Humble Heart

Thanksgiving Is In Season

2008-11-07T17:36:00.000-08:00

As AverageGirl mentioned on her blog, the Thanksgiving Holiday seems to be forgotten in this consumer-driven world. So she decided to post about things she is thankful for during the month of November. I thought, "Hey, good idea! I'll jump on the Thanksgiving Bandwagon!"

Today I'm thankful for employment. I hear on the news about the economic downturn and that so many have lost their jobs. I hear about companies tightening their belts and unofficial hiring freezes.

But I'm thankful that God provides. He has always taken care of Anita and me.

And along these lines I'm thankful for God's Word in Matthew chapter 6:25-27. "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? 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? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Living Water

2008-08-24T15:13:00.000-07:00

A life in the Spirit is what I've been desiring more of lately. I admit that yielding to the Spirit has been a fearsome proposition for me. Why? Well, I guess it's a control issue and I'm afraid of what the Lord would have me do or say and to what circumstance he may lead me. It's a mark of faithlessness on my part and it's silly.

Today I am humbled by two things. One was by a hymn we sang in church. For some reason I cannot recall the name of it but I love hymns that remind me of my great sin and of Jesus' great salvation. The other was an analogy that came to me while doing a filthy chore in my back yard: cleaning out a rain barrel.

My wife and I thought capturing some rain water and with it watering our outdoor plants would be a nice, conservation-minded thing to do. But we rarely used it. It would fill up with only a few hours of rainfall but we never used it enough to empty it. The barrel sat full of water for months and over time it became very mucky with algae growth. We emptied it recently and today I opened the top to clean out the muck.

You've probably heard similar analogies that illustrates how we become if all we do is receive God's blessings through the Spirit, but never contribute to bless anyone else. Perhaps you recall your pastor explaining how the Dead Sea has no fish in it because not only is it incredibly salty, but because it has an inlet and yet no outlet. The water just evaporates. As opposed to the Sea of Galilee which is full of life because it has an inlet and an outlet.

Back to the rain barrel, the muck came out but only by opening it up and using a garden hose and nozzle spraying clean water on the inside. The water had to spray powerfully to peel the 16th of an inch thick mucky algae off the inside wall of the barrel. And then I had to turn it upside down to empty out the mucky water.

Perhaps I should be more afraid of the muck can build up inside me when I don't yield to the Spirit. Anyway what can we learn from this? Very likely what we need to have a life in the Spirit is:

From John 7:37-39

On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him." By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive.

Prayer for Politics

2008-07-12T07:27:00.000-07:00

I was listening to TFL this past week and Alistair was teaching on 1 Timothy Chapter 2. There are many applications within these 15 verses. From some of it he talks about the importance of prayer. In the first two verses he reminded us how we typically complain about our countries leaders rather than pray for them.

I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone-- for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quite lives in all godliness and holiness. 1 Tim 2:1-2.

Anita and I are both discouraged with the whole Presidential political process. It seems more of a popularity contest. And we don't really have much to chose from if we're to think we should just set up a person in office and say, "Ok, do your job and don't make my life here miserable." But what Paul is saying is "pray for them and those in authority. Alistair asked (quoting loosely), "Do you think the Berlin wall came down because of Reagan's ingenuity? No, it came down because of prayers of the people of God crying out to him."

So our attitude should be more for praying for our leaders going through this selection process. There are likely all kinds of specifics to pray for. Think about it. Pray about it. One that comes to my mind is for whomever the candidate that takes the presidency would rely more on wisdom from above rather than the wisdom of this age.

Doubting Didymus

2008-07-05T09:18:00.000-07:00

I first took notice a few weeks ago that Thomas was also called Didymus. Most of us has heard the nickname, Doubting Thomas, but no one has ever called anyone a "Doubting Didymus". I think the alliteration would be more catchy, don't you?

Or maybe Sarchastic Toned Thomas? Read John chapter 11:1-16 and look from the point of view of the disciples that were with Jesus. Make your own observations but let me share what I noticed.

They had just come from Judea prior, where Jesus escaped from being killed by the unbelieving Jews.
They waited there two days after hearing news that Lazarus was sick.
Then Jesus says we should go back after knowing Lazarus had died.

Jesus' plan was to glorify God and his disciples were simply trying to follow him and sort out the circumstances. They told him, "hey, the Jews tried to stone you back there and you want to go back??" Not only Thomas but I think they all weren't sure about what was going to happen. And then as Jesus revealed all he knew, that Lazarus was dead and the was to go there to give proof of why they should believe, Doubting Didymus pipes up and says (I imagine it in a sarchastic tone), "Oh sure, let us also go, that we may die with him". I chuckled to myself when I read it from that point of view. More seriously though, I now observe that he was not focusing on Christ but on the dangerous circumstances they had left behind two days ago.

I think we all find it difficult to keep our eyes on Jesus and instead look at and try to sort out the circumstances. I admit I do all too often. And it will take some practice to become skilled at living, obeying, facing the enemy, taking on the challenge, or whatever it might be in the midst of and in spite of what we are feeling. I've heard Alistair Begg say that courage is not the absence of fear but carrying on to face the circumstances despite our feelings of fearfulness. And then what I've noticed is when I keep our eyes on Jesus the circumstances become small, and my fears dissipate.

Mother's Day

2008-05-11T15:56:00.000-07:00

I just got back from another trip to Spokane and Post Falls to see my aging parents. I need to post about last night as my brother Bob and I were talking with my Mom, 82 years old and dealing with Alzheimer's Disease.

Bob, who had returned to the States weeks ago from a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, was very tired from lack of sleep and traveling. He listened while holding her hand. I read a few Psalms from her Bible. I think Psalm 100, Psalm 51, and also the priestly blessing in Numbers 6.

We also reminisced about where we grew up. I don't know why as a kid I wanted to leave. It was great. Nice yards with a creek running in the back yard. A big vegetable garden. A few acres to raise some animals and a hay field across the road. I'm sure I'm making it sound better than what it was with all the weeding, lawn mowing, fence fixing and other chores, you know.

As I was reading the Bible she said in a sing-song voice, "But we'll all be together when we die..." She said it was something that popped into her mind while reading the Bible. I'm now sure if she meant it was from her childhood or it came to mind just now. She thought a little more and said there are other verses but she couldn't remember them. She thought it was something like, "Don't be discouraged when the family moves away, but we'll all be together when we die." I was so glad to be next to her with an arm around her letting her know it's ok while she wept.

I don't have any analogy or lesson from all this but how hard it is to be away. The blessing in Numbers 6 is really great and you should read it if you never have before.

From Numbers 6:22-26
The LORD said to Moses, "Tell Aaron and his sons, 'This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

"The LORD bless you
and keep you;

The LORD make his face shine upon you
and be gracious to you;

The LORD turn his face toward you
and give you peace."

No Greater Love

2008-05-06T11:11:00.001-07:00

What a surprise when I received email regarding a post I made a couple of weeks ago. I recalled the chorus of a song written by the worship leader at a church in Spokane to which I attended years ago. He happened to stumble upon my blog and sent me email. He offered to send me the album in CD format because I had lost my copy of the cassette. That was very kind and very thoughtful so I thought it is worth mentioning here.

Now he is pastoring a church in Spokane named Orchard Christian Fellowship. Please look at the link to see more.

Thank you, Chris, for taking the time to send me the CD of "No Greater Love". I've loaded it on my iPod, listened, reminisced my young Christian life in Spokane, and thanked Christ for carrying me thus far.

The Bruised Reed

2008-05-04T09:41:00.001-07:00

How many times have we clicked link after link until we find ourselves someplace we should never be. Hopefully fewer times than those of which lead us to something helpful.

Today it was helpful. Today I started with Average Girl, my wife's blog. On it is a link to Three17 by a blogger and pastor in Ireland named Mark. I noted that he mentions "The Christian in Complete Armour", a 3-part volume we own by William Gurnall, a Puritan, along with a link to another blogger posting about the "Puritan Paperback Challenge".

Though I've wanted to learn more about the Puritan's pursuit to Christianity, I also thought that to try to lift myself up to be Puritan-like is in itself a sin because it would lead to being prideful. But I searched for more information about the first paperback on the list "The Bruised Reed" by Richard Sibbes and found the entire text of it. This book is not about making myself pure but rather it is about realizing first what a sinner I am and what a need for Christ I have. Now that's a book I should read!

In my years as a follower of Christ I've found that I do not grow as close to him by the happy times in life as much as I do when after restoration from being bruised and broken. So let's see what Sibbes has to say about that.

Why Is It We Suffer?

2008-04-19T12:26:00.000-07:00

I don't want to dwell too much on family issues but I thought it would be good to describe what my dad is going through as he is recovering from pneumonia. While pneumonia is a tough to deal with if caught during your youth, catching it while you are are 82 years old could be fatal. For some reason I had peace in my mind and heart as I was visiting him in the hospital I knew he would pull out of it.

He is not just recovering from pneumonia but he is dealing with Parkinson's disease. In fact, the reason why he got pneumonia is Parkinson's is making it difficult for him to swallow and so we think he asperated on food or drink and fluid got into his lungs.

Why is it we suffer? It is said a cat has nine lives and if so, then my dad has the lives of 3 cats. He's a tough guy who has defeated the odds of death in the many times and in the many accidents he's been in. The most famous I can think of is during WWII his ship, a carrier named the USS Bismarck Sea CVE-95, in the Pacific was sunk by the Japanese and he had to tread water for 10 hours until a destroyer came by and picked him up. He didn't give up. He told me he wanted to but something made him think to keep treading.

He's tough and stubborn and proud. It's how he survived in this life. But in these latter days these attributes are more of a liability than an asset. Several years ago his health really started to deteriorate from enduring prostate cancer treatment. It must have dawned on him that man is frail and he's one of them. And then a couple years ago he started having heart complications.

It is not only health complications but he needs to make hard adjustments in life. He is not completely independent anymore. He'll likely not be able to get his driver's license renewed and he hates that. He needs more help with his healthcare. And his wife, my mom, is struggling with Alzheimer's disease for which he needs to adjust his relationship with her. This is just a lot for a man to deal with all at once.

I pray for him that he will be endowed with Wisdom from God, and an assurance of his love even in the midst of trials. Why is it we suffer?

Psalm 119:71 says, "It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees."

I had an interesting conversation with him that went like this.
Dad: The war in Iraq is for nothing. The war in Vietnam was for nothing.
Me: Yeah. I just don't see how it will stop dangerous people from blowing up innocent people. I don't think it will ever stop.
Dad: It will stop when Jesus returns.
Me: You're right! That's exactly right! Do you mind if I talk to you about God?
Dad: No, I don't mind.
Me: Are you prepared to die and leave this world?
Dad: Well, I don't know with all of done in my 82 years.
Me: Well, it's not what you've done but who you know.
Dad: Who you know?
Me: Jesus. We need to know Jesus. Not just know about him, but to know him.
Dad: You know Julius Caesar? After they crucified Jesus he washed his hands. Why did he do that?
Me: (thinking maybe it was Pontius Pilate). He couldn't find anything wrong that Jesus had done to deserve death. So he washed his hands because he felt guilty.
Dad: Then why did they crucify him?
Me: Because he was sent to the world to die as a sacrifice for your sins and mine. We have to trust in that.

In these trying times I hope and pray he sees the Lord in all this.

No Boy Knows

2008-04-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

My parents are going through a very difficult adjustment. Both are 82 years old and moving past the ability to live on their own. My mom has been suffering from Alzheimer's disease and we decided to place her into assisted living. My dad was toughing it out by living by himself, sort of. Actually one of my sisters has been visiting them in their home from once a week to fairly frequently for the past few years. And then my dad got pneumonia that put him into the hospital. With antibiotics and fluids he had pulled through. But because his "cold" lingers he also was placed into assisted living by the doctor's orders. And to complicate things Parkinson's disease makes it difficult for him to swallow correctly possible asperating on food or water making a relapse of pneumonia likely.

This has been a trying time for all of us. I've never before felt the frailty of man and such sorrow. But John Adams was quoted as saying, "Genius is sorrow's child." We'll see if he was right if some genius will spring forth.

While my dad seems to be recovering from pneumonia my mom is living a confusing and frightening life right now. I'm finding that she may have a bad dream or imagine some horrible possibility and her mind cannot distinguish the imaginary from the reality, the dream-world from the awake-world. One thing I know is she has a firm grip on her faith in Christ that has been grounded since her youth. We had a wonderful time together as I read to her some Proverbs, or some Psalms, or something from Matthew. She recited the entire 23 Psalm, with only a little help from me. And I would just listen to her as she would reminisce and I would marvel at the life she led.

