Jesus, Islam and the Pharisees

A must read from John Piper



http://desiringgod.org/ResourceLibrary/TasteAndSee/ByDate/2006/1908_Jesus_Islam_Pharisees_and_the_New_Perspective_on_Paul/

Sanctification

This has been on my heart. In our growth to be Christ-like, is it me opening up myself to the work of the Holy Spirit or is it God changing my attitudes so that I'm more aware of his working in my life. If I posses true faith in Christ will I change regardless?

Obligitory

Here it comes, the standard Thanksgiving post.

We should be thanksgivers on a constant basis. Colossians 2:6-7 says " Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving." For those of us who love the turkey and ham just a little too much, this does not mean abounding in the thanksgiving meal. It wholly means that as lovers of christ who are being raised in Him we should have joy and thankfulness welling up in us constantly.

Many of us will sit down this Thursday and ask each other what we are thankful for. Many with heavy hearts for loved ones lost or family and friends in need. They will struggle to find that one nugget that will get the attention away from them and wonder if they will ever be able to give thanks again. Paul says that if you have received Christ and live in grace through your faith then you are never without something for which to be thankful. Even if your life has been nothing but struggle upon struggle you still have the greatest gift ever to be given in Jesus Christ.

I'm thankful for:

Infinite love

Infinite grace

Infinite joy

Infinite righteousness

My wife Colleen (God's greatest mortal gift)

My son Josh

My daughter Jayme

My grandson Chase

The love of a wonderful Church family

Thank you God for blessings too numerous to count.

Get Rid of Your Trash

This weekend Lead Pastor Doug Brown delivered a challenge to all of us here at LSCC. A direct call to holiness, righteousness, zeal and spiritual fitness. It is an an amazing message placed on the heart of an obedient servant.

http://resources.christianity.com/details/lscc/20061029/287978f4-f07b-4e1a-a7ff-652e47200eeb.aspx

C.J. At His Best

I have seen CJ speak many times but never in a suit. Check out his messages from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Incredible.

http://www.sbts.edu/resources/Audio_Resources/Chapel_Messages/Fall_2006.aspx

Rap at Bethlehem Baptist Church

http://theologica.blogspot.com/2006/10/voice-bethlehem.html

This is Curtis Allen of Sovereign Grace Ministries. You can find the album @http://www.sovereigngracestore.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=M4125-00-21

It's Not My Job

How many times have you heard this one? Growing up in the 70's and 80's I was exposed to the height of labor unions. My mom, cousins, friends parents all were in some kind of union. Now, labor unions served their purpose, better wages and benefits, improved working conditions and so on. It seems that in protecting jobs, there became this attitude of "its not my job". If you start changing the toilet paper roll then I'll be out of a job, management will start to think that I'm not needed.

This works in labor unions but doesn't work with your relationship with God or with others. When it comes to our relationship with God, we have certain expectations and responsibilities. John Piper in his book What Jesus Demands From the World, tells of fifty demands from scripture. Jesus demands that we be different from the world in at least fifty different ways just as God gave the Israelites the law to expose sin and to set them apart.

You can read Dr. Pipers book (highly recommended) but for some of us fifty is a mountain. Then the question rises, what is God's job? Let me use the book of James to attempt to break it down: James 4:5-10 5Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? 6But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." 7Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

So what is the Lord telling us is His job? His job is to first give grace upon grace, His second is to exalt you. Our job as saints who sin is to continually submit to His will and humble ourselves before Him. Wow you mean if I humble myself that God will give me the riches of the world. Absolutely not!!! By exalt He means he will honor, praise or extol you just as in Zephaniah 3:17, 17The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love;he will exult over you with loud singing. The Lord celebrates when you are submitted and humble. The creator who created the universe and you loves you enough to sing and praise you when you are in humble submission.

But beware if you choose to do God's job and exalt yourself, then he will do your job and humble you. When you feel the conviction of pride, fear of man or trying to exalt yourself in the world, this would be a good time to say "it's not my job".

Clowns Freak Me Out

I am going to the circus on Saturday morning because I believe that my grandson will smile. Absolutely no other reason! Since I can remember clowns freak me out. Yes, clowns scare me, make my skin crawl and give me the heebie geebies. You get the point.

So I started to think, why am I so weird about clowns? What I have come to believe is that:

1. If anyone has to put so much make up on to prove he is happy and fun, is he really happy and fun.

2. They must be masking their real feelings.

3. If 1&2 are correct then they can't be trusted.

Upon further review, clowns are just like the rest of us. We go around masking who we really are. Our society has put such a premium on outward appearance including cars, house, whatever that we have become a society of clowns, just hurting people wearing masks.

Paul says in Romans 8:13 "For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live." He draws a battle line between the Spirit and the flesh. It's as if someone asked his doctor " I have this disease what can I do?". The doctor responds "If you continue in this manner you will die but if you do as I say and use this remedy you will live." Sounds like a "no brainer" choice until we look at the remedy.

Paul uses the word flesh to refer to our worldly Christ less lives and daily decisions. If we continue to live according to what culture says is good and lovely our souls will surely die. But (amazing things in Scripture come after but,therefore and commas), Paul says, if by the Holy Spirit we put to death our sin nature and Christ less living we will surely live.

How then do we go about putting to death our sin?

1. We must dislike our sin as much as God dislikes our sin. If God was not offended by your sin, there would have been no purpose in the cross.

2. When convicted by the Holy Spirit of that sin, we must repent (turn away from the sin to God and ask for forgiveness). Luke 5:32 "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance."

3. Ask the Holy Spirit to circumcise your heart. Colossians 2:11"In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ," Pray for him to cut away or remove that sin from your life.

