Spiritual Experiment

Engaged

2012-01-23T21:38:00.001-05:00

After dating for a little better than five months, Tina and I are happy to announce our engagement. We have not set an exact date yet but are aiming for the end of June or the beginning of July. It is an amazing thing for the two of us, both widows, to experience the kind of work that God does. It is He who says, “I will turn their mourning into gladness; I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.” Jeremiah 31:13

It is good to have his word as our guide.

1Timothy 5:14
I counsel younger widows to marry…

Genesis 2:18
The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone…

1Corinthians 7:2
Each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.

1Corinthians 7:39
A wife is bound to her husband as long as he lives. If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but only if he loves the Lord.

We are grateful for His guidance and His provision and are happy for the encouragement of so many. Thanks to everyone who has increased our joy by sharing it.

"unlovableness"

2012-01-04T10:04:00.002-05:00

Thank-you for getting this. That is my point. "unovableness" is a lie of the Devil planted early on in a child’s life and may become so familiar that it is difficult to imagine ever living without it. We may even come to embrace it, using it as a self-pitying crutch to reject the love of God. We may in fact use it to refuse to live under his loving constraint and guidance and grace. God does love you and me. We are lovable. We are loved. You must choose to either accept His love or reject it and be responsible for that choice. There is no excuse in saying, "I am unlovable". That doesn’t even exist.

Loved

2011-12-23T09:45:00.001-05:00

From the depths of my being, at the core of my heart, from my earliest childhood memories, I have found it impossible to believe that I am loved by anyone let alone God.

This didn’t stem from a lack of affection from parents or friends but results from an impenetrable gate leading to my heart that deflects displays of love because I don’t deserve them.

I am unlovable. I am too bad, too ugly, too me. I think this is a lie. It must be. I think it is the cause of joyless anxiety. I think it feeds on every negative that ever occurs and that they strengthen the belief that I am not loved, that God really doesn’t care, that my belief was right all along.

This is a daily fight for me, to believe that I am loved, to allow that belief to fill me with joy and security. I need God’s word every day to remind me that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

There is a love that does not depend on my goodness or accomplishments. It just comes from God because he is love and because he wants to love us and just because he does. He does. I don’t know why, but then, there are a lot of things I don’t know.

God Suffers

2011-12-02T10:11:00.001-05:00

I am going to write. I amn not going to correct grammar spelling or theology. I am not going to use the backspace key. This is what I think. God suffers. We get wond u in the concept that he is the cause of suffering but he is also the cause of his own suffering. He is “longsufferin” Every injustice every agnostic, atheistic moment cuts just as deep as the whip or the nnails though we can’t get to him physically now. Every cult every idol , the death ov every evil person in which he takes no pleasure cause him to suffer. We are in this together longing for complete joy together. He is no above our suffering but immersed in it. It is a facet of our fellowship. He is righteous. He is love . there is bno other plan that could have expressed his nature. Thi is the plan and it must be so. God suffers. He hates this just as much as we do at times. He weeps. One day we will laugh together.

From Havoc To Heaven

2011-11-30T10:03:00.000-05:00

Isa 54:16 "See, it is I who created the blacksmith who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to work havoc.

God purposes and intends that there be “havoc” and frustration…

Ro 8:20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it…

The created order intentionally contains death, mourning, crying and pain. (Rev 21:4)

Jesus was subjected to it

Ro 6:9 …death no longer has mastery over him.

For a time it did.

For us it does and it will serve us for eternity. We will always enjoy paradise from the vantage point of those who have suffered the deprivation that is a taste of hell. So many have said, if we could just experience heaven and hell for a minute each, we would make a clear choice between the two, but that is what this life is: moments of sheer exuberance and joy and others of the unfulfilled longings of hell.
Every day is an opportunity to make a choice or solidify the one we have made.

This pain serves us daily now, clarifying our choice of Christ. Though it includes earthly disappointments, those disappointments will serve us for all time and eternity. We will never be tempted as Lucifer and his angles were, to abandon heaven for something better. We will have tasted Godlessness and hell and spit it eternally from our mouths. It is this experience that will cause us to cling to heaven gratefully cheerfully and those are good emotions to envision.

Has this world been so kind to you that you should leave with regret?
There are better things ahead than any we leave behind--C.S. Lewis

Glory to God in Chronic Sin

2011-11-21T11:41:00.002-05:00

As frustrating as chronic illness can be, it seems to me that there can come a measure of acceptance and a recognition of its capacity to drive us to God and keep us close to him. There can even be a measure of respect and admiration for the perseverance that is demonstrated in one who suffers outwardly.

What seems worse than chronic illness is chronic sin, habitual sin, what we call “besetting” sin, which robs us of joy and self-respect. It can come in many forms: pride, lust, greed, gluttony, anger… And there are none of the perks that go along with chronic illness. It causes us to loathe ourselves or the one whose sin is exposed.

The reality though is that all of us will suffer in one way or another. All of us will take sin to our graves. We may wonder, even become exasperated and ask why the God who commands purity refuses to grant it. Lately I have spoken with several people who at the base of their beings have desires that lead them into what the Bible labels as sexual sin and yet they feel powerless to change it. They fear that only death will take away what must be labeled a sinful desire. (Romans 1:24, 1Peter 4:11)

Though we may never come to the place where we no longer desire what is sinful, it is possible to fully and finally hate that specific evil, even an evil that is an inseparable part of ourselves. And therein lies a spiritual victory. Though we may not be able to flee a tendency or desire or kill it so that it no longer raises its ugly head, we can come to hate it and hate that part of ourselves.

It is the hating of wickedness that God loves. It may be part of the reason why he allows besetting sins. In this state of need, we may humbly come to the place where we know intimately and even predictably a part of our heart that is still inhabited by the enemy, a part of our soul that rebelliously refuses to submit, a hiding place for darkness, a self-deception, a love-affair brewing that we may wish so much weren’t there that it is difficult to admit that it is. But time and again we must confront it and be taught to despise it to the glory of God. It is this Christ-like passion that we can purse, even when we cannot be completely free from a desire that God labels sinful.

Ps 45:7 You love righteousness and hate wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy.

Hebrews 1:8 tell us that these are the words of the father spoken over the divine son. The Father loves Jesus because Jesus hates evil. We can too. May those sins that we may never conquer serve us, at least to cause us to hate them and so be loved by God for this Christ-like zeal.

May our hearts produce authentic words that sound like this: “I hate my sin” and may God love us for it.

Determining Factors in Salvation

2011-10-24T11:49:00.002-04:00

This is an exerpt from the sermon preached Jan. 2, 2011

Did God lovingly choose me because he knew I would believe or Did I believe because God chose me. The biblical answer to that question is, “Yes”.

The Bible points to both God’s choice and our choice as logical priors like two rails of a train track that go off into the distance never crossing as far as the eye can see, never one rail saying to the other, "I no longer have need of you."

God chose you because he is Sovereign God and has the right to do anything he pleases with what he has made and owns…
Psalm 115:3
Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

And the parallel truth is this: When God conceived of the idea of you, he knew you would choose him. His choice matters supremely, but your choice matters completely. But - Let’s look at God first.

Romans 9:11 Before they [The twins, Jacob and Esau] were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes; 12 he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.” 13 In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.” 14 Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not! 15 For God said to Moses,
“I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.” 16 So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it. 17 For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.” 18 So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen. 19 Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?” 20 No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

In this text God is seen as making independent decisions as to whom he will bless with mercy and compassion based solely on his right as creator of all. God’s choice is seen as independent of ours.
Now – understandably this makes us Crazy. He makes some of us for dishonorable service like Pharaoh and then blames Pharaoh for not bowing to his moral will.

It seems unfair and yet we are told not to talk back – which just pushes our rebellion against this text deeper into our own psyche. – unless – unless we try… to trust God and see him as one who refuses to gamble with our souls and submit to mere chance but rather ensures that some will certainly be saved.

God is God is not capricious, reckless, contingent not dependent on anyone. He could do no other than plan that some would certainly be saved. But within that plan he did not ordain that all would be saved. So we ask Who is at fault?

If I were to maintain the logic that has been established in Romans 9 of the potter and the clay and ask the question. Why did most of the Jews not believe in the Christ –

Logically – I would have to say because God didn’t choose them – he rejected them hated them – That is what logic says, but the text goes on to say more than simply that God is sovereign. It goes on to say man is responsible.

God shatters our narrow logic because his thoughts are higher than out thoughts .
Romans 9:31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works.

It’s their fault. Their choice is viewed here as logically prior. They determined their own fate by their refusal to believe. Why didn’t Israel attain righteousness – not because God did or did not do something but because THEY
• tried to work for reward rather than simply trust
• wanted to earn reward rather than simply receive it
• wanted the glory rather than give glory to God.

It was their fault. Their faithlessness was logically prior. It all hinges (at least in this text) on their lack of belief.
Both rails of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility are seen in Rom 9.
The Bible points to both God’s choice and our choice as logical priors, determining factors in our salvation. This then falls into the ontological gap, the black-hole question, "How can it be?". We don't know.