While assisted living places are nice in that they take care of so many duties my mom finds it hard to find peace and quiet and so that the additional noise of the night staff makes it hard to sleep. I talked to her one morning and asked when she got to sleep last night and she said, "I don't know, I'm not sure. There's a poem that says, 'No man knows when he goes to sleep.'"

To see a mother decline in this way is difficult to experience. She has fears, and she cries, and along with it all she has chronic back pain. I tell you, this sort of thing shapes and molds a man and in the process squeezes tears out of him.

I promised I'd look up that poem on the Internet and read it to her the next chance I get. The title is actually "No Boy Knows". Read it and you'll see it's really great.

By James Whitcomb Riley

There are many things that boys may know
Why this and that are thus and so,
Who made the world in the dark and lit
The great sun up to lighten it:
Boys know new things everyday
When they study, or when they play,
When they idle, or sow and reap,
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

Boys who listen or should at least
May know that the round old earth rolls East;
And know that the ice and the snow and the rain
Ever repeating their parts again
Are all just water the sunbeams first
Sip from the earth in their endless thirst
and pour again till the low stream leap,
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

A boy may know what a long glad while
It has been to him since the dawn’s first smile,
When forth he feared in the realm divine,
Of brook-laced woodland and spun-sunshine,
He may know each call of his truant mates,
And the paths they went, and the pasture gates,
Of the cross-lots home through the dusk so deep,
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.
Oh I have followed me, o’er and o’er,
From the flagrant drowse on the parlor floor,
To the pleading voice of the mother when
I even doubted I heard it then,
To the sense of a kiss, and a moonlit room,
And dewy odors of locust-bloom,
A sweet white-cot and a cricket’s cheep,
But no boy knows when he goes to sleep.

Easter Chorus

2008-03-23T12:38:00.000-07:00

This is the chorus from a song written many years ago by Chris Merkling, the church song leader at Calvary Chapel Spokane. Well, these are the words as near as I can remember because I've lost the tape cassette and haven't heard it for years. But for some reason today, this morning the words came to me.

Come to the garden to see where he was laid
Come share the life that has conquered the grave
Come see the Master he's risen today
For the stone has been rolled away.

It sums up why we Christians celebrate Easter.

Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer

2008-03-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

Jesus, Draw Me Ever Nearer
(words by Margaret Becker, copyright 2001)

Jesus, draw me ever nearer
As I labor through the storm;
You have called me to this passage,
And I'll follow, though I'm worn.

May this journey bring a blessing,
May I rise on wings of faith;
And at the end of my heart's testing,
With Your likeness let me wake.

Jesus guide me through the tempest
Keep my spirit staid and sure;
When the midnight meets the morning,
Let me love You even more.

Let the treasures of the trial
Form within me as I go --
And at the end of this long passage,
Let me leave them at Your throne.

Shared Lives

2008-03-11T04:36:00.000-07:00

My wife and I recently returned from a vacation trip. We spent a week in New York City and then a week plus two days in Paris. As typical vacations go we did our best to see as much as we could with the time and energy we had.

New York is a franetic city. We stayed on Manhattan Island. People are always walking quickly. Streets and avenues are packed with cars, more of which are taxis. Our hotel was on Lexington and 48th street and we would walk out of the hotel into concrete corridors created by buildings reaching sky high. The noise was endless with cars honking and subway trains rumbling.

Not all large cities are alike. Paris has its own busy feeling with cars and lots of people and the rumbling of the Metro subway, but it felt calmer than NYC. And we had seen some of the most spectacular architecture. Probably my favorite was Notre Dame. And I shouldn't forget the Eiffel Tower with its impressive footprint on the land and its skyrocketing height was awesome to see too.

And then we had some time to spend with people people in Paris. Throughout the time we had the casual interaction with hotel clerks and waiters. But what's more is we had the opportunity at the end of our trip to get to know some people my wife had made contact with via the internet, associations with the quilt shop she works at. One couple was Genevieve and her husband Rajen who live in Savigny just outside of Paris. They had picked us up from our hotel, brought us to their home and we spent the afternoon and evening with them. They served us a full four-course authentic Parisian dinner. Another couple was Valerie and her husband Philippe. Philippe picked us up from our hotel and transported us to their lives. Valerie owns a quilters store in Marcoussis also just outside of Paris. She held a small party inviting quilters that are part of a craft exchange and we had conversation, food and champagne. Then in the evening Valerie and Philippe took us out with their two adorable daughters, ages 13 and 10, to dine at a local creperie restaurant.

For people we just met the generosity and hospitality of both families was overwhelming. It reminds me of what Paul had written in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8 which says, "We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us." I'm not sure what their religious convictions are but the Lord showed me through them a clear picture of what it means to share your life, an example to me to aspire to be like. They loved us and shared their lives as well.

God's Gifts, Our Responsibility

2008-02-20T12:20:00.000-08:00

Something dawned on me recently after discussing gifts with respect to God's provision and our responsibility in CBS last Monday. The question was, "How do you see in these verses [2 Timothy 1:1-7] a balance between God's sovereignty and provision for ministry and our own personal responsibility?"

The short answer was, "God gives us gifts according to his will. Our personal responsibility is what we do with those gifts."

We all want to be useful to the Lord. We ask, "What is God's will for my life?" and the most direct answer I find is in Romans 12:1-2. More specifically we can be a living sacrifice using our God-given gifts for his will and purpose and ministry.

I searched the keyword "gifts" on BibleGateway.com and found two types of these gifts: one seems to be for vocation, one seems to be for spirituality. Romans 12 discusses gifts that direct our vocation. See Romans 12:3-8. And 1 Corinthians 12 discusses spiritual gifts, which are manifestations of the Spirit, that direct our roles in the common good of the body of Christ.

So if we ask ourselves, "What does God want me to do with my life," we must first ask God, "Show me the gifts you have given me." Then it simply becomes our responsibility to use those gifts in a way that glorifies Christ.

For example, if I discover my gift is to teach children, then it is my responsibility to offer myself to teach children in Sunday school such that they see Christ in his glory.

Although this may be a stretch, perhaps this may be applied to determine what type of work best suits you. For example, if I discover I have a gift of leadership then perhaps I should seek to be a team manager at my job. Then that gives opportunity to serve God by leading diligently and honesty and fairness, not laying a large burden on the team members but give them resources they need to do their work well. And then I can acknowledge Christ if they are thankful.

This immediately led me to pray asking God to show me what his gifts are in me. Perhaps it can for you.

Gospel Is No Rumor

2008-02-17T10:55:00.000-08:00

We receive in our email inboxes all sorts of spam (unwanted advertisement), while not entirely sure how our email addresses have circulated to the senders. And we receive directed email that is not more than a circulation of rumors. The stories typically include sources that cannot be proven with cross references. Sometimes the phrase is, "I kept this a secret until now..." sort of thing, something that was witnessed behind closed doors, without the news reporters present, etcetera. As soon as I see that I'm usually skeptical. They may be heart-warming or inspiring stories and that may have come merit, but to pass off as an actually event when the facts cannot be examined are suspicious. Or most recently rumors about presidential candidates. I cannot say what is true unless I've walked along side the candidate all of their lives, which makes it difficult to vote without trusting the Lord's will with our nation and its leaders. Well... anyway...

Today I read in 2 Timothy how the Gospel of Truth is circulated which is the total opposite method of this sort of rumor mill mechanism. Paul urges Timothy to this, "And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others." (2 Tim 2:2).

No rumor mill there. Paul preached the gospel openly and in the presence of many witnesses. And he tells Timothy to entrust these to reliable men, who will be able to teach others.

The trial of Christ was open and his execution was public. Words he said were carefully recorded and carefully passed to us years later because of what Paul and Timothy have done by their duty of integrity. And those words, my dear, are what warms my heart.

LOST and Found

2008-02-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

After watching the season finale of LOST (read, humbly admitting to watch not such an edifying TV show) I thought, "I don't think I want to watch this anymore. It just makes me angry with annoying people." Don't you think Ben is annoying. And I mentioned this to my wife, Anita. We both agreed: No more LOST.

However, I find myself going out of our way to record and then watch LOST, the season premier. Ben is still annoying. Anita said, "instead of just tying him up why don't they stuff a rag in his mouth so they don't have to listen to him."

Yet, the show has small facets that redeem it. In the premier it dawned on me that the character, Charlie, knowingly and willingly gave his life to save his friends. This sort of sounds like another man we know from 2000 years ago.

Charles Spurgeon in today's devotional had this, regarding the infiniteness of Jesus:

The covenant is always described as being everlasting, and Jesus, the second party in it, is from eternity. He struck hands in sacred covenant long before the first stars began to shine, and it was in Him that the elect were ordained unto eternal life. In this way a most blessed covenant union was established between the Son of God and His elect people, which will remain as the foundation of their safety when time shall be no more.

The Presense of God

2007-11-20T08:38:00.001-08:00

I've been reading The Practice of the Presense of God by Brother Lawrence, a little here and there, just before bed, and at times on the bus. There is a lot of good advice about prayer and communion with the Lord in these few 62 pages. A lot of them strike a chord with me but here are a couple of quotes just this morning I have enjoyed.

"It is not necessary for being with God to be always at church. We may make an oratory of our heart wherein to retire from time to time to converse with Him in meekness, humility, and love."

I think of Micah 6:8 when I read this. And I think how much more pleasant our devotion at church would be if we pressed on being with God while church is out of session.

A little later on the same page it says:

"We have but little time to live; you are near sixty-four and I am almost eighty. Let us live and die with God. Sufferings will be sweet and pleasant to us while we are with Him; and the greatest pleasures will be, without Him, a cruel punishment to us. May He be blessed for all. Amen."

With this I think of 2 Corinthians 12:10 where Paul writes that he delights in weakness, insults, and persecutions. And from a study recently in Ecclesiastes I learned that the richest of experiences without God are meaningless, but going through daily toil with God is a great gift. Our flesh would have us believe just the opposite. So let us remember that our Lord is ever present, and his joy in us and our joy in him will abound.

I Cannot

2007-11-17T11:50:00.000-08:00

The overriding advice about achievement in our society is: "If you tell yourself you can do it, then you can do it. Just say 'I Can'."

If we contrast that with what the Bible says we will find there is an antithesis to this worldly advice. The Biblical advice I see is, "Say I Cannot and God will do it for you."

Consider the following 4 passages.

Genesis 41:15-16.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I had a dream, and no one can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."
"I cannot do it," Joseph replied to Pharaoh, "but God will give Pharaoh the answer he desires."

As you can read in the whole account of this, Joseph was able to interpet the dream. But he says, "I cannot" and credits God for the ability.

Daniel 2:26-28a

The king asked Daniel (also called Belteshazzar), "Are you able to tell me what I saw in my dream and interpret it?"
Daniel replied, "No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come.

Again, although Daniel does not explicitly say, "I cannot", he implies that he cannot when he says no one can explain the mystery but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries.

Romans 7:21-25

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul admits he cannot stop sinning, and I interpret this as, by his own strength; because he says, "Who will rescue me...Thanks be to God!" So he does have the ability to stop sinning, but it is by knowing Christ and by knowing his grace. When I say "know" I mean intimate knowledge rather than just mental knowledge.

Finally one more passage. And this helps balance the idea that we can just get what we want. We should be content with being in God's hands.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10.

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

He says he delights in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties. Because it keeps him from becoming conceited, and to rely on Christ's grace and his power.

Let us all say "I cannot" and then rely on Christ and his power for all things and all abilities.

Shadowy Copy

2007-09-02T13:27:00.000-07:00

From teaching in Hebrews chapter 8, Pastor Wayne of Calvary Fellowship made an excellent point from the verse regarding the priestly ministries and things done in the tabernacle back in the days of Moses.

Hebrews 8:5 says, "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and a shadow of what is in heaven." (NIV).

And he gave very good illustrations which helps us to see what it means to participate in a relationship with our Lord.

A shadow is a dim or dark outline of the real thing. If you see a shadow of something and start to recognize the outline of what it is, then you look for the real object from which the shadow is casted.
No one wants to just see a shadow of chocolate cake. Instead they want to eat the real cake.
And while the shadow or shade from a house may offer comfort from the scorching sun, eventually we go into the real house for the place to dwell.

