This Sunday’s Sermon Title is:
PREDESTINATION AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
Ask yourself this question based on the following text.
Can the same act be spoken of as initiated both by God and by man?
2 Corinthians 8:16-17
I thank God, who put into the heart of Titus the same concern I have for you. For Titus not only welcomed our appeal, but he is coming to you with much enthusiasm and on his own initiative.
See also
Acts 2:23 This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.
Genesis 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
How To Love Your Spouse
It took me 22 years of marriage to figure this out (Or rather to have it revealed) but, the only way you will ever properly love (desire and enjoy and please and serve) your spouse is to have your heart so filled with the joy of Jesus’ love that it overflows with excess towards your partner.
I got to practice this for two and a half years and it revolutionized our relationship. It stopped me from demanding that my spouse meet all my needs to feel loved. I had that need fully met to overflowing in Christ. It stopped me from expecting too much from the relationship and the grumbling that could follow.
It proved a safeguard to over-loving (idolizing) which is a real danger when two people trust and enjoy each other for so long. Though I was guilty of both idolizing and grumbling right up to the end, at least I had figured out that these were to be avoided and I figured out how.
It is as I was satisfied first and foremost in Christ that I was able to lead our love into it’s best years where proper expectations and two hearts filled to overflowing with love were freed to love one another.
I got to practice this for two and a half years and it revolutionized our relationship. It stopped me from demanding that my spouse meet all my needs to feel loved. I had that need fully met to overflowing in Christ. It stopped me from expecting too much from the relationship and the grumbling that could follow.
It proved a safeguard to over-loving (idolizing) which is a real danger when two people trust and enjoy each other for so long. Though I was guilty of both idolizing and grumbling right up to the end, at least I had figured out that these were to be avoided and I figured out how.
It is as I was satisfied first and foremost in Christ that I was able to lead our love into it’s best years where proper expectations and two hearts filled to overflowing with love were freed to love one another.
Monday, December 20, 2010
Will I Believe Tomorrow?
Our faith and the fervency of it, depend not on our own strength of character, but on the One who initiated faith in us in the first place. So long as we remain in the word and are seeking out God’s thoughts by which we may order our lives, God will provide the flame that will keep that fuel burning in our souls.
In John 15:7, Jesus assures his followers, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
Here is a good prayer to insert at this point… Mark 9:24 "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
It is good to ask for faith that we might continue to believe, for … “without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6
This is a prayer God is pleased to answer.
Psalms 48:14
For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Philippians 1:20
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:6
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
In John 15:7, Jesus assures his followers, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you.”
Here is a good prayer to insert at this point… Mark 9:24 "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!"
It is good to ask for faith that we might continue to believe, for … “without faith it is impossible to please God” Hebrews 11:6
This is a prayer God is pleased to answer.
Psalms 48:14
For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.
1 Corinthians 1:8-9
He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.
Philippians 1:20
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.
Philippians 1:6
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
It Is Up To God To Prove His Trustworthiness
Psalms 138:2-3 NLT
2 I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. 3 As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.
What is at stake in proving of God’s reliability, His sufficiency, His strength, His worth, His all-satisfying presence and joy, in our lives is the honor of his name. God’s honour is his top priority and is therefore something He will unfailingly uphold. He must prove himself, by keeping his promises to us in order to maintain His reputation. If He failed to keep his promises, his name would be besmirched.
It is not up to me or to you to prove anything to anyone. My only aim ought to be to let God be God, in and through me, to prove himself. I may cease striving and let God be God in me.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
If this is true for you, then it only remains for you to let Christ prove his presence in you so you will authentically represent his trustworthy name to others. Look for Him to do this in you and then through you.
Psalms 138:8 The LORD will work out his plans for my life— for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.
2 I praise your name for your unfailing love and faithfulness; for your promises are backed by all the honor of your name. 3 As soon as I pray, you answer me; you encourage me by giving me strength.
What is at stake in proving of God’s reliability, His sufficiency, His strength, His worth, His all-satisfying presence and joy, in our lives is the honor of his name. God’s honour is his top priority and is therefore something He will unfailingly uphold. He must prove himself, by keeping his promises to us in order to maintain His reputation. If He failed to keep his promises, his name would be besmirched.
It is not up to me or to you to prove anything to anyone. My only aim ought to be to let God be God, in and through me, to prove himself. I may cease striving and let God be God in me.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
If this is true for you, then it only remains for you to let Christ prove his presence in you so you will authentically represent his trustworthy name to others. Look for Him to do this in you and then through you.
Psalms 138:8 The LORD will work out his plans for my life— for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever.
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Hope for This Life
The ultimate hope that brings the believer unshakeable joy, is the confidence that we will be radiantly happy in the presence of God in an era that will never end.
Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
But experience tells us that temporal hope is of great value also. We need some assurance that God will bless us in the “before life” not just the “after life”. God knows our earthly needs and demonstrates his insight by implanting these words in the heart of the psalmist:
Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
And
Psalm 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
We need to pray this prayer, recognizing our need of his sustaining power and then allow ourselves to be comforted by this confidence. We will see God’s goodness in the here and now.
Psalm 71: 20 You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again… 24 I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long…
And
Psalm 109: 30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him. 31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life…
Those who hope are expressing a need. They do not have all that they wish for. When we pour out that need to God, we can begin to watch how he will address our need, most significantly with his own presence “to cheer and to guide” as the old hymn says.
“He stands at the right hand of the needy”
The self-sufficient need not apply.
Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
But experience tells us that temporal hope is of great value also. We need some assurance that God will bless us in the “before life” not just the “after life”. God knows our earthly needs and demonstrates his insight by implanting these words in the heart of the psalmist:
Psalms 51:12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
And
Psalm 27:13 I am still confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
We need to pray this prayer, recognizing our need of his sustaining power and then allow ourselves to be comforted by this confidence. We will see God’s goodness in the here and now.
Psalm 71: 20 You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but you will restore me to life again… 24 I will tell about your righteous deeds all day long…
And
Psalm 109: 30 With my mouth I will greatly extol the LORD; in the great throng I will praise him. 31 For he stands at the right hand of the needy one, to save his life…
Those who hope are expressing a need. They do not have all that they wish for. When we pour out that need to God, we can begin to watch how he will address our need, most significantly with his own presence “to cheer and to guide” as the old hymn says.
“He stands at the right hand of the needy”
The self-sufficient need not apply.
Monday, December 6, 2010
A TIME TO MOURN AND A TIME TO DANCE
…so Says Ecclesiastes 3:4
Katy (almost 9) consistently prays, “Lord help us move on.” And though this may seem unromantic, she is right.
John Piper in “Desiring God” states, “When Christ calls us to a new act of obedience that will cost us some temporal pleasure, we call to mind the surpassing value of following him, and by faith in his proven worth we forsake the worldly pleasure. The result? More joy! More faith! Deeper than before. And so we go on from joy to joy, and faith to faith.”
I have been finding that in forsaking the worldly pleasure that God has removed from me, there can be an increase in hope and joy. It is only when I am too tired to intentionally stop thinking about loss that I begin to slip into reminiscing which almost instantly produces a poisonous self-pity.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT says, "Don’t long for 'the good old days.' This is not wise."
He’s right!
Randy Alcorn in “Heaven” writes, “ I don’t look back nostalgically at wonderful moments in my life, wistfully thinking the best days are behind me. I look at them as a foretaste of an eternity of better things… the best is yet to come.”
Paul models his faith this way in Philippians 3:12-14, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.”
Katy (almost 9) consistently prays, “Lord help us move on.” And though this may seem unromantic, she is right.
John Piper in “Desiring God” states, “When Christ calls us to a new act of obedience that will cost us some temporal pleasure, we call to mind the surpassing value of following him, and by faith in his proven worth we forsake the worldly pleasure. The result? More joy! More faith! Deeper than before. And so we go on from joy to joy, and faith to faith.”
I have been finding that in forsaking the worldly pleasure that God has removed from me, there can be an increase in hope and joy. It is only when I am too tired to intentionally stop thinking about loss that I begin to slip into reminiscing which almost instantly produces a poisonous self-pity.
Ecclesiastes 7:10 NLT says, "Don’t long for 'the good old days.' This is not wise."
He’s right!
Randy Alcorn in “Heaven” writes, “ I don’t look back nostalgically at wonderful moments in my life, wistfully thinking the best days are behind me. I look at them as a foretaste of an eternity of better things… the best is yet to come.”
Paul models his faith this way in Philippians 3:12-14, “I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus.”
Wednesday, December 1, 2010
The Case for Singleness
This was written by a young woman named Margaret Charlton before she became the wife of puritan pastor Richard Baxter in 1662. They were both chided for marrying because of their mutual appreciation of singleness as the best means of serving God. She writes:
“Let me not forget the time when I seemed near death. What comfort had I then in creatures? What ease from them? Was not all my hope in God? All creatures shewed me that side on which vanity was written, and they had nothing which could satisfy my soul. Though I had as much mercy in means and friends as I could possibly desire, yet all this was nothing to me. The trouble of parting with them was much more than the comfort of enjoying them and so it will be with me still, which should teach me to keep my heart loose from the creature, and not over-love any thing on this side heaven. Why should my heart be fixed where my home is not? Heaven is my home, God in Christ is all my happiness and where my treasure is, there my heart should be. Come away, O my heart, from vanity; mount heavenward, and be not dead, or dull, if thou wouldst be free from trouble, and taste of real joy and pleasure. Hath not experience yet taught thee, that creature-comforts, though they may be roses, have their pricks ? Canst not thou be content to look on them, and smell them at a distance, and covet no other use while thou art in the garden where they grow and be content to leave them there behind thee? If thou must needs have them in thy bosom, thou must scratch thy fingers to get them and when thou hast them, though the smell awhile delight thee, they will quickly wither, and are gone. Away then, O my carnal heart, retire to God, the only satisfying object. There mayest thou love without all danger of excess! Let thy love to God be fixed and transcendent. Amen.”
