Don't Get Thrown Off Course

¹I, James, am a slave of God and the Master Jesus, writing to the twelve tribes scattered to Kingdom Come: Hello! Faith Under Pressure

^2-4Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors. So don't try to get out of anything prematurely. Let it do its work so you become mature and well-developed, not deficient in any way.

...

¹²Anyone who meets a testing challenge head-on and manages to stick it out is mighty fortunate. For such persons loyally in love with God, the reward is life and more life.

^13-15Don't let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, "God is trying to trip me up." God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one's way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.

^16-18So, my very dear friends, don't get thrown off course. Every desirable and beneficial gift comes out of heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light. There is nothing deceitful in God, nothing two-faced, nothing fickle. He brought us to life using the true Word, showing us off as the crown of all his creatures.

James 1 (The Message)

Forgiveness

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE CHOICE OF FORGIVENESS

Ephesians 4:32
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ has also forgiven you

Most of the ground that Satan gains in the lives of Christians is due to unforgiveness. We are warned to forgive others so that Satan cannot take advantage of us (2 Corinthians 2:10, 11). God requires us to forgive others from our hearts or He will turn us over to the tormentors (Matthew 18:34, 35). Why is forgiveness so critical to our freedom? Because of the cross. God didn't give us what we deserve ; He gave us what we needed according to His mercy. We are to be merciful just as our heavenly Father is merciful (Luke 6:36). We are to forgive as we have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:31, 32).

Forgiveness is not forgetting. People who try to forget find that they cannot. God says He will "remember no more" our sins (Hebrews 10:17), but God, being omniscient, cannot forget. "Remember no more" means that God will never use the past against us (Psalm 103:12). Forgetting may be a result of forgiveness, but it is never the means of forgiveness. When we bring up the past and use it against others, we haven't forgiven them.

Forgiveness is a choice, a crisis of the will. We choose to face and acknowledge the hurt and the hate in order to forgive from the heart. Since God requires us to forgive, it is something we can do. (He would never require us to do something we cannot do.) But forgiveness is difficult for us because it pulls against our concept of justice. We want revenge for offenses suffered. But we are told never to take our own revenge (Romans 12:19). "Why should I let them off the hook?" we protest. You let them off your hook, but they are never off God's hook. He will deal with them fairly--something we cannot do.

If you don't let offenders off your hook, you are hooked to them and the past, and that just means continued pain for you. Stop the pain; let it go. You don't forgive someone merely for their sake; you do it for your sake so you can be free. Your need to forgive isn't an issue between you and the offender; it's between you and God.

Prayer:

Lord, I stand amazed at the example of Your forgiveness. I desire to grow in my willingness to forgive those who have hurt me.

Morning

²² The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
²³they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in him."

Lamentations 3:22-24

³O LORD, in the morning you hear my voice;
in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch.

Psalm 5:3

Positives

Excerpts from Notes from My Talk at the Gospel Coalition: Positives, Negatives and Neutrals by Mark Driscoll

A Sermon for Christian Ministry Leaders
on the Assigned Text of 2 Timothy 2:14–26

My message will be live-streamed at 6:00 PM PDT at Christianity.com. The audio and video will also be available for free download from The Gospel Coalition within a day or so.

This blog post is intended to serve as an outline for my message at the Gospel Coalition. Because of the seriousness of the text that was assigned to me some months ago, I have prepared what is, for me, a very thorough outline. Rarely do I use notes of any length but I felt it would be helpful to post these notes because there are likely too many points (40ish) for attendees to capture. Nonetheless, I want to also stress that the message likely will deviate from the notes at certain points.

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Positives

• Paul is the positive speaking into Timothy’s life and ministry, seeking to help him stay positive and not go negative, lest the neutrals only have negatives to influence them and the entire ministry becomes negative and toxic.

