to us by his Son, through his Spirit in the Bible.
apart from this, speaking by his Son, through his Spirit in the Bible, God does not promise that he will speak in any other way.

Click here for the full article

Jesus The Evangelist

2011-10-13T11:33:00.000-04:00

Tim Challies posted a blog in response to a new book titled Jesus the Evangelist by Richard Phillips. Now I have read several books by Richard Phillips so I was instantly intrigued. Many of Phillips' books have come about through his preaching ministry and this one is no different. When getting to the nitty gritty details on how Jesus did evangelism Phillips emphasizes John chapters 3 and 4 where Jesus talked to Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman.

Below is a sample from the book:

A great contrast. Yet the point of the stories is that both the man and the woman needed the gospel and were welcome to it. If Nicodemus is an example of the truth that no one can rise so high as to be above salvation, the woman is an example of the truth that none can sink too low.

In his blog, Challies wrote about the conviction that came over him as he read the book regarding his own lack of evangelism. Challies realized that he had to be more intentional and willing to cross cultural, social, and religious boundaries to help people to know about Christ.

We, too, have to cross barriers to reach people for Christ. This does not mean that we should participate in sin—Jesus never did that. But it does mean that we have to reach out to people who will never come to church or read the Bible. This woman did not belong to the religious world that produced Jesus. So He came into her world with the gospel. He crossed ethnic, gender and religious lines to seek her out. William Barclay exclaims, “Here is God so loving the world, not in theory, but in action.” We must do the same on His behalf.

I encourage you to evaluate how intentional you are in evangelism. What boundaries are you willing or not willing to cross to tell people about Christ? When evaluating your own personal evangelism, do you find you are taking Jesus' words serious, "Go therefore and make disciples..."?

Perhaps this book could be a helpful tool in helping you see the need and also becoming more confident in evangelism.

Tim Challies blog was so good that I cannot wait to read the book. Click here to see his full blog post.

New Book: Bloodlines by John Piper:

2011-10-08T06:30:00.000-04:00

Bloodlines is a new book out by John Piper.
Mike West, the Discipleship Pastor at our church has written a neat blog supporting this book.
Click here to see his full article.

Below is a short video that John Piper has done to highlight this book

John Piper: Bloodlines Documentary Trailer from Crossway on Vimeo.

Click here to buy the book from Desiring God ministries.

How to Stop Saying, “I Didn’t Get Anything Out of That Sermon”

2011-10-07T21:00:00.000-04:00

Mark Mohler wrote this blog article back in April of this year but I just came across it the other day. It is a simply post on how to come to church ready to hear and apply God's Word.

Click here to go to his blog.

Posted on April 29, 2011 by markmohler

The service ends with “Amen.” You and your family stand, walk through the back of the church saying your goodbyes to other worshippers. You shake the pastor’s hand and tell him how much you enjoyed the service. Buckle the kids in and commence the routine post- church conversation/debriefing. At some point the phrase comes out, as it always does. “I love him as a pastor, but I just didn’t get anything out of that sermon.” This week your pastor preached over your head. Last week he targeted an age group other than yours. The week before he spent too much time telling about the historical setting, whatever that is. The week before he told too many stories. And the week before that he preached on money.

It is frustrating to sit through a sermon that seems to lack connection. You attend church to hear the proclaimed Word. Your Spirit longs for fresh truth. Your life desperately needs transformation based on the Scripture. So would you like to stop saying, “I just didn’t get anything out of that?” As a student of preaching, I have discovered a one-sided slant to most discussions about sermon connectivity. Pastors and parishioners alike place the brunt of sermon connectivity on the shoulders of the pastor. Most people say that it solely is his job to make sure the sermon is informational, inspiring, truthful and transformational. But I have discovered that the sermon experience is much like listening to the radio.

For your radio to work three key components must be present: the station must broadcast with enough power to transmit the radio waves to your antenna and your radio must be turned on and tuned into the proper frequency. The sermon experience is not that much different. Two components must be in place: the preacher must connect and you must be tuned in. If your preacher fails to connect you might say “I just didn’t get anything out of that.” BUT if you fail to tune in you will also leave church saying, “I just didn’t get anything out of that.” With this in mind I want to suggest three steps you can take to make sure you are doing your part to tune in every Sunday morning and get something out of the sermon.