Missions Prayer

2011-10-20T11:47:00.000-04:00

Father would you lead BCC into deeper, more joy-producing fellowship with you, as we seek to obey your command to bring the good news of Jesus’ saving sacrifice to the ends of the earth.
Would you allow us to feel your delight as we represent you to a world in need of your saving grace.
Would you grant us confidence in you and generosity toward your priorities. And then use us and allow us to be encouraged by your victories attained through your strength experienced in our efforts.
We ask it in Jesus’ name.
Amen.

Mission Minded

2011-10-12T16:15:00.002-04:00

Have a look at this clip as we prepare our hearts for Sunday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7pT-7dBVhc

And a couple of sites to check out as well

www.partnersinternational.ca

www.joshuaproject.net

Our Competency Comes From Christ Alone

2011-09-28T10:06:00.003-04:00

2Co 2:14 But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. 15 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. 16 To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life. And who is equal to such a task?

Or as the KJV says, “who is sufficient for these things?”

Who, in and of themselves, or even with a team of coaches and cheerleaders behind them, is sufficient to represent Christ to elect and non-elect in such a way that they actually experience the presence and the essence of the living Christ so that they feel either encouraged or condemned?

I am not sufficient. The elders are not sufficient. And we are not deluded by some mirage of hierarchy that would suggest that anyone living on this planet is sufficient, hence we are driven to look to Christ and his sufficiency in order to think we might accomplish anything for him in ministry.

Jesus said, “…apart from ME you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Jesus is our sufficiency in ministry, not a more energetic elder’s team, a more functional building, a better ministry plan, more compatible ministry partners or a thousand other excuses we might make to justify stepping back from ministry when feeling our insufficiency rather than simply throwing ourselves on the mercy of Christ and begging, “Use me! Fill me! Provide for me! Give me the words and use them to change and comfort your people and to warn those who do not seem to care.”

The church, you, do ministry not because we are sufficient, but because He is. Any other reason would be vanity.

2Co 3:5 It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own. Our qualification comes from God. 6 He has enabled us to be ministers of his new covenant.

"Gutsy Guilt"

2011-08-25T14:09:00.001-04:00

Part of our Christian confidence is that even when we fall into sin and experience God's Fatherly discipline, we will rise again. John Piper calls this "gutsy guilt":
To the fallen saint, who knows the darkness is self-inflicted and feels the futility of looking for hope from a frowning Judge, the Bible gives a shocking example of gutsy guilt. It pictures God’s failed prophet beneath a righteous frown, bearing his chastisement with broken-hearted boldness—
"Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light." (Micah 7:8-9)
This is courageous contrition. Gutsy guilt. The saint has fallen. The darkness of God’s indignation is on him. He does not blow it off, but waits. And he throws in the face of his accuser the confidence that his indignant Judge will plead his cause and execute justice for (not against) him. This is the application of justification to the fallen saint. Broken-hearted, gutsy guilt.
For further thought, see John Piper's 2002 article "Justification by Faith."

Sovereign, Wise, Loving and Good

2011-07-27T10:03:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all who commented on the previous blog. I find this very cathartic and have come to the place where I truly value, as I think Paul did, being joined in “suffering for the gospel.”

2Ti 1:8 So do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord, or ashamed of me his prisoner. But join with me in suffering for the gospel, by the power of God,

I think our joy in him, especially in suffering, glorifies him and displays his worth.

Of course, like others, when feeling the pain, I begin to ask the big eternal and universal questions about suffering and why God has planned such an economy of suffering in his story.

The question is asked, “Why would God allow human free-will, knowing that great suffering would result?” The answer is given, “God desires to be freely loved, just as anyone would and so the choice to love him, or to refuse to love him, had to be granted.”

The second question that should be asked is, “But were not we, who love him, chosen to do so, before the foundation of the world?”

Eph 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Does not our chosen-ness negate our free-will and therefore nullify the previous argument for its necessity?

No. God’s sovereign choice never diminishes the value of our choice to love him or our responsibility when we refuse to trust him, regardless of our inability to comprehend this fact.

I will always have chosen to trust and love God and it will always matter that I did. It matters even now, perhaps most of all when he has allowed circumstances necessary for his plan, his glory, necessary for my eternal good, that can only be seen as negative in and of themselves.

I still have free will. He will not accomplish his will in me apart from mine.

Php 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

He will do this through – in conjunction with - my willingness to see it completed.

Php 2:13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.

Choosing to trust and love him because I want to, because he proves himself sovereign, wise, loving and good has always mattered and it always will.

Complaining Up

2011-07-06T10:32:00.003-04:00

I have seen the rock face of scripture bleed life-giving water until I could not help but overflow with what God was speaking through it. There is no better “high” than being thrilled with all that God is saying, especially for one who begged him to speak as a teen.

It has been weeks since I felt overflowing. I sip trickles here and there. I cling to that rock face and beg for water, but nothing fills my soul to overflowing. I cannot get enough of Him. At least not right now. I said that I would not blog for any other reason than that.

This is depression. Perhaps it is the appropriate emotional response to loss. It is accompanied with doubts concerning the goodness of God, the love of God and the trustworthiness for God, things I could never “preach” from the pulpit, but deep waters we all go through.

We’re tempted to pity the depressed. This of course is poison. Pity is feeling sorry for someone and relating to them on that basis which only feeds the illness rather than raising the expectation that it will pass and it will. No one can live here, at least not for long. No sane person would want to.

For now, I have questions without answers, pain without resolve and a hope that is so hard to maintain it takes all my strength. The one thing I need is faith. Faith to believe the promises and the future that God has in store for his children. Faith that he gives and enables me to live, but in reality, what other choice is there but to believe and to live it despite how we may feel. Feelings are not our God. God is.

Job felt it.
Job 30:21 You turn on me ruthlessly; with the might of your hand you attack me.

Jeremiah felt it.
Lam 3:7 He has walled me in so that I cannot escape; he has weighed me down with chains. 8 Even when I call out or cry for help, he shuts out my prayer.

David felt it.
Ps 69:2 Deeper and deeper I sink into the mire; I can’t find a foothold. I am in deep water, and the floods overwhelm me.

Paul felt it
2Co 1:8 We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure, and we thought we would never live through it.

Perhaps depression is just an avenue for faith, a time in which the expression of faith sounds different.

Ps 142:2 I pour out my complaints before him and tell him all my troubles.

I think this is where to go with it. Not to everyone, perhaps a little with a few, but mostly we ought to “complain up” as Tom Hanks said in Saving Private Ryan

This is still prayer, still faith, just the faith and the prayers of the hurting who hope that One will do something about it, show his compassion, express his care by a means that will actually comfort and restore faith, make it easier to believe in a good, loving, trustworthy God until Our faith is sight. And He will.

1Thes 5:23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.

Leadership is Influence.

2011-05-17T10:15:00.002-04:00

Regardless of structures and restrictions, regardless of culture or perceived or real gender differences, regardless of how our faith and understanding of Scripture limits us, God uses whom he desires, how he desires, to lead, influence, persuade and transform others. So do we all.

Acts 13:50 Then the Jews stirred up the influential religious women and the leaders of the city, and they incited a mob against Paul and Barnabas and ran them out of town.

No godly person desires to exalt himself or herself to position or title, but all the godly wish to be used by God to glorify God, even if it means letting go of the demand to be perceived in all things as equal.

Philippians 2:6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

Like Jesus, our chief agenda is not that all equality be perceived and immediately honoured, but rather that God be exalted even at the expense of our humility.
How will God use you to lead others, influence others, persuade others, to a place where they recognize his glory and give him praise? By means of your humble, joyful, resourceful, responsible, risk-taking service to God.

1 Peter 3:1 Wives, in the same way be submissive to your husbands so that, if any of them do not believe the word, they may be won over without words by the behaviour of their wives,

Are we all equal? Absolutely! Is proving that and proclaiming that the Christian agenda? No. Does God challenge our pride in a gender-distinct fashion? Why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t he meet us at our point of weakness, exactly where Satan attacks. Why wouldn’t he challenge a weakness until it became a strength? He wants to use you. Excuses won’t do. We are equal in our ability to be used to influence others, even if we differ in our suitability to a particular, gender-specific office.

Hebrews 12:7a Into Discipline... Endure

2011-05-05T17:51:00.001-04:00

In preparation for this Sunday, I am recommending that you read through Hebrews 11 and 12 and consider the following outline. We always get more out of something when we have put more into it.

See you Sunday :)

Holding On to Holy Ground II
Interpreting suffering as schooling employs it as a means to holiness

1. View Difficult Circumstances As God’s Correction and Training in the Fight For Holiness
Hebrews 12:7a Endure hardship as discipline

2. Recognize That The Alternative is to Gaining Discipline is to Suffer Defeat
Hebrews 12:5 Do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart

3. Know that God is Grooming You for Eternal Sonship
Hebrews 12:7b God is treating you as sons

"The authority of parents has been so eroded that discipline rarely if ever comes into play. It has generally ceased to be a part of sonship. It is small wonder that those brought up in such an atmosphere find genuine difficulty in understanding the discipline of God."
Donald Guthrie

Truth Worth Searching For

2011-04-21T15:55:00.003-04:00

Ps 25:14 The LORD confides in those who fear him; he makes his covenant known to them.