Twenty Ways to Be a Positive from 2 Timothy 2:14–26

1. Positively emphasize what you are for instead of against.
   Remind them of these things (v. 14)
2. Positively use your God-given authority.
   charge them before God (v. 14)
3. Positively invest your words.
   not to quarrel about words, which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. (v. 14)
4. Positively do your best.
   Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved (v. 15)
5. Positively work hard.
   a worker who has no need to be ashamed (v. 15)
6. Positively study harder.
   rightly handling the word of truth. (v. 15)
7. Positively avoid getting drawn into endless arguments.
   But avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, and their talk will spread like gangrene. (v. 16-17)
8. Positively warn the sheep about the wolves.
   Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, who have swerved from the truth, saying that the resurrection has already happened. They are upsetting the faith of some. (v. 17-18)
9. Positively rejoice that God rules the church.
   But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” (v. 19)
10. Positively practice repentance before preaching it.
    “Let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” (v. 19)
11. Positively use your passion to be a better servant.
    Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver but also of wood and clay, some for honorable use, some for dishonorable. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. (v. 20-21)
12. Positively grow up quickly.
    So flee youthful passions (v. 22)
13. Positively seek righteousness, faith, love, and peace with urgency.
    pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. (v. 22)
14. Positively grow in discernment.
    Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. (v. 23)
15. Positively be kind like Jesus.
    And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone (v. 24)
16. Positively harness the opportunity to teach your people.
    able to teach (v. 24)
17. Positively suffer patiently like Jesus.
    patiently enduring evil (v. 24)
18. Positively correct gently.
    correcting his opponents with gentleness. (v. 25)
19. Positively desire good for your enemies.
    God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (v. 25-26)
20. Positively use your energy to win converts, not arguments.
    “As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” (2 Tim. 4:5–7)

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Giving Grace

On Sunday Adam was talking about the purpose of grace and how grace frees us (Rom 6: 11-14). In a related thought I was reading yesterday in Ephesians 4:29 about how our talk can "give grace".

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. [ESV]

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. [The Message]

I was noticing the contrasts in this verse:

corrupting vs. building up; fitting
foul or dirty vs. helps

God's Work In Us Is Extravagant

... oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him ...

Ephesians 1 (The Message)

Delight and Desires

Delight yourself in the LORD,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4

New Skipper

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

YOUR NEW SKIPPER

Romans 8:12, 13
We are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh--for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die

When I was in the Navy, we called the captain of our ship "the Old Man." Our Old Man was tough and crusty and nobody liked him. He used to go out drinking with all his chiefs while belittling and harassing his junior officers and making life miserable for the rest of us. He was not a good example of a naval officer. So when our Old Man got transferred to another ship, we all rejoiced. It was a great day for our ship.

Then we got a new skipper--a new Old Man. The old Old Man no longer had any authority over us; he was gone--completely out of the picture. But I was trained under that Old Man. So how do you think I related to the new Old Man? At first I responded to him just like I had been conditioned to respond to the old skipper. I tiptoed around him expecting him to bite my head off. That's how I had lived for two years around my first skipper.

But as I got to know the new skipper, I realized that he wasn't a crusty old tyrant like my old Old Man. He wasn't out to harass his crew; he was a good guy, really concerned about us. But I had been programmed for two years to react a certain way when I saw a captain's braids. I didn't need to react that way any longer, but it took several months to recondition myself to the new skipper.

You also once served under a cruel, self-serving skipper: your old sinful self with its sinful nature. The admiral of that fleet is Satan himself, the prince of darkness. But by God's grace you have been transferred into Christ's kingdom (Colossians 1:13). You now have a new skipper: your new self which is infused with the divine nature of Jesus Christ, your new admiral. As a child of God, a saint, you are no longer under the authority of your old Old Man. He is dead, buried, gone forever.

So why do you still react as if your old skipper were still in control of your behavior? We'll answer that question tomorrow.

Prayer:

Praise You, Lord, that my relationship with my old skipper, that old sinful self, is gone. I choose to live today in the realty of my new nature in Christ.

Instruments for Righteousness

So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.

[ESV]

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You are dead to sin and alive to God. That's what Jesus did.

That means you must not give sin a vote in the way you conduct your lives. Don't give it the time of day. Don't even run little errands that are connected with that old way of life. Throw yourselves wholeheartedly and full-time—remember, you've been raised from the dead!—into God's way of doing things. Sin can't tell you how to live. After all, you're not living under that old tyranny any longer. You're living in the freedom of God.

[The Message]

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Romans 6:11-14

Church

The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Ephesians 1: 23 (The Message)

Approachable

Excerpt from The Church: A Place to Belong for Sinners by Jud Wilhite

...