If you are tired of the same sin nature raising its head over and over again, putting on a happy face or buying new clothes will not fix your heart. If you find yourself more worried about making people happy and not concerned with the state of your heart, don't be a clown.

I was Bless-ed

This weekend I had the opportunity to speak at the first ever Bless-ed conference for young women 18-25. The conference was held here at the Element (LSCC's student and young adult facility) and it turned out to be an amazing experience in which God used to give me hope for the future of God saturated women.

Without a doubt, I'm sure you have already asked yourself what does an old bald fat guy know about being a "woman of the word". Well of course I don't have any first hand experience but I know a few and can identify one without much trouble.

So my prayer is that the young women recieved as much blessing as I have and that they will have me back next time. Thanks a ton to all of the leadership that made me feel welcome and for the cool t-shirt. As we all know, REAL men wear pink.

Just Say Yes

I have always been a fan of Joshua. The man who led the Israelites into the promised land has always held a special place in my heart. Here was a guy who was told by God to do some amazing things and his only answer was "Yes Lord". He also had to follow Moses. Now, I don't know about you but I believe that would be a hard act to follow.

According to the first chapter of the book of Joshua, God told him 3 times to be courageous. Joshua responded as usual. He said yes to taking taking the Ark of the Covenant across the river, circumcising thousands of men with a flint knife (pictured) and marching around a city yelling and blowing horns waiting for the walls to come down.

Joshua new his calling and was focused on that and that only. How incredible would it be to know the purpose God has for our lives. Then all we have to do is to dial in to that call and direct all of our energies in one single direction.

The amazing thing is I meet people every day who have heard that call but either refuse acknowledge it or put it off as something for the future. It is heart breaking to watch as they go about listening to the world tell them what is expected of them instead of saying yes to that vision that God has put before them.

Be like Joshua and just say yes.

Burning Coals

A few weeks and several emotions later I have started to come to grips with the shooting at the Amish school in Pennsylvania. Many of you know what I'm referring to but if you don't please read the many articles you will find online before finishing this entry.

I struggled with the mindset of someone who would do something so evil. My conclusion is that I'm glad I cannot come close to understanding from that thought process and that right now it still disgusts me. Directly upon hearing the news I thought "wow, no matter how you try to hide from the world evil will find you". Then directly my mind went to "God how will you glorify yourself through this one?" ( knowing that he would as everything happens for our good and His glory). God did glorify himself in a way only He could.

I have never given much thought to the Amish. In my travels in Missouri it was not unusual to see a buggy or two beside the road and I even called my wife one day from a Hardee's drive thru as I was watching the buggy in front of me order Thickburgers. I knew they refrained from indulgence in things of luxury like big screen televisions and DVR's, needless to say I'll never be Amish. I just don't have the discipline. That was pretty much my take until now.

I have since done some study on the doctrine and practices of the Amish. It's very interesting but not relevant. All I need to know about these people is what they did following such a horrible tragedy. First they forgave the shooter, then opened their homes and funeral services to the wife and children of the same man who had killed ( in cowardly cold blood) their daughters, sisters, nieces and granddaughters. Here is a quote from an article in the International Herald Tribune "Your love for our family has helped to provide the healing we so desperately need," she wrote. "Gifts you've given have touched our hearts in a way no words can describe. ... Your compassion has reached beyond our family, beyond our community, and is changing our world, and for this we sincerely thank you." "Please know that our hearts have been broken by all that has happened," Marie Roberts wrote. "We are filled with sorrow for all of our Amish neighbors whom we have loved and continue to love." "We know there are many hard days ahead for all the families who lost loved ones, and so we will continue to put our hope and trust in the God of all comfort, as we all seek to rebuild our lives," she wrote.

Jesus teaches that we should forgive as our Father forgives. Our Father has forgiven the sins of all who put their faith and trust in the one true Lord, Jesus Christ. When we live a life that can only be explained by the work of the Holy Spirit, God is glorified. The forgiveness and love that was given in this situation can only be attributed to a life in Christ. Colossians 1:27 states "......Christ in you, the hope of glory". We can talk all day to someone about Christ but we lack credibility until someone sees acts of love like the one this little Amish community displayed. If you want to change the world, dare to be different.

The New Adventures of an Old Question

I'm sure that many of you were not expecting to see a picture of Julia Louis-Dreyfus on my first post. Let me explain. Last night while thumbing through the old DVR for something to watch, I came across a show that Colleen and I enjoy watching called "The New Adventures of Old Christine". This show is about a divorced woman (Dreyfus) raising her son. Her ex-husband has started to date again and his new girlfriend is much younger and also named Christine. Therefore she is now "old Christine". The episodes themselves really have no social or redeeming value but Dreyfus was good on Seinfeld and she is very funny here also.

Anyway, the episode last night was about her son Ritchie being taken to church by his dad and new Christine without asking old Christine. Old Christine has a negative view toward organized religion so when she finds out she is upset. Of course the laughs ensue.

Here is where I want to focus. Old Christine is sitting in bed with her son and he starts to ask questions. The first being "What are we?". He goes on to state that one of his friends is Catholic and another Jewish but he had no answer. His mother had no clue what to say so she says we are American, Californian............... And a few meaningless others. Then he asked her "What do we believe in?". She stammers and says recycling.

My question to you is what are you and what do you believe in? Have you ever sat down and answered those questions? Do you really know what you are? The better question maybe is "who are you?" Christine would have probably answered that question with mother, successful business woman or maybe even good friend,who knows, but all of her answers are ones that fade and upon death will only be memories.

To answer my question you can comment here on the blog. If you would like a copy of my identity statement leave me your e-mail address.