Friday, November 30, 2007

Greatness of Christian Exiles is Service

Excerpt from Taking the Swagger Out of Christian Cultural Influence by John Piper

The fact that Christians are exiles on the earth (1 Peter 2:11), does not mean that they don’t care what becomes of culture. But it does mean that they exert their influence as very happy, brokenhearted outsiders. We are exiles. “Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). “Here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come” (Hebrews 13:14).

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But Christian exiles are not passive. We do not smirk at the misery or the merrymaking of immoral culture. We weep. Or we should. This is my main point: being exiles does not mean being cynical. It does not mean being indifferent or uninvolved. The salt of the earth does not mock rotting meat. Where it can, it saves and seasons. And where it can’t, it weeps. And the light of the world does not withdraw, saying “good riddance” to godless darkness. It labors to illuminate. But not dominate.

Being Christian exiles in American culture does not end our influence; it takes the swagger out of it. We don’t get cranky that our country has been taken away. We don’t whine about the triumphs of evil. We are not hardened with anger. We understand. This is not new. This was the way it was in the beginning –- Antioch, Corinth, Athens, Rome. The Empire was not just degenerate, it was deadly. For three explosive centuries Christians paid for their Christ-exalting joy with blood. Many still do. More will.
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Yes, it was a time for influence–-as it is now. But not with huffing and puffing as if to reclaim our lost laws. Rather with tears and persuasion and perseverance, knowing that the folly of racism, and the exploitation of the poor, and the de-Godding of education, and the horror of abortion, and the collapse of heterosexual marriage, are the tragic death-tremors of joy, not the victory of the left or the right.

The greatness of Christian exiles is not success but service. Whether we win or lose, we witness to the way of truth and beauty and joy. We don’t own culture, and we don’t rule it. We serve it with brokenhearted joy and longsuffering mercy, for the good of man and the glory of Jesus Christ.

Be Salt and Light

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Friday, November 30, 2007 - Is Assertiveness Acceptable?

Do you ever struggle with the issue of assertiveness? As a Christian as well as a woman, I've sometimes been in a quandary about when I should assert myself, my ideas, my opinions, and when I should be quiet. There's always been a bit of a double standard when it comes to what is acceptable assertiveness for women versus men, but as we've studied, biblical guidelines do not differentiate.

For all of us who belong to Jesus and are in the process of being confirmed to His image, Jesus is our ultimate role model and His manner of assertiveness certainly gives us strong guidelines as we try to find the right balance in our own lives.

An important characteristic of Jesus' assertiveness is that His motivation transcended His own individual rights. Though frequently falsely accused and maligned, He never defended Himself or His own reputation. He stood against evil and injustice; He condemned hypocrisy and evil. But never did He become assertive in defense of His own personal rights.

How often our drive to be assertive is totally motivated by self interest without regard for others. In other words, it does not take much for assertiveness to turn into aggressiveness. Our fallen, sinful nature just naturally rises up and demands that our territory be protected, but that is not Jesus' type of assertiveness.

As Christians we have an overriding principle under which we operate. Our actions must always bring glory to God. There are times when assertiveness is totally compatible with that objective. But there are times even in our business lives when it will not be appropriate for us to be assertive, even if the cause is right. There are times when we must back away from defending our rights and let God be our defense.

An assertiveness that is controlled by these principles is so different from what the world expects of people, that they will not be able to avoid that light they see in us, and the saltiness of our lives will make them thirsty. And that's the bottom line: How can I be salt and light in this world where I work? That's what counts for eternity.

If it sounds difficult or too idealistic, I would encourage you to rethink your reaction. It may be difficult, but it is so much easier than constantly standing vigil over your own rights and interests. And if it seems idealistic, it's only because so few Christians have ever dared to apply God's principles to their business worlds that we have few role models. Why don't we start to change that.

Relinquish and Focus

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

RESPONSIBILITIES OVER RIGHTS

Galatians 5:13 You were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another

Nothing will distort relationships faster than emphasizing our rights over our responsibilities. For example, a husband may chip at his wife because he feels he has a right to expect her to be submissive. A wife may nag her husband because she expects him to be the spiritual leader. Parents harass their children because they feel it's their right to demand obedience. Members are offended in the local church when they think their rights have been violated by pastors, boards or other members.

Any time people insist on their rights at the expense of failing to assume their responsibilities, they are going down to defeat. For example, a pregnant woman may demand her right for an abortion. She says it is her body and she can do whatever she wants with it. Then she proceeds to demonstrate her irresponsible use of her body to everyone! We don't have an abortion problem; we have an irresponsible sex problem.

In God's system, our focus is to be fulfilling our responsibilities, not insisting on our rights. Husband, having a submissive wife is not your right; but being a loving, caring husband is your responsibility. Headship is not a right to be demanded but an awesome responsiblity to be fulfilled.

Similarly, wives, having a spiritual husband is not your right; but being a submissive, supportive wife is your responsibility. Parents, raising obedient children is not your right; but disciplining your children in the nurture and instruction of the Lord is your responsibility. Being a member of the Body of Christ and of a local church is an incredible privilege, not a right. This privilege comes with the awesome responsibility to behave as God's children and become a lover of people. When we stand before Christ, He will not ask us if we received everything we had coming to us. But He will reward us for how well we fulfilled our responsiblities.

Prayer:

Lord, help me relinquish my rights and focus on my responsibilities in all my relationships today.

Thursday, November 29, 2007

Drudgery & His Grace

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

"I must admit I feel a lot of pressure with two children under two years of age. I am committed to do it until they are in school, however, and feel it is God's will. At times like this--when I wonder if I will even be able to finish this letter with both of them screaming for something--or when I miss going to lunch or getting dressed up, everyday life seems a drudgery. I worked hard to get through college--to be a scrubwoman, ha!"

I understand this mother's cry. So does the Lord. He has given us this word: "No temptation has come your way that is too hard for flesh and blood to bear. But God can be trusted not to allow you to suffer any temptation beyond your powers of endurance. He will see to it that every temptation has a way out, so that it will never be impossible for you to bear it" (1 Corinthians 10:13, PHILLIPS).

"A way out," I can hear her say, "What mother has a way out?"

The New English Bible translation throws light on this: "a way out, by enabling you to sustain it." Think, too, of Jesus' words, "My yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:29 AV). He is willing to bear our burdens with us, if only we will come to Him and share the yoke, His yoke.

I saw this principle in operation when I visited the Dohnavur Fellowship in India. There, day after day, year in and year out, Indian women (most of them single) care for little children, handicapped children, infirm adults, old folks. They don't go anywhere. They have none of our usual forms of amusement and diversion. They work with extremely primitive equipment--there is no running water, for example, no stoves but wood-burning ones, no washing machines. In one of the buildings I saw this text: "There they dwelt with the King for His work." That's the secret. They do it for Him. They ask for and receive His grace to do it. I saw the joy in their lovely faces.

The Battle of Christian Living

Excerpt from Abhor What Is Evil; Hold Fast to What Is Good by John Piper

[Romans 12: 9]

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Notice Paul’s verbs: “Abhor (apostungountes) what is evil; hold fast (kollömenoi) to what is good.” He did not say “Choose against evil and choose good.” His words are very strong. “Abhor” is a good translation. “Loathe,: “Be disgusted with” (Liddell and Scott Lexicon) would also be correct. “Hold fast to what is good” means embrace it. Love it. The word is used for sexual union in 1 Corinthians 6:16.

In other words, God is not mainly interested in a willpower religion or a willpower morality. Choosing is not enough. It doesn’t signal deep moral transformation. Remember the meaning of hypocrisy—changing the outside with willpower choices. Now Paul says, Don’t just avoid evil, hate evil. Don’t just choose good, embrace the good. Love the good. The battle of Christian living is a battle mainly to get our emotions changed, not just our behavior.

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Missional Church

Excerpt from interview of Tony Jones (national coordinator, Emergent Village) by Fred Peatross, New Wineskins

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Fred) How do you envision a missional church? How would it be different from the conventional idea of mission?

Tony Jones ) Quite simply, I think of "missional" as outward-focused. The gospel is mission -- it's on the move, it's going somewhere. The gospel is a movement, and the church had better be on board. I don't think it's optional: the church has to be missional.

Fred) When we talk traditional, conventional church, in your opinion, are we talking lost cause in transitioning the thousands of attractional consumerist church into missional churches? From my experience, it unfortunately seems next to impossible to move leaders who have little understanding of 'missional,' not to mention their fears of disrupting the community, to initiate more change. Your thoughts?