Jesus' number one emotional response mentioned in the Gospels is compassion. This is astounding when we consider that Jesus was sinless, but constantly surrounded by sin and sinful people. Sin violently opposed His character. Everywhere He turned He saw the effects of injustice and hate. It would have been easy for Jesus to blast people for their mistakes.

He had more right than anyone to take a political and moral stand, to picket on the street, form protests, and publicly attack individuals. Yet we read that when Jesus "saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd" (Matthew 9:36). Jesus saw people as sheep that have been bruised, beaten, and thrown to
and fro. Rather than being filled with disdain, He was filled with love.

As the most spiritually mature person to ever live, Jesus stands as the model for what a spiritual life looks like. He remained approachable to outsiders and the hurting. His life reveals that the more spiritually mature I am, the more approachable I am to people who feel far from God. As spiritual maturity increases, approachability increases. It is a sad indictment that many outside the faith don't feel like they can approach Christians. In Jesus' day, some of the least approachable people were the religious leaders. They reeked of self-righteousness and judgment. Yet Jesus' life should give us pause:

Am I truly approachable to all kinds of people?
Is the church I belong to open to all kinds of people?
Do I have the compassion of Jesus for those who are hurting or disillusioned?
Does the church I serve have compassion?
Is our compassion evident to others?

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Young Adults

Excerpts from LifeWay Research: Young adults consider themselves spiritual by Tobin Perry | Linked from Ed Stetzer's blog

There’s a surprising new description for unchurched young adults in the United States: spiritual. Despite popular reports that young people aren’t interested in spiritual matters, a new survey by LifeWay Research and the Center for Missional Research at the North American Mission Board shows the opposite to be true.

According to the survey, 73 percent of unchurched 20- to 29-year old Americans consider themselves "spiritual" because they want to know more about "God or a higher supreme being." That figure is 11 percent higher than among unchurched individuals who are 30 years old and older.

The survey data was released in the book Lost and Found: The Younger Unchurched and the Churches That Reach Them by Ed Stetzer, Richie Stanley and Jason Hayes. The book was published by B&H Publishing Group, the publishing arm of LifeWay Christian Resources.

...

The survey also indicated that young adults have an openness toward conversations about Christianity. Eighty-nine percent of unchurched young adults say they would listen to what someone believes about Christianity. That number is 14 percent higher than among those 30 and older.

Young adults would also react positively to invitations from friends to study the Bible. Survey respondents were asked to affirm the following statement: "I would be willing to study the Bible if a friend asked me to." Sixty-one percent of 20-somethings responded, "Yes." That’s about 20 percent higher than affirmative responses from older generations.

"It is a mistake to think that young adults, even unchurched young adults, are not interested in spiritual things," said Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research. "They are interested, but they are looking for spirituality often in every place except the church."

The survey also revealed opportunities for churches among the 20-something crowd. According to the survey, 63 percent of young adults said they would attend church if it presented truth to them in an understandable way "that relates to my life now." Only 47 percent of respondents 30 years old and older agreed.

Unchurched young people also want to know the church cares about them. The survey found that 58 percent of 20-somethings would be more likely to attend if people at the church "cared for them as a person."

...

Free

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

THE POWER OF THE BELIEVER

John 8:32
You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free

When I was a boy on the farm, my dad, my brother and I would visit our neighbor's farm to share produce and labor. The neighbor had a yappy little dog that scared the socks off me. When it came barking around the corner, my dad and brother stood their ground, but I ran. Guess who the dog chased! I escaped to the top of our pickup truck while the little dog yapped at me from the ground.

Everyone except me could see that the little dog had no power over me except what I gave it. Furthermore, it had no inherent power to throw me up on the pickup; it was my belief that put me up there. That dog controlled me by using my mind, my emotions, my will, and my muscles, all of which were motivated by fear. Finally I gathered up my courage, jumped off the pickup, and kicked a small rock at the mutt. Lo and behold, it ran!