The Original NLT has it this way…
Friendship with the lord is reserved for those who fear him. With them he shares the secrets of his covenant.

Properly fearing the lord, which means trusting him and clinging to him just as much as we fear him... and pursuing friendship with him on that basis, points to an increased intimacy and knowledge, both experientially and cognitively.

If someone really matters to you, you will spend time with them and that time will deliver pleasure and benefit no matter how it is spent. Does God divulge secrets? Does he share some things with those closest to him while allowing others to merely scratch the surface? Do some, as Piper puts it, “Rake leaves while others mine gold”?

Though some mornings I feel dull and my mind wanders, there are other mornings where I feel I could burst. I write, I rejoice, I find what I am looking for: food for my soul that makes my heart glad.

This Sunday morning, I will get up at 5:30 as I always do, but before I enjoy devotions, I will hide Easter eggs for the kids. At 7 They will hunt for them and the hunt will be half the fun. They would be disappointed if I just handed them to them. Working for them, looking for them, makes them so much more valuable when found.

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Why Then Do We Still Fail?

2011-04-19T09:46:00.002-04:00

Anonymous said...
Satan is defeated, in that we no longer fear death, but why, Andy, do we still fail due to Satan's lies and deceit while we are still living in this world? Is it because we do not fully understand or take hold of the fact that he is defeated, or does he still have some real power here in this world? Since he "[fell] from heaven like a lightning bolt", has he been here trying to trip us up? And what is our best defense against that?
April 18, 2011 12:33 PM

It is worse than that we “don’t understand”. We sin because we love it, because we prefer it and choose it over pleasing God in the moment. Until we cut through our pride and admit that our sinful desires demand instant gratification and we love to satisfy them, we will never defeat the actions that spring from them.

What is not defeated is our will. We still want to sin. Sin provides some pleasure, some relief, some status or benefit and we want it and refuse to consider the consequences to our consciences. Every time I knowingly sin, it is because I want to. That is the truth of 1Cor 10:13

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.

I ought to be able to kid myself. When I want to gaze at something, think something, say something, eat something that I shouldn’t, I ought to recognize my sinful desire that says, “I want…” and say to that desire, “of course you do. You’re a sinful desire that hasn’t been put to death yet. Here let me help you with that…” and smother the bastard desire before he grows into a fully developed sinful action.

If you do not, your own sinful nature, in cahoots with the devil and his world full of attractions will steal your joy in the lord which is your strength. Learn this lesson every time you sin and know…

James 4:4 You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred towards God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble." 7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

The Defeat of Satan

2011-04-14T16:41:00.004-04:00

Psalms 76:5 Our boldest enemies have been plundered.

Seen from one angle, The defeat of Satan pictures people as mere possessions to be carted off according to the will of whomever is stronger. There is no mention of our will. The only focus is on the supremacy of Christ in the work of redemption.

Luke 11:21 For when a strong man like Satan is fully armed and guards his palace, his possessions are safe 22 until someone even stronger attacks and overpowers him, strips him of his weapons, and carries off his belongings.

Every person who comes to trust and treasure Christ is another display of his superior strength. Satan is defeated. He can no longer cause the believer to be controlled by a fear of death and thus be given over to living for the purpose of being distracted from death.

Hebrews 2:14b …only by dying could [Jesus] break the power of the devil, who had the power of death. 15 Only in this way could he set free all who have lived their lives as slaves to the fear of dying

Referring to his impending death, Jesus states… John 12:31 Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.

The judgment for the sin of the world fell upon the scourged and crucified Christ. The whole world is invited to take part in the benefits of that payment. Satan is stripped, disarmed, despite the fact that many don’t know it or choose not to believe it.

You could be free. You could have victory over Satan and the fear of death. And you could rejoice not only in that victory, but in the spoils of victory, the community of the redeemed amongst their redeemer for all eternity.

Luke 10 17 When the seventy-two disciples returned, they joyfully reported to him, “Lord, even the demons obey us when we use your name!” 18 “Yes,” he told them, “I saw Satan fall from heaven like lightning! 19 Look, I have given you authority over all the power of the enemy, and you can walk among snakes and scorpions and crush them. Nothing will injure you. 20 But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.”

No Sex In Heaven

2011-04-11T11:30:00.002-04:00

Luke 20:35 But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36 and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. They are God’s children, since they are children of the resurrection.

Angels and children are given as examples of beings made by God who experience fullness of joy apart from sexual desire and satisfaction. If one were to ask what sex is anyway, it is this:

The desire for physical pleasure.
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.

The desire for intimacy, to know and be fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

The desire to give one’s self to one who also longs to be enjoyed.
Romans 12:1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.

Galatians 1:4 [The Lord Jesus Christ] gave himself for our sins to rescue us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,

Genesis 15:1 Do not be afraid… I am your shield, your very great reward.

The desire for acceptance and love and a place that feels like home, where we belong, what we were made for.
John 14:2 I am going there to prepare a place for you.

Sex is only a foretaste of divine satisfaction, not an end in itself. Sex is a candle to be extinguished when the sun rises. It is a satisfaction to be surpasses by far. We will already be happier than the man in the Viagra commercial skipping down the street. We will have stronger desires to be satisfied like any exhausted lover longing for sleep. We will be married, the bride of Christ, happier in him than any memory of sign-post intimacy could ever make us. There will be no sex in heaven and we won’t miss it a bit.

For the church to enjoy it and keep sex in its proper place here on earth would be a testimony to a culture that seeks to drain the dregs of pleasure out of whatever empty bottle it finds lying around.

The Love of Most Will Grow Cold

2011-04-05T11:10:00.001-04:00

Besides earthquakes, tsunamis and the crumbling of the world economy, one of the signs of the end of the world as we know it will be this:

Matthew 24:12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold…

For love to grow cold, it has to have first been hot. Those who once illustrated a passionate love for Christ will walk away from church and every vestige of sacrificial faith. They will prefer financial gain, sports and entertainment and leisure, anything that has immediate payoff as opposed to hoping for the promised eternal rewards of faith and service.

And Jesus doesn’t say this might happen. It is prophesied, predicted like…

John 13:38 I tell you the truth, Peter, before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.

Jesus knows what our hearts will do. But we are still responsible and will bear the consequences of our desires and actions. Though the widespread chilling of passionate faith is certain, it is still difficult to watch for one whose joy is dependent on the Christian joy of others.

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?

When I watch dozens of new people stream into our church and our attendance numbers stay virtually the same, I know, like lots of other pastors know, that the “regulars” are coming less frequently.
The church becomes like Wal-Mart, just visited when there is a felt need or we can spare the time.

I guess I have to watch this happen. But I hate it. And it concerns me that it doesn’t concern those who are drifting away, because drifting leads to shipwreck. And no one wants that for you.

Hebrews 2:1 We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

The love of most will grow cold. This will happen. It doesn’t have to happen to you.

Luke 10:27-28
You must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind. And, Love your neighbour as yourself…. Do this and you will live!

The Love Hate Relationship

2011-03-31T09:43:00.001-04:00

Feel the tension of
Lamentations 3:22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.

Do you get the sense that his love is a great dam restraining his own righteous anger against sin and sinners.

Jesus knows this inner tug of war.
Luke 12:49 "I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled!

Yet we read…

2 Peter 3:9 He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Patience is the prerequisite of the perturbed. God is no simpleton with a singular undiluted emotional state.

The psalmist David, a man after God’s own heart prays…
Psalms 6:1 O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath.

Yet we can be unconcerned about Gods anger, demanding pure comfort from our religion with no hint of tension that would compel us to pursue holiness. We don’t always wish to see the appropriate state of emotional turmoil that God rightly experiences concerning the lack of holy passion in our lives. But we get some sense of God’s internal conversation In Luke 13:6-9 as his mercy and patience wrestles with his righteousness and justice.

Luke 13:6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig-tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig-tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 "‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig round it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’"

No matter what we may call ourselves, our acceptance on that final day will be dependent upon holiness in our character brought about by the Spirit. We must produce fruit or be felled.

Whom God Hates and Loves

2011-03-21T15:41:00.002-04:00

We hear that God loves people. Are we aware that he hates some and that he even has something of a love-hate relationship with those he loves?

Psalms 5:5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.

Do I, at least some times fit into this category?

Psalms 11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.

Do I ever love violence in a video game or in a movie or at a sporting event?

Psalm 21:8 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes. 9 At the time of your appearing you will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them. 10 You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind. 11 Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed; 12 for you will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow. 13 Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might.

John 3:18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Romans 5:10 For if, when we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!

I think we can never know the depths of the love of God until we recognize the reality of his righteous hatred toward sinners like us. His love is displayed to us in mercy and grace, mercy that does not treat us as our sins deserve and grace that lavishes blessing on us that we do not merit. Until we acknowledge the depth of God’s hatred for sin and sinners, we will not appreciate and value rightly the quality and magnitude of his love for a sinner like me.

Repentance After a Second Marriage

2011-03-14T10:48:00.000-04:00

Mark 6:17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife."