Tony Jones ) I agree. Whether it's the attractional church on the right or the bureaucratic, denominational church on the left, I am usually ambivalent. Some days, I have great hope that we can turn the ship of the American church around. Other days, I think it's like the Titanic, and it's already hit the iceberg. For leaders who are deeply embedded in the system already, there's a lot to lose: property, social standing, pension, tenure. It seems to me that few will take those risks.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Praise

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD!
Psalm 150:6

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Expository Exultation

Excerpt from The Place of Preaching in Worship by John Piper

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Now this question - Why is preaching so prominent in corporate worship? - is really two questions. One is: Why is the Word of God so prominent? And the other is: Why is this form of presenting the Word of God so prominent? Someone could simply read the Bible for half an hour rather than listen to preaching, and that would certainly make the Word of God prominent. Or one could lead a discussion of the Bible for a half-hour. Or one could do mainly academic analyses of vocabulary and grammar and historical circumstances in the Bible. So we must ask not only why is the Word so prominent, but why is preaching, as such, so prominent.

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So in a phrase, preaching is "expository exultation."

In conclusion, then, the reason that preaching is so prominent in worship is that worship is not just understanding but also feeling. It is not just seeing God, but also savoring God. It is not just the response of the mind, but also of the heart. Therefore God has ordained that the form his Word should take in corporate worship is not just explanation to the mind and not just stimulation to the heart. Rather the Word of God is to come teaching the mind and reaching the heart; showing the truth of Christ and savoring the glory of Christ; expositing the Word of God and exulting in the God of the Word.

That is what preaching is. And that is why it is so prominent in worship. It is not a mere work of man. It is a gift and work of the Holy Spirit. And therefore it happens most and best where a people are praying and spiritually prepared for it. That is what we will talk about next week.

For now, pray for me and pray for yourselves. And let us seek with all our might to become a people who live and worship by the power of the Word of God - read and memorized and taught and preached. Amen.

Hell

Excerpt from Dan Kimball "If you think I'm going to hell, you should care that I'm going to hell"

I haven't yet asked, but I may have given the longest sermon I ever have today - three times. This was the sermon on hell that was part of the "Hot Theology" series we have been going through. The series was based out of questions from those in our church that we tallied up and compiled the most commonly asked questions and one was about "hell"- what is hell and "Would a loving God send people to hell?" It just isn't easy speaking about hell and trying to wrap it up in 35 minutes or so.
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Far too much to write about here - but I stressed how we don't want to focus on hell and punishment as something we dwell on, but at the same time we must not ever forget it. It seems easy for churches and Christians to forget or because it is uncomfortable not talk about it or teach on it. We can so easily just get busy in our Christian-world, we don't really take serioulsy praying for those who are outside the church and Christian world. But it is easy to forget, beacuse we don't hear hell talked about too much. It is actually odd it isn't talked about as it is in the teachings of Jesus and in the New Testament just as much, or if not more, than other things we seem to regularly teach about. But then on the other extreme, those who do talk about it, seem to be consumed with it in an unhealthy way - preaching on it all the time, using it as a weapon, the signs about hell you see on street corners sort of a thing - and I don't want to go the other extreme where in some circles hell is something talked about so much - the beauty of the holistic gospel is lost in the extreme focus on hell and punishment.

But, as I shared in my long sermon and now in this long blog post, the thought of eternal "shutting out" from the presence of God is so strong and horrible that it causes me to I used a Spurgeon quote in closing:

"If sinners be dammed, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and unprayed for."

- Charles Spurgeon

That was the day of preaching 3 times on hell. Not an easy thing to tackle or understand or figure out how to balance a belief in eternal hell but balancing it with the beauty of the gospel for this life and the life to come. But if we believe in hell - then as Elaine said - "if you think I am going to hell, you should care that I'm going to hell".

The Shield

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE SHIELD OF FAITH

Ephesians 6:16 Taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming missiles of the evil one

Paul mentions three more pieces of armor that we must take up to protect ourselves from Satan's attack: the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit which is the Word of God. The first three (the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of peace) are established by our position in Christ; these last three help us continue to win the battle.

Contrary to popular perception, there is nothing mystical about faith. Biblical faith is simply what you believe about God and His Word. The more you know about God and His Word, the more faith you will have. The less you know, the smaller your shield will be and the easier it will be for one of Satan's fiery darts to reach its target. If you want your shield of faith to grow large and protective, your knowledge of God and His Word must increase (Romans 10:17).

These flaming missiles from Satan are nothing more than smoldering lies, burning accusations, and fiery temptations bombarding our minds. When a deceptive thought, accusation, or temptation enters your mind, meet it head-on with what you know to be true about God and His Word. How did Jesus deflect the missiles of Satan's temptation? By shielding Himself with statements from the Word of God. Every time you memorize a Bible verse, listen to a sermon, or participate in a Bible study, you increase your knowledge of God and enlarge your shield of faith.

We all struggle with tempting and accusing thoughts. If you are a healthy and mature Christian, they will bounce right off your shield of faith.

Prayer:

Lord, I raise up the shield of faith today and stand against tempting and accusing thoughts from the evil one.

Assertiveness

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, November 27, 2007 - Is Assertiveness Acceptable?

Assertiveness is a trait required of leaders or anyone trying to accomplish a job. But where are the lines drawn for Christians, especially for women?

There were four women in Scripture who were noticeably assertive: Deborah, Esther, the Proverbs 31 woman, and Lydia. One thing is obvious about these four women: they were effectively assertive in different ways. Each woman asserted herself within the framework of her own personality and her own particular circumstances. You'll discover the same is true of men.

Our assertiveness should be tailored to who we are and what we're facing. It is not so much a male/female question as it is a question of following biblical standards. God doesn't make cookie-cutter Christians. We're all different, and we need to take that into consideration when assertiveness is required of us. Appropriate assertiveness for you will be different than it is for me, but for both of us as Christians it should be Christ-like.

I remember one particular situation when I was assertive for the right reason, but at the wrong time, in the wrong way, and out of character with my own personality. In a meeting with my peers and manager, I made a very assertive, strong statement in opposition to an unfair accusation by my manager against the people who reported to me. But my timing was poor, and I allowed myself to get involved in a situation at which I'm not very good–unexpected confrontation.

Later on I would have had an opportunity to effectively object to the unfair accusations, but at that time in that way it was not effective, just angry. I'm sure that confrontation did not strengthen my Christian testimony either. I failed to follow the guidelines of keeping within the context of the circumstances and my own personality.

So, it's important that we are assertive when it is appropriate, but it's equally important that we learn to use assertiveness sparingly and in balance with the circumstances and our personalities. So much depends on timing, on choice of words, on tone of voice, and on motivation.

You know the timing is wrong if you're in what I call "react" mode. That's when your emotions are strong and you are not likely to be in control of what you say. I'm trying to learn to recognize my own "react" modes better, get out of them quicker, and keep my mouth shut while in that react mode.

And remember, you may be right in voicing your opinion or speaking up assertively, but if it's the wrong choice of words or the wrong tone of voice, it won't work. And if you are asserting yourself for simply selfish reasons or because your feelings have been hurt, the motivation is suspect.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Sabbath

Yesterday in class we discussed Luke 6: 1-12 about Jesus' encounters with the Pharisees on the Sabbath. A couple of verses from this passage are:

But some of the Pharisees said, "Why are you doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath?" [v. 2]

And he said to them, "The Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." [v. 5]

The Sabbath is all about Jesus.

A thought on this encounter: No matter how well intentioned, when we attempt to interpret and define our relationship with God primarily through what we do we will fail. It will lead us into an ever increasing spiral of self focus. Self focus, rather than God focus, will lead to a loss of joy. It will also lead to a loss of God-perspective and value so that what is eternally important (unseen) is not valued as much as what is transient (seen).

Big Revelations

Heresy on Tour? Out of Ur
Posted by Chad Hall

"Since late September blogs have been buzzing about Mark Driscoll’s remark at the Convergent Conference labeling Rob Bell a heretic. Bell’s broad popularity (due primarily to his books, NOOMA videos, and podcasts) make Driscoll’s accusation all the more serious. Out of Ur has stayed out of the fray—until now. Rob Bell was in Raleigh, North Carolina last week as part of a 22-city tour. Leadership correspondent Chad Hall was there to report on the event.

When the babysitter arrived the night before Thanksgiving, she asked of our plans for the evening. Last week it was a concert, and three weeks before that we were headed to dinner and a movie. Tonight, my wife and I were going to…. I stumbled for words to describe Rob Bell’s latest tour. I could tell by her eyes that she stopped caring about thirty seconds before I stopped trying to describe the event.

Bell’s “the gods aren’t angry” tour packed about two thousand souls into Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium for what wound up being a 90 minute sermon.

Bell is a popular writer, speaker and pastor, and I found it easy to see why he’s so popular. As a friend commented after the event, “The dude has some mad communication skills.” Wearing an all black outfit (save a bright white belt) that could have placed him as a member of Green Day, Bell presented an insane amount of information in a style that held my attention and quickened my spirit.