It doesn't take much more to realize that our relationship with the Lord goes beyond the elements of a church service. Just going to church doesn't satisfy. And church should prompt us to seek a real communion with Jesus, through prayer, meditation of scripture, and exercising gifts the Holy Spirit has given.

Simple Faith and Death

2007-05-03T21:00:00.000-07:00

I tried to recall a story I heard on Truth For Life that illustrated what we experience with death. I tried searching the web thinking Alistair lifted the story from somewhere else but I couldn't find it. But as I was listening to TFL a couple of days ago (the message is titled "Down in the Valley, Part B) and there was the replay of the message including the story. This time I took the time to write down the illustrations because they are timely.

First he told a story about the simple faith of a child.

"There is a story of a Grandpa taking his grandson to the gravesite of his grandmother. It was in Scotland and they always have florists selling flowers out of baskets in the summer outside of graveyards. And so the grandpa bought some flowers and he was going to put them in the jar next to the tombstone. And he gave them to his grandson to carry and as they were making their way through the graveyard and grandpa was dispondent with all the memories that were filling up in his mind and the wee boy was plaguing him with questions. Where is gran Grandpa? Is she in the ground? No, said grandpa, we put her body in the ground but she's not there. Well, where is she, grandpa? Well, she's with Jesus. Well, where's Jesus?. Jesus is in heaven. Well, where's heaven. Well Jesus went up into heaven so it is up, at least in our minds. So that satisfied the wee boy and they continued to walk together. He continued to hold the flowers. And the grandpa got a few strides in front of his grandson. And he turned around to call him. And as he turned around he noticed the boy was holding the tulips up into the air as he walked. And he said to his grandson, "Why are you holding the flowers in the air?". And he said, so that granny can see them if she's looking.

Then Alistair said, "God has made of death a narrow sunlit strip between the goodbyes of yesterday and the hellos of tomorrow."

Finally he told this story.

"There's a man making their journey with his son. And as they made their outward journey they were travelling together they come and passed over a rickety old bridge, which goes over the river. The boy is anxious over the bridge. And when they made their return journey they discovered the river has swelled its banks and washed the bridge away. And so the father picks up the child in his arms and begins to wade with him out into the river. And as he does so the boy begins to cry. And so the father simply holds him closer to his heart. And the boy falls asleep as his dad walks with him into the river. And the next thing the boy knows is that he wakes up in his bedroom. And the sun is shining through the windows. And he's home. That's death for the Christian. What we fear most we never experience. We fall asleep in the arms of Jesus and we wake up we are home."

Fact is that we either know of someone who is dying or maybe is facing death ourselves. Unless the Lord returns before the end of our lifetimes it is something we all will face. Take faith in the grace of our Lord for this part of our lives.

Do Not Think of Yourself

2007-03-03T06:35:00.000-08:00

In our Thessalonians Bible study last night the teacher/pastor handed out his outline with the following quote at the top from Warren W. Wiersbe. I'm including it here because it helps explain more what it means to be humble, something that I've been grappling with in two other posts.

"It is important that we understand what the Bible means by 'humility.' The humble person is not one who thinks meanly of himself; he simply does not think of himself at all! (I think Andrew Murray said that.) Humility is that grace that, when you know you have it, you have lost it. The truly humble person knows himself and accepts himself (Romans 12:3). He yields himself to Christ to be a servant, to use what he is and has for the glory of God and the good of others." Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Joyful

I console with you, reader. Indeed, it is very hard to not think of ourselves. But I'm convinced by God's grace we can.

Encouragement

2007-02-10T09:14:00.000-08:00

We all have weaknesses and we all need encouragement. The Lord convicted me and humbled me as I finished up a lesson of my Hebrews Bible study covering verses 6:9-20. These verses are encouraging words for us "who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us".

It's not the verses that humbled me, but they strengthened me. The humbling part was in the Bible study worksheet itself. At the end there's a "Personal Evaluation" paragraph. It says,

"Encouraging words abound in these few verses. The author teaches that God initiates our safety and the Lord Jesus guards it for us. We have not earned God's kindness and care, yet God chooses to encourage us. Everybody needs encouragement. You and I need to imitate His pattern of behalf of those with whom we live and work and worship. Encouragement is often most needed when it is least deserved. Perhaps someone you know or love needs encouraging words from you right now."

The humbling part is the statement, "Encouragement is often most needed when it is least deserved." If I can be frank, I can think of a lot of people who cause, or have caused, me grief and my tendency is to judge them, or to hide from them, because I don't think they deserve anything better. But the fact of the matter is that they probably need my encouragement most. The folks with Community Bible Study didn't pull this concept out of thin air but there is much to say about it in scripture. Here's a few references.

Ephesians 5:1-2.
Galatians 6:1-2.
Luke 6:27-31.

So, Christian, I encourage you. If God gives you strength and He leads you to someone needing encouragement, do so. Practice this because we cannot be instantly good at conveying God's encouragement to others. Also, if you feel discouraged do not be afraid to ask someone else for encouragement.

Marriage for Men - Study 3

2007-02-03T08:36:00.000-08:00

Husbands, I have some rhetorical questions.

What do you do at work at about 11:45am, and the hunger pangs start to nag at your belly?
If you spilled coffee on yourself, what do you do about it?
What do you do when you're driving your car and the clouds break letting sunlight beam in through the windshield directly in your line of sight?

Ephesians 5:28 says, "In the same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies." I believe Paul is address the physical aspects of marriage in the following verses. I've heard some interpret verses 28 through 33 to refer to a husband and wife's sexual relationship. However I believe that alone makes it a narrow interpretation. I searched the Web and found the Christian Classics Ethereal Library discussion of Ephesians 5 which goes into many possible interpetations and I think the word "conjugal" comes up only twice.

In browsing and reading the CCEL commentary it brings up probably a very important aspect about verse 31 that says, "and the two will become one flesh". As it says, the reason why a husband should love his wife as his own body is because his wife is his body. And again as I have mentioned in an earlier post, we husbands will not know what our wife needs unless we are careful to listen. If you spill coffee on yourself, the problem is obvious and the solution is clear because of the senses that are natural to our bodies. To respond similarly to a need of our wives we must be sensitive.

Becoming one flesh and being one flesh is a manifest in marriage. Jesus says in Matthew 19:6, "So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." Husband, are you tempted to just give up? Does marriage seem simply impossible for you? I say, "don't give up". Just stop and listen for a moment. Does Jesus ask us to do the impossible? Suprisingly, He does. Didn't he tell a paralyzed man to pick up his mat and go home? Look in Mark Chapter 2 and you see He did, and the paralized man obeyed, and not under his own power but under God's provision and it was for God's glory.

Finally, some admonishment for husbands. Let what you do in marriage be ultimately for God's glory. Ephesians 5:22-33 is more than just basic marriage instruction. To me is seems to be a call for a man to be a man. More is discussed on what a man should do than what a woman should do. So let us obey God and be men, be leaders, and be respected by our wives.

Marriage for Men - Study 2

2007-01-25T08:40:00.000-08:00

I am clean before my Lord, not because of what I've done, but because of Him and His sacrifice on the cross. And even more, my heart is cleansed at the moment when the Spirit of the Lord washes it as I hear and believe His Word.

Ephesians 5:25,26 can be puzzling. It says that "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her (the church) to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word." The part that says washing with water through the word is the puzzling part. I looked up in the concordance the root meaning behind "water" and "word".

"Water" here simply means water. "Word" here simply means spoken language. Clearly, physical water does not flow from a spoken sentence. So I'm thinking this part of the verse is an illustration.

To further illustrate look at a concordance for this verse. Cleansing means to fully bathe. And this use of water means a flood, or waves of the ocean. And we do this through spoken language, the word.

"Nice hat, Honey.", "Hey, dinner tastes good", "Good job!". These are nice things to say and don't give up on these kind gestures. But these are small spurts out of a drinking fountain. Men, think of what Jesus says to us through the Word and how it overtakes us. It cleanses our hearts so that we can truely worship Him! Big waves and a full bath is the illustration and example Paul brings here.

Listen closely to what our wives are telling us. It's different for each one of us, and can be different during various times in our marriages. But listen and find from what it is she needs cleansing. Be thoughtful, be helpful, be encouraging. And pour out a flood of words. For me personally, I'm not very impromptu and I cannot think on the fly. I do better by writing things down. Write a letter. Write it in a card and leave it on her pillow.

Why does Jesus do this for His church. Verse 27 says, "and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless." You see how this applies in marriage? Who do we want with us, but a woman who has been cleansed of her insecurities and frailties and to be the woman God made her to be for you.

Marriage for Men- Study 1

2007-01-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

Marriage may seem to be both a blessing and a curse, even at the same time. A Bible study question asked, "What event in your life was pivotal point for either your spiritual growth or personal growth." I answered, "When I asked Anita to marry me." Marriage, it is good, but it is not easy.

I decided to blog a study on Ephesians 5:22-33 in which Paul discusses the roles and responsibilities of wives and husbands. I'm starting with Ephesians 5:22-24. Although it talks about what wives must do I shall focus on what the husband must be doing within this context."

In v22 and v23 it says, "Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Here are some observations:
a. The analogy is that the husband is like the Lord.
b. The husband is the head.
c. Paul mentions the church as his body.
d. He is the Savior.

First, this puts a tremendous amount of responsibility on the side of the husband. In relationship to the church, the Lord is the leader, he is the provider, he is aware of what is happening to his church, and he guides. He is patient, slow to anger, abounding in love. So we can easily see the application.

A new application for me is the guidance part. I would think my wife is old enough to make decisions on her own, even about small things. However, she looks to me for guidance. Doesn't a church or a believer often seek the Lord for guidance (or at least should)? Even for a small or obvious thing we pray, "Oh Lord guide us", or, "Lord lead us not into temptation". We as believers struggle and the Lord helps us, so also can be a tremendous help to our wives to guide. We as believers want affirmation of the Lord of what we are doing. Perhaps she wants affirmation from her husband of what she is doing.

I'll say something about observations b and c for later, and I'll say something about d. The Lord put something on my humble heart regarding this: the Lord is my Savior.

One time during my engagement I questioned whether getting married was something I should do. So I asked a coworker, a friend and a fellow believer this question. One thing he said that stuck out to me most was, "Well, if you want to be more like Jesus, then you should get married". He was married and he probably on purpose left out the details where there are times in marriage when you feel like you are being crucified.

Being a savior is not being a hero. It's being a sacrifice, so that a believer will have an abundant life and life everlasting. God clothed himself in humanity to be close to us and to really know us and that we can really know him. So the application is clear for husbands and what to do for wives. Dwell with her. Be with her. Sacrifice yourself to know her and so that she may know you. Take the responsibility even if your wife makes a mistake. Will a woman submit herself to a man who is an overbearing dictator, judgementally ruling from afar? Not at all!. But for a man who wisely leads with a sacrifice of himself, she will likely follow him no matter where he goes.

Men, let us not be stupid about these things. God calls us to be leaders, and he provided the perfect example of how to do so. "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." (Hebrews 12:2)

Grace and Peace

2007-01-05T10:06:00.000-08:00

Again I'd like to promote Truth For Life with a suggestion to listen to a message titled "Three Facts True of Every Christian". It is a short study about the person Peter and how we can really relate to him in our Christian walk. You can listen to TFL messages online here. Hopefully this message will still be in view of the broadcast archives by the time you read this.

Something that caught my attention and prompted me to post is that Alistair said this:
So we have Peter being obedient in a boat.
We have Peter being faithful on the water.
We have Peter being tough in the garden.
We have Peter running scared in the courtyard.
Finally, we have Peter being restored on the shores.

I won't elaborate further because I don't think I could say it any better than Begg, so please give it a listen.

At the end of the message he says a bit about grace and peace, from the greeting in 1 Peter verse 1:2 -- "Grace and peace be yours in abundance". This is what we need for tomorrow. If we are looking for a job, we need grace and peace. If we are dealing with a cantankerous boss, we need grace and peace. If we ARE a cantankerous boss, we need grace and peace.

I can name a good number of aspects of my life in which grace and peace would be good and is quite necessary. Think of how Jesus deals with us -- with Grace and Peace.

Examine Ourselves

2006-12-03T13:45:00.000-08:00

This week we had a break from our Galatians study. The class was canceled last Monday due to weather. So for study of the Word I continued my Bible reading track for reading the Bible in a year. I've been at it for over a year at I'm only on May. So it's slow going.

Yesterday I read this verse in 2 Corinthians 13:5, "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you -- unless, of course, you fail the test?"

