Revitalization

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post:  Kick-Starting the Plateaued and Declining Church, Part 7: Celebrate Small Victories (& Big Ones)

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However, as you intentionally focus on leading the revitalization effort, remember to identify opportunities to celebrate victories along the way. This will help people embrace needed changes and fuel the kick start. After completing the process of rebuilding the wall, that's what happened in chapter eight of Nehemiah:

Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to all of them, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people were weeping as they heard the words of the law. Then he said to them, "Go and eat what is rich, drink what is sweet, and send portions to those who have nothing prepared, and send some to those who have nothing prepared, since today is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, because your strength [comes from] rejoicing in the LORD." And the Levites quieted all the people, saying, "Be still, since today is holy. Do not grieve." Then all the people began to eat and drink, send portions, and have a great, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them (Neh. 8:9-12, HCSB).

As Pastor Josh Laxton led the revitalization effort at Life Point Church, celebrating changed lives helped people embrace the change and keep moving forward with the restart. The previous church had been plateaued and declining since the 1980's. Realizing that doing things the same way wasn't going to achieve better results, the congregation of 35 people approached First Baptist Church of Woodstock, GA about doing a church restart. In 2007, the struggling church voted to disband and relinquish everything to new leadership.

In the process of restarting, many alterations were made--the music style was changed; the governmental structure was modified; the pews were removed; and the look of the property and building were altered. They even reworked the name of the church. After making all of these changes, only about 15 people from the previous, older congregation remained, primarily senior adults. As Pastor Laxton reflected on all of this, he affirmed, "Church as they knew it was, in some sense, over. . . The change was hard for them."

However, the pastor went on to say that one of the God stories in all of this involved the senior adults who stayed. One of the older members who stayed through the process asserted, "I've been completely blown away as to what has happened. I'm so excited about what God is doing and is going to do." As they experienced new life through baptisms and younger generations becoming part of the new church, it was worth the pain of change. Celebrating the victory of restarting was the fuel that kept things going. Now, Life Point Church is averaging 185 in attendance and has seen 45 people baptized in the last two years. (Note: this figure was originally reported in spring 2010.)
 
As I wrap up this series, here are some concluding thoughts. In most cases, getting things done as a revitalization leader will take time. Just hopping on board and trying to fire things up immediately isn't going to work--the engine of renewal has to be primed. In order for that to happen, key issues need to be addressed.

Make sure your heart is set to love, serve, and lead people, who are often hurting and demoralized. Think through where the church is at in its current state, and why it got there, so that you can help people face the reality of the situation, join the team to head in a new direction, and begin to build an outward focus. As you catalyze change, expect opposition and keep clarifying a simple, clear vision. Finally, remember to celebrate victories, that will help fuel the revitalization efforts. Be patient. In time, things can be kick-started, and the ride of revitalization can begin.

Natural Gathering Places

Mark Batterson post:  Ebenezers Anniversary

Five years ago today we opened Ebenezer's Coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. Time flies! We really had no idea what we were doing, but God has blessed us in spite of us! The name Ebenezers means "hitherto the Lord has helped us." This is an Ebenezer day!

Why did we build a coffeehouse instead of a church building? Because Jesus didn't just hang out in the synagogue. He hung out in wells--natural gathering places in ancient culture. Coffeehouses are postmodern wells so we decided to build a well where the church and community could cross paths. Not only is Ebenezers a great coffeehouse. Not only does is provide a performance space for one of our locations. But every penny of profit goes to missions.

The day will come when our coffeehouse becomes a chain. Hopefully it's sooner than later. Why? Because when God blesses something you need to do more of what God is blessing! I think coffeehouse churches will become a growing trend just like movie theater churches. It's a great way of getting into the middle of the marketplace which is where people are. That is where we belong if we take incarnation seriously.

One Happy People

It seemed like a dream, too good to be true, when God returned Zion's exiles.
   We laughed, we sang,
      we couldn't believe our good fortune.
   We were the talk of the nations—
      "God was wonderful to them!"
   God was wonderful to us;
      we are one happy people. 

Psalm 126:1-3 [Message]

Not Silent

Miscellanies post:  With Our Arms Around Their Knees

These words from Charles Spurgeon were originally preached to Christian parents of unbelieving children and to wives of unbelieving spouses. The quote is from his sermon on Jeremiah 4:20 (sermon #349) delivered on 9 Dec 1860:

Oh my brothers and sisters in Christ, if sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies and if they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees, imploring them to stay, and not madly to destroy themselves. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.

Redemptive Power and Redemptive Message

Excerpts from Ed Stetzer post:  Monday is for Missiology: Answering Questions about God's Mission

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Recently, a doctoral student sent me some questions. Here are a few of the answers I gave.

On the mission of Christ in the world:

Christ's mission is to glorify God by establishing the kingdom of God on the earth through His life, death, and resurrection and through the sending of the spirit-empowered Church. He accomplishes this mission primarily by redeeming people from their sins and equipping them to live a life of love for the advancement of the kingdom.

On the missional objective(s) of the church:

The missional objective(s) of the church are (in Lesslie Newbigin's words) to be a sign and instrument of the kingdom of God. The believers/church do this by showing the redemptive power of God through transformed lives that are lived in the community of faith for the good of their world. They also do this by sharing the redemptive message of the gospel which is necessary for the eternal salvation of people.

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Anticipation

The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.

Humble Commitment, Humble Attention, Humble Service

Excerpt from Carl Trueman post:  The Problem with Trendiness

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Long term, it will be the existence of organized churches (i.e. with elders and members) where this material is faithfully preached and the gospel is lived out daily. And it will build on more immediate developments: a piety that does not feel the need to shock or be self-conscious in its hipness.

This piety will place a primacy on the qualities of character and practice that Paul outlines in his letters, rather than on the celebrity aesthetics he decries in his words to the Corinthian church. It will manifest itself in humble commitment to the gathering of the church, humble attention to the preaching of the Word, and humble service for the church. It will be shown in the careful guarding of our minds and our hearts (that’s the hard part) from erroneous doctrine and behavior—not to earn God’s favour, but rather because God has already blessed us with every good thing in Christ. It will not be brash or loud. It will not even be cool or relevant, except by accident.

And that churchly piety is, I fear, what could be the missing ingredient in the current climate.

Seeing Beyond

Stephen Furtick post:  Can you see beyond what people say?

When Jesus asked the disciples what people were saying about him, they gave a laundry list of responses.
But then Jesus turned the question on them:
But what about you? Who do you say that I am?
Matthew 16:15

For Jesus, what other people say never has the final word. And so the question He’s always asking us in the midst of conflicting messages that we hear about God and ourselves is, can you see beyond what people say? Can you look past that to what God has said?

Peter could:
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven.

And his life was never the same. He became the leader of the early church and left his mark on the Kingdom and the world forever.

Similarly, if you’re going to accomplish great things for God, you’ve got to see beyond what people say.

Can you see beyond what people say about God to what He has actually said about Himself?

Can you see beyond what people say about your limitations to the fact that you serve a God who doesn’t even have that word in His vocabulary? To the God whose capability doesn’t rise and fall with your own inability?

Can you see beyond what people say about your dreams and plans to the God who has actually given them to you and is fully competent to bring them to pass?

Can you see beyond what your own insecurities are saying about you to the God who has given you everything you need to accomplish everything He’s asked you to do? To the God who knew about your weaknesses, hangups, fears, and baggage long before He ever called you, but called you anyways?

Can you see beyond what people say?

Answer carefully. Your response to that question will determine the entire trajectory of your life.