Show up
Showing up obviously refers to the fact that you must be present at the sermon to get something out of it. Showing up goes beyond the physical and transcends into the mental and spiritual. It could be that at times you don’t get anything out of the sermon because you are mentally not there. You worry about the previous or coming week during the sermon event. Your mind wanders. Mentally you must show up and put effort into actively listening to the preacher. You must show up spiritually as well. Enter the sermon event prayerfully asking the Spirit to open your eyes to the revealed truth. If you listen with the attitude that this does not apply to me you will miss the movement of the Spirit who is able to connect every morsel of spiritual truth to your life. So if you want to stop saying “I just didn’t get anything out of that” start showing up!

Give up
In the parable of the wise man and fool found in Matthew 7:24-27 Jesus said that wise man was the one who “heard” the word. Jesus is referring to more than physical understanding of the spoken words. Other places He uses the phrase, “He who has ears to hear…” Jesus taught that when the word is proclaimed the hearing is both physical recognition of the audible sounds, and spiritual connection to the truth as it is applied to the listener’s life. Having ears to hear is the listener’s willingness to submit himself or herself to what is being taught. The key word – submission. To get something out of a sermon you must submit yourself to the truth being proclaimed, accept it as God’s directive to your life, and hear the transformational imperative delivered. You must give up your sovereignty and submit to the truth, not the preacher, but the truth he is proclaiming as the Spirit is applying to your life.

Step up
In the parable of the wise man Jesus went on to say that the wise man not only heard His words, but did them. If you develop the habit of living out the truths of the sermon each week you will experience two results: based on Colossians 1:9-11 God will give you deeper knowledge, wisdom and understanding in response to your obedient living and your heart will yearn more for more experiential knowledge in order to “please him in everything” thus your yearning will consequentially place the previous two steps in place. You will show up and give up in order to hear truth leading you to step up.
Imagine the next Sunday’s debriefing to be centered on what you heard and how you can live out the new-found truths. You will never be able to change your pastor’s preaching, you can pray that God will use him in a mightier way, but you can not change him. You can grow in your listening engagement. You can get more from the sermon. Try this: show up, give up, and step up.

Steve Jobs, a Legend of our Time

2011-10-07T16:12:00.000-04:00

Steve Jobs one of the greatest inventors of the 21st century died on October 5, 2011. Jobs revolutionized the media industry with ipods, iphones, itouches, imac's etc... He created a new standard of excellence with his products that other companies could only dream of.

While contemplating Jobs death, I could not help but think, this was one of the wealthiest people in the world, a man who had done so much good, yet he could not escape death. I read a quote one time that said, "death is the great leveler of all men."
While I think we should honor Steve Jobs for all that he has done, I think even more than that we need to take a hard look at ourselves and realize what is it we are living for. I have been reading Ecclesiastes lately and today I came across some insightful verses in chapter 5.

Ecclesiastes 5:10 (ESV)

¹⁰ He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves wealth with his income; this also is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 5:15 (ESV)

¹⁵ As he came from his mother’s womb he shall go again, naked as he came, and shall take nothing for his toil that he may carry away in his hand.

So many people in this world pursue worldly treasures as if that is the most important thing. But God's Word says that when we die, we are no longer the possessors of those things but someone else is. In fact, Jesus when He was here on earth taught us to seek that which not pass away but will last for eternity.

Matthew 6:19–20 (ESV)

¹⁹ “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, ²⁰ but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.

According to God's Word man has been created to worship God. When man sinned, he was removed from God's presence. But God sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross that whoever believes in Him will have forgiveness of sins and have everlasting life with God.

It is only by trusting in Jesus Christ and obeying Him will we be build up spiritual treasures that will last for all eternity. It is the Christian, who upon death will gladly leave this life to spend eternity in heaven experiencing the abundant riches of God's grace in Christ Jesus. It is the Christian who truly has a treasure that will never pass away.