Do you notice how John the Baptist is still harping on Herod concerning the legality of his marriage to Herodias after the marriage had already taken place? Look at the verb tense…

“ his brother Philip’s wife, whom he had married.”

They were already married yet John was saying "It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife."

It seems that John was still protesting the marriage after it had taken place. It seems like there was still repentance work to be done despite the fact that vows had been made and the marriage consummated.

A second marriage is no safe haven from the one who sees the heart. Just because you have remarried, does not mean that you do not have repentance work to do from sin that contributed to the failure of your previous marriage.

Isaiah 30:15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: "In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it.

Know that your heart will resist repentance. May the Holy Spirit harp on those who have hard work to do, cleaning out what has been swept under the rug. Just because you cannot un-digest an apple does not mean you cannot repent of stealing it.

The Lord of Loss 2

2011-03-02T09:21:00.003-05:00

Jesus recognized that it was God himself who was responsible for his looming crucifixion, telling his disciples, “ …the Scriptures say, ‘God will strike the Shepherd…'” (Matthew 26:31)

The father himself takes full responsibility for his intentions in what he has ordained.

Isaiah 53:10 … it was the LORD’s will to crush him (Jesus) and cause him to suffer…

Acts 2:23 This man (Jesus) was handed over to you (those who crucified him) by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge.

Jesus died at the hand of God to satisfy the wrath of God kindled by the justice of God in the face of the offence of sin which was intentionally allowed by God to fully display the fullness of the mercy and righteousness of God . Jesus sits at the father’s right hand adoring the one who crucified him, in perfect fellowship, holding no grudge against the Father for the perfect act of appointing propitiation.

No-one, including Christ himself, dies for any other ultimate reason than the will of God.
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.

If my best friend murdered a man, it would be an issue between us. I would be angry, feel separated, distanced from him because of his brutal act. But if my best friend were a policeman who shot someone in the line of duty and it was deemed a “righteous” kill, there would be no issue between us. He would have done the right thing. He would still be considered good.

Every kill of God’s is a righteous kill. All have sinned and the wages of sin is death. We were told. We willfully disobeyed. We will all die. God will never, can never, be accused of an unrighteous kill. Jesus adores a perfectly righteous God despite the fact that God takes every single life.

Adoring a perfectly righteous God. I want to be there. I plan to be there. If I could identify anything that keeps me from being there it would only be that I am too small, too unable to comprehend, too infantile, juvenile, too faithless to worship the One who takes every single life.

Father help me to get where I need to be, where I want to be. Where I know I must end up, not just trusting you, but rejoicing in who you are and what you do.

I need to do more than merely trust God. I need to believe there is not a malicious bone in his body. I need to believe that though he ordains that evil be, he himself is not evil, but perfectly righteous, worthy of all praise. And he is.

The Lord of Loss

2011-02-28T09:24:00.000-05:00

Isaiah 45:7 I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things… 9 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker…

Deuteronomy 32:39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no-one can deliver out of my hand.

Exodus 4:11 Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

Acts 17:26 …he determined the times set for them…
James 4:15 …If it is the Lord’s will, we will live…
Hebrews 9:27 …man is destined to die…
Job 1:21 …the LORD has taken away…

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Proverbs 16:20 …those who trust the LORD will be joyful.

Empty But Full

2011-02-16T10:39:00.004-05:00

I have been experimenting, trying to replace temporal hope with eternal hope. So far it has proved a dismal failure. Eternal hope is like poured concrete which provides a good foundation, but one does not furnish his home with concrete.

We are temporal beings who need some kind of temporal goals and dreams in order to muster strength for the day-in, day-out. So what do we do when there is no short-term desire and aim?

After bouts of exhausting grief and crying jags that leave my eyes parched, I am beginning to realize and experience God as my present-tense strength, hope and joy.

He is my strength to love his people and serve them.
He is my hope. I have him. I don’t need him to do more or be more than he already is.
He is my joy, where every other can seem as though it has been stripped away. I have Christ and rejoice in him and so have joy that enables me to enjoy those he has given me.

Habakkuk 3:17 Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. 19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights.

A Genuine Christian Hedonist

2011-02-01T09:47:00.009-05:00

1 Peter 1:6b …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.

If my faith is being proved genuine, at very least to myself, by means of its continuance and growth through these difficult times, then I need to affirm and others should know that it is the faith of a Christian-Hedonist that is being tested and confirmed.

Psalm 84:5 What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD,
who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
6 When they walk through the Valley of Weeping,
it will become a place of refreshing springs.
The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings.
7 They will continue to grow stronger,
and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem.

If God himself, standing by me, is my strength and strength is the means by which we may experience victorious joy in the battle against doubt and bitterness and anger and apathy and temptation which constantly attack the one in grief, then I have found my joy even as I walk through the valley of weeping.

How could I ask for more than the Apostle Paul who described himself as, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”? (2 Corinthians 6:10) This is what a Christian Hedonist seeks: Strength in God, Joy in God that frees one to pursue the priorities of God to the glory of God which includes the believers eternal joy.

Psalms 50:15 “…call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory.”

God gets glory by our rejoicing in him for the sanctification he accomplishes by means of our trials. Sanctification means holding on to faith and growing in holiness as the necessary prelude to glorification.

Hebrews 11:6 without faith it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 12:14 without holiness no-one will see the Lord.

If you are not finding your strength in Christ which gives you joy amidst grief, then I encourage you to find out what a Christian Hedonist is and become one.

http://www.desiringgod.org/about/our-distinctives/our-beliefs/what-is-christian-hedonism

Welcome Grief

2011-01-27T14:58:00.002-05:00

For months I have been plagued by what I thought was anxiety, which one would expect I suppose, when one’s spouse has died and one is left with three children and a stove which is just as happy to cook fingers as well as frozen entrées.

But I have worked hard at ordering life and God has been good, so I have no real reason to be afraid. So this week, when another wave of what I thought was fear came over me, I stopped what I was doing and furiously typed what I was feeling.

As the words appeared on the screen, It became apparent that what I was feeling was grief: profoundly, painfully missing every detail of a relationship that the river of life has taken downstream.

C.S. Lewis was right, "No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear."
(A Grief Observed)

Ah Grief! It's you! You are so much more welcome in my life than fear. Fear can kill you. Fear can spiral into depression and anxious lethargy and make you wonder if you will ever get up, ever get out again. I am afraid of fear, but not grief. Grief leads to happiness.

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

God blesses the griever, but He commands us not to fear.

Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

There is no blessing for those who fear only a slow drain of emotional energy that leaves us empty and faithless, but not grief. Grief brings us to God.

So, come Grief. Do your work. Break me and then make me. Wound me and then heal me. Lead me to blessedness that will last forever when God himself, no mediator, no emissary, no indirect means will comfort me, but God himself, the source of all comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3 NLT
God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort.

Ah Grief, come. Lead me there.

Seeking the Benefits of Love

2011-01-12T10:29:00.007-05:00

Q. Who would be so bold as to encourage us to love, so that we could receive something in return?
A. Only someone who knows love perfectly.

But, aren’t we just supposed to love out of obedience, because Gods is love, because love is right and best and makes the world go around and sometimes because we just feel like it? Should we ever hope for some benefit, even be motivated by some advantage, some profit, when we love others?

Jesus said…
Luke 6:32 "If you love those who love you,… what credit… is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you,… what credit… is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment,… what credit… is that to you? Even ‘sinners’ lend to ‘sinners’, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then… your reward… will be great, and you will be… sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked.

What should we expect if we love people and they do not love us back?
Credit, reward, sonship.

In order for love to be love, it must expect some benefit in return, if not from anyone else, then from God himself. We may like to think we are above all of that and are capable of loving selflessly, but even God does not love that way. God is full of self-interest in loving us. He never wants nothing in return. The greatest command is Love the lord your God with all your heart… (Matthew 22:37)

Here is someone who explains loving with benefit in mind even better.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKBAbtzMfE0

Your Only Helper

2011-01-05T09:56:00.006-05:00

I have been through the grief process before so at least I am able to recognize the pattern this time. Sometimes it feels like it will never end. God breaks us and then makes us and then breaks us again. He takes us to the place where we wonder if he has any mercy, any compassion, or whether he has completely given up on us. Then he shows us the next step we need to take toward him, the ultimate resolution to all that we suffer.

Hosea 5:14 I will be like a lion to Israel, like a strong young lion to Judah. I will tear them to pieces! I will carry them off, and no one will be left to rescue them. 15 Then I will return to my place until they admit their guilt and turn to me. For as soon as trouble comes, they will earnestly search for me.” 6:1 “Come, let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces; now he will heal us. He has injured us; now he will bandage our wounds…."
13:8 Like a bear whose cubs have been taken away, I will tear out your heart. I will devour you like a hungry lioness and mangle you like a wild animal.9 You are about to be destroyed, O Israel— yes, by me, your only helper.

Sorrowful Yet Always Rejoicing

2011-01-03T09:56:00.003-05:00

I perceive that the grieving mind experiences three categories of passive thought. This is where the unengaged parts of the sorrowful soul naturally go: Missing. Feeling-alone. Hoping.