Things of God

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer about Constantly Needing the Gospel

     He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. “Get behind me, Satan!” he said. “You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” Mark 8:31-33

     Jesus, one of the many things I cherish about the Bible is the way it robs us of our penchant for hero worship. The Scriptures are so real and raw. Who but God would write a book documenting the foibles and failures of so many of his children? Who but God would chronicle the ways his chosen leaders limp along, and prove themselves to be in constant need of mercy and grace? Leaders like Peter who actually tried to keep you from the cross.
     Such honestly brings us encouragement and fuels our hope. It also gives us freedom to acknowledge that we need the gospel today just as much as the first day we believed it. This will be just as true tomorrow, and the next day and the next. Keep me convinced of this, Jesus, because I’m so much like Peter.
     It’s one thing for me to stress and stew about the ways this generation is distancing itself from the theology of your cross. But it’s quite another to see the subtle ways I try to keep you from the cross—attitudes and actions by which I deny the glory and wonder of your sacrifice for us. Jesus, deal with me as you dealt with Peter.
     When I mute my heart to the insult of grace, I deny your cross. When I think, even for one moment, that my obedience merits anything, I deny your cross. When I put others under the microscope and measure of performance-based living, I deny your cross. When I wallow in self-contempt and shame, I deny your cross. When I’d rather do penitent works than offer repentant faith, I deny your cross. When I begin to trust in your grace plus anything, I deny your cross
     Jesus, by the power of the gospel, help us to mind the things of God much more than the things of men. There will never be a day we will need the gospel more than this day. During Lent, may your cross grow bigger and bigger in our gaze, and may our boast in it grow louder and louder. You’re the only hero in the Bible. It’s all about you, all of it.  So very Amen, we pray, in your patient and persistent name.
  

Stubbornness of God

Excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian post:  The Gospel According to Jonah

On Monday, my friend Collin Hansen (editorial director for The Gospel Coalition) posted an interview he did with me on the gospel according to Jonah.  He writes, “We’re accustomed to describing the book of Jonah as that book about the guy who survived three days in a big fish. What if we began to understand it as a remarkable testimony to God’s extravagant, persevering grace, supremely demonstrated in the gospel of Jesus Christ?”

Those are the questions I seek to answer in my book Surprised By Grace: God’s Relentless Pursuit of Rebels. As part of The Gospel Coalition’s commitment to Preaching Christ in the Old Testament, Collin asked me questions on how to see the gospel in the story of Jonah.

Why do you say Jonah is one of the best books for helping us get a better grip on the gospel? 

 

Surprised by Grace started out as a series of sermons on Jonah that I preached during the hardest year of my life. Preparing those sermons and preaching them proved to be a functional lifeline for me, not because of things I learned about Jonah (everything we learn about Jonah we learn by way of negative example), but because of things I learned about God’s amazing, sustaining, pursuing grace.

 

I learned that God’s capacity to clean things up is infinitely greater than our human capacity to mess things up. I learned about the “stubbornness” of God to accomplish his will, regardless of how hard we may try and thwart it. In fact, as I reflect on that painful season of my life now, I can honestly say that I am genuinely thankful for all the ache I experienced. For it was during this trying time that God helped me recognize, through the story of Jonah, the practical relevance of the gospel—that everything I need and long for, in Christ, I already possess.

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Quieted My Soul

Ray Ortlund post:  Quietness before God

“People today are afraid to be alone.  This fear is a dominant mark of our society.  Many now ceaselessly sit in the cinema or read novels about other people’s lives or watch dramas.  Why?  Simply to avoid having to face their own existence. . . .

No one seems to want (and no one can find) a place of quiet — because, when you are quiet, you have to face reality.  But many in the present generation dare not do this because on their own basis reality leads them to meaninglessness; so they fill their lives with entertainment, even if it is only noise. . . .

The Christian is supposed to be very opposite: There is a place for proper entertainment, but we are not to be caught up in ceaseless motion which prevents us from ever being quiet.  Rather we are to put everything second so we can be alive to the voice of God and allow it to speak to us and confront us.”

Francis Schaeffer, “Walking through the mud,” in No Little People (Downers Grove, 1974), pages 86-87.

I have calmed and quieted my soul.  Psalm 131:2

Reaching Cities

Matt Perman post:  To Transform a City: Tim Keller on How to Know if You are Reaching Your City

Tim Keller has an excellent article at Leadership Journal on what it takes to transform a city through the gospel.

Let me highlight two things.

First, one of the core ideas of the article is that reaching a city takes more than just one or two flourishing churches. It takes a “city-wide gospel movement.” Here’s what what he means by that:

What it takes to reach a city is a city-wide gospel movement, which means the number of Christians across the city is growing faster than the population, and therefore, a growing percentage of the people of that city are connecting with gospel-centered churches and are finding faith in Jesus Christ. That will eventually have an impact on the whole life of the city. That’s what I mean by a city-wide gospel movement.

A city-wide gospel movement is an organic thing. It’s an energy unleashed across not only the city but across the different denominations, and therefore, there’s no one church, no one organization, no one leader in charge of it all. It’s bigger than that. It’s the Holy Spirit moving across the whole city and as a result the overall body of Christ is growing faster than the population, and the city is being reached. And there’s an impact for Christ made in the whole city.

 Second, one of the things that needs to be at the core of this movement is a contextualized, biblical, gospel theology. Here’s a highlight on that:

The church loses its life-changing dynamism to the degree that its theology goes off to this side or that side—into either uptight legalistic moralism, or into latitudinarianism, broadness, not believing the Bible, licentiousness, relativism.

By saying the biblical gospel is in the middle, that’s not saying “moderation in all things.” Jesus wasn’t moderate in anything. He was radically gentle and radically truth loving at the same time. The gospel isn’t a kind of middle-of-the-road, lukewarm thing. But the gospel is neither legalism nor licentiousness. And to the degree we lose the biblical gospel, we’re never going to be a movement that reaches the city.

 
 There is much, much more in the article that is worth checking out. Read the whole thing.

Eager Will

Matt Perman post:  Why Does Justification by Faith Apart from Works Lead to Good Works?

Martin Luther explains one of the chief reasons. Here’s what he says in The Freedom of a Christian (quoted in Don’t Stop Believing: Why Living Like Jesus Is Not Enough):

Although I am an unworthy and condemned man, my God has given me in Christ all the riches of righteousness and salvation without any merit on my part, out of pure, free mercy, so that from now on I need nothing except faith which believes that it is true.

Why should I not therefore freely, joyfully, with all my heart, and with an eager will do all things which I know are pleasing and acceptable to such a Father who has overwhelmed me with his inestimable riches?

I will therefore give myself as a Christ to my neighbor, just as Christ offered himself to me; I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary, profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ.

Mercy and Grace

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer for Fresh Mercy and Need-Shaped Grace

     For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. Hebrews 4:15-16

     Dear Jesus, we run to you this morning on behalf of many in need of fresh mercy and need-shaped grace. Our greatest joy in life is knowing you to be a sympathetic, compassionate and generous High Priest. We come boldly to your throne of grace because you went gladly to the cross of shame, for us. You are the Lamb of God who took away our sin and the Shepherd of grace who gives us exactly what we need, at just the right time in just the right form.
     Jesus, we pray for our brothers and sisters in Japan, and for the whole nation. Images of horror flooded our senses yesterday as we watched cars and structures tossed about like acorns on an angry sea. By your promise, Jesus, one Day the knowledge of your glory will cover Japan like the waters cover the sea. In light of that Day, bring help and hope in this day. In this great disaster, reveal your glory and your grace. Strengthen your people to love well and serve their neighbors. Write many stories of redemption through the waters of this exceedingly hard providence.
     Jesus, though the collateral damage and pain are not as apparent to the naked eye, we pray just as earnestly for brothers and sisters in our neighborhoods and in our churches—friends who are experiencing earthquakes in their marriages, finances and health, and all kinds of emotional and spiritual tsunamis.
     Mighty and merciful Savior, bring grace for the moment into many situations which weigh heavy on our hearts. Prove yourself to be the God who does exceedingly beyond all we could ask or imagine, for your name’s sake. Speak peace to the storm and the angry waves. Make the real issues undeniably clear to all parties concerned. Don’t let deep wounds be healed superficially. Bring the powerful balm of the gospel to bear. Don’t let the brief relief of anesthetics to be mistaken for the healing that is desperately needed—the healing you alone can bring.
     Jesus, bring much glory to yourself in the coming hours and days. Use each of us as you would in these various crucibles and crises. We are weak and weary, but you are powerful and loving. We rise from our knees to put legs on our prayers. So very Amen, we pray with confidence, in your great and glorious name.
      