The book of Ecclesiastes end with a powerful exhortation to man that we cannot ignore:

Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 (ESV)

¹³ The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. ¹⁴ For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Believing in God's Word

2011-09-30T11:36:00.003-04:00

1 Corinthians 10:13
"No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."

My question is, do we really believe this verse? I talk to many Christians each day and they will quickly agree to the authority, inerrancy, and infallibility of God's Word, but do they reflect that in how they live each day? As believers we must begin not only verbally agree to doctrines but we must embrace them with our lives. The world is getting mixed signals because Christians will say they trust in God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength but when tragedy hits so many seem to forget the faith they previously were so quick to profess. I am convinced the only way we will live out verses like 1 Corinthians 10:13 is when we meditate and pray over them, allowing them to go beyond our skin and becoming intertwined with our very DNA.

1 Corinthian 10:13 is a powerful verse that ought to greatly affect the way we stand and proclaim the gospel. Notice first it says, that we should never think we are experiencing something that no one else has every experienced. I remember several years ago I thought I was going through things that no other pastor had seen before. I would talk to pastors, expecting them to be shocked with what I was doing, but they would simply say something like, "yep, I've been there." I kept trying to deny their words but as I kept hearing similar messages from so many others I began to realize that I had not been singled out by God to go through what no one else ever had before. There were others who had been where I was. When we believe we are going through something special that no one else can relate to, that is called sin, and specifically the sin of pride. What happens is that we think no one else can relate to us and we are all on our own. We think we have been singled out by God and left helpless. This is a deceptive form of pride called self-pity.

The next part of the verse exalts the faithfulness of God. We are told, "God is faithful." What powerful words those are, and when we truly embrace them they will bring incredible comfort to our souls. But Paul does not just say God's is faithful and leave us there be he expounds on His faithfulness so that we can know what it means for our life. Paul says, God is so sovereign and faithful that He knows exactly what we can and cannot handle, and He will never give us more than what we can handle. Isn't that great news! God love us so much that He protects us from things that would be to great for us. This means that when we face difficult relationships, hard financial times, some type of sickness, or anything else we are able to endure and stand firm because of God's faithfulness. Whatever trial we are going through is not too great for us if we will depend on God.

The rest of the verse is a part that I think most of us Christians forget. It does not say that because God is faithful we will not experience temptation, nor does it say that because God is faithful He will remove temptation, but it says, "He will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it."
God will give us the strength to endure the temptation and to stand up underneath it. Notice it is God who will proide the way of escape and it is God who will give us the strength to endure. We do not need to muster up our own strength but it is precisley as we draw near to God through His word and rely and trust in Him that we will be able to endure. How was Paul able to be beaten with sticks and whipped with chard's of metal and glass? By trusting in God. How was Daniel able to survive being thrown in a den of lions. By trusting in God. How was the church able to survive after James was beheaded and Stephen was stoned? By by trusting in God.

God is faithful. He has given us His Word that we would know Him and love Him and trust Him. God does not send temptations and trials into our lives to destroy us but so we would trust in Him, grow in our faith, and testify to the world of His great strength and love.

I love how James says it, "Be doers of the word, and not hearers only." Faith is not seen in reading God's Word but by trusting in it, and living according to it.

Iranian Pastor lives out Hebrews 11

2011-09-28T21:49:00.000-04:00

Before I stood up tonight and taught from Hebrews 11:32-40 a friend handed me a print out from foxnews.com about a pastor that is waiting possible execution because he refuses to recant his faith.

see full article here

"When asked to repent, Nadarkhani stated: "Repent means to return.

What should I return to? To the blasphemy that I had before my faith in Christ?"

This is a man who fully understands he has placed his faith in the High Priest, Jesus Christ and knows there is no other solid ground to be on.
This is a man that is testifying to the greatness of God and the superiority of Jesus Christ.
This is a man who considers "the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of" this world (Heb. 11:26).
This is a man that knows that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life and that there is no life apart from Him.
This is a man that has tasted the goodness of God in His Word and knows He can never be satisfied with anything else other than complete abandonment to God.

I am humbled by this man's faith and what he is willing to give up to prove that Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

I pray for God's grace to be upon him that he continues to stand strong for the glory of God.
I pray for the Spirit to strengthen him and to give him the words he is to speak.
I pray for his boys see the reality of Christ and that they become men of God like their father.
I pray for his wife that she never wavers in her faith but that she too will boldly proclaim the glory of God.
I pray for Iran that they will not sentence this man to death.
I pray for God's grace to come upon the Iranian government and those who are in positions of authority to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord and savior.
I pray for the glory of God to be revealed more than anything else.