In a nutshell, Bell talked about how humans – since the earliest cavewoman and caveman – try to appease the forces that bring or withhold life. These human attempts led to formation of god concepts and religious practices, which grew ever more sacrificial and eventually led people to harm self and sacrifice children in bold attempts to assuage anxiety about the gods’ opinions of us. Like some sort of Ken Burns without a camera, Bell incorporated tons of tidbits and insights from history, cultural anthropology, theology, sociology and literature to weave a compelling story of religiosity that’s led to the anxiety-riddled human condition wherein we wonder, “Have I done enough?”

Into this system where humans guessed at what the gods want and then trying to give it, God spoke to Abram. Now the deity did the initiating. And the word from God was for Abram to forsake his father’s household: which Bell equated with forsaking the old system of trying to appease the gods. Rather than trying to bless the gods, Abram’s role was to be blessed by God. This was big revelation number one.

According to Bell, big revelation number two came in Leviticus. He said that this strange and seemingly backward third book of the Bible is best understood as a gift from God to help alleviate people’s anxieties. Rather than leave us guessing and grasping for some elusive set of conditions by which God would be pleased, God presented Abram’s lineage with an exact recipe for living and sacrificing, thus removing all doubt that God was not angry with them.

Bell said that big revelation number three came in Jesus. The sacrificial system outlined in Leviticus became corrupt and only led to more anxiety than it relieved. So at just the right time, God revealed that he never really needed our sacrifices anyway. Using quite a bit of humor, irony and pure wit, Bell painted a caricature god who is not complete without what people can provide or perform. Using various sayings from Psalms, Micah, Jesus, Paul’s letters and Hebrews, he drew an alternate picture of the divine: a God who is not dependent on what we do, but who freely loves and pours blessing on us.

The problem, according to Bell, is not that God is angry with us, but that we think God is angry with us. Thus, Jesus’ purpose wasn’t to change God’s mind about us, but to change our mind about God: to notify us of God’s lack of anger and to free us from the prison of our misconceptions so that we can truly live well. The place of church and religious ritual is to remind us of our standing with God and freedom to live lives of sacrifice and service.

This tour stop still has me thinking. The sense I got from Bell is that the whole problem to be solved is a mental one: people are not aware of the already-true fact that God is not angry with them. I’m wrangling with the notion that what Jesus changed is not God’s opinion of me, but my opinion of God. For some reason, this makes me think of Jesus as a Post-It note from God telling us what has been true rather than making it true. I’m ready to dismiss this as too insignificant, except that Bell convinced me that the alternatives leave us with a small god who needs sacrifice to be appeased.

I’m not ready to canonize Rob Bell, nor am I ready to fire up the Driscollian flame thrower and burn him a heretic. I chalk up my questions and concerns to the fact that no sermon – even a 90-minute one delivered with incredible veracity – can cover everything."

Unity

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE SHOES OF PEACE

Ephesians 6:15 Having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace

The next piece of armor is the shoes of peace . When you receive Christ, you are united with the Prince of Peace. You have peace with God right now (Romans 5:1), but the peace of Christ must also rule in your heart if you are going to live victoriously, and that is possible only when you let the Word of Christ richly dwell in you (Colossians 3:15, 16).

The shoes of peace become protection against the divisive schemes of the devil when you act as a peacemaker among believers (Romans 14:19). Peacemakers bring people together by promoting fellowship and reconciliation. "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God" (Matthew 5:9). Anyone can divide a fellowship, but it takes the grace of God to unite us in Him.

Too many Christians insist on common doctrine as the basis for fellowship. They reason that if we don't think the same and believe the same, there is no basis for peace. But common doctrine isn't the basis for fellowship; common heritage is. We're all children of God. If you wait to fellowship with someone until you agree perfectly on every point of doctrine, you'll be the loneliest Christian on earth. Instead of insisting on the unity of the mind, preserve the unity of the Spirit by taking the initiative to be the peacemaker in your relationships (Ephesians 4:3).

Some people like to play the devil's advocate in their relationships and churches. I ask, Why? He doesn't need any help! In His high priestly prayer, Jesus prayed, "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me" (John 17:23). We have the promise that "the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet" (Romans 16:20). Ask God to use you to bring unity to your relationships by making you a peacemaker.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, use me today to bring unity to Your family. Enable me to be a peacemaker.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Born Again

Excerpt from You Must Be Born Again: Why This Series and Where We Are Going? by John Piper

[John 3: 1-18]

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Now I want to say loud and clear that when the Barna Group uses term “born again” to describe American church-goers whose lives are indistinguishable from the world, and who sin as much as the world, and sacrifice for others as little as the world, and embrace injustice as readily as the world, and covet things as greedily as the world, and enjoy God-ignoring entertainment as enthusiastically as the world—when the term “born again” is used to describe these professing Christians, the Barna Group is making a profound mistake. It is using the biblical term “born again” in a way that would make it unrecognizable by Jesus and the biblical writers.

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I am not saying that the church is not as worldly as they say it is. I am saying that the writers of the New Testament think in exactly the opposite direction about being born again. Instead of moving from a profession of faith, to the label “born again,” to the worldliness of these so-called born again people, to the conclusion that the new birth does not radically change people, the New Testament moves the other direction. It moves from the absolute certainty that the new birth radically changes people, to the observation that many professing Christians are indeed (as the Barna Group says) not radically changed, to the conclusion that they are not born again. The New Testament, unlike the Barna Group, does not defile the new birth with the worldliness of unregenerate, professing American Christians.

For example, one of the main points of the first epistle of John is to drive home this very truth:

1 John 2:29: “If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.”

1 John 3:9: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”

1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”

1 John 5:4: “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.”

1 John 5:18: “We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.”

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Spiritual Experiences

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

SIGNS AND WONDERS

John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another

Signs and wonders validated the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. After quoting from the prophet Joel and demonstrating that the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost was biblical, Peter preached about Jesus of Nazareth as "a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst" (Acts 2:22). Of the apostles, Paul said, "the signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles" (2 Corinthians 12:12).

However, signs and wonders would also accompany false teachers and false prophets (Matthew 7:21-23; 2 Peter 2:1-22). In fact, biblical references to signs and wonders in the last days are nearly all credited to false teachers, false prophets and false Christs (Matthew 24:11, 24). The false prophet in the tribulation "deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given him to perform" (Revelation 13:14).

Jesus is no longer with us in the flesh and there are no more apostles. Jesus identified the sign of a disciple as markedly different: "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35).

Does this mean that signs and wonders have ceased? I certainly don't want to be identified with an evil generation that seeks only after a sign, but I also don't want to be associated with the powerless, anti-supernaturalism evidenced in Western rationalism. Both the power of God and the wisdom of God are expressed in Christ. Paul said, "For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God" (1 Corinthians 1:22-24).

Prayer:

Lord, reveal to me the true source of my spiritual experiences. If they are not from You, I renounce them and command Satan to leave my presence.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Word and the Spirit

Excerpt from Let Love Be Genuine by John Piper

[Romans 12:9-13]

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Reading over texts like this once, and quickly, has little effect to produce all these beautiful things in our lives. So what are we to do? What would make these things happen?

Paul gives us guidance in chapter 15. In Romans 15:15-16 he says . . . (keep in mind he is writing mainly to Gentiles, that is, non-Jews in Rome and he is explaining how his ministry of writing this letter helps him accomplish his aim of transforming Gentile sinners into a worship gift to God),

On some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God 16 to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

Notice several things:

1. His aim is that the Gentiles be an “acceptable offering” (v. 16)—just like he said in Romans 12:2 that we prove what is good and “acceptable”: the will of God.

2. His means of preparing the Gentiles—us—for God as acceptable living sacrifices of worship (Romans 12:1) is to write to us and remind us boldly of things we may already know (15:15).

3. But the writing alone does not produce the holiness and the newness and the love that Paul is aiming at in us, so he says at the end of verse 16, “sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

So now we know Paul’s goal for us when we read Romans 12. He writes to us boldly to remind of some things that we already know with the aim that we be transformed in our hearts and minds and begin to embrace the acceptable will of God, and that this all happen by the power of the Holy Spirit. Neither can be excluded from Paul’s strategy: the word and the Spirit. Not the word without the Spirit, and not the Spirit without the word. The 13 exhortations of Romans 12:9-13 are written so that the Holy Spirit may take them and make them the means of his transforming, sanctifying work.
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Choosing Faith

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

HOW FAITH AFFECTS OUR LIVES

Ephesians 2:8, 9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast

After Jesus claimed to be sent by God, some were seeking to seize Him, having come to the conclusion that He was not a good man. But others did believe in Him, "and they were saying, 'When the Christ shall come, He will not perform more signs than those which this man has, will He?'" (John 7:31). All the evidence was there. Some chose to believe; others chose not to. People do the same today. Faith is a choice. We choose to believe or not believe.

Faith is the operating principle of life. It is the means by which we relate to God and live our lives in freedom. Notice the variety of ways stated in Scripture by which faith affects our lives.

First, we are saved by faith (Ephesians 2:8, 9).