Pursue Goodness

LIFE Outreach Words of Life post:  Building to the Code

I once read that Willie Nelson, the country star, bought his own golf course. Somebody asked what “par” was. “Anything I want it to be,” he replied. “See that hole over there? It’s a par 47.” Then he added, “And yesterday, I birdied it!”

That would be laughable if it was not a sad and sorry picture of what’s going on in America today. It seems people don’t believe in right and wrong anymore; they believe right and wrong is whatever they want it to be. Given that reality, we are without doubt at a critical hour in our history as a people. We all know that every building must have a foundation, and consequently what is true of buildings is also true of people’s belief and behavior. If the foundation of moral consciousness and conduct in a nation is destroyed, what is left (Psa. 11:3)?

A television news crew was on assignment in southern Florida after hurricane Andrew caused widespread destruction. Amidst the devastation and toppled buildings, they were struck by a particular house that remained on its foundation. They interviewed the owner of the home and asked, “Why is your house the only one standing? How did you manage to escape the severe damage of the storm?”

“I built this house myself,” he answered. “I built it according to the Florida state building code. I was told that a house built according to the code could withstand a hurricane and it did. I suppose nobody else around here followed the code.”

As I look around our crumbling culture, it seems that few in our nation are building to the code. But Jesus told us that there is a foundation we can build on that will stand the test of time and beyond. It’s the bedrock of God’s word (Matt. 7:24-27).

We need to be once again a people governed by moral maxims: absolutes. “Righteousness exalts a nation,” according to Proverbs 14:34. Righteousness is uprightness. It is an action or behavior according to a standard.

Interestingly, Proverbs was particularly written to the emerging leaders of Israel as demonstrated by Solomon often addressing his son or sons. As they were instructed, so are we. When the authors of Proverbs wrote of righteousness, they had in mind the upright standards of God’s moral law, codified in the Ten Commandments, later to be embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness exalts a nation; therefore, uprightness of behavior in accordance with the moral law of God is the path to peace and prosperity.

The world is not a moral vacuum. It is one designed and directed by a Holy God, who weighs the actions of men and reacts accordingly.

"All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
But the Lord weighs the spirits.
Commit your works to the Lord,
And your thoughts will be established." (Proverbs 16:2-3, NKJV)

Just as the physical universe is governed by natural laws, such as gravity, so there is a moral component to this world governed by a just God, who is righteous in character. If we are going to enjoy some measure of life, liberty and happiness, we must recognize our Creator, seek His happiness and live within His moral laws. Good government, therefore, takes God’s holy nature into account.

How is a nation to be exalted if there is no righteous standard by which to live? That’s what the book of Proverbs reminds us.

“Many seek the ruler’s favor,
But justice for man comes from the Lord.” (Proverbs 29:26, NKJV)

Justice does not come from any person’s sense of right or wrong – not even a king. The king is to administer God’s justice. Leaders are to establish God’s righteousness. Morality is not relative or situational. We need to stop living by the dictum that everything is right some time and nothing is right every time. God’s standards are like God himself; they are sovereign and steadfast. Heaven and earth will pass away, but not God’s Word (Mark 13:31). Morality, therefore, is and must be rooted in the absolute righteous character of God, revealed to us in the Holy Bible and ultimately put on display in the perfect life of Jesus Christ.

Right is right, and wrong is wrong because God said so! If God does not exist, and if there is no transcendent, absolute, moral law given by Him by which to measure our behavior, then all things are permissible. Biblically speaking, no man has the right to tell another man what to do unless that man is telling another to do what God commands all men to do. If God is not the authority, then who is? Without the chart and compass of God’s Word, we would be left to drift on a sea of relativism and pragmatism, inevitably finding shipwreck against the rocks of our own self-will.

But the Bible tells us that there are certain standards that are absolute and God will hold us accountable to them. We discard and disregard them at our own peril. Happiness is found in obedience to God’s will as revealed in God’s Word and seen in God’s Son (Psalm 1; Hebrews 1). The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.  If we want to know peace and prosperity, then we must embrace God’s truth as we find it in Scripture and in the person and work of Christ (John 17:17; 14:6).

We must stop living as if we are our own judge and jury when it comes to morality. We must stop thinking that tolerance prevents us from having sound judgment. We need to move from feeling good to being good to doing good. We must realize that ideas have consequences. Therefore, we need to repent of the idea that the only absolute is that there are no absolutes (which is a complete contradiction since that statement is an absolute!).

Success and stability involves a commitment to righteousness and the righteous One. Obedience invites God’s blessing.

When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices;
And when the wicked perish, there is jubilation.
By the blessing of the upright the city is exalted,
But it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked." (Proverbs 11:10-11, NKJV)

Given all that we have said, starting today we must urgently pursue goodness by following the wisdom of God’s sufficient word. We must passionately walk uprightly, stand for truth and justice, and show mercy according to God’s liberating law. But first and most important of all, we must kneel in submission to God’s Son who kept the law and died for those who have broken that law (2 Cor. 5:21; Gal. 3:10-14). These are the keys to greatness; these are the grounds for happiness, both for a nation and for each of us individually.

Philip De Courcy is the senior pastor of Kindred Community Church in Anaheim Hills, California, and speaker on the daily radio program, Know the Truth (ktt.org) This week’s devotional is adapted from his sermon, “For God and Country” (kindredchurch.org).

You

Matt Perman post:  Who is Responsible for What Your Church Becomes?

Before we consider what the Bible says churches should be, which we will do in the first few chapters, I want you to consider why I would pose this question to you, especially if you are not a pastor. After all, isn’t a book on the topic of healthy churches a book for pastors and church leaders?

It is for pastors, yes, but it’s also for every Christian. Remember: thats who the authors of the New Testament address. 

When the churches in Galatia began listening to false teachers, Paul wrote to them and said, “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you by the grace of Christ” (Gal 1:6).

Who was the “you” that Paul called to account for the false teaching in their churches? Not the pastors alone but the church bodies themselves. You’d expect him to write to the churches’ leaders and say, “Stop teaching that heresy!” But he doesn’t. He calls the whole church to account.

Likewise, when the church in the city of Corinth allowed for an adulterous relationship to continue unchecked in their midst, Paul again directly addressed the church (1 Corinthians 5). He didn’t tell the pastors or the staff to take care of the problem. He told the church to take care of it.

So it is with the majority of letters in the New Testament.

I trust the pastors of those first-century churches were listening as Paul and Peter, James and John, addressed their congregations. And I trust the pastors initiated and led the way in responding to whatever instructions the apostles gave in their letters.

Yet by following the apostles’ example and addressing you, pastor and members alike, I believe I’m placing responsibility where, humanly, it ultimately belongs.

You and all the members of your church, Christian, are finally responsible before God for what your church becomes, not your pastors and other leaders — you. 

Mark Dever, in What Is a Healthy Church?: 

Raise the Roof

Come, let's shout praises to God, raise the roof for the Rock who saved us!
   Let's march into his presence singing praises,
      lifting the rafters with our hymns!
  And why? Because God is the best,
      High King over all the gods. 