My question is, How often do we examine ourselves in terms of our spiritual life in comparison to what the Bible says?

Soon after becoming a Christian I read, and re-read the Parable of the Sower (Mark 4). Read it now if you like but in short there are four soils, seed was sown on all four of them, and only one produced a crop at all. At that time in my walk with the Lord I immediately interpreted the first three soils with problems as "other people", and the fourth soil as Christians. And I interpreted the multiplicity of the crop as other people coming to faith in Jesus. With this understanding, and even with the explanation of the parable in just a few verses later I don't think I took it seriously the truth as it is.

A few years ago I started examining myself in light of this scripture and humbly came to realize a few things. First I could not categorize my heart as the fourth soil. There was no evidence of thirty, sixty, or a hundred people coming into the Faith by anything I did. So which soil was I?

Second is that the other soils are evident in professing Christians. For example Mark 4:17 says, "Others, like the seed sown on rocky places, hear the word and at once receive it with joy". Non-believers do not receive God's word with joy.

The third thing I realized is the crops need not be converts. In Galatians there is discussion of the fruits of the Spirit. The crop therefore could be made up of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, etc.

So even in light of this, what soil was I? What soil are you?

To be honest with myself I would have to say the third soil, those with thorns -- worries, deceitfulness of wealth and desires for other things choking the word and making it unfruitful in my life.

The sanctification process is slow. I have moments of love and joy. I have patience -- sometimes. But other fruits show up, fruits of the sinful nature. The biggest one lately is anger. I rarely have actual outbursts of anger but when I do it is remorseful. And more often, I imagine in my mind some amazing, academy award-winning tirades. This practice in my mind is just setting me up for more uncontrolled outbursts.

I think as committed followers of Jesus we long to see fruits of the Spirit exhibited in our lives. And as averagegirl says we should share these fruits with others. So what do we do? God's Word is true so let us all examine ourselves against it. And let us take action to live according to it, as what Hebrews 12:1-2 says.

I will never tell any Christian to try and solve their sin problems by their own power. In the past I know I have expected folks to just stop sinning in their own power, but no more. Some effort, or act of faith should be initiated in our part but let the Spirit do the work of helping us with our struggle against sin. In our own power we strive and succeed at avoiding sin, for a while maybe. Even if we were to conquer a sin in our lives, we would be boastfully proud of our accomplishment. And when we try and try, or even conquer a sin in our own power, then it just becomes an enslavement that burdens us, not something that sets us free.

Lately the biggest help for me has been by the study of Galatians and taking a careful look at what grace means. Other books in the Bible talk about grace too. Listen. Jesus' sacrifice on the cross for my sin and yours is what truely sets us free. It lifts the burden. And when we consider what He has done and why He did it that breaks us from the slavery of the sin and even removes the burden of avoiding the sin. Romans 8 comes to mind here.

In the "final greetings" part, 2 Corinthians 13:11 says "Finally, brothers, good-by. Aim for perfection, listen to my appeal, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you."

Prayer On My Mind

2006-12-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

Prayer has been on my mind lately. I just listened to a TFL message regarding prayer. My Galatians study is leading me to think more about life by the Spirit. And today I read a Spurgeon devotional that mentions prayer.

In the Spurgeon devotional for November 28 it includes, "Others have what is far better, namely, close fellowship with the King of kings. Let them be sure to pray daily for the weak among the Lord's people, the doubting, the tempted, and the comfortless. It will redound to their honor if they make much intercession for those who are in darkness and dare not draw close to the mercy-seat."

Look at who is on Spurgeon's prayer list: the weak, the doubting, the tempted, the comfortless.

Often I hear of prayer requests for the most dire circumstances. Someone has cancer, someone was injured, someone lost their job, someone had a death in the family. But I do not recall ever hearing a prayer request about someone struggling with doubt, or with temptation. Are these not the weapons with which the enemy wages war against the saints? When we fight back shouldn't we aim to bring the downtrodden closer to the Lord?

I'm not sure why we pray for a deliverence from affliction when it can be through affliction we may know God more (Psalm 119:71). I'm not saying we would harm ourselves in order to know God. But if illness falls on us, we can and should rejoice. (Romans 5) Also, I'm not saying we should withold pray about illness or other dire circumstances. Scripture is clear about praying in all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. We should have prayers of supplication and prayers of thanksgiving.

What a fantastic thing, to come into close fellowship of the Lord. Let us make prayer something we desire every day and as often as possible.

To Be Humble

2006-11-26T16:25:00.000-08:00

I wrote a post some time ago titled "What does it mean to be humble". I provided a reference to some writings of Spurgeon which gives an example of being humble.

In my further study of Galations the concept of being boastful and being humble has appeared. I don't think my last post really answered the question as thoroughly. So I wanted to amend that with Bible references on humility, or humbleness. By just doing a keyword search for the work humble in Bible Gateway here's what I found.

To be humble means to accept a reliance upon someone greater than yourself.

Deuteronomy 8:3. "He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."
1 Corinthians 1:30. "It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God -- that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption."

To be humble means to accept defeat or to accept a dire predicament, and to be obedient.

Psalm 107:39. "Then their numbers decreased, and they were humbled by oppression, calamity and sorrow".
Proverbs 6:3. "Then do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor's hands: Go and humble yourself; press your plea with your neighbor!
Philippians 2:8. "And being found in appearance as a man, he (Jesus) humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!"

To be humble is to accept the Lord as he is and to trust in the Lord.

2 Chronicles 12:6. "The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, 'The LORD is just.'"
Zephaniah 3:12. "But I will leave within you the meek and humble, who trust in the name of the LORD."

It is better to be humble then to be forced into being humbled.

Isaiah 2:17. "The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day"
Isaiah 5:15. So man will be brought low and mankind humbled, the eyes of the arrogant humbled.

But even though we as believers have bouts of pride and arrogance and the Lord humbles us, we have a hope if we accept our humble circumstance, or our humbling lesson. We can look up to the Lord in humbleness, and he will lift us up.

Psalm 18:27. "You save the humble but bring low those whose eyes are haughty"
Psalm 25:9. "He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way."
Psalm 147:6. "The LORD sustains the humble but casts the wicked to the ground."
Psalm 149:4. "For the LORD takes delight in his people; he crowns the humble with salvation."
Proverbs 3:34. "He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble."
Matthew 18:4. "Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
Matthew 23:12. "For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted."
Luke 1:48. "For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed."
Luke 1:52. "He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble."
James 4:10. "Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up."
1 Peter 5:6. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time."

Let me go a step further to speak to you, the reader. Last week I watched a movie, the remake of "Flight of the Phoenix". There is a scene when there was a struggle of power regarding who should be "in charge", the guy who designs airplanes (Elliot) or the pilot (Frank). After a bitter disagreement and a punch in the face Elliot goes away, pouting. Others try to console Elliot to get him to help build the Phoenix. We all saw that Elliot was wrong with his pride and boasting but they couldn't finish the plane without him. So it came down to simply humbling themselves and saying, "Please, Elliot. Can we finish the plane? Please."

There is no exact correlations between all the characters and our situation with the Lord. In the movie, they persuaded Elliot to help again, but it was on his terms which is not what the Lord wants in us. Yet, we can all be like Elliot: bitter, prideful, boastful, and immature. So what can I say to all of us who have become like Elliot in terms of our Christian lives, our relationship with the Church and our relationship with God. Nothing except, "Please, Christian, will you humble yourself? Please."

Run To The Battle

2006-11-14T06:39:00.000-08:00

There's a Steve Camp song that goes something like this.

Some people want to live near the sound of chapel bells
But I want to run a mission a yard from the gates of hell
And with everyone you meet take the gospel and share it well
Look around you as you hesitate, another soul just fell
Let's run to the battle!

When first hearing this song I thought this applied to sharing the gospel with the lost. However, from last week's Galatians study it equally (if not more) applies to sharing the gospel with believers.

In the "wrap up lecture" of Community Bible Study last night Don said something striking. Figuratively speaking he said, "We Christians are notorious for shooting our own wounded". He meant we judge, criticize, and put down our fellow Christians rather than gently restore them to a right fellowship with our Lord.

As we see with Paul and Peter and other examples in the Bible, living a life in Christ is a struggle. Peter struggled with falling back into Judiasm and causing others to stumble (Galatians 2:11-14). Galatians 5:16-18 says there is a conflict between the Spirit and the flesh. In Romans 7:7-25 Paul writes about his stuggle. These men were not insignificant disciples. These were apostles, they were God's chosen leaders. The best of men are men at best - as I have heard Alistair Begg say numerous times.

One of the questions in the Bible study asks: "How then should we respond to the struggles of fellow Christians?"

When the previous question showed me that our souls are at war with evil, the thing that immediately came to mind is the Steve Camp song. We should respond by running to the battle. Further using the military example, we should carry out the orders of our Commander and gently rescue of our fellow soldier. We should pray with him, remind him again of God's grace as best we can. Bring him to the Great Physician, and then get out of the way of the Holy Spirit.

Yes, I'm humbled again. In reflecting how I have looked at fellow Christians in err, especially ones of authority I have been quick to criticize. I think "He should know better than that!" Instead I should have responded quickly to bring him to the Lord, to remind him of grace. It is the full knowledge of God's grace that breaks the bondage with the sinful nature. Romans 6:14.

Resist Deception

2006-11-08T08:31:00.000-08:00

From last week's Galatians study there was a question to look at several verses and then asks, "How do these verses enable us to resist deception?" The task is to stand firm in the freedom of Christ, and the danger is confusion of the mind.

One passage is 2 Corinthians 10:3-5. This is the one that says we should take every thought captive. Oh how our own minds deceive us. Our own thoughts can betray us from obedience to Christ. Instead, whatever is true, right, noble, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy, we should think of these things (Philippians 4:8).

Another passage is Ephesians 6:10-18, the "spiritual armor" verses. We must keep in mind the battle we fight, we fight on our knees. We must equip ourselves with scripture and a sharp understanding of it as the Holy Spirit reveals to us. And we must know Christ and accept the gospel of salvation from our sin.

Finally, another passage is Colossians 2:6-17. The deception also comes from outside of us. We hear from others we must do this, or we must do that, usually to support their cause. And not often enough do we hear about the Deity of Christ, and that only by His power can we be circumcised of our hearts. If we think we are only unconscious in our sins and that we can resucitate ourselves we are in error. Rather we were dead in our sins, and only God can resurrect us!

Clothed in Flesh

2006-11-07T06:58:00.000-08:00

Whenever I get a moment in time I pull out my guitar to play. I've been trying to eek out some Christmas hymns as I strum or pluck chords. Hark! The Herald Angels Sing, as with many of these hymns, has such excellent proclamations of Christ!

Earlier I posted some insight from my Galatians study about being clothed in Christ. I now see there's a verse in this hymn that says the complementary.

Christ by highest heaven adorned
Christ, the everlasting Lord
Late in time behold him come
Offspring of the virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Please as man with men to dwell
Jesus our Emmanuel

Similarly as we should be clothed in Christ, Jesus chose to be "clothed in flesh". Our everlasting Lord did not just reign from Heaven, but chose to condescend so that we may be with God. He was pleased to be a man to dwell with men. Emmanuel (or in the NIV, Immanuel) means "God is with us".

What is our motivation, what helps us to carry on? It is God's love. That is our "ultimate, underlying, no denying motivation." (Wes King).

Abide With Jesus

2006-11-02T12:20:00.000-08:00

From my study of Galatians I see how important it is to seek a life in the Spirit. (See Galatians 5:16-25). Lately I've been humbly praying that the Spirit to abide with me throughout the day. Don't you just sense sometimes that you cannot get through the day without God's help?

But perhaps my prayers have not been so humble. Sometimes they are outright cries for help! I suppose if I am just looking for a working of the Holy Spirit upon my request then my prayer is nothing more than an incantation. And merely looking for a miraculous sign is for the wicked.

So what can we do? I suppose we can do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with Him. We should just abide with Him and have faith that He is with us. And perhaps we'll happen to see a real experience of our Lord in our lives.

The Spurgeon devotional for October 25th is a fantastic read regarding this. It starts out:

"She happened to come. Yes, it seemed nothing but an accident, but it was divinely ruled over! Ruth had gone out with her mother-in-law's blessing, under the care of her mother-in-law's God, to humble but honorable work, and the providence of God was guiding her every step. Little did she know that among the sheaves she would find a husband, that he would make her the joint owner of all those broad acres, and that she, a poor foreigner, would become one of the ancestors of the great Messiah." Read more...