Second, we "walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Third, being found faithful is a prerequisite for ministry: "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service" (1 Timothy 1:12). Paul then adds, "And the things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, these entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also" (2 Timothy 2:2). This is more than being reliable, since a person could be counted on to follow through on an assignment and not be a believer. The added ingredient in faithful people is that they know the truth and can be counted on to be reliable.

Fourth, the quality of any relationship is determined by faith or trust: "Many a man proclaims his own loyalty, but who can find a trustworthy man?" (Proverbs 20:6). The words faith , trust and believe are all the same word ( pistis ) in the original language. The man who has faith believes in something. The one who believes also trusts, or he doesn't truly believe. There is no concept that looms larger in life than faith because what we believe determines how we live.

Prayer:

Lord, I affirm that I cannot please You without faith. I choose today to believe in You and trust in Your name.

Friday, November 16, 2007

Purpose

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE SIGNIFICANT DOMINION

Genesis 1:26 Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth

In the original creation, Adam didn't search for significance; he was significant. He was given rule over all His creatures. Was Satan on the scene at creation? Yes. Was he the god of this world at that time? Not at all. Who had the dominion in the garden? Under the authority of God, Adam did, that is until Satan usurped his dominion when Adam and Eve fell. That's when Satan became the god of this world.

Do you realize that the significant dominion Adam exercised before the Fall has been restored to you as a Christian? That's part of your inheritance in Christ. Satan has no authority over you, even though he will try to deceive you into believing that he has. Because of your position in Christ, you have authority over him. You are seated with Christ in the heavenlies (Ephesians 2:6).

First John 3:8 says, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, that He might destroy the works of the devil." The whole plan of God is to restore fallen humanity and establish the kingdom of God where Satan now reigns. This work of God is not just for our personal victory but for all of creation. "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:19-21).

Prayer:
Thank You, Lord, that I am part of Your redemptive plan. Show me my responsibility so I may live a life of purpose.

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Start Praising

Christian Working Woman Transcript

What is your battle? Maybe it's a financial one, and you've been trying to devise your own financial bail out plan. Or could it be a health problem? Are you frantically trying every remedy you can think of? Or perhaps you're ignoring it and hoping it will go away. There are all kinds of battles of every description among us, and we've got to learn this basic principle: "Don't fight; just show up!"

For the people of Judah, they had to march to the battlefield and face the enemy, but you know how they did that?

Jehoshaphat appointed men to sing to the Lord and to praise him for the splendor of his holiness as they went out at the head of the army, saying: 'Give thanks to the Lord, for his love endures forever.(2 Chronicles 20:21)

Please, don't miss this point. As they marched to this battle where their enemies were just waiting to annihilate them, they sent singing men out front praising and thanking God. Whoa–that's pretty gutsy, isn't it? It also seems rather ridiculous. But as they began to sing and praise, the Lord started fighting their battle ahead of them and when they arrived, the enemy was dead already; they had slaughtered each other by mistake.

What do you and I do when we're facing impossibilities? Gripe and complain sometimes, huh? Prophesy defeat, too. And throw our pity parties. "Oh, me, why does this have to happen to me?" "Well, there's nothing I can do but pray; I've tried everything else." "There's nothing we can do about it now. It just can't be helped; that's the way it is." Marching to our battles–or running away from them–in defeat not in victory.

Whatever battle you're facing today, will you stop the bad-mouthing about it and start praising and thanking God, for His love endures forever? Then and only then will you release the victory that God has planned for you. Why? Because then you show God that you trust Him and you're placing your faith in Him. Without faith it's impossible to please Him. He's waiting for you to stop fighting, stop fretting, stop complaining and stop feeling sorry for yourself, and start praising Him as you march to the battlefield. The battle is the Lord's, but you've got to show up!

Abiding

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

Title: Nothing is Lost

A pastor's wife asked, "When one witnesses a work he has poured his life into 'go up in flames' (especially if he is not culpable), is it the work of Satan or the hand of God?"

Often it is the former, always it is under the control of the latter. In the biographies of the Bible we find men whose work for God seemed to be a flop at the time--Moses' repeated efforts to persuade Pharaoh, Jeremiah's pleas for repentance, the good king Josiah's reforms, rewarded in the end by his being slain by a pagan king. Sin had plenty to do with the seeming failures, but God was then, as He is now, the "blessed controller of all things" (1 Timothy 6:15, PHILLIPS). He has granted to us human beings responsibility to make choices and to live with the consequences. This means that everybody suffers--sometimes for his or her own sins, sometimes for those of others.

There are paradoxes here which we cannot plumb. But we can always look at the experiences of our own lives in the light of the life of our Lord Jesus. How shall we learn to "abide" (stay put) in Christ, enter into the fellowship of His sufferings, let Him transform our own? There is only one way. It is by living each event, including having things "go up in flames," as Christ lived: in the peace of the Father's will. Did His earthly work appear to be a thundering success? He met with argument, unbelief, scorn in Pharisees and others. Crowds followed Him--not because they wanted His Truth, but because they liked handouts such as bread and fish and physical healing. His own disciples were "fools and slow of heart to believe." (Why didn't Jesus make them believe? For the reason given above.) These men who had lived intimately with Him, heard His teaching for three years, watched His life and miracles, still had little idea what He was talking about on the evening before His death. Judas betrayed Him, Peter denied Him. The rest of them went to sleep when He asked them to stay awake. In the end they all forsook Him and fled. Peter repented with tears and later saw clearly what had taken place. In his sermon to the Jews of Jerusalem (Acts 2:23, PHILLIPS) he said, "This man, who was put into your power by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed up and murdered.... But God would not allow the bitter pains of death to touch him. He raised him to life again--and there was nothing by which death could hold such a man."

There is nothing by which death can hold any of His faithful servants, either. Settle it, once and for all--YOU CAN NEVER LOSE WHAT YOU HAVE OFFERED TO CHRIST. It's the man who tries to save himself (or his reputation or his work or his dreams of success or fulfillment) who loses. Jesus gave us His word that if we'd lose our lives for His sake, we'd find them.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Living Hope

Excerpt from The Power of Hope by John Piper

[1 Peter]

What is "living hope"? The New Testament idea of hope is very different from our normal thinking about hope. We say to someone: Will the North Stars win the Stanley Cup? And they say: I don't know; I hope so. In other words, hope, as we typically think about it, is a desire for some future thing which we are uncertain of attaining. That is not the way Peter, or the rest of the New Testament, thinks about hope. When Peter says in 1:13, "Hope fully in the grace that is coming to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ," he does not mean we should desire it and be uncertain of it. The coming of Christ is a matter of complete confidence for all the writers in the New Testament. So the command, "Hope fully," means be intensely desirous and fully confident that Jesus Christ is coming again with grace for his people. Another example outside 1 Peter would be Hebrews 6:11 where it says, "We desire each one of you to show the same earnestness in realizing the full assurance of hope to the end." So we can define hope, in the New Testament sense, as full assurance, or strong confidence that God is going to do good to us in the future.

But there is something even more peculiar about Christian hope: Peter calls it "living hope." What does that mean? The opposite of a "living hope" would be a "dead hope," and that calls to mind a similar phrase in James 2, namely, "dead faith." "Faith without works is dead" (2:26), James says. That is, faith is barren, fruitless, unproductive (2:20). So "living faith" and, by analogy, "living hope" would be fertile, fruitful, productive hope. Living hope is hope that has power and produces changes in life. This is what "living' means in Hebrews 4:12, where it says, "The word of God is living and effective." So Christian hope is a strong confidence in God which has power to produce changes in how we live.

Tuesday, November 13, 2007

Sickness

Excerpt from Christ and Cancer by John Piper

So I would like everyone who has a Bible to turn with me to Romans 8:18–28. There are six affirmations which sum up my theology of sickness, and at least the seed for each of these affirmations is here. ...

1. All Creation Has Been Subjected to Futility

My first affirmation is this: the age in which we live, which extends from the fall of man into sin until the second coming of Christ, is an age in which the creation, including our bodies, has been "subjected to futility" and "enslaved to corruption." ...

2. An Age of Deliverance and Redemption Is Coming
My second affirmation is this: there is an age coming when all the children of God, who have endured to the end in faith, will be delivered from all futility and corruption, spiritually and physically. ...

3. Christ Purchased, Demonstrated, and Gave a Foretaste of It
Third, Jesus Christ came and died to purchase our redemption, to demonstrate the character of that redemption as both spiritual and physical, and to give us a foretaste of it. He purchased our redemption, demonstrated its character, and gave us a foretaste of it. Please listen carefully, for this is a truth badly distorted by many healers of our day. ...

But we do have a foretaste of our redemption now in this age. The benefits purchased by the cross can be enjoyed in measure even now, including healing. God can and does heal the sick now in answer to our prayers. But not always. The miracle mongers of our day, who guarantee that Jesus wants you well now and heap guilt after guilt on the back of God's people asserting that the only thing between them and health is unbelief, have failed to understand the nature of God's purposes in this fallen age. They have minimized the depth of sin and the cruciality of God's purifying chastening and the value of faith through suffering and they are guilty of trying to force into this age what God has reserved for the next. ...

