Our God - Unplugged!

Watch Chris Tomlin and Matt Redman explain how the song 'Our God' came about. A sweet testimony of God's faithfulness in writing music for His glory through His people.

"And He Received Him Gladly"

"And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.' And he hurried and came down, and received Him gladly...And Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'"
~ Luke 9.5-6 & 8-10

There are plenty of sweet things in this passage, but Zaccheus reminded me of how much we should always strive to remember, in that beautiful moment, how we "received Him gladly".

This helps to renew the mind in Christ when we reflect often of our salvation and conversion to Jesus Christ.

Don't Flaunt Your Personal Convictions...Just Live The Gospel!

Maybe in some of the areas that Christians are different, from those who do not follow after Christ, we would be better off in our gospel witness if we didn't purposefully make it public knowledge.

Mike McKinley says,

"As believers, we are necessarily going to have a lot of distance between us and those who don’t follow Christ. We live differently, love differently, hope differently. We’re citizens of a different country.

But it might be helpful if we limit the distance between us and the world in a lot of other ways. We don’t have to flaunt our lack of a TV and be weird and preachy about grinding your own grain. That only serves to put unnecessary distance between us and the people we’re trying to reach. Instead, we should try to engage the world around us, know what our neighbors care about, and try to inhabit the same universe they do.

If they are going to persecute us, let it at least be for things that really have something to do with being a Christian."

For those of us who strive to live God-centered lives, everything revolves around Him. So even our personal convictions, we would probably ascribe to them as Christian convictions.

But maybe there are areas of our lives that are just plain weird to the world, but the enemy uses those weird things to blind them from seeing the true gospel lived out in our lives and hearing the gospel spoken from our hearts.

One way to assess this is to ask the question, "When was the last time someone really asked me about my personal convictions and why I choose to live this way?" If they are asking, then you're probably, more likely, living it before them in a righteous way and there seems to be a freedom behind it. If they are not asking, then maybe the opposite is true.

Maybe.

(HT: Justin Taylor)

A Modern Day Parable

"Two brothers were walking on their father's extensive, wooded acreage when they came upon a young tree heavy with fruit. Both enjoyed as much of the delicious fruit as they wanted. When they started back, one man gathered all the remaining fruit and took it home with him. His brother, however, took the tree itself and planted it on his own property. The tree flourished and regularly produced a bountiful crop so that the second brother often had fruit when the first had none.

The Bible is like the fruit-bearing tree in this story. Merely hearing the Word of God is to be like the first brother. You may gather much fruit from the encounter and even bring home enough to feed on for a few days, but in the long run it doesn't compare with having your own tree. Through the Disciplines of reading and studying, we make the tree our own and enjoy its fruit. Among the Spiritual Disciplines we also find the tools of memorization, meditation, and application, which bountifully increase our harvest of fruit from the tree."

~ Donald Whitney -- Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life (p.41)

UP TO or OUT OF?

"You don't live UP TO the Gospel, if you could you wouldn't need the Gospel. You live OUT OF the resources the Gospel has given you."

~ Paul Tripp / Twitter

The great (small 'g') Tom Landry

"Tom Landry, coach of the Dallas Cowboys football team for most of three decades, said, "The job of a football coach is to make men do what they don't want to do in order to achieve what they've always wanted to be."

"In as much the same way, Christians are called to make themselves do something they would not normally do--pursue the Spiritual Disciplines--in order to become what they've always wanted to be, that is, like Jesus Christ. 'Discipline yourself,' says the Scripture, 'for the purpose of godliness."

~ Donald Whitney (Spiritual Disciplines For The Christian Life, p.20)

Grace Is A Progressive Agenda

"Grace is not only a one time act of forgiveness, but also a progressive agenda of moment by moment rescue and transformation."

~ Paul Tripp / Twitter

Error & Tolerance vs. Truth & Scrutiny

"If anybody comes along espousing some message and asking for tolerance, you can be sure it's error because error demands tolerance, whereas truth demands scrutiny."

~ John MacArthur

(HT: Calvinistic Cartoons)

How Would You Have Asked?

Below is a snippet of Adoniram Judson's conversation with his future father-in-law concerning his daughter's hand in marriage...an amazing approach!

“I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next
spring, to see her no more in this world; whether you can consent to her
departure for a heathen land, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings
of a missionary life; whether you can consent to her exposure to the dangers of
the ocean; to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India; to every
kind of want and distress; to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a
violent death? Can you consent to all this for the sake of Him who left his
heavenly home, and died for her and for you; for the sake of perishing immortal
souls; for the sake of Zion and the glory of God? Can you consent to all this in
hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory, with a crown of
righteousness, brightened by the acclamations of praise which shall redound to
her Saviour from heathens saved, through her means, from eternal woe and
despair?”

(HT: Life2gether)

The Epistle Of James And The Tongue/Words/Faith

Since December of last year I have been preaching through The Epistle of James. I'm now at James 3.5-12 and James is dealing with assessing the genuineness of our faith by the words that proceed from our tongues.