Clothed in Christ

2006-10-15T19:22:00.000-07:00

Galatians 3:26-27 says: "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ."

One of the questions in Bible study this week asked, "How would you say the 'garment' of Christ Himself might make a life identifiable? (Read also Ephesians 4:17-5:8)."

The study previous asked the obvious question about how we identify people in society by what they wear. For example, an answer might be that we identify a person to be a fireman if he's wearing the firefighter's gear.

I struggled a little with this question because the verses seem to point out the negatives, like a person not clothed in the garment of Christ. (Time to ask Anita what she put down for her answer.) After talking to Anita I decided to write down all the contaries to the negatives to see what the garment of Christ entails.

(From Ephesians 4:17-5:8)
Purity -- 4:19
Honesty and trustworthiness -- 4:22,25
Righteousness and holiness -- 4:24
Self-control -- 4:26
Productivity, honesty, generosity -- 4:28
Speaking with consideration and helpfulness -- 4:29
Pleasing to God -- 4:30
Kindness and self-control, forgiving -- 4:31,32
Having a life of selfless and sacrificial love -- 5:1,2
Purity and contentment -- 5:3
Thanksgiving -- 5:4
In appearance of light -- 5:8

It is sobering and humbling to compare this with what I see when I look in the mirror, so to speak.

Galatians 3:27 says, "for all of you who were baptized into Christ...". Now, I don't think this just means a church baptism ceremony type of thing, rather it is a submersion of our selves in the Holy Spirit. Mark 1:8 say, "I baptize you with water, but he (meaning Jesus) will baptize you with the Holy Spirit". It is my prayer that we all seek a life in the Spirit.

God Has Assigned The Task

2006-10-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

I have a cold and couldn't sleep so I decided to get up, drink a little tea, and listen to TFL via one of the downloaded Podcasts. In the message titled A Call To Service (taken from 1 Cor 16:10-11) I was inspired to blog as I heard the tail end of part A. Below Alistair says something like this.

Paul worked with Timothy in the ministry of spreading the Gospel. Something about Timothy is that he is young, physically frail (weak stomach), and timid. And some folks would ask, why did you pick Timothy and entrusted him with the gospel? Paul would have replied and said, "I understand your thinking but God assigns the task."

One of the reasons people don't engage in ministry is because we are fearful. We are fearful of rejection. It is one of the debilitating factors in Christian ministry. We think: I might not be successful, I might not be able to allow my perfectionistic standards to bear upon the task, I might not look good. Etc...

Listen, if God has put His hand upon you, shows you the pink slip, sign your name on the pink slip and do the job. Don't let us make a circus out of it.

Accept your limitations. You can't do everything.
Assume your responsibilities. You can do something.
Don't let the evil one tell you, that because you are young (or old) frail and timid, that it is somebody else's job.

Also I'd like to add, yesterday I was listening to the last message on FRANgelism, a lesson from John chapter 4. From notes I took as I was listening I wrote that in the spiritual realm the usual pattern is to reap where others have sown, but at times we may sow and never get to reap.

Reapers need to be humble. Sowers need not be discouraged. The hard work of the sower will be honored in heaven. Recall that the last will be first and the first will be last.

Are we reaping? If not, are we sowing? Let us assume our responsibilities. God has assigned the task.

Redemption

2006-10-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

In last week's Bible study at Community Bible Study there is a question that says, "For what reason did God redeem us?".

There was a previous question asking to, by any source, define "redeem". I like using dictionary.com because it's quick and easy and is a lot lighter than my big book dictionary. There's even a theological definition included which says, "to save from a state of sinfulneses and its consequences". However, even a secular definition has a theological impact: "to recover ownership of by paying a specified sum". The Lord created us, we are his people, the sheep of his pasture (Psalm 100:3).

The "For what reason" question is interesting because I believe it looks at the character of God. It looks at His motivation. God didn't have to redeem us; he is soveriegn and no one else is telling Him to do so.

The answer that came to me was simply, "Because of his unfathomable love". In Ephesians 3:17b-18 it says: "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,

Going back to the definition of redeem we can say that the specified sum was Christ on the cross. Knowing that the Lord as put such a high price on us to redeem us should encourage us in how we value ourselves and others. It's not self-worth, it's God's worth. It's not self-confidence, it's God's confidence. And Jesus says we are more valueable than the birds of the air or the flowers in the fields. (Matthew 6:25-26)

Again I'm led to say how vital it is to thoroughly study the scriptures. Ideally it is participating in a mid-week Bible study that draws you to study at home each day, like Community Bible Study, or Bible Study Fellowship, or Lifelight, or even if your church has a mid-week small group study. If you cannot find such a structured study then I pray the Lord draws you to take it upon yourself, or gather a few from church and study. Don't just sit in church and think you are studying the Bible. Look at the Bereans, it says in Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

The Christian's Evening Work

2006-10-01T08:55:00.000-07:00

There are things, scriptures and quotes, I run into which truly humbles my heart.

From the Galatians study this week one question posed is this: Consider your own life-style. What changes would you need to make to act in line of the truth of the gospel?

The question is in reference to Galatians 2:14. Paul rebuked Peter because he was distinguishing between Jewish and Gentile believers, giving preference to Jewish believers. The question had me read Philippians 2:1-11. This passage admonishes us to put aside vain conceit and in humility to consider others better than ourselves.

What changes would I need to make? Oh man, where do I start!?

Earlier in the week I read this Spurgeon devotional titled, "The Christian's Evening Work". It challenges me to think, how much effort do I put into proclaiming the gospel message, that Jesus died -- not because he did anything wrong, or that there was mistaken identity, or as a martyr, but for the atoning sacrifice for my sin and yours -- so that people may be free from sin and live eternally. Here's a brief point from the devotional.

Life is so brief that no man can afford to lose a day. It has been well said that if a great king were to bring us a great heap of gold and bid us take as much as we could count in a day, we would make a long day of it; we would begin early in the morning, and in the evening we would not withhold our hand. Winning souls is far nobler work; so how is it that we quit so soon?

In the greater context he was addressing me and others who have "day jobs" but in the evening we may put aside the work of our Lord. I think of the spiritual implications of the secular story, "A Christmas Carol", when Scrooge is visited by the spirit of Jacob Marley. Scrooge said, "Jacob, you always had a good head for business." And in reply Marley says, "Mankind was my business!"

Heaven and Hell are serious, so shall we withold our hand to the task? Let the love of our Lord carry us on.

What Is My Life?

2006-09-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

I just finished listening to a series of messages by Alistair Begg through Truth For Life titled, "Seven Questions God Asks". The final question was taken from James 4:13-17, "What is your life?".

Something I appreciate about Alistair's teaching is that he finds and even makes every opportunity to present the gospel to his listeners. The text is a warning against boasting about worldly plans. And I would probably have just stopped with teaching about that. And perhaps I would have stopped at teaching that life is brief and that we should take every opportunity to live for God.

But Alistair sneaks in the Gospel message. Because without God's enabling power, we cannot stop boasting about tomorrow and we really cannot live for God. (what is below this is as close as I could transcribe the audio)

Tonight you may be thinking your life is worthless. The Bible is full of good news to those that think themselves as worthless. The Bible says that man, men and women, are the very pinnacle of God's creation. That God has made us in His image. That we are precious in His site. That we possess a dignity that is even unknown by the angels. And that image is marred because of man's sin. And that's why you feel the way you feel, and that's why people treat you as they treat you, that's why you treat people as you do.

But the good news is this. That the same God that made you has done something for you in Jesus and He has done something in Jesus so as to put the pieces of your picture back together again.

You may have been trying to fix it on the horizontal level. "If I can bridge the gap with her, if I can re-engage with him, if I can do this." And those are useful ventures. But the Bible says that first we must deal with it on the vertical axis, between ourselves and the God that has made us, coming and meeting him. "Well how can I meet Him? He seems so far away. It's as if His phone is off the hook." Well the good news is that we don't have to go and find Him. He is the one who will come and find us. And He has reached down to us in Jesus and offers to us forgiveness, died to bear our punishment, died to wipe clean our stain. Offers us a whole new family. Offers us a whole new future.

So that then we can ask the question, "What is my life?" We can then say my life is passing, that is without doubt. But my life is purchased. He purchased it. And my life is powerful, impact of a solitary life, lived for good and lived for God.

There's only one life and it will soon be past. And only what's done for Jesus will last.

Let us all, clergy and lay, take every opportunity to share this good news with each other and with others.

Testimony

2006-09-20T05:26:00.000-07:00

My wife and I joined a local meeting of the Community Bible Study, an organization of interdenominational members that just want to study the Bible. It's quite admirable. This term includes Galatians and Hebrews.

In Galatians the second lesson focuses on Paul's apostolic authority, that the message of grace was given to him directly by Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 26:12-18). Paul deemed it necessary as to validate the message he was giving to the churches in Galatia.

Similarly when we proclaim Jesus to others, we should also be able to provide a mark of authority, which is our personal testimony. In the commentary of this study it says:

The change in Paul's life was dramatic, demonstrating the power as well as the grace of God. However, we must remember that every conversion comes by God's grace and power. When an honest, kind, and a good tempered person puts his faith in Christ it is no less a miracle than the conversion of Paul, even if it is less dramatic. Human nature, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, cannot understand or believe the gospel (1 Cor 2:12-14). Whether you came to know the Lord in your teens or as an adult or were nurthered by Christian parents so that you cannot remember a time when you did not know Christ as your Lord, the Holy Spirit was the agent of conversion. And though you may not remember it, for each of us there is a time when we trust Christ to provide forgiveness for the sin the Holy Spirit brings to mind.

This, along with hearing other testimonies has inspired me to write mine out and share it with any who wants to read it. This is my testimony of coming to believe the gospel.

He Is Strong

2006-09-15T17:48:00.000-07:00

I've been incredibly inspired to know that it is not me who does God's work, but God through me. God has a purpose, and I can either be a part of it or despise it.

Often times I hear people say that God uses our talents . The Lord, indeed, honors those who glorify Him with their gifts. But what about those of us that are not so talented? This is what Paul said. "But he [the Lord] said to me, '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. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:9,10).

If you ever think yourself as weak and feeble, be sure to know that the Lord can use you in a mighty way, because it is not about our abilities or talents but rather about His power and might through the Holy Spirit. The following link is to a testimony by my old high-school classmate, Jeff Kuntz, who was disabled in a work accident 7 years ago. I recently met with him at our 20-year high school reunion. You cannot be around him without being inspired by his joy in the Lord. You'll hear how he glorifies God despite his disability. Please, if you have the time, listen to his story. Jeff's Testimony.

Jeff and Lisa Kuntz.

Look at Christ

2006-09-10T22:23:00.000-07:00

I recently read (re-read) a Spurgeon devotional on Hebrews 12:2. The verse is about focusing our eyes on Jesus. Spurgeon says something profound. He said, "It is always the Holy Spirit's work to turn our eyes away from self to Jesus. But Satan's work is just the opposite; he is constantly trying to make us look at ourselves instead of Christ". (you can read the rest of message #1359 at this link.)

Long ago I met someone who was discouraged by what he seen in other Christians. My advice to him was to not look at Christians, but to look at Christ!

We've Done Evil

2006-09-10T21:16:00.000-07:00

When we've done wrong our natural tendency is to run and hide from the Lord and be separate from Him. But that is not what the Lord desires. Indeed, the Lord sought after Adam and Eve after they disobeyed and hid from Him, our loving and kind Lord. (Genesis 3:1-9)

In 1 Samuel 12:20-25 it says
"Do not be afraid," Samuel replied. "You have done all this evil; yet do not turn away from the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. Do not turn away after useless idols. They can do you no good, nor can they rescue you, because they are useless. For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by failing to pray for you. And I will teach you the way that is good and right. But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you. Yet if you persist in doing evil, both you and your king will be swept away."

To note:
- even if we have failed and sinned, we should continue to serve the Lord
- we should not persist in doing evil, lest we be swept away
- the Lord's name is great
- the Lord was pleased to make us his own
- the Lord will not reject his people
- Samuel prayed
- Samuel intends to teach what is right and good
- consider the great things the Lord has done for you
- fear the Lord (reverence)

Let us not give up and turn away.

Free Will vs Predestination vs Simple Act of Obedience

2006-09-05T20:58:00.000-07:00

Have you ever been in the great debate of predestination versus free will? Then consider this Spurgeon devotional.