Psalm 95 [Message]

Created to Worship

Steven Furtick post:  Two pet peeves in worship

A little over a month ago I tweeted the following about a problem that exists in a lot of churches:

2 pet peeves: 1) Pastors who don’t engage in worship 2) Worship musicians who don’t engage with the Word

It seemed to resonate with a lot of people and I wanted to elaborate on it a little because I think these are two big roadblocks for taking your church to a whole new level in worship.

1) Pastors who don’t engage in worship.
Pastors, you’re the primary worship leaders at your churches. And that’s even if you don’t have a lick of musical talent and your voice would offend people if they heard it.

Your church is never going to go further in worship than you’re going to lead it. And what you need to understand is that you set the tone not only with the Word but also by your example. Your worship before God is preaching a sermon on the greatness of God long before you ever open up your mouth to speak about God. And it’s a sermon people listen to and apply to their own worship. Immediately.

But this goes beyond your leadership. You will never graduate past your need to worship God. You’ve been called to preach, but you were created to worship. There isn’t an advanced level of Christianity where you no longer have to engage with God in passionate praise.

So don’t let your mind become so occupied with what you’re called to do – preach – that you lose sight of what you have been created to do – worship.

2) Worship musicians who don’t engage with the Word.
This is ultimately an honor issue. Yes, honoring your pastor is part of it. He’s been preparing for this all week and one of the best ways you can support him is by actively responding to the Word.

But really this is about honoring the Word of God. Just like your pastor, before you’re a musician, you’re a worshipper. And there is no such thing as true worship divorced from God’s Word.
 
The Word gives us a God worth worshipping. A God worth leading others to worship. And the intensity of your own personal worship and your effectiveness in leading others in theirs is directly related to your engagement with it.

So whether you’re preaching or playing music this weekend, choose to fully engage. Pastors, put your notes down, and worship the God you’ve been studying about all week. Worship musicians, catch your breath for a minute, and then pick up your Bible, a pen, and press into the God who is the source of your creativity and talent.

And then watch as the worship in your church is taken to a whole new level.

Fire and Faith for Loving

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer about All-Weather Friendship

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

     Jesus, there’s no question about your commitment to love us well in every season of life. You will never leave us or forsake us, and there’s no ebbing or flowing with your compassion. You stick much closer than a brother, because you’ve so much more than a brother. You humbled yourself to become a spouse to us—the Bridegroom who died to make rebels, fools and idolaters, like us, your cherished wife. What wondrous love is this, indeed?
     Your lavish, constant affection should spell the end to all our poutings and pity-parties—all of our whinings and worry-fests.  It should also radically affect how we relate to our friends. I come before you today convinced of your love, and therefore, convicted about the way I relate to my friends, especially those in various stories and stages of adversity. I’ve been too busy even to pray for them. That’s a confession of sin, not an excuse or an alibi.
     I repent, even as I bring before your throne of grace a friend who is stuck in the throes of a toxic marriage. He simply doesn’t know what to do. His heart is treading water in the Bermuda triangle of hopelessness, rage and numbness. Show me how to love him well. I need wisdom. I need courage. Oh God of resurrection, bring the power of the gospel to bear. Give his wife hope than men can change—that her husband can change. Please, redeem this marriage for your glory.
     I pray for another friend who’s suffered sequential betrayals and losses. He’s beyond being angry and he doesn’t have many tears left. He loves you, as only a broken man filled with the gospel can, but Jesus, he needs relief. His willingness to trust and hope are gone. How much is too much? How much can more can this one brother sustain? It is one thing to be broken-hearted, but he is nearly broken-down. Please intervene, Jesus.
     Gracious Lord, give us fire and faith for loving as all weather friends. What do we do next? Do we get in our cars, buy an airline ticket, call up, show up? How can we best come along side of our hurting friends? Show us, Jesus, lead us. So very Amen, we pray, in your faithful and compassionate name.
  

Gentle Savior

Expectations

Excerpts from Kevin DeYoung post:  Doing Good, But a Little Less Than Others

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Or maybe you are better at other things.

Here’s one of the hardest truths for Christians to understand, let alone embrace: some of us will do more of a particular good thing than others and some will do less. And the difference may not be sinful.

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So is it ever acceptable for Christian A to do less of a good thing than Christian B? Most of us will say yes, and yet we feel like we should probably also feel a little guilty if we are Christian A. Or, we find a way to judge Christian B to get rid of our low-level guilt. Or, when we are Christian B, we add a little guilt to Christian A for not doing the same good things we are doing.

Sometimes those who are great examples of great things make the mistake of insisting that everyone excel in the same ways they do. A Christian brother throws out his T.V. and looks down on those who still watch ESPN. A sister decides only to buy from the thrift store and bludgeons her friends into doing the same. A friend decides to read through Calvin’s Institutes in a year and exhorts his small group that if they were serious about growing in their faith they would do it too. These are made up examples, but they’re probably real somewhere. When we get fired up about a particular good cause, good idea, or good read, we think everyone else should be too. But isn’t it ok, on some matters, that our conscience and convictions and capabilities lead us down different paths of passion?

This is especially tricky because some behaviors are commanded of everyone in Scripture, and yet are also considered special gifts for only some. We should all contribute to the needs of the saints (Rom. 13:13), but some have the gift of generosity (v. 8). We should all serve (v. 11), but some will be particularly gifted in serving (v. 7). We won’t all be as good or zealous about the same things. This is by divine design. Our gifts will differ according to the grace given us (v. 6).

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I fear many of us are prone to taking our gifts and passions and putting them on everyone else as hard and fast commands. And on the flip side, many of us put the expectation upon ourselves. We simply don’t know what to do with another Christian who prays more or gives more or does more for the poor or reads more or writes more or mentors more. We have no category that allows for one Christian to do more of a good thing than we do without feeling guilty for how we measure up.


And yet, I know the second I think this way I’m also liable to justify disobedience or quench the Spirit’s conviction in some area. There’s no easy answer to this dilemma. I don’t have it all figured out. But here are a few thoughts that help.

1. Most importantly, any lasting obedience must grow out of the gospel. Trying to measure up or get rid of low-level guilt are not good motivations for radical sacrifice. We read and give and go overseas and evangelize and feed the poor and adopt orphans and get up early to pray and mentor college students and write blogs because we have nothing to prove, nothing to earn, and nothing to do except glorify God in a million different ways and enjoy him forever.

2. At Lausanne 2010, John Piper told the audience (I’m paraphrasing), “We should care about all suffering, especially eternal suffering.” He said the word “care” was chosen, well, carefully. He didn’t want to say we should do something about all suffering. Because we can’t do something about everything. But we can care. This means that when we hear about grinding poverty or legal abortion or biblical illiteracy we are not indifferent. We think and feel that this ought not to be so. We won’t all care about every issue in the same way, but there are many issues all Christians should care about. When we don’t give a rip about sex slaves or gospel-less preaching, then something is wrong with our hearts.

3. We must allow for various callings and various gifts (see discussion above). We need Christians who will spend their lives to improve inner city school and we need Christians who will labor for decades to provide good theological resources in Polish. And we the one Christian not to make the other feel guilty and the other not feel guilty by the presence of the one.

4. Don’t forget about the church. The work to be done in the world is Christ’s work. And Christ works through his body, corporately in word and sacrament, individually in a million other areas of life. I can’t do it all, but the church—both gathered and scattered, the church as institution and as organism—can do all that the head of the body expects her to do.

5. Lastly, we should pray. Of course, this can become the biggest unrealistic burden of all. No human can pray for all the needs in the world. You simply can’t pray for everything that everyone will ever ask you to pray for. You certainly can’t pray for it all on a sustained basis. But here’s a couple suggestions.

...