In my study I've come up with a little bit of trivia with regards to 'words' that we use.

One study online says that men use about 6,000 words a day and women use about 9,000 words a day. A different study online estimates that a total of 70-100 billion people have lived on the earth over the last 6,000 years.

Taking averages, let's say that each person uses about 7,000 words a day times 80 billion people since creation. Simply stated, you have a tremendous amount of words that have been spoken.

"Scientists maintain that once a sound wave is set in motion, it continues on a never-ending journey, and that, if we had sophisticated enough instruments, each wave could be captured and reproduced at any time. If that is true, every word spoken by any person who has ever lived could be retrieved!" (MacArthur, commentary on James p. 144)

Can you imagine how many sound waves of words are circling around us right now? Can you imagine how many words we could hear...even from the beginning of time? Who could possibly keep up with all of the words spoken?

Now consider Jesus' words, "And I say to you, that every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned." ~ Matthew 12.36-37

Our tongue/our words give an accurate assessment to the genuineness of our faith, whether it is living or dead. Our words come from "the overflow of the heart" (Matthew 12.34). We say what our hearts tell us to say. We respond with words that our hearts tell us to use. Our words will justify or prove that our faith is real and living. Or our words will condemn us b/c they prove that our faith is fake and dead.

God judges the heart. And God is keeping record of every word that proceeds out of our mouths. May God find our hearts to be tethered to the grace and mercy found only in Jesus Christ. And may our words always reflect where our hearts are...in Christ!

White Heart: Tales Of Wonder

God saved me back in 1990. I grew up in a musician's family, so I appreciated good quality music and one of the good things that God gave me was several really good Christian bands to listen to that I could honestly appreciate their talent and also aimed my life Godward.

I recently came across one of those "long time ago" albums....White Heart: Tales of Wonder. So I thought I would share with you one of those songs that just rocked hard for Jesus and about Jesus.

It makes for good sermon prep music on a Thursday afternoon!

And Yet One More....

Can you tell what decade this was in?

Self Control And The Barriers Against The Sinful Attacks Of Satan

"Like a city that is broken into and without walls...Is a man who has no control over his spirit." ~ Proverbs 25.28

"The good character of a wise and virtuous man is implied. He is one that has rule over his own spirit; he maintains the government of himself, and of his own appetites and passions, and does not suffer them to rebel against reason and conscience. He has the rule of his own thoughts, his desires, his inclinations, his resentments, and keeps them all in good order.

"a man who has no control over his spirit"

The bad case of a vicious man, who has not this rule over his own spirit, who, when temptations to excess are before him, has no government of himself, when he is provoked breaks out into exorbitant passions, such a one is like a city that is broken down and without walls. All that is good goes out, and forsakes him; all that is evil breaks in upon him. He lies exposed to all the temptations of Satan and becomes an easy prey to that enemy; he is also liable to many troubles and vexations; it is likewise as much a reproach to him as it is to a city to have its walls ruined."

~ Matthew Henry

Worship!

I had an incredible time in worship tonight. Stephanie and I and our two oldest boys, Seth & Micah, had the opportunity to go to Hope Presbyterian tonight and worship with Chris Tomlin. It was truly an amazing time of worship with over 5,000 brothers & sisters.

God really blessed us with His presence and I didn't want it to end. Truly a remarkable time together with the body of Christ aimed at the glory of Jesus Christ in all the earth!

Bring Forth Fruits Of Repentance!

"Therefore bring forth fruits in keeping with repentance and do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father,' for I say to you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham." ~ Luke 3.8

Our repentance toward Christ is made evident in the fruit we bear. Fruits of generosity (v.11); Fruits of fairness (v.13); Fruits of kindness, truthfulness, and contentment (v.14).

What a declaration of genuine repentance unto Christ...to be generous, fair, kind, truthful and content.

A Working Definition Of Self-Righteousness

"Self-righteousness is being more aware of and irritated by the sins of others than you are conscious of and grieved by your own."

~ Paul Tripp

(HT: Josh Harris)

Seek All The Good You Can In Your Life....No Really, It's OK!

"He who gives attention to the word shall find good, And blessed is he who trusts in the LORD."

John Gill writes of the one that attends to the Word of God in his/her life...

"but a diligent and attentive one whose heart is opened by the Spirit of God to attend to what is spoken in it; who lays it up in his heart, and makes it the rule of his conduct in life: such a man finds good things; things which are for his profit, edification, and instruction; good truths, good doctrines, good counsel and advice, good directions and instructions; promises of good things, things for his present comfort and future happiness;"

Let us find and discover all the good in Christ that we can as we 'give attention to the Word'.

Should Christians Care For The Environment?

Below is a really good answer to this question from John Piper.

Proverbs 14.23

"In all labor there is profit, But mere talk leads only to poverty."

In all of our defenses of sound doctrine, biblical approaches to ministry, God-centered evangelism, Holy Spirit filled preaching, Christ-centered families, and many others....let us always labor more in those areas and gain a profit in Christ, than just talking of those things and gain poverty outside of Christ.