Paul would add “If you do marry, you have not sinned... But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.” (1 Corinthians 7:28)
“Let me not forget the time when I seemed near death. What comfort had I then in creatures? What ease from them? Was not all my hope in God? All creatures shewed me that side on which vanity was written, and they had nothing which could satisfy my soul. Though I had as much mercy in means and friends as I could possibly desire, yet all this was nothing to me. The trouble of parting with them was much more than the comfort of enjoying them and so it will be with me still, which should teach me to keep my heart loose from the creature, and not over-love any thing on this side heaven. Why should my heart be fixed where my home is not? Heaven is my home, God in Christ is all my happiness and where my treasure is, there my heart should be. Come away, O my heart, from vanity; mount heavenward, and be not dead, or dull, if thou wouldst be free from trouble, and taste of real joy and pleasure. Hath not experience yet taught thee, that creature-comforts, though they may be roses, have their pricks ? Canst not thou be content to look on them, and smell them at a distance, and covet no other use while thou art in the garden where they grow and be content to leave them there behind thee? If thou must needs have them in thy bosom, thou must scratch thy fingers to get them and when thou hast them, though the smell awhile delight thee, they will quickly wither, and are gone. Away then, O my carnal heart, retire to God, the only satisfying object. There mayest thou love without all danger of excess! Let thy love to God be fixed and transcendent. Amen.”
Paul would add “If you do marry, you have not sinned... But those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you this.” (1 Corinthians 7:28)
Monday, November 29, 2010
Become What I Am
Acts 26:29 Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.
Paul wanted everyone who was within the scope of his ministry to become what he was without necessarily having to go through the painful circumstances that he was suffering. He could look at his faith, proven under trial and say of it, along with the author of Hebrews…
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Though the resting place of an anchor is invisible, the security and stability it provides for a ship in a storm in unquestionable. Paul’s hope in what God would do for him in the future, gave him confidence even when he was under duress. He wished this immovable joy for all who heard him speak. He wanted to spread this joy as it brought increased happiness to his own soul and ultimately glory to God.
Paul said, 2 Corinthians 1:24 We work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
I am praying that you also may become what I am. That is, one who takes seriously the command with a promise.
Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
If I make God my greatest treasure and hope, I will receive all that he promises and that certain hope gives my life stability.
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
But recognize this is no mere platitude or suggestion, for if you will not love him, treasure him, as your highest delight and eternal security, the opposite is true as well.
1 Corinthians 16:22 NLT If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.
So for your sake and mine and the lord’s, "I pray… all who are listening… may become what I am, except…”
Paul wanted everyone who was within the scope of his ministry to become what he was without necessarily having to go through the painful circumstances that he was suffering. He could look at his faith, proven under trial and say of it, along with the author of Hebrews…
Hebrews 6:19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.
Though the resting place of an anchor is invisible, the security and stability it provides for a ship in a storm in unquestionable. Paul’s hope in what God would do for him in the future, gave him confidence even when he was under duress. He wished this immovable joy for all who heard him speak. He wanted to spread this joy as it brought increased happiness to his own soul and ultimately glory to God.
Paul said, 2 Corinthians 1:24 We work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm.
I am praying that you also may become what I am. That is, one who takes seriously the command with a promise.
Psalms 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
If I make God my greatest treasure and hope, I will receive all that he promises and that certain hope gives my life stability.
Romans 8:32 He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?
But recognize this is no mere platitude or suggestion, for if you will not love him, treasure him, as your highest delight and eternal security, the opposite is true as well.
1 Corinthians 16:22 NLT If anyone does not love the Lord, that person is cursed.
So for your sake and mine and the lord’s, "I pray… all who are listening… may become what I am, except…”
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Sunshine on a Cloudy Day
Having been abandoned by one that I love and relied on and perhaps only beginning to realize the depth of devastation that accompanies such a loss, what an acute thrill to be reminded and assured this morning, by one even more important to me, that He will NEVER leave nor forsake me, (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5) and that he carries me in his arms all day long. (Psalms 68:19)
Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee
And Thy beauty fills my soul
For by Thy transforming power
Thou hast made me whole
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus
I behold Thee as Thou art
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless
Satisfies my heart
Satisfies my deepest longings
Meets, supplies its every need
Compasseth me 'round with blessings
Thine is love indeed
Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus
Earth's dark shadows flee
Brightness of my Father's glory
Sunshine of my Father's face
Keep me ever trusting, resting
Fill me with Thy grace
Jesus, I am resting, resting
In the joy of what Thou art
I am finding out the greatness
Of Thy loving heart
Thou hast bid me gaze upon Thee
And Thy beauty fills my soul
For by Thy transforming power
Thou hast made me whole
Simply trusting Thee, Lord Jesus
I behold Thee as Thou art
And Thy love, so pure, so changeless
Satisfies my heart
Satisfies my deepest longings
Meets, supplies its every need
Compasseth me 'round with blessings
Thine is love indeed
Ever lift Thy face upon me
As I work and wait for Thee
Resting 'neath Thy smile, Lord Jesus
Earth's dark shadows flee
Brightness of my Father's glory
Sunshine of my Father's face
Keep me ever trusting, resting
Fill me with Thy grace
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Your Joy is My Joy
Psalm 44: 17 All this happened to us, though we had not forgotten you or been false to your covenant. 18 Our hearts had not turned back; our feet had not strayed from your path. 19 But you crushed us…
God is sovereign over all our pain and sometimes it makes no sense.
Colossians 4:3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
But God can make sense of it as we use it as an opportunity to display His sufficiency to those who need to catch a glimpse of Him.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 2:12 When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me.
The Lord provides these opportunities for displaying his worth.
Mt 25:28 "‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Our responsibility is to be faithful with God-given opportunities to glorify him.
Colossians 1:24 I am glad when I suffer for you...
Gladness can accompany suffering – even be the result of suffering - when it is endured to God’s glory, with the benefit of his people in mind.
1Th 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
To experience actual joy, of which the holy Spirit is the source, which can be mingled with suffering, is to become an example to others and an encouragement in their faith. Suffering in this way produces joy all around.
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
My joy is attained by bringing about your joy in Christ though we will all suffer.
God is sovereign over all our pain and sometimes it makes no sense.
Colossians 4:3 And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains.
But God can make sense of it as we use it as an opportunity to display His sufficiency to those who need to catch a glimpse of Him.
2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."
2 Corinthians 2:12 When I came to the city of Troas to preach the Good News of Christ, the Lord opened a door of opportunity for me.
The Lord provides these opportunities for displaying his worth.
Mt 25:28 "‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.
Our responsibility is to be faithful with God-given opportunities to glorify him.
Colossians 1:24 I am glad when I suffer for you...
Gladness can accompany suffering – even be the result of suffering - when it is endured to God’s glory, with the benefit of his people in mind.
1Th 1:6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.
To experience actual joy, of which the holy Spirit is the source, which can be mingled with suffering, is to become an example to others and an encouragement in their faith. Suffering in this way produces joy all around.
1 Thessalonians 2:19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?
My joy is attained by bringing about your joy in Christ though we will all suffer.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Impermanence
The great thing about impermanence is that it applies to itself. Impermanence is itself impermanent. The expression, “Nothing lasts forever” will not last forever. One day even death will die and then everything will last forever.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Re 21:4 There will be no more death… for the old order of things has passed away.
That everything is fleeting, is fleeting.
One day we will live in the age of ages where enjoyable time will never run out.
In John 10:28, Jesus said, “I give them (Those who believe in Jesus) eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.
Believe in him. Trust in him. Follow him. The only thing you have to lose is what you are going to lose anyhow. What you gain, you will gain forever.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
Re 21:4 There will be no more death… for the old order of things has passed away.
That everything is fleeting, is fleeting.
One day we will live in the age of ages where enjoyable time will never run out.
In John 10:28, Jesus said, “I give them (Those who believe in Jesus) eternal life, and they shall never perish; no-one can snatch them out of my hand.
Believe in him. Trust in him. Follow him. The only thing you have to lose is what you are going to lose anyhow. What you gain, you will gain forever.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Sinking Yet Saved
Psalm 31
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul… 9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. 10 I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness… 14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." 15 My times are in your hands; deliver me… 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. 17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you… 19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you. 20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them… 22 …you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul… 9 Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. 10 I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness… 14 But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." 15 My times are in your hands; deliver me… 16 Let your face shine on your servant; save me in your unfailing love. 17 Let me not be put to shame, O LORD, for I have cried out to you… 19 How great is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you, which you bestow in the sight of men on those who take refuge in you. 20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them… 22 …you heard my cry for mercy when I called to you for help. 23 Love the LORD, all his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful, but the proud he pays back in full.
24 Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
Grateful
To my church family (and others God has placed around us);
Being cared for to by all of you, over the last year and especially in this last month, has proved to be a profoundly humbling and heartwarming experience. To have one’s vulnerabilities exposed and yet to be protected and provided for, has allowed me to see God’s love in action.
You have mingled your prayers and tears with our own, exemplifying compassion. You have served us practically, spiritually and emotionally, in ways that no mere human organization could ever do. You have loved me and Si and Katy and Alex and helped us believe that indeed God loves us and will see us through.
May he reward you for your persistence in doing good. May he give you the joy of serving Jesus. May you have the assurance that you are loved in return.
God bless you.
Andy
Being cared for to by all of you, over the last year and especially in this last month, has proved to be a profoundly humbling and heartwarming experience. To have one’s vulnerabilities exposed and yet to be protected and provided for, has allowed me to see God’s love in action.
You have mingled your prayers and tears with our own, exemplifying compassion. You have served us practically, spiritually and emotionally, in ways that no mere human organization could ever do. You have loved me and Si and Katy and Alex and helped us believe that indeed God loves us and will see us through.
May he reward you for your persistence in doing good. May he give you the joy of serving Jesus. May you have the assurance that you are loved in return.
God bless you.
Andy
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Two Responses to Loss
Hebrews 10:34 You… joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions.
And the pitiable, yet understandable opposite of Hebrews 10:34
You vehemently refused to accept the confiscation of your property though you were powerless to stop it. You became filled with anxiety because your means of providing for yourself and your family had been lost. Your helplessness and fear and inconsolable anger drained you of all hope for the future, causing you to spiral into a deep and devastating depression. You refused to trust God who said…
Mt 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
You became cheerless, isolated and in need of medical help.
Now, which response to loss do you think would be preferable? Which one would you fight for? Which one would you want a spiritual leader to have? Which one would inspire you? Which one would you follow?
“Any emotion” is not “OK”. Anyone who has experienced a panic-attack would not say, "Hey! That was alright!" Emotions can quench your flame. They can take your life. Don’t let them.
Php 3:1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
And the pitiable, yet understandable opposite of Hebrews 10:34
You vehemently refused to accept the confiscation of your property though you were powerless to stop it. You became filled with anxiety because your means of providing for yourself and your family had been lost. Your helplessness and fear and inconsolable anger drained you of all hope for the future, causing you to spiral into a deep and devastating depression. You refused to trust God who said…
Mt 6:25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.
