Friday, July 31, 2009

Jars of Clay: Work

What a great line:
"I have no fear of drowning, it's the breathing that's taking all this work."

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Hoping Through Storms

Clouds would hide thy shining light
From our weak and faded sight
Concern for a great many things
Weighs upon us, and to our knees it brings
Us to plead before thy throne
Thou who over all things alone are Sovereign

You oh Lord are good, this we trust
Though we still wallow here in this dust
Though this pain is ours to endure
We hope in Christ, whose glory is forever pure
Grant oh Lord Thy grace today
For without it we might fall and stray
Grant oh Lord that Thy strong hands
Would not loose Thy hold on us

Hide us under Your wings we pray
Shelter us in this storm today
You who rule from Your holy throne
Grant that we might not be alone
To bear this trouble on our own
Would you hear, and act by Your sovereign grace
To sustain your servants and to unleash
That glorious, life giving light from Your face

For light and glory are but now shades of gray
As we can only barely see through this darkened glass
Yet This we know, no matter how intense the fray;
You will never leave us. And this storm too shall pass.
For one day You’ll wipe away every tear
And one day we’ll have nothing left to fear
And we’ll gaze eternally upon Your throne
As You’ll ever remind us that we are never alone


- A. B. Seal
07-28-2009

Friday, July 24, 2009

1st Thessalonians 5:23-24

.

Now may the God of peace himself
sanctify you completely,
and may your whole spirit
and soul
and body
be kept blameless
at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He who calls you

is faithful;
He will surely do it.

.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Momentary vs. Eternal

2 Cor. 4:16-18


So we DO NOT lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day.

FOR this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an ETERNAL WEIGHT of GLORY beyond all comparison,


as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.

FOR the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Lloyd-Jones on Preaching

Seek Him! Seek Him! What can we do without Him? Seek Him! Seek Him always. But go beyond seeking Him; expect Him. Do you expect anything to happen when you get up to preach in a pulpit?

Are you expecting it to be the turning point in someone's life? Are you expecting anyone to have a climactic experience? That is what preaching is meant to do. That is what you find in the Bible and in the subsequent history of the Church. Seek this power, expect this power, yearn for this power; and when the power comes, yield to Him. Do not resist. Forget all about your sermon if necessary. Let Him loose you, let Him manifest His power in you and through you.

Seek it until you have it; be content with nothing less. Go on until you can say, "And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." He is still able to do "exceeding abundantly above all that we can ask or think."

- Excerpts from the final page of Lloyd-Jones excellent book entitled, "Preaching and Preachers"

It was a great read! This informative and insightful work would be very helpful for anyone who has the wonderful opportunity to deliver the Lord's Word or for anyone who might desire to do so.

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Got Life?

.

"I have come THAT
you might have life."

- Jesus

.

Monday, July 13, 2009

You Must Suffer...




"The purpose of God in creating the Universe is to display the greatness of the glory of His grace supremely in the suffering of His Son. That's yesterday. Today the summons; Will you join the Son in displaying the supreme satisfaction of the glory of grace in joining Him on the Calvary road of suffering because there is no other way the world is going to see the supreme glory of Christ today. Except that we break free from the disney land of America and begin to live lifestyles of missionary sacrifice that looks like our treasure is in heaven and not on the Earth. It's the only way."
- Piper


The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
- Romans 8:16-18

Saturday, July 11, 2009

enough said:

.

My house

Shall be

Called a house of prayer

.

Friday, July 10, 2009

My house...

I have come to see these two verses threaded gloriously together:
"My house shall be called a house of prayer." "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you."

If someone lives in a particular house, chances are they chose to do so. If they chose to live there they likely had reasons for choosing to do so. Therefore if the specifically desired circumstances were not present then they would likely choose another place to dwell.

God also has specifically desired circumstances for the place where He dwells. He has not said of His dwelling place it shall be called a house of beauty, nor a house of glory, nor a house of wisdom, nor a house of peace, though the place where He dwells includes all of these and much more. He has said, “My house shall be called a house of prayer.”

Consider the progression from the Old Testament to the New Testament, the transition between God dwelling in the Temple to His dwelling in His people.

"And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of the LORD."

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you."

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Francis Chan: Crazy Love



Crazy Love is available as a free audio download during the month of July at ChristianAudio.com.

Although I haven't yet read this book, it has received great reviews. I just downloaded the audio book and will likely purchase the paperback in the near future.

HT: JT

Friday, July 3, 2009

Upcoming Trip to Africa

Next month I will be headed to a small Bible College in South Africa for a few weeks. I will have some opportunities to share the Lord's word and to teach through my all time favorite book (aside from the Bible).

We have been in contact with DG, who in keeping with past generous practices may again possibly provide books for the students at this College.

We are raising funds to purchase Study Bibles and additional training materials for the students from a bookstore in South Africa (this saves greatly by avoiding international shipping rates). If you are interested in supporting this equipping ministry you are welcome to contact me.

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Combating Sin

Combating sin is a deadly serious endeavor for those who would follow Christ. The Scriptures repeatedly call the followers of Christ to make war on sin. I recently came across this helpful article by a Randy Alcorn who seems appropriately serious in his battle against sin. We would do well to emulate him in his purposeful watchfulness and deliberate consideration of the dire consequences of sin.

Quoted directly from Randy Alcorn's blog:

Personalized List of Anticipated Consequences of Immorality

• Grieving my Lord; displeasing the One whose opinion most matters.

• Dragging into the mud Christ's sacred reputation.

• Loss of reward and commendation from God.

• Having to one day look Jesus in the face at the judgment seat and give an account
of why I did it. Forcing God to discipline me in various ways.

• Following in the footsteps of men I know of whose immorality forfeited their ministry and caused me to shudder. List of these names:

• Suffering of innocent people around me who would get hit by my shrapnel (a la Achan).

• Untold hurt to Nanci, my best friend and loyal wife.

• Loss of Nanci's respect and trust.

• Hurt to and loss of credibility with my beloved daughters, Karina and Angela. ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?")

• If my blindness should continue or my family be unable to forgive, I could lose my wife and my children forever.

• Shame to my family. (The cruel comments of others who would invariably find out.)

• Shame to my church family.

• Shame and hurt to my fellow pastors and elders. List of names:

• Shame and hurt to my friends, and especially those I've led to Christ and discipled. List of names:

• Guilt awfully hard to shake—even though God would forgive me, would I forgive myself?

• Plaguing memories and flashbacks that could taint future intimacy with my wife.

• Disqualifying myself after having preached to others.

• Surrender of the things I am called to and love to do—teach and preach and write and minister to others. Forfeiting forever certain opportunities to serve God. Years of training and experience in ministry wasted for a long period of time, maybe permanently.

• Being haunted by my sin as I look in the eyes of others, and having it all dredged up again wherever I go and whatever I do.

• Undermining the hard work and prayers of others by saying to our community "this is a hypocrite—who can take seriously anything he and his church have said and done?"

• Laughter, rejoicing and blasphemous smugness by those who disrespect God and the church (2 Samuel 12:14).

• Bringing great pleasure to Satan, the Enemy of God.

• Heaping judgment and endless problems on the person I would have committed adultery with.
• Possible diseases (pain, constant reminder to me and my wife, possible infection of Nanci, or in the case of AIDS, even causing her death, as well as mine.)

• Possible pregnancy, with its personal and financial implications.

• Loss of self-respect, discrediting my own name, and invoking shame and lifelong embarrassment upon myself.



At the end of his blog post, Alcorn links to this article by John Piper, highlighting the ever increasing exposure of Christians to immorality. More ammunition for our lifelong battle against sin.