Satan is like that yappy little dog: deceiving people into fearing him more than God. His power is in the lie. He is the father of lies (John 8:44) who deceives the whole world (Revelation 12:9), and consequently the whole world is under the influence of the evil one (1 John 5:19). He can do nothing about your position in Christ, but if he can deceive you into believing his lies about you and God, you will spend a lot of time on top of the pickup truck! You don't have to outshout him or outmuscle him to be free of his influence. You just have to outtruth him. Believe, declare, and act upon the truth of God's Word, and you will thwart Satan's strategy.

I have learned from the Scriptures and my experience that truth is the liberating agent. The power of Satan is in the lie, and the power of the believer is in knowing the truth. We are to pursue truth, not power.

Prayer:

Father God, when Satan is badgering and confusing me, remind me that Your Holy Spirit within me is greater than all the evil around me.

Forced to Trust God Totally

We don't want you in the dark, friends, about how hard it was when all this came down on us in Asia province. It was so bad we didn't think we were going to make it. We felt like we'd been sent to death row, that it was all over for us. As it turned out, it was the best thing that could have happened. Instead of trusting in our own strength or wits to get out of it, we were forced to trust God totally—not a bad idea since he's the God who raises the dead! And he did it, rescued us from certain doom. And he'll do it again, rescuing us as many times as we need rescuing. You and your prayers are part of the rescue operation—I don't want you in the dark about that either. I can see your faces even now, lifted in praise for God's deliverance of us, a rescue in which your prayers played such a crucial part.

2 Corinthians 1: 8-11 (The Message)

Primary

Mark Batterson's post: A King's Primary Responsibility

I know I'm fixated on Bible reading right now. But I make no apologies for it. There is no substitute. You've got to read the Bible and you've got to let the Bible read you.

Came across a verse that has always fascinated me in Deuteronomy 17. The Lord instructed the King to "make a copy of the law" in the presence of the Levitical priests. He was told to "keep it at his side at all times." Who knows? Maybe he even slept with it. And he was told to "study it everyday."

Interesting isn't it? Studying the law was the King's primary responsibility. I have no idea how long it took to copy the law. But here's my question: why copy it? You're a king. You're busy. You have servants. Why not let someone copy it for you. Why did God insist on him copying it? Because that way it was in his own handwriting.

So he had his own personal copy of the law. And he was told to keep it at his side at all times. If we interpret that literally, then we ate with it, rode with it, slept with it, fought with it, and ruled with it.

Finally, he was told to study it everyday. No other spiritual discipline is more vital to your spiritual growth that daily Bible study. Period. It has to be a daily routine.

By the way, here is a little factoid that Braveheart fans will love. Did you know that William Wallace never went anyplace without his boyhood friend and personal chaplain, John Blair. In addition, he always carried his personal copy of the Scriptures with him.

Lifted Up

Excerpt from The Son of Man Must Be Lifted Up -- Like the Serpent by John Piper

...

Do you recall that I have said that John 1:14-16 are functioning like a compass as we trek through this Gospel. Notice how it relates to this story. “The word became flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth . . . and from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.” We behold his glory as he is lifted up on the cross, and in that look we receive grace. Nicodemus, do you want the grace of the new birth? Look!

I don’t know of any better way to make plain the importance of this or the meaning of it than to tell you the story of Charles Spurgeon’s conversion. Here it is in his own words. The day was January 6, 1850. Spurgeon was not quite 16 years old.

I sometimes think I might have been in darkness and despair until now had it not been for the goodness of God in sending a snowstorm, one Sunday morning, while I was going to a certain place of worship. When I could go no further, I turned down a side street, and came to a little Primitive Methodist chapel. In that chapel there may have been a dozen or fifteen people. . . . The minister did not come that morning; he was snowed up, I suppose. At last, a very thin-looking man, a shoemaker, or tailor, or something of that sort, went up into the pulpit to preach. . . . He was obliged to stick to his text, for the simple reason that he had little else to say. The text was “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth [Isaiah 45:22].”

He did not even pronounce the words rightly, but that did not matter. There was, I thought, a glimpse of hope for me in that text. The preacher began thus: “My dear friends, this is a very simple text indeed. It says, ‘Look.’ Now lookin’ don’t take a deal of pain. It ain’t liftin’ your foot or your finger; it is just, ‘Look.’ Well, a man needn’t go to college to learn to look. You may be the biggest fool, and yet you can look. A man needn’t be worth a thousand a year to be able to look. Anyone can look; even a child can look.