You became cheerless, isolated and in need of medical help.
Now, which response to loss do you think would be preferable? Which one would you fight for? Which one would you want a spiritual leader to have? Which one would inspire you? Which one would you follow?
“Any emotion” is not “OK”. Anyone who has experienced a panic-attack would not say, "Hey! That was alright!" Emotions can quench your flame. They can take your life. Don’t let them.
Php 3:1 Whatever happens, my dear brothers and sisters, rejoice in the Lord. I never get tired of telling you these things, and I do it to safeguard your faith.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Pure Grief
If I were to write a book on the experience of losing Theresa to ovarian cancer, after more than 25 years together, I would call it “Pure Grief”. Jesus said, “Blessed (happy) are those who mourn…” Matthew 5:4. He did not say blessed are those who are fearful or angry or lethargic or clinging to the past… the list goes on.
When destructive emotions and tendencies are pealed away from grief, what is left is nothing other than love for the person who has departed. When the heart is filled with love for another, there is a sweetness to it. The heart was made to be filled with love and fighting to keep it that way must be the most important task in grief, for as the emotions go so goes the rest of life.
It wouldn’t be fair to publish such a book until I had successfully navigated the first year of grief, but I want to confess this as my goal. I want to prove the validity of my faith and it’s content. I want this experience to provide evidence that God’s word makes the best sense of life and death. We will all have to face grief. My goal is to make your grief the most blessed experience it can be and in so doing bring glory to the God who leads his children through it.
If you are not a believer, I encourage you to steal all the ideas from the Bible that seem useful to you and in so doing you will be following this command: Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
When destructive emotions and tendencies are pealed away from grief, what is left is nothing other than love for the person who has departed. When the heart is filled with love for another, there is a sweetness to it. The heart was made to be filled with love and fighting to keep it that way must be the most important task in grief, for as the emotions go so goes the rest of life.
It wouldn’t be fair to publish such a book until I had successfully navigated the first year of grief, but I want to confess this as my goal. I want to prove the validity of my faith and it’s content. I want this experience to provide evidence that God’s word makes the best sense of life and death. We will all have to face grief. My goal is to make your grief the most blessed experience it can be and in so doing bring glory to the God who leads his children through it.
If you are not a believer, I encourage you to steal all the ideas from the Bible that seem useful to you and in so doing you will be following this command: Psalms 34:8 Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Waves
Psalm 42 best describes the state I found myself in yesterday.
6 My soul is downcast within me… 7… all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
Waves of grief overwhelmed me as I assessed the loss of one who was a partner in the pursuit of holiness and parenting and meal preparation and bill filing.
Waves so deep, I could not get my breath. I took my sisters’ advice and got into my “life-boat” or the “Arc” as I call it, that I built before the rains began. I wrote out and meditated on these verses which help define a New Testament theology of suffering. The result has been a return of buoyancy produced by hope and joy that has eluded me since the funeral.
Rom 5
3 We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
2Co 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Ro 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
1Pet 1
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Ac 14:22 We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
Suffering produces satisfying, present-tense hope. It achieves a shining eternal joy more significant than any loss. It proves our faith as genuine and is part of the process by which we receive our salvation from the eternal hell we deserve. Suffering is the only route by which one may enter that land where we will reign with God.
Ps 32:8 NLT
The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.”
6 My soul is downcast within me… 7… all your waves and breakers have swept over me.
Waves of grief overwhelmed me as I assessed the loss of one who was a partner in the pursuit of holiness and parenting and meal preparation and bill filing.
Waves so deep, I could not get my breath. I took my sisters’ advice and got into my “life-boat” or the “Arc” as I call it, that I built before the rains began. I wrote out and meditated on these verses which help define a New Testament theology of suffering. The result has been a return of buoyancy produced by hope and joy that has eluded me since the funeral.
Rom 5
3 We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
2Co 4:17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
Ro 8:18 I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
1Pet 1
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, 5 who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honour when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Ac 14:22 We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.
Suffering produces satisfying, present-tense hope. It achieves a shining eternal joy more significant than any loss. It proves our faith as genuine and is part of the process by which we receive our salvation from the eternal hell we deserve. Suffering is the only route by which one may enter that land where we will reign with God.
Ps 32:8 NLT
The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life.”
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Understanding
The circumference of our faith must always be greater than that of our understanding and I think it will be for all eternity.
Pr 20:24 NIV
A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
We will never know enough that we will lose the joy of exploring and learning.
We will never know enough that we will gain control.
Ecc 6:10 NLT
Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.
Ac 17:26 NIV
From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God is Sovereign wise and good and this is our faith…
Ro 8:28 NIV
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.
Pr 20:24 NIV
A man’s steps are directed by the LORD. How then can anyone understand his own way?
We will never know enough that we will lose the joy of exploring and learning.
We will never know enough that we will gain control.
Ecc 6:10 NLT
Everything has already been decided. It was known long ago what each person would be. So there’s no use arguing with God about your destiny.
Ac 17:26 NIV
From one man he made every nation of men that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
God is Sovereign wise and good and this is our faith…
Ro 8:28 NIV
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.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
In Hope
I went down to the river to pray Saturday, specifically to ask the question my heart had been repeating over and over. I told God that I was not angry, but I could not stop my heart from asking, “Why?” And so I asked. And asked. I was so loud that the geese were startled from their resting places. Up stream and down, the birds swam to the middle of the river looking around nervously with questions of their own. Two words came to mind: “In hope”.
Romans 8:20-21 The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it * in hope* that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
The frustration of all the plans Theresa and I had made…
Psalm 33:10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
Proverb 19:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
…plans to raise children, to do short term missions, to do rretirement-ministry in an orphanage somewhere, to put hardwood in the living room…
All the plans of all who dwell on earth are frustrated in hope. Our God hopes. God who is sovereign, good and wise, hopes for something: Glorious freedom for all.
Consider what you and the geese and the trees have in common. Know that God uses death and decay to point you beyond it, to a place, a person you cannot escape, even through death. You will meet the one who planned all of this. Is this your real hope? Are you ready? He hopes you will be.
Romans 8:20-21 The creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it * in hope* that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
The frustration of all the plans Theresa and I had made…
Psalm 33:10 The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.
Proverb 19:21 Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
…plans to raise children, to do short term missions, to do rretirement-ministry in an orphanage somewhere, to put hardwood in the living room…
All the plans of all who dwell on earth are frustrated in hope. Our God hopes. God who is sovereign, good and wise, hopes for something: Glorious freedom for all.
Consider what you and the geese and the trees have in common. Know that God uses death and decay to point you beyond it, to a place, a person you cannot escape, even through death. You will meet the one who planned all of this. Is this your real hope? Are you ready? He hopes you will be.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Pictures for Tee
I hope that many of you will be able to bring your children to the funeral tomorrow. And I know that some of the kids have been drawing and painting pictures or perhaps even writing notes. There will be a photograph of Theresa at the front of the church on the communion table and if any of the children want to remember her with something they have drawn or painted or written, there will be room to leave it there.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
I am looking forward to coming home to my church family.
See you soon.
A.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers.
I am looking forward to coming home to my church family.
See you soon.
A.
Friday, October 22, 2010
Interment and Memorial
FLATT, Theresa (nee McDonald) 1964-2010
Theresa Mary Flatt went home to be with her beloved Saviour Jesus Christ on October 21ST, 2010 in Brantford, ON after a year long battle with Ovarian Cancer at the age of 46. She will be sadly missed by husband Andy and children Josiah, Katy, and Alex, as well as her father Craig McDonald of Burlington/Thunder Bay, ON; sisters Jean (Richard) Pendziwol of Thunder Bay, ON; Barbara Mitchell of Redcliff, AB and a much loved family of brothers- and sisters-in-law as well as many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Theresa was predeceased by her loving mother Sue McDonald, father-in-law Rupert Flatt, and grandparents Irvin and Evelyn Obergh, and Hugh and Erna McDonald.
Theresa grew up in Thunder Bay attending St Vincent’s, St Patrick’s and Sir Winston Churchill Schools, graduating in 1984. She loved to spend summers sailing on Lake Superior and spent 14 months cruising to the Bahamas and back with her family on their boat in 1981/82. She also loved to play piano and earned her A. Mus. Paed. from the University of Western Ontario. She and Andy married in 1986 and have served the lord together for over 20 years, most significantly at Westfort Baptist Church in Thunder Bay, and the past 11 years at Brant Community Church in Brantford. Theresa enjoyed leading worship and playing the keys as part of the praise team. She was also an active participant in women’s ministries and retreats.
Theresa’s family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the staff of the Community Care Access Centre, Aberdeen, and the Stedman Hospice for their exceptional compassion and care during Theresa’s last few weeks. In Theresa’s memory, the family has requested no flowers, but donations to the Brant Community Church building fund or Ovarian Cancer Canada would be gratefully appreciated.
Interment will be at Oakhill Cemetery in Brantford on Monday October 25th at 1:30 p.m. and will be followed by a memorial service at Brant Community Church at 69 Superior St. at 3:30 p.m.
Theresa Mary Flatt went home to be with her beloved Saviour Jesus Christ on October 21ST, 2010 in Brantford, ON after a year long battle with Ovarian Cancer at the age of 46. She will be sadly missed by husband Andy and children Josiah, Katy, and Alex, as well as her father Craig McDonald of Burlington/Thunder Bay, ON; sisters Jean (Richard) Pendziwol of Thunder Bay, ON; Barbara Mitchell of Redcliff, AB and a much loved family of brothers- and sisters-in-law as well as many nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Theresa was predeceased by her loving mother Sue McDonald, father-in-law Rupert Flatt, and grandparents Irvin and Evelyn Obergh, and Hugh and Erna McDonald.
Theresa grew up in Thunder Bay attending St Vincent’s, St Patrick’s and Sir Winston Churchill Schools, graduating in 1984. She loved to spend summers sailing on Lake Superior and spent 14 months cruising to the Bahamas and back with her family on their boat in 1981/82. She also loved to play piano and earned her A. Mus. Paed. from the University of Western Ontario. She and Andy married in 1986 and have served the lord together for over 20 years, most significantly at Westfort Baptist Church in Thunder Bay, and the past 11 years at Brant Community Church in Brantford. Theresa enjoyed leading worship and playing the keys as part of the praise team. She was also an active participant in women’s ministries and retreats.