 
All of this is simply a long-winded way of saying: don’t feel bad if you don’t read hundreds (or a dozen) books a year. I’ll keep reading and hopefully it will serve the church. You keep doing the things you can do best. And for all the other things, let’s pray that God gives us the double grace to grow where we can and also to joyfully accept that different Christians will have different passions and different callings. The difference itself is according to his grace and, if embraced with the right attitude in service to the church, will be for God’s everlasting glory.

Holy Dreams

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

IMAGINE

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. Romans 6:13

I know that heaven awaits but Jesus came to announce that the kingdom is here now.  I am to spend my life asking the question, “What would heaven’s response look like in this situation?” That answer, determined by scripture, is my guideline for how to pray.  Specifically, this is what it looks like for me.

• If Jesus were my husband, what would He say about this?
• If Jesus could come in person today and talk to me about my child, what might He say?
• If Jesus were to come and pastor our church, what might His first steps be?

These answers give me a glimpse into the prayer life of Jesus when He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

To take this even further, which is what Paul is getting at in today’s scripture; I consider all the things a human can do with his body.  What will my hands be doing when I get to heaven?  What kinds of things will my mouth say?  How will I reign with Christ and what does that leadership look like?

In a glorified body, I will be using all my members for righteousness.  As I imagine that, and I can because of all the pictures scriptures paint, I begin to see how I am to live now.

The kingdom is here now and I can begin to live in it as I will live in it – through the power of the Spirit.

Direct my imagination toward holy dreams.  I am yours. Amen

Living in Hope

Miscellanies post:  Easter and Ecclesiastes

The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes tackles the tricky subject of the vanity or meaninglessness (Hebrew: heḇel) of life in our fallen world. In this fallen world there are many disappointments and injustices and so much brutality and pain. So much of life in this fallen world just doesn’t make sense to us. In fact even the ‘progress’ of life can so often feel like a mere chasing after the wind. Unhappiness abounds, even in the lives of who have all the worldly comforts imaginable and have every situational excuse to be happy. Even worse, we know that everyone in this world will die, enter into the ‘darkness,’ and be buried in a grave, an inevitable progression that is starkly contrast to God’s original design for the man and woman he created in His own image. Death is heḇel’s ultimate triumph (Ecc 3:18–21, 11:8, 12:1–8). In the New Testament the Apostle Paul picks up and builds from this heḇel theme when he writes about the “frustration” of the creation in Romans 8:19–24. There we find that this vanity is clearly cosmic in scope, reaching deeper into the soil than tree roots and stretching higher into the sky than mountain peaks. The vanity reaches all points of creation. Here Paul not only deepens our awareness the vanity of the fallen world, more importantly he sets the creation’s frustration within a redemptive framework (Webb, 108). Within this framework we see that in Christ’s death and resurrection the vanity of Ecclesiastes is being undone. In the redemption of our bodies, when our resurrection and the new creation will be fully revealed, the vanity we read about in Ecclesiastes will be completely undone. Easter marks the beginning of the end for heḇel. Meanwhile we live in hope. We have the Holy Spirit to intercede for us and we have God’s promise that although there is much about life that makes no apparent sense, everything in life is now working together for our ultimate good and according to God’s unassailable design for our lives (Rom 8:26–30). For now Christians await the final end of the heḇel by living by faith in God’s revelation: we fear God; we obey his commands; we partner together to build His church [an activity that is never done in vain (1 Cor 15:58)]; and we await our bodily resurrection by enjoying the abundant gifts that God offers us today (Ecc 2:24–25, 5:18–20, 9:7–9, 12:13).

A Reason for Thankfulness

Miscellanies post:  An Angry Calvinist

John Newton, Memoirs of the Life of the Late Rev. William Grimshaw (London: 1799), pages 86–87:

They who avow the doctrines distinguished by the name of Calvinism, ought, if consistent with their own principles, to be the most gentle and forbearing of all men, in meekness instructing them that oppose. With us, it is a fundamental maxim, that a man can receive nothing but what is given him from heaven (John 3:27). If, therefore, it has pleased God to give us the knowledge of some truths, which are hidden from others, who have the same outward means of information; it is a just reason for thankfulness to him, but will not justify our being angry with them; for we are no better or wiser than they in ourselves, and might have opposed the truths which we now prize, with the same eagerness and obstinacy, if his grace had not made us to differ. If the man, mentioned in John 9, who was born blind, on whom our Lord graciously bestowed the blessing of sight, had taken a cudgel and beat all the blind men he met, because they would not see, his conduct would have greatly resembled that of an angry Calvinist.

Favorite Word

Ray Ortlund post:  Grace and Karma

“[Grace is] my favorite word in the lexicon of the English language.  It’s a word I’m depending on.  The universe operates by Karma, we all know that.  For every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction.  There is some atonement built in: an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.  Then enters Grace and turns that upside down.  I love it.  I’m not talking about people being graceful in their actions but just covering over the cracks.  Christ’s ministry really was a lot to do with pointing out how everybody is a screw-up in some shape or form, there’s no way around it.  But then He was to say, well, I am going to deal with those sins for you.  I will take on Myself all the consequences of sin.  Even if you’re not religious, I think you’d accept that there are consequences to all the mistakes we make.  And so Grace enters the picture to say, I’ll take the blame, I’ll carry the cross.  It is a powerful idea.  Grace interrupting Karma.”

Bono, in U2 by U2 (London, 2006), page 300.

In All Things

Steven Furtick post:  Everything is for your good

There’s a tension that exists in the Bible that we all feel and live in every day.

In Genesis 1, God made the heavens and the earth and He called them good. So there’s some things that are good simply because God has made them and called them that.

The earth. Life. Marriage.

All God-made and good things.

But not everything is good. We have Genesis 3 to thank for that.

There’s the earth, but there’s also earthquakes.
There’s life, but there’s also death.
There’s marriage, but there’s also divorce.

This is where we live. And we could say that that’s just something we have to accept. It’s a tension that we have to live with. We’re going to have some good and some bad in this world.

While in a sense that’s true, I think there’s something we frequently overlook – the reality of Romans 8:28:
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

This changes everything. It eases the tension. Because here’s the truth:
Some things God makes and calls them good.
Some things He makes work together for the good of those who are called.

Either way, there is absolutely nothing in your life that isn’t good or beyond God’s ability to work for your good.

Your body, which is good. Or the cancer in it, which is terrible.
Your wife, who is good. Or her death, which was tragic.
Your children, who are good. Or them walking away from God, which is heartbreaking.

This is why Paul can go on to say in Romans 8:39 that nothing in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God. It’s because there is nothing in all creation that God did not make or that is beyond the scope of His redemptive power to remake.

You might think you’re the exception, but you’re not. Romans 8:28 isn’t a statement of probability or possibility. It’s a statement of reality. It’s not, God can make all things work for your good, but maybe that doesn’t apply to you. It’s that every second of your life He is making all things work for your good.

Whether you can see it now or not, your life is one of the greatest testimonies to the goodness and creative capabilities of God you’re ever going to behold. For what He has already given you that’s good. And for how He can redeem your life after it falls apart, or remake your heart after it’s been shattered.

No matter what position you’re in, there’s no place where God’s love cannot find you and recreate you.

No matter what you have experienced, your life is stamped by the goodness of God.

Yes, there’s good and bad. But it’s all for your good.