“But then the text says, ‘Look unto Me’. . . . Many of ye are lookin’ to yourselves, but it’s no use lookin’ there. Ye will never find any comfort in yourselves. Some look to God the father. No, look to him by-and-by. Jesus Christ says, ‘Look unto Me.’ Some of ye say, ‘We must wait for the Spirit’s workin’.’ You have no business with that just now. Look to Christ. The text says, ‘Look unto Me.’”

Then the good man followed up his text in this way: “Look unto Me; I am sweatin’ and great drops of blood. Look unto Me; I am hangin’ on the cross. Look unto Me; I am dead and buried. Look unto Me; I rise again. Look unto Me; I ascend to heaven. Look unto Me; I am sittin’ at the Father’s right hand. O poor sinner, look unto Me! Look unto Me!”

When he had gone to about that length, and managed to spin out ten minutes or so he was at the end of his tether. Then he looked at me under the gallery, and I dare say, with so few present he knew me to be a stranger. Just fixing his eyes on me, as if he knew all my heart he said, “Young man, you look very miserable.” Well, I did, but I had not been accustomed to have remarks made from the pulpit on my personal appearance before. However, it was a good blow, struck right home. He continued, “and you always will be miserable—miserable in life, and miserable in death—if you don’t obey my text; but if you obey now, this moment, you will be saved.”

Then lifting up his hands, he shouted, as only a primitive Methodists could do, “Young man, look to Jesus Christ. Look! Look! Look! You have nothing to do but to look and live.” I saw at once the way of salvation. I know not what else he said—I did not take much notice of it—I was so possessed with that one thought. Like as when the brazen serpent was lifted up, the people only looked and were healed, so it was with me. I had been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard that word, “Look!” What a charming word it seemed to me! Oh! I looked until I could have almost looked my eyes away.

There and then the cloud was gone, the darkness had rolled away, and that moment I saw the sun; and I could have risen that instant, and sung with the most enthusiastic of them, of the precious blood of Christ, and the simple faith which looks alone to him. . . . And now I can say—

E’er since by faith I saw the stream
Thy flowing wounds supply,
Redeeming love has been my theme,
And Shall be till I die.

(C. H. Spurgeon Autobiography, Volume 1, 87-88)

Worship Trends Among the Young

Excerpts from Discovering and Escaping Liturgy by Dan Kimball | Out of Ur

For years I served on the staff of a megachurch with a very contemporary style of worship. We had a state-of-the-art sound system, large video projection screens, pop-rock music, and a sophisticated lighting system. The worship services were programmed to the minute: predetermined transitions, upbeat intro songs, announcements backed with PowerPoint slides, sermons crafted with felt-need application points, and abundant video clips.

The church was growing as several thousand people connected with the presentations each week. But at the same time the church was thriving with one generation, I began to notice that younger adults were not engaging as well as their parents. So I began listening to these young people to discover why they were not resonating with this way of doing church.

I repeatedly heard that they were longing for something less "programmed." At the same time, I began hearing questions about "liturgy," a word I'd never heard before. ...

...

I realized that worship trends among the young were complicated. Those raised in contemporary churches found practicing liturgy and following the church calendar refreshing and meaningful. But some who had grown up in traditional and liturgical churches saw these same practices as lifeless or routine. They were eager to incorporate more contemporary forms. One group wanted to rediscover the past, and the other was trying to escape it.

Several years later I worked with a team of young people to plant a new church. We decided that it would not help our goal of reaching the lost if our worship pretended it was stuck in A.D. 800. But we also did not want to dismiss the rich history and depth of ancient practices. So on any given Sunday our young congregation sings a mix of contemporary choruses and traditional hymns. We now celebrate Advent each year with candles, responsive readings, and benedictions. We draw from liturgical elements in ancient worship and prayer books. But we also display modern art, project videos, and use a variety of 21st century worship elements.

We have found that the goal shouldn't be to maintain the past or to always be on the cutting edge. Our goal is to worship in a way that represents our community to God and God to our community. That means contextualizing worship for today, but not forgetting the family of God throughout history to which we belong.

Living

Live well, live wisely, live humbly. It's the way you live, not the way you talk, that counts.