To highlight a quote:

Human knowledge has boundaries beyond which it cannot pass. Universal knowledge is for God alone. If this is true in the things that are seen and temporal, I can be certain that it is even more so in spiritual and eternal matters. Why, then, have I been torturing my brain with speculations about divine sovereignty and human responsibility?

And another quote:

The simplest act of obedience to Him is better than the profoundest knowledge.

The Message of the Cross

2006-09-02T08:09:00.000-07:00

I had the rare occasion to listen to Alistair Begg in person at Mars Hill Church Thursday night. And here I'd like to highlight a few things.

To keep us at ease before he launched into what he anticipated a long sermon he told a joke which was by George Burns. George Burns says he knows the key to a good sermon. He said you should have a good beginning, and a very good ending, and that you should keep them as close together as possible.

His message is based on 1 Corinthians verses 18 through 31 in the chapter. And of course he followed it with a 3-part sermon with subtitles in alliteration. The subtitles were that the Message of the Cross is a) Central, b) Clear, c) Crucial.

One takeaway I heard was that if a church takes its eyes off of Christ on the cross, that church will have troubles.

Another takeaway was not in something that he said but in how it is said. He does not think he has accomplished much. Rather he is being accomplished by the Lord. He is humble. He is completely amazed that the Lord saved him. He expounds on the amazing grace. He doesn't just pass off message of the cross as "matter of fact", but passionately preaches that it is an amazing thing to keep our eyes onto, daily.

Finally, I'll mention one more thing he said about personal evangelism. In the Q&A part of the event a woman asked how one should address her very intellectual friends regarding the message of the cross and salvation through Jesus. And he answered with a short story about an intellectual, a lawyer, who looked at the Bible and Darwin's book and said, using court of law process he could not prove either. Later in life this man went to watch the ending program his child was in at vacation Bible school. And the sunday school teacher closed with a short message that to this man didn't make much sense to him, it was a lot of nonsequiters strung together. "But," the man said, "but I am convinced that that man is convinced of what he believes!" The point Alistair made is that you cannot address the Gospel with intellect. It's not in how the message is conveyed, how clever we can communicate, but in our personal conviction of the Gospel in our lives. And that the Spirit of God will do His work in people through that.

I hope you take time to listen to Alistair's messages, they are free, on TruthForLife's website. http://www.truthforlife.org

Church Prayers

2006-08-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

One of my joys at the church I attend is to pray. From 10:30 to 11:00, before the service starts a small group of us pray for our church, our community, specific needs, etc.

I'd like to share many which the Lord leads me to pray, sometimes each and every Sunday. Also, here are some prayers which have come to mind as I write this.

- Enable husbands to love their wifes with an extraordinary love.

I used to pray for the problems with our church thinking I had some sort of a plan and ask the Lord to carry out my plan. But now I just pray, "Lord please take this broken church and fix it!"

- Please anoint and enable the Pastor with your Word and message, and give us hearts to hear.

-Forgive us when our fellowship with each other is short, too brief, and not encouraging.

-Watch over our ways as we seek your righteousness.

-Please give the leaders wisdom and power to humbly serve, wisdom through your Word. Impart wisdom to lead our fellowship.

-Preside over and guide our service today. Enable the ushers to greet cheerfully, and to do their tasks so that it doesn't distract from our worship of you.

-As we sing may our hearts truely bow and worship You.

-Lord give us opportunity to reach out to our community to show them Christ.

-Bless the children's ministry. Please teach our children and give them an impression of You that they can take with them this week, and indeed the rest of their lives.

-Bless the teachers as they teach and may it give them true joy as they serve in this way.

-Give fathers and mothers wisdom to raise their children.

From Psalm 119

2006-08-21T20:15:00.000-07:00

As I'm reading through the Bible the schedule has me set on Psalm 119. There are 176 verses in this Psalm so it's broken down into two days on the daily reading schedule. But I'm finding one could study it for two weeks and be blessed by God's Word in just this Psalm.

Two verses jumped out to me. One is verse 19. "I am a stranger on earth; do not hide your commands from me". As a new creation, a follower of Jesus, the worldly world we live in is foreign, like a city to which we've never been. So the Bible is for us a map. Just as a map helps a stranger in a strange city, so does the Bible help the believer in the unbelieving world.

Another one is verse 29. "Keep me from deceitful ways; be gracious to me through your law". The psalmist did not look at God's law as a bunch of rules to follow. Notice it does not say be gracious to me aside from your law, but through your law. He was seeking God's grace through the law. Many Christians think that once they are born again, that the law can be disregarded. This is not true. We as Christians are sanctified by the Spirit of God to embrace His Word and apply it to our lives.

Jesus said in Matthew 5:17-20, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

From a book titled "Know the Truth" by Bruce Milne there's this statement: "The Reformers also sought to counter the danger of over-objectivizing Christ's work. Luther, for example, insisted that while 'faith alone justifies, it is never alone' but is always followed by the works of love.

Therefore keep in mind that Jesus is the fulfillment of the law, and it is only by God's grace through Jesus that makes us acceptable to Him. And if we love Jesus we will obey what he commands. (John 14:15). Love is our ultimate, underlying, no denying, motivation! (the last sentence makes reference the title to Wes King's first album)

Am I Going to Heaven?

2006-08-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

This morning I was listening to part B of "I Want to Know Christ", a message taken from Philippians 3 on TFL's website. Alistair brings up something interesting. He described it this way:

If you were to ask Saul that if he were to die today would God receive him in heaven, he would say "Yes". And if you asked him why would God would receive him, he would say something like, "I was circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." (Phil 3:5,6) Saul was convinced he was on his way to heaven. But it was by the wrong reasons.

The Lord showed him differently. Jesus said, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads" (Acts 26:14)

After his conversion Paul realized all of this zeal for doing right was not helpful on his way to heaven at all. Instead, as he says in Philippians 3, "What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith."

Then the wheels of my mind were thinking. Notice how Paul came to the Lord. He was zealous for God but going about it the wrong way. Alistair speculated that Saul that night, after affirming the persecution and stoning and death of Stephen he couldn't get the horrible image out from his mind, and mixed in the background is his own voice saying, "you can check your coats here, leave your coats here, leave your coats here..." (so that those who were throwing stones would be able to move more freely to throw). It stirred in his mind and heart.

I don't believe there is a way to proclaim Christ to someone without making a personal sacrifice or risk being persecuted. We should not be surprised if our testimony would be responded to by anger or hate. We should be utilized in this way to help stir the mind and hearts of people to consider Jesus as the way, the only way of salvation.

Personally, let's ask ourselves, "Am I convinced I'm going to heaven?", if so, "What am I basing my faith on?"

Can we truely make a statement like this? "I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead."

We can desire righteosness. Even if we are not part of the Jewish heritage we could also become "Born Again Pharisees". If there is a change in our lives towards righteousness let it be a response to faith in Christ for our eternal salvation.

Intentions for reading the Bible

2006-08-03T07:06:00.000-07:00

What are your intentions for reading the Holy Scriptures?

I must confess lately, because of some controversies that are present, that I've been reading the Book with in mind to support my point of view. I've been reading with 2 Timothy 3:16 in mind but my heart has been on the defensive. Clearly this is not what the Lord has intended and this is brought to my attention from the following segment of a TFL / Spurgeon devotional for today.

Do not be lazy in asking, since He is so generous in giving. Pay careful attention to His Word now and at all times, so that Jesus may speak through it to your heart. Pitch your tent wherever He is so that you can obtain His blessing. When He is present to heal, may He not heal you? Be certain that He is present even now, for He always comes to hearts that need Him.

Again, the Lord is calling me to know Him, not just know of Him. Oh Lord, how my heart needs you.

Love, Light, and Fire

2006-07-17T19:32:00.000-07:00

I was listening to TFL today and Alistair Begg said something that sparked a thought. To summarize the point he said, God is Love, God is Light, and God is Fire. God doesn't condone sin. His Love has found a way to expose sin because He is Light. And to consume it because He is Fire without destroying the sinner because He is Love.

The thought in my mind that was sparked is something from the Book of Daniel in chapter 3, when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were thrown into the fiery furnace. They were bound up and thrown in. The fire was so hot that it consumed the soldiers who threw them in. To King Nebuchadnezzar's amazement, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were unbound, walking around in the furnace unharmed. And that there was a fourth person walking with them.

Perhaps there are some illustrative parallels, in that the sin in our lives bind us and God as Fire consumes our sin but leaves us unharmed. And in our freedom from sin the Lord walks with us.

As a sinner, this is why it is so important to go to God.

Powerful Ministry

2006-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

I enjoy the TruthForLife newletters I get from Alistair Begg. He's always given me encouragement to press on with my life in Christ. In the July news letter he expressed the importance of the fullfillment of the Great Commission. And he says, "I am reminded of the hymn which exhorts us: 'Rescue the perishing, care for the dying, tell them of Jesus, mighty to save!'" He also included, "Let me encourage you to make and take every opportunity to kindly, sensitively, and strightforwardly share the Good News with those you meet. God helping me, I will endeavor to do the same. "

But I confess my heart has not been too humble lately. One of my weaknesses is that I'm quick to judge. (maybe because I'm reading Judges). However, I've been kindly reminded that I should maintain gentleness and self-control as it says in Galatians 5:22,23. And this carries over in my life at home, church, and work. So by the Spirit's enabling power I shall do so.

One more disjuncted thing to note. My sister forwared me an email where youngsters were asked what they thought love meant. They have the most clever ideas that we adults should take note.

Probably my favorite is this:

Billy, age 4, said: "When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."

And then at the end of several other examples it had this, which I must include here.

'The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry"'

What a powerful way to minister.

Despise Vile Men

2006-07-10T07:01:00.000-07:00

"Lord, how can we despise vile men and yet be able to dwell in your sanctuary?"

I ran across a blog post from The Armory which discussed worship, not just the music in church but all of worship. The question it addresses is, "What is acceptable worship in the sight of God?" And the pastor answers this question by studing Psalm 15. I had not before thought of the first verse as a being related to worship, but it makes sense that being in God's presence would cause us to worship.

The blog post is worth reading and if you have more time read the link to the PDF article.

In re-reading Psalm 15 again I took notice that part of verse 4 says "who despises a vile man". I thought, "how can we be in a state of worship if our hearts are despising vile men? Isn't that being hateful?".

In learning to study the Bible I've always been taught that the Bible will not contradict itself, and if I think I've found a contradiction, I have the wrong interpretation of the text. I can find numerous verses that say we ought to love our enemies. So what does this verse mean, "to despise"?

There are a few definitions of the word "despise". Dictionary.com has these three:

Despise (v.)

To regard with contempt or scorn: despised all cowards and flatterers.
To dislike intensely; loathe: despised the frigid weather in January.
To regard as unworthy of one's interest or concern: despised any thought of their own safety.

Note that although despise is a verb but not a physical action. But in keeping with obedience with scripture perhaps the third definition fits. So when verse 4 says "who despises a vile man" it can mean "who regards as unworthy any interest or concern in a vile man". In other words, don't let the vile men in the world bother you. They are of no concern to you.

To me this is both encouraging and discouraging. First, it is discouraging because so much evil surrounds us, and being emotional creatures it is difficult not to react. Second, it is encouraging that God's Word doesn't instruct us to take up battle with the world's issues as the world would have us do. Ephesians 6 says our struggle is not against flesh and blood. According to Jesus we should worship in spirit in truth. Our hearts will be raised to worship the Father, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim.

Patience in Trials

2006-07-08T08:27:00.000-07:00

The following TFL devotional helps us deal with trials and patience in our faith.

LEAD ME IN YOUR TRUTH AND TEACH ME, FOR YOU ARE THE GOD OF MY SALVATION; FOR YOU I WAIT ALL THE DAY LONG.

There's a line that caught my heart and humbled me:

We shall not grow weary of waiting upon God if we remember how long and how graciously He once waited for us.

If we think this through it should be incredibly convicting to us when we are impatient with waiting on the Lord to deliver us from our trials.

I told my wife that the Lord waited patiently for me for 22 years, and even still waits as I'm growing in Him. But she said the Lord didn't wait that long for her. I guess the Lord was impatient with her. (*grin*)

Friends

2006-07-04T09:18:00.000-07:00

I'm reading "Love Life For Every Married Couple" (for the third time!!) because there are elemental truths about my marriage relationship which seem to fade in my mind and heart. It fades I believe because the details of how to love do not come naturally to me. So it's back to the book and I shall try to reinforce what I learned in 13 years of marriage, and to measure against it how I am actually doing. I must be constantly reminded.