Hoping can be divided into two categories: temporal and eternal.
Temporal hope can be further broken down into 2 categories: spiritual and physical.

Temporal spiritual hope looks like this, and it seems reasonable that if one hopes for something, that one would also strive towards it.

1Ti 6:6 True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.

Ps 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Ec 5:19b To enjoy your work and accept your lot in life––this is indeed a gift from God.

Heb 13:5 …be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."

Php. 4:11b I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. 12 I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. 13 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Contentment. Confidence. Capability. These are pretty good temporal hopes and goals. They are also exciting promises, especially considering the resource we have been given to fulfill them. We have been given God. John Piper quotes Jonathan Edwards in ‘Pierced By The Word”…

“The redeemed have all their objective good in God. God himself is the great good which they are brought to the possession and enjoyment of by redemption. He is the highest good and the sum of all that good which Christ purchased. God is the inheritance of the saints; he is the portion of their souls. God is their wealth and treasure, their food, their life, their dwelling place, their ornament and diadem and their everlasting honor and glory.”

With this truth firmly in mind, we may be those who are, “…sorrowful, yet always rejoicing…” (2 Co 6:10)

Warm-Up Question for Sunday

2010-12-30T12:05:00.003-05:00

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.

How To Love Your Spouse

2010-12-21T10:00:00.001-05:00

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.

Will I Believe Tomorrow?

2010-12-20T10:56:00.001-05:00

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.

It Is Up To God To Prove His Trustworthiness

2010-12-15T09:53:00.004-05:00

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.

Hope for This Life

2010-12-09T09:42:00.001-05:00

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.

A TIME TO MOURN AND A TIME TO DANCE

2010-12-06T10:15:00.001-05:00

…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.”

The Case for Singleness

2010-12-01T18:27:00.003-05:00

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)

Become What I Am

2010-11-29T09:52:00.003-05:00

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…”

Sunshine on a Cloudy Day

2010-11-25T09:10:00.000-05:00

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

Your Joy is My Joy

2010-11-24T09:38:00.004-05:00

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.

Impermanence

2010-11-19T09:51:00.001-05:00

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.

Sinking Yet Saved

2010-11-17T10:10:00.002-05:00

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.

Grateful

2010-11-14T10:04:00.002-05:00

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

Two Responses to Loss

2010-11-11T07:12:00.002-05:00

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.

Pure Grief

2010-11-08T10:18:00.001-05:00

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.

Waves

2010-11-03T19:54:00.001-04:00

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.”

Understanding

2010-10-27T07:26:00.000-04:00

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.

In Hope

2010-10-26T08:38:00.003-04:00

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.

Pictures for Tee

2010-10-24T11:46:00.005-04:00

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.

Pictures for Tee

2010-10-24T11:46:00.001-04:00

Interment and Memorial

2010-10-22T12:59:00.000-04:00

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.

Farewell Theresa

2010-10-22T00:08:00.003-04:00

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.

A Note From Tee

2010-10-18T17:24:00.000-04:00

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

Days

2010-10-16T18:34:00.002-04:00

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.

The Stedman Hospice

2010-10-13T19:02:00.001-04:00

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.

Theresa's Mom

2010-10-07T09:40:00.003-04:00

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!

He Loved Them to the End

2010-10-05T11:25:00.000-04:00

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.

How Does God Define Good?

2010-10-05T11:16:00.002-04:00

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

Looking Toward Home

2010-10-01T13:22:00.000-04:00

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.

Tee comes home

2010-09-23T10:14:00.001-04:00

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.

How Do They Do It?

2010-09-18T20:53:00.000-04:00

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.

The Fight at Night

2010-09-16T10:52:00.001-04:00

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.

Like a Tree Planted by Streams of Water

2010-09-09T10:34:00.003-04:00

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.

How Distressed I Am

2010-09-08T14:08:00.002-04:00

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.

No End In Sight

2010-08-31T16:12:00.001-04:00

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.

Start the Day at Night

2010-06-28T15:48:00.002-04:00

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.

Pain Has a Purpose and a Cure

2010-06-02T10:12:00.002-04:00

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.

Agnosticism

2010-06-02T09:37:00.002-04:00

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.

The Emotions of a Sovereign God

2010-05-25T10:24:00.002-04:00

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.

Stopping Bullets

2010-05-15T18:32:00.001-04:00

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.

Cancer Returns

2010-05-12T11:24:00.002-04:00

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.

What James Cannot Mean

2010-05-06T11:29:00.001-04:00

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.

God’s Wrath May Seem Ugly, However;

2010-04-29T09:25:00.000-04:00

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.

Worrying vs. Believing

2010-04-29T09:21:00.000-04:00

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?

Fireproof Joy

2010-04-28T09:24:00.002-04:00

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!"

The Problem with Vision-Casting

2010-04-01T09:37:00.003-04:00

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.

Love, Agony & Peace

2010-03-09T11:14:00.003-05:00

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

Democracy Destroys Churches

2010-02-20T09:42:00.001-05:00

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.

Single and Satisfied?

2009-12-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

Can life-contentment be attained in the ongoing absence of ultimate human intimacy?

1 Corinthians 7:7 I wish that all men were as I am. (content and engaged in life’s purpose, without having my pursuit of holiness sabotaged by the distress of longing for sexual intimacy.) But each man has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that.

Paul is almost-undoubtedly single again - and satisfied. He is living independent of a sexual relationship and happy, even enviable and wishes we could all be just like him. But alas, that is impossible.

Paul states that the pursuit of a particular marital status should be determined by giftedness and not be seen as a matter of spiritual attainment. Paul wishes everyone could receive from God what is required to cheerfully lay aside the human sex-drive and be single and satisfied as opposed to being dependent upon regular holy sex in order to avoid immorality. However, part of the pursuit of holy joy for those who have not received this spiritual gift of sexless satisfaction, will include marriage.

1 Corinthians 7:5 Do not deprive each other of sexual relations, unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. Afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won’t be able to tempt you because of your lack of self-control.

If you don’t have the gift of satisfied celibacy, you will suffer the results of unfulfilled desire, if and when you are not being satisfied by your spouse. Some of our relational needs God satisfies directly and some he satisfies by the use of means and when those means are removed, we will suffer. Suffering includes not being able to find or create a comfortable conclusion. It means wrestling and struggling with unmet desire. It brings us back to Christ and requires growth in our theology of suffering with-and-for Him.

1 Pe 4:13 But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.

Ro 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.

1Pe 1:6 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.

Can, or could the “all-satisfying” relationship with Christ subdue the sex drive? Can a human being attain this single and satisfied state by becoming more spiritual? In this world where things are not as they should be (James 3:10) the answer is. No. Knowing this will rescue us from the unrealistic guilt of “not being spiritual enough”. It should also cause us to know that without God’s provision of a spiritual gift, or a spouse, we will suffer. The fight for God-glorifying joy, requires choosing to suffer, when we must, with and for Christ.

I Don’t Believe In This World Anymore

2009-12-15T09:36:00.003-05:00

Coming to the place where one experientially loses faith in this world as the source from which our desire for joy will be met, may sound like pessimism and a loss of hope and in some sense it is, though it is justified. This loss of faith in this world is the starting place for the fullness of our hope to be placed in that which cannot disappoint.

Jonathan Edwards prayed: Lord, grant that from hence, I may learn to withdraw my thoughts, affections, desires and expectations entirely from the world, and may fix them upon the heavenly state, where there is fullness of joy; where reigns sweet, calm and delightful love without alloy; where there are continually the dearest expressions of this love; where there is enjoyment of this love without ever parting; and where those persons who appear so lovely in this world, will be inexpressibly more lovely, and full of love to us. How sweetly will those, who mutually love, join together in singing the praises of God and the Lamb. How full will it fill us with joy to think that this enjoyment, these sweet exercises, will never cease or come to an end, but will last to all eternity.

Paul said: Galatians 6:14 The world has been crucified to me, and I to the world…
15 what counts is a new creation.

A Theology of Breasts

2009-12-01T09:23:00.003-05:00

I apologize in advance to my readers if this entry makes you feel vulnerable or exposed. My goal is not that women would feel ogled or exploited, but rather properly esteemed and honored.

Our society has been said to be “breast-obsessed” and a biblical response is required. Breasts are used to promote and sell and seduce with great effectiveness and at great cost to both genders.

Proverbs 5:19 She is a loving deer, a graceful doe. Let her breasts satisfy you always. May you always be captivated by her love.

Breasts are intended for the sensual satisfaction of a husband. They are given to the wife as a gift she may share with her husband, that he might be captivated, enthralled, mesmerized, have every other thought flooded out of his head, except the overwhelming desire and satisfaction found in embracing his wife.

That which satisfies sexual desire is meant to remain between a man and his wife for their exclusive, mutual enjoyment which is a crucial element of love.

Proverbs 5:16 Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares?

Song of Solomon 1:13 My lover is like a sachet of myrrh lying between my breasts.

It is here that a man may feel accepted and delighted and at home. Here are the words of a man so comforted and enthralled all at the same time.