4. God Controls All Suffering for the Good of His People
Fourth, God controls who gets sick and who gets well, and all his decisions are for the good of his children, even if they may be very painful and long-lasting. ...

All the affliction that comes to the children of God, whether through persecution or sickness, is intended by God to increase our holiness by causing us to rely more on the God who raises the dead (2 Corinthians 1:9). If we get angry at God in our sickness we are rejecting his love. For it is always in love that he disciplines his children. It is for our good and we must seek to learn some rich lesson of faith from it. Then we will say with the psalmist, "It was good for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn thy statutes . . . I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are righteous, and that in faithfulness thou hast afflicted me" (Psalm 119:71, 75). That is my fourth affirmation: ultimately God controls who gets sick and who gets well and all his decisions are for the good of his children, even if the pain is great and the sickness long. For as the last verse of our text, Romans 8:28, says, "God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God and are called according to his purpose."

5. We Should Pray for Healing Power and Sustaining Grace
The fifth affirmation is that we should therefore pray for God's help both to heal and to strengthen faith while we are unhealed. It is fitting that a child ask his father for relief in trouble. And it is fitting that a loving Father give his child only what is best. And that he always does: sometimes healing now, sometimes not. But always, always what is best for us.

But if sometimes it is best for us not to be healed now, how shall we know what to pray? How shall we know when to stop asking for healing and only ask for grace to trust his goodness? Paul had faced this problem in his own experience. You recall from 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 that Paul, not unlike Job, was given a thorn in the flesh which he called a "messenger of Satan." We don't know what sort of pain or malady it was, but he says that he prayed three times for its removal. But then God gave him the assurance that though he would not heal him, yet his grace would be sufficient and his power would be manifest not in healing but in the faithful service of Paul through suffering.

In our text at Romans 8:26, 27 Paul addresses the same problem, I think: While we are waiting for the redemption of our bodies "the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words and he (God) who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Sometimes all we can do is cry out for help because we do not know in what form the help should come. The Spirit of God takes our stumbling, uncertain expressions of need and brings them before God in a form that accords with God's intentions. And God responds graciously and meets our needs. Not always as we at first hoped, but always for our good. ...

6. We Should Always Trust in the Power and Goodness of God
Sixth, and finally, we should always trust in the love and power of God, even in the darkest hour of suffering. The thing that distresses me most about those who say Christians should always be miraculously healed is that they give the impression that the quality of faith can only be measured by whether a miracle of physical healing takes place, whereas in much of the New Testament you get the impression that the quality of our faith is reflected in the joy and confidence we maintain in God through suffering. ...

No Power

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Tuesday, November 13, 2007 - Don’t Fight; Just Show Up!

"Don't fight; just show up!" The statement comes from a wonderful account found in 2 Chronicles 20 where Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, had to fight a vast enemy army and from all outward appearances, his little ill-equipped army was going to be soundly defeated.

Like us, he was alarmed when he realized the battle he was facing, but the first thing he did was to inquire of the Lord. Listen to the end of his prayer: "For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you."

Have you ever prayed that prayer? Many times God doesn't move on our behalf until we come to this place where we quit maneuvering and manipulating and planning and working, and admit we don't have the foggiest notion what to do and nothing we've tried so far has worked. That may be exactly what you need to do right now. Stop fighting and admit your own defeat.

Often we run the gamut of our ideas before we turn it over to the Lord. For example, with a relationship problem facing us, we typically try all kinds of battle plans to fight that enemy. Many times we try so hard to please that other person in order to solve the problem, and we jump through all their hoops, only to discover that the situation is no better. Or we may decide to confront and get very assertive and tell them a thing or two, and that backfires on us. Of course, there's always nagging to fall back on if you're trying to resolve a problem with another person. Sometimes we get vindictive and try to get our pound of flesh. You see, our battle plans are pretty pitiful and they'll never defeat the enemy.

Are you ready to admit defeat with that person who is the bane of your existence right now? Are you ready to acknowledge that you have no answers, no power, no plan and you simply do not know what to do? If so, you are poised for God to intervene and do something on your behalf.

Now, does that mean you just sit down and quit? No, as we see in this story of Jehoshaphat, he had to show up at the battlefield but he didn't have to fight! You can't take yourself out of the game as long as the Lord has you there. You don't walk off from that mate and say "Forget it." You don't abandon that friend just because things are tough. You don't ignore that coworker who irritates you. But you do seek God's plan–and put your eyes on Him for the answers.

Monday, November 12, 2007

Inquire of the Lord

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Monday, November 12, 2007 - Don’t Fight; Just Show Up!

One of my constant struggles is that I try to do God's work too often. Do you have that problem, too? Probably because I'm impatient and tend to be a controlling person, I want to manipulate and call the shots and direct the action, instead of letting God be God.

Do you recall the story found in 2 Chronicles 20, where Jehoshaphat was facing war with a bunch of enemies who could undoubtedly wipe him off the map? He was a godly king of Judah, and when he realized this vast army was marching his way, he was alarmed–frightened, worried! Who wouldn't be? But as soon as he saw his predicament, he "resolved to inquire of the Lord and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah."

Notice how he responded to a crisis–he resolved to inquire of the Lord. What is the first thing you do when facing an overwhelming enemy of some sort? It could be a relationship enemy or a financial enemy or a jobless enemy or a health enemy; they come in all types and sizes. Our first emotional reaction is alarm; that's to be expected. But what does that alarm cause us to do?

Often the first thing I do is to plan my fight. Whatever the problem is, I start figuring how I can win this battle. I can do this or that; I can talk to this person or that one; I can pull this string or another one. Surely there is something I can do to fix this situation and fix it fast! So I start drawing up my battle plan.

Jehoshaphat knew better. He remembered to first of all "inquire of the Lord." What is your mission impossible today, your impossible person, your mountain too high to climb? Have you inquired of the Lord yet for His guidance? Or are you struggling and working and fretting to come up with your own battle plan so you can solve that problem?

Tell you what–let's you and I just stop right where we are and inquire of the Lord. That means to tell Him that you trust Him, you believe He is smarter than you are, and you admit that your ideas usually make matters worse rather than solve anything. So, instead of fighting your battle today, you're going to inquire of the Lord as to what to do. That's the first important step.

Hindrances

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

FIVE HINDRANCES

James 1:25 One who looks intently at the perfect law . . . not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does

While God has given us an infallible guide to life--His Word--the truth he wants us to follow for our freedom can be obscured by our bias and selfish indulgence. In the twentieth-century Western church, I see at least five major hindrances which affect our understanding and application of the Word of God.

First, there is a tendency to make doctrine an end in itself. Christian maturity is not understanding the principles of the Bible; Christian maturity is character. If what we come to accept as truth doesn't affect our love for God and man, something is radically wrong (1 Timothy 1:5). "Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies" (1 Corinthians 8:1).

Second, we can learn a lot about God from Scripture and not know Him at all. Before his conversion, Paul knew the law, but he didn't recognize God in Christ when he saw Him. We're not asked to fall in love with doctrine. We're asked to fall in love with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, we often encourage memorizing Scripture instead of thinking scripturally. Our model should be, "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). We are to incarnate the Word of God. We are to have our lives transformed by it, and our minds renewed by it.

Fourth, we often hear the Word and then don't do it. The will of God is thwarted by educating people beyond their obedience. Jesus taught: "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them" (John 13:17).

Fifth, like the Pharisees, we tend to neglect the commandment of God and hold to the traditions of men (Mark 7:8). I believe this is one of the most serious problems affecting our churches today. Many seminary graduates are called as "new wine" (zealous to serve God according to the truth of His Word) to "old wineskin" churches (rooted in the traditions of men), and the results are disastrous for both.

Prayer:

Lord, renew me today by Your Word. I want to grow in my love for You, not just the truth about You.

Friday, November 09, 2007

In Christ

Excerpt from We, Though Many, Are One Body in Christ by John Piper

[Romans 12]

...

The phrase I want us to focus on is the phrase, “in Christ” in verse 5a: “so we, though many, are one body in Christ.” What this phrase means is that the interwoven unity of all the members into one body is created and brought about in Christ. One simple way to say what that means is that as each of us is in relationship to Christ, we are therefore in relationship to each other. If I am Christ’s brother, and your are Christ’s sister, then you are my sister. By creating relationships with himself, Christ creates the relationships in the body.

But the truth here is deeper than that. What it means to be “in Christ” far more profound than the human analogy of family relations suggests. That would be precious enough. But it’s far more and far better than that.