Satisfying Our Thirst

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer about Thirsty Panting for Jesus

     As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? Psalm 42:1-2

     Loving Jesus, there’s no craving more demanding than thirst. It’s neither patient nor polite. When we get thirsty, we’re usually quick to slake its unrelenting demand, one way or another. Thirst will not be denied. We’ll do almost anything to satisfy our thirst.
     Because this is true, we join the Psalmist in crying out, “Jesus, intensify our thirst for you. Keep us panting like the deer which pants after streams of water—the unpolluted, undistilled, never-ending brooks of your bounty.
     Quickly drain the broken-cisterns of our own making. Don’t let us be even momentarily satisfied with any other beverage than the draft you draw, the potion you pour, the life-giving libation you alone can give.
     If we take up King David’s lament, “When can I go and meet with God?”,  you answer back, without delay, “Right now, my beloved, do not wait. If you’re thirsty, come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, streams of living water will flow from within him.” (John 7:38)
     If we should say, “But Jesus, where can we find you?” You answer back even quicker, “Not in the Law; not in your strivings; not in your labors; not in your earnestness; not in your self-loathing’s; not in your vain promises, but only in the gospel. Come and fall into the rivers of my love. Stand under the cascading waterfalls of my grace. Open your heart wide to my supply and I will over-fill you with everything you need and more than you want.”
     Even so and evermore, Jesus, school us well in pant-theology. Fill us afresh than we might be a people to the praise of your glory and grace. So very Amen, we pray, in your all glorious and all generous name.

Expectations of Others

Excerpts from Practical Theology for Women post:  An Imperfectionist in a Perfectionist World 

I think I just made up the term imperfectionist. I do not fit into the perfectionist world in which I live. I am messy. I have tried Fly Lady and every suggestion Real Simple magazine has made, yet I am unable to change my genetic propensity toward messiness. My clothes are wrinkled. My sons have bed head most days. I don’t follow cooking instructions well. I eat too much. My workout routines fall short of my expectations. And so forth.

It’s only recently that I’ve come to recognize my coping mechanism. I anticipate that you are going to perceive me as messy, overweight, or irresponsible. So I compensate by saying it myself first.

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The truth is that some people WILL think that my corn pie is runny, my son is undisciplined, and that I’m irresponsible for writing the wrong date on my calendar for preschool. Some people will think I’m a hypochondriac if I refuse to take on new responsibilities though I don’t have a physically obvious ailment. But why am I constrained by my fears of what they will think of me?

We live in a world of high expectations. People are easily offended and easily let down, within and without Christianity. And if we don't constantly meditate on God's words of affirmation said over us in eternity, we will be constrained and handicapped by the expectations of others, many of which are simply unattainable. I'm praying that God would give me an honest assessment of myself. I want to face my sins head on. But I also don't want to over spiritualize things on which God has given me freedom and grace.

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... The first place I have to flee is the gospel—God's words of affirmation over me and the lavish grace that fills my spiritual bank account. When it's a mistake as opposed to sin, the gospel equips me there too. When I did my best and it still wasn't good enough, there is something in the resurrection power at work on my behalf that allows me to deal with it without condemnation or self flagellation. And a great side benefit of my inadequacies is that, when I do succeed at something like my exercise routine, instead of applauding myself for my self-discipline, I look up to God in awe and praise Him for the gift of His grace ... I know good and well my imperfections, and I am free to receive success on an issue that has thwarted be for a lifetime as purely His love gift to me as He transforms me. My experience thus far with the gospel applied to my mistakes is that facing them without self flagellation and with confidence in who I am in Christ gives great testimony of the gospel, particularly to myself. And I'm not going to project the gospel to others very well until I get it for myself.

Believers

Jon Bloom post:  Troubled But Not Troubled

Jesus’ words “let not your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1a) are comforting. But this it is not merely counsel. It is a command. What Jesus is saying is that in the face of trouble—terrible trouble—we must not allow our hearts to be troubled.

How is that even possible?

Jesus’ answer: “Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1b).

When Jesus spoke these words, he had just informed the disciples that one of them would betray him and Peter would deny him that night. On top of that he said he was going away. He meant death and later ascension. This was very troubling news. But it was not to trouble them.  Why? Because Jesus’ promise was that their brief sorrow would turn into indestructible joy (John 16:20-22).

A Promise For You and Me

Jesus promises this to you and me today. Tribulation will come, but he has overcome the world (John 16:33). Every thing is literally going to be all right for those who believe in him.

Like Jesus in the boat with his disciples when the storm hit, trouble usually has the appearance of being in control. But just because we can’t control trouble does not mean trouble is in control. Jesus is in control and he’s in the boat with us.

Believing this completely changes the way we see the storm. It is the key to not being troubled by trouble.

That’s why Christians are called “believers.” “We walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). We don’t trust appearances, no matter how compelling they look today. We trust God’s promises, no matter how unlikely to be fulfilled they appear today.

Obey Jesus’ comforting command: “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1).

Lord and Savior

Tim Chester post:  When Good Lives Are Bad News

There are two ways we get life wrong:

1. We want to be our own Lord instead of Jesus

I often replace Jesus as Lord with me as lord, running life my way. I want to be in charge. This often leads to behaviour that by moral standards is bad, e.g. sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll. We do not think Jesus is enough, disbelieving that living under His rule is the “good life.” So we replace Jesus with others things.

But there is another way we get life wrong:

2. We want to be our own Saviour instead of Jesus

I often replace Jesus as Saviour with me as saviour: attempting to save myself by doing good things, saving other people by straightening out their lives, or saving the world through good causes.

People trying to be their own saviour often live morally good lives. They’re good husbands, wives, and parents because they want to rescue their family. Or they’re involved in good causes, e.g. raising money for the poor, campaigning for justice, or addressing environmental issues.

These are commendable things. Replacing Jesus as Saviour often looks like a good life. People in your church are doing this and you think they’re doing great.

But its fruit will eventually become apparent: pride, frustration, stress, anxiety, or manipulation.

Consider a parent trying to fix their child thinking it all depends on them. They may be manipulative or domineering as they attempt to control and protect their child. Or they may be bitter about their child’s behaviour or weighed down with stress.

The people who are rejecting Jesus as Lord will usually be easy to spot. But be on the lookout for people who are rejecting Jesus as Saviour.

People who are rejecting Jesus as Lord must repent, find joy in Christ and change their ways. People who are rejecting Jesus as Saviour must do … nothing. Instead, stop. Listen: “It is finished.” There is nothing left to do. You have a heavenly Father who loves and cares for you.

Here’s the good news: Jesus is Lord and Saviour. He’s both a better Lord and a better Saviour than you will ever be.

When I Heard

Steven Furtick post:  What breaks you down?

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:3-4

Countless people struggle with discerning what God has called them to do with their lives. This is true whether you’re in college and choosing a major, or in your mid-forties and wondering if you’re wasting your life on a job you barely want to wake up to, much less give your life to.

If you’re ever in this position, ask this question to help yourself:

What is the brokenness in the world that produces a brokenness inside of me?

For Nehemiah, it was his people’s condition and the broken down walls of Jerusalem. What is it for you?

Injustice?

People who are far from God?

Poverty?

The state of the educational system?

The lack of honor in our world?

Child abandonment?

What is broken down that breaks you down? 


Once you’ve figured that out, your next step is simple: build it back up.
That was Nehemiah’s calling. And that’s your calling. To build up the brokenness that produces a brokenness inside of you. Neither brokenness will go away until you do.

For some of you, that will mean leaving what you’re doing and giving yourself completely to it. Starting a new career. Moving to a new country. Leaving the ministry and going to work for a church so that you can empower others in theirs (that sounds weird, but trust me, that’s how it’s supposed to work).

For others of you, it will mean you’ll keep doing what you’re doing but you’ll need to go about it with a brand new purpose. Open up your eyes to see that you’re not just collecting a paycheck. Be an agent of change at work or in your school where you already are.

Whatever it looks like, there’s definitely one thing God hasn’t called us to do: nothing. God hasn’t put us on this earth to have a front row seat to a broken down world. Or complain about how broken it is. He’s put us here to build it back up.

So let’s find our place. And get to work.