Song of Solomon 4:5 Your breasts are like two fawns, twin fawns of a gazelle grazing among the lilies.

If you were on a bus full of tourists and the driver of the bus came upon twin fawns, grazing among lilies, he would stop and point and everyone would take pictures. This is the attention, the joy and wonder, breasts are designed to attract. Here we see a picture of the beauty they are meant to provide to a husband. To abuse that purpose for any other gain; a flattering look from a stranger in order to boost self-esteem, political manipulation at the office, or to sell beer, is to distort and depreciate the good God intends. Our society has valued breasts, women, love too little.

Modesty and privacy and purity and sanctity promote holy joy between a husband and a wife. Properly valuing that experience of mutual pleasure helps us to understand the shared joy we may and must pursue with Christ. Satan knows just how to pervert and cheapen what God has made beautiful and our culture falls for his lies in droves.

Set My Desires On You and Satisfy Them

2009-11-10T09:58:00.000-05:00

Proverbs 21:1 The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the LORD; he guides it wherever he pleases.

Ezra 7:27 Praise the LORD, the God of our ancestors, who made the king want to beautify the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem!

Philippians 2:13 For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

1 Chronicles 29:18 “O LORD, the God of our ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, make your people always want to obey you. See to it that their love for you never changes.

Bring Joy to Yourself in the Bible

2009-10-16T09:21:00.001-04:00

A partial definition of the urgent command to “delight yourself in the lord” is to delight yourself in the Bible.

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.
5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him and he will do this:
6 He will make your righteousness shine like the dawn, the justice of your cause like the noonday sun.

There is safety and satisfaction and joy to be found in his word.

Ps 119:16 I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.

Very practically let me say how this works: If I am not, on a regular basis, finding truth that satisfies and fortifies my soul so much that I cannot help but share that truth when I am in conversation with friends and family, then I need to be engaging one question and one prayer…

What is wrong with my soul and how can I fix it?
God, would you retrain my eyes on your word and satisfy my soul with things so good that I hear myself sharing them in conversation and pondering them when alone with my thoughts.

This is a measure of how much joy I have “in the lord” and it is a more important diagnostic tool than any test administered at the hospital.

Pr 18:14 The human spirit can endure a sick body, but who can bear a crushed spirit?

The Sovereignty of Satan

2009-10-10T10:07:00.000-04:00

Two extremes to be avoided
1. That Satan is an equal to God able to frustrate and foil God’s plan.
2. That God is directly blameworthy for the evil that we suffer.

When we ask, “What is going on?!”, we need to know, we have a real enemy, with real power and should not be surprised.

1Pe 4:12 Dear friends, do not be surprised at the painful trial you are suffering,

Satan is afforded a degree of limited freedom to carry out his predictable malicious intent which is designed to destroy the work of God, specifically the sanctifying work of the Spirit.

Jesus Prayer is John 17:17 Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.
Satan’s prayer is Job 1:11 But stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."

God’s response to Satan is Job 1:12 The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."

Every human being suffers from this freedom that Satan enjoys, but His time is limited.

Re 12:12 Woe to the earth and the sea, because the devil has gone down to you! He is filled with fury, because he knows that his time is short."

Job was technically right in his response, but hugely, woefully, inadequate, when he said, Job 1:21 and said: “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away…"

God does not hide behind Satan’s skirts, letting Satan take the blame. God claims over-all sovereignty but the rest of the book of Job is necessary to point out the huge hole in Job’s simple view of direct sovereignty. Though Job’s simple answer was technically correct, its insufficiency leads to questioning God’s goodness and justice and blaming God for evil.

It is necessary to understand that God allows his believer to experience the malice of Satan for a time in a limited way in order to produce the saints of heaven. Satan is a hateful bastard whom we are free to abhor with all our hearts, but God is a good loving heavenly father whom we are rightly commanded to love with all our hearts.

God allows Satan a limited degree of sovereignty, letting him to do as he wishes that evil and good may be known. God is perfectly able to predict the results in our lives which are pain and purity.

We may respond this way to Satan Ge 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of [my soul]

Our sanctification is the ongoing work of God saving of our souls and is brought about as we suffer the malice of Satan that God allows for our good.

2Co 12:7 There was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.
2Co 12: 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.
9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

Ro 8:28 and we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

There is much more to say here concerning the sovereignty of man in all of this; how we fit in, what our freedom is and what we are responsible for. I am tempted to preach on this in 2 weeks. The response to this blog will determine that decision for me.

What is my life producing this very moment?

2009-10-05T09:27:00.001-04:00

Matthew 21:19 and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.

Matthew 13:22 The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.

"unfruitful." Thomas Magister says, Trees, which are "eukarpa of good fruit," are those, the fruit of which is useful to men for food; those akarpa, "without fruit" on the other hand, are those, the fruit of which men do not use for food: but akarpon never means "having no fruit at all," in any ancient writer. Bengel 1.187

Ephesians 5:11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

Galatians 5:19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

What our lives are producing can be monitored moment by moment. A meditation on scriptural truth and hope in the life to come produces the fruit of joy in all its various forms which is useful and good. Obsessing about the concerns of this life and putting our hope in money produces only leaves that are useless and worthy of condemnation. What our lives are producing will tell us where our thoughts are focused and this can be adjusted.

Plan for Holiness

2009-10-03T09:10:00.002-04:00

Proverbs 4
23 Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
24 Put away perversity from your mouth; keep corrupt talk far from your lips.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
26 Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
27 Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

The bottom line here is that protecting the heart in order to benefit your life means planning for righteousness and sticking to that plan for the day. During morning devotions we can ask, “What work needs to be addressed? What social engagements are planned? What leisure opportunities are available to me?" and then, "How will I pursue purity in all these things? How will I avoid the temptation towards evil that lies in every good?"

As I plan my work I can imagine it without anger but filled with thanksgiving to the one who has blessed me with ability.
1Th 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Jas 1:20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.

As I imagine my social conduct, I can picture myself saying only those things that build others up.
1Th 5:11 therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
2Co 12:20b I fear that there may be quarrelling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder.

I can imagine myself patient and attentive while driving, wholesome in my entertainment and loving toward my family and then carry that picture with me all day.

Planning and executing righteousness can imitate the same thinking process that accompanies any project that calls upon our efforts in areas where we are not experts. We imagine the process and refine it in our heads long before we head out to the hardware store to buy materials and tools.

Holiness requires planning an intentional course for the day.
How will you start tomorrow?

Compelling Character

2009-09-05T11:46:00.001-04:00

Titus 2:9 Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, 10 and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Saviour attractive.

Trustworthiness makes the faith attractive. A belief system that produces this universally valued commodity displays the merit of those ideas and proves them worthy of further investigation.

Many things would make a believer seem untrustworthy; immorality, emotional- imbalance, lack of love, misplaced priorities, lack of humility, unwillingness to listen and learn and change, but his character is meant to bring veracity to his claims.

2Ti 3:14 But you must remain faithful to the things you have been taught. You know they are true, for you know you can trust those who taught you.

The Difference Between Being Needed and Being Loved

2009-09-02T08:08:00.001-04:00

In our language, being needed is almost synonymous with being loved. If someone were to say, I don’t need you.” We would take it as a strong indication that we were not wanted, not loved, that we had lost our place of belonging and that we should consider leaving.

If someone were to say, “I love you, but I do not need you.” it could change the entire dynamic of the relationship. Rather than feeling necessary, but sometimes used, drained and discarded like an empty container, we could feel valued, wanted, even enjoyed, which frees one to love in the same way. The relationship becomes more mutual, more communal and in fact our place of belonging becomes that much more secure.

What if God did not need us but loved us? What if that were the model relationship that was intended to set precedent in the church? What if love were to replace neediness in all of our relationships? Would it convert selfishness to generosity? Would the reciprocity enhance and strengthen relationship and belonging as opposed to eroding it? Could we find security in love as opposed to anxiously making ourselves merely necessary?

Psalm 50:9 But I do not need the bulls from your barns or the goats from your pens.
10 for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine.
12 If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

John 13:34 So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.

1Peter 1:22 You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters. Love each other deeply with all your heart.

Do you love God or just love people?

2009-08-29T11:45:00.001-04:00

Do you love God or just love people?
Really Loving Christians is the proof.
1Jo 4:20 If anyone says, "I love God," yet hates his brother, he is a liar.

The Key point is this: Real love for Christians stems from our love of God, not our love of people.
1Jo 5:2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

So ask yourself…
1. Do you love the God of the Bible who ordered genocide?
De 20:16 In those towns that the LORD your God is giving you as a special possession, destroy every living thing. 17 You must completely destroy the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, just as the LORD your God has commanded you.

2. Do you love the God of the Bible who is sovereign over unspeakable suffering?
2Kings 6:24 Some time later, however, King Ben–hadad of Aram mustered his entire army and besieged Samaria. 25 As a result, there was a great famine in the city. The siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty pieces of silver, and a cup of dove’s dung sold for five pieces of silver. 26 One day as the king of Israel was walking along the wall of the city, a woman called to him, “Please help me, my lord the king!”
27 He answered, “If the LORD doesn’t help you, what can I do? I have neither food from the threshing floor nor wine from the press to give you.”
28 But then the king asked, “What is the matter?” She replied, “This woman said to me: ‘Come on, let's eat your son today, then we will eat my son tomorrow.' 29 So we cooked my son and ate him. Then the next day I said to her, ‘Kill your son so we can eat him,' but she has hidden her son.”
30 When the king heard this, he tore his clothes in despair.