Theresa’s family would like to extend heartfelt thanks to the staff of the Community Care Access Centre, Aberdeen, and the Stedman Hospice for their exceptional compassion and care during Theresa’s last few weeks. In Theresa’s memory, the family has requested no flowers, but donations to the Brant Community Church building fund or Ovarian Cancer Canada would be gratefully appreciated.
Interment will be at Oakhill Cemetery in Brantford on Monday October 25th at 1:30 p.m. and will be followed by a memorial service at Brant Community Church at 69 Superior St. at 3:30 p.m.
Farewell Theresa
Isaiah 57: 1 Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time. But no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. 2 For those who follow godly paths will rest in peace when they die.
Oct 21, 2010 9:50 p.m. Theresa died tonight. She was aware and peaceful right up to the end. We got to spend her last few moments together as she passed from this life into the next.
God was merciful and took her home.
She is safe now.
Thank-you Father.
Oct 21, 2010 9:50 p.m. Theresa died tonight. She was aware and peaceful right up to the end. We got to spend her last few moments together as she passed from this life into the next.
God was merciful and took her home.
She is safe now.
Thank-you Father.
Monday, October 18, 2010
A Note From Tee
After reading your notes of encouragement to Theresa today, she composed this note as I typed…
To my family my friends and especially my BCC family:
I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 11 years at BCC, though this past year has been one of the most difficult in my life. Your overwhelming love and prayer support I’m sure has been what’s carried me through. Watching the body of Christ serve one another has really brought His reality into my life. Any time I may have doubted His love I could see it acted out in front of me. I pray that you would continue to minister to one another as you have to me.
With all my love and gratitude,
Theresa
To my family my friends and especially my BCC family:
I have thoroughly enjoyed the last 11 years at BCC, though this past year has been one of the most difficult in my life. Your overwhelming love and prayer support I’m sure has been what’s carried me through. Watching the body of Christ serve one another has really brought His reality into my life. Any time I may have doubted His love I could see it acted out in front of me. I pray that you would continue to minister to one another as you have to me.
With all my love and gratitude,
Theresa
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Days
Thanks to everyone for your blog responses and your emails. I read them every day when I come home for dinner. We are told that Theresa's time is now measured in days, but each one affords some precious moments for which we are grateful.
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
The Stedman Hospice
This morning Theresa was taken to the Stedman. She traveled by aambulance as she is no longer able to stand. She is reasonably comfortable and pain-free and coherent, just simply drained of physical strength and energy. She is sleeping much of the time so we have limited her visitors to immediate family.
We listened to Reg’s sermon on worship together on Monday night and prayed together afterwards giving back to God the life that God so graciously gave to her which she has shared with me. We are grateful. She is ready. And I am broken.
We listened to Reg’s sermon on worship together on Monday night and prayed together afterwards giving back to God the life that God so graciously gave to her which she has shared with me. We are grateful. She is ready. And I am broken.
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Theresa's Mom
Theresa’s mom died last night. After enduring pancreatic ccancer for months, her pain has finally ended. We grieve for the loss of Sue, but not like those who have no hope. Her faith is now sight.
Job 19:27
I myself will see him with my own eyes.
I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Job 19:27
I myself will see him with my own eyes.
I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
He Loved Them to the End
John 13:1 ESV …having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Matthew 12:20 ESV A bruised reed he will not break…
Theresa continues to grow weaker and stairs have become impossible, so we are having a hospital bed delivered today for the main floor. Tee remains relatively pain-free and lucid which means we are able to read together and pray and talk about the coming days.
We are sharing ideas about heaven from Randy Alcorn’s book which is a great encouragement and a good meditation for any believer.
Thanks for your continued prayer support and love.
A.
Matthew 12:20 ESV A bruised reed he will not break…
Theresa continues to grow weaker and stairs have become impossible, so we are having a hospital bed delivered today for the main floor. Tee remains relatively pain-free and lucid which means we are able to read together and pray and talk about the coming days.
We are sharing ideas about heaven from Randy Alcorn’s book which is a great encouragement and a good meditation for any believer.
Thanks for your continued prayer support and love.
A.
How Does God Define Good?
Romans 8:28 We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.
When considering what we experience in this life and looking for the "good" that it leads to, we sometimes wonder about God’s definition of “good”. Is God’s understanding of what is “good” so radically different from mine that I won’t recognize “good” until I get to heaven and look back from His perspective?
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus assures us that our definitions are just like God’s. Enjoying Luxury is called “good”. Suffering lack is defined as “bad”. It is simply that Lazarus did not get to enjoy “good” until he experienced the “good” of heaven.
Luke 16:25 Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
What Romans 8:28 assures us is that all the bad things believers suffer, somehow work for our good. In the case of Lazarus, the bad things caused him to long for and look for a “better country” (Heb 11:6) a better world to come, while the one who indulged in luxury in this life, was blinded to his need for anything else.
Mark 4:19 says, “The deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
The “word” says that bad you receive can cause you to hope for heaven and that that hope can become a greater and greater certainty. And that is good.
Romans 5:3-5 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
That will be good.
*Saint’s note*
Just small questions of reflection, without suffering, are we really human? Without suffering, can we develop integrity or a solid moralistic understanding of what’s right and wrong? I think that God allowed sin/wrongdoing/suffering in the world not only to punish Adam and Eve for their sins, but so that we might be wronged (i.e. stolen from, lied to, hurt emotionally etc.) to realize how immoral those acts are, and not let those sins into our lives. And because of that, we know pain, and will not (most of the time) pass that suffering onto other people, simply because we know what its like.
Ps. a little introduction is in order; I'm planning on doing a small side note not unlike this one in addition to the actual blog, written by Andy. Sometimes it might be a question to ponder, other times it might be…something else I haven’t decided on. God bless
When considering what we experience in this life and looking for the "good" that it leads to, we sometimes wonder about God’s definition of “good”. Is God’s understanding of what is “good” so radically different from mine that I won’t recognize “good” until I get to heaven and look back from His perspective?
The parable of the rich man and Lazarus assures us that our definitions are just like God’s. Enjoying Luxury is called “good”. Suffering lack is defined as “bad”. It is simply that Lazarus did not get to enjoy “good” until he experienced the “good” of heaven.
Luke 16:25 Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
What Romans 8:28 assures us is that all the bad things believers suffer, somehow work for our good. In the case of Lazarus, the bad things caused him to long for and look for a “better country” (Heb 11:6) a better world to come, while the one who indulged in luxury in this life, was blinded to his need for anything else.
Mark 4:19 says, “The deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful.”
The “word” says that bad you receive can cause you to hope for heaven and that that hope can become a greater and greater certainty. And that is good.
Romans 5:3-5 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment.
That will be good.
*Saint’s note*
Just small questions of reflection, without suffering, are we really human? Without suffering, can we develop integrity or a solid moralistic understanding of what’s right and wrong? I think that God allowed sin/wrongdoing/suffering in the world not only to punish Adam and Eve for their sins, but so that we might be wronged (i.e. stolen from, lied to, hurt emotionally etc.) to realize how immoral those acts are, and not let those sins into our lives. And because of that, we know pain, and will not (most of the time) pass that suffering onto other people, simply because we know what its like.
Ps. a little introduction is in order; I'm planning on doing a small side note not unlike this one in addition to the actual blog, written by Andy. Sometimes it might be a question to ponder, other times it might be…something else I haven’t decided on. God bless
Friday, October 1, 2010
Looking Toward Home
Theresa and I received the news yesterday that her time has come.
Her liver is failing now which means there are no more treatment options.
She has days or weeks, possibly as much as a month, but we are saying our goodbyes.
We went out with the kids to Apps’ Mill this morning and enjoyed the creek and the colours. It was a good walk. What God has given us together has been wonderful and it was good to pause and savor it in the sunshine.
Thank-you for your continued prayers. They mean a great deal to us.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Her liver is failing now which means there are no more treatment options.
She has days or weeks, possibly as much as a month, but we are saying our goodbyes.
We went out with the kids to Apps’ Mill this morning and enjoyed the creek and the colours. It was a good walk. What God has given us together has been wonderful and it was good to pause and savor it in the sunshine.
Thank-you for your continued prayers. They mean a great deal to us.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Tee comes home
Theresa came home on Monday afternoon (Sept. 20) after 18 days in hospital, battling a GI obstruction and then three different kinds of infection. She is adjusting to new restrictions at home, like no stairs by herself and limited cooking. She made coleslaw yesterday.
She continues to fight and we are hoping she will be well enough to return to chemo in the weeks that lie ahead. We appreciate all you prayers.
Thanks
A.
She continues to fight and we are hoping she will be well enough to return to chemo in the weeks that lie ahead. We appreciate all you prayers.
Thanks
A.
Saturday, September 18, 2010
How Do They Do It?
How do unbelievers face suffering and death without the comfort and strength and hope that God offers by his word, his presence and his people?
2 words: Humanistic Stoicism
Humanism says that man is the highest order of being. There is no God with whom we will have to recon after we die. When the end comes, that’s all there is. We get eaten by worms and turned into plant food, never to experience consciousness again.
Stoicism says this is all there is and this is as good as it gets. We should expect no better and therefore desire no better. Kill your desires for a perfect life and make the best of this one. Keep a stiff upper lip and trudge on with all the dignity, grit and contentment that you can muster so as not to make a spectacle of yourself.
Jesus says, Mt 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In other words, keep your desire for a perfect life intact and invest that desire in waiting for a perfect eternity. You will grieve its seeming tardiness until you receive it, but you will receive it and you will be comforted.
Those who kill their desires, kill their motivation for hope. They may gain strength from their philosophy, but it is only enough strength to keep them away from Christ for all eternity. They will see heaven from afar and have no choice but to mourn with no hope.
Lu 16:26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Blessed, happy are those who mourn now.
*saints note* One thing I find interesting in the time of mourning, is that the hope becomes even more real, even more tangible, than in times of harmony. In times of mourning, there is something to hope for, but in times of happiness, there is nothing motivating us to hope for heaven, because we have it “all worked out” here in this life. Therefore, to truly appreciate the magnitude of the perfection of heaven, even to a small extent, times of mourning and loss are vital to us in this life.
2 words: Humanistic Stoicism
Humanism says that man is the highest order of being. There is no God with whom we will have to recon after we die. When the end comes, that’s all there is. We get eaten by worms and turned into plant food, never to experience consciousness again.
Stoicism says this is all there is and this is as good as it gets. We should expect no better and therefore desire no better. Kill your desires for a perfect life and make the best of this one. Keep a stiff upper lip and trudge on with all the dignity, grit and contentment that you can muster so as not to make a spectacle of yourself.