In Chapter 9, Becoming Best Friends" it describes a type of love called "phileo" love. The author writes, "Consider these three ingredients of friendship and phileo love: comradeship, companionship, and communication. Each begins with com, the Latin for "together." Comradeship literally means "together in the same chamber or room"; companionship literally means "taking bread together"; communication literally means "possessing together."

Now as I read this it looks like this can be applied to any friendship, not just between husband and wife.

The book doesn't describe it but here are my thoughts on each of those ingredients and how to apply it to the general friendship. (please, you are welcome to differ in your opinion or view).
1. The literal essence of comrades sharing the same room can be more generalized to people sharing the same creed, or the same vision.
2. When people eat there is a sense of relaxation and neutrality. Eating a meal together people do not confront and argue (otherwise they may choke on their sandwich). So companionship can possible by applied in friendship to take the time learn about the other person. And why not do it while eating.
3. Communication has always been about talking and listening in my mind. The literal meaning is probably focusing on the "commune" part of the word. However, when we talk to each other we are not really communicating if we are not listening equally. In a commune, the people share common articles (you get to use it, now I get to use, and so on) and they belong to everyone equally. If when we talk and take over the conversation, we are not communicating or communing.

As we can see, being a true friend is deep. It requires commitment. It requires a lot of effort. It requires selflessness. This is something I learned from my wife early in our marriage. I thought the word "friend" meant any acquaintance, but I was wrong.

Joshua Lesson

2006-06-30T18:59:00.000-07:00

In my effort to read the Bible in a year I have found difficulty in reading Joshua. Much of the middle of it, chapters 13 through 21, deals with the divisions of the towns, and villages and pasturelands for the clans. Perhaps some day I'll see a significance in it. But right now I would much prefer to read about something historical, or an epistle, something I can reflect on and allow the Lord to show me how it applies to life.

And then I read chapter 22 and I found some interesting observations.
1. Joshua first "preaches" and reminds the tribes of all that the Lord has done for their people (vv 1-13). He glorifies God, and it is an encouragement to them.
2. Then Joshua rebukes the tribes. He says, "Now fear the LORD and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your forefathers worshiped beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. (v 14)
3. He publicly declares where he stands. He says, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." (v 15)

There's an interesting response from the people which I think we can all relate to.

4. The people answered, "Far be it from us to forsake the LORD to serve other gods!". But it is evident they were still sinning by reading v 23, "Now then," said Joshua, "throw away the foreign gods that are among you and yield your hearts to the LORD, the God of Isreal."

So, even though the people believed they had the right knowledge and the right attitude they were still sinning; specifically, they had foreign gods among them. My understanding of this passage is that the people didn't realize their error. But Joshua knew it. He did not assume the people would do the right thing when they simply said, "we will serve the LORD". He specifically told them, "throw away the foreign gods."

I have a couple take-aways.

1. Most Christians today don't point out specific sins in our lives lest they be called harsh and judgemental. So we must ask ourselves, "Am I really living a right life, what is the evidence? Or do I think I'm serving the LORD while subconciously holding onto sin (secret or obvious), or an idol?". Jesus has pointed out, take care to remove the "plank" from our own eye. And don't stop there, then you can see clearly to remove the speck of sawdust from your brother's eye. We are still our brother's keeper.
2. For the spiritual leader, take care to call out sin for what it is and tell people to do what's right. But not before taking a stand in your own life and living out the verse, "But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

There's a bit more to this chapter I can go on about. Perhaps on another blog post.

As the Word points out the spirit of the antichrist is among us, and that love of most has grown cold. So it is time to serve the Lord. As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Lifting Up and Growing

2006-06-24T19:31:00.000-07:00

Once a month we hold a men's prayer breakfast as a ministry for the men in our church. Although, this morning it was a very intimate group of only 4 men. Despite the small size, the Lord proved to be faithful. We discussed the needs of the church and prayed for about 30 minutes as the Spirit led. What an amazing way to serve God, by simply lifting up the bretheren and the needs of our church in prayer.

I hope our church will grow. Not necessarily in numbers, but in growing to be better leaders among the men, and better servants for our families the community around us. And to grow in courage to live in a Christ-like way.

Worship Noise

2006-06-16T19:49:00.000-07:00

I enjoy reading another blog titled Three17 updated by a pastor in Ireland. And in his most recent post he realized he was addicted to noise after reading a Seattle Time article. You can read his post here.

Someone else commented on his post to further assert that church services in America are generally noisy. He objects to electricity in worship but more generally he objects to a loud and noisy worship service. Here's a quote from it.

What is it in American evangelical churches that compels so many to combine most of the worst elements of pop culture with worship? How is it that the great myth of "a little is great, a lot must be greater" became the dominant paradigm in Christian ministries? How is it that people can worship worship, and yet fail to worship God? How is it that silence has become so dead to so many Christians, and electrified noise the very essence of God's voice?

You can read the entire blogpost here titled, "When God is Lost In The Sound".

I cannot judge another man's heart, but for myself I rarely worship with a lot of noise going on. From what I understand what true worship is, for me it's usually when I'm in a deeper meditation of God's Word in front of me.

Lord, help me to see what is good, right, and true in this matter.

Quality vs Quantity

2006-06-14T22:36:00.000-07:00

I say, "huzzah to the small church!" Of course, I'm supportive since I go to a small church myself. The following article from Christianity Today describes some advantages to the small church.

Here's a good quote:

"Second is a shift to the relevance of small churches. One of our most surprising discoveries is that (while there are some notable exceptions) the bigger a church grows, the worse it becomes both in quality and in its capability to reach new people for Christ. In few ways is the bigger church a better church."

But it seems to me this article attributes quality music with true worship of the Lord.

"In a crowd of 5,000, to sing worship songs and to have higher quality music is more inspiring than being together with eight other people and a guitarist who can play only three chords."

Just because the music is of higher quality it does not mean the ability to worship the Lord is greater. Indeed, Van Halen plays high quality music.

In general I hope the reader understands that the power of the church comes from our Lord Jesus, regardless of the numbers.

May God be praised!

Worship

2006-06-09T07:16:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to worship?

During "worship time" at most evangelical Christian churches we sing songs. But are we worshiping, by definition?

Definition. Worship: The reverent love and devotion accorded a deity, an idol, or a sacred object.

And we sing "praise songs". But what is praise?

Definition: Praise: offering words of homage as an act of worship.

Homage? That's a fun word. Let's look at that.

Definition: Homage: Special honor or respect shown or expressed publicly.

So looking at book definition, worship is not necessarily singing songs to God. Rather it can be any act in which we devote solely to the Lord. Perhaps personal time in prayer, or time spent reading the Bible, or and act of obedience in an area of your life despite your personal desire. But it could include singing praise songs.

I've notice that songs we sing in church lately are loosely, if at all, praise songs. It seems to me few contain words that would be showing respect to the Lord. Rather they seem to be more inspiration -- like encouraging others to look to God. Or they are a witness to others -- like saying, hey I believe in God. Not that these are bad things but what deepens our relationship with our Lord?

I remember being part of a college-n-career church group and the leader would have us sing a variety of songs. Some were inspiration or affirmation of faith, but we always ended with a song that was purely praise by definition of the word.

In a church service I see it is the responsibility of the leader to lead the congregation in corporate worship. But also, it is the responsibility of the congregation to follow, to take on the act of worship.

There is an entire series about worship taught by TruthForLife which is probably worth investing in. In a description of what the series is about it says:

There can surely be no more vital theme for the church to consider than worship. This series of studies challenges the presuppositions and preoccupations of the "me generation" and lays out the biblical framework. Only when we are captured by an overwhelming sense of awe and reverence in the presence of God, will we begin to worship God in spirit and in truth. Then, and only then, may we expect visitors to our services to exclaim, "Surely God is in this place!"

Why is this important? It's what the Lord wants. In the Gospel of John we read about Jesus talking to the Samaritan woman at the well and says, "Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth." (John 4:23,24 NIV)

Let us worship our Lord in spirit and truth.

Cling to Jesus

2006-05-30T21:06:00.000-07:00

Here's something, fellow believer, if you have ever fallen into distanced position with our Lord, keeping him at arms-length, as I think I have. This is from Spurgeon's "Around the Wicket Gate".

The child, in danger of the fire, just clings to the fireman, and trusts to him alone. She raises no question about the strength of his limbs to carry her, or the zeal of his heart to rescue her; but she clings. The heat is terrible, the smoke is blinding, but she clings; and her deliverer quickly bears her to safety. In the same childlike confidence cling to Jesus, who can and will bear you out of danger from the flames of sin.

Lately I've felt weak in this long sojourn of life and all the baggage that seems to burden me.

I hope this illustration helps you as it does me. I hope you to find the need to just cling to our Rescuer.

What does it mean to be humble?

2006-05-06T06:05:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to be humble? In short, it appears to mean to forsake our selfish wants and instead give glory to our Lord. But also, not to shrink so small that no one sees our faith.

Early this morning I couldn't sleep so I decided to read some devotionals on TruthForLife's website. Here's a quote from May 4th.

"We would do well if, in the spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature and lived up to it."

And here's another from May 6th.

"It is for the honor of Jesus that we endure the trial of our faith with sacred joy. Let each man surrender his own longings to the glory of Jesus and declare: 'If my lying in the dust would elevate my Lord by so much as an inch, let me still lie among the pots of earth. If to live on earth forever would make my Lord more glorious, it should be my heaven to be shut out of heaven.'"

Let us examine ourselves and our lives and ask, "Do I really glorify Jesus with such an attitude?" And on the same token, let us live up to the true dignity of our regenerated nature, being born again.

In a later blog post I added more about what it means to be humble.

Reference: Christ-like love of a Godly husband

2006-04-09T07:45:00.000-07:00

My wife forwarded a link to me to the Faith and Practice blog. The post is regarding the Christ-like love of a Godly husband. I wonder if she is telling me something... hmmm.

But it is an excellent post so please read it. It was truely humbling to me. Lately I've been mustered to be more of a leader in many areas. I'm looking for ways to "play the man" and I'm sure the Lord will bring me the opportunities.

Play the Man

2006-03-26T09:03:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to "play the man"?

This was an opening to a message given to a small group of men at the monthly, Calvary Chapel Redmond Men's Prayer Breakfast. Guest speaker Robert Case of Calvary Chapel Eastside shared what the Lord has been showing him in his walk as he learned to be a leader. In this blog post I wish to pass on the good message to you.

The phrase comes from 2 Samuel 10:12. The NIV translation says "Be strong and let us fight bravely for our people and the cities of our God. The LORD will do what is good in his sight." The King James says it this way: "Be of good courage, and let us play the men for our people, and for the cities of our God: and the LORD do that which seemeth him good." (emphasis added).

In today's society we see men tending to stagnate in adolescence. For example, men in their 20's and even 30's don't want to marry because it means taking on responsibility. And if they do marry, responsibilities are left unclaimed. This even has infiltrated the Christian church. But it is not the way God has intended it.

Robert described the responsibilities of leading and following using ball room dancing as an analogy. It's like this. The man: one hand on the small of the back of the woman, one hand up. The woman: one hand on the shoulder of the man, one hand up to meet the man's hand. The man leads simply by applying pressure using his hands and moving his body forward or backwards. The woman responds to this and follows. Now, if the man is not leading the woman would need to guess at the direction of where to go. Or if the woman is also trying to lead, it would look like an awkward wrestling match. She may move forward when he wants to move forward and it would look strained in struggling. But when done properly ball room dancing is an amazing and wonderful thing to see.

There are examples in the Bible of where men didn't "play the man". In the Garden when Eve was being seduced by the serpent, where was Adam? Was he in some far corner naming more animals? Looking closely at Genesis 3:6 you see he was right there with her. He simply stood by. He didn't play the man.

And there is Abraham and Sarah in Genesis chapter 20. Abraham told everyone Sarah was his sister because he feared he would be killed and allowed her to be taken by Abimelech. He put her in harm's way. He didn't play the man.

Another point made was that if a woman sees that the man's leadership is true self-sacrifice and good for the both of them, a woman shall be ready to accept it. As we men who are prompted to now "play the man", as we learn what it means to lead in this way, expect an adjustment of women to learn to trust the leadership. Ask for patience.