Please pray for this family!

The Passion Driver Sermon

2011-09-26T14:15:00.002-04:00

I recently read the book, The Passion Driven Sermon by Jim Shaddix. It is a superb book directed at preachers but also those who listen to sermons. Shaddix seeks to help the pastor preach in a way that glorifies God while also helping those who sit in pew each week to understand what should be in a sermon. One of the things he talked about throughout the book was the difference between "good stuff" and God's stuff." Shaddix demonstrated how much of preaching today is characterized by good helping advice rather rather than the Word of God. I highly encourage all Christians to add this book to their library. By understanding what a sermon is you will become more effective on how to listen and apply God's Word to your life.
Click here to buy the book.

"It is the very feeling of inadequacy that is foundational for bringing people to an awareness of their need for the gospel (cf. Matt. 5:3; 11:25)" (pg.7)

"It is incomprehensible that any man who calls himself one of God's shepherds would do anything else but report what God has said." (pg.13)

Referring to Paul, "His passion for God's glory determined the content of his preaching." (pg.14)

"Felt needs preaching often addresses the questions of listeners but never introduces them to a holy God in Christ." (pg.23)

"Make no mistake about it: the form of Christians communication also can cancel out the message." (pg.31)

"If the preacher ever gets to the point that he doesn't get a little nervous when he preaches, he better stop preaching because he's lost the awe of the task!" (pg. 33)

"It appears that many contemporary approaches to preaching are evaluated based upon the number of people that respond. Such is just one of many expressions of the twenty-first-century church's worship of pragmatism-if people respond, then it must be right!" (pg.36)

"This faith would function as the supernatural glue that would hold them together as the body of Christ. There will never be unity in any church apart from doctrinal integrity." (pg. 46).

"Tragically...many preachers today go into the pulpit and attempt to conduct large-group counseling." (pg. 48).

"Jesus' plan for church growth is very simple: "equipping" leads to "the work of the ministry" which leads to "the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph 4:12). (pg. 78)

"The power that is in the Gospel does not lie in the eloquence of the preacher, otherwise men would be the converters of souls, nor does it lie in the preacher's learning, otherwise it would consist in the wisdom of men. We might preach until our tongues rotted, till we would exhaust our lungs and die, but never a soul would be converted unless the Holy Spirit be with the Word of God to give it the power to covert the soul." (pg. 86)

"The church's most powerful testimony is not in its ecstasies, but in its clear proclamation of the powerful Word of God." (pg. 142).

"So essentially the right teaching of God's Word is the launching pad for maturing the body into Christlikeness." (pg.166)

Future Commentary Series

2011-09-24T15:27:00.001-04:00

In a recent blog by Justin Taylor I saw that a new commentary series will soon begin to be published. It looks very promising. I urge you to keep your eye on it. If you buy it early it will be greatly discounted.

Click here for Justin's blog.

Click here to go to the IVP website and to download a sample.

If you click on the second link and go to the IVP website make sure you look at the endorsements. There is a list of many great theologians recommending this series.

Do We Tame God?

2011-09-24T15:17:00.000-04:00

I have been reading and studying the book of Amos lately and one of the great sins of Israel is that they have attempted to tame God. They have rejected His Word, so in essence they have rejected Him, and they no longer live as He commands. They do what they want even if it means trampling over the heads of the poor to do it. They have no concern for others but only for filling up their own pockets with money and satisfying their every fantasy and desire that comes their way. And so when Amos comes to them with a word of judgment they are livid. In fact, Amaziah the priest of Bethel tells him "never again to prophesy at Bethel" (7:13). Israel has no desire to hear from a man that is going to bring a word of condemnation. All they want is affirmation.

Israel has forgotten about the holiness of God. They have ceased to revere God and they now treat Him like He is caged lion. Obedience is not that important, their worship can be performed how they desire, and their love only needs to be directed at themselves. They have a completely distorted view of God and that is why God is about to bring judgment upon them and send them off into exile. God is jealous for His glory and He will not allow His name to be profaned. Being the people of God does not mean living how we want but it means living how God wants and glorifying Him in all we do.