Jesus says, Mt 5:4 God blesses those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
In other words, keep your desire for a perfect life intact and invest that desire in waiting for a perfect eternity. You will grieve its seeming tardiness until you receive it, but you will receive it and you will be comforted.
Those who kill their desires, kill their motivation for hope. They may gain strength from their philosophy, but it is only enough strength to keep them away from Christ for all eternity. They will see heaven from afar and have no choice but to mourn with no hope.
Lu 16:26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Blessed, happy are those who mourn now.
*saints note* One thing I find interesting in the time of mourning, is that the hope becomes even more real, even more tangible, than in times of harmony. In times of mourning, there is something to hope for, but in times of happiness, there is nothing motivating us to hope for heaven, because we have it “all worked out” here in this life. Therefore, to truly appreciate the magnitude of the perfection of heaven, even to a small extent, times of mourning and loss are vital to us in this life.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Fight at Night
3:30 a.m. seems to be when I am at my weakest in my fight for joy. It is then that I regularly wake to a jolt of adrenalin, fear mixing readily with grief to create a cocktail that robs me of sleep and strength as the new day begins.
Our enemy is death and his weapon is fear, but God is for me and I am armed with his word and I am beginning to learn to fight back. This morning I looked to…
1Jn 4:18 Perfect love drives out fear…
I boldly “challenged” God to display his perfect love by using it fill my heart and drive out the fear. I asked him to allow me to return to sleep until the alarm went off which is set for 5:30 a.m.
The next thing I knew the alarm was ringing. God hears and answers.
My reading this morning included…
Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Add to that…
Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in God’s love…
And you have a biblical battle strategy for fighting for hope and joy that can mingle with grief and expel all fear.
It is up to us to get under the flow of his life-giving word. It is up to us to choose not to be afraid as we look to his provision and promise and allow his expression of love to fill our cups full to overflowing, expelling that which is displeasing to him and to us.
Our enemy is death and his weapon is fear, but God is for me and I am armed with his word and I am beginning to learn to fight back. This morning I looked to…
1Jn 4:18 Perfect love drives out fear…
I boldly “challenged” God to display his perfect love by using it fill my heart and drive out the fear. I asked him to allow me to return to sleep until the alarm went off which is set for 5:30 a.m.
The next thing I knew the alarm was ringing. God hears and answers.
My reading this morning included…
Luke 12:32 "Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom.
Add to that…
Jude 1:21 Keep yourselves in God’s love…
And you have a biblical battle strategy for fighting for hope and joy that can mingle with grief and expel all fear.
It is up to us to get under the flow of his life-giving word. It is up to us to choose not to be afraid as we look to his provision and promise and allow his expression of love to fill our cups full to overflowing, expelling that which is displeasing to him and to us.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Like a Tree Planted by Streams of Water
After watching Theresa spiral downward for three days and then getting her to Emergency Wednesday night, admitting her and then narrowly missing death with emergency surgery Sunday night – having said our goodbyes before her surgery in case she did not live through it… the wind had gone from my sails.
Yet I have found joy this morning in stepping back from praying for and anticipating… outcomes. My prayer now is that Tee and I would BE (present tense prayer) like two “Psalm 1” trees whose fruit and vitality give evidence of an underground river.
We are praying that God would grant courage and strength and faith and joy that he may be seen in us while we go through what he has determined for his glory.
May he be seen in us.
2Corinthians 4
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Yet I have found joy this morning in stepping back from praying for and anticipating… outcomes. My prayer now is that Tee and I would BE (present tense prayer) like two “Psalm 1” trees whose fruit and vitality give evidence of an underground river.
We are praying that God would grant courage and strength and faith and joy that he may be seen in us while we go through what he has determined for his glory.
May he be seen in us.
2Corinthians 4
13 It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, 14 because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. 15 All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. 16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
How Distressed I Am
Hebrews 12:3 Consider him who endured… so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
The aspect of Jesus’ suffering, that is perhaps most neglected in our consideration, is the natural, physical sense of alarm that human beings experience as they contemplate death.
Jesus’ ministry, his concern for others’ eternal well-being, would always have been accompanied by occasional, but ever increasing waves of self-preserving adrenalin, that come night and day and present themselves by means of a burning knot in the stomach or a dizzy spell, or chest pains or tingling in the arms.
All of body’s physical signals that are meant to warn us that something is very wrong, were present as Jesus served us. Jesus, ministry was undertaken while he was distressed.
When I consider that fact and realize that for all of us perfect ministry conditions will never exist, I feel stronger in my weakness and anxiety as I watch my wife struggle and suffer. We will never know undiluted joy and success as we serve God in this place, but then neither did Jesus.
Luke 12:50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is completed!
The aspect of Jesus’ suffering, that is perhaps most neglected in our consideration, is the natural, physical sense of alarm that human beings experience as they contemplate death.
Jesus’ ministry, his concern for others’ eternal well-being, would always have been accompanied by occasional, but ever increasing waves of self-preserving adrenalin, that come night and day and present themselves by means of a burning knot in the stomach or a dizzy spell, or chest pains or tingling in the arms.
All of body’s physical signals that are meant to warn us that something is very wrong, were present as Jesus served us. Jesus, ministry was undertaken while he was distressed.
When I consider that fact and realize that for all of us perfect ministry conditions will never exist, I feel stronger in my weakness and anxiety as I watch my wife struggle and suffer. We will never know undiluted joy and success as we serve God in this place, but then neither did Jesus.
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
No End In Sight
Psalm 74:9 We are given no miraculous signs; no prophets are left, and none of us knows how long this will be.
No Miracle. No word from God. And no end in sight.
The prophet Asaph pours out his heart to God amidst the seemingly relentless destruction of Jerusalem and its inhabitants by an enemy – an enemy of God. He watches in horror as God’s temple is destroyed and asks
Psalms 74:10 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name for ever?
He knows God is able… 13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. 15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. 17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
But God does nothing and this can be exasperating…
Psalms 74:11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
And so he prays… Psalms 74:19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people for ever.
When God’s people are called to live like this, in daily dependence upon the lord under the threat of a yet-to-be-dealt-with enemy of God, specifically death…
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
..it is at least comforting to know, that you are not the first one, nor are you alone. The reality is that many live without the joy and excitement of long-term planning.
But waiting can be productive and in fact it is…
2 Corinthians 4:17 NASV For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
God knows when they will end and what they are for.
No Miracle. No word from God. And no end in sight.
The prophet Asaph pours out his heart to God amidst the seemingly relentless destruction of Jerusalem and its inhabitants by an enemy – an enemy of God. He watches in horror as God’s temple is destroyed and asks
Psalms 74:10 How long will the enemy mock you, O God? Will the foe revile your name for ever?
He knows God is able… 13 It was you who split open the sea by your power; you broke the heads of the monster in the waters. 14 It was you who crushed the heads of Leviathan and gave him as food to the creatures of the desert. 15 It was you who opened up springs and streams; you dried up the ever-flowing rivers. 16 The day is yours, and yours also the night; you established the sun and moon. 17 It was you who set all the boundaries of the earth; you made both summer and winter.
But God does nothing and this can be exasperating…
Psalms 74:11 Why do you hold back your hand, your right hand? Take it from the folds of your garment and destroy them!
And so he prays… Psalms 74:19 Do not hand over the life of your dove to wild beasts; do not forget the lives of your afflicted people for ever.
When God’s people are called to live like this, in daily dependence upon the lord under the threat of a yet-to-be-dealt-with enemy of God, specifically death…
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
..it is at least comforting to know, that you are not the first one, nor are you alone. The reality is that many live without the joy and excitement of long-term planning.
But waiting can be productive and in fact it is…
2 Corinthians 4:17 NASV For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison,
God knows when they will end and what they are for.
Monday, June 28, 2010
Start the Day at Night
Mark 1:32 That evening after sunset, many sick and demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus… 35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.
Two verses from this past Sunday’s text remind us of the value of perceiving the beginning of the new 24 hour day as the evening rather than the morning. Jewish culture treated evening followed by morning as part of the same 24 hour day rather than two days separated by night.
God pointed to the first day as being initiated with evening followed by morning calling that the first day. Genesis 1:5 And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
So too Sabbath begins Friday evening and ends Saturday evening. This new day beginning Saturday evening suspended the no-work rule of the Sabbath allowing people to carry their sick to Jesus lawfully in the case of mark 1:32.
The point for us to be made is that when our day begins in the evening, the morning seems more likely to be a planned as a next event as opposed to some far-off distinct occurrence that we don’t have to worry about until tomorrow.
We begin to realize that for the morning to go as planed we must begin that process in the evening. If we are to follow Jesus in his pattern of carving out quiet meditative solitary time which includes mental energy available to invest in prayer and the alertness to listen to God and receive from God, that will only happen when the evening is perceived as that which immediately precedes the morning rather than seeing them as distinct.
As much as you must make coffee before you can expect to drink it, you must prepare your morning meditation time by preceding it with planned, proportioned sleep that will allow you the freedom and energy to enter morning devotions rested and alert.
Profitable morning devotions are preceded by a planned and disciplined evening.
Hebrews 11:6 Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
If we express to God an earnestness to seek him out, we can expect him to reward that desire by meeting us and revealing more of himself to us in a way that produces joy.
Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Two verses from this past Sunday’s text remind us of the value of perceiving the beginning of the new 24 hour day as the evening rather than the morning. Jewish culture treated evening followed by morning as part of the same 24 hour day rather than two days separated by night.
God pointed to the first day as being initiated with evening followed by morning calling that the first day. Genesis 1:5 And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.
So too Sabbath begins Friday evening and ends Saturday evening. This new day beginning Saturday evening suspended the no-work rule of the Sabbath allowing people to carry their sick to Jesus lawfully in the case of mark 1:32.
The point for us to be made is that when our day begins in the evening, the morning seems more likely to be a planned as a next event as opposed to some far-off distinct occurrence that we don’t have to worry about until tomorrow.
We begin to realize that for the morning to go as planed we must begin that process in the evening. If we are to follow Jesus in his pattern of carving out quiet meditative solitary time which includes mental energy available to invest in prayer and the alertness to listen to God and receive from God, that will only happen when the evening is perceived as that which immediately precedes the morning rather than seeing them as distinct.
As much as you must make coffee before you can expect to drink it, you must prepare your morning meditation time by preceding it with planned, proportioned sleep that will allow you the freedom and energy to enter morning devotions rested and alert.