Long before hearing this message Anita has enouraged me to be more of a responsible leader in our household. She is incredibly patient because she knows I am the youngest from a large family. When growing up I've always been provided for and always have been the follower. But still she waits for me to learn to play the man.

Let us play the men for the people in our homes and families, for the people in our churches, for the people in our workplaces, and for people in our communities.

Wide, Long, High, and Deep

2006-03-23T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday we studied Ephesians Chapter 3 and at some length discussed Paul's prayer for the Ephesians in verses 14 through 21. There are two things which came out of this study for me.

Of course we admired Paul's prayer that we "may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ" (v 3:18 niv). It should be a prayer we carry with us as we are drawn to pray for our friends and family. This verse is the basis for the chorus in "The Love of Christ" by Wes King. And there's a verse that follows:

The width of two arms outstretched on a tree
The length of the road to Calvary
The height of the crown on a cruel cross
The depth of the pain is the cost

And what more should we pray for? Paul says, "and to know this love that surpasses knowledge -- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God".

This intrigued us. How do you know something that supasses knowledge? What does that really mean? We thought, "Is Paul using hyperbole here?" He did in verse 3:8 when he says, "I am less than the least." We almost missed an important point but the Lord prompted us to dig further.

To answer this we went to the original Greek manuscript. You see, the word "know" and the word "knowledge" are not from the same root. The Blue Letter Bible online has a concordance with original Greek. The word "knowledge" in this verse was translated from the Greek word "gnosis" which signifies general intelligence and understanding. But the word "know" is translated from the Greek word "ginosko" which means to become acquainted with. Aha! There's the difference.

Here's an example. I can say I know (gnosis) Wes King. I've listened to his music since day one. I know most of the verses of his songs and know what state he grew up in. I even met him once at a concert. But I don't really know (ginosko) him.

We may fail our discipleship and do this with Christ. We can read the Bible, memorize scripture, study where Jesus came from and learn where he went, all of this being knowledge but yet we won't know him. Although shiny on the outside what empty vessels we would be.

Of couse we shall not forsake reading the Bible and memorizing scripture, and the such. But furthermore the Lord wants us to know (ginosko) Him, and He to know (ginosko) us. He wants us to be filled to the measure with all the fullness of Himself.

FRANgelism

2006-03-01T18:15:00.000-08:00

I've been listening to the TruthForLife series on FRANgelism: How to witness to Friends, Relatives, Associates and Neighbors.

In the February 23rd broadcast Alistair Begg reminded us that no matter how well we may describe the gospel in words, it will not be effective unless our lives reflect it.

He quoted a poem (you can also find a version of it here):
"You are writing a gospel, a chapter each day,
By the deeds that you do and the words that you say.
Men read what you write distorted or true.
So what is the gospel according to you."

The Whole Building

2006-02-24T07:02:00.000-08:00

In a home fellowship hosted by Greg and Heather that Anita and I go to we read through Ephesians 2. The second part (verses 11 through 22) deals with our relationship with Christ and with other Christians. The Lord led us towards further discussion of our relationship with each other and what we are seeing in our church.

A comment Greg made is it seems folks treat church as a Sunday morning event. When in practical application of the Word the members of the local church should be involved with each other's lives at least to some degree. I think we all concurred.

Ephesians 2:19-22 supports this. Verse 21 says, "In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."

In my mind this paints a picture of a community of believers. It looks to me believers should be in "church" 7 days a week, not just visiting each other during the Sunday morning event. It should be a constant reminder to our local church since we rent space for the service that church is not a physical building, rather it is "God's people and members of God's household" (v19).

Christian Contentment

2006-02-15T18:45:00.000-08:00

Anita and I were chatting today about life in that it feels to me I'm just floating through it. I don't have definite plans or goals.

This evening I decided to listen to the message broadcasted on Febuary 14th at TruthForLife and by odd coincidence it addressed this. Alistair Begg was talking about Christian contentment.

In Phillipians 4:13 Paul writes, "I can do everything through him who gives me strength." [niv] I have usually intepreted this to refer to accomplishing something. But Alistair's interpretation reset me to see it's possible that the Lord will give me strength to deal with hardship and failure. There's more observations about this text and so I'll leave it to you to listen for yourself.

There's a couple more quotes I'd like to share and which I think we should hold onto. One is by Alistair himself, "Christian contentment is the direct fruit of having no higher ambition than to belong to the Lord and to be entirely at His disposal." See Anita's post about being the Lord's possession. The other is by Murray McShane, "It has always been my ambition to have no plans with regards to myself."

Well then. May God be praised.

Making the most of it

2005-12-11T14:38:00.000-08:00

I love listening to Alistair Begg on the TruthForLife radio program because he has been given an incredible gift to teach and preach and he puts so much passion into it. I like it so much because when my brain is not turned off, or wandering about, or when my heart is not hardened to a lesson the Lord is teaching me I do sense I am called to action. Adrian Warnick mentions something about sermons calling people to action in a post on his blog, which in turn is a reference to yet another blog but I'll let you follow the links.

Ashamedly I admit I don't listen to the TFL messages on the radio often enough. But I happened to be driving to work last Friday during the time TFL is broadcasted, so I turned it to the AM station. I distinctly remember something he was describing about Joseph. You know, the one with the colorful coat in Genesis.

He said, although Joseph found himself to be put to slavery in the house of Potipher, he performed his duties the very best he could for the glory of God. And Potipher took notice of this as it was a witness to him. Then Alistair said to the [radio] listeners, make the most of every opportunity... (pause).... to the glory of Jesus Christ. I'm humbled. Let there be action in us all from this simple yet profound instruction.

Thanksgiving Prayer

2005-11-26T21:09:00.000-08:00

I'm usually the one to pray at Thanksgiving dinners. I try to say something more than a typical before meal thanks. Here's the prayer for 2005. I don't think I remembered it all when I was actually at the table.

Lord,
We thank you that your hand has brought us into this land and into this home today. Thank you for providing all our needs and make us truly thankful for this meal and company. Please be among us as we celebrate our forefathers strive for freedom and hope.

To your glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, now and forevermore!
Amen.

The Lord is Faithful

2005-11-22T10:39:00.000-08:00

My wife was looking through memorabilia and a letter she sent to me in 1992 before we were married included this verse.

"The Lord is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made." --Psalm 145:13

From this encouragement we can be patient and endure.

I decided to look this up to see context and the entire verse of Ps 145:13 says:
"Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The LORD is faithful to all his promises and loving toward all he has made."

To paraphrase a line from a movie we recently viewed, Kingdom of Heaven, this "kingdom is here (pointing to your head) and here (pointing to your heart)".

Women's Retreat

2005-11-04T20:15:00.000-08:00

As my wife is participating at a women's church retreat I pray for her. I ask the Lord to give her strength and courage as she does His will. I ask the Lord to use her for His purpose at this event. I pray for all the ladies to grow with a deeper relationship with Jesus and with each other.

The River and The Sea

2005-10-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

In Psalm 46 verse 4 it says, "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God".

"What is the river this verse is refering to?", I asked myself. I see this as the Church. Verse 5 goes on to say, "God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day."

Psalm 46 offers much encouragement. The Church, being in Christ, is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. By simply being in Christ we bless the Lord and bless His kingdom. We can have courage despite that "the waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging". Because "the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress". (Ps 46:3,11)

With thoughts of how a body of water represents the Church I recalled something about a Sea. In Revelation 4:6 John writes, "Also before the throne there was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal." Looking beyond the literal, again, to me the sea seems to be describing the Church. Think of a visit to an alpine lake, if you've had the privilege of experiencing such a visit. The water is crystal clear, there is no wind in the coolness of the air, the surface of the lake is like glass. It is completely peaceful.

When will we be at peace? Perhaps not until we are before the throne of God. Though we strive for peace on earth, true peace comes only when our hearts are bowed before the throne of God. Not just in heaven but also today.

Mission

2005-10-06T13:36:00.000-07:00

The small church I go to and volunteer at seems to struggle with member participation. I see that I really must pray for us all so that we as a church move in the direction God wants.

In my effort to read the Bible in a year (and I'm way behind) I read Exodus 35 and 36, and the Lord impressed something upon me. First here is what we observe.

In 35:4, "Moses said to the whole Israelite community, 'This is what the Lord has commanded:'", and then he goes on to explain that everyone who is willing shall bring offerings for the tabernacle. The request was clear and specific. Moses said it was a command of the Lord. He said with specific instruction what was to be made and what was to be brought.

And then we observe the most wonderful thing. In verses 20 and 21 it says, "Then the whole Israelite community withdrew from Moses' presence, and everyone who was willing and whose heart moved him came and brought an offering to the Lord for the work on the Tent of Meeting, for all its service and for the sacred garments." Furthermore we see that those who had the specific things requested brought them. Those with specific skills used them for their respective purpose. Even the leaders pitched in and brought onyx stones and other gems to be mounted on the ephod and breastpiece, as it says in verse 27. Finally, we read in verse 36:6 that Moses had to stop the people from bringing even more offerings because they were continuing to bring offerings morning after morning. Simply put, the Lord provided more than what was needed.

I'm sure we have lessons to learn and to apply to our church. One, my church should seek to know what the Lord is commanding and know His purpose as it is laid out in his Word. I simply don't see a specific mission for the church and I definitely don't hear about it. Two, the church, that is the people of the church, should have clear and specific instructions of what to do. Three, if we know what is God's purpose then we should have faith the Holy Spirit will move and inspire those of us with a willing heart to carry out the tasks.

His Steward

2005-10-04T10:56:00.000-07:00

In the quieter times of the day the Lord seems to be impressing upon me the importance of living a life of righteousness. I believe this began after deciding not to start a small business.

Two years ago, being frustrated with working in the high-tech corporate world I set out to open a coffee shop. I thought it would allow me to practice righteousness in the business world and allow my wife and I to work on something together. I studied the product, I learned about business, I looked at scripture regarding work, business, and money. I confess in my heart I was also thinking, "I'll show them...".

Now recently, what the Lord is telling me is that I need not own and operate a business to "show off" to the business world about how to run a business by God's principles. Rather I have been made a steward of many things which needs my attention in humbly doing His will.

I'm a receiver of Faith and have a responsibility to it.
I'm a husband in a marriage partnership with my wife.
I'm a member of a small local church.
My wife and I are partners in a household.
I have various skills and should share them with the world around me.
I'm an employee. Well, sometimes I'm unemployed but when I am employed I have a responsibility to be a righteous steward of what the Lord has provided, and I should work for my employer as if I'm working for the Lord.
In general I have assets and liabilities. I should listen to the Lord for what He desires to do with these.
And not the least, I have a life through which I sojourn and I should take every opportunity to do His will.

I'm sure He's telling me I can apply my desire and energy to run a business to the many other things in my life. We can all look for practical ways to glorify our Lord by righteously tending to our stewardships, to live according to God's Word.

The Ark

2005-09-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

As a young believer when first reading Exodus I found much of it to be dry and not really life-applicable. Several years ago my wife and I participate in a "LifeLight" Bible study at Hope Lutheran Church in West Seattle in which one of the modules carried us through the book of Exodus. If you get a chance to join a LifeLight study, please do so.

Among many other encouraging things the Lord showed me a wonderful message within the passages of Exodus. It is within the details of the Ark of the Covenant in Exodus 25. The observation is that the Ark was instructed to be made with Acacia wood. But the wood was to be covered with pure gold. Acacia wood is actually a fairly common wood.

Back then seeing how the Ark was made with a common wood and then covered with a precious metal did not make much of an impression on me. But as I was reading this again recently the Lord impressed it upon me further. I see this as nothing else but encouragment to know how believers (also common) is used for God's purpose. And not on our own. Just as the Acacia wood was covered by pure gold we are covered by grace through God's precious Son, Jesus. The Ark back then held the Testimony. So it is that we believers today hold the Testimony by the Holy Spirit. Finally notice that the atonement cover (the lid) was not made of wood. Rather it was made from pure gold. To me this signifies it is our Lord alone who is the atonement.

Psalm 104

2005-09-13T16:40:00.000-07:00

This is a repost of an old blog from August 25th, 2003.

This morning I read Psalm 104, out loud. I find that I cannot really concentrate on scripture, so I read out loud. Mostly with Anita listening but even when she's not in the room. Anyway, this Psalm puts the world (weather, mountains, seas, the flood, animals, man) in a nutshell and from what it says God makes it and takes it away. It really puts focus on the Lord. We are bombarded with all sorts of worldly philosophy about these things, all devoid of God. But Psalm 104 wipes all that way. It's all about God.