3. Do you love the God of the Bible who condemns people to eternal judgment and suffering who have never even heard of Jesus?

Ac 4:12 Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Ro 10:14 How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?

Ro 1:18 But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. 19 They know the truth about God because he has made it obvious to them. 20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities––his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.

4. Do you love the God of the Bible who ordained His innocent son to suffer and die to pay for the sins of the world?
Ac 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.

Acts 4: 27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

5. Do you love the God of the Bible who chooses only a relative few to enjoy the eternal consequences of Christ’s sacrifice.

Mt 22:14 "For many are invited, but few are chosen."

6. Do you love the God of the Bible who dispenses his mercy exclusively based on his own pleasure?
Isa 46:10 My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.

Ro 9:16 It (Being divinely considered and treated as a child of God) does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.

7. Do you love the God of the Bile who sent his son with you in mind to personally redeem you from humanly unstoppable sin and the eternal separation from him that logically follows.

Ro 5:8 But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Ep 1:4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

Jo 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life.

1Jo 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

8. Do you love the God of the Bible and trust him to manage everything in such a way that he receives recognition as the supreme, righteous, perfect, beautiful One?

Because it is the love we have for God that distinguishes a Christian from a humanist. It is our supreme love for God that distinguishes us from those who have a supreme love for humanity.

The difference between being wonderful, funny, big-hearted, loving, loveable people who view God as a means of comforting others, and actually being in an unbreakable eternal relationship with God… is a supreme love for God - with all heart and soul and mind and strength and yet-unresolved questions. In doubt, we turn to our experience of his love for us in Christ and trust in his love.

1Jo 4:16 And so we KNOW and RELY ON the love God has for us.

Real love for others stems from our love for God, not our love of people.

1Jo 5:2 This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.

1Jo 5:21 Dear children, keep away from anything (including humanism) that might take God’s place in your hearts.

Can I say at the end of it all, “God what lands in your court, is a lot of stuff I find gross and disturbing and objectionable, but what lands in my court is a bewildering quantity and quality of love, the experience of which so overwhelms any sense of doubt that I cannot help but love you.

1Jo 3: How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we (sinners) should be called children of God! And that is what we are!

Listening In Loss

2009-08-07T09:30:00.002-04:00

Joy in loss is that internal evidence that God is real and aware and in control and good and for us and near and all-pervading.

In uncertainty, joy feels like peace.
Php 4:7 …the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Isa 26:3 You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!

In fearfulness, joy translates into confidence.
Jer 17:7 “But blessed (happily receiving invisible support and sustenance from God) are those who trust in the LORD and have made the LORD their hope and confidence.

In loss, joy is trust.
Ps 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.
1Ch 29:12 You are the ruler of all things.
Ps 145:17 The LORD is righteous in everything he does; he is filled with kindness.

In waiting, joy becomes patience
Ps 27:14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.
Ps 40:1 I waited patiently for the LORD to help me, and he turned to me and heard my cry.

In grief, joy remembers our consolation
Heb 6:18 We who have fled to him for refuge can have great confidence (consolation KJV) as we hold to the hope that lies before us.

In suffering joy sees what cannot be lost.
2Ti 1:12 I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day.
Ro 8:39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

In weakness joy abides in us as strength
Ne 8:10 the joy of the LORD is your strength."
2Ti 1:8 With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer…

And suffer we will. May God make us ready to face loss and suffer with him and for him. May we hope in him alone and be filled to overflowing with joy.

Spending Money on Pleasure - Part 2

2009-07-08T10:36:00.003-04:00

How much can I spend on my pleasure and how can I justify it to myself so I can sleep at night?

This is not the right question. The right question sounds more like, “How could I possibly give more to mission?” or, “How could I learn to be content with less so that the kingdom may advance more rapidly?” or “Could I eat out less, so I could do more to feed the hungry?”

Those are the right questions. I’m not sure they are the questions we are asking… yet. We are asking something more like, “How much do I have to give in order to ease my conscience concerning spending the rest on pleasure, comfort, security and status for myself and those who are an extension of myself, my family?”

After some reflection, here is a glib summary-statement of what quiets my conscience in this matter. “If it feels good do it.”

This is God’s advice with our giving toward the poor and the church and I think it can apply across the board.

2Co 9:7 Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

This divine mandate establishes a budget priority for God’s people.
As our giving is to be calculated to produce joy and not stress…

2Co 8:13 Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality.

…so all our spending should fall into line behind this priority. This is a “feeling” issue, but it is a feeling born out of hard facts. This of course begs for a family budget as an expression of long-term, joy-producing priorities.

The more accurate your budget, the more you will be able to enjoy generosity and meaningful contribution as well as pleasure-spending, within the confines of your income. A budget is meant to serve you in the production of joy and the reduction of guilt and anxiety.

Ac 20:35 It is more blessed to give than to receive.

Hudson Taylor discovered this and called it his “Spiritual Secret”. He learned to live with the absolute least, in order to give as much as he could. He found that the more he gave, the more joy he received. This is how he proved his faith and God’s sufficiency all at once. His story is compelling.

And this is, at least in part, the reward referred to in the verse that precedes the encouragement to give cheerfully: (2Co 9:6) Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.

Try this. Take ten minutes (or more depending on the state of your financial records) and calculate what you spend on pure pleasure in a month or a year.

Look at your credit card and bank statement and ask, “What did I spend on myself and my family for pure pleasure?” These things are not evil, but more joy will be produced when you keep in mind your annual pleasure budget and weigh it against your annual giving budget. In accordance with true hedonism ask, “What brings maximum joy?”

By this you will discern priorities and see where change is necessary in order to live out joyful submission to God in his continual presence rather than intentionally forgetting him every time you are considering purchasing pleasure and living with a vague sense of remorse and insecurity afterward.

With all the facts in mind and priorities that lie open before the lord, each of us can make unique decisions that maximize our joy in the financial department of our lives.

So the process of how to enjoy when spending looks like this:

1. Analyze & justify before the lord.
Does this square with a budget designed to maximize my joy considering my long-term (eternal) priorities?

2. Enjoy the planning stage

3. Enjoy what you have planned and stop analyzing.(for now)

Unexpected expenses and community needs will always produce situational challenges, but even these can be made more joyful if we have left some breathing room in our budget. Knowing these things will come along.

Could my money afford more joy than I am receiving from the pleasure, convenience, security and status I am currently considering?
Could I be richer toward God? (Luke 12:21)

Could He receive more glory, the kingdom be further advanced, the church more assuredly built up, treasure more certainly stored where loss does not occur, if I scrutinized and calculated my pleasure spending with the same forethought I use when calculating my offering and charity?

Is there a balance between my pleasure spending and my giving that produces in me a shared joy with God and others as opposed to selfish temporary escapism that leaves doubt?

There are more questions to ask, but I will stop here for now.

Spending Money on Pleasure - Part 1

2009-06-27T09:31:00.002-04:00

James 4:3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

It appears from this verse that it is categorically wrong to desire more money so that we might afford more pleasure. Pleasure-seeking is a wrong reason to ask God for more money and the reason he withholds money.

Is it therefore always wrong to spend money on pleasure? Is there legitimate pleasure, despite its financial expense, that we should be purchasing? Can pleasure afforded with money, lead to holiness or does it always detract? Where do we get our answers? Do we simply compare ourselves with others, justify our spending with private answers, or is there a biblical answer? In order to have confidence and peace before God in this issue, we need a Consumer-Theology.

Is there a right amount, a justifiable percentage, a dollar figure that God wants me to spend on my pleasure? Is pleasure that requires spending always wrong? If not, what verses would I point to?

1Ti 6:17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment.

In this verse, God recognizes our “need” for enjoyment and meets it. And if God gives “all” we need to enjoy, surely this points away from material wealth and towards the “all” that comes with Christ as in Ro 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?

The “all things” we have to enjoy and anticipate here are divine forgiveness, acceptance, and love. We have the Church, the Kingdom, holiness, the sure hope of a perfectly happy eternity, but these things are not afforded with money, so how do we really decide how much money a believer is entitled to spend on his pleasure? Are we prepared to listen to God on this point?

If the best things in life are free, how much does God want us to spend on making life a little better? If the believer learned to authentically enjoy Christ, would it free up money for mission? How can I look at my own habits without being condemning of others?

Repentance: A Gift from God Part 2

2009-06-18T11:59:00.001-04:00

Isa 55:11 …my word that goes out from my mouth… will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

God intends and brings about the repentance of his chosen-ones, by making certain the comprehension of his word, which communicates the reasonableness and desirableness of repentance. Once a person is informed and convinced, repentance is freely embraced.

The Bible’s reasonableness and truthfulness and unapologetic authority are used by God to light up the beauty of, “Repent and turn to God.” (Ac 26:20) But that beauty is not seen by all. All are not chosen, purposed, intended to see it.