As I have read and reread Amos many times, I have begun to wonder, in what ways have we distorted who God is? How have we softened the commands of God's Word? Do we worship in reverent awe of God or do we worship when it's convenient and with only half our hearts? Do we seek to obey all that God calls us to do or just that which is easy and comfortable? Do we approach God like He is a caged lion at the zoo or like He is a Holy Almighty Just God that demands holiness?

I believe one thing I need to do is slow down when I read God's Word. I need to read it as if I am seeking to be changed by it rather than just trying to finish it. I need to read it with the understanding that it is the very words of God and it is through these words I will know God and love Him as He requires. Too often I think I pick up God's Word, read it, put it down, and begin something else without asking, what have I just learned about God? or what is this calling me to do? or what area of my life needs to change because of what I just read? I cannot and I must not skim God's Word.

I will am going to continue to pray and ask God to reveal other areas of my life where I have attempted to tame Him. I encourage you to do the same. Upon discovering other areas where I try to tame God, I will post them in hopes that you might be encouraged and to help, because you just might struggle in the same ways that I do.

Exercising for the Glory of God

2011-09-19T21:51:00.000-04:00

Can you exercise for God's glory? Can lifting weights and running around the track be done for God's glory rather than just the ability to fit into a smaller pant size? John Piper wrote two blogs recently, one describing what exercises he does and the second one, how exercising glorifies God. He does not go into a lot of detail (which I was a little disappointed) but he does briefly show that exercising can be more about God than vanity.

Click Here to see why Piper exercises.

Click Here to see what Piper does when he exercises.

I do think it is important to for us to wrestle with why we do certain things. If we are not careful we can exercise or do any number of other things for our glory rather than God's. If we are going to live for God we must be intentional and know why we do what we do, and even be willing to cease doing certain things if we do not believe they can be done for the glory and honor of God.

Alzheimers and Divorce

2011-09-17T05:00:00.000-04:00

Recently Pat Robertson said he thought it was completely acceptable for someone to divorce their spouse if they became diagnosed with Alzeheimers. click here for full article

"I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said.

When asked, "what about till death to us part" this is how he responded:

"If you respect that vow, you say 'til death do us part,'" ..."This is a kind of death."

Now I will admit that I do not know much about Pat Robertson other than that he claims to be a Christian and has made some very non-biblical statements about various issues that could be considered heretical. But I do not want to focus on him as much as on the comment he made.

How could one every say that if your spouse has Alzheimer's it is okay to divorce them? I will tell you one thing that type of thinking would never be found acceptable in God's Word. Paul tells us in Ephesians 5:32 that the marriage between a man and wife is mystery that "refers to Christ and the church." Marriage here on earth is to reflect the love of Christ for the church and the church's love for Christ. And in Ephesians we see a wife is to submit to the husband and the husband is to willingly serve the wife even laying his life down for her. Paul does not give us any conditions for these roles but rather shows that these are the God-ordained roles for all marriages. A wife is not just to submit when it's easy and her husband is healthy. The husband is not only to serve His wife after she passes a physical. Rather a husband and a wife are to love one another at all times especially when it is not easy for this reveals the indestructible love that Christ has for His church.

Pat Robertson is looking at marriage from a man-centered view that says we ought to do whatever is easy and will make us happy. And serving my wife after she comes down with Alzheimer's is to hard therefore I won't do it. That is a selfish love that only look out for "me." That is a love that says, "I will only love you if you are able to love me back." That kind of love is based upon a bartering system and what it reveals is that you really only love yourself.

When we look at love in the Bible we see that we are to love God and love others. Here are 2 examples:

Matthew 22:37-39 (ESV)

³⁷ “You shall love the Lord your God withhttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=4409863658234365490#editor/target=post;postID=6899662937940509185 all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself."

1 John 3:15–18 (ESV)

¹⁵ Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. ¹⁶ By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. ¹⁷ But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Notice verse 18 in 1 John 3. It says, "let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth." Love is something that is seen not something we just talk about. The way you love your spouse who comes down with Alzheimer's is not by divorcing them but by loving them and showing them love regardless of whether they are ever able to show it back.