James 3:13 (The Message)

Priorities Survey

Excerpts from Critical Ministries Study Post by Ed Stetzer

LifeWay Research recently finished a survey that reveals the ministry priorities of pastoral leadership in churches of various sizes in the SBC. The study, "Critical Ministries and Their Leadership," surveyed 801 Southern Baptist pastors about what they believed were the most critical ministries in their churches, whether those ministries have effective leadership in place and how they relate to those ministry leaders. Mark Kelly unpacks some of the data in an article written for Lifeway news.

...

One of the interesting finds what that the size of a church determined which of the ministries described above were considered most important. Churches with fewer than 100 in worship attendance are much more likely to see evangelism as a critical ministry than churches with 250 or more in attendance (72 vs 60 percent). Churches with worship attendance between 100 and 249 are more likely to list children's or youth ministry as critical compared to smaller churches (90 vs 83 percent).

Larger churches (worship attendance of 250 or more) are more likely to include worship or worship services as a critical ministry (46 percent) compared to small (30 percent) or midsize churches (33 percent), McConnell noted. Smaller churches (worship attendance under 100) are significantly less likely to include missions or Sunday school/Bible study/small groups among their most important ministries.

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Sealed

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

SEALED IN HIM

Ephesians 1:13
Having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise

After King Saul disobeyed God (1 Samuel 15), we're told that "the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD terrorized him" (1 Samuel 16:14). This is a difficult passage for two reasons. First, it seems to imply that a person can lose the Holy Spirit by an act of disobedience. But it must be understood that the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament was selective and temporary. The Spirit involved with Saul was probably the same Spirit involved with David in verse 13: a special equipping of the Spirit for ruling as God's anointed king. This unique equipping is not the same as the personal relationship in the Spirit that we enjoy with God as His children today.

Beginning after the cross, the church is identified by the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who forever unites the children of God with their heavenly Father (Ephesians 1:13, 14). Jesus promised that no one shall snatch us out of His hand (John 10:28), and Paul assured that nothing--not even disobedience--can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39). We are secure in Christ and indwelt by His Spirit through faith in the work of Christ on the cross.

The second problem concerns the bothersome idea that an evil spirit could come from the Lord. But we must remember that God is supreme, and He can use Satan and his emissaries as a means to discipline His people as He did with Saul. It is not inconsistent with the nature or plan of God to use anything to accomplish His will. Even the church is permitted to turn a grossly immoral member over to Satan "for the destruction of his flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus" (1 Corinthians 5:5). Why? Allowing people to experience the natural consequences of their actions has always been an effective means of discipline.

Do you want to do the devil's bidding? Go ahead, and maybe the painful consequences you suffer from your immorality will turn you back to God.

Prayer:

Thank You, Lord, for sealing me in Christ by Your Spirit. Help me live obediently today as an expression of thanks for what you have done.

Thank You

Mark Batterson's 23,000 Thank Yous Post

"Celebrate in the presence of the Lord."

That is the phrase I kept coming across in Deuteronomy today. And I think it's one of our greatest shortcomings as Christ Followers. Most of us are wallowing in guilt when we should be swimming in gratitude. Don't get me wrong. We need to repent. And one dimension of that is emotional repentance. We feel bad about what we've done. But God wants to sanctify our emotions so we're able to wholeheartedly celebrate who He is and what He has done. How? There are lots of ways, but I think a gratitude journal is one of the most spiritual things you can do. It keeps you focused on things that are praiseworthy.

Don't know where to start? Well, how about the fact that you're still breathing. In fact, you'll take approximately 23,000 breaths today. Seems to me like we owe God 23,000 thank yous.

Missional Potential

Excerpts from The Decline And Fall Of Christian America... Yes... but No. by Dan Kimball

I just read the cover story article of Newsweek which is coming out on the 13th. It is titled "The Decline And Fall Of Christian America." You can read it here.The cover looks gloomy almost like a horror film with an all black background and red letters.

What is in the article doesn't surprise me, as it does describe the world we are in. It uses the term "post-Christian" which many have been using for quite a while. We don't have to be convinced we are in a "post-Christian" world, as we live in it and already recognize it. So I agree with the basic premise of the article. It is a good article and worth taking the time to read.