What this phrase “in Christ” means is that when you trust Christ as your Savior and Lord and Treasure (Philippians 3:9), a union is established between Christ and you in such a way that everything in Christ that can be shared will be shared with you. Everything that he is, and everything that he has that can be shared will be shared with you. And there is only one thing that can’t be shared—his deity, and its unique God-defining attributes (like omnipotence and omniscience and eternality). But everything else that Christ is and has is yours in him.

Consider a few examples from the way this little phrase “in Christ” is used. This is what it means for you to be “in Christ”:

1 Corinthians 1:4, we receive grace in Christ.
Romans 3:24, our redemption is in Christ.
Galatians 2:17, we are justified in Christ.
Ephesians 4:32, we have forgiveness of sins in Christ.
Romans 8:1, there is no condemnation in Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:17, we are a new creation in Christ.
Romans 6:23, we have eternal life in Christ.
Philippians 4:19, God supplies all our needs in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3, we have every spiritual blessing of heaven in Christ
Colossians 1:28, we will be presented to God perfect in Christ.
Romans 8:32, we cannot be separated from the love of God in Christ.

Paul’s aim in talking this way is that we stand in awe of Christ. That we love Christ, and admire Christ and follow Christ and enjoy making much of Christ above all things.

Paul has not departed from his passion in verse 3 to keep us humble and make Christ great. Listen to the way he relates this truth to boasting in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23, “Let no one boast in men. For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's.”

You belong to him. You are in him. There is a union by faith so that all that he is, he is for you. It is simply breathtaking. Oh, that God would help us believe it with all our hearts.

And the only thing—and it is a huge and wonderful thing—to be added from Romans 12:5 is that we experience all of this together in one body. “So we, though many, are one body in Christ.” Redeemed together. Justified together. Forgiven together. Created anew together. Every need met together. Loved by God together. Perfected together. Living forever together—and all of this glorious unity created in Christ and for the glory of Christ.

...

New Birth

Excerpts of edited transcription of the audio interview with John Piper:

Is being born again up to us?

It's no more up to us than it was up to my grandson, who was born two days ago, to get out of the womb. In other words, birth is something done to us. It's not something that we do.

It is, however, something that we react to. The first cry of a newborn in Christ is faith. I would never write a book on how to be born again—because that is like writing a book for babies on how to get out of the womb—but I would write a book on how to be saved, because that is about faith in Jesus Christ.

...

We pray for regeneration—we pray for new birth—so that people can believe. They don't believe so that they can be born again. They're born unto a living hope so that they can believe. People don't believe unless God breaks into their lives, raises them from the dead, gives them a new heart, and enables them to see the beauty of Christ.

Do you think we'll ever be able to resolve the tension between God's sovereignty and man's responsibility?

...

The biblical mystery is between God, who is sovereign over all things and governs all things (including the will of man), and our accountability and responsibility to will what we ought to even though we don't have absolute self-determination. That's the mystery. And I'm willing to live with that because the Bible teaches both of those things.


What is the first step in our responsibility?

If we read Jesus in John 3 we see that the new birth is God's work. ...

Then the person must admit, "I was brought to this point by the Spirit of God. Yet now I must use my will, enabled by God, to embrace him, to receive him" (John 1:12).

So I would plead with people to come to Christ as the fountain of living water and as the bread of heaven (Isaiah 55:1-3). And when people come and embrace Christ with faith they are saved, their sins are forgiven, and they have the hope of eternal life. Then they'll look back some day and say, "I came because he drew me. I came because I was born again. He opened my eyes. He gave me ears to hear. He enabled me to taste and see that the Lord is good."

Counsel

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

Title: Ungodly Counsel


"Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly" (Psalm 1:1, AV).

At a recent convention a young woman told me that her husband had wanted a divorce, but consented to see a Christian counselor before making it final. A member of the team in the counseling center told him that he himself was divorced and very happily remarried. That was all the husband needed. The man to whom he looked for help set the example he was hoping to find. Of course he went ahead and divorced his wife.

The twenty-third chapter of Jeremiah describes what is happening in our country today. The land is full of adulterers. Pastures have dried up. Powers are misused. Prophet and priest alike are godless, doing evil even in the Lord's house. Jeremiah's description of the prophets seems terribly fitting for some of those from whom Christian people are seeking guidance: "The vision they report springs from their own imagination. It is not from the mouth of the Lord.... To all who follow the promptings of their own stubborn heart they say, 'No disaster shall befall you.' But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord, seen him and heard his word? Which of them has listened to his word and obeyed?" (Jeremiah 23:16-18, NEB).

Here is a good test to apply to any of whom we seek counsel. Has this person stood in the council of the Lord? Seen Him? Heard His word? Listened and obeyed? Note the few who have actually paid a price for their obedience (like Jeremiah who was flogged, imprisoned, dropped into a pit of slime, etc.). These few are the ones to follow.

The chapter goes on to describe prophets who speak lies in God's name, dream dreams, give voice to their own inventions, concoct words of their own, and then say, "This is his very word." They mislead with "wild and reckless falsehoods."

"If a prophet has a dream, let him tell his dream; if he has my word, let him speak my word in truth. What has chaff to do with grain? says the Lord" (v. 28).

Beware of those who are afraid to quote Scripture, who say it's too "simplistic," doesn't apply here, won't work. Beware of the counselor who is "nondirectional." Be cautious when the advice given makes you feel comfortable when you know you're really wrong. "Do not my words scorch like fire? says the Lord. Are they not like a hammer that splinters rock?" (v. 29).

It wasn't only the awesome prophets of the Old Testament who spoke this way. Think of the words of Jesus. Though often He spoke "comfortable words," words that brought peace and hope, He spoke also those words that seared like fire ("Depart from me, I never knew you"; "Get behind me, Satan!") and splintered rock ("You will never get out until you have paid the last farthing"; "Whoever wants to be first must be the willing slave of all").

"The form of words you shall use in speaking amongst yourselves is: 'What answer has the Lord given?' or 'What has the Lord said?'" (Jeremiah 23:35, NEB).

This applies, of course, only to those who care what the Lord wants. Those who have already decided to do their own thing need not apply for truly godly counsel.

Goal Alignment

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

BECOMING THE PERSON GOD WANTS

2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all . . . are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit

When you begin to align your goals with God's goals and your desires with God's desires, you will rid your life of a lot of anger, anxiety and depression. The homemaker who wants a happy, harmonious family is expressing a godly desire, but she cannot guarantee that it will happen. So she'd better not base her identity and sense of worth on it or she will be a basket case of anger or resentment toward her sometimes less-than-harmonious family.

Instead she could decide, "I'm going to be the wife and mother God wants me to be." That's a great goal! Is it impossible or uncertain? No, because it's also God's goal for her and nothing is impossible with God. Who can block her goal? She's the only one who can. As long as she cooperates with God's goal for her, her success is assured.

"But what if my husband has a mid-life crisis or my kids rebel?" she may object. Problems like that aren't blocking her goal of being the wife and mother God wants her to be, but they will put her goal to a serious test. If her husband ever needs a godly wife, and if her children ever need a godly mother, it's in times of trouble. Family difficulties are merely new opportunities for her to fulfill her goal of being the woman God wants her to be.

The pastor whose worth is based on his goal to win his community for Christ, have the best youth ministry in town, or increase giving to missions by 50 percent is headed for a fall. These are worthwhile desires, but they are poor goals by which to determine his worth because they can be blocked by people or circumstances. Rather he could say, "I'm going to be the pastor God wants me to be." That's a great goal because nothing can block him from achieving it.

God's basic goal for your life is character development: becoming the person God wants you to be. Because it's a godly goal, no one can block it except you.

Prayer:

Lord, I want to be the person You called me to be today. Thank You that by Your grace I can be that person.

Thursday, November 08, 2007

Trust

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.

Psalm 20:7

So, what are your (and my) "chariots and horses"?

Hurt Feelings

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, November 08, 2007 - Managing Emotions Under Pressure


I wonder if you’ve ever thought about how much time and energy you spend feeling hurt and how that affects your performance and your ability to succeed.

If it were possible to measure how much productivity is lost, how many hours are wasted, how many jobs are half-done or not done because somebody got their feelings hurt, I think we would be shocked. I see it happen so often–in others as well as myself–and I’ve finally come to the place where I’m really fed up with overly sensitive hurt feelings. Now, obviously sometimes our feelings are hurt legitimately; I understand that. But my guess is that’s about twenty-five percent of the time. The majority of our hurt feelings come from being way too sensitive and offended far too easily.

As you examine this emotion of getting your feelings hurt easily, you have to recognize that it is a result of thinking that everything is all about you! If someone forgets to say good morning to me as they walk by and I choose to let that hurt my feelings, it’s because I think they’re purposely slighting me and trying to hurt me. I’m thinking it’s all about me, instead of stopping to realize they’re probably just in a rush, thoughtless no doubt, but intending no negative message to me whatsoever.