Acts 9:22 Saul’s preaching became more and more powerful, and the Jews in Damascus couldn’t refute his proofs that Jesus was indeed the Messiah. 23 After a while some of the Jews plotted together to kill him.

C.S. Lewis in “The Screwtape Letters” explains, “You see, God doesn’t wish to overwhelm us. He’s put us in a position where our will can go in either direction. We are responsible for our decision. It’s what we choose to see that matters. In order for us to have that choice, God leaves things so that we have to seek them.”

This is at best a slice of truth; an occasional explanation of God’s seeming-lack of involvement. This could only be said of those whom God allows to freely reject him, to those, whose eternity is determined by their choice rather than God’s choice.

Those God purposes, intends, chooses to repent, to those he grants the gift of repentance, “overwhelming” is exactly what he does. Consider Paul’s reason for choosing to repent.

Acts 9:3 As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” 5 “Who are you, lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! 6 Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.” 7 The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone. 8 Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing. So they led him by the hand into Damascus.

It is reasonable to say from this text that God “overwhelmed” Paul, so that Paul might see repentance as the best (and only logical) course of action. This devastating combination of inescapable accountability and conviction and despair and alarm and hopelessness and dread and obvious need for mercy and new willingness to cling to the mercy of God, is the force God uses to necessarily and certainly produce repentance in the hearts of those he purposes to transform through repentance.

Those God intends to justify and sanctify and glorify are brought initially and then, again and again to a certainty of the benefits of repentance, sometimes overwhelmingly so.
By his word, he continually convinces, by small measures and by large, that there is nothing better that we could do than to turn from our sin and turn to God.

Repentance: A Gift from God Part 1

2009-06-16T08:29:00.002-04:00

1Sa 2:25 Eli’s sons wouldn’t listen to their father, for (because) the LORD was already planning to put them to death.

The reason given for their unwillingness to listen to a life-giving rebuke was because of something already determined in the heart of God.

1Sa 3:11 The LORD said to Samuel… 14 “I have vowed that the sins of Eli and his sons will never be forgiven by sacrifices or offerings.”

1Sa 4:11 The ark of God was captured, and Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.

It is God who grants repentance, allowing his chosen ones to see how detestable our sins are, providing also the power and the will do violence to them.

The conclusion of those who heard Peter’s account of the Spirit’s coming upon Gentiles was this, (Ac 11:18) “We can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life.”

This is our prayer for those who refuse to listen and for our own stubborn hearts that cherish long-held sin. (2Ti 2:25) “That God will grant them (us) repentance leading them (us)to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they (we) will come to their (our) senses…”

Sovereign God, grant us repentant hearts that see the horror of our sin in the light of the beauty of your holiness. Give us the determination and the perseverance to walk away, to really change and be all for you.

Looking AT the “Glass Darkly”

2009-06-08T10:30:00.002-04:00

We sing. Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord. I Want to See You!
Our demand / desire is no different from those quoted below…
John 12:21 "Sir," they said, "we would like to see Jesus."
John 14:8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

And this is Jesus joy…
John 17:26 I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
John 17:3 Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

Though for us there is some frustration, some impatience.
1Co 13:12 Now we see things imperfectly as in a cloudy mirror…

It only takes a small, self-righteous adjustment of focus to look at the surface of the mirror and its imperfections instead of looking at the likeness it is meant to display.

Our pleasures, our family members, our churches. All are fraught with shortcomings that leave us less than satisfied, less than joyous. Even the Bible provides only a partial experience of God, but then, all is meant to be looked through, looked beyond to see something else: the One to whom everything refers.

Ro 11:36 For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen.

We want to see perfection. We will. Just not yet.
1Co 13:12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.

Speak, O Lord

2009-06-03T09:23:00.000-04:00

There is a beautiful prayer set to music that begins this way,
“Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of Your Holy Word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,

I imagine this as the assuredly answered, waking prayer of my every day.

It is impossible to describe the utter bleakness and barrenness, darkness and despair from which I first uttered such a prayer at age 19. Certain I was hell-bound and in desperate need of God, I begged relentlessly, sleeplessly for a word from him, though I had no idea how he would speak until I remembered my Gideon’s Bible. And He spoke.

Now I live the antithesis of that deprivation. Now God is never silent. He never stops speaking his word to me.

Psalm 1:1-2
Oh, the joys of those who... delight in the law of the LORD, meditating on it day and night.

Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge.

Psalm 139:7 Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. 9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.

Psalm 119:105 Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

For those who choose to listen, who have been chosen to hear, God never stops talking.

Wealth and Joy Beyond Measure

2009-06-01T11:35:00.002-04:00

Today is the first of solitude and study on this three month sabbatical I have been granted to enjoy. I feel as though I have walked into a room filled with something greater than treasure.

Spurgeon writes concerning the, “fullness and richness of the Bible… it is inexhaustible…. A long life will only suffice us to skirt the shores of this great continent of light. In the forty years of my own ministry, I have only touched the hem of the garment of divine truth; but what virtue has flowed out of it. The word is like its Author, infinite, immeasurable, without end. If you were ordained to be a preacher throughout eternity, you would have before you a theme equal to everlasting demands.” Pg 23-24 “The Greatest Fight in the World” C.H. Spurgeon

John 16
12 “There is so much more I want to tell you, but you can’t bear it now.
13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own but will tell you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. 14 He will bring me glory by telling you whatever he receives from me. 15 All that belongs to the Father is mine; this is why I said, ‘The Spirit will tell you whatever he receives from me.'

Determining Your Offering

2009-05-13T14:54:00.000-04:00

Two questions can be asked when trying to determine how much money you should give to support the Kingdom, the Church and the Poor.
One is biblical. The other is greedy.

Q1. How much can I give without placing excessive strain on my family?

2Co 8:12 Whatever you give is acceptable if you give it eagerly. And give according to what you have, not what you don’t have. 13 Of course, I don’t mean your giving should make life easy for others and hard for yourselves. I only mean that there should be some equality.

1Ti 5:8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers.

Php 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything…

Q2. How much do I have to give to the church in order to justify lavishly spending on myself and my family?

James 4:3 …your motives are all wrong––you want only what will give YOU pleasure.

When we seek to justify our own exclusive pleasure rather than what is mutually pleasurable with God we will lack the joy that Hudson Taylor claimed as his “Spiritual Secret”, which is simply this: “The more I give, the more joy I have.”

Be responsible. Be joyful. God bless.

So! You’ve Decided To Leave The Church Part II

2009-05-12T11:28:00.001-04:00

This is an email conversation that I post with permission that stems from the Monday, March 30, 2009 blog entitled, “So! You’ve Decided To Leave The Church”

Sent: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 12:40 PM

In response to your blog about leaving the church.... I didn't feel comfortable writing on the comments...

Wow, those are some harsh words! Where did this come from? Although I agree with what is written, I can't help but also point out the other side of "leaving a church." We have left a church that we spent many years at, to come to BCC. We found that the teaching/theology had shifted and we were not in agreement anymore. I have heard of others who have left previous churches because they felt "worn out" from ministry involvement and didn't know how else to "take a break". For others, their children had friends at other churches and being a mother of teens, I don't blame them for finding any way possible to encourage your children to be fed the word even if it means moving to a new church. This kind of falls into "finding a church that better meets their needs." I don't know if I am just too sensitive and that is why I found that blog rather harsh or if maybe it was meant to be a reprimand! Do you feel it is wrong to leave a church? If so, how come you explained that [situation regarding a family who left the church] like it was perfectly fine? Sorry for all the questions. You can ask ---, I ALWAYS need to understand things thoroughly and completely, it's just my nature.

Hey Sue
Great questions! And I'm glad you ask them.

I have also had to leave churches, as we all do from time to time.
I have always left with either a celebration or a sober talk with the leadership.
I have no problem with people leaving a church because of distance or changing family needs or some shift in church philosophy or teaching.

My only problem is with people who secretly pull out, without telling a soul so they can test the church to see if it was really loving or not. People then use their test-results to justify their departure to anyone who will listen.
"That church never really loved me anyway!"

I don't think this helps anyone. In my years in ministry I have spent a lot of time and emotional energy tracking down people to do an exit-interview who simply quit after years of attendance without saying a word. After 10 years of ministry here and having seen my share typical sin patterns showing up here I feel it is time to address some of them.

There are a few more to go. I don't want to be unnecessarily harsh, but in this case when people use the sheep rather than love the sheep, I feel compelled to protect the sheep even if it means being a little harsh. I say all of this as prevention, with no particular victim in mind. I say it as I evaluate us after 10 years and before I go on sabbatical.

Let me know what you think, if I'm still being a too harsh...
I hope it could be understood as a passion for the welfare of the people at BCC.

(Lu 10:29) But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

Andy,
Thank you for responding so quickly. Yes, I believe I have a better understanding of your blog now. As far as harshness, I am just a very sensitive sort ( I prefer to refer to it as my princess nature!) I can't even watch the news without it disturbing my sleep. I'm sure the majority of people would not have taken the blog the way I understood it. Thanks for clearing things up. Susan