Profitable morning devotions are preceded by a planned and disciplined evening.
Hebrews 11:6 Anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.
If we express to God an earnestness to seek him out, we can expect him to reward that desire by meeting us and revealing more of himself to us in a way that produces joy.
Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Pain Has a Purpose and a Cure
Half the pain of pain is not knowing its purpose.
Half the pain of pain is not knowing its cure.
Imagine suffering the pain of an operation, knowing the incision will soon heal and the operation will obtain a cure. This is pain you are supposed to feel it is intentional, purposeful. You want this pain.
You face the operation willingly, in fact gladly and endure the pain, though perhaps hating it at the same time. You know the pain brings the cure, like cauterizing a wound, like the scene in “Papillon” with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
The whole point of all the pain in the world caused by sin and sickness is simply this: to provide a means by which we may recognize and embrace our greatest desire, which is that all pain would go away and we would live happily in paradise.
If we embrace our pain we will find our greatest desire and in embracing that desire, we will find a promise from God to fulfill it: Paradise with him and Jesus is the way.
That’s the purpose, the cure, hope in Jesus and his promise for you. Don’t be distracted by other offers. No matter how seemingly good, a spouse, children, a fulfilling job, a decent pay-cheque, an enjoyable retirement, none, can fulfill our deepest desire, none should derail our investment of hope in Christ.
It’s easy. The biggest and worst problem in the world, sin and suffering, has an easy answer, so easy the self-impressed will never grasp it, love it, only the childlike, only the sick, will.
Mark 2:17 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Mark 10:15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Half the pain of pain is not knowing its cure.
Imagine suffering the pain of an operation, knowing the incision will soon heal and the operation will obtain a cure. This is pain you are supposed to feel it is intentional, purposeful. You want this pain.
You face the operation willingly, in fact gladly and endure the pain, though perhaps hating it at the same time. You know the pain brings the cure, like cauterizing a wound, like the scene in “Papillon” with Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.
The whole point of all the pain in the world caused by sin and sickness is simply this: to provide a means by which we may recognize and embrace our greatest desire, which is that all pain would go away and we would live happily in paradise.
If we embrace our pain we will find our greatest desire and in embracing that desire, we will find a promise from God to fulfill it: Paradise with him and Jesus is the way.
That’s the purpose, the cure, hope in Jesus and his promise for you. Don’t be distracted by other offers. No matter how seemingly good, a spouse, children, a fulfilling job, a decent pay-cheque, an enjoyable retirement, none, can fulfill our deepest desire, none should derail our investment of hope in Christ.
It’s easy. The biggest and worst problem in the world, sin and suffering, has an easy answer, so easy the self-impressed will never grasp it, love it, only the childlike, only the sick, will.
Mark 2:17 It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
Mark 10:15 I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.
Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Agnosticism
Etymology: Greek agnōstos unknown, unknowable, from "a"(without) + "gnōstos"(known,)
I am tempted to become an agnostic. Not in a religious sense, but in a social way. I am almost convinced that I should treat those who are dedicated to being unknowable, as irrelevant and unworthy of effort. People who commit themselves to treating God as though he were unknowable and therefore irrelevant, unworthy of searching out, inevitably become like their God: incomprehensible. Those who refuse to admit pain or doubt or wrestle with the Knowable One as a means of coping become unknowable themselves.
Those who hide from pain and their wounded souls in a delusion of respectable ignorance and worldly hedonism are not the sort of people who will be able to help anyone in any struggle. Nor will they receive any real help. It is too uncomfortable to dress their wounds, so they are allowed to fester. They make knowing them pointless, without the benefit or comfort of any hard-found truth being traded back and forth. They are unwilling to hear, unwilling to loosen their grip on the philosophy that is enabling them to survive in this very moment.
I bet they hurt way worse than I do, though they my not know it. And I bet they will for all eternity, when all the remedy to their life’s pain is gone, a cure left behind in a bottle on a shelf, unused. I will drink the remedy. I wish I could share it. I wish I could help, but no one can, not even God if one refuses to seek him. I guess I’ll wipe the dust off my sandals. I guess someone has to populate hell, even if they are people I know and love.
I am considering becoming an agnostic, forgetting about people I love who refuse to diligently seek the One who never stops making himself known. I am considering it. So far, I cannot forget them. Their speech seems completely irrelevant and yet I love them. I wish I could help. I wish they would change. I wish I could forget them. One day I will. That is part of the cure. But that day is not yet.
I am tempted to become an agnostic. Not in a religious sense, but in a social way. I am almost convinced that I should treat those who are dedicated to being unknowable, as irrelevant and unworthy of effort. People who commit themselves to treating God as though he were unknowable and therefore irrelevant, unworthy of searching out, inevitably become like their God: incomprehensible. Those who refuse to admit pain or doubt or wrestle with the Knowable One as a means of coping become unknowable themselves.
Those who hide from pain and their wounded souls in a delusion of respectable ignorance and worldly hedonism are not the sort of people who will be able to help anyone in any struggle. Nor will they receive any real help. It is too uncomfortable to dress their wounds, so they are allowed to fester. They make knowing them pointless, without the benefit or comfort of any hard-found truth being traded back and forth. They are unwilling to hear, unwilling to loosen their grip on the philosophy that is enabling them to survive in this very moment.
I bet they hurt way worse than I do, though they my not know it. And I bet they will for all eternity, when all the remedy to their life’s pain is gone, a cure left behind in a bottle on a shelf, unused. I will drink the remedy. I wish I could share it. I wish I could help, but no one can, not even God if one refuses to seek him. I guess I’ll wipe the dust off my sandals. I guess someone has to populate hell, even if they are people I know and love.
I am considering becoming an agnostic, forgetting about people I love who refuse to diligently seek the One who never stops making himself known. I am considering it. So far, I cannot forget them. Their speech seems completely irrelevant and yet I love them. I wish I could help. I wish they would change. I wish I could forget them. One day I will. That is part of the cure. But that day is not yet.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
The Emotions of a Sovereign God
God is immutable. That is to say, that perfection cannot be improved upon.
Malachi 3:6 I the LORD do not change.
James 1:17 …the Father of the heavenly lights …does not change like shifting shadows.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He does not change and therefore cannot be changed. A sovereign God cannot be acted upon and be caused to feel or do anything. That he is sovereign means that he is never out of control of the situation or his response to it. He chooses how he feels and acts as opposed to having his emotions inflicted upon him by circumstances, whether his or ours.
If we were sovereign over our emotions, it is almost certain that we would choose to be happy and content in what was going well and at worst, calm and detached when having to endure that which was unpleasant.
It is easy to imagine one who is sovereign both over his circumstances and his emotions as never having his feathers ruffled. But this is not the case with God. He is anything but removed or disconnected, but rather, he chooses real and rational responses to our pain.
Isa 63:9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Hosea 12:8 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. 9 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.
I cannot picture God being “distressed” or “torn”, but there it is: An emotionally present God, doing all that he pleases…
Psalms 115:3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
… and yet entering our pain and overflowing with sympathy we do not deserve.
Mark 1:41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
I cannot accurately, exhaustively picture divine sovereignty or timeless eternality. I must choose to speak to him in my pain as a child in time and know that despite whatever comfort I may take from his control over all things, he always responds as one who is compassionately involved.
Jesus wept. John 11:35
We will become like the God we worship. The God we worship chooses to feel our pain deeply. We must do the same. Then one day, these finely tuned and deepened emotions will know only the pleasure of his unending company.
Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Malachi 3:6 I the LORD do not change.
James 1:17 …the Father of the heavenly lights …does not change like shifting shadows.
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
He does not change and therefore cannot be changed. A sovereign God cannot be acted upon and be caused to feel or do anything. That he is sovereign means that he is never out of control of the situation or his response to it. He chooses how he feels and acts as opposed to having his emotions inflicted upon him by circumstances, whether his or ours.
If we were sovereign over our emotions, it is almost certain that we would choose to be happy and content in what was going well and at worst, calm and detached when having to endure that which was unpleasant.
It is easy to imagine one who is sovereign both over his circumstances and his emotions as never having his feathers ruffled. But this is not the case with God. He is anything but removed or disconnected, but rather, he chooses real and rational responses to our pain.
Isa 63:9 In all their distress he too was distressed, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and mercy he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old.
Hosea 12:8 “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel? How can I let you go? How can I destroy you like Admah or demolish you like Zeboiim? My heart is torn within me, and my compassion overflows. 9 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger. I will not completely destroy Israel, for I am God and not a mere mortal. I am the Holy One living among you, and I will not come to destroy.
I cannot picture God being “distressed” or “torn”, but there it is: An emotionally present God, doing all that he pleases…
Psalms 115:3 Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.
… and yet entering our pain and overflowing with sympathy we do not deserve.
Mark 1:41 Filled with compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!"
I cannot accurately, exhaustively picture divine sovereignty or timeless eternality. I must choose to speak to him in my pain as a child in time and know that despite whatever comfort I may take from his control over all things, he always responds as one who is compassionately involved.
Jesus wept. John 11:35
We will become like the God we worship. The God we worship chooses to feel our pain deeply. We must do the same. Then one day, these finely tuned and deepened emotions will know only the pleasure of his unending company.
Psalms 16:11 You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Stopping Bullets
Ephesians 6:16 Hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil.
What if occasions for worry, doubt, disbelief and bitterness, things that Satan intends to harm our faith, were actually used by God to increase the power of faith? What if we were like Neo in the closing scene of Matrix and could hold up our hand of faith and stop bullets in their tracks, proving our power over them and causing demons to run and hide.
What if pain and sorrow and grief and loss actually produced joy rather than disillusionment? Not joy that replaces sorrow and grief, but joy that mingles with grief, like fire-retardant foam that mixes with spilled fuel, rendering it inert.
Better yet, what if pain in this world actually caused us to seek after God’s comfort and he gave it to us. 2Co 1:5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
What if this comfort received, increased our faith in Christ now and amplified our faith in the comfort to come? What if our dreams skipped right past any earthly promises of satisfaction and landed firmly on the hope that cannot disappoint, the dream that cannot be shattered.
Romans 5:2 … we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
What if pain and comfort from God increased hope in God’s promise of perfection to come and so mingled with our sorrow, so that sorrow, rather than eroding faith actually increased it and along with it, joy and strength and confidence.
What if God’s intentions actually won out over Satan’s? What if God really were working all things together for good to them that love God? What if…?