There is much more we could also say about how loving someone with Alzheimer's can testify to the love of God or the sanctifying effect it would have on the healthy spouse. But above all, let us remember we are to love as Christ loved us, and He loved us not when we were healthy and could reciprocate back His love but when we were ungodly sinners that hated Him (Romans 5:8). If Christ loved us so much to die on a cross for us, we definitely ought to love others regardless of their health condition.

a horrible tip on how to look for a church

2011-09-15T23:16:00.000-04:00

Somehow I got on an email list and now I receive regular emails from a certain Christian leadership organization. Some of the articles are intriguing, some are good, some are bad, and then there are some I just wonder "who let's these things get published" (I'll let you decide how you think I reacted to the article below). In one of the last emails I received from this organization there was an article about a Pastor who had retired and was now looking for a new church. Below are tips this pastor suggests when looking for a church.

Think of your visit to a church as if it was a visit to someone’s home. Be gracious. Rather than concentrating on things you don’t like, make an effort to notice and affirm things the church does well.
Seek to worship more than you seek to evaluate. Enjoy discovering new ways of experiencing and serving God.
Be thankful for friendly churches, but do not be overly impressed with superficial greetings. The real test of community is investing in each other’s lives.
Pray for the church you visited each Sunday at lunch.
Do not put too much importance on the sermon. A good preacher is nice, but ministers come and go. The people of the congregation are the ones who sustain each other over the long haul.
Look for a church that will provide you with opportunities to serve others.
Try some small, out-of-the-way congregations. You might have to ask around to find them. Pay particular attention to churches that are new or are meeting in interesting locations.
Count your season of wandering as a time of spiritual growth and discernment. Do not be in a hurry, but do not waste Sundays either. Be about the task of finding your church home.

Now for the most part I did not think anything of these tips. I thought they were interesting and provided an interesting perspective. However tip #5 made me almost want to throw my laptop. Let's just break down his comment. First he says, "do not put too much importance on the sermon." Now I will admit there is more to a church than just a sermon. But the preaching of God's Word is one of the primary reasons the church is to gather together. The sermon is the proclamation of the Word of God. It is not the proclamation of good ideas, neat tips, or something else you might find in a popular magazine at the checkout line of a grocery store. We better place a lot of weight and importance on the sermon. Romans 10:17 says "faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." People are saved by the Word of God. How can a "pastor" like the one who wrote this article ever say, "don't place to much importance on God's Word"? If the Pastor does not proclaim the Word of God, then most likely the church is not one that loves God's Word and probably does not live according to it. If the Sermon is not Christ-centered then that means the church is not going to be Christ-centered but will actually be "me-centered." The church will be more about the glory of man then the glory of God. From my experience I can tell just about everything I need to know about a church from how the Word is handled during the Worship Service.

Now notice his next comment, "a preacher is nice, but minister come and go." Unfortunately most pastors do not stay long enough at churches and because of that the position and authority of a Pastor (in America especially) has diminished. But God's Word shows that Pastors are to lead, shepherd, teach, and equip. If you enter into a church not respecting the authority of the pastor (not that they are without fault) then I would have to say you do not understand much about what God's Word says regarding the church. Paul after he established churches appointed elders. When Paul was heading to Rome he called the Ephesians elders and encouraged them and told them to protect the flock from wolves that will try to enter and destroy it. Three letters in the N.T. are directed towards pastors and the need to proclaim the Word of God. The role of the pastor/elder is pretty important in scripture therefore we ought to place importance on it too.

Now his last comment, "the people of the congregation are the ones who sustain each other over the long haul." I understand his point, but I still think this guy misses it completely. He is saying that people will sustain each other. For one, it is the Spirit by His Word that sustains us. Two, what kind of people are going to sustain each other if they have not been regularly taught and fed God's Word? If I just want to be around a group of people that doesn't change much I can join the local Rotary or Lions club (not demeaning those at all, my dad has been on both of them), or I could join some other type of club that meets regularly. The point is, I don't join church just to be with people. I join a church to be with a community of believers who worship God and live lives for the glory of God. And this type of community only exists when the Word of God is exalted to the highest level.

Pastors are not perfect. We have many flaws. But if I was to give tips on how to look for a new church I would place the preaching of the Word of God at the top of the list. It is the Word that determines all we do and the pastor has a very integral role according to God's Word in proclaiming it.