Must Be Interesting

Justin Taylor post:  Interpreting interruptions

“When I hear a knock at my study door, I hear a message from God.
It may be a lesson of instruction;
perhaps a lesson of patience:
but, since it is his message, it must be interesting.”

—John Newton, in Works I:76.

You Alone Are Trustworthy

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer about Trusting Jesus in Transitions

     Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Psalm 143:8

     Dear Jesus, in the morning, at mid-day, in the afternoon and throughout the night, keep on bringing us word of your unfailing love. That’s all we need, that’s all we really need. By the Holy Spirit, incessantly gossip the gospel in our inmost ear. Wrap the good news of your boundless, endless affections around our hearts, tighter and tighter and tighter. Permeate every bit of our being with your fresh mercies, steadfast love and transforming grace, for we have put our trust in you.
     Jesus, it’s the assurance of your unfailing love which enables us to trust you with the transitions we go through in life and the uncertainties about the future. Change is never easy. Change makes us feel vulnerable, fearful and insecure. We get tempted, once again, to be our own savior. Spare us that misery, Jesus, spare us and those we love. Don’t let us go there, even for a moment. May your Word dwell in us richly, your peace rule in us powerfully, and your glory be our main passion and delight.
     We’ve entrusted our lives to you, Jesus, because you alone are trustworthy. We’ve given you our sins, wounds, brokenness and weakness. Now, in fresh surrender, we give you our planning for the next season of our lives. Show us the way we should go through our transitions—transitions of age and stage; career and calling; health and finances; relationships and ministries. Write stories of redemption beyond our wildest dreams and hopes. It’s all about you, Jesus, not us, you.
     We’re not so arrogant as to expect all the details. Just take us by the hand and lead the way. Shepherd us, Jesus, open doors we cannot shut and shut doors we cannot open. All we need to know is that you love us and that you’re with us. You’ve promised us both, and you do not lie. So very Amen, we pray, in your merciful and mighty name.

Open Wide

Ray Ortlund post:  Contentment

“My brethren, the reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them.  That is not the reason.  But the reason is because they are not things proportionable to that immortal soul of yours that is capable of God himself.  Many men think that when they are troubled and have not got contentment, it is because they have but a little in the world, and if they had more then they would be content.  That is just as if a man were hungry, and to satisfy his craving stomach he should gape and hold open his mouth to take in the wind, and then should think that the reason why he is not satisfied is because he has not got enough of the wind.  No, the reason is because the thing is not suitable to a craving stomach.”

Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment (Edinburgh, 1964), page 91.

“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” (Psalm 81:10).

Regeneration

Excerpt from Grace to You:  The Christian's Duty in a Hostile World, Part 3 (1 Peter 4:10-11)

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 You might be interested to know that as central as the cross is in Christianity, it was not really the central focus of the early church. The early church saw much more in salvation than just the moment at which Christ atoned for sins, the moment in which He died on the cross. The early church saw salvation in much broader terms than that. The early church saw salvation as something that only began with the forgiveness of sins and led to a life transformed into obedience and consummated in the glory with Jesus Christ. It is interesting that even history sort of reflects this. In his book, Civilization, author Kenneth Clark shows that the cross as such was a very late symbol in Christian art and Christian culture. When we think about Christianity, we think immediately about the cross as the symbol of our faith. You might be interested to know that as far as that book, Civilization, determined the first appearance of the cross in Christian art or culture occurred in A.D. 430, all the way into the fifth century, on the doors of the church at Santa Sobina(?) and that that cross was a very small little cross inset into some piece of Christian art.

The early church did not focus on the cross. The early church focused on what great event? The resurrection. It focused its attention on the resurrection. And consequently its preoccupation was not with the point at which sin is forgiven, but the point at which new life begins. And the resurrection is that point. We, of course, died in Christ spiritually and in that death the penalty of sin was paid. But we also arose in Christ, says Paul, to walk in newness of life. To be saved then to the early church, and surely to us as well, was not just to have your sin forgiven. It was not just some transaction which dealt with your guilt. But rather to be saved was to be delivered from the power of darkness and to be translated into the kingdom of God's dear Son. In other words, it was to enter in to an entirely new kind of life, to enter into a new sphere of existence. Salvation is not just atonement. Salvation is not just forgiveness. Salvation is regeneration. It is transformation. It is the imparting of a new kind of life, the life of God in the soul of man.

And because that is true, one who is saved not only has sin dealt with but has a new desire to live in that new sphere. That desire rises from a new nature, a holy seed. The New Testament talks a lot about the fact that there is planted in the believer the seed of new life, an incorruptible seed. And that seed is a very important concept because a seed is that which produces something. And the very fact that Scripture identifies the Christian as one in whom is planted an incorruptible seed of life indicates that there will be a fruit bearing, there will be a production out of that seed. That seed of new life that is incorruptible will flourish. And so, when a person is saved, it is not just a matter of dealing with sin, it turns them from the old life and the old ways to a new life and new ways that are the very consequential expression of that new life.

To put it simply, works, godly works, spiritual works, good works become the inevitable result of that transformation. James says they are inherent in the nature of saving faith. Where you have saving faith you have works because salvation is not just forgiveness, it is transformation, it is regeneration.

Martin Luther describes saving faith as a powerful life altering force. Listen the words of Martin Luther. "O this faith is a living busy active powerful thing. It is impossible that it should not be ceaselessly doing that which is good. It does not even ask whether good works should be done, but before the question can be asked it has done them. And it is constantly engaged in doing them. But he who does not do such works is a man without faith. He gropes and casts about him to find faith and good works, not knowing what either of them is and yet prattles and idly multiplies words about faith and good works."

Further he says, "Faith is a living well‑founded confidence in the grace of God, so perfectly certain that it would die a thousand times rather than surrender its conviction. Such confidence and personal knowledge of divine grace makes it possessor joyful, bold, full of warm affection toward God and all created things, all of which the Holy Spirit works in faith. Hence, such a man becomes without constraint willing and eager to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer all manner of ills in order to please and glorify God who has shown toward him such grace," end quote.

Many theologians have tried to make us believe that Luther didn't believe in such a faith, but he did as witnessed by his own words. His view of salvation was right. And ours must be as well. We must see salvation as a transformation of life, listen to it now, that makes meaningful and desirable all the commandments of the Word of God. That's why in the great commission it says, "Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." There is inherent in that new life the impulse to obey.

So, here we are. Forgiven...yes. Transformed...yes. With an impulse to obey and here we have that impulse to obey served by a series of commands in this text. These texts then come, like many others in the New Testament, to speak to the heart where obedience is the deepest desire. Peter then is instructing us on the principles of Christian living. We do not fight it. We desire it. We do not resist it. We long for it. We do not debate it. We obey it. That is the mark of transformation.

Truly Humbled

Ray Ortlund post:  Exhaustion has its benefits

“Wherever God’s people have been truly humbled before him, and have been brought deeply to feel their own impotence, and have been willing to be used as mere instruments, and to let him have all the glory, there you will find that a rich blessing has usually been bestowed.”

William B. Sprague, Lectures on Revivals of Religion (Edinburgh, 1978), page 113.

Our Celebrations

Excerpt from Ed Stetzer post:  What You Celebrate, You Become

I tell denominational leaders regularly, "What you celebrate, you become." For too many years, my denomination was focused what we were against (though I see that changing). Other denominations did the same. And, it should not surprise us, that when we did not celebrate church planting, we were not strong in church planting. What you celebrate, you become. There are things to be against, but we must be FOR church planting.

Full of Evidences

Christine Wyrtzen Devotional

ABUSING A GRACIOUS GOD

 

What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?  Romans 6:1-2

Think of the most gracious person you know.  How easily was it to accept what they offered?  Perhaps you’re the kind of person that squirmed, trying to put a limit on what they wanted to give.  Or, perhaps in the folly of immaturity, you took their gifts for granted and felt entitled to more of the same.