It would disarm the Devil.
What if occasions for worry, doubt, disbelief and bitterness, things that Satan intends to harm our faith, were actually used by God to increase the power of faith? What if we were like Neo in the closing scene of Matrix and could hold up our hand of faith and stop bullets in their tracks, proving our power over them and causing demons to run and hide.
What if pain and sorrow and grief and loss actually produced joy rather than disillusionment? Not joy that replaces sorrow and grief, but joy that mingles with grief, like fire-retardant foam that mixes with spilled fuel, rendering it inert.
Better yet, what if pain in this world actually caused us to seek after God’s comfort and he gave it to us. 2Co 1:5 The more we suffer for Christ, the more God will shower us with his comfort through Christ.
What if this comfort received, increased our faith in Christ now and amplified our faith in the comfort to come? What if our dreams skipped right past any earthly promises of satisfaction and landed firmly on the hope that cannot disappoint, the dream that cannot be shattered.
Romans 5:2 … we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;
4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.
What if pain and comfort from God increased hope in God’s promise of perfection to come and so mingled with our sorrow, so that sorrow, rather than eroding faith actually increased it and along with it, joy and strength and confidence.
What if God’s intentions actually won out over Satan’s? What if God really were working all things together for good to them that love God? What if…?
It would disarm the Devil.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Cancer Returns
Psalms 139:16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
Yesterday, May 11th, 2010 was written in God’s book before it ever came to be. This is great comfort to Theresa and me as we grapple with the news that her ovarian cancer has returned and that a medical cure is no longer held out to us as a viable goal.
It means everything to me that God has a plan and that he values Theresa. He is not unaware or capricious but gentle and loving and kind.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
And
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Our hope for healing, we now leave in the hands of Jesus, who according to Matthew 8:3 is willing and able …
Matthew 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
We recognize that this may not be God’s intention and so look to his sufficient grace, should he choose to bring Theresa home.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord… But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.”
When you pray for us, please pray that God would continue to grant faith, a day at a time that we might trust him, for there is no safer, surer place.
Yesterday, May 11th, 2010 was written in God’s book before it ever came to be. This is great comfort to Theresa and me as we grapple with the news that her ovarian cancer has returned and that a medical cure is no longer held out to us as a viable goal.
It means everything to me that God has a plan and that he values Theresa. He is not unaware or capricious but gentle and loving and kind.
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
And
Matthew 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father. 30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Our hope for healing, we now leave in the hands of Jesus, who according to Matthew 8:3 is willing and able …
Matthew 8:3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" Immediately he was cured of his leprosy.
We recognize that this may not be God’s intention and so look to his sufficient grace, should he choose to bring Theresa home.
2 Corinthians 12:8-9 Three times I pleaded with the Lord… But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you.”
When you pray for us, please pray that God would continue to grant faith, a day at a time that we might trust him, for there is no safer, surer place.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
What James Cannot Mean
James 5:14 Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.
Whether this passage is speaking of physical ailments and or spiritual despondency, medicinal or ceremonial application of oil, this passage cannot mean that every time the elders gather and pray, that an individual will escape a life-threatening predicament by miraculous or even gradual healing.
Not only would this understanding of the passage fly in the face of every biblical condition that is placed on answered prayer, such as James 4:15 "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…"
It would also mean that the world would be jam-packed with very old Christians and God’s appointment book would be filled with erasure marks where there had been memos regarding joyful encounters that he had planned. In our grief, I think we may even miss the emphasis that should be placed on a passage like…
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
God does our loved ones a favor, does what is best for them, when he takes them home, despite the fact that we are left in this place known as “the land of the shadow of death.” Isaiah 9:2
Neither can James mean that the faith of the elders was insufficient to bring about healing or else Paul would have assumed responsibility here:
2 Timothy 4:20 …I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.
Philippians 2:27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
What do we do if it is God’s will that we suffer loss, we fight to endure and continue…
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God‘s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God‘s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
We are responsible to believe and endure and persevere with the grace God provides that comes in the form of emotional and spiritual joy which is our strength. God provides daily as we wait on him. May he increase our faith and may we remain faithful.
Whether this passage is speaking of physical ailments and or spiritual despondency, medicinal or ceremonial application of oil, this passage cannot mean that every time the elders gather and pray, that an individual will escape a life-threatening predicament by miraculous or even gradual healing.
Not only would this understanding of the passage fly in the face of every biblical condition that is placed on answered prayer, such as James 4:15 "If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…"
It would also mean that the world would be jam-packed with very old Christians and God’s appointment book would be filled with erasure marks where there had been memos regarding joyful encounters that he had planned. In our grief, I think we may even miss the emphasis that should be placed on a passage like…
Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perish, and no-one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no-one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. 2 Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.
God does our loved ones a favor, does what is best for them, when he takes them home, despite the fact that we are left in this place known as “the land of the shadow of death.” Isaiah 9:2
Neither can James mean that the faith of the elders was insufficient to bring about healing or else Paul would have assumed responsibility here:
2 Timothy 4:20 …I left Trophimus sick in Miletus.
Philippians 2:27 Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him, and not on him only but also on me, to spare me sorrow upon sorrow.
What do we do if it is God’s will that we suffer loss, we fight to endure and continue…
1 Peter 4:19 So then, those who suffer according to God‘s will should commit themselves to their faithful Creator and continue to do good.
1 Peter 3:17 It is better, if it is God‘s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil.
We are responsible to believe and endure and persevere with the grace God provides that comes in the form of emotional and spiritual joy which is our strength. God provides daily as we wait on him. May he increase our faith and may we remain faithful.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
God’s Wrath May Seem Ugly, However;
Behind the hatred of sin stands the beauty of holiness. Behind the wrath and retribution that condemns sin and destroys sinners is a pure beauty so precious, enthralling, gripping, alluring, that it elicits worship as awe and admiration and acclaim and fascination and submission. Behind the wrath of God stands God worthy of our praise.
Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalms 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Psalms 27:4 One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.
Exodus 15:11 "Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalms 29:2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness.
Psalms 96:9 O worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness: fear before him, all the earth.
Isaiah 33:17 Your eyes will see the king in his beauty and view a land that stretches afar.
Worrying vs. Believing
Worrying is the decision to anticipate suffering and then to voluntarily enter into the experience of that suffering without the grace God provides when we suffer according to his will. It is sinful disobedience and gains nothing.
Faith is hope in future grace, it is to anticipate more grace based on God’s track-record and promises that he will supply sufficient grace for whatever he calls us to actually suffer for him and then to begin to experience that grace in his provision and presence in obedience to his command to believe.
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Faith is hope in future grace, it is to anticipate more grace based on God’s track-record and promises that he will supply sufficient grace for whatever he calls us to actually suffer for him and then to begin to experience that grace in his provision and presence in obedience to his command to believe.
2 Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses,
so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
Matthew 6:27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Fireproof Joy
I sometimes wish I could preach an easy, happy message and tell everybody that everything is going to be ok, but the truth is far more exciting and devastating, compelling and challenging and life–giving. My constant companion this past week has been Philippians 1:29 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake.”
Two things are granted: faith and suffering. Neither is easy to communicate.
It is difficult to tell people that faith itself is a granted commodity, though not granted to all, and to those it is granted – not in equal amounts. Romans 12:3 NASV …God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Our notions of equity do not square with God’s concept of justice which is fair and grace, that is even better than fair. As R.C. Sproul says in “The Holiness of God”, “God is not obligated to treat all people equally” pg. 128
Along with granting us faith, he has planned opportunities for us to engage that measure of faith in suffering. This will expand the borders of our souls, break us and cause us to cast our anxiety on him, rely on him, hope in him, be the blessed ones as we mourn, because we trust that we will be comforted.
Saying this, choosing to believe this, preparing for this, will not be easy, but somehow we must activate our faith and forge a theology of faith that thrives in the midst of pain and then live it. That is what is granted to us. A hope – a faith in grace God hasn’t given yet, that will sustain us through suffering.
Paul said - 1 Corinthians 15:19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. And in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you.”
If you are merely trusting that Christ is going to give you a nice life here, you are not continuing in the teaching of Christ and that is our goal. 2 John 1:9 "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son".
It was Christ who taught us we would suffer for him John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
And
Acts 9:16 "And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Forward looking faith, Jesus focused faith, faith that produces joy that thrives in pain is fireproof Joy. Joy that flourishes in everything going well can always be taken away, but joy that draws from a source that expects pain, sees past pain, cannot be vanquished. There is something worth investing in, developing, acquiring, honing.
It is on this treasure we must set our sights. If we could grow a happiness that thrives because it expects and is prepared for suffering and sees past suffering to eternal prosperity, then we have accomplished something of great value that brings great honor to God.
Pray that God would grant all of us an increasing measure of faith that looks like this.
Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
Two things are granted: faith and suffering. Neither is easy to communicate.
It is difficult to tell people that faith itself is a granted commodity, though not granted to all, and to those it is granted – not in equal amounts. Romans 12:3 NASV …God has allotted to each a measure of faith. Our notions of equity do not square with God’s concept of justice which is fair and grace, that is even better than fair. As R.C. Sproul says in “The Holiness of God”, “God is not obligated to treat all people equally” pg. 128
Along with granting us faith, he has planned opportunities for us to engage that measure of faith in suffering. This will expand the borders of our souls, break us and cause us to cast our anxiety on him, rely on him, hope in him, be the blessed ones as we mourn, because we trust that we will be comforted.
Saying this, choosing to believe this, preparing for this, will not be easy, but somehow we must activate our faith and forge a theology of faith that thrives in the midst of pain and then live it. That is what is granted to us. A hope – a faith in grace God hasn’t given yet, that will sustain us through suffering.
Paul said - 1 Corinthians 15:19 And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. And in 2 Corinthians 12:9 "My grace is sufficient for you.”
If you are merely trusting that Christ is going to give you a nice life here, you are not continuing in the teaching of Christ and that is our goal. 2 John 1:9 "Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son".
It was Christ who taught us we would suffer for him John 16:33 “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
And
Acts 9:16 "And I will show him how much he must suffer for my name’s sake.”
Forward looking faith, Jesus focused faith, faith that produces joy that thrives in pain is fireproof Joy. Joy that flourishes in everything going well can always be taken away, but joy that draws from a source that expects pain, sees past pain, cannot be vanquished. There is something worth investing in, developing, acquiring, honing.
It is on this treasure we must set our sights. If we could grow a happiness that thrives because it expects and is prepared for suffering and sees past suffering to eternal prosperity, then we have accomplished something of great value that brings great honor to God.