Jesus knows

2011-09-12T20:26:00.001-04:00

I was reading Luke 22 the other day for my personal study time and I saw something I had not ever seen before. In Luke 22:3-6 we see that Satan enters Judas and he begins to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus. As I read this I tried to think of myself as a new Christian wondering, does Jesus know it is Judas, one of the twelve disciples who has been with Him for so long is about to betray Him?

Then in verses 14-23 we see that Jesus celebrates the passover with His disciples. And in verse 21 Jesus says "behold the hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table." Jesus does know Judas is the one who will betray Him. He is not fooled. In fact Judas is the one who is fooled for thinking he can betray the Son of God without His knowledge.

What I found so interesting in my study was the verses between these two passages (7-13). In verse 8 Jesus sends Peter and John to go and prepare for the Passover feast. They naturally replied to Jesus by saying, "where will you have us prepare it?" Now Jesus does not just say, "you guys are very competent, go figure it out for yourselves", but rather He has a very specific plan for where they will celebrate the passover. This is what he says in Luke 22:10–13 (ESV):

¹⁰ He said to them, “Behold, when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him into the house that he enters ¹¹ and tell the master of the house, ‘The Teacher says to you, Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ ¹² And he will show you a large upper room furnished; prepare it there.” ¹³ And they went and found it just as he had told them, and they prepared the Passover.

I love verse 13. "they went and found it just as he had told them." Imagine being the disciples walking into the city to be greeted by a man carrying a jar of water. What went through their head at that very moment? What goes through your head? Imagine then again how they must have been in amazement as they saw the furnished room just as Jesus told them they would. As I read this, before I even got to the passage about the passover where Jesus said He knows Judas is the one who will betray Him, I thought to myself, 'there is no fooling God.' I do no believe this is any accident or coincidence that right after Judas thinks he is getting away with treachery against God, we are given a passage that reveals the perfect sovereignty of God.

Isn't the God we serve absolutely glorious. He is never taken by surprise. There is nothing that comes into our lives that He was not aware of. Jesus is never caught off guard. Rather what we see so clearly in His Word is that Jesus is sovereign over everything that takes place in creation. Jesus the creator of everything, knows everything and guides everything. This passage makes me stand in awe of our Lord Jesus Christ and want to worship Him all the more. Praise be to our Lord Jesus Christ!

Mohler's reflection on 9/11

2011-09-09T15:14:00.001-04:00

Below is a sermon from Albert Mohler 2 days after September 11, 2001. Here he directs our attention to God's Word in order to help understand what has happened. This is not the whole sermon but rather it is just an excerpt. To read the whole sermon you can click here. Pay special attention to the last few words quoted from Charles Spurgeon.

People all over the world are demanding an answer to this question. It comes only to those who claim that God is mighty and that God is good. How could a good God allow this to happen? How can a God of love allow killers to kill, terrorists to terrorize, and the wicked to escape without a trace?

No superficial answer will do. Our quandary is well known, and the atheists think they have our number. As a character in Archibald MacLeish’s play, J.B. asserts, “If God is God He is not good, if God is good He is not God; take the even, take the odd . . . .” As they see it, God can be good, or He can be powerful, but He cannot be both.

We will either take our stand with God’s self-revelation in the Bible, or we are left to invent a deity of our own imagination. The Bible quickly excludes two false understandings.

First, the Bible reveals that God is omnipotent and omniscient. These are unconditional and categorical attributes. The sovereignty of God is the bedrock affirmation of biblical theism. The Creator rules over all creation. Not even a sparrow falls without His knowledge. He knows the number of hairs upon our heads. God rules and reigns over all nations and principalities. Not one atom or molecule of the universe is outside His active rule.

The sovereignty of God was affirmed by King Nebuchadnezzar, who confessed that God “does according to His will in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’.” [Daniel 4:36] Process theologians have attempted to cut God’s power down to size, rendering the Creator as one power among others. The evangelical revisionists pushing open theism have attempted to cut God’s omniscience down to size, rendering Him as one mind among others.
Rabbi Harold Kushner argues that God is doing the best He can under the circumstances, but He lacks the power to either kill or cure. The openness theists argue that God is always ready with Plan B when Plan A fails. He is infinitely resourceful, they stress, just not really sovereign.