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So I think maybe there is a decline of a certain shape and sub-culture(s) of "Christian America" as the article states. But at the same time, there is a rising and surging of missional church leaders, church planters, and Christians who have already recognized that we are in a "post-Christian" America as the article states. But that recognition has simply fueled creativity, prayer and passion for mission and because God is God, people are coming to a saving faith in Jesus. So it is ironically quite an exciting time period in the midst of this gloomy title and cover. It feels as though some expressions of church and Christianity maybe is fading out. But at the same time there is excitement and energy and hope as churches who have already recognized what this article says about being in a "post-Christian" country - and have made changes to become churches on mission.

I am so optimistic for the future and have great hope. Yes, there is a "decline and fall" as the article states of certain types of "Christianity" and church perhaps. But there is also a rising and resurgence of missional churches and missional Christians. Churches and Christians who are rethinking what it means to be "be the church" and to be the church on mission. It may mean rethinking how we go about things since we do live in a "post-Christian" world. It may not be as easy or routine as it has in the past. It may shake up some of our ecclesiological catagories that we have constructed. But it should only spur us onward in adventure, not get us depressed looking at a spooky black cover with red letters.

So... gloomy...yes. But... no. Exciting. Adventure. Prayerful. Mission. So don't let this cover discourage you - and then turn inward thinking the world is falling apart and we wait for the end times novel stories to come true so we can escape the "decline and fall". But instead may it motivate us and provoke us all the further into mission and see living here in America all the more as a missional adventure filled with potential.

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Changed Identity

Continuing some excerpts (one posted last week) from We Have Found the Messiah by John Piper

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So today that is what I am asking as we walk through John 1:35-51. I see at least seven ways John wants us to see the glory of Jesus—and receive more grace.

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5. Jesus Can Change Our Identity.

Fifth, Jesus has the authority to change our identity. Verse 42: “He [Andrew] brought him [Andrew’s brother Simon] to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘So you are Simon the son of John? You shall be called Cephas’ (which means Peter).”

There is no explanation in John’s Gospel why Jesus changed Simon’s name to Cephas (Aramaic), that is, Peter (Greek)—no explanation as in Matthew 16:18 that Petros means rock and you will found my church. That’s not the point. The point here is: Jesus has authority to give you whatever name he pleases and, in giving you a name, determine your destiny. The point is the glory of Christ, not the glory of Peter.

And the truth is that he does this for all of us. Jesus says in Revelation 2:17, “To the one who conquers [and the power that conquers is faith, 1 John 5:4] I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.”

Don’t miss the implicit authority in what Jesus does here in John 1:42. “You are Simon. You shall be called Peter.” Period. Not “if you like it,” or “if it works out.” This is the absolute authority of Jesus to choose Simon and name Simon and determine Simon’s destiny.

And there is no identity for your life better than the one Jesus gives you. We receive grace upon grace from this fullness of authority.

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Seven Things

Here are six things God hates,
and one more that he loathes with a passion:
eyes that are arrogant,
a tongue that lies,
hands that murder the innocent,
a heart that hatches evil plots,
feet that race down a wicked track,
a mouth that lies under oath,
a troublemaker in the family.

Proverbs 6: 16-19

Spiritual Sight

Excerpts from We Have Found the Messiah by John Piper

Out of the hundreds of things that a preacher could focus on in the Gospel of John, I am strongly influenced in my selection by John 1:14-16, “And the Word [that is the eternal Word who is God, John 1:1] became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. . . . And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

I believe that this Gospel was written by the eyewitness John so that, through his inspired testimony, we could join him in the “seeing” of verse 14. “We have seen his glory.” It’s the glory of the only Son of God—that is, the one who is himself of the very same substance or essence of the Father, very God of very God, the image and radiance of the Father who is eternally begotten, not made, by the Father.

And this glory of Jesus who is God incarnate is full of grace and truth, and we receive grace when we see his glory. Verse 16: “And from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.”

Seven Glimpses of the Glory of God’s Son

So as I study this Gospel, my choices about what to say to you are governed in large measure by this: What in this text is going to show the glory of the only Son from the Father? And how is it that seeing this will give grace to you?