As I’ve often said, people are not thinking about you nearly as much as you think they are! They’re thinking about themselves. I urge you to examine yourself and determine if you are a victim of your own overly-sensitive feelings. If so, one of the best gifts you can give yourself is to overcome this tendency. I truly believe we are often a victim of ourselves–our own worst enemy.

Start making allowances for others. If someone speaks in a tone that sounds harsh, tell yourself that they don’t realize it, or something else has upset them that has nothing to do with you. Unless you have firm proof that it has something to do with you, assume that it does not. It’s not all about you. Even if the other person’s behavior verges on being rude, just let them off the hook. Imagine an excuse.

I read a prayer once which I’ve written in my prayer journal which says, “May I be willing to make the same excuses for other people that I make for myself.” Isn’t that a great prayer? After all, we let ourselves off the hook all the time. We say or think, I’m tired, or I’m in a rush, or I didn’t mean to sound harsh, or They misunderstood what I meant. We make excuses for ourselves, but frequently we aren’t willing to make the same excuses for others. Pray that God will help you to make excuses for others, and in the process, learn to manage your tendency to get your feelings hurt too easily.

---

I like the thought: “May I be willing to make the same excuses for other people that I make for myself.”

Wednesday, November 07, 2007

All the Glory Belongs to God

Excerpt from Faith: The Root and Trait of All Spiritual Gifts by John Piper

[Romans 12]

...

In verse 3 Paul says, “For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” So we asked, “Why, Paul, do you make the God-given measure of faith that each believer has the standard for his self-assessment?” We have given three answers to that question.

1. Because the unique nature of faith deflects glory from us and draws all attention to Christ. Faith is a looking away from ourselves to the infinite worth of Jesus and the treasure that satisfies our souls. So making faith the measure of ourselves means that my value as a person is my valuing of Christ—or at least my potential valuing of Christ.

2. Faith is the standard of our self-assessment because faith is a gift from God and, you can’t boast in a gift. So if my faith grows, and my usefulness increases, there can be no boasting. To God belongs all the glory.

3. Faith is the standard of our self-assessment because faith is measured out to believers in different proportions which leads us to a kind of interdependent unity in diversity that is more difficult and (therefore) more beautiful and more God-glorifying than if we all had the same degree of faith.

Now we come to the fourth and last answer to our question which builds a bridge into verses 4-6 and the comparison between the church and the human body.

4. I would put it like this: Paul makes faith the standard of our self-assessment because faith is the root of all spiritual gifts and the human trait of spiritual gifts that makes them spiritual gifts and not merely natural; and therefore faith makes all spiritual gifts, no matter how great or small, a tribute to God and not to ourselves.

...

Grace

I like the song Just the Way I Am by Big Daddy Weave -- some of the lyrics are:

Not when I’m good enough
Not when I clean my act up
Not when I cross that line the thousandth time
And become a better man
Your grace is more than enough
To cover all my sins You washed them away
So right here today
You love me just the way I am

Four Pictures

Quote on church membership by Eric Lane:

"God has given us four pictures of the church, not one. This is not just to emphasize and prove the point by repetition, but also to say four different things about what it means to be a member of a church. To be a stone in his temple means to belong to a worshipping community. To be part of a body means to belong to a living, functioning, serving, witnessing community. To be a sheep in the flock means belonging to a community dependent on him for food, protection, and direction. To be a member of a family is to belong to a community bound by a common fatherhood. Put together you have the main functions of an individual Christian. Evidently we are meant to fulfill these not on our own but together in the church. Now can you see the answer to the question why you should join a church?"--G. Eric Lane, I Want to Be A Church Member (Bryntirion, Wales: Evangelical Press of Wales, 1992), p. 21.

Tuesday, November 06, 2007

Devoting Ourselves

Excerpt from Treasuring Christ Together as a Church on Multiple Campuses by John Piper

[References to Acts 2]

...

1) Christ himself builds his church.

We plant. We water. But the Lord gives life. Verse 47b: “The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” The Lord did this. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Church strategies are not decisive. God is decisive. There is far too much emphasis in the American church on the human dimension of church planting and church growth, and far too little emphasis on the divine dimension. Let there be no mistake: Treasuring Christ Together, as a strategy for spreading a passion for God, is not decisive in whether anyone cries out, “What must I do to be saved?” That is a work of the Holy Spirit. And we should be on our faces crying out for it continually.

2) The Lord uses the word of God in the mouth of his servants to grow the church.

Verse 37: “Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart.” It was God who cut them to the heart. But God used the word spoken by Peter. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word about Christ (Romans 10:17). Bethlehem is a word-oriented church. We aim to be a Bible-saturated people. We believe it is staggeringly significant that God has spoken—that he has inspired a book. Campus and church plants and Global Diaconate teams are built around the word of God.

3) There was one church in Jerusalem, and it was big and growing.

At least as far as we know, this church was conceived as one church. In Acts 8:1, Luke writes, “There arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.” Not “churches.” One church. In Acts 11:22, Luke writes, “The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.” Not “churches” but “church.” And in Acts 15:4, Luke describes the welcome of Paul and Barnabas in Jerusalem: “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders.” Not churches, but church.

So there is no evidence that the believers in Jerusalem were several churches. But consider the numbers. In Acts 2:41, “there were added that day about three thousand souls.” In Acts 4:4, Luke says, “Many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.” And the word for “men” refers to males. So the real number of believers was at least double that, because it says in Acts 5:14, “More than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.” So we have one church of at least ten thousand members. How did they do that? How were they structured? What did church look like?

Don’t misunderstand. We are not operating on the assumption that if we knew the exact structure of the Jerusalem church or the Philippian church or the Corinthian church we would have to structure ourselves just that way. We believe that where the New Testament commands us to do something or implies that it is right to do it in all times and all places, we obey. But there is no command in the New Testament that says, “Replicate all the structures that you see in the early church.” Some are commanded; some are not. Our aim was simply, “Can we see some guidelines? Can we see mandates and prohibitions if there are any, and can we see opportunities and permissions?”

4) This church met in large gatherings to hear the apostles in the temple, it seems, and in small gatherings in their homes.

Verse 46: “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.” So it says they met every day in the temple. But be careful you don’t jump to the conclusion that all believers worshipped every day in the temple. Maybe. But I doubt it. More likely is that it means: There were Christians there every day listening to the apostles, not that they were all there every day.

The temple was large, perhaps a total of 26-35 acres depending on the exact measurement of the cubit. The court of the Gentiles could hold huge crowds. But an apostle shouting loud enough to be heard by ten thousand people would have been totally disruptive to the ongoing life of the temple. More likely is that there were gatherings of several hundred perhaps two or three times during the day every day and the apostles shared the teaching.

The reason I say they were probably being taught by the apostles is that, just like it says in Acts 2:46, “Day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes . . .” so it says in Acts 5:42, “Every day, in the temple and from house to house, [the apostles] did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” So we know that the church “devoted themselves to the apostles teaching” (2:42) and gathered daily in the temple (2:46) and that the apostles taught daily in the temple (5:42). So it seems to me that they had organized themselves so that as one church of over ten thousand they could be instructed by the apostles in larger groups in the temple courts and meet in smaller groups from house to house. We don’t know for sure how they did it. But we take heart that it appears they had to wrestle with some of the same things we do, and they did the best they could structurally with ten thousand people.

5) One more thing about this church: They encountered problems along the way owing to their size and their ethnic diversity.

Acts 6:1 says, “Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number [there’s the size cause], a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews [there’s the ethnic or cultural cause] because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.” In other words, even though they tried to structure themselves to meet everyone’s needs, it didn’t always work and they had to figure out some new structures.

So we see ourselves as one church, growing, by God’s sovereign grace and through the instrument of his word, from two thousand to four thousand to ten thousand people. And we believe that it is possible—indeed, strategic—to structure ourselves on multiple campuses and in hundreds of home groups so that the larger temple experience and the smaller home experience happens as we devote ourselves to the teaching of the apostles (the New Testament) and to fellowship and to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

...

Monday, November 05, 2007

Amy Carmichael and Living Sacrifices

Elisabeth Elliot Daily Devotional

Title: Visit to Dohnavur

Because I had been invited to write a new biography of Amy Carmichael of Dohnavur, Lars and I visited the work she founded in South India. We arrived on their monthly prayer day in time to attend the evening meeting. The House of Prayer is a beautiful terra-cotta-colored building with a red tile roof and a tower which holds the chimes that play a hymn at 6:00 A.M. and 9:00 P.M. There is no furniture inside except a few chairs for older ones and decrepit foreigners such as we who aren't used to sitting on the floor. Everyone filed in in perfect silence, bare feet moving noiselessly over polished red tile floors, and sat in rows according to age, the tiny ones up front, dressed in brightly colored cotton dresses. Behind them sat the next age group, girls in skirts and blouses; then came those in skirts, blouses, and half-saris; finally the "accals" (older ones who look after the younger) in blue or purple or green saris. All had smoothly combed and oiled black hair, many of them with flowers in it. An Indian man played the little pump organ while they sang several traditional hymns in English, as well as songs written by "Amma" (the Tamil term of respect, used for Amy Carmichael). There was Scripture reading, then a prayer of thanksgiving for the new child who had just come, a little girl of two whose mother could not keep her. Her new mother, an accal, carried her to the platform and stood holding her while they prayed and then sang "Jesus Loves Me."