No matter what a man or woman gives, it is nothingness compared with the gracious gifts God gives.  Whose offering can exceed the forgiveness of sin, the removal of condemnation, and the start of a new life that begins now but lasts forever?

Paul asks a redundant question.  Should we continue to sin and offend such a gracious God?  May it not be!

The stumbling block for any of us is that Satan has disfigured the face of a gracious God.  When suffering doesn’t cease, when we don’t get the answers we want to the prayers we whisper, we assume God isn’t really on our side.  Gracious?  Hardly.  And yet Isaiah said that ‘God longs to be gracious to us and He waits to have compassion on  us.’ Is.30:18

The Old Testament saints and the New Testament apostles all made the grace of God a recurring theme.  They did this despite their hardships.  On what did they base their experience of grace?  On God’s longsuffering nature, on His willingness to forgive without regard for whether or not they would continue to make the same mistake again, on His many provisions of strength, on His ability to change the lives of people.  They knew that heaven was ‘not now’. They were ambassadors to a dark world.  Ah, but on the inside?  God was gracious to transform the inner landscape of their soul so that they were full of evidences of His grace and glory.  I, too, have tasted and I want so much more.

No matter how big my appetite is for You, You are gracious to exceed what I ask for.  I vow to hate sin more because of who You are.  Amen

God's Blessings

<sup>Ps 103

1-2</sup> O my soul, bless God. From head to toe, I'll bless his holy name!
   O my soul, bless God,
      don't forget a single blessing!

 ^3-5 He forgives your sins—every one.
      He heals your diseases—every one.
      He redeems you from hell—saves your life!
      He crowns you with love and mercy—a paradise crown.
      He wraps you in goodness—beauty eternal.
      He renews your youth—you're always young in his presence. 

 [Message]


¹ Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and all that is within me,
   bless his holy name!
² Bless the LORD, O my soul,
   and forget not all his benefits,
³who forgives all your iniquity,
   who heals all your diseases,
⁴who redeems your life from the pit,
   who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
⁵who satisfies you with good
   so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. ⁶The LORD works righteousness
   and justice for all who are oppressed.

[ESV]

Choose

Perry Noble post:  STOP IT!!!

When God speaks clearly to you then you have a choice…

You can make plans…OR make excuses!

People who make excuses DO NOT change or impact the world around then.

They get STUCK because they keep obsessing over what God may want next for their lives when they refuse to deal with what He is speaking to RIGHT NOW!  (Please see Ezekiel 14:1-6…when God deals with an issue He will CONTINUALLY deal with THAT issue for as long as it takes to be confessed and repented of.  AND…God is relentless!!!)

So…are you going to make plans OR excuses?

What is your answer TO THIS QUESTION? (It changed my life!)

What is “that thing” that you can’t get past…maybe it…

• Finally deal with/confess sin and ask for help!  (James 5:16)
• Have that hard conversation that deals with confrontation/forgiveness!  (See Matthew 6:14-15)
• Begin to put God first in your finances!  (See Proverbs 3:9-10)
• Ask for help in your marriage!  (It’s way better to seek help when there is a problem than trying to find a divorce lawyer to help figure out who gets what!)
• End an ungodly dating relationship.  (And ungodly dating relationship is one that God keeps saying “NO” to you about!!!)
• Join a church!!!!  (You are way too valuable to sit on the sidelines.)

I could go on and on…but you get the point!

What IS IT?  STOP making excuses and STEP into WHO HE IS and WHAT HE wants you to do!

Go for it!

Find In Him Eternal Joy

Excerpt from John Piper:  No One Ever Spoke Like This Man

...


I want you to listen to C. S. Lewis and Bono. You'll see why. Lewis is famous from this quote about how you simply can't have Jesus as a great moral teacher while rejecting him as God.

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic—on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg—or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to. (Mere Christianity [Macmillan, 1952], pp. 55–56)

In other words, the way Jesus spoke—like no one else ever spoke—makes it irrational to speak nice things about him while rejecting his deity. He was not nice, if he wasn't God.

C. S. Lewis's fellow-Irishman, Paul David Hewson, otherwise known as Bono of the rock band U2, seems to have read Lewis and been persuaded. A few days after the Madrid terrorist bombing in 2004, Bono did an interview with a French journalist named Michka Assayas. When the subject of religion came up as the cause of terrorism, Bono turned the conversation to Christianity and the theme of grace.
When Bono said, "It's not our own good works that get us through the gates of heaven," the journalist replied,

Such great hope is wonderful, even though it's close to lunacy, in my view. Christ has his rank among the world's great thinkers. But Son of God, isn't that farfetched?

Bono's answer is really quite remarkable, and makes Lewis's point again, only perhaps more forcefully for our day in view of who he is and the context where he said it. Isn't all that "Son of God" talk farfetched?

No, it's not farfetched to me. Look, the secular response to the Christ story always goes like this: he was a great prophet, obviously a very interesting guy, had a lot to say along the lines of other great prophets, be they Elijah, Muhammad, Buddha, or Confucius. But actually Christ doesn't allow you that. He doesn't let you off that hook. Christ says:

No. I'm not saying I'm a teacher, don't call me teacher. I'm not saying I'm a prophet. I'm saying: "I'm the Messiah." I'm saying: "I am God incarnate." And people say: No, no, please, just be a prophet. A prophet, we can take. You're a bit eccentric. We've had John the Baptist eating locusts and wild honey, we can handle that. But don't mention the "M" word! Because, you know, we're gonna have to crucify you.

And he goes: No, no. I know you're expecting me to come back with an army, and set you free from these creeps, but actually I am the Messiah. At this point, everyone starts staring at their shoes, and says: Oh, my God, he's gonna keep saying this. So what you're left with is: either Christ was who He said He was, the Messiah or a complete nutcase. I mean, we're talking nutcase on the level of Charles Manson. . . . I'm not joking here. The idea that the entire course of civilization for over half of the globe could have its fate changed and turned upside-down by a nutcase, for me, that's farfetched. (Bono in Conversation with Michka Assayas [New York: Penguin Books, 2005], p. 227).

Is Bono born again? I don't know. If he's not, I pray that he would be. And I call attention to my uncertainty because I want to make sure something is clear: It is possible to be persuaded by the logic of Lewis and Bono and not be saved—not be born again and have eternal life.
Which brings us back to our text and last week's message. The last thing the empty-handed officers heard Jesus say, before they said, "No one ever spoke like this man," was this: "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37–38).

In other words, believing on Jesus, means more than being persuaded that he is God. The devil is totally persuaded by Lewis and Bono. But believing on Jesus means coming to him to drink. That is, if you and I and Lewis and Bono are going to have eternal life, we must come to Jesus as our supreme and all-satisfying Treasure. Our thirst-quenching Water, our hunger-stilling Bread, our ever-guiding, all-illumining Light, our infinitely precious substitute, sacrificed Lamb of God.

No man ever spoke like this man. He is true. He is who he said he was. But don't leave it at that. Come, eat, drink, trust, find in him eternal joy.

Law and Gospel

Excerpt from Tullian Tchividjian post:  Berkhof On The Two Parts Of God's Word

... A paragraph from Louis Berkhof’s Systematic Theology  ...

The Churches of the Reformation from the very beginning distinguished between the law and the gospel as the two parts of the Word of God. This distinction was not understood to be identical with that between the Old and the New Testament, but was regarded as a distinction that applies to both Testaments. There is law and gospel in the Old Testament, and there is law and gospel in the New. The law comprises everything in Scripture which is a revelation of God’s will in the form of command or prohibition, while the gospel embraces everything, whether it be in the Old Testament or in the New, that pertains to the work of reconciliation and that proclaims the seeking and redeeming love of God in Christ Jesus.

Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, 4th ed. 1941, pg. 612)