So today that is what I am asking as we walk through John 1:35-51. I see at least seven ways John wants us to see the glory of Jesus—and receive more grace.

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3. Jesus Is the Giver of Spiritual Sight.

Third, Jesus is the giver of spiritual sight.

Verses 38-39:

Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour [that is, about 4 p.m.—the tenth counted from 6 a.m.].

Here we begin to see the multi-leveled meanings in some of John’s simple language. Regularly in this Gospel people are talking at the physical level, and Jesus is taking their language and leading them deeper to the spiritual level using the same language. For example:

• Nicodemus is talking about physical birth, and Jesus is talking about spiritual birth (John 3:3-8).
• And the woman at the well is talking about water from the physical well, and Jesus is talking about spiritual water that he will give (John 4:7-14).
• The crowds asked for physical bread, but Jesus meant that he was the living bread (John 6:30-51).
• The Pharisees deal with a man who was given physical sight in John 9, and Jesus speaks of spiritual sight. Verse 39: “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

So when Jesus says in John 1:37, “What are you seeking?” he was asking something deeper than they think. There were people who followed Jesus, seeking the wrong thing. In John 6:26, he says, “You are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” So he is asking John’s disciples here: What are you seeking? I think he would ask you the same question. What are you seeking?

They do not go to that level. They simply say (in verse 38), “Where are you staying?”—we are seeking your address. As usual, Jesus is patient with this kind of response, and he gives them another chance. Only this time, it’s not a question; it’s a command and a promise. Verse 39: “Come and you will see.” On one level, it could mean simply: You will see where I am staying. But in the mind of Jesus and the mind of John this meant: If you will truly come to me, you will see spiritual reality. You will have spiritual sight.

Seeking Jesus, Finding Christ

Coming to Jesus in John’s Gospel means again and again entrusting yourself to Jesus, and receiving his promises (5:40; 6:35, 37, 44, 7:37). So they come to him, and they stay with him the rest of the day. The next two verses (40-41) show that they have indeed “seen.” “One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, ‘We have found the Messiah’ (which means Christ).”

Jesus began the relationship by saying, “What are you seeking?” (verse 38). And now we hear Andrew say to his brother, “We have found the Messiah.” At first, they were only seeking where he was staying. Then because they came to him and spent time with him, they saw. The point is that if you come to Jesus, you see. You see spiritual reality. You see the key that unlocks the ultimate meaning of all things.

This is the glory of the Son of God. This is the grace we receive.

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Must Do

Balaam to Balak in Numbers 23:26:

'All that the Lords says, that I must do'

Living God's Way

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.

Galatians 5: 22-23 (The Message)

Hope

Neil Anderson Daily in Christ

HOPE FOR TODAY AND TOMORROW

1 John 3:2, 3
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be. We know that, when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure

As children of the sinful first Adam, we were obstinate and ornery, helpless and hopeless, with nothing in ourselves to commend us to God. But God's love overruled our unloveliness. Through Christ God provided a way for us into His family. As God's adopted child, you have been given a new identity and a new name. You're no longer a spiritual orphan; you're a son or daughter of God. Romans 8:16, 17, tells us, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ."

If you're beginning to think you are some one special as a Christian, you're thinking right--you are special! Your specialness is not the result of anything you have done, of course. It's all God's doing. All you did was respond to God's invitation to be His child. But as a child of God, in union with God by being in Christ, you have every right to enjoy your special relationship with your new Father.

How important is it to know who you are in Christ? There are countless numbers of Christians who struggle with day-to-day behavior because they labor under a false perception of who they are. They see themselves as sinners who hope to make it into heaven by God's grace, but they can't seem to live above their sinful tendencies. Why can't they live the victorious Christian life? Because they have a misperception of who they are in Christ.

But look again at the hope-filled words of 1 John 3:2, 3. What is the believer's hope? That he will someday be changed into Christ's image? That's part of it, but that's only a future hope. What is your hope for today and tomorrow? That you're a child of God now ! You must see yourself as a child of God in order to live like a child of God. The blessed hope for the believer is "Christ in you, the hope of glory" (Colossians 1:27).

Prayer:

Thank You, Father, for the glorious hope of being Your child. I want to live in the security and blessing of that reality today.