Pray that God would grant all of us an increasing measure of faith that looks like this.
Luke 17:5 The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"
Thursday, April 1, 2010
The Problem with Vision-Casting
Today is my 10th anniversary of joining the staff at BCC. Actually, I was the only staff at BCC at that point. And I’m not sure exactly what the lord is saying by ordaining that this anniversary would always land on April fool’s day, but…
In order to reflect, I took time one evening this week to pour over 20 years of journaling. Amongst declarations of spiritual progress and prayers of thanks, were brutal reminders of the challenges and heartaches that God has brought me through.
I would never, in a million years, have looked forward and tried to motivate myself toward spiritual progress with such a turbulent tale of trial and test and yet this is how God’s goal of holiness is brought about. The problem with human vision-casting is that we imagine what we would like and forget how God works.
We imagine successful ministries and a full house of happy maturing church-goers, a picture that will fulfill us and satisfy us and make us content with ourselves, when from one angle, what we get is broken lives relying on stretched-thin resources in a world designed to fail in order to point us to the age when failure will be no more.
When we vision-cast, we can be like the Peter who said “This will never happen to you!” or the false prophets who only ever prophesied good, despite the punishment that was coming (See Jeremiah and Ezekiel) telling the people what they want to hear rather than maintaining God’s vision of holiness and warning of the discipline, (both corrective and strengthening) that will be required to accomplish his goals.
No one wants to hear that. We want to hear romantic notions of how everything is going to work out just fine. We would rather put our trust in these, than trust God who works out all our planned pain for his purpose, conforming us to the image of his son who also suffered. We paint marvelous expectations for ourselves and then can’t figure out why we are disappointed when our visions don’t come true. (Or when they do come true, but fail to deliver satisfaction as we imagined.)
I rejoice in the overflowing cup of blessing that God has granted in these last 20 years, the last 10 especially, but recognize that these blessings have sometimes been delivered by less than desirable means.
God use our pain and failure as well as our success and fulfilled dreams to make us holy. Accomplish in us what you envision and use our disappointments and our success to bring us to that end.
Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
In order to reflect, I took time one evening this week to pour over 20 years of journaling. Amongst declarations of spiritual progress and prayers of thanks, were brutal reminders of the challenges and heartaches that God has brought me through.
I would never, in a million years, have looked forward and tried to motivate myself toward spiritual progress with such a turbulent tale of trial and test and yet this is how God’s goal of holiness is brought about. The problem with human vision-casting is that we imagine what we would like and forget how God works.
We imagine successful ministries and a full house of happy maturing church-goers, a picture that will fulfill us and satisfy us and make us content with ourselves, when from one angle, what we get is broken lives relying on stretched-thin resources in a world designed to fail in order to point us to the age when failure will be no more.
When we vision-cast, we can be like the Peter who said “This will never happen to you!” or the false prophets who only ever prophesied good, despite the punishment that was coming (See Jeremiah and Ezekiel) telling the people what they want to hear rather than maintaining God’s vision of holiness and warning of the discipline, (both corrective and strengthening) that will be required to accomplish his goals.
No one wants to hear that. We want to hear romantic notions of how everything is going to work out just fine. We would rather put our trust in these, than trust God who works out all our planned pain for his purpose, conforming us to the image of his son who also suffered. We paint marvelous expectations for ourselves and then can’t figure out why we are disappointed when our visions don’t come true. (Or when they do come true, but fail to deliver satisfaction as we imagined.)
I rejoice in the overflowing cup of blessing that God has granted in these last 20 years, the last 10 especially, but recognize that these blessings have sometimes been delivered by less than desirable means.
God use our pain and failure as well as our success and fulfilled dreams to make us holy. Accomplish in us what you envision and use our disappointments and our success to bring us to that end.
Proverbs 16:9 We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.
1 Thessalonians 4:3 It is God’s will that you should be sanctified.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Love, Agony & Peace
Colossians 2:1
I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church…
After having gone to bed exhausted last night at about 8 p.m., I awoke around 11 agonizing for this church and the people who find themselves in overwhelming difficulty who often seek pleasure primarily as a means of escaping pain (some legitimate pleasure and others, illegitimate which just causes more pain.)
I prayed and problem-solved until I was anxious and alert and feeling consumed.
I prayed, “God I push all of these problems on to your plate and expect the peace you offer in their stead.”
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Psalms 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
After some persistence in this, I became mindful of the creek. Hunting for crayfish. Looking at the smooth rocks beneath the stream. Noticing the light reflecting off the ripples in the water. Remembering how the water pooled just after the bridge and flowed around each emerging stone that formed a semicircle slowing the water enough to create the pool. I was home. At the creek. Totally absorbed in child-like wonder in the beauty of the breeze rushing through the trees around me, engulfed in the solitude. No one but God could find me here.
Someday I’m going home and it is going to feel like that again. I’m glad for that. The creek taught me what home feels like. I miss it and long for it and can visit it any time I am willing to be slightly less important and accept the peace that God is ready and willing to give.
Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a labourer is sweet
I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church…
After having gone to bed exhausted last night at about 8 p.m., I awoke around 11 agonizing for this church and the people who find themselves in overwhelming difficulty who often seek pleasure primarily as a means of escaping pain (some legitimate pleasure and others, illegitimate which just causes more pain.)
I prayed and problem-solved until I was anxious and alert and feeling consumed.
I prayed, “God I push all of these problems on to your plate and expect the peace you offer in their stead.”
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Psalms 55:22 Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous fall.
1 Peter 5:7 Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.
After some persistence in this, I became mindful of the creek. Hunting for crayfish. Looking at the smooth rocks beneath the stream. Noticing the light reflecting off the ripples in the water. Remembering how the water pooled just after the bridge and flowed around each emerging stone that formed a semicircle slowing the water enough to create the pool. I was home. At the creek. Totally absorbed in child-like wonder in the beauty of the breeze rushing through the trees around me, engulfed in the solitude. No one but God could find me here.
Someday I’m going home and it is going to feel like that again. I’m glad for that. The creek taught me what home feels like. I miss it and long for it and can visit it any time I am willing to be slightly less important and accept the peace that God is ready and willing to give.
Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a labourer is sweet
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Democracy Destroys Churches
1Pe 5:5 NLT
…you younger men must accept the authority of the elders.
The NLT rightly recognizes the authority (singular) of the church as being resident amongst the elders (plural). Paul the apostle himself, one who declares himself to have been granted authority by God…
Ga 1:1 I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
…recognizes and submits himself to the authority of the elders team in the local church and seeks their agreement and backing of his ministry.
Ga 2:2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.
Paul who says…
Tit 1:5 I left you on the island of Crete so you could complete our work there and appoint elders in each town as I instructed you.
...followed the practice himself of appointing elders, (plural) in individual churches.
Ac 14:23 Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
This is the example he set as a pattern, not as mere description, but as prescription.
Php 3:17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
1Co 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
Paul would not and does not praise, democracy in the church, or congregationalism as it is known, nor does he leave it up for grabs. God does not desire the confusion and leadership vacuum that congregationalism causes. He does command…
Heb 13:17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
Introducing a system of Church government into a church constitution that removes authority from the elders and places it in the hands of voting church members ensures that the church will lack God’s benefit and blessing in this regard.
For a teaching elder to fail to point this out, is for him to build the church with wood, hay, and straw, rather than the precious word of God. It is to build the life of the church on sinking sand rather than solid rock.
1Co 3:11 for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
Mt 7:26 But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
The polarization that occurs in a people group where the authority structure is in question and where the use of authority is required to make decisions and maintain purity, destroys unity and faith rather than building them up as the design of God intends.
Ephesians 4:11 now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
If you are considered “the” pastor (singular) of a local church, this is a call to repentance and an encouragement to do the hard work of leading your church to change its constitution. This is a call to biblically empower the team of elders with equal authority and mutual godly, accountability and lead your congregation toward the benefit that God’s truth is destined to ignite in his church.
Jas 4:17 Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
John 5:14 ...stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.
…you younger men must accept the authority of the elders.
The NLT rightly recognizes the authority (singular) of the church as being resident amongst the elders (plural). Paul the apostle himself, one who declares himself to have been granted authority by God…
Ga 1:1 I was not appointed by any group of people or any human authority, but by Jesus Christ himself and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from the dead.
…recognizes and submits himself to the authority of the elders team in the local church and seeks their agreement and backing of his ministry.
Ga 2:2 I went there because God revealed to me that I should go. While I was there I met privately with those considered to be leaders of the church and shared with them the message I had been preaching to the Gentiles. I wanted to make sure that we were in agreement, for fear that all my efforts had been wasted and I was running the race for nothing. 3 And they supported me and did not even demand that my companion Titus be circumcised, though he was a Gentile.
Paul who says…
Tit 1:5 I left you on the island of Crete so you could complete our work there and appoint elders in each town as I instructed you.
...followed the practice himself of appointing elders, (plural) in individual churches.
Ac 14:23 Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
This is the example he set as a pattern, not as mere description, but as prescription.
Php 3:17 Dear brothers and sisters, pattern your lives after mine, and learn from those who follow our example.
1Co 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. 2 I praise you for remembering me in everything and for holding to the teachings, just as I passed them on to you.
Paul would not and does not praise, democracy in the church, or congregationalism as it is known, nor does he leave it up for grabs. God does not desire the confusion and leadership vacuum that congregationalism causes. He does command…
Heb 13:17 Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.
Introducing a system of Church government into a church constitution that removes authority from the elders and places it in the hands of voting church members ensures that the church will lack God’s benefit and blessing in this regard.
For a teaching elder to fail to point this out, is for him to build the church with wood, hay, and straw, rather than the precious word of God. It is to build the life of the church on sinking sand rather than solid rock.
1Co 3:11 for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ. 12 Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. 13 But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value.
Mt 7:26 But anyone who hears my teaching and ignores it is foolish, like a person who builds a house on sand.
The polarization that occurs in a people group where the authority structure is in question and where the use of authority is required to make decisions and maintain purity, destroys unity and faith rather than building them up as the design of God intends.
Ephesians 4:11 now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
If you are considered “the” pastor (singular) of a local church, this is a call to repentance and an encouragement to do the hard work of leading your church to change its constitution. This is a call to biblically empower the team of elders with equal authority and mutual godly, accountability and lead your congregation toward the benefit that God’s truth is destined to ignite in his church.
Jas 4:17 Anyone then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.
John 5:14 ...stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.
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