At another service in the House of Prayer, Lars and I sat in the tiny balcony which leads up to the tower. We looked down on the lovely scene made even brighter this time because the smallest children had been given colored flags to wave in time to the music of certain songs; a custom instituted by Amma which I think should be adopted by every Sunday School and church, for it enables the tiny ones to participate by doing something even when they are too young to know the words by heart. Older ones played tambourines, triangle, and bells, while one drummed softly with a leather flap on the mouth of a clay pot.

I was allowed to use Amma's room for my reading and writing. Called the Room of Peace, it is spacious, has high ceilings and tiled floors, many doors and windows opening onto a verandah on three sides where there is a walk-in bird cage. A brick runway leads from the verandah to a platform under the trees where, following the accident which disabled her for the rest of her life, Amy Carmichael used to be taken to sit in the cool of the evening. Glass-doored bookcases, filled with her beloved books, stand around the walls of the room. Above them hang paintings of snowcaps by her friend, Dr. Howard Somervell, of Everest fame. There are hand-carved and painted wooden texts, "Good and Acceptable and Perfect" (referring to the lesson she found so hard to learn after the accident, of acceptance of the will of God), "A Very Present Help," "By one who loveth is another kindled" (from St. Augustine), and, the largest of all, blue letters on teak, "God hath not given us the spirit of fear." Also on the walls are a mounted tiger head, a pendulum clock, and one of the very few photographs ever taken of Amma.

In that Room of Peace I was glad not to be wearing shoes (nobody wears shoes in the houses of Dohnavur)--it seemed holy ground as I studied the marginal notes and underlinings of her favorite books, read the handwritten notebooks in which she explained for members of the Dohnavur Fellowship the "pattern shewn," the principles and practices which the Lord had given her at the inception of her work. I thumbed through worm-eaten ledgers, clippings, photographs--priceless documents that trace the day-by-day history of a task accepted for the Lord, the rescuing of little girls from temple prostitution and little boys from dramatic societies in which they were used for evil purposes. In later years the work included children in other kinds of need.

The most powerful witness to the quality of the service Amma rendered is to be seen in the Indian men and women who were reared there and who have remained to lay down their lives for others. Pungaja, for example, lives in the compound called Loving Place, where some of the mentally handicapped are cared for.

"I have no professional training," she told me. "The Holy Spirit gives me new wisdom each day to deal with them. Some are like wild animals, but the Lord Himself is my helper. I can't see on one side, but even in my weakness He has helped me. First Corinthians says that God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the mighty, that no flesh should glory in His presence.

"One day I went to Amma with a burdened heart, but when she hugged me all my sorrow went.

"'What work are you doing?' Amma asked me. I told her.

"'Do you find it difficult?' I said yes.

"'These are soldiership years,' she said.

"Now it is my joy to serve these very difficult people."

She spoke quietly, looking out into the courtyard where some of them went back and forth. She had lost an eye as a child, and her face revealed suffering, but I saw the joy she spoke of written there, the joy of a laid-down life. I saw it in very many faces in Dohnavur. They do not mention that there are no diversions, no place to go, no time off (except two weeks per year--I asked about that). They do their work for Him who came not to be ministered unto.

We came away smitten, thinking of Amma's own words from her little book If, "...then I know nothing of Calvary love." The meaning of the living sacrifice, the corn of wheat, the crucified life, had been shown to us in twentieth century flesh and blood.

Ambassadors

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

SHOWING YOURSELF FAITHFUL

1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service

When D.L. Moody found his life in Christ, he looked for some opportunities to teach at a church, but no one wanted to use the uneducated man. He started his own Bible study in a shoe store, and it wasn't long before kids were coming out of the woodwork. People couldn't help but notice him because he was bearing fruit, and few have left such an imprint as his upon the world.

Paul said, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service" (1 Timothy 1:12). Show yourself faithful by exploiting the opportunities around you. The needs of people are everywhere so what are you waiting for?

A man in my church often expressed his frustration with his job. For 20 years he'd been working as a construction worker and he hated it! Frustrated with his career, he wondered why God wouldn't call him out of it.

I asked him if he had ever expressed dissatisfaction about his job with his fellow employees who weren't Christians. He said, "Oh, sure. I complain right along with the rest of them."

I continued, "What do you suppose that does to your witness?" He was a little startled by my question. I added, "Do you realize that God has you exactly where He wants you? When you assume your responsibility to be the person God wants you to be as a construction worker, He may open a new door for you."

The Holy Spirit must have brought conviction because this man became a missionary at work. He displayed concern for the needs of his coworkers and their families and soon had a series of witnessing experiences to share. Within six months an opportunity arose and he left construction work. And all because he started to bloom where he was planted.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, help me see the needs of my coworkers, friends and family, and enable me to be Your ambassador to them.

Friday, November 02, 2007

Treasuring Christ

Excerpt from Treasuring Christ Together Because He Is More Valuable Than All Else by John Piper

... The passage begins (Philippians 3:1), “Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.” Paul is writing from prison. And we know from 2 Corinthians 8 that the Philippian church is not wealthy and that there has been affliction. So we know this joy is not based on good circumstances. It is, as Paul says, “in the Lord.” In Jesus Christ, the Lord. In other words, he is telling us: Consider Christ so precious, so valuable, such a great treasure, that whether in prison or in affliction or in poverty, knowing him and belonging to him and being with him forever gives you joy. This is what we mean by treasuring Christ. And in the church we do it together. We help each other do it.

Then in verse 2, he warns them about those who make circumcision the basis of their acceptance with God. ... So this time Paul says we are to glory in Christ Jesus. Literally, “exult in Christ,” or “boast in Christ.” In other words, some people take great joy in their moral achievements. They exult in them like the Pharisee who thanks God that he was not like other men because he fasts twice a week and gives tithes of all he has (Luke 18:12). This is his boast. But Paul says, “No, Christ is our boast.” If you have tasted the pleasure of accomplishing something you could boast in, transfer all that pleasure onto Christ. We glory in Christ Jesus. We treasure him, not our achievements. That’s what we mean by treasuring Christ together. We help each other do this.

Then in verses 4-6, Paul lists the religious and ethnic distinctives that he could boast in if he wanted to: ... He had plenty of moral and legal achievements.

But they meant nothing to him compared to Christ. Less than nothing. They were garbage—dung—compared to Christ. Verses 7-8: “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.”

Notice the three ways he expresses the supreme importance of treasuring Christ. Verse 7: Paul counts everything as loss for the sake of Christ. He is worthy more than everything else in Paul’s life. Verse 8a: “I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” To know Christ is more to be desired than anything else. Verse 8b: “I count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ.” Gaining Christ—having him as your treasure in the final fullness of perfection—is better than gaining the world and everything in it. This is what we mean by treasuring Christ together. We help each other know Christ like this.

Thursday, November 01, 2007

Pray Continually

Christian Working Woman Transcript

Thursday, November 01, 2007 - Missions Impossible of Scripture- PRAY CONTINUALLY


First Thessalonians 5:17 is one of the shortest verses in the Bible. It simply says, Pray continually. Packed into those two words is another mission impossible. How in the world can we pray continually?

Does that mean we become cloistered like monks and pray night and day? Even so, we couldn't literally pray continually, could we? We'd have to eat and sleep. Well, part of the problem here is that we misunderstand what prayer is.

Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:18 to pray on all occasions with all kinds of prayer. Certainly we should have daily times of quiet solitude when we're alone with God in prayer. That's one kind of prayer. But all through our day, no matter what we're doing, our hearts should be in an attitude of prayer, so that throughout the day we're breathing prayers and staying in touch with Jesus. That's another kind of prayer.

For instance, when you hear news reports of some terrible thing or a tragedy that has happened to someone, just stop at that moment and breath a prayer for that person or that situation. When a friend or family member is struggling or hurting, as you think of them during the day, turn your thoughts into a prayer for them.

Praying continually means we are continually in the attitude of prayer, and when our minds have a free moment, we use those moments to send up a prayer. Now, in order to be able to do that, we have to have those quiet times of prayer, where we have established that firm and trusting relationship with the Lord. This is not a substitute for secluded prayer time. But it's another kind of prayer, and I think it's one of the most wonderful benefits of being a Christian. To be able to stay in touch all day long with the Living God, just by breathing a prayer–what an incredible joy that is.

This is not mission impossible; this is privilege incredible. Pray continually; look for those little breaks when you can snatch some prayer time. You'll be surprised how many you'll find. Commute time, lunchtime, or right while you're working–pray continually. It sure makes a difference in your day when you do.