These are roads we dare not take, for the God of the Bible causes the rising and falling of nations and empires, and His rule is active and universal. Limited sovereignty is no sovereignty at all.

The second great error is to ascribe evil to God. But the Bible does not allow this argument. God is absolute righteousness, love, goodness, and justice. Most errors related to this issue occur because of our human tendency to impose an external standard-a human construction-of goodness upon God. But good does not so much define God as God defines good.

How then do we speak of God’s rule and reconcile this with the reality of evil? Between these two errors the Bible points us to the radical affirmation of God’s sovereignty as the ground of our salvation and the assurance of our own good. We cannot explain why God has allowed sin, but we understand that God’s glory is more perfectly demonstrated through the victory of Christ over sin. We cannot understand why God would allow sickness and suffering, but we must affirm that even these realities are rooted in sin and its cosmic effects.

How does God exercise His rule? Does He order all events by decree, or does He allow some evil acts by His mere permission? This much we know-we cannot speak of God’s decree in a way that would imply Him to be the author of evil, and we cannot fall back to speak of His mere permission, as if this allows a denial of His sovereignty and active will.

Our confession of faith states it rightly: “God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs, and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not in any way to be the author or approver of sin nor to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.”
God is God, and God is good. As Paul affirms for the church, God’s sovereignty is the ground of our hope, the assurance of God’s justice as the last word, and God’s loving rule in the very events of our lives: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, who are the called according to His purpose.” [Romans 8:28]

We dare not speak on God’s behalf to explain why He allowed these particular acts of evil to happen at this time to these persons and in this manner. Yet, at the same time, we dare not be silent when we should testify to the God of righteousness and love and justice who rules over all in omnipotence. Humility requires that we affirm all that the Bible teaches, and go no further. There is much we do not understand. As Charles Spurgeon explained, when we cannot trace God’s hand, we must simply trust His heart.

Insight into the book of Ruth

2011-09-05T00:43:00.001-04:00

Below is a link to a blog Tim Challies wrote regarding the book of Ruth. This was a great read and really helped in understanding the plot of Ruth and also how we can apply this book to our lives today.

Challies on Ruth: What will I get out of it

Does God's Word Impact Our Lives?

2011-09-02T06:00:00.002-04:00

Does God's Word impact our lives? Naturally we say "yes" to that question if we are Christians, but does it really? Recently I was putting a lesson together on Hebrews 10 for our Wednesday Night Bible Study. The author of Hebrews since chapter 2 has been talking about how Jesus Christ is our High Priest. From chapters 7-10 he has made a powerful argument on why it was so necessary for Jesus to be our High Priest and how He achieved it. So after I finished reading 10:1-18 I put together my teaching outline and then I was done. I felt like I had just checked off a box on my to do list, now it was time to move on to the next task. But then I stopped and I said "wait a minute, how can I study God's Word, put a lesson together, and the just move on as if there had been no impact on my life?" I reread verses 17 and 18 of Hebrews 10.

"I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

How can I glaze over these words? How can I be ready to teach about the truth in this chapter when I have yet to really think about it and be transformed by it? I ought to be dancing and jumping off the walls out of excitement. Because of the one sacrifice Jesus Christ made He has now become my High Priest, He sits at the right hand of God as my mediator, I have become sanctified and perfected, no longer our my sins held against me, I AM FORGIVEN!!! Praise God for Jesus Christ! Praise God He sent Jesus to be my propitious offering!

What I learned is that I must fight the tendency to read God's Word and then act as though I am done. I must read slowly and prayerfully asking the Spirit to give me insight and understanding to every word, every phrase, every sentence, every verse, every paragraph, every chapter, and every book. And after I have finished reading I need to sit and pray even more asking God to help me meditate on the truth of His Word. In order to understand God's Word and for it to transform my thinking and my actions, I need to chew on it, and mull over it, and wrestle with it. It is only then that God's Word enters into our bloodstream and we live truly God-exalting, Christ-centered, Spirit-empowered lives.

I challenge you to answer the question honestly, does God's word impact your life? If you say "no", consider how you are approaching it and reading it and perhaps you need to slow down a little more, pray, and meditate on it.